What I Don't Know Can't Hurt You

Chapter Three

I had math class next. It wasn't anything special, we just did some worksheets on exponents. English class, however, was much more interesting.

I walked into class with Leo and Taryn. We all sat down together. For some reason, Ryan sat directly behind me, although I didn't think much of it. He was probably just planning to throw stuff at the back of my head.

The teacher was already there, watching the kids sit down. She seemed like one of those really strict teachers who got mad if you breathed too loudly.

"I am Mrs. Jones," she announced matter-of-factly once everyone was seated. "Welcome to English. I am going to take attendance, then I would like you to complete this review worksheet."

She picked up a clipboard with a class list.

"Evelyn Anderson."

"Present!" Evelyn called out.

"Thomas Blaine."

"Present," he replied.

And so on and so forth. It wasn't very interesting, at least not until Mrs. Jones got to Leo's name.

"Lily Clarke," she read.

Leo said nothing.

"Dude, she means you!" I whispered.

"Oh, right," he replied. "Um, my name's Leo!"

"Lily, I would like to see you after class," the teacher said strictly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did my name offend you?!" Leo shouted, suddenly filled with sarcasm and anger. Taryn put her face in her hands. Leo stood up and slammed his hands into his desk. "Do you have a problem with my name?!"

"Sit down right now, young lady!" Mrs. Jones snapped.

"You know what?" Leo said, all of a sudden scarily calm, "I think I'll call you Mr. Oakley now, since that's not your name or gender." I laughed.

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Mrs. Jo - I mean, Mr. Oakley shouted.

"Yeah, kinda," I chuckled.

"Both of you, in the hallway. I'll see you after class," she ordered.

Leo and I left the classroom. Once we were outside, we burst into laughter.

"Jesus fucking Christ, that woman needs to chill!" Leo exclaimed.

"You could have been calmer," I pointed out.

"Well, she started it."

"What if there was someone who went by their middle name?" I wondered. "Like, 'Benjamin Johnson?' 'Oh, I go by Jack' 'Benjamin, see me after class!'"

We spent the rest of the period making fun of Mrs. Jones.

Once the bell rang, she came out to talk to us.

"You," she said, pointing at me, "what's your name?"

"Quinn," I answered.

"Is that a boy's name or a girl's name?"

"Well, yeah."

"Don't sass me! I meant, are you like... her," she said, gesturing towards Leo.

"Who's 'her'?"

"The homosexual one."

"You mean me? 'Cuz Leo's straight."

"Yeah, Mr. Oakley," Leo chimed in.

Mrs. Jones scoffed.

"Both of you, follow me," she ordered. "I refuse to teach sinners."

"My parents are gonna wonder how the hell I managed to fail English on the first day," Leo whispered.

"Shit, I hope not! My mom would kill me. And I couldn't tell her why, since she's so homophobic. You know, she refers to you as 'that ugly pink-haired girl'."

Mrs. Jones led us to the office.

"I would like to speak to Mr. Samuels," she told the secretary.

"Look no further," said a tall man who had just emerged from a meeting room. "Here I am! What's the problem?"

"I refuse to teach these homosexual delinquents."

"Margaret, this is your second warning about your treatment of LGBT students and it's only the first day. One more and I'll have you fired."

Leo and I high-fived.

"Boys, go enjoy your lunch," the man I assumed was the principal told us. "I don't really like her either," he whispered.

Leo and I said goodbye and went to go get our backpacks out of the class.