The Real Me

Chapter One

I run my pen across the sheet of paper sitting in front of me, eventually forming words. Who am I? I'd been thinking about the question over the past couple of nights, and the answer was still very unclear to me. I begin to write about how plain my life has been since I moved to this small town but quickly erased the words. This town may be plain, but my life sure was not. The longer I focused on the paper I needed to write, the less aware of my surroundings I became. So it came as a bit of a surprise to realize my teacher was in front of my desk. 

"Mx. Olson, I'd appreciate it if you did your English homework, at home. The class has started, now please make sure you have everything prepared for my lesson." I look up to see Mr. Erickson towering over me, even with his hands placed on my desk. Before I had the chance to respond, he stood and walked back to the front of the classroom.

 "Now if the rest of you were paying attention, you will understand that you have a new classmate, Mr. River Wilder." A boy walked in, confident in his step, yet an uncomfortable look on his face. 

"River you'll be sitting in the back of the classroom, and I will assign someone to be your guide around the school." Mr. Erickson said gesturing for the boy to go take his seat. The longer I stared at River the more familiar he looked, but I couldn't place from where. As he was walking to his seat, he felt my gaze and looked over towards me. Our eyes met for a brief second before I turned back to the sheet of paper in front of me. 'Who is River Wilder?' I watched him walk to his seat, and felt as if I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. When Mr. Erickson cleared his voice, everyone focused their attention on the front. Everyone except me.

"Now, class, does anyone volunteer to show River around the school?" Mr. Erickson waited for a reply, but when none came he looked around the classroom. "If no one volunteers I'll have to pick someone to do it." Still, no one dared raise their hands. Mr. Erickson sighed at the lot of us, losing the last of his patients he looked over the seating chart. 

"Mx. Olson, although you have a hard time listening you are one of my best students. So why don't you show Mr. Wilder around the school during passing?" Although it was a question, I knew that there was no way around doing as he had asked, so defeated I nodded my head. "Great! Now with that figured out, we may begin with class." I had a hard time focusing, trying to figure out who River Wilder was too me, and by the time class ended I was still stumped. 

"You're Mx. Olson, right?" River asked, waking me from my thoughts.

 "Yeah, but you can call me Quinn." I flash a smile at him, as we shake hands, and walk out of the classroom together. 

"So I hate to be rude, but what is Mx?" River asks as I lead him towards his next class.

 "Last year I came out as Bigender, and that's the prefix they decided to use when referring to me by my last name." River doesn't even look up at me before nodding his head. "So, River, where are you from?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I just moved here from a small town in Missouri. Ava, Missouri." 

"I'm not from around here either, I moved around a lot as a kid, and finally, my family settled here. I know I lived in Missouri for a year, ember right it was my third-grade year, but I don't remember what town I lived in." 'I do remember my first love being in Missouri though, what was his name?' Suddenly my head felt light, and I struggled to keep my balance. The world grew dark, and I felt myself falling backward. When I opened my eyes again, River was kneeling down beside me. I didn't know what, but something felt off. 

"Quinn are you okay? You just fainted, you shouldn't try to get up." Against River's better judgment I stood up and opened my mouth to speak, but my body didn't respond. "Quinn?" My body slowly walks closer to River, who backs himself into a wall. He is as confused as I am, both of us trying to understand what was happening. As I neared River my arms laced around his neck and placed my mouth only inches away from his ear.

"Quinn isn't here anymore. But I'll stick around to play with you." I tried to pull away or to regain control of myself, from whatever was happening to me, but my efforts were in vain. 

"Okay, if Quinn isn't here, who are you?" River asked regaining his composure. I felt a smile stretch across my face as my voice said. 

"I usually keep my name a secret, but I'll tell you, so you know what to scream." My body winks at River. I try and cover my face, to stop watching this embarrassing scene or to wake up and find out it's a dream. "The name's Scarlett. I have to go, but hopefully, I'll be seeing you around sometime, sugar." Without realizing it, I had gained control of my body again, and I looked at River. He had a slight smirk on his face.

"If you wanted to flirt with me, you didn't have to make it such a big ordeal." I felt tears welling in my eyes, and a blush creeping on my face.

"I have to go. I am sorry." Without giving it another thought, I ran away. Not realizing until I was sitting at my desk that I never showed River to his class. 'What the was that?' The bell rang, and I decided to abandon my thoughts and for once focus on what was happening in my class.