The Closet

Chapter 2

As soon as I walk in everything seems to slow down. The wall start to move and objects swim in and out of my vision. I didn't want to be here. Arabella put a hand on my shoulder.

"We got this" she said confidently. A little too soon. A kid ran down the hall and yelled "FAGGOTS" as loud as he could.

"Well that's a little blunt," Michael joked, cracking a grin. We all smiled at each other but we all knew it hurt just a little bit.

We headed to our first class, which we had together luckily. The bell rung just as we rushed inside. "Ah- Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Samson, and... Ms. Fox...YOU'RE LATE!" our teacher, Mrs. Bidding yelled.

"Ma'am, respectively, I really appreciate the formality but I'm Mr. Fox...not Ms." I said slowly. I wanted her to get the hint.

"Ms. Fox?" Mrs. Bidding asked with a small smile, "When you were born was your bracelet blue or pink?"  (Hi Author here- idk if they did that where you guys were born but they did that where I was born so...:)

 I blushed, embarrassed. "Pink" I said quietly.

Mrs. Bidding smirked at that. "Then you're a girl! Go sit down on that side of the room please" she commanded pointing in the direction of the desks.

I looked and saw the class was split into boys and girl on two sides. "Hey!" Arabella complained indignantly. "You can't do that! That's not right! Respect his gender will you??"

"HER gender, child, that's a girl" the teacher said dismissively. "Now this has been very fun, please go sit down."

I refused to be treated like this. So when asked to go sit down, I did. On the boys side of the room. Mrs. Bidding gave me a wary, warning glance that said "I'll let it go this time but don't get so hopeful, you're still a girl" very clearly. Me and Arabella locked eyes them rolled them and laughed silently. It was then that the teacher called role call, my least favorite time of the day.

"I'm starting role call! When I say your name raise your hand, say here, and if you have a nickname you prefer please say it after you say here." She instructed. "Amelia Arugato"

"Here"

"Lucas Buchio"

"Here and Luke"

"Okay, Mario Correll"

"Here"

This went on until, "Charlotte Fox"

"Present" I said because it was fun to be different. "And Charlie or Char, please"

Mrs. Bidding looked up and frowned. "Charlie is a boy's name, young lady" she said, bored.

I sighed. "I KNOW...just call me Char then" 

"Fine" she said reluctantly continuing. "Max Morris"

"Aqui" a tan-skinned boy in the back called. He had black hair, a button nose, and two piercing black eyes. He had sort of a grundge style that said "leave me alone". Plus he was Spanish, adorable! I could almost see Arabella's eyes watching my face, scanning the details, her face lit up. She turned around, grabbed a sticky note, scribbled something on it, and then when Mrs. Bidding was looking down at her clipboard she placed it on the floor and kicked it over to me. I grabbed it and hid it in my hand hiding it from sight.

The note read "ĐØ ɎØɄ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₳ ₵ⱤɄ₴Ⱨ Ø₦ ₥₳Ӿ ₥ØⱤⱤł₴?!?!" it was in our secret code. I scribbled a reply, "₩Ⱨ₳₮, ₦Ø Ø₣ ₵ØɄⱤ₴Ɇ ₦Ø₮". (Author here- if you have dyslexia or just trouble reading dw the words will be translated two paragraphs down, just you wait :D). I kicked it back across the room put this time it was caught by someone's shoe. Mrs. Bidding. She picked it up, turned it upside down, squinted her eyes and said "Free homework pass to whoever tells me what this says AND who wrote it". Many kids scrambled up, me and Arabella included, but we both decided we would just guess at other kids and mess up the words. It would look suspicious if we knew what it said. The first kid came up. 

"DQ YQU..."he trailed off. "Nevermind, I don't know." Me and Arabella smiled. This is exactly why we write in code. The next kid wasn't much better, "DO YOU H-" he stuttered. "This isn't fair! It isn't English!" he stormed away. 

Then Max Morris himself tried. "Do...you...have...a...crush...on........Max Morris" he finished slowly, blushing slightly. Me and Arabella stared wide-eyed at him. No one had ever been able to crack our code. "What...no...of course...not." He finished off confidently.

"Very well done, Max!" she said proudly. "Now do you know who was passing this note?"

Max looked around the room slowly, eyes scanning everyone suspiciously. We locked eyes and for a split second, I thought he knew and was going to snitch on us! But then he nodded at me silently and winked. He then turned back to the teacher and said "No, I don't know." But i wasn't listening anymore. There was the sound of rushing blood in my ears, my heart was beating to loud and too fast. He winked. HE WINKED. It was getting too hot in here with my binder and all. "I didn't have a crush" I kept telling myself..."Right?" The bell rang and I came back. Max walked over to me and slid a note in my hand and then left. I opened the note, inside it said "Nice code, I think you're pretty interesting, I'm gonna put my number in here if you wanna be friends, no pressure though. (***)-***-****  Adios nuevo amigo! " I almost screamed, my face was burning.

Arabella ran over. "You lied to me!"she exclaimed quietly so the teacher didn't hear. "You do have a crush!"

"Sorry" I replied distantly, thinking about other things.

"So...?"She asked excitedly. "What did he say!"

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Quit playing dumb!" Arabella scoffed. "I saw him give you the note."

"Ohhh, that, right." I said. "It just said I owed him one." I didn't like lying to my best friend but I also didn't want her shipping me with him and making me feel awkward. 

It was clear Arabella didn't believe me but she didn't push. Michael joined us. "Come on guys" I said with fake confidence as we left the classroom and walked down the crowded, loud, dirty school hallways, "it's time for gym."

Word Count: 1027