Up A Tree

❥I

It's my first year of high school. I'm kind of scared, yet kind of excited. I'm scared no one will accept me for my queerness but, yet again everyone is going through changes and phases that will fade away. Everyone is so different anyways that we kind of blend in.

I'm genderfluid, which means I don't have a specific gender. Most people think I'm a girl, which I'm fine with because I can't change what people think, and I can see why. I don't act more feminine or masculine, I act neutral. What I can't stand is when people try to tell me that I am a girl (or boy) or use she pronouns deliberately.

***
It's the first year of ninth grade for me and seventh for my sister so my mom had to take a picture of her "big girls".

"Aw, you two are so grown up!", she says as my sister and I stand next to each other.

"Move closer to your sister, Taylor.", those words triggered me.

Taylor is my younger sister who I strongly despise.

"Okay mom are we done yet?", Taylor says while giggling.

"Yes, Sweet T. You know how I get.", my mom says. My mom calls Taylor Sweet T, which I find stupid but whatever.

"Why is Jo dressed like a boy? It's the first day of school and you want to make people to think you have an identity crisis?"

Well Taylor, I actually do but let's not get into that.

"Just let her be. It's her style", my dad says as my mom agrees.

I appreciate them defending me but, I'd much rather they not use those pronouns but in their defense, they don't know so I couldn't blame them. As to Taylor saying I was dressed as a boy, it wasn't that masculine. I mean my hair is in a semi-quiffed pixie with streaks of red in it and I had a beanie on which is pretty gender neutral. I had jeans and a Nirvana tee with a basic red flannel wrapped around my waist paired with some black Converse. My backpack was general with pins from Hot Topic on it, which isn't all bad.

I rode my bike to school because it was about two and a half miles which is pretty quick to me. Plus, I love riding my bike, so it's a double whammy. I love biking through my neighborhood. My favorite time of the year is fall because of all the colors and cool breeze in the air. But, since summer is ending I won't experience that until next month. Summer is still beautiful though. As I approach Barringer High, I notice how big and appealing it looks. I just got a lot more excited for high school just because of the environment itself.

I rode to the bike rack and locked my bike and headed straight to the table in front of the doors.

"Name please?"

"Uh, Jo. Jo Creed."

"And your grade?"

"Oh, um ninth."

"Alrighty then. Here's your schedule. Enjoy your first day here!"

"Thank you. Have a great day."

I head inside and bump into a girl.

"Oops. Sorry."

"It's okay. What's your name? I'm Demi Stone."

"Oh I'm Jo Creed."

"Cool. What's your locker number?"

"Mine is, 342."

"Mine is 351. So we're across from each other."

"Nice. So I'll see you around?"

"Yup. Well bye"

"Goodbye"

I go to my locker thinking of the possibility of Demi be my high school best friend. I put all my binders and notebooks in and look at my schedule. I have Advanced Literature first so I grab one of my notebooks and close my locker. I lean against it slightly and take out my phone while waiting for the first bell to ring. Since the Advanced Literature room was near my locker so I didn't rush. The bell rang a couple minutes later so it was time for my first class.

I walked in the classroom and scanned my eyes around. I saw Demi and she waved so, I waved back. I sat next to her because that felt the most comfortable.

"Why hello, Jo."

I giggled.

"Why hello Demi. Sorry I have nothing clever.", I chuckled.

More students walked in until all the seats were filled. Everyone was having sidebars and mini discussions as our teacher wrote her name on the board.

"Settle down students. I'm Mrs. Lee and I will be teaching your Advanced Literature class. For the first assignment of this semester, you will be grouped in pairs to write a summary of a fictional story created by you two. It will be two pages long and printed. Each of you will write a page for equal participation. This assignment is due next Monday. So get into pairs and I will give you fifteen minutes to start coming up with ideas and then we'll start class."

   Demi and I gave each other the look. You know, the look you give you're best friend when you're asked to be paired. We turned to each other to start coming up with ideas.

"So I guess we're partners.", Demi says.

"Guess so.", we both giggled.

"So, wanna work on the project at my house after school?"

"Sure, I'll just need to inform my parents."

"Will you need a ride? Because I ride my bike here and I would need to call my mom or dad to pick us up."

"Oh, I ride my bike too. I love riding my bike."

"Cool! So, can we use this time to talk instead of discuss ideas because we can do that later."

"Sure, of course! So Demi, I may ask, do you like Demi Lavato?"

"Ha ha, very funny, Jo."

   We both laughed and continued fully introducing ourselves until Mrs. Lee stopped us and began to teach.

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Hey guys it's Nat! Thanks for reading my new book! I hope you like this one better than my other one. I feel like this one will be better and more successful! Tell me what you think!

Have a gay day/night<3

(remember that gay=happy:)