A Rainbow Club of Misfits

Chapter 4

Miss Turner wasn't a scary person. She was a small woman with a smile bright enough to rival the sun. She was a fantastic English teacher, but she wasn't the most threatening person. Alexandra had to admit, though, walking into the classroom with Nicole, Josh, and Connor for their weekly meeting only to see her waiting for them was an unusual sight to see.

"Miss Turner? Is there something wrong?" Nicole asked, a look of worry on her face.

Miss Turner gave a forced smile and walked up to the group. "Well, since the club is held in my classroom, I just thought I would check up on you guys."

"Well, I think the club is actually doing well!"

Miss Turner sighed. "Are you sure, Miss Morana? It is only the four of you here, right?"

"Well...?"

"Nicole," Miss Turner began somberly. "You know I am all for this club and that I believe that every student deserves a safe haven, but if you don't have at least 10 members in three weeks, you'll be forced to disband the club or let straight students join, too."

Nicole's face grew frightened at the idea of having their bullies join the club she started. "Miss Turner, please, you can't-"

"I'm sorry, Nicole. Those are the rules. I can't change anything. You have three weeks." The teacher smiled sadly, walking out of the room. The door swung shut behind her, the sound an echo in the silent room.

"Well, shit," Josh said, taking a seat. "What are we going to do?"

Connor sighed. "What can we do? There's only four of us. Where are we going to get six more people in three weeks?"

Josh thought a moment before coming up with an idea. "We could always meet at a place outside of the school. I mean, what do we do here that can't be done outside at school?"

"But that's not the point," Nicole shouted. "The whole point of the club was to show that even though we're a minority, we still are a part of this school and that we will not stay silent..."

Alexandra watched the small debate happening in front of them with slight interest. They really didn't care if the meetings were held at school or anywhere else. It would be harder to convince their mom to let them stay out late just to meet up with a few friends, but not impossible. Suddenly, Alexandra heard something that sounded like... a pair of voices?

"Hurry up, Jay! We're already late because you decided to hide around the school," an angry voice reprimanded.

"I don't even want to go to this fucking stupid club. I'll probably get kicked out and told 'Sorry! We don't accept your kind here. Come back when you have a real gender.' Bullshit. My gender is real and it's not my fault people can't accept that," replied the other one, presumably Jay.

"Look, Jay. I know what people have told you and, more importantly, what your dad told you. But, none of it is true, okay? Your gender is valid. You're valid."

"Whatever. Anyway, we're here. You want to knock or are you gonna force me to?"

"I'll do it, you big baby." After the voice had said that, three sharp knocks were heard, ending the small debate between Josh and Nicole.

No one said anyway until Connor snapped out of her stupor. "Come in!"

The door opened, revealing the most unlikely duo ever to grace the Earth.

The first one to go through the door was Jay Johnson, the school's very own bad boy. Alexandra wasn't sure what made him a bad boy besides punching one kid in the nose and threatening everyone that planned to mess with him. Besides that, the only thing he did that could be considered remotely bad would be when he would hide under the bleachers and smoke cigarettes. No one knew if that was true besides Alexandra, who had been looking for a place to stay while skipping fifth period one day. Needless to say, they both stayed under the bleachers and smoked for the rest of the day, not saying anything during or after that event. Anyway, the fact that Jay was there didn't shock Alexandra. It was the person who was with him that did.