"different"

Hazel and her mum

Hazel knew why her mum divorced but wished she didn’t. Being only 11 years old it was tough to first have divorce parents and secondly to know it’s because her mother is ‘different’. She’s different because unlike other parents she’d rather have a relationship with another woman. Hazel hates having a lesbian mum because she is scared of getting teased for not having a “normal” family

Although Hazel knows about her mums decisions, she is somewhat comforted by knowing that her mum will probably not find a girlfriend. Without a girlfriend her mother simply looks like a single mum and nothing more. Hazel loves her mum but sometimes she finds it’s hard to be around her without feeling ‘different’ from the rest of the world.

Two weeks ago her mum broke the news to Hazel that she had found a partner. This crushed Hazel. She tried to hide her feelings from her mum but couldn’t do it well enough. Her mum was worried by her thoughts as she had never heard of Hazel talk about this before. Hazels mum gently reassured her that everything was going to be alright and there was nothing wrong with being ‘different’. Hazel thought about this but didn’t believe it, reluctantly Hazel agreed with her mum so she would leave her to her own thoughts.

Finally Hazel met the dreaded girlfriend of her mother. As the couple greeted each other Hazel tried to look away to hide her misery until she was forced to look when the lady gently said, “hi honey you must be Hazel, I ‘m Eden. I have heard lots about you.” Hazel was old enough to be polite, so she shyly whispered a thank you, but then turned back around to face her mum.

Hazel was deep in her thoughts until she saw a child around her age standing next to Eden. She was surprised by this and decided to go introduce herself but before she could utter a word the girl blurted out, “hey my name is Alia……” Hazel, stunned by her sudden speech just looked at her surprised until Alia asked, “……and your name is?” Hazel sharply replied then immediately felt embarrassed when she noticed she did not respond.

Hazel and Alia met up again in two weeks’ time with their mothers. Everything was plain until Hazel found something odd about Alia. It was the fact that she acted like she was not troubled by her mum being ‘different’. Hazel looked at her with puzzlement for a very long time until she finally worked up the courage to ask her why she felt that she isn’t ‘different’. Alia simply replied, “You’re being silly.” Hazel was baffled by this answer. “How is that silly? She is the one who is silly.” Hazel thought

As the weeks passed Hazel and Alia became better friends and shared more precious secrets with each other such as what they thought of the girls at school and who they had crushes on. But even though Hazel liked Alia she did NOT like Eden and she certainly did NOT like her mums’ decisions.

 Once again Hazel asked Alia why she felt that she wasn’t ‘different’ to other people but yet again she replied with “You’re being silly” with this answer Hazel stomped off to her mum ready to go home and get away from Alia and Eden.

The next morning when Hazel arrived at school she was greeted with rude sneers and disapproving looks to what she thought were her friends. Hazel looked around in confusion looking for her best friend who she thought would never be like that to her. But all of a sudden Alia popped up in her face and explained that she moved schools to be with her until Hazel rudely cut her off to shout, “Did you tell them about our parents?! Are you the reason for this!” Alias eyes filled up with tears then she burst out crying in front of everyone. Hazel automatically regretted shouting at her but Alia couldn’t stop crying, so Hazel slowly and uneasily lead Alia to the bathroom so they could sort it out.

  

Alia was in a mess. Hazel gently patted her on the back and reassured her that everything was alright. After Alia had calmed down and had stopped sobbing, Hazel talked to Alia about what she had done. But all Alia could say without breaking down into a sea of tears again was, “I thought they would understand”. Unfortunately no matter how many times Hazel asked, “Understood what?” she got no reply.

After that day when all of Hazels friends betrayed her Alia and herself became the best of friends. They played together. They chattered together. They gossiped together. But the whole time one question had been nagging at the back of Hazels mind; why did she feel that she wasn’t ‘different’ to other people? After playing in the school playground Hazel decided that it was a good time to ask her the question but that when she answered she explained in an exasperated voice “You don’t get it do you? Lesbian isn't something our mums chose to be. It's something that they just are. Just like eye colour, hair colour, skin colour. Being lesbian is normal. Youdidn't choose to be straight. You just are. You and your mum are both normal.” Then it came to her, maybe Alia was right.