My Gender Is Narwal

Chapter Four

Art was glorious, we got to paint. Just, paint! I love art and I enjoy my feeble attempts at it, but, of all the mediums, painting is my favorite. It also happens to be the one I'm worst at.

But today the teacher told us to just go wild; splatter paint, finger paint, face paint. So I did, with Nolan. The entire class period we splattered paint at each other and occasionally on the paper we were given, he, however, is a wonderful artist. After we splattered he grabbed a thin, little brush and painted the black outlines of a horse, it was so beautiful. Mrs. Winnsboro even showed it to the class, much to his embarrassment. He's cute when he's embarrassed, though.

We ended up walking into PE looking like a couple of abstract pieces, ourselves. Ms. June scoffed at us before handing out uniforms and yelling at us to go change in the appropriate rooms, which instantly made me uncomfortable. Which room do I use.

The boys', obviously, but I didn't feel comfortable in there. I wish I could just change in a bathroom, where no one would see me. I inhale and exhale deeply as I follow Nolan into the room of death. I mostly see jock guys ripping off their shirts and shorts, with some more chubby and nerdy-looking kids figeting in the corners. I feel the urge to join them, but get distracted when Nolan slowly lifts his shirt above his head.

He has a nice freakin' body. I think as I stare in awe at his toned body, he's one of those people that look skinny, but are actually really strong. Heh, he has a peircing, too. On his belly button, a little silver hoop with a shiny ball, how cute! I rip my eyes away before he can notice me staring.

"You should probably change." He states with an amused chuckle.

The blood rushes to my cheeks when he basically tells me to strip. "Um, right. I should..." My feet become extremely interested in my shoes as I awkwardly stand there, taking no actions with my words.

"You ok?" Nolan asks, a gentle hand resting on my shoulder.

I'm not ok, I have to change in front of guys when I don't fully feel like one myself. Is that fair? "Yeah. I'm good. All's good." My voice becomes rickety as I lift my head up to pull my shirt off, I instantly feel exposed and long for it to be back, so I quickly switch it with my gym shirt. I don't want to change my pants, no. I can't change them. Jesus, I'm just making a fool of myself standing here, what's the big deal!? I have guy parts, I should be able to change in front of guys without a problem!!! Why is this happening!?

"Chase?" I jerk my head up in surprise at my name. Nolan looks concerned, was I talking out loud? Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez, oh, jeez, oh, jeez! "If you want I can leave you alone, if you don't feel comfortable changing in front of me that's fine." A little smile touches his lips, I don't think I spoke out loud.

"Well, it's not just you, or anything. I just, ya' know. Have never really done this..." That sounded weird, God, why am I so weird!!!?

He chuckles. "That's ok, I'll wait for you outside." He leaves, I mentally send him my thanks before changing. He's a really awesome guy, I can't understand why he decided to hang out with me. I'm not trying to be cleché, or anything, but when he first met me I basically blew him off and acted like I wanted him to go away. I'm well aware I don't have a great personality, which is probably why I only have one friend.

I weave my way through the rows of lockers until I manage to find my way out. Nolan is waiting for me, just as he said he would be. He smiles as we walk around.

We just sort of wander and act like we're cool before Ms. June blows her whistle, Nolan and I get trampled as people sprint towards the center of the gym where we'll be getting to hear some random lecture about this class.

"Hello, students, for all of you who don't know, I'm Lilith June, but you will call me Ms. June." Her beady eyes scan the crowd as if someone will question her ways. "I want you all to know that everyone in here will be treated equally, I have no favorites and I don't expect any of you to call me your favorite teacher.

"I beleive physical education is just as important, if not more so, than all of the common core you will be learning this year, learning how to be healthy should come before anything. Now, today we will be playing a simple game known as 'Sharks and Minnows'. I'm sure all of you know this game and how to play, if not raise your hand, or forever hold your peace." No hands go up and she commands us to get an a line, we obey. She picks three sharks from the long line of students. The three biggest guys in class. Oh, God, I'm gonna be crushed!

______

I don't end up getting crushed, but I was tackled at one point, as was Nolan. He tagged a few people, but I lack both stamina and speed, I didn't get anybody. Exept the teacher, who made me sit at the wall. It was her own fault, though. Don't stand in the middle of the gym if you don't wanna get trampled.

Last period goes by like the Flash, we're let out after being told that tomorrow there will be an assembly. I meet up with Nolan outside the bus, where he was patiently waiting for me. We board the bus without a word and the bus driver directs us to the back of the bus, where our names are written. Thank God I sat with him this morning. Who know who I might have gotten if not.

The ride home is quick, he gets off before me, but only by one stop, I get off soon after, taking a whole minute and a half to get home. Just before I open the door, one of my little brothers, Conner, opens the door. "Chathe?" He's always had a really bad lisp, but he never tries to correct himself.

"What?" I snap, he tends to piss me off, but he's only five, so I give him a pass.

"Mommy thayth the wantth to talk to you. The thaid thomething bad happened." I cringe at the horrible sentence, what could possibly be so bad that she sent this brat to tell me about it. I roll my eyes and push past him into the house, I toss my bag onto the couch and head to the kitchen, where she always is after school.

"What do you want?" I grumble, plopping into a chair after grabbing a yogurt from the fridge.

"It's about your friend, Ivy..."

"What happened to her?" I stand up, discarding my yogurt, Mom hates Ivy, and to say there's bad news about her would mean it's really bad.

"She went missing. Since she left." She looks down to her hands, which are neatly folded on the table.

Without thinking, I get up and run to my room, pulling out my phone as I take two stairs at a time. I slam the door after calling Ivy's contact. I wait, and wait, no answer. I call her again, and again, and again. I text her a few times, too.

I fell asleep texting and calling her like crazy. This isn't like her, she's strong and she knows how much peolple care about her, no way would she run away. Which means somebody took her, but how? I don't want to be rude, but she's a plus-sized girl, I think she's kinda hot, but I'm "gay". Where is she, what happened? Oh, my God.

______\(°○°)/-Yeah! Another chapter!
Hey, lovelies. What's up, how goes life, did you get a new puppy? I don't have much to say, so have fun, I'll be o my way.

(Also, when Connor is telling Chase there's "bad news", he says "the", but he means "she".)