The Highland Kids: Closet Space

Chapter 16

Aidan and I headed to the auditorium in the sixth form building. Standing off to the side was my welcome buddy from last year; a Demi-girl named Logan. They were wearing a white beaded bracelet that was code for "Now I'm using they and them pronouns." They screamed when they saw me and almost tackled me to the ground.

"Danny! Oh my god I missed you so much, I thought you were moving back to Canada once the year was over?" They looked over my shoulder and saw Aidan standing there. "And is this your boyfriend?"
"Shit came up and I'm here to stay, and this is Aidan, he's my housemate and in his last year of sixth form."

"Oh fancy, is he new?"
"Why don't you ask him that?"
They looked in his direction and asked him point blank. "Are you new?"
"I am new."
"Your accent is telling me you're Irish."
"I am, I'm originally from Dublin and I moved here when I was sixteen. Now I'm in my last year of school and I'm spending it in the Highlands."
"Well, welcome to Scotland, you'll fit right in. Also, I'm Logan and I use they and them and she and her pronouns. The way you can tell what pronouns I use is with the bracelet I'm wearing. White for they and them, pink for she and her."
"Good to know. Jordan says there's an assembly in the auditorium."

"There is. Once it's over, the headmaster will tell you where to go to get your schedule and what house you are in. There's the Loch Ness Monsters which are blue, the Phoenixes which are red, the Unicorns which are white, and the Dragons which are black. You'll get a pin to go on your blazer and matching cuff links for your shirt sleeves."

"Wait Logan," I said "How do you know all of this? We're in the same year. And what about our houses from last year? We were in the White House."
"My older brother graduated last year, he filled me in on everything. We can forget that sorting, there's new houses for the older kids. Now come on, this place is huge and I have no idea where I'm going."

Aidan tagged along behind me. "How do we get placed in our houses?"
"From what my brother told me, they take your grades from last year and from there, they determine what you value most: creativity, knowledge, cooperation, and initiative. At least I think that's what the school does. For all I know, the school used a teen magazine quiz and divided us from there."

We wandered around aimlessly for a bit and a teacher that was handing out apples sent us in the right direction.
"I'm Mrs. Collin, I'll be teaching maths and A level geography. I hope I get to teach any of you three this term."

The three of us found seats together and started chatting. Aidan sat between me and Logan.
"So Logan," Aidan began "Could you tell me how you met Jordan?"

"Alright let's see, last year the headmaster came to the class I was in and didn't care that he interrupted the lesson to say that we would be participating in a foreign exchange program.
Some girl wanted to be an online influencer so she left the UK and she moved in with some family in the US, Then I got assigned to be the welcome buddy of the new student since we had some similarities. On her first day, said new kid smart assed a teacher for her ableist teaching and the rest is history."

"That sounds like the best friendship arc ever, want to hear the story about how me and my brother came up with our prank team name?"

_________

"And that is how Jackson and I came up with the name "Air Conditioning is Sexist"
"That's amazing, I need to meet your family now that you have siblings. By the way, how's Meredith and Aria?"

"They're both great, house is big and it's getting bigger. Which means they don't have a lot of free time on their hands. But all of us try to pull our weight around the house."

"That's sweet. How old is Meredith now?"
"She's sixty-six I believe."
"Sixty-six, wow. At least she has Aria and the rest of you to help her out. So, what else-"