The Known (On Hold)

10

It's a few months later and Charlotte is edging ever so closer to finishing High School. She honestly can't wait for it to be over with, so she can focus on her future outside of the small town and small-minded people.

Tired of dealing with the whispers in the hallways condemning two girls in a relationship, Charlotte had enough one day and made a point of outing herself while calling the other students who were making the comments, narrow-minded bigots. Needless to say, her Mom got a call from the principal and had to come to the school to smooth things over so she wasn't in jeopardy of losing her scholarship to Stanford.

Charlotte sits in the chairs reserved for the "bad kids" outside of the office and waits for her Mom to come out of the office.

Carol Gordon emerges and shakes the principal's hand before walking over to Charlotte. "Grab your stuff from your locker and I'll meet you at the car. We'll talk when we get home. Don't worry, you're not in trouble, I just decided you deserve an afternoon off to chill."

Charlotte looks at her Mom and smiles, before nodding and heading off in the direction of her locker.

Charlotte runs into Finn in the hallway, "Did he suspend you? Is that why you have your stuff? Because if so I'm going to give that dumbass a piece of my mind, he can't treat you like that and not punish the ones who started it by calling Stacey and Allison, dykes and lesbos."

"I appreciate your support, Finn, but I'm not in trouble, so you can relax. My Mom just told me that I deserved an afternoon to chill, so she's taking me home."

"Oh, okay. So, I'll see you after school then and we can go over the final edits for, "Into The Unknown," before it goes to print and get the website updated."

"Sounds good, I'll see you after Finn."

Charlotte heads out to her Mom's car and they drive home in silence. Entering the house, Carol suggests that they should chat about the fact that Charlotte informed the student body that she was gay.

"Mom, I don't need to talk about it; I'm fine. It's who I am and I don't feel that I should have to hide it. I just couldn't continue to stand by and watch what was happening to Stacey and Allison, they aren't doing anything wrong and people were being idiots towards them because they held hands and kissed each other on the cheek."

"And that's exactly what I told that Principal of yours, they weren't doing anything wrong, nor were you; you were simply standing up against perceived injustice. He assured me that the students involved would be reprimanded and calls to their parents made. Now, put down your books, phone and leave your computer alone for a couple of hours. Why don't you try drawing or painting? You haven't done them for a while."

"Does it count that I drew out the characters and plotlines for the books?"

"No! No more talk of the books, for now, go relax Charlie. I'm heading back to work but I'll be home in a few hours."

"Okay, love you, Mom."

"Love you, too. Be good!"

Charlotte laughs as her Mom heads back out.

Sitting on her bed, with a sketchbook and a pencil, Charlotte starts to doodle and soon realizes that it's taking the form of a certain soccer player that she is crushing on but knows she doesn't stand a change of making hers. She rips the page out and scrunching it up throws it towards the garbage can, banking it off the rim and watching it hit the floor and joining the small army of paper balls already there.

Closing the book and putting the pencil down, she decides that perhaps a nap will help, but her brain is swirling a million thoughts per second. She tries to recall the breathing and meditation techniques that she was taught when originally diagnosed as having anxiety issues. Slowly, she is able to bring herself to a point of relaxation and eventually falls asleep.