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He gasped "My eyes!" He covered them. "They're lying to me. It can't be true. Are you smiling?" He peeked through his fingers.

"Don't get the wrong idea. It doesn't mean I like you or anything," I warned.

"Of course not." He grinned as we paced alongside each other. "So, what's your problem with me?" He walked backward with his hands in his pockets. "Is it my reddish-brown floppy hair?" He shook his head. "Or is it because I'm tall and lanky? Do I remind you of someone you can't stand? I mean, we haven't met before." He thought aloud. "Have we? Is that why you don't like me?"

"The problem is you're a guy." I raised my brows at him.

"Ouch," he said. "So, you don't like guys, then?" he asked.

"Nope." I plastered on a smile.

"Oh, that's cool if you're a lesbian or something." He shrugged.

Ah, damn. There went the fit of giggles again. A lesbian? Oh, I wished! Clearing my throat, I managed to swallow the laughter this time.

"Yes. I'm a lesbian." I nodded. "So, now, you can leave me alone."

"So lesbians can't be friends with guys now?" he asked.

"No." I shook my head. "It's against our code."

"Since when?! At my last school, I had a lesbian best friend. Guess she didn't get the memo." He looked down at his feet, in playful thought.

"Guess not." I shrugged.

We shared glances with each other as a moment of silence passed between us. My cheeks burned from the awkwardness. I'm the queen of awkward; it doesn't often affect me. This time, it did.

"So, what's really the problem?" He broke the silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

The answer was that I'd never had a reason to like men. The ones I'd been around hadn't represented their kind well. My father was the worst representation of them all. Not only did he beat the shit out of my mother, but he hated me even more.

He wanted a boy. Oh, poor him. What did that have to do with me? Every day, he reminded me how disappointing it was to have me. He bonded closer with my big brother, even though he's not related to him by blood. And oh boy, had he rubbed off on him. He's quite the chip off the old block.

My brother bossed me around just like my father did with my mother. There were even times when he'd raised his hand to hit me, but we're only two years apart, and I'm a fighter. I gave him one look, and he had to think about it. I think he's scared I might cast a spell on him or something.

That's why I dressed like this. Saw the girl coming out of the TV in Scary Movie and decided that if I could look similar to that, I might give some people nightmares. I'd toned it down since turning fourteen, though. I was scaring myself when looking in the mirror. Plus, the teachers were always sending me into the counselor's office, and he was a man. Ugh, no thanks.

Now, I looked more 'emo' or goth. I don't know, I just liked the aesthetic. Plus, it's more 'acceptable.' A lot less concerning than the Scary Movie girl. Still, it's enough to make my brother second guess touching me. It doesn't stop him from bossing me around, but at least it keeps me from being beaten to a pulp like my mother. He thinks he's so tough, always throwing his ego around. Much like that jerk, the unfunny comedian from earlier. I have to say Eric's different, but he might just be a great pretender.

The school bell rang, cutting into another stretch of silence between us.

"I should probably get going. Don't want to show up late to class on my first day." He ran toward the large transparent doors, shouting, "It was nice meeting you, Lily! One day, you're going to like me, I promise you!"

"I wouldn't bet on it," I grumbled beneath my breath.

Eric

Thirteen Years Ago

"Hey, Lily! Wait up!" I yelled as soon as I spotted her familiar dark hair with a stalk of green sticking out from beneath her hoodie.

That stalk of green was the one thing about her that's reminiscent of a flower. She's not delicate, at least not from the outside looking in. She's more like the stalk of a rose bush. But I knew her better now; I knew it's just protection.

Christina, the richest girl at our high school, stopped talking about prom, and her glossed lips popped open in shock. Her friends all took an audible gasp as well. I'm not sure why. It's pretty obvious that Lily's my best friend. The only reason they even want to hang out with me is because I'm a 'jock.' With my military upbringing, structure, discipline, and exercise come naturally to me. So, I joined sports for the sense of community, working together toward a common goal, and it's something to do after school, since both my parents are deployed for six months.

Since I'm sixteen, I don't need a babysitter but it means I go home to an empty house to confront the anxiety over my parents' safety. Every now and then, my free-spirited aunt gets on a plane and visits for a few days a month, to check in on me, but her visits are random. Sometimes, she stays a few days, and sometimes, it's a couple of weeks, but I never know when she's coming.

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