THE ROSE AND THE THORN

Chapter 3

"Looks like we have a new student," I told Connor and Scott as we sat in our usual booth at our local diner.

"What's her name? Is she hot?" Connor immediately asked.

"I dunno her first name, but her last name is Rose. And yeah, she's smokin', but my gaydar was going wild. Sorry mate," I laughed.

"Won't be the first time I've turned a gay girl straight," he smirked.

"That has never happened, Connor. Laura felt sorry for you. You went on one date. Stop reaching," Scott laughed, and Connor sat back against the booth with his arms folded.

"Anyway," Connor tried changing the subject, "are you gonna go for her?"

"Me?" I asked him.

"Yes, you. I'm asking you, the lesbian, if you're going to try and hook up with another lesbian," Connor said slowly, teasing me.

"Shut up, and you know I'm not. I don't do girls from school. You know that," I said.

"Right, I forgot," Connor laughed, "All thanks to good ol' Cara."

"Don't remind me," I murmured.

Cara was a sweet girl, but she had always been a bit of a whore. When I came out as gay, she pretty much threw herself at me. She was hot and easy, so I went for it. My mistake. After we had sex she wouldn't leave me alone, even though I had made it clear that sex was the only thing I wanted from her. I had literally said 'this is just a one time thing you know...just sex'. She had agreed. Not my fault she lied.

She messaged me constantly, telling me that she missed me and that she wanted to hook up again. I never kissed the same person twice, let alone fucked them. That's how you avoid getting hurt, plain and simple. I told her I wasn't interested, and she went on a downward spiral from there. She got her dad to go to the school and tell them that I was bullying her, which lead to me having to explain to Mr Geoffrey about my 'don't fuck a girl twice' logic. That was embarrassing, but at least the school knew that I wasn't bullying her. I'm no bully. Sure, I can be a bit of an asshole, but if you're cool with me then I'm cool with you. Mr Geoffrey was the only teacher who didn't tell me that I was 'too young to know' that I was gay, and I had major respect for him because of that.

"What if you're wrong though, Indi?" Scott asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"What if she's not gay?" he explained.

"Nah man, I'm never wrong. She's one hundred percent homo. Sorry to burst your bubble," I laughed as they both rolled their eyes at me.

We both spent the rest of the night laughing and reminiscing on our high school years. Connor and Scott have been my best mates since day one of seventh grade. I met Connor first in homeroom, and he introduced me to Scott. They grew up together, and we all got along like a house on fire.

The next day I skated to school early, feeling too bored to be sitting at home by myself. Scott had basketball practice before school so he'd be there when I got there so I wouldn't be alone. My house was too big for just my mother and me, and when she went on her 'business trips', the house was so lonely. We lived in an affluent area of town and my father and her both had extremely high paying jobs. My dad is an Anesthesiologist, earning over two hundred thousand a year on his own. My mum was a Nurse Anesthesist, that's how they met, but she changed careers and became a pharmacist after the divorce. My dad had had an affair with one of the nurses at the hospital, and my mum couldn't stand working in the same place with them anymore. I couldn't blame her honestly.

By the time I got to school, Scott's practice had just finished. I walked with him to the change rooms and waited outside while he showered and changed into his uniform.

"Why so early, Inds?" he asked me once he walked out of the change rooms.

"I was bored. Mum's away again. Maybe you guys can stay over this weekend and keep me company?" I suggested, and he nodded in reply.

"Yeah, I'm down. I've got PDHPE with Connor first period, I'll ask him then," he said, and then the homeroom bell rang.

"I'll see you at recess!" I waved to him, "Tell me all about the new PDHPE teacher, I've got her third period!"

"Will do!" he called back, running off to his homeroom.

The first two lessons passed quicker than yesterday's, and I thoroughly enjoyed messing with Mrs Rysteck during Religion.

"I just wanted to say that I have had a good chat with Jesus and I have decided to forgive you for talking badly about me yesterday," I said to her as I walked into her classroom.

She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.

"I didn't ask for your forgiveness, Miss Thorn!" she snapped.

"Well I forgive you anyway. That would be the Holy thing to do," I said sweetly, batting my eyelashes at her.

She huffed at me and stormed to the front of the classroom, refusing to look at me all lesson. I did feel a bit bad for using religion as a bludge subject, but while I considered myself an atheist I was still learning the subject content. I think her problem was that she knew no matter how hard she tried, I'd always be a raging lesbian and she would never be able to convert me.

Once class was over, I walked to our recess spot to see Connor and Scott smirking at me cheekily, Aimee laughing next to them.

"What's so funny?" I asked, sitting down next to them.

"Whose gonna tell her?" Aimee said between breaths, unable to stop herself from laughing.

"You were wrong!" Connor laughed.

"Wrong? About what?" I questioned.

"The new student!" Scott joined in.

"What! She's straight?" I gasped.

"No, you were right about that. She's definitely gay," Connor laughed.

"Then how was I wrong?" I asked confusedly.

"She's not a student, she's the new PDHPE teacher."