The Pros and Cons of Being Alice Turner

Chapter 5

Alice sat in a room full of strangers, minus Riley, chattering and discussing about coming out. She had joined the LGBTA+ group without thinking about it.
"Okay you guys, we're going to have a big sort of Prom. We have it every year and there are always lots of people." Alice felt Riley lightly elbow her and smile. The director continued. "It's this weekend, so I hope you can come, even if it is short notice."
Alice knew her mother would say no, but Riley wouldn't stop talking about it all day, so when she got home she found her mother in her room.
"Hey mom..." Alice's mother looked at her, annoyed and suspicious. "What?"
"Can you take me to a dance this weekend? It's for the group I'm in."
She sighed. "What group?"
"LGBTA+."
"You're not gay."
"....The A stands for ally. I'm an ally."
Her mother sat in silence. "Fine." Alice stood dumbfounded for a minute, glad she hadn't told her mother she was bisexual, then gave her the paper with the information on it.
The next day at school, she told Riley the good news. They high-five'd then walked to the library where Riley brought her to a group of people sitting at a round table. Zane was there.
"Hey guys, this is Alice." Alice waved nervously and pulled up a bit, sitting outside of the circle. She noticed some of the people from group.
One girl, named Mira, sat with a guy maybe a foot taller than her or so with curly hair. Mira was roughly 5'4. She had long black curls and her fringe was swept upward. She wore jean shorts with a loose grey tank top that worked well with her tanned skin. The boy, she thought his name was Brandon, had on a black jacket and jeans. Alice noticed that they both had brown eyes.
Another girl (Kiara?) was giggling with Mira and Riley. She had on skinny jeans and knee-high Converse with a knitted blue jacket and a black tee. Her eyes were accentuated by her glasses, but also drowned out by her dark skin. Alice had seen her before with colored contacts and understood why.
Zane was speaking with two boys she had never seen before.They both wore glasses and had black tapers in their ears. Alice wondered if she should stretch her ears like they did.
"I was running around and my buddy, Peter, when it suddenly got quiet. For some reason, I just started shouting movie lines..." I got so focused on his voice that didn't even hear the words that came after. He looked so bright talking about his game.
Alice smiled to herself, she began wondering if she would have all these people around her at the Out Youth dance. She had a pretty striped dress she planned to wear and she wanted these people to know that she could look beautiful.
As the rest of the week went by, Alice began to speak to others in the group every morning. During that time, Riley and her seemed to be getting closer, and not just as friends.
  Alice was starting to get excited, but, by Friday, Zane had said he wasn't going to make it. Alice felt a little stab of disappointment. "Why not?" She asked.
He looked at her a bit surprised. "I have something to do tomorrow." She nodded sadly. She had wanted to talk to him there's and maybe know a little more about him, but she couldn't if he wasn't going.
Saturday was terrible. Alice woke up excitedly, but soon found that no one was going. She had to lie to her mom about everyone leaving, as she wouldn't let her go alone. She had to put on her dress early and was hit on by a Target worker. She made it finally to the store the dance was held at. Alice awkwardly made her way up the stairs to the roof, feeling a stab of pain that no one she knew would be present.
She fumbled with her red bracelet that indicated her age of fifteen. She looked at all the strange faces and felt drowned out by their laughter and jokes. As she walked in, she noticed the group director there.
"Alice! Hey, how are you?" The women, Sara, asked. "Not good, I'm the only one of my... friends that came. I mean I don't know if some of the others will come, but I don't really know them." She looked down at her feet.
"No worries, let me introduce you to some people." Sara smiled and did just that. She met Des, Andi, and Juno. Alice sat with them awkwardly and made light conversation with Andi and Des, a couple there, about Pokemon.
Soon she noticed someone sit down next to her, but didn't talk. Juno kept talking about their school and Alice listened intently. Eventually Juno left to get food and took the stranger with them.(They prefer to be referred to as they/them she learned, with some trial and error, that is.)
Sitting now alone, Alice let her eyes wander on all the people. They were so diverse and she loved it.
The stranger came back and Alice muttered an awkward, "welcome back." The boy just smiled and they began to talk. It was casual, but fun for Alice felt like it was okay to have friends.
  Eventually, she made it to the dance floor thanks to Juno and the boy, Will. "Come on." Will pushed as a Britney Spears song came on. The crowd cheered and Alice couldn't help but smiled.
  She smiled the whole time she danced awkwardly with these people, even Waltzing to the "Charlie Slide" with someone.
At the end of the night, Alice walked with Will to his car. "Maybe you can come to the Austin meetings... And I can see you again." She nodded happily at Will's suggestion. Noticing that he had been flirting with her all along. 'Flirting with me!'' Her inner self cheered at the rare occurrence.