This Is Me (an original LGBTQIA+ short story)

This Is Me

Everyone has their secrets, whether they're small bits of information kept in the dark or something that could change a person's life. Everybody has had a secret at some point in their life, and you'd be lying if you said you've never had one. And although all people, older and younger kept secrets, it was teenagers who were most notorious for hiding things, and that was no different from the students at WestWood High School.

At WestWood, it was normal for students to keep parts of themselves locked away in the dark. Like how Milo Dettbarn, the kid known for sleeping through classes and only rarely getting punished for it, was actually working through the night to help save money for their single mom and two siblings.

How junior Dakota Foster, the school's known theatre kid, wanted so badly to be center stage on Broadway, but couldn't bring herself to audition for anything because of her intense stage fright and performance anxiety.

And how Charlotte Brach, the girl who was out-and-proudly pansexual at school and was dating the sweetest girl, wasn't even out to her homophobic parents. She made them think she was in a relationship with her best friend, Augie Walters when all she wanted to do was be with her girlfriend.

While everyone here had their little secrets, Saylor Elliot might have had the biggest one out of all of them: she was aromantic asexual.

As one of the most popular girls in school, Saylor had a stereotype held against her. In movies, popular girls were most of the time manipulative, mean blondes who were known for dating around, while Saylor was kind, had no shame in being her almost true self, and had absolutely no interest in boys. Only one person knew about her real identity though, and it was her best friend Alice, who had been with her through it all.

Saylor had told Alice about her dilemma the moment she heard about the term, and being thirteen at the time, she was frightened and confused. Alice was by her side through the vents, the questioning, and helping Saylor reject any guy that had tried to make a move on her. She knew how hard it had been for her friend to accept herself and who she really was, but after three years, Alice knew Saylor was tired of hiding.

After three years, Saylor was done lying and burying herself in the shadows. She wanted to be her real, authentic self in front of everybody; she wanted to come out.

"God, Alice, I don't know if I can even do this anymore," Saylor sighed, Alice walking alongside her as they made their way home from school, seeing as they both lived on the same street.

"What do you mean? I thought you were ready?"

"I mean... I thought I was, but what if she doesn't accept me? What if she doesn't understand what aromantic asexual means even after I explain it and-"

"Saylor," Alice stopped her rambling by grabbing her hand, stroking it with her thumb, "this is your mom we're talking about, she's the most accepting and loving person I've ever met. I get that this is scary for you, but please, don't think like that, this is going to work out in the end, I promise."

Saylor nodded and shrugged, moving closer to her friend on the sidewalk and lacing her hand with Alice's. The two continued to chat about their day and her coming out plan until they reached the Elliott household, where both girls said their goodbyes and hugged each other tightly.

As Saylor shut the door behind her, she felt her grip loosen on her backpack strap and heard the thump as it dropped to the floor. Glancing over at the clock on the wall, she saw that she still had about two hours until her mom came home, giving her time to finish her homework and think about how her coming out would go.

She bent down and unzipped her bookbag and fished around for her geometry binder, which held her homework sheet. After finding that, Saylor moved from the doorway and into her bedroom and sat down at her desk, grabbing a pencil and starting her work as the seconds ticked by.