Their World | Rilaya

15: Us

"Are you ready for art class, Maya?"

"Uh, yeah... I guess so," she responds nervously.

Truthfully Maya has been anxious all day, worried about what will happen in art.

The world would finally know her secret. Not just her world, which consisted of Riley, her family and her close friends, but the world.

Riley can tell that her girlfriend is lying.

"Maya, as soon as we walk out of art class today, everyone at this school will know who we are. It's high school, once a secret is known but just a few people, everyone knows five seconds later. I know you are really scared right now. And I know you think you are about to make a mistake. But what I also know is that deep down inside, you are ready for your voice to be heard. I'll be with you the entire time we present our painting, and I'll be with you for the rest of our lives. So are you ready?"

"How does she always know exactly what to say," the blonde thinks to herself.

"I'm ready," Maya says with a slight grin.

The two walk into their class, ready to leave as their true selves when the final bell rings for the day.

"Okay, it looks like we have just one last group to present their work," Mr. Jackson announces, "Riley, Maya, are you two ready?"

"No," Maya mutters.

"We're ready," Riley says over the blonde's voice.

Riley goes to the back of the classroom and grabs their painting that has a blanket over it. She places it on an easel in the front of the class and motions for Maya to get up.

Maya slowly gets up and cowardly walks to the front of the class.

"You may begin now, girls," Mr. Jackson states.

"Okay, this is what Maya and I wanted to share. It represents both of us equally, and it really did take a lot for us to finally share this with the world," Riley says before she lifts up the blanket.

"I painted this half," Riley says pointing to the right side of the picture. "It's a purple cat," she laughs at herself.

"I would say that it is probably the second best purple cat I have ever painted."

Mr. Jackson smiles at her remark.

"Many of you may know that the only thing I ever paint are purple cats, but this project made me realize why."

Riley pauses, "you see, something I have yet to tell all of you is that I'm bi."

The majority of the class faces' look shocked.

Riley continues, "from time to time I would even ask myself why purple? Why not orange, or black, or a color a cat really was? But I always chose purple. And I finally realized it's because I don't like just pink and I don't like just blue, I like purple. I would always chose purple, because that's who I am. I'm purple."

Riley takes a second to think, "and a cat... I guess I always made a cat because they were mysterious to me. But as I began to grow closer and closer to this cat, she helped me find who I was, she helped be who I am... And eventually I named her Peaches," Riley finishes with a smile.

"Maya, can you explain your half?"

"Umm... I painted the other half of the picture... The side Riley didn't paint."

Maya looks up at her teacher, who simply nods at her to keep going.

"It's a girl, with red, orange, yellow, green, and blue on her face... To me... She represents happiness... Hope... But most of all... Love."

Maya finishes her statement shaking.

"Why are the two girls, or should I say girl and cat drawn with the same line? Why weren't they drawn separately?" Mr. Jackson asks.

"They could never be separated," Riley says confidently.

The teacher nods in agreement. "What do you get when you put the girl and the cat together?"

"A rainbow," Riley answers again.

"Us," Maya adds reaching out for Riley's hand. The two intertwine their fingers.

"Riley, who is the purple cat?" The teachers questions.

"It's Maya."

"Then why is she the one that has purple on her?"

"Because she had to show me that I was purple."

"And Maya, who did you draw?"

"Riley."

"Then why does she have all of those colors?"

"Because she had to show me that it was okay to tell the world who I was."

"One last question. Are you glad you shared this with the world."

Riley glances over at Maya, who responds, "I am."

"Very good, girls. You may take your seats."