Different.

Chapter 1

"Dakota wake up!!!" 

I sit up in bed as I hear my mother yelling through the door. "I'm up mom!" I yell back with a smile. I always seem to give her trouble getting out of bed in the morning so I've decided that since we are starting fresh in a new town, I should start fresh with a new me.

My mom opens the door. "There's a good girl. Now hurry up and get your new uniform on and I'll make you some bacon."

"I'm on it mom." I hop out of bed and start towards my closet in search of my brand new uniform.

I pull out a pale pink skirt and a pale pink blouse. When we got the uniform and my mom started telling me about the school I figured out something, the only thing about this school that wasn't sexist was lunch and the hallways. even the lockers were marked with either pink, for girls, or blue, for boys.

After puling on my uniform and my new school shoes, which are also pink, I go into my bathroom to find my brush. I yank it through my sleep ruined, straight, brown hair and throw it into a messy ponytail. Ponytails are also required for girls during classes.

I walk down stairs and into the kitchen to see my mother putting a plate of freshly cooked bacon on the table. I start to eat my bacon when my father walks in the room wearing his crisply ironed suit and carrying a jet black briefcase. 

He kisses my mom on the cheek and comes over to me, plants a kiss on the top of my head, and steals a piece of my bacon. "I'm late for work. Have a good first day of High School Dakota."  he walks out the door without another word.

Being fourteen, today is the first day of my freshman year in High School, so I am super exited.

When I am finished with my breakfast, I grab my book bag, which of course is pink, and head out the door.

"Wait." my mother says as she walks over to me. She hands me a dollar. "There is not a school bus, so you will be taking the city bus. This should cover your ride there and back."

I smile at her and accept the money. "Thanks mom. I'll see you after school." The last word was spoken through the crack in the closing door as I step out of it. I stride down my driveway and decide to power-walk to the bus stop.

When I get there, I sit down on the bench next to an old lady. When I sit down, I startled her and she drops her keys that she was playing with. I see her start to struggle while trying to reach down to get them. 

"Here, let me get those for you." I say as I bend down and grab the lady's keys. I hand them to her with a smile.

She smiles back. "Thank you very much young lady."

After that exchange, we sit in silence as we wait for the bus.

The bus pulls up about five minutes later and we both get on. I find an empty seat closer to the back and sit down. Me and the lady had gotten the last of the empty seats on the bus.

There was a boy two seats in front of me that kept on looking back at me and smiling. Anytime that I would catch him smiling at me, I would smile politely back.

At the next stop, another two people get on. The first is a boy who looks about my age with brown, buzz-cut, hair and deep, kind, brown eyes. He stands near a girl with blonde hair and grabs onto the holding bar. As he does this, he flexes his muscle so the girl can see. He is also wearing a powder blue shirt and the same color pants. He is going to my school.

The second person to get on is another boy about my age. He has longish black hair, just short enough to fit the required haircut for boys. He came to stand in the very back by the old lady I got on with.

When the boy came to stand by her, she got up and stood a bit in front of him.

I walked over to her. "You can go sit in my seat if you would like."

"Oh, you don't have to do that miss." she replies.

"No, I insist."

"Thank you." she goes and sits down in my seat with a smile on her face.

I go over and stand next to the boy. "That was rude of her. I'm Dakota by the way."

"Are you talking to me?" The boy looks up at me.

"Well of course I'm talking to you. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well,most people don't talk to me because...um."

"Because why?"

"Because I'm gay. That's why that lady moved away from me." he looks down at his feet.

"So what's your name?" I say looking at him.

"Didn't you just hear me? I said I was gay. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to."

"I don't care that your gay."

He looks up at me with a surprised look on his face. "Really?"

"Yes really. I think that it's good that you are embracing your true self and not letting anyone get in your way. Everybody deserves to be with their one true pair. So what's your name?"

The boy smiles. "My name is Noah."

"That's a nice name."

"Thanks. I haven't seen you around before, are you new?"

"Yeah, I just moved here last week."

"Oh cool."

The bus finally got to the school and me and Noah get off together.

I stop and look up at the school, it is huge!

"Are you okay?" Noah asks from beside me.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that it's so huge."

"Yeah, it is."

I smile at him and he smiles back at me. "Ready to start your first day?"

I take a deep breath. "I'm ready." I say.

I start to climb the stairs leading into the school with Noah by my side.