Anyway, back to the gay shit

Chapter 1

BLEEP! BLEEP!

I hear the dull tone of my alarm and I open my eyes. Fuck, that was a mistake. Bright sunlight burns my eyes as I squint at the clock on my wall, which reads 7:20. SHIT. I'm meant to leave the house in twenty minutes with dad and my brother Michael, and dad's going to be pissed. God damn it, I'm never going to get used to waking up for school after the summer holidays. I jump out of bed and run over to my closet, grabbing out my blazer and the first blouse and skirt I see. I throw them on and scan my room for the rest of my uniform - a tie, hat, ribbon and socks. I tear the brush through my thick, black hair while walking upstairs to the kitchen and hurriedly pour myself some dry cereal, grabbing my phone on the way. I stuff my books into my bag and slip into my shoes at the door, then run out to the car with my laces flapping about. I slump into the front seat and sneak a glance at a notification from Instagram. Dad gives me a disapproving look and mutters under his breath about "teenagers and their technology addiction".

I imagine giving him a detailed explanation outlining how social media allows teens to connect with friends, often with whom they would rather spend time with than family. I decide against it for obvious reasons.

We pull up outside Michael's and my school, Telford Grammar School, and he and I hop out of the car and walk towards the school's main building. It's Michael's first day of Year Seven, and I'm starting Year Ten, which means I've got my mock GCSEs at the end of the year and all my teachers will be hassling us non-stop. Once we get halfway down the hallway he heads to where the Year Sevens' lockers are and I keep going to the Year Ten lockers. As I turn a corner make my way towards my locker I hear an ear-splitting shriek, which could only come from one person.

"ASTRID!" My friend Mira runs over to me with her arms outstretched and a huge grin plastered on her face, scrunching up her freckles. Frizzy red hair is bouncing around her shoulders, she must have had it cut over the break. "Oh my god, I missed you so much! What did you do over the summer?"

"Nothing much, it was pretty wet. You?" I reply.

"Yeah, not much either. Mum tried to drag us up to visit my grandparents in Birmingham, but it was pretty miserable." We talk and catch up with each other until the bell rings. We head to our different form rooms for morning registration, as well as the inevitable awkward back-to-school conversations.

I get to my form room and grab a chair at the back of the class while my form teacher, Mrs Wheeler, takes attendance. No sooner do I open my book and start reading than I feel a tap on my shoulder. It's Sarah, who is generally agreed upon as the friendliest person in our grade, probably the entire planet. She smiles at me and asks me about my holidays. Shit. Now I'm going to have to engage in social interactions and actually appear normal, which means trying to combat my serious resting bitchface. Not going to happen. I force a smile and piece together a vague answer involving Netflix and the couch, then return to my book. It's about a high school senior who happens to be faced with the timeless lesbian dilemma: 'is she trying to flirt with me or is she just being friendly'. The main character is such a mood, even though I've never actually had a girlfriend. Hell, I'm not even out as gay to anyone except Mira. I've wondered many a time how my family would react to me coming out, and suffice to say I should probably stop wondering. The human brain never fails to simultaneously fascinate and disappoint me.

By third period my human brain is completely drained, and also appears to have forgotten how to do school entirely. I struggle to stay awake throughout History and am on the verge of dozing off. Unfortunately, my teacher Mr. Coleman decides to introduce us to the term's unit about World War II. I doze off halfway through a PowerPoint about the War's Eastern Front and Mr. Coleman slaps his hand on my desk as he paces around the class. I bolt up with a start.

"Now miss Huang, what can you tell us about the battle of Stalingrad?" He asks, smirking ever so slightly. He thinks he's caught me out. Well joke's on him, he's totally caught me. I quickly scan the slide on the board, which offers very little in the way of useful information.

"Well sir, the battle of Stalingrad was a battle-" I pause and rack my brain. "Fought in Stalingrad." Well, that was a fucking Nobel Prize-worthy answer. Coleman narrows his eyes and continues.

"As you can see here students, it is vital to pay attention in class lest you are caught in a situation requiring your knowledge of the Second World War. An exam perhaps." He glares at me and then around the class, hoping to catch others slacking off. Evidently he has no such luck, because he then begins to introduce our term's assignment. It's an oral presentation and we have to choose a battle to research, which are already red flags, but the thing that hits the shitty nail on the shitty head is the fact that it's in pairs. Nobody in my History class is who I would consider my "friend", but there are a couple of people I would not spontaneously combust while talking to. Unfortunately, the person Mr. Coleman puts me with does not fall into that category. In his gravelly Northern accent he says as he draws a slip of paper out of a hat,

"Astrid Huang and..." he pauses and fishes around the hat for a good 30 seconds before finally drawing a name. He unfolds it and reads out the name. "Elise Ashford." Shit, who is that again? She came last year I think, and I'm pretty sure she has curly black hair. Well, this could be a slight problem. I scan the classroom for maybe-Elise and I make eye contact with a girl with bushy black hair, chocolate brown skin and hazel eyes, with just a hint of gold. She waves to me and moves over to my desk.

"Hey, Astrid, right?" she says, waving her hands about and grinning.

"Yeah. You must be Elise then," I reply with an awkward smile. "Well, I guess we've got to choose which battle we're researching for this assignment."