One of the Guys

Chapter One

"Two more minutes, everyone," Mr. Geyling told us.

I groaned. I shouldn't have even been here.

"Hey," the guy beside me said. "You're Kiana, right?"

I turned to look at him. He was leaning towards me in his desk and grinning. I looked up at Mr. Geyling. He re-buried his face in the book he'd been consuming for the last two hours. I nodded back to him disinterestedly.

"What'd you do?" he asked.

I thought back to a few hours ago when Mr. Rowe saw me walking in the hallway. I had just separated from my friends at lunch and was walking alone. Mr. Rowe, our resident perv teacher, stopped me from behind.

"Ms. Bond!" he had called to me. "That skirt is above the appropriate length. You know better than that."

I did know. This morning as I was putting on my skirt, I knew there was a remote possibility I could get in trouble for it but it wasn't my fault. Two days ago, the skirt wasn't too short on me. Even though it shrunk in the wash last night, it was still my favorite skirt. He handed me a pink detention slip and told me he was disappointed in me. I felt a tingle creep up my spine just remembering how he was addressing my chest and not my face as he said this.

"Nothing," I responded to the boy's question. He continued to watch me and I knew why. He wanted me to ask him back but I didn't care to give him that satisfaction. It only took him 15 seconds to break and just tell me anyway. Boys are so predictable.

"Yeah I broke into South High football's locker room," he slouched in his seat and shrugged. "It was no big deal."

I knew he wanted me to be impressed but it was always more fun to burst an overly confident boy's bubble than to feed into his enormous ego.

"Obviously, 'no big deal' if you got caught," I giggled.

He immediately sat up straight and leaned into me again. "You don't need to front with me, babe. I'm totally into girls like you."

I felt the familiar rise of hairs on my forearm like I had a million times before since ninth grade when my best friend, Logan, let me take the fall for her and let everyone believe I was into girls. I wasn't, nor have I ever been, and thanks to that misunderstanding, I have never been able to convince anyone outside of my immediate circle of friends what my true orientation was. The more I denied it, the more people believed I was hiding.

"You're an idiot," I whispered. I rolled my eyes at him and shifted in my seat.

"Bitch," he mumbled under his breath. I flinched like I always did when I was addressed in that tone with a word like "bitch" or "dyke" or "whore."

I raised my hand and waved a little to grab Mr. Geyling's attention.

"Yes, Ms. Bond," he said breathlessly, clearly annoyed I pulled him away from his book.

"May I use the restroom?"

He groaned. "Bathroom use is not allowed in detention, you know that. There are only 2 minutes left. Hold it."

I did not give up. "But Mr. Geyling..."

He lifted his head again from his book and nodded in wait.

"I'm having lady problems. I can't wait."

Mr. Geyling's face turned a bright shade of red immediately. He was completely flustered and very much unable to form words. He nodded at me and to the door. I rose gratefully with all of my things and slid my slip across Mr. Geyling's desk. He was hesitant to take the slip from me.