Dayton was not the place to be overtly different. Those who were tended to be shunned and rejected if they were outside the purview of comfort and it really did seem like the kids of this small Pacific Northwest Town would work to isolate anyone they wanted to destroy mentally and verbally, and even occasionally physically. Who you were and who you knew was what determined what you did or did not get away with. It was a nasty business which extended all the way back to the founding of the town.
William elder was one stand out who was well hated. At some point it occurred to them that they were never meant to be male. They made changes to their life accordingly, and this made them not so popular with the local high school. However, it was William's mother who was possibly the most bigoted of them all. Concerned with only appearances and acceptance, the exchange when something like this.
"I will never acknowledge you as a female. You were born a male and that is what you will always be!"
Of course if the words had come from someone more important than his mother they would have hurt worse, but as it was Shaziah, as William had changed his name too, was well aware that his mother sucked as a person. In fact in some ways she was kind of happy that it offended the vile woman.
"Well, I am not surprised by your reaction, it just means you get to miss out on knowing me."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I don't want anything to do with you anymore. If you cannot accept me for who I am, and what I am, then you have no part in my life anymore."
With this and through tears Shaziah walked away. They had never really been close. Shaziah was always the black sheep in the family as far as her mother was concerned, and it was apparent through almost everyone of their interactions. This one would be no different except that Shaziah meant what she said. She did not want to be anything or anyone to that vile excuse of a mother.
Rayne was Shaziah's best friend. She was also an outcast. Her parents were notorious thugs who dealt and did drugs, and this reputation carried over to her. Rayne had suffered their abuse and neglect for years and somehow managed to be pretty well adjusted considering. Plus being a goth, she did not meet the somewhat preppy status quo of the in crowd, and it pissed them off more than she did not.
Among the reject friends was also Ben. He was openly gay and this made him a target for the very low self-confidence males of the school. They did only make the mistake of trying to rough him up once. He was amazingly spry and very swift with his fists. He had to be given that people did not like gays in this small conservative town. The only problem with standing up for himself was that this did not garner him any favours.
The three of them were basically joined at the hip. What ben did not know was that in many ways he had become more to than Shaziah than just a friend. This is where their story really began to get weird. They were all seniors and back from their summer. Nothing really exciting had happened that summer.
Ben and Shaz fallowed Rayne's now consternated gaze, and there is fell on the most beautiful male they had ever seen. Like his hair was perfect, his skin was perfect, perfect eyes, who the hell was he, and my how he had dropped Rayne's jaw.
"Oh, my gods, he's perfect!"
"Damn baby, he is a fine mofo."
"Your tongue is on the floor Rayne."
Shaz and Ben both giggled as Rayne turned bright red. Inside Shaziah was just dying, she felt like Ben was perfect, but how could he possibly love someone like Shaziah. Born a man, feeling like a woman, and Ben being gay, how could they ever have a future together. Maybe if Shaziah had never come out, but how could she be true to who she was if she did not. She was accepted as who she was, but what if she told ben how she felt? What Shaziah did not know was that as she pondered these things her gaze fell right upon Ben's crotch. Rayne began to laugh and Ben covered himself.
"What the fuck Shaz!?"
"Oh, sorry! I was lost in thought, and well, that's where my eyes fell."
Both turned beat red and Rayne laughed harder. Shaziah turned even more red, and Rayne winked at her. Ben caught the wink and realization set in. She had been thinking about him, and he had totally missed all the signs. There they were, she brought him food, she looked at him longingly, so on and so on. (I seriously do not know how to flirt so fill in your ideas here, lol.) Shaziah had a thing for him. Now she was super embarrassed because she had been looking at his crotch. Ben did not want to laugh and make things worse, what he wanted to know is why she did not just tell him.
"Shaziah, why didn't you just tell me?"
"Uh Uh Uh?"
"I feel the same way about you."
Time stood still. What did he say? He felt the same way about her. Wait, what? He felt the same way about her!? As if things were going to be perfect, several loud pops rang out through the court yard. Someone was shooting a gun. To Shaziah and Rayne's horror a hole formed in Ben's chest, and he crumpled to the ground. Shaziah could hear the screaming, but she could not understand why it never changed, it never got closer or further away, then it dawned on her. She was screaming. Ben really had just been shot. She laid his head in her lap and she and Rayne shielded him. Everything in her screamed for help, even her voice, and then the shooter was tackled. Only one student had been shot, Ben.
Zane the new kid, the perfect kid, the kid who had just arrived and who Rayne thought was perfect had just been walking when the shooting started. He knelt behind a trashcan and waited for the popping to stop. Several football players had tackled the shooter and were beating the holy piss out of him. One person was down. He did not want to show himself to a whole group of people, but he could not let his classmate just die when he knew he could help. He walked over to the two girls kneeling over the boy. They looked up in surprise and moved. Zane knelt and laid one hand on the bullet hole and one hand on Ben's head. A light formed around Zane's hands and Ben's entire body began to glow. The blood and hole had faded. Everyone gasped, just what in the hell was going on?
Ben opened his eyes. Doctors and nurses bustled about. He had hit his head surely, and people had seen him get shot, and where was the blood coming from? The school was two blocks down the road from the hospital and Ben was there before an ambulance could ever had arrived. Nurses were frantic as they looked him over, but to their surprise and shock, despite the bullet hole in his shirt, there was no hole in his body, even with the blood. Ben was confused too. He remembered the pain, and he could remember feeling like everything was leaving him. He fell to the ground only to awaken to this.
"This is insane, he's been shot, but he's not been shot! How does that even work!"
Ben's mother was asking all sorts of questions as she and her husband had arrived to the hospital only minutes after their son. Now the very confused family, friends, and nurses and docs were being told not to talk about what happened, that it was too far out to be allowed to get into the public. It would get there anyways, but at least it would not overshadow everything as much if it was all hear say. That's when they took Zane aside.
"Now son, I have no idea what you did, how you did it, or even why you did it, but that mumbo jumbo spiritual shit, that ain't okay, we don't raise the dead in this town."
Zane gasped.
"You mean to tell me I should have let him die?"
This almost confused the officer. He stammered and began walking away. As he reached the door he turned and looked Zane right in the eyes.
"You lay low. People who stand out here do not do well."
Zane nodded in an uncomfortable fashion. Then he walked to Ben's room where everyone greeted him with hugs and praise. These families were much more open minded to the supernatural than the town around them. This was because of events they had seen and witnessed. It was not even that the officer did not believe what he was being told. Only that the ramifications in a town like this would be dire, and the last thing they needed was a faith healer drawing a crowd.