My name’s Ida. I moved to Washington recently, and today’s my first day of school. I’m very anxious about today. One of the main things that give me anxiety is having to come out as a lesbian again and, I bet there’s going to be SO many people that are just going to assume that I’m straight. I’m in this 1-year relationship with my girlfriend Ivy. She lives in Washington as well, one of the main reasons I told my mum to move here. We made sure that we lived close with each other so we wouldn’t be long distanced again. We’re basically neighbours.

 So, here I am. At school. I walk through my classroom meeting all my new classmates and teachers. I take a seat next to this girl called Ashley. She’s one year younger than me, so she’s in year 10.

“Hey.” I say, grinning.

“Hello.” She answers in a soft calm voice.

The lesson ends quickly. Very quickly. I don’t know why. Maybe it was just because I wasn’t paying attention and I was just secretly staring at Ashley. I feel guilty. I shouldn’t think like that. I have a girlfriend... Anyways, its lunch time. I meet up with Ivy in the bathroom. It’s kind of weird that we’ve been together for a year now and she still isn’t comfortable with us being out as a couple. I want to talk to her about it. But what if she takes it the wrong way? I don’t know, I’m just lost in thought.

“Hello?” Ivy says in an ironic voice.

1