181 Days of Madeline Jesty

Chapter 6: Reliable Partners

The way her eyes widened when our eyes met, I knew she remembered me. Luckily, she didn't say anything. Besides, a greater percentage of my mind was focused on giving Jane my deadly stare, implying that she better not mess with me, especially now that I cared less for my future anymore.

Ms. Lilian, who—besides being the year-level coordinator—was our homeroom adviser and our literature and my favorite teacher, smiled at Steph and me. "Please take your seats, Steph and Maddie."

Mickey raised her right brow when Ms. Lilian called me Maddie. Ah, right, she knew me by another name.

"For those who came in late, this is Michelle Queen Basil. I know she came a week late, but please be kind to her," Ms. Lilian continued as Steph and I walked slowly toward our seats. She then tapped the new student's back and then went back to the teacher's table. "Please continue."

It was at this moment I noticed that her full name was written on the board.

"Uh . . . so yes, again, please call me Mickey. Michel is fine, but I'd appreciate it if you spell it without the last l and e."

Oh, as in Michel, I spelled her name and pronounced it as mishel at the back of my mind. Why she didn't like Michelle confused me. It was basically the same.

She looked at me before she continued, her foxlike eyes reminding me of the night we shared. "Why I transferred? Uh, well, my mother wants to. An opportunity must never be missed, she said, even though . . . to be honest, we're basically graduating, and coping with a new set of people will be difficult. Like, all of you seem close already, but I still hope I get to know y'all better."

I looked around and saw some girls trying to hold on their giggles. I wondered if she saw that. With the lack of testosterone here in our school, it was a norm to crush on girls who dress, look, and walk like men. But if I remember it correctly, Mickey didn't like to be identified as a man.

"What's your favorite Bible verse?" Ms. Lilian asked.

Ugh. I hated that question. Very trad and cringe. It was a question new students had to answer, which started during our freshman days. I was relieved I didn't have to experience that, or else I'd freeze, squeezing my mind for a Bible verse other than John 3:16. It was that and the verse about love being kind and patient and etcetera that the poor new students were forced to mention because they, too, knew nothing else. There were exceptions, of course.

"I don't read the Bible that much because blind followers condemn people like me," she started, which shocked everybody else but not Ms. Lilian.

This was one of the reasons I liked her—she was accepting and nonjudgmental. In fact, she was a popular teacher crush among the lesbians in our school. Others were either too old or too conservative and would constantly remind us that tattoos, premarital sex, and homosexuality were unforgivable sins . . . which made me wonder if this sense of superiority was a ticket to their so-called heaven. I mean, why couldn't they just emphasize about being kind and empathetic instead? If Mickey said that it in front of our Christian Living Education teacher, she would have been asked to confess to the assigned priest at the chapel immediately.

"But," Mickey continued, which shocked me because it meant she had a favorite Bible verse, "I keep in mind Acts 10:28."

There was murmur. Some even opened their Bibles that were required for us to bring.

"And what does that say?" asked Ms. Lilian.

"I can't remember the exact verse, but it goes something like . . . associating with people who do not belong to the same religion was not permitted by their law before, but God has showed that we don't have the right to call anyone impure or unclean."