You're All I Need

ONE

Ellen POV

I hear the bell ring and run for the door. Five more periods until the day is over. I quickly walk to my locker, but just before I reach it I feel someone grab me and push me against the wall. "Look who it is." One of the girls say. "Please, just leave me alone. Okay?" I ask her. "Shut up, Gayo." Another girl tells me. "I'll call you straighty if you don't stop." "Call me whatever you want, at least I'm not a sin." The second girl says to me. "Being ga-!" Just before I could finish, the fire alarms went off. Everyone rushed to the door at the end of the hallway. I pushed through a few people to get away from the two girls, and started to line up in the parking lot. My home room teacher called for all her students to take attendance, and we stood there for a few minutes. The principal told us that we could go back in, so I ran to be the first one back in. I headed straight for my locker, grabbed my science book, put away my math binder, slammed the locker door and speed walked to my next class. I was the fourth one in the room, and took the seat right next to the door. I watched everyone walk in until the bell rang. Everyone sat down and closed their conversations, so I looked at the teacher. The teacher stood up and greeted us with the basic, "Good morning class." We all replied, "Good morning." and then the teacher started to take attendance. I heard the door open, so I looked at it. Someone that I have never seen before walked in. She had semi short blonde hair and was wearing a white t-shirt and some jeans, pretty much what I was wearing. "Sorry I'm late!" She said. "There you are!" The teacher said, exclaiming. The girl walked up to the front if the room and the teacher went up as well. He put a hand on her shoulder and told us, "Class, we have a new student. Tell us about you." The new girl stood there and took a breath and said with a semi strong accent, "Hello, my name is Portia and I recently moved here from Australia." "Hi Portia." The entire class said. The only seat open was the one right next to me, so she sat right there. "Alright class, lets get started. First, take out a pencil and a piece of paper. You've got some notes to write down." I took out a pencil and a piece of paper, and waited quietly. I felt a tap on my arm and I looked to my right. "Do you have an extra pencil? I forgot to bring one." Portia asked very quietly. "Uh yeah, I think I do. Let me check." I whisper back. I open my backpack and search through all my papers and supplies and find an unsharpened pencil. "You'll have to sharpen it though." I say as I hand her the pencil. She takes it from my hand but brushes the top of my hand with one of her fingers. She gets up and sharpens it quickly, and speed walks back to her seat. The teacher asks, "Please copy these notes in this exact order and format."

The bell rings and I run out of science. I go to my locker and grab my lunch and put my book away. I turn around and start walking to lunch. I don't have to be aware of any bullies, because usually they're all upstairs in the English hallway. I walk into lunch and sit down at the table I always sit at. I'm alone. No one sits with me, ever. I open my lunch and pull out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and my water. I start unwrapping my sandwich before I hear a thump of someone sitting down on the other side of my table. It startles me as I look up, and it's Portia. "Oh hey, Portia." I say in a surprised tone. "Hey." She says back. "You can call me Ellen, by the way." "Oh, okay. Hi Ellen." She says, greeting me again. I hear a kid scream at us, "No, call her Gayo!" And it's followed by a bunch of laughs. "Do you really want to confuse her?" I shout back. "You're already confused yourself!" Another kid shouts back. I just shake my head. "What was that about?" Portia asks, very confused. "Okay." I sigh. "I guess you could say.. well.. I don't like guys in 'that way'. Like, like like them." Portia looks at me with a surprised face. "So you're like.. lesbian?" "Does that bother you?" I ask her. "No, I'm cool with it." She says back. "Oh, okay. Ever since people started to find that out they've stopped being my friend." "That must've sucked." "It does. And still does." I take a bite of my PB&J, and I see Portia take out a bottle of water. "Aren't you going to eat?" I say, confused. "No, I'm not hungry." "Oh, okay." I sit there and continue eating my sandwich and taking sips of my water until its all gone. "So what class do you have first hour?" Portia asks me. "English. You?" "Math." "I have math second hour." "Oh cool." We sit there and it gets pretty awkward. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your last name? Just curious." Portia asks me. "DeGeneres. Yours?" "de Rossi." "Cool. " I say. That was the only thing I could think of saying.

The bell rings, and we both get up and start walking. I lose her in the hallway, and walk to the gym. I walk into the locker room, and I'm surprised to see that Portia was two steps behind me. I must have only lost her for a couple seconds in the hall. I didn't know that she also had gym right after lunch. I open up my big locker and throw my bag into it, and then I close it and start to put the combination in for my small locker. A couple other girls walk in, and I start to change into my gym uniform. I'm usually the first one done, but surprisingly, as I'm putting on my shoes I see Portia walk out. I put on my other shoe and run out. There are some boys running around and chasing each other, and Portia is standing off to the side. I walk up to her and tell her, "We can just sit anywhere we want, the coaches don't care." "Oh, okay. Where do you normally sit?" "Usually right around where the free throw line is." I walk over to it and Portia is right behind me. I sit down and she follows my actions, and she is sitting in front of me, and I'm facing her. We just sit there and stare. For a while. I hear more people march out of the girls locker room, and one girls say, "Hey new kid, get away from the confused dyke! She's garbage!" Another girl adds on, "Yeah! She belongs in the dump!" I sit there and do nothing because I hear this everyday, but Portia seems worried for me. I can sense that she's questioning what to do, get up and tell them what's what, slap them, or do nothing. All of the girls in the group laugh, and Portia says, "That's not nice to make fun of people because they are different." "Pfft, don't stand up for the poor lesbian. She can't even defend herself!" Portia seems to be getting annoyed by them, so she starts with a firmer tone, "Actually-!" I tapped her before she could finish. I say in a low tone, "Just let it go. I deal with this everyday. They won't listen to whatever you say." Portia looks at me with a questionable face. I can see that she is thinking of saying are you sure about that. The gym teacher comes out of his office and shouts, "Everybody sit down so I can take attendance!"