Chapter Text
Tyler had always been seen as different by the people at his school. His friends, his family, even his girlfriend knew something was up with him. And she wasn’t the smartest person ever.
But this was unknown to Tyler, he was completely oblivious of it. He had many friends, being the captain of the hockey team at his school, and he had a girlfriend that he loved very much. Nothing was wrong in his life, in his opinion.
Sure, there was times at hockey practice where he would observe the guys a little…too closely. The way the sweat dripped down their face, they way they moved along the ice, the way their hips moved when they turned…
But that was normal! Right?
His family was heavily religious, they would pray every night at the dinner table and go to church every Sunday. He had 5 different copies of the Bible, despite having never read a single one.
As he walked into school, his girlfriend approached him.
”Hey Tyson!” Lindsay said, as she pulled into Tyler to make out with him.
That’s one thing that frustrated Tyler. He loved Lindsay with every single bone in his body but Lindsay never remembered his name right.
They pulled apart as Lindsay had to go to class early, and Tyler went to his locker, next to where his best friend Geoff was.
Tyler absentmindedly wiped off his lips from the exchange with Lindsay. He opened his locker and retrieved his books.
Another reason people thought something was up with Tyler was his locker. Geoff, who had the locker next to him, had pictures of girls he liked in his locker. Tyler, however, had pictures of…shirtless men? Nobody had ever asked him about it but…they were weirded out by it.
He tried to strike up some small talk with Geoff.
”Don’t you hate it when they do that,” Tyler asked.
”Do what?” Geoff questioned. “Make out with you?”
Tyler nodded. “No,” Geoff continued. “I think it’s fun!”
Tyler just shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t do it right…”
The bell rang, and Tyler shut his locker and hurried off. “See ya Geoff!”
Geoff just looked down and shook his head.
The rest of the day continued on, and Lindsay, wanting to practice driving some more as she had just gotten her license, offered to drive Tyler home.
When they arrived to Tyler’s house, Lindsay wanted to walk him in. He didn’t know why, but who was he to judge.
As they walked in, Tyler noticed his parents, Geoff, a few guys from his hockey team, and a stranger wearing a shirt that said “straight is great,” all gathered in the living room.
The stranger approached and shook Tyler’s hand. “Hi Tyler! My name is Chris. Your parents and your friends want to…have a conversation with you. I’m here to facilitate that conversation.”
Tyler shook his hand back and just nodded, confused.
He sat down on the couch and everyone sat around the other seats.
“Mr. Kenard,” Chris said, “Would you like to begin?”
Tyler’s dad stood up, “Tyler…we love you. We all love you very much, but we’ve been concerned by some…recent behaviors. We think that you’ve been influenced by an unnatural way of thinking. Do you remember that one time when—”
”Honey, we think you’re…gay.” Tyler’s mom interrupted.
Tyler covered his mouth with his hand.
Chris quickly chimed in, “I, too, used to be gay. But now I am an ex-gay. And I work for a company called True Directions, we have a camp right off Wawanakwa Street! We help people like yourself learn the reasons behind homosexual tendencies, and heal them.”
“What tendencies?” Tyler blurted, “Why would you think I’m a…”
Tyler’s mom pulled out a crocheting kit. More specifically, the crocheting kit that Tyler bought for himself a couple weeks ago. “You’ve been trying to learn how to crochet…” Tyler’s mom said.
Geoff pulled out the photo of a shirtless man from Tyler’s locker. “You don’t have any pictures of girls in your locker?”
Tyler’s dad pulled out posters of Charli xcx and SOPHIE from his room. “Lots of these.”
”Gay icons.” Chris pointed out.
”You don’t even like to kiss me,” Lindsay said.
”It’s true,” Geoff, DJ, and Duncan all said in unison.
”I…” Tyler stuttered, “I can’t believe this.”
”Denial is a normal part of the healing process that we’ll go over at True Directions.” Chris said.
”Healing?” Tyler questioned.
”Like rehab!” Tyler’s mom tried to say supportively, “Homosexuals Anonymous!”
”It’s only for a few months!” Tyler’s dad tried to chime in.
Tyler crossed his arms. “There is no way that I’m going.”
Next thing he knew, he was in the car with his suitcase on the way to True Directions. He was sitting in the car thinking where he could’ve gone wrong. He wasn’t gay! He loved Lindsay. He loved his girlfriend. GIRLfriend. He never thought of boys that way. Well…He did, but he loved Lindsay! So it cancelled out.
As he got out of the car, he walked up to the building with his parents. As he walked up, a blonde woman stepped out, along with a very muscular, much larger man.
”Welcome!,” the woman said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Blainely, and I’m the founder of True Directions. You must be Tyler?”
Tyler nodded.
Blainely continued, “This is my brother, Chef.”
Chef shook Tyler’s hand, “Nice to meet you!” Tyler smiled, and Chef grabbed Tyler’s suitcase and brought it in.
”How old are you?” Blainely asked. “17?” Tyler nodded. “Looks like we got you just in time! Almost lost you to college. Way harder to help them after they’ve been brainwashed by all that liberal nonsense.”
Blainely exhaled, thinking of more to say. “Well, I’ll take him from here.”
Tyler’s parents shook Blainely’s hand and hugged Tyler goodbye, and they drove off.
Tyler and Blainely walked into the building. Blainely led him to her office. They both took a seat.
“The others here arrived yesterday,” Blainely said, “So I’ll catch you up. It’s a two month program based on five simple steps. Why don’t we...focus on the first step? Admitting you’re a homosexual.”
”Lets say, you see a man. He’s wearing a tank top, basketball shorts maybe. Or maybe he’s in the locker room, showering, soaping his body…You don’t have any unnatural thoughts?”
Tyler was zoning out to the thought of what she was saying, but when he realized she had stopped, he snapped back. He paused, thinking of what to say.
”I don’t think it’s unnatural.”
”Ah ha!” Blainely shouted, “You see? You don’t even realize it’s wrong. Until you admit to your sickness, you will wear these.” She handed over what was basically a hospital gown. Tyler sighed. It was so ugly.
”You will earn the right to wear our uniform once you complete the first step. It’s a long path to righteousness, Tyler. But I believe in you. Would you like to meet the other campers?”
Blainely beckoned for another camper, “Noah!” She yelled.
The camper, who appeared to be Noah, walked in.
”Tyler,” Blainely said, “This is Noah, he will show you around. You will be acquainted.”
Noah and Tyler walked out and Noah began giving him the rundown of the schedule.
”Rise and shine at 7:00, breakfast at 8:00, group therapy until lunch. Right now, it’s the afternoon, so we have free time to do… well, whatever.”
”Then we move inside for reorientating exercises. Family therapy on the weekends. You didn’t miss much in this last day.”
Tyler just nodded worriedly. Noah walked Tyler into the bedroom. It was a big room, everything was decorated blue, and there were 4 queen-size beds lined up against the wall. Along with that, there was a bathroom to the right.
”This is where we sleep,” Noah said. “But there’s nothing…inappropriate allowed.”
”Inappropriate?” Tyler questioned. “Like swearing?”
”No, inappropriate like fucking.” A boy said from one of the beds.
Tyler chuckled, “Oh.”
The boy continued, “If you get caught having sex, then adios.”
Noah just nodded and left the bedroom, beckoning for Tyler to come along with.
Tyler made one last awkward bit of eye contact with the boy, before leaving, holding his gown closed so the boy wouldn’t see Tyler’s boxers as he walked out.
As they left, Noah continued. “Don’t mind Alejandro, he thinks he’s allowed to say whatever he wants, he’s a brat.”
”I read his chart.” Noah said, as he pointed over to a chart with all the campers names on it, along with the 5 steps’ checkboxes. The names read Alejandro, Cody, Courtney, Eva, Gwen, Izzy, Noah, and Tyler.
”Completing the first step is easy,” Noah said. He ran his finger down the first checkbox, everyone had completed it except Tyler. “We all completed it… well, yesterday.”
Noah stepped closer to Tyler. “I’m a homosexual,” Noah said. Tyler raised his eyebrow. Noah continued, “See how easy it is?”
Noah continued walking, and Tyler took that as a signal to follow him. They kept walking until they reached a new part of the building, and they walked in.
Everyone in the camp was sat, gathered around one seat that was clearly meant for Tyler to be in.
As Tyler took a seat, everyone clapped for him. Confusing…
”Tyler,” Blainely said, “Meet the rest of our group.”
The first person stood up, “Hello Tyler,” the girl said. “My name is Courtney. I am a counselor-in-training, and I am a homosexual.” She sat down.
The next person stood up. “Hey, I’m Gwen. I like drawing, I guess. I’m a homosexual.” She sat down.
The process went on. More people stood up and introduced themselves, he met Courtney, Gwen, Izzy, Eva, and Cody. Along with Alejandro and Noah, who he met already.
”It’s time for your first disclosure.” Blainely said. “Now, don’t be intimidated. Let’s start with the first time you realized you might be a homosexual.”
Tyler shrugged. “I’m not.”
A few people rolled their eyes, the rest looked awkward.
Tyler decided to continue. “Everyone just thinks I am, but I’m not. I shouldn’t even be here.” He chuckled.
”That’s a perfectly normal place to start,” said Blainely, “why don’t we discuss the issues in your intervention that you had?”
Tyler looked confused. “Well…” he said, “I just picked up crochet. I have pictures of men around.”
”You think that’s normal?” Eva questioned.
”Sure!” Tyler exclaimed. “I mean…I guess I never really thought about it.”
”Have you ever had a girlfriend?” Blainely questioned.
”Yes,” Tyler answered, “For a year, and we’ve been going steady. I love her tons! She’s awesome and she’s popular… she’s great at cheer! She’s always at my games…”
”She’s got massive boobs…” Alejandro said mockingly.
Tyler rubbed his shoulder uncomfortably.
”Well,” Noah tried chiming in, “Have you ever…had sex with her?”
”My family’s Christian.” Tyler said.
”It’s really easy to be a prude when you aren’t attracted to her,” Noah said snarkily, “Isn’t it?”
Tyler shook his head, “She’s very pretty.”
”Does she make you hot?” Cody said. “Do you think of her at night when you…”
”I’m not a pervert!” Tyler shouted. “I get good grades! I go to church. I’m a hockey player!!”
”I’m not like all of you.” Tyler said. People rolled their eyes again.
Tyler continued, “Everyone reads Vogue. Everyone looks at other guys. All the time!”
“But you only assume that they’re thinking what you’re thinking when they look!” Izzy chimed in. “But they aren’t!”
Tyler started to question the other times he’s looked at guys. Has all the times he’s zoned out to his teammates…bodies…really been in sexual ways? Did he really like guys? Was he gay? It couldn’t be. He thought everyone thought that way.
A tear rolled down Tyler’s eye. “I just want to be normal.”
”Then,” Blainely interrupted. “You admit you’re not normal. So why don’t you admit you’re a homosexual?”
Everyone was giving Tyler looks now. He was going crazy. His thoughts were cluttered. He started crying from the overwhelming sensations. What was going on with him?? All the signs were pointing to the fact that he was gay. He must be gay. What was he going to do??
”I’m a homosexual. I’m a homosexual!!” Tyler sobbed. “Oh my god, I’m a homosexual.”
”Congratulations, Tyler,” Blainely said. “You have just finished your first step into completing your true direction!”
Everyone clapped. They all stood up and hugged Tyler.
”I’m a homosexual…”