Toast

Chapter Forty Seven // Pansexuality And Picnic Blankets

- Elizabeth's POV -

It was the day after that the Halloween Ball had been announced and most of the girls in my class decided to skip school. We all had a lot of planning to do in order to look our best at the Ball which was tomorrow evening. The girls joined together on the grass outside the boarding school, they brought picnic blankets and food so everybody could chill out and form groups to make a plan on where to go to buy dresses. I approached the group and saw Amber sitting alone, she waved at me and told me to sit with her so I did.

"You'll never guess what happened last night" Amber whispered into my ear before flashing an excited grin, I stared at her weirdly before she carried on with the story. Once she told me that she and Jade had finally got together I screamed with excitement and hugged her tightly, everybody glanced over at me in confusion but I didn't care as I was so happy for Amber.

"Where is she anyway?" I asked Amber, referring to Jade. Amber rolled her eyes and sighed at my question before taking a handful of the crisps that were laid out on the picnic blanket.

"She hates ninety nine percent of the people sitting here, she wouldn't have come even if I begged her to" Amber explained while laughing, I nodded and glanced around at everybody who was chatting and giggling together. Priya was sitting with Carrie-Anne in the corner of the gathering and Ashley was running around everybody there offering them sweets.

"ALRIGHT GIRLS! It's time for us to decide where we are going this afternoon" Ashley shouted, she stood up in the middle of the blanket and spun around so everybody could see her. The girls shouted out random names of shops where they wanted to buy their dresses from, Ashley began to write them down on her phone. Priya glanced across the blanket at me and smiled, I smiled back at her and then she looked away. Carrie-Anne noticed us doing this and she nudged Priya before getting up and joining the rest of the group.

"I can't believe you're gay Priya" One of the girls said as she turned to Priya, still sitting alone. The rest of the girls also glanced at her and another one gasped in horror.

"Since when?!" She shouted, everybody laughed and rolled their eyes at the girl who was freaking out.

"Since forever, I've always been this way" Priya spoke up with a smile on her face, I stared at her as my heart thumped loud enough for everybody to hear. Nobody was going to bully her and get away with it, they wouldn't dare to with Ashley walking around. The group went silence for a moment until the other girls began to chat again.

"I knew a gay person once, she was gross though"

I rolled my eyes and Priya giggled quietly at my reaction, it was if we were having a silent conversation from across the picnic blanket. Amber shook her head in shame beside me at what the others were saying, they had no idea how homosexuality worked.

"My boyfriend is pansexual, I think it's really sweet" Carrie-Anne told the girls while grinning to herself, everybody stared at each other in confusion without saying a thing.

"What the fuck is that?"

"How can you date him then?

"YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?"

"Pansexuality is when you like more than two genders, he can date anybody" Carrie-Anne explained while rolling her eyes, it seemed she knew more than we thought. I was shocked at first, I had never heard of that sexuality before but it seemed so fitting. I looked across at Amber and she was already staring at me, she had a look on her face as if to say "That's the one, that's the label you've been searching for". She raised an eyebrow at me and I grinned widely at her, maybe it is.

"Can we stop talking about gay people already?! We have to focus on finding dresses!" Ashley shouted while groaning loudly, everybody agreed and they began to discuss the topic once again. All I could think about was pansexuality and what more it meant, instead of joining in with the group I decided to search online the meaning of it.

"Pansexuality is the sexual attraction, romantic love or emotional attraction toward people regardless of their sex or gender identity."

I glanced up from my phone, instantly feeling a huge weight of my chest and a clear mind about who I was in that aspect. Some people might not be bothered by not knowing their specific label and that is okay, but to me I like to have everything numbered and labelled in my head or else I feel uneasy. Amber patted me on the back because she knew exactly what was going on in my head.

"Have you told Elijah the news?" I whispered to Amber as Ashley continued to shout about the Halloween Ball. Amber gasped and shook her head before pulling out her phone and calling her best friend, he should've been the first to find out.

"There is a train leaving for the town at 10:00am, we can leave and get it now" Ashley told the group, they all agreed before heading back to their rooms to get money. Ashley warned them to be extra careful as we should be in school instead of having a shopping day out.

"Elijah is coming shopping with us! He's going to help me decide on a dress" Amber told everybody while waving her phone in the air, somebody whistled as if Elijah was Amber's boyfriend and she rolled her eyes. I wonder if Jade and Amber will tell everybody about their relationship?

Only me and Priya were left standing by the picnic blanket as everybody got ready for the day ahead, we stood in silence while regularly smiling at each other.

"Pansexual, right?" Priya said to me as if it was my name, I stared at her weirdly before laughing.

"How did you know I was searching it up once Carrie-Anne told us about her boyfriend?" I asked, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"I knew you were all along, but you had to find out for yourself" She said, I gasped in shock before shoving her angrily. Priya was aware of the frustration and anxiety I had because I was unable to find a label for my sexuality yet she knew all along? She's sneaky. We began to talk about the Halloween Ball and what we wanted to wear, I had no idea and I wasn't bothered on the whole dress up thing anyway.

Suddenly Connie appeared at the boarding house door, she was with the lady who takes care of the boarding house and us. Me and Priya hid behind a tree just in case the lady spotted us, we watched from a distance at what was going on. Connie had her suitcase and a few bags on her back, it looked like she was going away somewhere. The lady helped her carry her belongings down the steps and then gave her a hug, I glanced back at Priya in confusion and she shrugged her shoulders. Once the lady went inside I decided to approach Connie and ask what was going on.

"Connie? Where are you going?"