You Can't Punch the Gay Out of Me

Any More Than I Can Punch the Ignoramus Out of You

The sensation of being shoved against a locker is one Penny Lamb has grown incredibly familiar with after transferring (could she call it transferring if she was homeschooling before?) to Saint Cassian Catholic School. Her arms had become familiar with the cold metal, and her ears knew the clash of her body being pushed against the lockers better than they knew her own voice. Before she attended Saint Cassian, she hardly even knew what a locker was, and the concept of bullying was a foreign concept reserved for cheesy movies she secretly loved. Over the course of a few months, though, she learned that wasn't the case. Bullying can happen to anyone. Especially queer people – or people who are assumed to be queer – like Penny.

Today was another day that Penny got to feel the horrible sensation of being shoved into a locker. A girl she couldn't remember the name of (she usually referred to her as Doll One when talking to Ezra) pushed her by her shoulders hard. She was on the very small Saint Cassian girl's general sports team, which covered everything from softball, to volleyball, to track and field. Over her uniform, she wore a jacket. The part that coveted her torso and back was red, and the sleeves were light gray. On one of the pockets on the front of the jacket, the Saint Cassian logo was embroidered. The back of it had the same logo, with Doll One's first name above it, and her last name below it. Even if she wasn't wearing her jacket, Penny could tell she was an athlete; the strength that came from her hands proved that.

Penny grunted as her back collided with the lockers. Her eyes screwed shut. She could hear the laugh of another girl – referred to as Doll Two in her head. It was shrill, and filled Penny with an overwhelming rage. "Does your back feel wet, homo?" she asked in between cackles.

Slowly, she tried looking behind her. Her back raided slightly. Sure enough, the entire back of her uniform felt wet, seeping over onto her skin. The white button up was sure to be soaked. She grimaced. "What is–?"

"It's paint, bitch," Doll One said. Her hands forced Penny to be pressed against it again. Another grunt. She could feel the paint sticking her to the locker like glue. The hands of Doll One keeping her pinned against the locker combined with the sticky paint made her feel completely and utterly trapped. She was lucky her hair was as short as it was, otherwise it might be caught in the paint as well. She could only imagine how painful it would be to get that off. Since it only got on her shirt, if she had to, she could take her shirt and pinafore off and change into her gym uniform.

Doll Two snickered. "I thought queers were supposed to be good at art." She looked at another girl that was next to her, Doll Three. When she saw Doll Three fully laugh at her insult, she began laughing too. Penny snarled, growling in an animalistic way. Her patience, which was pretty thin to begin with, was being reduced to shreds.

Doll Three stepped back. Her hands flew up to the side of her face, fingers curled into fists. She was protecting her long, freckled face from the harm she suspected Penny wanted to cause her. "Not only is she a stupid feminist lesbian, she's also a fucking mutt," she scoffed. Another explosion of laughter came from Doll Two. Penny's blood boiled further.

She trashed against the oppressive grip of Doll One. One of her arms managed to break free, desperately trying to grab at Doll Two before Doll One pinned it right back against the wall. She stared into Penny's green eyes with an anger that looked like nothing compared to her victim's. "Careful, girls," she hissed. "The crazy, man-hating feminist is gonna get you."

Penny lunged forward again, only to be stopped by her paint-covered uniform and the hands of her bully. "You don't make any sense! At all!" she roared. "If I was a feminist, why would I want to attack girls? A-and if I was a lesbian, why would I want to make your head explode instead of, I don't know, wanting to kiss you or something?"

Doll Three gave Doll Two a wicked smile. She giggled behind her hand. "It's 'cause you think we're men."

"Yeah. Not only are you a queer, you're blind, too," Doll Two chimed in. Another wave of laughter assaults Penny's ears. Her face twists into a scowl, head lowering slightly, like her own take on the classic 'Kubrick Stare' Ezra told her all about. Her brown-almost-black, messy bob lines her face in a way that would be fit for a painting, partially obscuring her fire-filled eyes.