The last bell of the day rang out, echoing throughout the empty hallways and full classrooms. Luckily, Lynn and I took all of the same classes this year, so she's in nearly every single class I have. With it being our senior year, there was lots of wiggle room in our schedules. Today the day ended in guitar class with Mr. Mullins. I stood up to put the black acoustic away in the store room, when Lynn nudged me between my shoulder blades to tell me to move faster. It was GSA time, and since she was still president she no doubt wanted to get to the classroom early. We got our stuff and said goodbye to Mr. Mullins. He was my favorite teacher, because I had seen videos of the band he was in when he was younger playing and they were good, really good. He was as rock as you could get without being the actual members of AC/DC.
We walked through the hallways of the school, dodging the kids running around for god knows what reason,and the kids slowly walking to the buses. Lynn was leading, as always, speed walking and pushing through the crowds with little difficulty. We quickly found our way to Mr. Urie's classroom. He was the teacher that volunteered to supervise GSA meetings. It made sense, considering he was bisexual and came from a very religious background, but I'm sure I'll here about it in his yearly "This is me, this is my story, and this is why I'm qualified to help run GSA" speech. It's for all the newbies, and each year I've heard it, it's gotten a tiny bit more dramatic. I can't wait for this year.
He was sitting at his desk on the phone when we entered the classroom. He smiled at us as he continued talking.
"Yes, I remembered to lock the door on my way out. Yes, Bogart was inside when I did. Listen babe, I gotta go. I have students waiting to start the GSA meeting. I'll be home a little after 4. Okay, I'll see you for dinner then. Okay. Yes. I love you too. Bye." He blushed a little at the last few sentences, noticing that we were standing there with our eyebrows raised.
"Ryan is a little paranoid about our new dog." He stated, answering our questioning glaces. We needed no more explanation as he came over to us individually and gave us hugs. He towered over both of us as he gently said hello.
"And how are my favorite students doing in their senior year? Wow, has the time flown. I've known you both since you were in middle school and now look at you." He said, looking us both over.
"Don't get all soppy on us now, Mr. Urie. We still have 10 months of the school year left to annoy you." Lynn answered dropping her stuff on a chair. I followed suit, dropping my stuff in the seat next to hers. We made casual conversation about college and our families as the room filled with old friends. First to enter was the school's queer power couple, Gee and Frank. This club wasn't only for sexuality, but also gender identity and gender expression. Gee was gender fluid, which made them prime to be at the top of the social ladder. They could fit in wherever they wanted. Gee and Frank had been together since Gee was Gerard. Gee coming out as gender fluid stirred up a lot of rumors and confusion in the school, but that settled down when they threw their next house party.
I ran up and hugged both of them, having not seen them since last year it was great to finally lay eyes on them again. Gee had changed their hair color to red this year, and Frank had a new lip piercing. I supposed I didn't look any different from last year. The next to enter was one of my closest friends, Kellin, and his new boy toy, Vic. He tends to changed boyfriends a lot, but from what I had heard about the duo, they had been together for quite a while and were expected to last. We would see about that. Next was my cousin, Hayley. Followed by several others, Tay Jardine, Jenna McDougall, Oli Sykes, and a couple other strays. The last of the people coming into the room in a stream was Lisa, Lynn's long term girlfriend. They had been together for a year and a half, which is long term in high school. They actually met in GSA, and I smiled at her as she made her way through the crowd to go see Lynn. She kissed her and then joined the conversation with Tay about whatever girls even talk about. I was just about to jump into a conversation with Gee about their recent trip to London when a new boy entered. Well, I shouldn't say new, I had seen him around. He was just new to this particular club. He seemed timid, and upon seeing the throngs of people, he almost turned around. I know this because I saw him shift on his feet and have an internal struggle on whether or not to actually enter the room instead of standing in the threshold. The side telling him to stay seemed to have won the battle, and he stepped uncertainly into the room, arms folded across his chest. I glanced back over to Lynn, last time I checked she was deep in conversation, it seems now she is deep down Lisa's throat. They hadn't seen each other in 2 weeks, as Lisa has been on vacation, so I guess it's only reasonable to play tonsil hockey. Anyway, as she was obviously busy, I embraced my job as Vice President and went up to the new kid. I put on my best lopsided grin and introduced myself.
"Hiya. I'm Jack, the VP. First time coming to a meeting?" I asked with a smile. He nervously smiled back, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes with his fingertips.
"Yeah, I'm Alex. My parents told me I should check it out, after they saw an article about you at the end of last year." He said, fiddling with his sleeve. I remember that, We did such outstanding fundraising with the Day of Silence last year that we made it in the town newspaper. I remember it fondly, because it has a picture of the council on it, meaning Lynn, Kellin, Tay and I. Kellin and Tay being the secretary and treasurer. I nodded back to Alex.
"Yeah, that brought in a couple newbies. Well, the meeting is just about to start if you want to take a seat." I said, gesturing to the seat next to my own. He nodded gratefully, taking the seat, as he didn't have anybody else that he knew in the class. Before I knew it, Mr. Urie whistled and everyone took their seats, as he headed up to the front of the classroom to make his dramatic monologue of his life story. He sat on a stool and launched into it, explaining how his Mormon parents kicked him out after finding out he had kissed another boy, how he then started a band, and got a teaching degree using that, and how he met the love of his life, Ryan, and how he now lives happily ever after with his husband and a dog. We all applauded at the end, and I glanced over to Alex. He seemed captivated by the tale. After Mr. Urie finished, we went around the room, each saying our names and pronouns, and if you chose to, sexuality. When it came to Alex, he almost seemed to collapse in on himself. He faltered when it came to sexuality, and quietly whispered. "Um.....I'm into.....uh....dudes." I patted him on the back carefully, and he smiled at me. We moved on to the next person in the group.
"Hey, so Lynn, Lisa, and I are hanging out at my house after the meeting if you want to come chill." I quietly asked him. He seemed hesitant.
"I don't know. I don't have a car and my parents will wonder-"
"I can give you a lift, and we can stop by at your house on the way home if you want so you can drop your stuff and talk to your folks." I said calmly. "Please come, they haven't seen each other in weeks and I'm absolutely positive that they are going to be down each other's throats the entire night. Please Alex, save me." I swooned dramatically as I said the last part. He laughed and nodded. I smirked in satisfaction of the fact that I wouldn't be a complete third wheel tonight. I turned my head and started paying attention to the group again, but every so often I would glance back at the brown haired wonder sitting next to me. The meek smile never left his lips.
