Andi

I got avoided for an entire day. I found her the same day but got shut down incredibly quickly.

She was standing there looking nervous, I stood in front of her and she refuses to meet my eyes.

“Hey!” I said in a cheerful voice, Brooks just turned around.

“Goodbye!” She said. She had biology now. We both do, have since when she first came here. Surely she was aware of that fact?

“Um,” I say and Brooks pauses and stops walking. “You do realise biology is this way, right?” I gesture to the way to the science lab. She doesn’t even turn around to face me, that is rather rude, to be honest.

“I’m ditching it today, I’m going home.” She says it over her shoulder before booking it out of there. She just walks away and I’m left standing there looking around.

That seemed oddly out of character.

I shrug and walk away, going to biology. Brooks showed up after biology but she’s still dodged me like her life depends on it.

Whatever.

She can’t run forever.

.........

It’s the day after she ever do kindly avoided me. I’m rushing to my favourite class ever. Maths, gotta love the useless equations you won’t need when you get older! Yay!

I’m alright at maths. I just hate it more than I hate whitewashing.

I hear Lucy and some semi-popular girl, I think her name’s Eliza, talking about some bullshit rumour.

“Did you know, Beatrice totally fucked her boyfriend’s best friend!” Lucy says, a bit too loudly. Everyone looks at her, the teacher raises her eyebrows. She then shrugs and looks away, leaving Lucy to gossip.

What the fuck?

Wait, Brooks has a boyfriend. Surprise, suprise.

“No way!” Eliza says, “Really? Beatrice is such a whore.”

I snap around in my chair to face Eliza and Lucy. Eliza blinks at me, Lucy just looks bored at my sudden attention. “Shut the fuck up,” I say easily. “Where’s your ever so reliable source?”

Lucy just rolls her eyes and Eliza is sitting there with her eyes opened wide.

“Bea told me,” Lucy says easily, “She sleeps around with everyone apart from her boyfriend.”

I roll my eyes, “Who’s her boyfriend then?”

“His name’s Benjamin,” Lucy responds smugly and I roll my eyes. “Apparently he’s rather cute.”

“Mhm,” I hum, I start doodling in my book because I don’t care too much about math. We had biology next, which meant I had an opportunity to chase down Brooks. The bell rang and I jump straight outta my seat and race down the hallway.

I couldn’t find her. What the fuck? Where did she run off to this time?

Soon school ends and I find myself with Aylin as we walk around, not looking at anything in particular just looking at things.

We’re in the shop bit of the town, there’s stuff everywhere, people everywhere and Aylin and I are just looking around. I see the bi flag and I start walking over. Aylin gets the clue and walks over with me.

I look at it. “Get it,” Aylin says with a hint of stress in her voice.

Some lady walks next to us and actually snarls at the several flags that are propped against the wall. Aylin and I both face her, ready to hit her with the facts.

“Unnatural freaks.” She tips of her nose.

I flip her off with both fingers. “I’m not the one intruding on other people’s lives. Go and be sad because you married at eighteen and didn’t wait longer,” I snap.

The lady looks at me with disgust. “You’re the lesbian that goes to Beatrice’s school! You shouldn’t be allowed at an all-girls school. It’s disgusting.”

“I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual,” I cross my arms firmly and Aylin stands next to me as tall and strong in stance just as I am. “So, mind your fucking business, because I’ve done nothing to hurt you.”

The lady sneers. Jesus, please hold this poor lady and not let her make a jerk out of your otherwise alright religion.

“It’ll spread to my daughter and I don’t want her being gay!”

“Why?”

“It’s not what god intended. Adam and Eve, not Adam or Steve.”

That is the most used scentence from people when they have no reason to hate gays. So they just bring up that stupid excuse.

“Homosapien, not Hetrosapien, bitch.” I say. I flip her off again and Aylin and I walk past her, I bump her harder than I should as I pass.

So that's Brooks mother.

Jesus fucking Christ.

I shake my head and groan as Aylin and I speed in the other direction. “Awful,” Aylin says, “It’s 2020, it’s sad people are still jerks.”

“People are always jerks, what they’re jerks about change as time change. Used to be women, then black people, then a million others in the middle and now it’s queer people,” I say and Aylin nods like I have bestowed some ancient wisdom on her.

We walk for a few more minutes talking about school and stuff when someone comes up to Aylin and starts chatting. This is more common than you think. It’s surprising it hasn’t happened sooner.

“Wanna come to laser tag, me and a few friends are going there now,” the person says and Aylin glances at me. Silently asking me if it’s okay.

“Ask Mum first, but I’ll give you some money,” I say and Aylin looks excited enough to break the universe with her smile. I get out my phone, and inside the pocket bit on the case is fifty bucks, I hand it to her.

I didn't need the bi flag today anyway.

“You do my chores for a week then we’re even,” Aylin nods and takes the money. She gets her phone to call Mum even if we both know she’ll say yes.

Of course she says yes so Aylin and I part ways.

“Be home before dinner or Mum will actually kill you!” I call to her, she sends me a thumbs up and we walk in opposite directions.

I walk towards the river that connects or divides. Depends on how you look at it, the really rich side of town to the moderately rich side of town. I live in a moderately rich side, not the really rich side.

More curiously is the fact Brooks is sitting on the bank of the river a bit further up from where the bridge is. I wave at her.

Brooks sees this and is explainabley freaked out. Her eyes go wide, I walk to the bridge and cross so we’re on the same side. Brooks gulps and I sit down next to her.

“Met your Mum,” I say because it’s an easy way to start a conversation.

“Oh… I’m sorry,” she looks out at the river and starts throwing rocks in.

“It’s okay,I got to flip her off and swear at her a bit. So it was fine.”

“She’s wrong about that.”

“Wrong about what?” I ask because Brooks could be referring to a world’s worth of things.

“All gay people are awful vile people. That’s like saying all people are awful and vile, it’s just untrue,” Brooks says. She throws in a stone and it hits right in the middle of the river.

It’s hardly a river. More a wide stream, but it separates two places that don’t need to be separated at all.

“Wise words from Beatrice Brooks,” I say smiling for a reason I can’t explain.

“My name’s awful. It’s the most pretentious thing out there after me. Beatrice,” she shudders at the thought of her name. “Ew.”

“Well, I call you Brooks in my head, I feel like it suits you way more than Bea or Tricia or whatever other nicknames you have.”

“Brooks." She looks thoughtfull, "I like it.” She adds with a smile.

I look out at the river, I’m not going to look at Brooks while doing this. That’s dumb and requires me to make more human contact than what I want to.

“So… about yesterday,” I mutter.

“What about yesterday?” Brooks has gone into her defensive mood.

“Well, your heart wasn’t quite in with calling me a worthless gay person,” I say, my tone rising to the same as hers.

“Of course it wasn’t. I hate you for other reasons than you being gay,” Brooks says. It’s said harshly, but something inside me tells me she doesn’t mean it. If she hated me I wouldn’t have sat down next to her without her telling me to piss off.

Ease the tension!

“Rude, but oddly fair.”

“You’re weird and nerdy,” Brooks says, which is honestly an attack on everything I am. Still. She doesn’t mean it, but I’m not gonna sit here and be called weird and nerdy without retaliating a little.

“You’re pink and bitchy,” I reply.

“Yeah, I am,” Brooks crosses her arms and sits on the bank grumpily.

“And I’m a giant nerd, don’t think I won’t kick your ass.”

“Yeah right. Like you’d be able to do that.”

“You’d be surprised. I took judo classes from six to like twelve. I was very skilled.”

Brooks just rolls her eyes at me and uncrosses her arms. She chooses another stone and grips it in her hand loosely. Her sleeve has moved up the slightest bit.

There’s a pale white scar running across the length of her wrist. I decide not to say anything.

But now I’m worried. Like oddly worried. “Can I have your number?” I ask bluntly and out of nowhere, Brooks looks at me surprised.

“Why?”

“I’m trying to get everyone in our year’s number. Never know when it’s useful,” I say quietly and look at my contacts. There's certainly a lot there.

“Sure,” Brooks takes my phone and puts in the contact. She takes a derpy photo of her pulling an odd face and hands the phone back to me. “May your collection continue forever.”

“Thanks,” I say and we sit there for a while. Not speaking, but still oddly aware of the other’s presence.

The sun light’s fleeting when I finally drag myself onto my feet. “I gotta go, thanks for hanging with me.”

“We weren’t hanging.”

I just look at Brooks carefully and then she shrugs in my direction. “Whatever you say m’ lady,” I say then walk off.

Brooks is laughing lightly behind me, it’s different to how she laughs at school. It’s softer and more melodious, I can’t describe it. It’s just a soft chuckle but for some reason, it means so much more.

I smile lightly.

No.

I’m getting a crush.

Fuck.