What I Don't Know Can't Hurt You

Chapter Two

The bus ride was about 30 minutes long, including the stops it had to make. I made a mental note to make a playlist of my favourite songs that was also about 30 minutes long.

The school bus stopped in the parking lot near the high school. I stood up, but most of the kids were lined up in the aisle, and I couldn't get through. I sat back down and waited.

I was really excited to go to a new school. I was really confident this year. If the teacher made us tell the class about ourselves, I knew exactly what I would say. And if I still made a terrible first impression, well, at least I knew some people from my old school.

Finally, most of the kids were off the bus. I stood up and followed the last few out onto the sidewalk. I walked in silence to the front door to the front door of the school, fiddling with my phone along the way.

When I entered the school, a wave of panic washed over me. What if nobody I knew or liked was in my class? I'd be stuck with people who hated me for the whole year! At this school, each homeroom has all classes together except creative electives, like Band, Home Ec, and Drama. This year, I think I was taking Art the first semester, Music Composition the second, and Creative Writing the third. I hoped I would at least have friends in my electives.

I walked up to the bulletin board on the wall in front of me. In big letters, it said "CLASS LISTS" at the top. It was covered in - you guessed it - class lists, and folders labeled "schedules". I looked through the grade 9 lists for my name. 9-A? Nope. 9-B? Nope. 9-C? There it was, underneath "Clarke, Lily". That was a relief. "Clarke, Lily", known in person as Leo, was one of my friends from middle school. He's transgender, hence his birth name on the class list. He's pretty cool, and he has pink hair and gives zero fucks about people's opinion of him.

I scanned the list for any other friends. I didn't see any, but I expected that. I didn't have many friends in the first place. I took a schedule out of the folder. My first class was science, in room 148, so I set off in search of it.

The room was pretty empty when I got there. There were three girls having a conversation full of squealing and pointing at a guy sitting by himself at the back of the room who looked like your typical hot, asshole, football player. I sat down in the middle of the classroom and took out my phone, setting my backpack on the chair next to me to save that seat for Leo. I glanced back at the group of girls, who had significantly reduced their squealing and now seemed to be pointing at me.

The bell rang about 10 minutes later, and there was still no sign of Leo. He seemed to be the only one missing. I took my backpack off the chair and set it on the floor next to me. Suddenly, Leo burst through the door and practically jumped into the seat next to me. He looked much more attractive and much more masculine than when I had last seen him, though his hair was a brighter shade of pink, if that was even possible.

"Hey, Quinn, the teacher's right down the hall and if he asks, I've been here for 5 minutes," he panted.

"Okay, um, hi?" I said, in a bit of shock.

"Right. Hi!"

Just then, the teacher walked in. He looked very young, quite possibly straight out of college, though hopefully not straight. I had never had a gay teacher before.

"Hello class, I'm Mr. Lockwood. Welcome to grade 9 science," he announced. "I'd like to start by having each of you come up to the front and say 2 interesting things about yourselves."
He began reading from the class list on his desk. "Evelyn Anderson?"

One of the girls who had been in the class when I arrived stood up and walked to the front of the class. I didn't really care what she had to say after she said "I'm a cheerleader", so I kind of zoned out for a bit.

"Lily Clarke?" the teacher called out. I snapped back to reality.

"My name's Leo," Leo corrected him.

"Oh, sorry!" Mr. Lockwood said, flustered. "Um, Leo Clarke then!"

Leo strutted up to the front of the class. I had thought I felt confident, but I didn't even compare to this guy.

"Hey guys, I'm Leo! Uh, I play soccer, I like pop music, but only ironically, and despite what you may think, I'm straight! So ladies-" he did that snappy-pointy thing, "-'sup." I imagine if he had a microphone he would have dropped it, but he didn't and so walked back to his desk.

"Okay, Quinn Coleman?" I stood up and went to stand in front of the class.

"Hi, I'm Quinn. I like Fall Out Boy, as you can see by my shirt, I'm a huge nerd, but not in a cool way, I own 257 books, and I'm bi, so if anyone happens to be interested in me, I'm free at lunch." My goal was to guilt people into liking me by making self-deprecating jokes.

"Well, clearly, anyone who's single should talk to those two boys," Mr. Lockwood tried to joke. No one laughed.

The rest of the class was kind of a blur, although one person in particular caught my eye.

"Ryan Patterson?" the teacher called.

The guy who was in the class when I walked in stood up and strolled to the front.

"I'm Ryan," he introduced himself, "I play football, and I'm a proud Christian and homophobe." Mr. Lockwood frowned but said nothing.

On the way back to his desk, Ryan punched Leo's and my arm and said "faggots". Great! I thought. My first enemy!

On the way out of class, Mr. Lockwood told us to pick up textbooks off the table near the door, as we'd be needing them next class. As I picked one up, I felt a tap on my back. I turned around to see a small girl with round glasses and long, bright green hair.

"Hi, I'm Taryn!" she said cheerfully. "You said if anyone was interested in you, you were free at lunch! I mean I'm not interested in you that way, but you seem cool!"

"Oh, sure," I replied. "Hey Leo!" I called. "Come here!"

Leo arrived next to me.

"Hi! I'm Taryn! Do you and Quinn want to sit with me at lunch?"

"Yeah, that sounds great!" he answered.

The three of us walked out of class together.

"Oh, and don't worry about that Ryan guy. He's just a jerk," Taryn reassured us. "There were actually rumours at my old school that he's gay and just overcompensating."

"That," Leo declared, "would be hilarious."