[A young adult retelling of Cinderella - LGBT]
What begins as a failed date in a tea shop leads Jay to find his fairy Godmother, the one who could make love finally come his way.
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Jay struggles with being out of the closet to his friends but getti...
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Rafael stands an arm away from me, a gripping the door with one hand. He waits for my decision, seemingly hopeful I'll join the other members of the club inside the gym.
Cindy materializes behind him, almost making me scream from the fright. I swear can never get used to this.
The fairy guy is the first to enter. Behind Rafael, he looks at me invitingly, "come on, already," he urges with a mutter.
I nod reluctantly and step into the gym.
Cindy saunters ahead, his shoes clapping on the ground. I'm so glad people can't see him.
Rafael looks behind, confused, his eyes narrow.
I stride behind him towards the gathering, right in the middle of the basketball court. I sit in the back when I join the group. I watch in silence, trying not to attract any stares as I crouch. A few heads turn my way anyway.
Rafael steps in the middle of the circle. He excuses himself for being late before announcing the theme of the class: Clouds and Three Rhymes. It consists of creating a poem inspired by the clouds and with at least three rhymes. Then, reciting it while an ambient sound of an autumn breeze plays in the background.
I was expecting for them to have some time to prepare, but as soon as he asks for candidates, three hands raise up. One by one, they recite their improvised poems in front of everyone. Then, comes Jord's turn.
I straighten myself to begin to watch.
I'm surprised to see his fingers trembling around his small sticky note. Being Jord, he plays it off as if it was nothing. He just accepts he's nervous and is not afraid to show it. So cool and Zen. I wonder if there's a chance I'm just biased.
The expectation leads me to bite the interior of my lip. I'm dying to listen to the words written on that yellow sticky note.
Jord clears his throat and scans the audience. His gaze lands on me and it feels like seeing the sun in the morning. Plus, a big, welcoming smile cornered by dimples. God.
The lips smiling to me twist to begin saying poetry. It's too bad it's so brief. He reads :
❝𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩,
𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘬𝘺,
𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘺
𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘺?❞
At first I'm not sure it's the end. But everyone starts clapping, including Cindy. So, I join in, despite not understanding what Jord was trying to say with those words.
