Queer Leering - A Lesbian Love Story {coming soon}

extended summary + copyright

               The room quiets. The white girl, behind her thick, black framed glasses, scans over the crowd while crossing her arms over her chest. The loose material covering her arms tightens. The projector starts up, covering the upper half of the girl with a lime green slide. Her skin is so pale the color is fluorescent on her skin. The other GSA leader, Mickiyah, moves aside, so the white girl is alone and centered in front, and hands her something I can't see from my seat. I crane my neck, curious.

               The projector dies, leaving the room dark for a breath, then restarts, this time with what I presume is the preface to their presentation projected onto the board and overlaying the lanky, dark figure of the white girl. The slide is made up of an array of photos, a collage essentially, some of the faces that I don't recognize, others of students I see in the halls. The largest individual photographed is one that I recognize: it's Matthew Shepard. It's one of the first images that pop up when you google his name; the image of him where his hair is side swept and he smiles lazily in a sweater in front of a wooden establishment. I've read about his death, what happened to him, years prior, but unlike other things from that long ago, I remember it and the horror of the event. The familiar feeling of dread hardens in the pit of my stomach and my mouth dries. I sit a bit up in my seat, as does Jeremy. The white girl is watching the crowd, her eyes jumping around, and I want her to look at me. She does not.

               She lifts one hand up, the other tucked into the crook of her elbow so the other arm drapes lazily over her chest, which - even from my seat - I see heave ever so slightly with her breathing. In her raised hand is a clicker, and in her eyes I see intent. Her brows set. Click. There are more images on this slide, more faces, more stories. I unknowingly want to hear them all.

               "Hello, everyone," she says. This is the first time she has spoken - she had sat idly while Mickiyah introduced herself and the club - and her voice is lower than expected, individualized and recognizable. It's as smooth as her skin, as cut and defined as her jaw. "Welcome to the official first meeting of Danville High's Gay-Straight Alliance. Today, we're going to be studying and analyzing a practice that I'm sure you've seen here at Danville. It's been executed by students, teachers, faculty members, parents, donors." Click. There's a new slide now, with no images, just a phrase. I look at her, expectedly waiting, and this time, she looks at me. Her eyes stay with mine as she reads the words on the slide: "Queer Leering."

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Bria Willis did not expect to join a gay-straight alliance at her new school, black-majority school, and she certainly did not expect to fall in love with the bisexual white girl leading it. 

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Queer Leering, a debut novel from author Erika Recinos, explores teenage homosexuality in a different way, layering the concept alongside struggles with gender, gender norms, racial expectations, and overall teenage angst and responsibilities. It explores what it truly means to be a black teenage lesbian with artistically written installments only available on Wattpad.

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© 2017 Erika Recinos (known as _queenofthedamned on Wattpad) 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from both co-authors.  

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Started: 8/18/17

Ended: