Growing Pride

Prologue

"Neil dear, don't forget your lunch," my mom yelled at me from across the house.

"I'm on my way mom!" I screamed back.

Walking down the hall, I made my way to the kitchen where my mom was fluttering around, trying to help get my sister and me ready for school.

"Are you ready for the first-day sweetie?" she asked me.

"Yes, ma'am. I have my pencil pouch, notebooks, and my new pencil sharpener!" I yelled excitedly.

"Don't give Ms. Meyers too hard of a time Niel," my sister Caitlyn told me. "I remember my first day of fourth grade, and she was a nerv-"

"Ahem!"

Startled, my sister turned around, only to see my mom loudly clearing my throat.

"Don't you need to hurry Cait?" my mom said, "You wouldn't want to miss the bus."

"Yes mom," Caitlyn sighed.

Snatching her brown bag off the table, my sister rushed to her first day of Junior High.

"And you mister," my mom said, bending down to look at me, "should probably go get in the car. I'll be there in a little bit."

Laughter bubbles up from my chest as I ran to our little Ford Corolla.

I jumped up and got into the backseat. To be honest, I was kind of nervous. I'd been homeschooled my entire life, and I had no idea what public school was like. My sister had attended it since third grade, and she had told me stories. And most of them made me want to shrivel up and hide.

When the driver's door was slammed, I was snapped out of my reverie.

"Ready to go sweetie?" my mom asked, turning around to look at me in the backseat.

I nodded, messing up my already floppy hair.

My mom sighed and started the car. All throughout the twenty-minute drive, I felt anxious and queasy. What if my teacher didn't like me? What if the other kids made fun of me?

I knew that I was going to stand out among them. I've always been told that I was a special little boy.

Carrying that promise in my heart, I jumped out of my mom's car and clambered up the hill towards Peapington Elementary School.

~

"Good morning class!" Ms. Meyers said.

We all mumbled a greeting towards our teacher.

"I said good morning!" she shouted. I could almost feel the echo from her words.

Unwilling to be outdone, we all started shouting at the tops of our lungs, until we were satisfied she knew our yells were superior.

She had all of us stand up and introduce ourselves, and then she gave us a math coloring sheet while she took care of the roll.

I was just picking up my orange crayon when the boy next to me leaned over and said, "I heard Ms. Meyers is a lesbian."

I looked around for a while until finally realizing he was talking to me.

Leaning back over to talk to him, I asked, "What's a lesbian?"

He stared astonished, but he answered me anyway, "It's a girl that likes other girls."

"Oh," I said. Well, that wasn't that bad after all. My sister liked other girls. She called them her best friends. And my mom likes the neighborly woman across the street, although she can't stand our neighbors to the side.

"I don't think you're catching what I'm saying," the other boy said, "A lesbian is a girl who likes other girls in the way a mommy likes a daddy."

"Oh!" realization dawned.

I decided that even though it was kind of weird, there was nothing wrong with it. I'd just never heard of a woman liking a woman.

Eventually, I finished my coloring, and I pushed through the rest of the day.

~

"How was school honey?" my mom asked.

"It was good."

I then attempted to recount everything from today.

".....And then Ms. Meyers gave me a bandaid to fix the boo-boo on my knee," I said, holding out my leg so that she could be sure that I was all better.

"Oh, and also I learned that Ms. Meyers was a lesbian."

I felt a strong tug as we suddenly snapped to a stop.

Twisting around in her seat, my mom demanded, "Did she tell you this herself?"

I couldn't tell if it was a question or a command.

"N-no," I was able to get out, "The b-boy next to me t-told me."

Relaxing, my mother sat back down in her seat then began to start driving again.

"Well I hope it's just a rumor," she finally said. "I wouldn't want to take you out of public school again."

"What's so bad about being a lesbian?" I asked her, confusion now taking full hold of my mind.

"Homosexuality, or being gay or lesbian, is evil Neil. It's the epiphany of sin. Epiphany means the highest point. Why people would do something so heinous as to like someone of their own sex, I don't know. Just know that it's awful Neil. It's awful."

"Oh," I muttered, feeling like I was about to cry. If mom said it, it must be true. But what about why she always told me about loving everyone, no matter what they did?

We rode the rest of the way home in silence.

~

Pulling into our driveway, I couldn't help but notice all of the colorful signs everywhere. They all depicted a flat rainbow, with a curved edge like you'll see in the sky.

Walking into the house, my mom ran to find my dad.

I couldn't hear their conversation from the living room, but I did hear a lot of yelling. A couple of minutes later, my dad dragged my mom out of their room and into the living room, where my dad turned on the TV.

It was the news channel, and it showed a lot of angry people waving rainbow signs at a church, where a priest was closing the doors. The shot changed, and now Ms. Meyers was on the screen, angrily gripping a sign and speaking into a microphone.

"My friend's wedding was today, or it was supposed to be. These priests refused to marry them just because they were gay. This is an injustice. Something needs to be done. This shouldn't be legal!"

Turning off the TV, my mom picked up the phone and calmly called the school to say I was going back to homeschooling.