It was a typical day in Ms. Mitchell’s eighth-grade English class… allegedly.
Ms. Mitchell continued on with the same bored tone of voice, “River, why don’t you tell the rest of the class about yourself?”
River barely blinked as she stood straight as a board and introduced herself in a half-assed tone to the class, “My name’s River Ziegler, I’m from South Carolina, my parents are in the navy and my uncle’s a plumber here, and I like listening to Miranda Lambert and Usher.”
Lidiya snorted and muttered to Anima, who was sitting next to her, “White trash.”
Anima understood what that comment meant due to that one time at Lidiya’s house a couple of weeks ago.
“Hey, somebody’s moving into that house across yours on Shiheed Street,” Lidiya announced to Anima and Kishi as she walked in, carrying a big, red, plastic bowl and a bag of Lay’s cheddar jalapeno chips.
“You mean the one across our house?” Kishi asked, sitting on Lidiya’s wooden floor.
Lidiya nodded as she stuffed a few chips into her mouth. “I heard she’s coming from South Carolina.” She swallowed her chips and muttered under her breath, “White trash.”
Amanda nearly spat out her chips. “Hey!” she exclaimed in a whiny voice, “Not everyone from the south is white trash!”
“I don’t know, you guys don’t do a good job with not proving yourselves to not be white trash,” Anima replied. She looked around the room for a bit before asking, “What’s white trash supposed to mean?”
Amanda threw her hands out and cried out, “Are you serious?! You’re calling me white trash, yet you don’t even know what it means!”
“Jesus, I wasn’t calling you white trash. I was calling the others white trash,” Anima said. She turned to Lidiya and asked again, “So what’s white trash mean?”
To put it in the shortest, classiest term- “They’re usually racist, sexist, homophobic alcoholics who have pregnant fourteen-year-old girls as girlfriends.”
So, in other words… half of the people in the YouChannell Group Home.
“River, why don’t you sit between Anima and Lidiya for the moment?” Ms. Mitchell recommended, motioning for the girls to raise their hands.
Anima and Lidiya wanted to whisper to River as she sat down between the two girls, but then Ms. Mitchell would bitch at them about whispering in class while she was going on about subject-verb agreements before state testing arrived. So they waited until lunch when they were safe to talk aloud.
“So, River…” Lidiya began, “How do you like Oregon so far? Do you think it’s better than South Carolina? A lot uh… classier?”
River shrugged. “I don’t know… it’s aight here, I suppose,” she answered, putting a bite of mixed fruit into her mouth, “Pretty fucking cold here though.”
“So, you prefer living back home in South Carolina because it’s warmer there?” Lidiya said.
“Hell no!” River snorted, “Most of the people there are bigoted ass white trash who gotta say something homophobic every ever other minute!”
Lidiya, Anima, and Kishi, who had been eating their food the entire time, laid down their forks and mentally dropped their jaws, especially Lidiya and Anima.
“I didn’t know you were an ally for gay people, River,” Kishi, who had been eating cornbread, said.
“I’m bisexual,” River stated, “I ain’t gonna tolerate that shit.” She sipped some white milk before adding, “Besides, ain’t Portland supposed to be, like, the gay capital of America?”
“Uh… I guess so,” Lidiya answered, uncertain of where this conversation was going, “Why’d you ask that?”
“That’s what I heard.” River tore off a piece of cornbread and threw it in her mouth. “It’s a good thing, too.”
The rest of the girls ate in silence while staring at River, not knowing what else to say until Lidiya finally had the courage to ask, “Hey, River. You wanna come to my house after school?”
River put down her milk and shrugged. “Sure.” She ate her last piece of mixed fruit and asked, “Where ya’ll live?”
…
The walk on the way home from school was a long and quiet one, mostly because River and Amanda have never met each other before.
“Um… hi,” Amanda awkwardly said to River.
“What’s up?” River replied back, staring at the young ginger seventh-grader with uncertainty and confusion.
Amanda looked over at Lidiya and asked-
“Oh, oh yeah. Amanda, this is the new girl River. River, this is my best friend Amanda,” Lidiya said. She turned to Amanda and added, “River’s that girl from South Carolina that we were talking about a couple of weeks ago.”
“What’s up?” River said once more, pulling her hand out towards Amanda.
“Um… howdy,” Amanda replied back, shaking River’s hand as she stared at her with uncertainty and a little bit of suspicion, “It’s real nice meeting another Southerner here in Oregon.”
“Southerner?!” River yanked her hand out of Amanda’s and shouted, “Shit, nigga! I didn’t know you was one of me!”
The other girls stepped back from River in a bit of shock. The only type of white person they’ve ever heard say the n-word were members of the Klu Klux Klan and edgy white boys on the internet.
“So uh, hey… you guys wanna hang out at my house?” Lidiya asked to break the awkward silence.
“Yeah, hold on. Lemme go change my clothes for a bit,” River answered. She walked to her house, the very same house that was across the YouChannell Home.
Who would’ve thunk that River Ziegler of all people would be both the new student at their school and the new neighbor on their street?
“Damn, is it always this fucking cold in Portland?!” River complained in a loud voice, rubbing her arms with her hands. She had returned wearing a puke green camouflage coat, tight, navy blue skinny jeans, and thick, loud, brown snow boots.
Lidiya merely shrugged. “It can always get worse,” she answered.
Amanda patted River on the shoulder and added, “Don’t worry. If I can get used to it, you can get used to it, too.”
At Lidiya’s house in her room, they sat on the floor in a circle eating Doritos Cool Ranch potato chips. There wasn’t really much to say because most of what had been talked about had been talked about during lunch period. The room was filled with so much awkward silence, in fact, that when Lidiya’s father Mr. Utano arrived home from work, they were all still sitting there.
“Hey, Lidiya! I’m surprised your friends are still here,” Mr. Utano said with a slight chuckle. He looked over at River and asked, “Who’s this girl?”
“Oh, yeah. Dad, this is River. River, this is my dad,” Lidiya introduced the two to each other.
River stood up and walked towards Mr. Utano. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said, holding out her hand for a shake.
“You, too,” Mr. Utano replied as he and the strange girl shook hands.
“So… Mr. Utano,” River started, “What were things like when you were a child?”
The smile on Mr. Utano’s face disappeared as he plopped down onto Lidiya’s bed. “I spent most of my childhood in the 1980s,” he answered, “Do you know what was the big thing in the 1980s?”
“The AIDS epidemic?” River guessed.
Mr. Utano nodded. “Very good. And do you know who was the most affected by the AIDS epidemic in the 80s?”
“…Gay people.”
Mr. Utano nodded again. “That’s right. Reagan made fun of the LGBTQ+ community during all of that. Now, imagine internalizing that message all throughout your childhood- gay people causing the AIDS epidemic, and back then, AIDS was a death sentence. Imagine internalizing the message that if you’re gay, you’re gonna spread a deadly disease to everyone. Now, imagine internalizing all of that as a child and then realizing you’re a gay teenager in the 90s.” He sighed and added, “Thank God my parents were one of the few people who would accept a gay child in their home.”
“Hol’ on, I thought Portland was, like, the gay capital of America,” River said, “I mean, I know things were shitty back in the day, but I’m bisexual, and I thought things have gotten better around here. Like, some states have even legalized gay marriage. So it’s safe to be gay in America, right?”
Mr. Utano sighed and rubbed the temples on his forehead. “God, I wish I could say that,” he glumly answered. He looked over at his daughter and asked, “Lidiya, you remember when I lost my job, right?”
“Yeah, why?” Lidiya answered, her eyebrows expressing confusion.
Mr. Utano took a deep breath before he explained, “It was August 14, 2004- less than a decade ago. I went to the Eugene/Springfield Pride Festival that was happening. It was fun; I met a cute guy there, and we got our picture taken together- I was kissing him on the cheek. Well, that picture was printed in some newspaper my old boss used to read. He found out, his associates found out, and I ended up getting fired for it. Imagine that- one little picture that was taken on one day celebrating something that was a part of who I am was enough to render me unemployed.”
“Wait, I thought firing people for being gay was illegal here!” River exclaimed, “That’s not fair! You should sue them for discriminating against you!”
“It wasn’t illegal in 2004,” Mr. Utano stated, “It only became illegal in 2008, which is a good thing. With the way things are going right now, I think it’s gonna be your generation who’s gonna have total equal rights for not just the LGBTQ+ community, but for many other groups as well.”
“Yeah, did you know that homosexuality is a crime in seventy-eight countries?” Lidiya added.
“Well, that’s just fucked up!” River said, “That shouldn’t even be a thing! You shouldn’t be able to discriminate against someone for something they can’t even control!”
Mr. Utano nodded and checked his phone to see what time it was. “Welp, looks like it’s getting late,” he said, “Your parents might be worrying about where you guys are.”
The rest of the girls said their good-byes to Lidiya, and as they walked out of the house, Anima caught a glimpse of a picture that looked too much like the one that got Mr. Utano fired from his first job.
Was that the picture that- it was. Anima stared at it for several moments, remember what had happened on Valentine’s Day when she and Penelope were in the woods together.
Penelope sniffled and said, “Remember this afternoon when Christian Seger called us faggots, lezbos, and dykes?”
Oh… that. “Yeah, why?”
“He’s not the only thing that thinks like that,” Penelope explained, “Lots of people think that, too.”
Anima had figured that the worst that would happen to her was getting called a bunch of stupid names by asshole seventh-graders like Christian Seger or someone’s parents getting pissed off. She had never thought about getting fired from a job or getting arrested for something that she couldn’t control. What kind of fucked up world was this?!
“Hey, Anima!” Kishi’s voice interrupted Anima’s thoughts, “Are you okay? You look kind of pale.”
Anima jumped and looked over at Kishi. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered weakly, “Why’d you ask that?”
“Because you look kind of pale,” Kishi answered, pointing at her face.
“Yeah, you do look kind of pale,” Amanda added, “Are you sure you’re okay because that’s not what healthy people are supposed to look like.”
“Yeah, I can attest to that,” River said, “Are you sick or something? You coming down with, like, the flu?”
“I’m not sick, and I’m not pale! So piss off, and leave me alone!” Anima yelled at the three girls. She stormed away with her head lowered and her feet scraping the rough concrete and dirt ground. They wouldn’t understand; none of them would understand. They didn’t have to worry about getting harassed or having their parents pissed off at them or getting fired or even arrested for something they couldn’t control. Not even River had to worry about any of that, and she was bisexual! How could anyone not worry about any of this?! How could anyone, especially people like River Ziegler, be so open despite all the things going on in the world to people like her?!
…
“What does bisexual mean?” Kishi asked during dinner at the YouChannell Home. Dinner that night was chakalaka, tamales, and pavlova.
Greg laid down his fork and asked, “What makes you ask that?”
“Well, the new neighbor across our house, River, said that she was bisexual when we were at Lidiya’s house,” Kishi explained.
Just then, Katja laid down her fork and looked over at Kishi. “And did that new neighbor River give you permission to tell other people that?”
Kishi opened her mouth and was about to say something, but Anima beat her to the punch. “She kept on bragging about it. What does it all mean?! What does any of this mean?!”
“Isn’t being bisexual mean that you’re attracted to both boys and girls?” Minha asked, “That’s what I’ve heard.
“There are more than two genders, you know,” Ami added condescendingly.
“And who the hell asked for your opinion?” Anima inquired irritably at Ami.
“Look, I was just saying,” Ami said with her hands up and out in front of her chest. She added under her breath, “And it wasn’t an opinion. It was a fact.”
Anima jumped out of her seat and exclaimed with her hands thrown up in the air, “Jesus fucking Christ! I just wanted a single fucking question to be answered! Is that too hard to comprehend around here?!”
“I think bisexual means you’re attracted to two or more genders,” Tessa calmly answered, “A lot of people claim that being bisexual means you’re only attracted to boys and girls, but there are a few bisexuals out there who are attracted to people of other genders as well.”
“Wait, you’re saying there’s more than two genders now?” Anima said, her head spinning in dizziness. This whole thing was starting to get more confusing than she ever anticipated.
Tessa shrugged. “It happens,” she merely answered.
Anima looked down at her food and sighed lightly through her nostrils. Her thoughts went back to Mr. Utano’s story about being fired from his first job for being gay, and she wondered if the same thing could happen with being neither a boy nor a girl. After all, it could happen to someone for liking someone of the same gender, so why not for someone born as a different gender? And there were some people who were okay with announcing to the world that they were gay or bisexual or even identifying as a different gender other than boy or girl. River was one of those people. How was it possible to be even the slightest bit comfortable coming out like that when one had to deal with bullying, pissed-off parents, getting fired, or even getting arrested?
River Ziegler was one brave and lucky motherfucker, and her appearance was the biggest shock anyone like Anima Hatsune could ever wish for.
ManictheMod 
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