Hi schmociety schmocie! How’s life going without me? New buddies? Are they nice? Hope so. I started the new high school today. It was nice but simultaneously awful. But I am getting ahead of myself and leaving you out on the story. Let’s take it from the very beginning; the morning of today.

“A truly accepting high school.” That’s what they told me. With its salmon colored buildings, Berry High looked fresh, but accepting? I could do at least hope. The glass doors were neatly polished, the stairs waxed, and the park outside well-cut, so it looked rather rich. That could be a bad sign, I thought, as many rich kids are very spoiled, but also a good one because it would mean that they had good equipment and teachers. 

Hordes of students walked through the doors accompanied by the bell. I realized the time and followed them. I went into the first classroom I found and asked for the homeroom for 10A.

- That would be here, mister. Are you Drew Sadnich…Sadnizz...Sadnisz…

- Sadnizsc, yes. It’s Lithuanian.

- Oh, welcome. Please take a seat. I’m Mr Brown by the way, teacher in U.S. history and your homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you.

- Same.

I took a seat in the back. I usually don’t want much attention in the start. I tend to get it la ter in the way as I usually do; you should know it by now. Next to me was a girl with beautiful braided hair; she presented herself as Djennifer. I told her I was Drew and that she had beautiful hair. She giggled something back, and I realized I had already taken a liking for her while giggling back. We talked a little about the town, and I got to borrow a pencil of her for the first day. 

In a minute, Mr Brown silenced the class and checked who were there. Apparently we were a class of eighteen; five boys, eight girls and five non binary peeps (two agender, one bigender and two genderfluid). Then the usual followed about when the semester ended, where you were allowed to smoke (apparently everywhere as long as it’s outside), who the principal was, and lastly, my dreaded moment came. He asked me to come up to the pulpit and introduce myself. Last time I did this, I stuttered halfways through, but I actually managed not to lose my tounge this time.

“Hi, I’m Drew. I transferred here from Zucchini High in New Uppsala, where I formerly lived. I like singing and history, and I have signed up for cheer squad. I hope I will get to know you better, and look forward to spending the semester with you.” Why did I say that last phrase? Cheesy much, hello? No one laughed at least, and that’s the best this far.

I went back to my desk, and got two uplifting thumbs up from Djennifer. Mr Brown talked on about the grading policies, and before I knew it the bell rang. Djennifer asked if I wanted to be with her during break, and I accepted willingly. We went to a bench in the park, and she told me a little bit more about her.

Her parents moved here from Kenya (just like yours! What a coincidence) twenty years ago, but she had never been there. She was in band, playing the saxophone, liked scarfs and was very interested in all kinds of maths. We then went to our lockers and she showed me her band uniform, which made me pity I hadn’t chosen band. When I told Djennifer that, she laughed and assured me the cheer uniforms were as pretty.

When the bell rang, we took our pencils and went to the trigonometry lesson. The teacher introduced herself; she was Mrs Blue and had all maths classes. Then we started with the lesson;today was all about sine. I didn’t really grasp the concept of the unit circle, but Mrs Blue said that she would explain it again later on so there were no worries. Do you get it yet? Or maybe you don’t even have trigonometry?

The bell rang, once more, and I followed the signs to the cheer room. I met the band director there, and she told me that the rooms had been swapped due to size issues for the band. She was kind and showed me the way to the new cheer room, where all the other cheerleaders already had assembled. I introduced myself once more, and got my cheer uniform. It was as pretty as Djennifer told me, in green, gold and gray with golden stripes on the back. I got introduced to the regular program, and then we all practiced cartwheels and handstands together. Although simple, they are tricky; if you do them even so slightly off the teamwork will be void. We practiced until we were in sync, and then hit the showers a little bit before lunch.

I found Djennifer at lunch, she sat with a pretty pretty  pretty boy at one of the back tables. He had blonde hair in a very nice cut, semi long and smooth, with grey eyes, a elliptical face and a soft, red mouth.She introduced us: he was Ken, and played first seat clarinet in the band. I said hello and asked how he was, and his angelic answer “fine” struck my heart. I needed him. My tounge tied a knot on itself and I started eating the food very slowly, to be able to sit for long and to hide my shyness. Ken left, and I immediately told Djennifer how hot he was and asked why she hadn’t made a move yet. Apparently she had a girlfriend from Athenos—Elena— and was pansexual. I wasn’t really sure what that was, but she told me. It’s really true that you learn something new everyday, and today’s fact was interesting. The bell broke our convo, so we went to the next class.

It was U.S. History, together with the B class and Mr Brown, but today we took the whole lesson to introducing ourselves. I got to learn all my new classmates’ (and the ones from B too) names and a few things about them, but the worst were yet to come. Mr Brown told the class that I was from Zucchini High, and asked why I transferred. I told them the whole story. You were there when I told you, but maybe you’ve forgotten? I’ll tell it again either way, the same as I told them.

I had a boyfriend, Timothy, and we were happy. But one day a bully came and shouted slurs to us, and Timothy threw a stone back as answer. The bully came closer and started to strangle Timothy, who desperately fought back, but the bully choked him completely, and he fell down dead. Then I ran home, cried for hours, and finally called the police and the principal. Apparently this bully was a well seen senior at Zucchini High, and as such the principal told me that we were “too gay” and that it was our own fault. My mother got very upset, but nothing changed, so we decided to let me switch schools and hopefully get rid of the bullies. 

That was what I said, there’s more to it than that. However, I didn’t want to share all the details this early on. Djennifer said she was sorry after, and Mr Brown too. After that he went to the bathroom, and a blonde guy that sat across me leaned forward and whispered “faggot” to me. Twice. That little bitch, I won’t go easy on him forwards. Then Mr Brown came back and we continued with some friendly chitchat, and then the bell rang and I biked home. And now I sit here in our new kitchen; we aren’t done moving in, but we have moved most of the stuff. 

Well, got to go and pack up my room, I still haven’t unpacked all my clothes.See ya(if the post office don’t do something funny with the tape of course)! And good luck with the girls, schmochie!