actually stayed up until, like, five in the morning, so I think I might go back to sleep, actually.”
“Oh, okay.” Mom sounded intrigued more than disappointed, and I saw her and dad exchange a look. “What’d you two do all night?”
“Um, just talked and stuff.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Okay,” Mom repeated, and I went to my room.
Once I was there, I took out my phone and exchanged a few texts with both Dina and Josephine, who I’d sent about a thousand thank-you texts to earlier after what Sarah’d told me they’d done. They both seemed amused more than anything, which was nice, but I was still really embarrassed. Last night hadn’t been like me; I’d never really been anything more than tipsy before, and I vowed right then to never drink that much again.
I leaned forward as I sat in my bed, closing my eyes and resting my head in my hands. Everything felt confusing now, and I just wanted this thing with Sarah to end before I wound up more frazzled than I could handle. But it wouldn’t end. We still had over seven months left to go.
“It’s fake, it’s fake, it’s fake,” I murmured over and over again, and then I laid down, and, at some point, mercifully fell back to sleep.
Chapter Seven
L AMBDA’s first out-of-school meeting was the following Tuesday. Rather than sitting in our usual circle in room 405, we all carpooled to a place about ten minutes away, which Jake described as “Flowery Branch’s local LGBT resource center”. I hadn’t known such a place existed, and Sarah expressed the same ignorance as we drove there.
With Sarah and I included, there were fifteen people in our club, and we all gathered inside the building – which featured a small rainbow flag outside its front door – to have a talk with a man named Owen Bradshaw, although he told us immediately that he preferred to just be called by his first name. He was in his late twenties and worked at the center.
“Our general mission is to make sure the local LGBT youth… or, in other words, you guys,” he said, “feel comfortable having a place to come to when you need somewhere to turn, whether it’s for answers to questions or if you have family issues and don’t feel comfortable returning home. We’ve housed teens overnight, and we’ve also given them hot meals. But for less serious circumstances, we’ve had people stop by just to borrow a good book or a movie from our collection over on that shelf.”
He pointed across the lobby, to a bookshelf filled to the brim with DVDs and novels. I raised both eyebrows, surprised there were enough to fill the shelf. It’d been like pulling teeth for Sarah and me to try and find any books or movies a couple of weeks ago.
“So, anyway, why you guys are here. We were contacted by Jake about some of you potentially being unaware that we were here, although I will say I do see a few familiar faces amongst you.” He smiled. “Additionally, we’ve decided we’d like to do something small for National Coming Out Day, which is coming up when?”
Owen raised a hand to his ear expectantly, and the rest of the group chorused, “October 11 th !” as Sarah and I stood dumbly amongst them.
“Right. So, for today, just feel free to explore, look around, talk amongst yourselves… and I’m sure Jake will keep you posted, but we’ll probably meet back here in a few days on Sunday the 10 th and work out what we’ll be doing on the 11 th . Let me know if you guys have any questions or need anything. We’ve got some food out on the table over there if you’re hungry; help yourselves.”
Our group of fifteen immediately dissolved into several familiar cliques. Henry, Hattie, and Jessa headed for the buffet table with some others, and I saw Jake stay back to talk to Owen.
“Let’s go look at the shelf,” Sarah suggested, looking genuinely excited at the prospect. “We can see if there’s anything good we haven’t heard
“Oh, okay.” Mom sounded intrigued more than disappointed, and I saw her and dad exchange a look. “What’d you two do all night?”
“Um, just talked and stuff.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Okay,” Mom repeated, and I went to my room.
Once I was there, I took out my phone and exchanged a few texts with both Dina and Josephine, who I’d sent about a thousand thank-you texts to earlier after what Sarah’d told me they’d done. They both seemed amused more than anything, which was nice, but I was still really embarrassed. Last night hadn’t been like me; I’d never really been anything more than tipsy before, and I vowed right then to never drink that much again.
I leaned forward as I sat in my bed, closing my eyes and resting my head in my hands. Everything felt confusing now, and I just wanted this thing with Sarah to end before I wound up more frazzled than I could handle. But it wouldn’t end. We still had over seven months left to go.
“It’s fake, it’s fake, it’s fake,” I murmured over and over again, and then I laid down, and, at some point, mercifully fell back to sleep.
Chapter Seven
L AMBDA’s first out-of-school meeting was the following Tuesday. Rather than sitting in our usual circle in room 405, we all carpooled to a place about ten minutes away, which Jake described as “Flowery Branch’s local LGBT resource center”. I hadn’t known such a place existed, and Sarah expressed the same ignorance as we drove there.
With Sarah and I included, there were fifteen people in our club, and we all gathered inside the building – which featured a small rainbow flag outside its front door – to have a talk with a man named Owen Bradshaw, although he told us immediately that he preferred to just be called by his first name. He was in his late twenties and worked at the center.
“Our general mission is to make sure the local LGBT youth… or, in other words, you guys,” he said, “feel comfortable having a place to come to when you need somewhere to turn, whether it’s for answers to questions or if you have family issues and don’t feel comfortable returning home. We’ve housed teens overnight, and we’ve also given them hot meals. But for less serious circumstances, we’ve had people stop by just to borrow a good book or a movie from our collection over on that shelf.”
He pointed across the lobby, to a bookshelf filled to the brim with DVDs and novels. I raised both eyebrows, surprised there were enough to fill the shelf. It’d been like pulling teeth for Sarah and me to try and find any books or movies a couple of weeks ago.
“So, anyway, why you guys are here. We were contacted by Jake about some of you potentially being unaware that we were here, although I will say I do see a few familiar faces amongst you.” He smiled. “Additionally, we’ve decided we’d like to do something small for National Coming Out Day, which is coming up when?”
Owen raised a hand to his ear expectantly, and the rest of the group chorused, “October 11 th !” as Sarah and I stood dumbly amongst them.
“Right. So, for today, just feel free to explore, look around, talk amongst yourselves… and I’m sure Jake will keep you posted, but we’ll probably meet back here in a few days on Sunday the 10 th and work out what we’ll be doing on the 11 th . Let me know if you guys have any questions or need anything. We’ve got some food out on the table over there if you’re hungry; help yourselves.”
Our group of fifteen immediately dissolved into several familiar cliques. Henry, Hattie, and Jessa headed for the buffet table with some others, and I saw Jake stay back to talk to Owen.
“Let’s go look at the shelf,” Sarah suggested, looking genuinely excited at the prospect. “We can see if there’s anything good we haven’t heard
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