Nora

Chapter 1: What's in a name?

My mother takes the naming of her children quite seriously. Actually my mother takes everything seriously.

See the thing is, my mother hates her name. She was christened Beatrix Amelia (her mother, my grandmother, was obsessed with Beatrix Potter) and for as long as she can remember she has thought it sounded wrong. Not that she doesn't like the name, it's just she isn't particularly fond of it on her. 

Apparently, everyone else shared her sentiments, as apart from her mother my Mom is known as Trixie. Which suits her a hell of a lot better, well that's what I'm told at least. Being her son, I can only really see her as Mom.

So when my mother found out she was pregnant with me, her first and only child, she made a conscious decision. She would not be picking out a name for me before I was born. 

But being my mother she also took it so far as not to even discuss any names with my father Arthur (who is quite happy with his name, for the record) or anyone else. Why? Well because she didn't  want to get attached to any one name. When I was born she wanted to look at me and decide what kind of name would suit me best. Something her mother did not do. Favourite authors, beloved uncles and aunts would not have any influence over my naming. 

So you'd think that with all this careful name planning (or lack thereof) that I would have a name which would fit me like a glove. Sadly, my mother doesn't exactly have the best taste in names and my father is powerless against her.  She is a force my mother.

So that's how I got stuck with Riley Jonathan Lawrence and for as long as I can remember I have hated my name.

Well not the Jonathan Lawrence part. Jonathan is a cool name. It's manly and fierce and I would do anything to go back to my birth and convince my mother to name me that instead. And Lawrence is well, Lawrence it's just a last name and at least it's not Gayheart or Titmarsh.

But Riley? Firstly, it's unisex. You can lump any kid with the name Riley, boy or girl. There was another Riley in my class in middle school. They were a she. And boy did I cope flack for that.

Secondly it doesn't suit me at all. Riley sounds feminine, so it would suit a guy on the more sensitive side. And since I started high school I have been trying to banish that side. It's not that I want to be mean or cruel or anything, but you don't survive high school as a guy by having "feelings" or having a unisex name. You keep your head up and join a sport and do as well at school as you can to keep your parents happy but you keep it on the down low.

Before November of this year I was pretty good at surviving high school. I had a list that I made in the middle of freshman year and I had stuck to it.

1.      Always play a sport. Be on a team. This means team mates. Mates=friends.

2.      Don't read in public. Don't flash around good grades in public.

3.      Get a girlfriend, be interested in a girl or have some sort of girl interaction at least twice a year.

4.      Do not show who you really are. There is time for that later.

So it's a pretty simple list but it got me into the popular crowd and several girlfriends and good enough grades to apply for Ivy League Colleges and not worry too much if I was overestimating my chances. But that was before November, before everything changed and before I stopped caring about what other people thought of me.

My mother was very careful with her health whilst she was pregnant with me. I was a surprise you see. No not the unwanted kind of surprise that comes from unprotected sex as a teenager. I was a 'little miracle' as my mother liked to refer to me.