Flagged Down

V. Lux

July 26th

Lux rubbed their eye as they hopped out of Maureen's SUV. A yawn left their lips as they turned and pulled a flag bag, water jug, and a drawstring backpack from behind the front seats. As they slipped the bags over their shoulders and took off, Maureen shouted after the teenager.

"I'll see you at nine!" she hollered, and Lux rolled their eyes, waving one hand without turning around. It had been hardly any time since their last spat, but they still weren't on proper speaking terms.

Finding the rest of the guard took little time. They were all dressed in blue t-shirts or tank tops, and most were hugging old friends, but as Lux approached, searching for the boy they'd kissed not two days ago, the fanfare of reunion seemed to die away.

"You're from Brandeis, aren't you?" one particularly vocal girl asked as Lux lined their summer camp items up with everyone else's.

"Yes," Lux replied.

"Ugh," the girl sneered, and most of the guard made similar sounds of disgust.

Lux let out a breath they hadn't realized they were holding, and turned away from the former rivals. Already they could tell this year was going to be a particularly difficult one, full of trials and tribulations. With the girls and a handful of males – and of course the possibility of binary-breaking students – still staring and whispering among themselves, Lux found a seat on the edge of the turf, pulling their knees to their chest.

I want to go home, they sighed to themself and waited for either that nice director – what was his name? Moore, was it? – to show up or Seth. If Seth was there, all this whispering would fade away into nonexistence.

Wish granted, Seth sauntered up, wearing aviators and a light blue tank top, fit loosely around swelling shoulders, and Lux's heart tightened in their chest. Forcing themself to swallow any attraction to the captain of the guard, Lux stood up, brushing turf from the back of their thighs.

"What are you blabbering about, Alice?" he questioned, dropping his things into the proper piles.

"She's from Brandeis," the girl, Alice, hissed, just loud enough for Lux to hear the misgendering.

"They," Seth corrected, "have transferred here, and therefore, now belong to Bach, just like the rest of us."

Alice murmured something under her breath that Lux couldn't catch, but Seth responded with ordering her to go run three laps around the field before camp had even officially started.

Lux grinned and approached Seth.

"So, hey, about yesterday, thanks for letting me stay over," they said, only for Seth to nod, half ignoring Lux. "Uh, I really appreciated it."

Seth didn't look at them, but turned to face the guard as a whole. As he purveyed the group, Lux backed away,unsure of how to take the rejection. Fiddling with the hair falling from their ponytail, Lux backed away and stood on their own.

A hand clapped onto their shoulder moments later, causing Lux to jump slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," a semi-familiar voice boomed behind the teenager.

As Lux turned, they realized the instructor, Mr. Moore, was standing there, admittedly shorter than they were.

"So, Lux," he emphasized the fact he remembered the proper name, "did you work extra hard like you said you would?"

"Uh, y-yes, sir," Lux stammered, still recovering from being startled. "I'm about a quarter rotation from having my triple on flag."

"Wonderful! I suspect you'll be excellent during tryouts." Moore winked.