Cinderfella

Chapter Eight

"Welcome to Queer Club! Take a seat newbie!"

Ethan blinked at the door to Ms. Keller's room. Two girls sat by her desk, lounging on top of the student desks.

The smaller of the two, an excited blond in a leather jacket, waved him over, scooting on the desk top. "Don't be shy! I'm Alice, and it's nice to meet you!"

Ethan stepped inside. "Is Mikey not here yet?"

The bigger of the two girls shook her head. "He'll be here in a minute. It takes him a few minutes to get across the school. I'm Maddy, by the way."

"Ethan Young," he introduced. "Is this it? I hoped there might be a few more of us."

Alice waved her hand. "It's just us, but that doesn't mean we're not fun. Come sit and talk to us. We're just getting ready for a trip this weekend. Sorry it's last minute, but we get to go to a homecoming dance that's safe for kids like us."

Ethan sat on the desk top, swinging his legs awkwardly back and forth. Alice leaned forward, elbows on her knees and peering at Ethan. "So, Ethan Young, what's up with you? Is your house a safe place or do you need a place to get away to sometimes? Do you want to share your coming out story? What's it like to feel attraction?"

Maddy set a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Calm down and let him breathe." She turned to Ethan. "I'm sorry, she's just excited to finally have a new member. But if you ever do need anything, I'm always a phone call away."

She pulled out a pen and grabbed Ethan's arm. She scribbled down a number, squinting and showing Alice. "I didn't mix them up, did I? It doesn't look right."

Alice gave it a once over. "You're all good, no need to worry Mads."

Maddy put her pen up and Ethan pulled his jacket down to hide the number. "Thanks. My parents are kinda homophobic, so if they throw me out, it'd be nice to have a place to go to. My old friend got kicked out and no one's seen her since."

Alice winced. "Poor girl. I hope she's somewhere safe and doing well."

Maddy nodded. "Hope she's okay too."

The doorknob jiggled, and a minute later, Mikey trudged in, covered in water. He kept his head down and shuffled forward to the group. "H-hey guys," he mumbled, sitting in a seat and curling in on himself.

Maddy jumped up and began looking Mikey over. "Are you alright? Who did this to you?"

Mikey pulled away. "I didn't see who. I went to the bathroom and some guys tried to 'baptize the gay' out of me."

Alice leaned forward and peered around Ethan. "How did they fill up the sink to douse you?"

Mikey shook his head. "They didn't dunk me in the sink."

Maddy pulled away and wiped her hands on her jeans. "Gross. I'll find out who they were and get them back for you. Now come on, I've got some extra practice clothes you can change into."

Mikey stood up and went with her silently. The door slammed shut and Ethan was left alone with Alice.

"Oh, thanks for letting Mikey come out on his own to you," Alice said. "It was a really nice gesture. But now he thinks you're kinda dumb because you didn't pick up any of the hints people were dropping around you."

Ethan shrugged. "It was no big deal. I'd rather hear it from him than rumors. People like them will use it even if someone's straight anyways." Ethan ran a hand through his hair. "So, what about you?" Ethan asked. "I mean, you asked me a bunch of stuff, so I'd like to know about you."

Alice tapped her chin. "You answered only one question. But, I guess I'll tell you a bit about my self. I'm asexual aromantic, and I say this because I get uncomfortable when people ask me out. I'm not cocky or anything, but it's super awkward so I tend to let people know so that I'm not in that awkward position of saying no. What else do you want to know?"

Ethan shrugged. "I don't know. What do you do for fun?"

"What do you do for fun?" Alice asked.

Ethan smiled. "I asked you first."

Alice huffed. "Fine. I'm on the robotics team, and I work at a garage on weekends doing maintenance on cars and bikes. And on Saturdays, I drag race."

She lifted her left pant leg to reveal a prosthetic leg. "The guy I was racing one time lost control of the car and hit the driver's side. A piece of the front bumper completely crushed my leg, and I got third degree burns all up my leg and arms. I lost my leg, but it's not too bad."

Ethan blinked, not knowing what to say. His mouth opened several times before he closed it and cleared his throat. "Who-who taught you how to work on cars?"

Alice shrugged and let her pant leg fall. "My dad, but he and my mom divorced after my accident. Apparently, I was the only thing keeping him there, so when I couldn't stand up and call him out on leaving for a pretty rich girl, he bolted."

Ethan set a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry all that happened."

Alice shrugged. "Why are you sorry? I won the race, and it taught me to be careful with my competitors. Plus, now I'm part machine, and it pushed me to join robotics, so I might one day become and engineer and be able to help people with missing limbs like me." She swung her prosthetic back and forth. "So, what do you do for fun?"

Ethan shrugged. "I like to read, and play video games. I tried to learn an instrument a while back, but I could only rent it. But I have a Tumblr."

Alice laughed. "Wow, the stereotypical gay dude with a Tumblr."

Ethan lightly pushed her shoulder. "Pan, not gay. I think girls are just as pretty, if not more, as some dudes."

Alice nodded. "We girls are very pretty, I'll give you that."

The door opened and Maddy led Mikey inside. He wore too big athletic clothes with Ethan's hoodie he'd given him days ago covering his arms. He wiped his hair, which had been dried via hand drier.

"Sorry it took a bit, we had to go back to his locker to get the jacket. He wouldn't come out without it," Maddy said, hopping back up onto the desk. Mikey slunk back in his seat.

"Hey man, how've you been?" Ethan asked him.

Mikey groaned and set his head in his arms. "I just want to skip to this weekend and get away from here."

Ethan looked around. "Can anyone give me the details about that? I'd like to go."

Maddy pulled out a piece of notebook paper and handed it to Alice, who began to write vigorously. "We had our homecoming last weekend. But because it can get dangerous or violent for us to go to events like that where there's no teachers there to monitor, we decided to go to another school about an hour away so we can dance and meet people. It's this Saturday, and I'm giving everyone rides, so don't worry about that. If it's late, Alice's parents are fine with all of us crashing at her house."

Ethan smiled. "I'm in."

•••••

Who saw the eclipse? I did, and it was incredible! Even though I wasn't in totality, it was amazing to see and it really puts into perspective our dull and (in the grand scheme of things) meaningless lives.