Tad and Amy arrived at the Howler residence about 20 minutes after school let out. Both Elizabeth and Gary Howler we’re still at work, and the twins were over at a friend’s house doing a bit of homework. That left Tad and Amy with an hour or two all to themselves.
Tad took off his backpack and walked over to the couch, setting it down at his feet.
“So what did you think of Connor?” Tad asked casually, trying to start up a conversation. “He’s pretty nice, right?”
“Yeah, he seems like a really nice guy,” Amy responded. She was quiet for a minute before saying “Did you notice something...off...about Connor?”
Tad was visibly confused by her question. “Something off about him?” he repeated.
“Yeah,” Amy said. “I had him in a few classes today, and I noticed that he was checking a lot of people out.”
“He was probably trying to figure out who’s a Were and who isn’t,” Tad suggested. “I told him yesterday that there were some noticeable differences between a Normal and a Were.”
Amy thought for a second before asking “Is Connor gay?”
“What?!” Tad practically shouted. “Where the hell is that coming from?!”
“I noticed a few things today,” Amy explained. “In the classes he and I had together, he was checking out a lot of people. While he did check out the girls, I noticed that he was mostly looking at the guys. Then there’s also the fact that he was looking really nervous around Ryan when we saw him this morning. Is this normal behavior for him?”
Tad silently thought to himself about what Amy said. “No...it’s not like him at all…” he said slowly. He sighed before saying “He’s different...could be really be gay?”
“Would it be a problem if he is?” Amy asked.
“No! Of course it wouldn’t!” Tad quickly answered. “My parents raised me to be accepting towards others. I won’t hate Connor or try to shut him out of my life if he’s gay. I just...want the old Connor back...”
“He could potentially be in denial,” Amy suggested. “But that’s a bit hard to believe in my opinion.”
“Why’s that?”
“Normally, people tend to know what gender they prefer by this point in their life. I’m not saying that this happens all the time though.”
“Well, we should keep that in the back of our heads for now,” Tad said. “I think right now all we can do for Connor is just support him and let him figure it out.”