Em & Janae

1 - Freak

   I was ashamed to go to Westbrook High. It seemed as though everyone was a nosy bigot, only interested in making sure everything and everyone was exactly the same. I mean, that's what Westbrook was, a collection of the same people, in the same clothes, doing the same things and thinking the same meaningless and bigoted thoughts.

The word 'same' barely held any meaning anymore.

The only thing different among this soul crushing similarity, was Em. Em, unlike most of the residents of Westbrook High, had bright, curly, red hair, and emerald-like green eyes that sparkled when the sun came out. Most people here only had straight dull brown hair, and brown eyes, it was simply statistics. Though, while I was in awe at the difference in this girl's appearance, she was mocked. Em was the school's punching bag, not literally of course, though they did manage to say some pretty horrid things sometimes. She had to deal with this all because she was different, because she was interesting.

Though the way she looked wasn't the only thing that made Em a total outcast and target for dumb kids who couldn't deal with people who weren't carbon copies, there was something else. There was something nearly unforgivable that was rumored about her, that made it like social suicide to even make eye contact with her if you weren't telling her how repulsive her existence was. The rumor that she liked girls.

It was called 'being gay'. Being gay was high on the list of things that would prevent you from having a pleasant high school experience to say the least. It would be like announcing to everyone you had grown a third eye under your bangs, or that you had grown up with wolves for parents and you recognized the moon as your God or something. To sum it up, people didn't like it.

Though naturally, I became intrigued. I was easily bored, so this same stuff was really boxing me up. I was looking for some way out, any way out. So when I could take no more of Nancy Briggs telling the table which boys she thought were cute but out of her league (which I couldn't relate to at all), I broke out of the box.

I sat next to Em Kertis, school freak. I kind of expected the world to implode. Though I did realize within two seconds shooting myself would have made people more eager to be around me at that point. Not that I cared anymore, as the smile that Em cracked when my gray lunch tray clattered against the wooden table.

"Hi," Em said, her voice soothing and beautiful. As if all the wonder in the world was compacted into her speaking patterns.

"Hey," I said, looking her in the eyes. They shone brighter than a thousand suns at that moment.

"Can I sit here?" I asked, relaxing my hands from the lunch tray.

"Please!" She said, patting the empty seat next to her, flashing me a lethally cute grin. I sat down next to her, crossing my legs upon sitting down. It was fair to say Em looked absolutely perfect in that moment. Her frizzy long, red hair pulled back into a white scrunchie, though still a few strands managed to frame her face like a picture. Her green eyes seemed to burst with unreal color, having specks of blue and yellow dotting her irises. Her smile was white and blinding, dimples on her cheeks, and even though she was wearing the same horribly similar clothes as the rest of us, they seemed better on her. She seemed to make them hers, even when it was clear she would rather be wearing anything else. She was perfect.

I then realized I was staring, and turned my gaze anywhere else. Though it was hard when you had perfection sitting right next to you.

"Not that I mind, but you do know sitting next to me is pretty much cultural suicide, right?" She spoke with concern, as if I was new and didn't comprehend the repercussions of picking this seat out of any of the others.

"I know." I said, looking at my lunch. It was pitiful, everyone got the same thing, white rice with white chicken, and if we were lucky, sometimes an undercooked sugar cookie. It was more white than the girl's bathroom tile, and I was nearly blinded every time I walked in there.

"So, again, not that I mind, but why are you committing cultural suicide?" Em asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"It gets boring when all anyone can talk about is which boy looked at which girl during math class. I guess you would know how little that pertains to anything." I said. Em looked at me quizzically.

"I would know, why?" She asked.

"Well since, you know, you, nevermind." I mumbled, realizing that I didn't want to finish that sentence.

"Since I like girls?" She spoke, her voice suddenly going bitter, not looking at me anymore.

"Well, yeah." I sighed, looking at the side of her face. Em shook her head and snapped at me,

"Do you believe everything you hear, or just the really personal, embarrassing, detrimental stuff?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know it wasn't true." I pleaded. Em chuckled, and looked back at me.

"I never said it wasn't true. I'm just tired of people assuming things about me." She hissed, shaking her head.

"Wait, so it is true?" I inquired, nearly jumping out of my seat. Em shot daggers at me.

"Oh so you're waiting for confirmation that I am as much of a freak as people claim? You need the truth so you can contribute to the never ending hell that is my life?" She snapped again, getting in my face.

"N-No." I mouthed, my vocal cords too scared to make a sound. There was silence at the table for a moment as Em backed away from me, and then she spoke,

"It is."

I smiled.

"That's great, Em."