Anyone But Me #girlxgirl

C2: British Slang, Breakups, and Crushes

hey brae

I turn on my phone to see this text. It's one in the morning

hey zyana

brae, do u wanna see a pic of my bro

sure

She sends me a picture of a really handsome black guy smiling.

he reminds me of u. his family adopted me and my sisters in case ur wondering

oh cool i'm adopted too. from africa tho

that's awesome

hey do u wanna meet up again later? i'm doing a pride parade thing with sky, she types.

huh? who's sky

oh, sorry. sky is my bro

got it. uh, sure. can olwen come? who else will be there? I question. I want to know what I'm doing before I out myself to the whole town.

yeah sure. probably just u, me, sky, olwen, and maybe two other gay girls named jayda and mary

Jayda and Mary? Jayda is a cute name.

that'd be cool. yeah, i wanna meet some more of the gay community here in the usa

yeah cool

sorry, it's like 1am, i should get some sleep, I text, rubbing my tired eyes. Who texts at 1 in the morning to send a picture of their brother and talk about a party to someone they met at a coffee shop? She must be just about as lonely as me. To be honest, though, I have no clue how she could possibly be lonely. She's the hottest girl in the entire town.

k bai

bye

"Bai"? What does that mean? I guess it means bye, but it takes just as much effort as typing in the actual word "bye".

I smile. She is so cute. I can't wait to see her.

wait what time is it, I ask, trying desperately to see anything more from her.

noon tomorrow. srry for the short notice

could i play music there? I ask.

totally, she replies instantly. yeah. i'll bring my cello and my drums and i'll tell sky and jayda to bring their cellos maybe it's kinda short notice maybe u should just do it

you play drums?? I ask.

yeah. what about u

oh cool i play violin and guitar

that's awesome! srry i gtg my little sister is calling me

k bai

lol bai

I pause. She has a little sister that she cares about. That's good. She has friends who are gay. That's good. She plays cello and drums. That's very good. She's adorable, beautiful, and smart. Those are all awesome. I can't believe my luck. I can't believe that someone like Zyana is actually not taken, and maybe even gay for me. I sing, too. Maybe that'll help me get her? I don't know. At this point, I'm desperate for someone. For her. I would live such a wonderful life if I had her. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine living a life where I actually get what I want.

I glance around my room. The light grey walls kind of bore me. The bed is white, which is also very plain. The only things I really like in my brand-new room are my guitar and my violin.

"I'm done with this," I hear Sara's voice yell. Oh, come on. I roll over in my bed. Now she's sneaking into our house. This is over the top. "I'm done with you!"

"Sara, please wait."

"You have pictures of your ex covering your phone and walls, but none of me! You aren't taking this seriously. You aren't taking me seriously!"

Oh yeah. The ex that broke up with him when he moved away. We moved away because our dad got fired from his job, and everyone was being a jerk to me because I'm trans.

Shit. I still haven't told Zyana that I'm trans.

Oh well. I guess I'll tell her today at noon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I glance at my watch. 12:05pm. Shit buckets, I'm late. I pedal faster, zooming through the streets and arriving at the park. The big field, probably. 

My bike screeches to a stop in the mud, and I walk it up to lean against a tree.

"Hey," I say, smiling as I see her. She flips her hair a bit. Jesus, she is so cute.

"Hey," she replies. "You wanna help me put up flags?" she asks. I nod. She hands me three flags. "Put these up in visible places," she says, smiling. "Thanks so much!"

I stick one out of a bush, and a second right by the stage. I wonder what we'll do. There's nobody here. Sure, I've played guitar for nobody before, but playing on a stage for just the person who I have a crush on? I glance at her. I need to tell her I'm trans. I really do.

"Brae!" I hear Olwen's voice call. I look up.

"Oh, hey Olwen," I say. "You're late." So much for telling Zyana I'm trans.

"Yeah, I guess. Sorry, you kind of did tell me at 3 in the morning," she laughs. "Big crowd, huh?" she teases.

"Shut it," I say. She rolls her eyes.

"Sup Olwen," Zyana says. I smile. Olwen shrugs.

"The sky," she says. Zyana laughs.

"Bob's your bloody uncle," I laugh.

Zyana stares at us. "Um... right. Jayda and Mary and Sky should be here soon," she says.

"Crikey. Right," Olwen says. Zyana raises an eyebrow, and I burst out laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hi there. My name is Skylar," a voice says. I turn to see the boy that Zyana sent me a picture of. He is just about the same in person.

"Hey, Skylar," I reply.

"Are you playing for us tonight?" he asks, nodding towards my guitar.

"Yup," I say. 

"I should go set up the food. I brought a whole bunch of stuff my mom made. I'll see you later. In the meantime, you should get set up for performing."

"Cheerio," Olwen says, jumping into the conversation. We both burst out laughing at his expression as he walks away. "He's so cute! Can you set me up with him?" she asks.

"Uh..." I start.

"Nah, never mind," she sighs.

I shrug. If I wasn't lesbian, I guess I found find him cute, but not really. I don't know. He's not exactly my type or anything. "Look, could we stop it with the British slang? In case you haven't noticed, I'm kinda trying to get Zyana to like me, and I think I'm just weirding her out."

"Brill." I roll my eyes. Ugh, Olwen doesn't listen sometimes.

"I'm here," a voice says. I turn to see a blonde and a brunette walking into the park with rainbow flags painted onto their cheeks, matching rainbow shirts, matching jeans, matching boots, and matching bright red lipstick.

Zyana glances at them, but quickly turns away. "Who's the new girl?" the brunette asks loudly as I make my way up onto stage. The blonde shrugs. 

"There are two of them," the blonde says, pointing to Olwen.

"Maybe they'll come like you did, Da Da," the brunette says, pulling her face in closer to the blonde's. "Shake things up." Da Da? Huh. Oh, maybe the blonde is Jayda, and the other is... what, Mary? Is that what Zyana said?

I shrug, deciding not to care. I step up onto stage and fix the mike onto me.

And I break into song.