there's a first time for everything

deja vu

The first day of school arrives, and the first thing that goes wrong is Connor's appearance. Just my freaking luck. Of course he was going to be here. How would he not be? He's my age, lives around here, so he probably goes to the same school I do. And better yet, Jasper is with him, though they don't say anything to each other.

He doesn't talk to me at first, and that is a bit of a relief since he has the same lunch I do. But come fourth period—which is after lunch, it's amazing how early this school makes it—he sits right next to me and keeps sending me pointed glances.

Finally I cave and sigh, turning to him. "What do you want?" I hiss.

He flicks his eyes away. "I just wanted to say hi. Jeez."

"Well, say hi then."

"You don't..." He trails off, shaking his head. "Whatever. You should just know some things first."

"About?"

"This school." He glances out at the rest of the kids, then leans in. "The kids here aren't that nice. Take Jasper, for instance. He's a total dick, don't pay attention to him."

I laugh. "And you're not?"

"No."

"How do I know that Jasper's a dick but you aren't?"

He gives me an eye. "You wait. People here always find something, doesn't matter what. They always find something to tease you about eventually."

I wanted to tell him that that's how every school is like, and but at that moment Jasper walked over.

"Nice hair," he says, smirking. I touch my ponytail and roll my eyes.

"Friendly, aren't you." I look down at my worksheet and ignore him for the rest of the class. He tries to get a response out of me for a while, but soon enough the teacher notices and tells him to go back to his seat.

At three, it's time to get on the bus. Mom told me she finishes work at five... which will be awesome. I'll be stuck in the broken house for two hours with no cell phone reception—Mom can't even get near electricity and she still hasn't called a technician—but I guess I can work with that. Good thing I've got my fun homework to distract me. Tenth grade really is amazing, isn't it?

"Can I sit here?" I look up to see a boy wearing a baggy green sweater, the hood tightened all the way to his eyes, which are just barely noticeable. I nod and scoot over to the window.

When the bus reaches my stop the boy gets up and steps off too. Before I start heading to the house, though, the boy takes off his hood.

I might be wrong, but he kind of looks like the girl from the party.

"Hey," I blurt, stopping on the sidewalk.

He jumps and turns around, fumbling to get his—her? —hood back on. "Hi," the person says, looking down at the ground.

"Aren't you that girl?" I say, "From the party? At the, uh, community center?"

"Yeah," they reply quietly, still not meeting my gaze.

"What's your name?" I ask. Maybe if they tell me they're name it'll help me figure them out.

"It's Ry," they reply.

Okay, that didn't really do anything. "You're not a girl, are you?"

They shake their head, moving their head slightly to peer at me. "No, I'm actually—uh—genderfluid."

"Really?" I smile at them widely. That makes things so much clearer. They nod, still biting their lip. "What pronouns do you use?"

I can tell that they perk up when I say that. It's messed up how most people today don't even know what being outside of the binary means, and those who identify with terms like genderfluid expect everyone to not understand. "Thanks. Right now it's he and him, but it changes."

I note that and nod. "Alright."

"What's your name?" he asks, full-on looking at me now, appearing much more confident. Although he seems much more different from how he was at the party, less outgoing and smiley, but he has the same air, the same persona.

"A—" I start, but my phone catches me off guard by ringing, and after I check I see it's Mom. "Sorry, my mom's calling me, I gotta go."

He shrugs. "It's okay. I guess I'll see you around."