“Truth or dare, Harper! You queer?”

Harper raised his head from the brochure he was reading. He blinked under raised eyebrows. “Am I queer? You know, Dwayne, I usually only hear that question from old perverts.  Aren’t you worried your boyfriend Jose will get jealous?”

Dwayne’s jaw dropped, then fury twisted his face. “I ain’t no queer, you –“

A snort came from the seat behind Harper. “Come on, Dwayne, everybody in school knows about you and Jose. The way you and your boys all hang together, some of us think you have a kinky little club thing going on. ‘Fess up, you guys into trading partners and all that weird stuff?” The white-haired girl leaned into the bus aisle with an exaggerated look of interest.

The girl with almond shaped eyes sitting next to her sniffed. “There is no need to ask him that. His behavior at school is evidence enough. Putting his hands down boys’ pants, pressing his body against theirs, putting his face in theirs. Bah.”

“He’s a homosexual predator. Harper, maybe you should exchange seats with me.” The enormous black youth beside Harper followed his suggestion with a narrow-eyed sneer at Dwayne.

Dwayne could not speak, he could only make incoherent noises. The students around him laughed, though some tried to hide it. He started to rise from his seat, and Luthor did as well. But before he could get all the way up, a hand slammed down on his shoulder and forced him back into his seat. He started to knock the hand away, then froze as he realized it belonged to his teacher.

“If you can’t take the heat, don’t light the fire.” Marie Williams spoke with no emotion, but her eyes promised a world of hurt if he protested. She turned to stare past Harper. “Sit down, Luthor. The only person allowed to be out of their seat is ME.”