the orange tree grows in seattle

03

     "i'm just saying, i'd rather be an incestual raccoon than a presidential canidate."

     i snort coffee out of my nose. alani really knows how to make me laugh.

     okay, yeah, sorry. i forgot you were just tuning in ! it's been a few days. maybe i should catch you up ...

     lets start from where we left off.

                               ~~~~~~~~~

     "so," alani whispers into my ear, even though we're walking through a crowded hallway and there's no way anybody else could hear her, "this is, like, super different from hawaii." i chuckle and nod in agreement. i can see how this could be overwhelming for her, and though i was born and raised her, i sympathize so much with her. it doesn't help that she's getting gawked at everywhere we go. people really like the looks of tall hawaiian girls, i guess.

    i can't blame them.

as we walk through our ridiculously long hallway, i tell her pretty much everything about our school. it's, like, a lot, so i'll spare you the details and just give you a few star points:

       the teachers here are actually pretty chill. well, some of them. the art teacher gives us free dairyqueen sometimes.

     we have a giant room in our school that, when it opened, was entirely white canvas. it's open for students to be in, and it's always stalked with art supplies. when we have freedom, we're allowed draw or paint or color whatever we want. it seems like a bad idea at a public highschool, but people actually decided to respect the idea and now its covered in cool art (okay, some is questionable, but it's all actual art.

whatever you do, stay away from alyssa wiley. stay the fuck away from her. not because she does drugs, not because she's a "slut", not because she has a bad history. we don't judge people for those things, because those things don't necessarily make somebody a bad person. but let me tell you, this woman is a fucking monster. i don't even wanna say more.

and those are pretty much the important parts.

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     my hands are sweating, uncomfortably gripping the pink handle of my hello kitty lunchbox. don't bully me, i know hello kitty is for little kids, but sanrio is just my soft spot. always has been.

     my converse squeak as i walk through the sticky, late-august heat. alani and i didn't share any morning classes besides advisory, so after i showed her around the building we went our separate ways. however, i promised she could sit with us at lunch. plus, i was excited for our group to meet her.

     since it's still summery weather and me and my friends don't exactly associate with most of the student body here, we eat outside on the big hill. its a big sun spot, its clean, separated from the school just enough so that we can be just us but still people watch, and its kinda like a picnic every day. elliot even brings a huge blanket with dogs on it for us to all lounge on.

    i would have told alani where to go for lunch, but it's kind of confusing if you've never been up there, so instead i wait for her by the double doors. some of the last people are spilling out now, though, and im starting to worry that she got lost.

     however, not even a moment later, she stumbles out the door. being super tall and kind of clumsy, its hard to miss her. she grins at me, and, wordlessly, we begin to walk towards the hill.

lunch ends up being delightful. alani gets along great with everybody, and i think we have all came to the conclusion without saying a word that she's one of us now.

     i think we've all seemed to notice as well that she's getting along particularly well with elliot. they immediately clicked, and we all look around in uncomfortable smile as he tells a dumb joke and she laughs incredibly hard, leaning into his chest.

     this makes me insides tweak a little, for some reason.

     now, this isn't your typical fanfic. i'm smart and gay enough to know what i was feeling was maybe a tad of jealousy. but why ? sure, i could... definitely... see myself being attracted to alani, but i knew that i wasn't. i really can't
feel attraction to straight girls. it just feels wrong to me.

     ....

      right ?