My Name is Andrew Lee Cooper.

Chapter Four

"Wow, it's Lily The Lesbian. How's life treating you?" I can hear the whole class snicker at me as a jock walks off with what little self-esteem I had left. I roll my eyes. This can't be real. I can see the teacher pretending she doesn't hear while she sets a folder down at her desk. She's not even going to tell him to knock it off?

"Lily!" If I hear my birth name one more fucking time today I'm going to puke. Not that it's anyone's fault but mine, I guess. No one knows about me. I turn to the voice and I realise it's Ari. Ari's cool, but sometimes they annoy me. They're just over the top. But otherwise, they're super cool and funny and they're good at art so I always look up to them. They're non binary, and they have a girlfriend who lives across the country named Abigail. Abigail is super sweet and really pretty, I'm glad she found Ari. They're cute together.

"Hey, Ari. I didn't know we had the same seminar, it's cool we get to hang out since we don't have any classes together. It's good to see you." They grin and stand next to me.

"It's good to see you too. I hope we sit next to each other. How was your summer?"

"It was okay, I guess." I reply, shrugging. The teacher then sits us down and we go through more syllabi and rules and permission slips. I can't decide if I would rather be here or at home. I shake my head absently and almost laugh at myself. Definitely here. Ari was seated about four seats down, so we exchange glances and faces until the bell rings and I'm off to lunch. Waving goodbye to Ari, I head out the door and down the hall to lunch. This was the part of my day I was worried about. Andy and Zoey both told me they had second lunch (our school is divided by two lunches), so I won't see either of them. Most of the other friends I asked said they had second lunch too, so I may be alone here. Just like in the movies. Maybe I should just eat in the bathroom? No, that's pathetic. I take my time, walking slowly to the commons.

I enter the hall to the commons where lunch takes place. Once I get there I see that it's practically empty, but starting to fill up. I see an empty table next to a tall, thick brick column so I sit down and lean back on it. I look around me, trying to make myself as small as possible. I grab my lunch out of my bag and set it on the table. I whip out my phone to distract myself from all the people. I'm not big on large crowds; they give me a lot of anxiety, so I try to not think about it. My heart begins to beat faster and I'm getting shaky.

"Hey!" I can hear Andy's voice behind me. I turn and he sits next to me.

"What are you doing here? Are you on your way to class?" He shakes his head and sits down next to me.

"I had a last-minute schedule change." He says, holding out a slip. I read it and nod. My anxiety lessens and I'm very relieved.

"I'm so glad. I was worried I would sit here alone looking like a dumbass." I reach into my bag and pull out my lunch, as does he.

"Andy, Lily, hey!" Someone sets a tray of food at our table and sits down. I look up and I see Sophie. Sophie is another friend from our "group." She has short, bleach-blonde hair, green eyes, and a round face. She's sweet, caring, and supportive. I love to be around her because she's always smiling. We actually dated a while back, but broke up because we were better as friends. It was mutual, and we're still pretty close friends to this day.

"Sophie!" I shout her name and get up from my seat to hug her. I'm smiling hard; I missed her a lot. I never saw her during the summer. I sit back down, and lunch continues with the three of us. We talk about random things, catch up on stuff from the summer. It's nice to see her again. I stuff my face with food, starving. I didn't eat breakfast this morning.

"So, Lily has a crush." Andy states, taking a sip of his drink. Sophie sits forward.

"Who? Who? You have to tell me." I look at Andy with a confused stare.