Kris and Kit

Chapter 24 ~ Impressing Her Parents

Kit

I had come to accept the fact that I was a lesbian, but with this realization came a feeling of emptiness, of not belonging. It took me awhile, but I soon noticed it. People did not appreciate my existence. They unknowingly showed me this in many little ways. As I walked from class to class, I would sometimes hear my peers passing around slurs that were designed to degrade people like me, Kris, and my friends. I once heard two straight boys discussing what it means to be a lesbian, both of them spewing disgusting misconceptions. It was in third period, the class before the one I shared with Kris.

"Okay dude, listen. You got the masculine one who cuts her hair, that one's the boy in the relationship."

I felt compelled to reply. "Last time I checked, there are no boys in a lesbian relationship," I told them coldly.

This guy, Greg, was the disruptive and disrespectful sort of student who blurted out offensive things and received not the slightest form of punishment for it. He seemed quite surprised that I had challenged him. After lifting the brim of his hat to get a good at who was disagreeing with him, he said, "I'm talking about the one who acts as the dude, y'know."

"What, like a hetero couple? You think all relationships mirror straight couples?" I was armed with knowledge and arguments published by the LGBT community, which I now liked to read frequently. I would sit on my bed, pull out my laptop, and read articles written by lesbians about misconceptions and how to clear people's minds of them. Apparently I had made it obvious that I enjoyed that, because sometimes Sherry or Riley would send me links to new ones.

"Uh," was all Greg had to say for himself.

Then his friend chimed in. "Chill, no need to get all bitchy about it."

Startled by his wording, I couldn't respond. Just then, a voice from behind us caught the attention of the whole class. "Hey!" someone yelled, loud and demanding. I turned to find a familiar face that I had somehow not seen in this class before. It was Riley. "Shut your hole, Greg," she barked.

A murmur of "Oooooh" filled the room, and the teacher simply gave Riley a half-hearted warning look.

Greg and his friend then had the audacity to mumble something racist. Riley motioned for me to sit by her, so I gladly took my bookwork and moved to her table. "Riley, you haven't always been in this class, have you?" I asked.

"Nah, I switched my schedule up. Don't take AP science classes, alright? Hey, also, fuck that guy."

"I hate him," I nodded. "Way to call him out though. He was saying some offensive stuff about lesbians, and he's racist too. I uh, I didn't expect that coming from you," I admitted.

"Yeah I get it, I'm quiet," Riley replied. In the following silence, I feared that I had offended her, but then she kept going. "To be honest," she paused for a moment, considering whether or not to continue, "I've always been told to shut up, so it's kinda hard for me to raise my voice... or whatever," she added, leaning back in her chair.

"Being quiet isn't bad," I consoled her. "If you're trying to be a little louder though, I bet you'll get the hang of it soon."

Riley smiled at me. "You've come a long way," she noted proudly. "When I met you, you were raising some red flags. I was questioning how accepting you were of differences and how willing you were to learn."

She was right. Just months ago, I had been as ignorant as Greg and his pal what's-his-face sitting over at my table. The truth was that I still had a lot to learn, but now I was willing to learn it. I was meeting people from the LGBT community online and obtaining new information all the time. It was exciting finding other people like me. While talking to Riley and her online friends about the asexual and aromantic spectrum, I even began to question if I had a place on that spectrum, since I had never experienced sexual attraction. There was so much to learn. It made me feel sad for people who didn't even acknowledge lesbians as people, like Greg... and my parents.