Lois was lying on top of Maggie in Maggie’s bed. Their shirts were off and their breasts, still in their bras, were pressed tightly together. They were passionately kissing and rubbing their hands all over each other. The muffled sound of a car door came from outside and Maggie pushed Lois away from her.
“What’s wrong?” Lois asked.
“I heard a car door,” Maggie said.
“Maggie, when have your parents ever come home early?”
“Never,” Maggie smiled. “I’m sorry. I’m just really nervous about being caught,” Maggie leaned up and kissed Lois but she pulled away.
“I’m tired of this.”
“What?”
“Hiding. I really care about you. And you care about me, right?” Lois asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s reveal our relationship. Let’s quit hiding who we are. We can tell our parents tonight and our friends at school tomorrow.”
Maggie nodded. “Okay,” she choked.
“Now,” Lois bit her lip, “I think we should celebrate…” Lois began kissing at Maggie’s neck and went down her chest and stomach until her head was between Maggie’s legs. Lois helped slide off Maggie’s shorts and shifted her panties to the side and buried her face between Maggie’s legs.
Lois had decided to tell her mom and brother at dinner. When she went downstairs, her younger brother Michael was already at the table but her older brother Dustin was also there. “Dustin! What are you doing here?” Lois asked, sitting down.
“I thought I would come home and see how my family is doing?”
“So you have no money and are hungry,” Lois translated.
“Now Lois, whatever the reason might be, it’s nice to have Dustin back here,” Lois’ mom, Linda, said as she sat a casserole dish in the middle of the table.
“Well, I’m glad he’s here so I don’t have to repeat myself the next time I see him,” Lois said.
“What do you mean?” Linda asked.
“I have something to tell you all,” Lois sighed heavily in preparation. “I’ve known this for awhile but in the last six months or so have really…taken it to the next level.”
“What are you talking about?” Dustin tried to hurry her along.
“I’m gay and I’ve been seeing this girl at school since October.” All noise at the table ceased and everyone looked at her. Lois made eye contact with each member of her family but everyone remained silent. “Does anyone have anything to say?”
“I think you should’ve found a better outlet for this than over dinner,” Linda said.
“Is it a real girl?” Michael asked, jokingly.
“Of course it’s a real girl. Why would I make up having a girlfriend?”
“You ask me if I’m dating a real girl all the time!”
“Dustin, you’ve been oddly quiet. Do you have anything to add?”
“You better be joking,” he said, looking seriously at her.
“Why would I joke about this? This is a serious matter.”
“If you aren’t lying and you are dating a girl then what you are doing is wrong,” Dustin said.
“Why is it wrong? And don’t give me any religious explanation that quotes an obscure Bible text.”
“No, I’m not. Humans are supposed to reproduce—that’s what nature intended and by you choosing to be with a girl you are essentially slapping nature in the face!” Dustin explained.
“I am not ‘slapping nature in the face,’” Lois finger-quoted. “And I didn’t choose to be gay or attracted to women. I’ve been attracted to girls since about age nine and knew I was gay since I was thirteen.”
“It’s still going against nature,” Dustin said.
“There’s homosexuality everywhere in nature. If it’s a crime against nature then why are Bonobos bisexual?”
“Humans are nothing like Bonobos!” Dustin countered.
“I’m not saying they are but if nature didn’t want homosexuality to exist then there wouldn’t be homosexuality!”
“There isn’t! You choose to…”
“Enough!” Linda shouted. “We are not having this conversation at the dinner table. Or at all in the house!”
“Mom, are you okay with Lois’ decision?” Dustin asked.
“I don’t care. Lois is my daughter and I am going to love and I support her no matter what.”
Lois smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”
“What?” Vicki asked, eyes wide.
“I’m gay,” Lois had just come out to her best friends Dana and Vicki. This was the third time Lois had said she was gay in this conversation.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Dana asked. “Have you done it?”
“Dana, that’s personal, but,” Lois leaned in and talked softer “I have been dating Maggie Stewart. She’s supposed to be doing the same thing—coming out to friends and family.”
“Um, somehow I don’t think she is,” Vicki pointed over to Maggie who was walking with Morgan Bierman, arms crossing their backs, hands on their hips. They stopped and kissed before Morgan broke away and left the commons area.
Lois stormed over to Maggie. “Maggie, what the hell? You were supposed to come out to your friends and family and I see you walking around school with your hand on Morgan Bierman’s ass?”
“Be quiet!” Maggie shushed. “I couldn’t do it! You’ve met my family and we go to a small school. We’d be ostracized and teased and mocked.”
“So you start dating Bierman? You’re just overcompensating!”
“I’m sorry, Lois. The time we had together was really special and I will never forget it but we can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry,” Maggie started to cry and pushed away from Lois.
During fourth hour, Lois was listening to Mr. Smith drone on about chemistry. She was resting a cheek on her hand and her eyelids drooped. “Psst, Lois,” someone whispered behind her. Lois turned around and saw Wyatt Crenshaw placing his middle and fore finger around his mouth in a V-shape and wiggle his tongue. He and a couple students sitting near him tried to muffle their laughter. Lois angrily looked at them and turned back around to the front of the room.
The boy in front of her turned around and began rubbing the spaces between his middle and forefingers together. He laughed louder which caused Wyatt and his friends to laugh harder.
“What’s so funny?” Mr. Smith bellowed. “Everyone pay attention!”
Lois slumped down in her seat and tried to cover her face.
During lunch, Lois came up to Vicki and sat down her tray on the table. “Do people know about me?” she whispered loudly.
“I’ve heard some stuff about it,” Vicki said. “Someone even asked me if I was a lesbian because we hung out together.”
“Vicki, I am so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Honestly I would rather be a lesbian but sadly I’m not attracted to them and I enjoy penis too much,” Vicki sighed.
“I know. You’ve told me,” Lois rolled her eyes. “How do you think everybody found out?”
“I don’t know but you told us in the middle of the commons and then had an argument with Maggie. Any of the fifty people there could’ve overheard.
“Shit!” Lois huffed and looked at a group of girls who were looking at her. One of the girls pointed to Lois then covered her mouth to speak to her friends. Lois slumped in the chair and covered her face again. “Shit.”
“Hey, Lois,” a couple of boys holding lunch trays stopped at Lois, “you should come over to my house after school. I’ll make you not be gay anymore.”
“Get the fuck out of here!” Vicki shouted. The boys walked away still laughing and making sexual remarks. “Fucking knobs.”
“I’m going home,” Lois sighed and started to stand up.
“You can’t go home. If you leave then tomorrow will just be more of the same. Let them get it all out of their system and they will forget all about it.”
“Okay. Thanks, Vicki,” Lois remained seated and smiled. Lois looked across the cafeteria and saw Dana sitting with other girls. “What’s Dana doing over there?” Lois asked.
Lois walked into school the next day and everything seemed back to normal. She noticed no whispering, no remarks and no lewd gestures like what occurred the day before. She saw Maggie in a corner being held by Morgan but thought nothing of it. Lois got to her locker, dropped her backpack on the floor and spun the lock to open it.
On the inside of the door, a large flesh-colored dildo was stuck. A note was taped to it: ‘Thought you needed this!’ Students, who had ignored Lois up to this point were now pointing and laughing at her.
“Oh, real fucking mature, guys!” Lois shouted, pulled the dildo off her locker and slammed the door shut. She grabbed her backpack and stormed off to the office.
“I agree that it’s unacceptable,” the principal said after listening to Lois for almost five minutes about her being bullied, singled out and sexually harassed.
“What are you going to do about it?” Lois challenged.
“What can we do about it? We don’t know who did it,” the principal said.
“Bullshit. Then punish the whole school. Maybe one of the more tolerant people will reveal who did this.”
“I can’t do that, Ms. Glass,” the principal sighed. “If you have an idea who did it, I can question them but we don’t know who did this.”
“Bullshit,” Lois scoffed again. “I’m going home for the day. When I’m back here tomorrow you better have a fucking clue about what you are going to do.”
It was just after one and Lois was sitting at her desk in her bedroom staring at the dildo. “God damn it,” she muttered and threw it in the trash can. There was a knock on her door. “Come in,” she sighed.
Michael entered her bedroom. “Hi, Lois.”
“Michael. What are you doing home?”
“I heard what happened this morning so I decided to come home after lunch and see how you were.”
Lois smiled. “Thanks. You’re the good brother.”
“Dustin will come around. He still loves you.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to tell you that I really admire what you are doing. It’ll get easier—especially after you get out of school in a couple months.”
Lois started to tear up. “Thanks, Mikey. It’s been a rough couple of days.”
“Someone else wants to thank you, too.” Michael motioned for someone in the hallway to come into the bedroom. A short, chubby girl with short black hair and glasses walked in. “This is Monica,” Michael introduced. “She’s one of my best friends.”
“I’m gay, too.”
Lois turned her whole body to Michael and Monica. “Really?”
She nodded. “I just wanted to thank you for making me seem less different,” she began crying.
Lois stood up and went over to Monica to hug her. “It’s my pleasure, Monica. It’s my pleasure…”
The next morning, Lois and Vicki were sitting in the commons area on the floor. “So what did you do with it?” Vicki asked.
“What?”
Vicki raised her eyebrows. “You know. What did you do with it?”
“Oh! I threw it away.”
“Damn. I was going to ask if I could have it.”
“Ew. Gross,” Lois shoved on Vicki.
“Lois?” Dana sat down next to Lois on the floor. “I’m sorry for the other day.”
Lois was taken aback. “Did you…?”
“Oh God, no! Never. I mean for ignoring you. It was small of me and I don’t want to lose your friendship over something like this.”
“It’s cool. I’m still the same person; I’m just attracted to women.”
“I know,” Dana said. “Everything seems a lot more normal today.”
“It does,” Lois said.
Two boys walked by the girls. Both of them coughed, trying to hide the word ‘dyke’ in it. Dana extended her leg and tripped one of the boys.
“Leave her the fuck alone!” she shouted.
“Thanks, Dana,” Lois nudged her friend.