Pencil Shavings (a Genderfluid story) - COMPLETED

Chapter Eleven: Love

A/N: Teeny tiny chapter. Hope you guys like it! 

I ignored Marcus and Taylor as they asked me if I was alright. I just brushed them off and went on with my day, trying to ignore my previous thoughts. 

But they kept coming back. 

To distract myself, I went to the library to work on homework, which was a whole history packet. I sat down at a table and got out my pencil to begin working. 

As I was studying a map of Africa, someone came over and sat down next to me. I looked up, then back down at the paper when I saw Theo again. "What did I tell you?" I hissed. 

"Not to be bargin' in other people's business," he said. "Which I'm not. I'm workin' on my Texas history packet." 

"I keep forgetting you're actually from Texas," I replied. "Now, please don't talk to me." I went back to studying the map before working on the problems. After I had gotten through two pages, I stopped and looked at Theo. "Have you done anything since you got here?" 

He shook his head. "Can't when I'm sittin' next to the prettiest girl in this school." 

Great. 

"You're flirting with me?" 

"What in the livin' hell does it look like I'm doing?" he mocked. "Now, there's this place, a really good place, that has this amazin' food. Wanna maybe go with me?" 

I shook my head. "Hell no! I'm already dating someone!" 

"Who?" 

"Um..." 

"Is it Taylor?" 

I looked at him, frowning. "Why...?" 

"Because I saw you too this mornin' on th' bleachers. Y'all were sittin' mighty close to each other." 

"We're...we're friends!" 

"I told you you were gay!" he said, then laughed. "Ha! Knew it! Boys, come on out, we got her." 

My eyes widened when I saw five other boys come out from behind the bookshelves. They all had nasty sneers on their faces. 

"Wha -"

"Don't you know gay is a bad thing?" Theo asked. "Y'all two know that. And you both are just in looove, aren't ya? You love her!" 

"What? No it's not! And no I don't! I've known her for only two weeks now!" 

"You can love someone after you just met them," Theo said. "You just don't know it yet." 

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right, and besides, being gay is not a bad thing!"

"Tell me how it's not," one of Theo's friends said. 

"Tell me how it is!"

"Well," Theo began. "It -" 

I held my hand up. "Nope. Nevermind. I am so not going to hear it. I'm not gay, but I'm dating Taylor. So what? Who cares?" I stood up, grabbing my worksheets and pencil and stuffed them into my bag. "I do not have time for this. I'm trying to get as much work done as possible and you six are driving me insane. And what happened about 'not barging into other people's business,' Theo? What happened to that?" I walked out of the building, infuriated. People disgust me. 

As I was walking, what Theo said hit me. What Taylor loved me? She couldn't, though...we met two weeks ago, right?

I decided to confront her. 

"Hey, Taylor," I said, sitting down beside her in art class. 

"Hey, babe," she said. "Where were you? You need to stop skipping classes." 

"Sorry," I replied. "I realized something." 

"What is it?" 

"Do...do you love me?" 

She looked at me, frowning. "Why would I?" 

Ouch. 

"I meant..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, babe. I meant, I just met you. How am I supposed to love you? I love going out with you, I love spending time with you, but I don't...I don't love you. Yet. I don't know, Anna. Can we still date? I need time to figure out if I do love you or not." 

That's a relief. 

I nodded. "Makes sense." 

She smiled. "So we can still date?" 

"Of course!" I said, and hugged her. She hugged me back. 

"Good."