LGBTQIAP+ Milestones: Book 3

Sapphic Goddess

By Iena

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I think it was around eighth grade when I was positive I found girls attractive. I've never had an actual crush, I just admired girls. One day, a girl moved into our neighborhood. I'm referring to her by her actual name because the chances of her reading this are extremely minuscule, but if she does and she knows it's her, hey, Cameron!

She was the definition of a cliche, bad girl. She had dip dyed hair, piercings, and what not. She was instantly popular in school because she was cousins with another popular girl, Marie. There were millions of rumors about her. She sent nudes to someone, she slept with some boy in front of her sister, she was catfishing a boy in college, and other ridiculous lies. I, being my introverted, awkward self, never attempted speaking to her. She was in most of my classes. We were reassigning seats in math and she sat across me. My friend, Cassandra, sat next to me. Cameron had trouble with math. She asked me what I got for a problem and I answered her correctly. She asked me how to explain it. She said, "You're so smart, thanks, friend!" I normally never blush or show feelings, but I knew I resembled a strawberry.

In eighth grade, I was in a volleyball team outside of school because I wasn't able to do it in school because I was involved in other academic things that were more important to me. Cameron, who was on the school team, joined the team. I rarely spoke to her. One day, we were scrimmaging and I spiked the ball. When I jump high, my legs give out. I fell backwards and she was behind me. She was laughing and I was embarrassed. She said, "Hi," and all I could say was, "Sup." Later on, practice was over and I was waiting for my mom to pick me up. I was playing in the gym because they don't take the net down until eight and we were the last ones in the gym. She goes on her bike and stays practicing too. She asked if I wanted to play with her. I was too passive to say no.

She said, "I know you're gay, dude. It's so obvious. I see you staring at me in class." I wanted to scream. I was praying she wasn't homophobic or else I was done. I asked her how she knew and she said something about having an excellent "gaydar." She told me, "It's okay, I'm not a homophobic d-bag. I'm gay too. I'm practically a sapphic goddess."

I mentally laughed in my head. I asked her, "Was that a glee reference?" Dani and Santana were my favorite couple on the show. Sorry, Brittana shippers. She smiled and replied, "Possibly." She called me cute and I basically died. It was about seven and my mom still didn't come. She asked for my phone and said she had to leave. She kissed my cheek and messed up my hair with her hand. She said, "See you at school, bye, dork." I knew my face was the purest shade of red. My mom finally picked me up and expected me to be angry, but I was all smiles. She was the only person who knew I was gay besides my friend, Cassandra. It was the start of a great relationship.