Why Is Love So Complicated?

I ran off to the front of the building, hoping I didn’t miss them. Our chemistry teacher had held us over, still trying to explain the rules of the lab even as we were walking out.

Good, they’re still there, I thought as I walked up.

“Oh, there you are. I was wondering if you were going to bail on us,” Aaron smiled. “Let me introduce you to everybody. Matt,” Guy with blue mohawk, “Christy,” girl that had on a long flowing dress, and didn’t look like her face could hold any more piercings, “and of course you know – hey, what, where’s Shelly?” He looked around.

We saw her in a tight knot of large guys. “Oh, shit, not again…” he said as the group hurried over. “What are you doing?” he said furiously.

“Just playing with the little lesbian. She can take care of yourself, can’t you, little bitch?” the guy tried to grab her chin. She slapped his hand away, with a death stare on her face.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” she said icily.

“Oh, what’s the little lesbian going to do? Kick our asses?” said another guy. The other 3 laughed.

“How about I just leave you unconscious in the middle of the road?” she said.

They laughed again. “Try it, bitch,” one said, cracking his knuckles.

“Shelly!! Don’t, you’ll get kicked out!!” yelled Aaron.

She glared at him. “My names not Shelly…” she mumbled as she started to walk off.

They started howling with laughter again. “What, you have to get your gay friend to come help you? What’s he going to do, kill us with a finger nail file?”

Suddenly, Christy lunged at him. “You fucking bastard!!!” she screamed.

He jumped startled, just out of her reach. “Fine… we’ll leave.” They finally walked off.

I looked around bewildered. “What was that about?” I asked.

“That’s normal… people here don’t like gays. Shelly, you alright?” he asked. She was leaning up against the wall.

“For the last time, my name’s not Shelly!! It’s Killer,” she hissed.

“Okay...” he said, as he started walking. Everybody else followed, so I did too.

“I’m going to kill them, I swear I will,” said Shelly, right beside him.

“Don’t worry about it. They were only tying to get you worked up,” said Aaron. They stopped outside a battered old van. “What do we want to eat?” he asked.

“McDonald’s…” mumbled Shelly.

“That sounds fine,” said everybody else. I made a face. Everybody started getting in the van. I froze.

“What is it?” she asked kindly.

“I don’t know how my mom will react to me go –“I was cut off by laughter.

“She won’t know. Don’t worry about it. McDonald’s does sound good to you, right?” she asked.

“I’m a vegetarian…”I said. I’ve been a health nut ever since I was eight. For some reason it made it easier to deal with Mom and Dad’s arguments.

She went wide eyed. “Really? Wow… I’ve tried before, but I always end up eating meat again… come on, into the van,” she said. Everybody was already sitting inside.

I finally climbed in. It felt so weird, disobeying my mom. I did it to my dad, but…

“I don’t have any money,” I said suddenly, remembering that we barely had enough to pay for the house. I blushed.

“Oh… well, don’t worry about it, I’ll pay for it,” said Aaron. He was driving.

“Thanks,” I said gratefully. “Uh… how old are you guys anyway?” I asked, curious.

“Oh. I turned 16 last April. I got held back. Korea,” she pointed to the guy with a blue Mohawk, “is 15. He’ll turn 16 in September. Candy,” she pointed to the other girl, “is 15 also, she turns 16 in October. Cid,” she pointed towards Aaron, who by the way, had brown short hair and was wearing baggy shorts and a black shirt, “just turned 16 in July. How old are you?” she asked, turning to me.

Wow. I was much younger. “I’m 15. I’ll turn 16 in February,” I said. “Um… why do you all have nick-names?” I asked, really timidly again.

Matt – or I should say Korea – laughed. “Killer got hers for her personality. She can be really nice, but she’ll bite your head off the second you say something wrong. Candy got it because she’s so sweet – or acts like it. But you saw her lung, she has her own temper too. Cid – well, we couldn’t think of anything for him. We chose a random name. And I got mine because I’m good at geography,” he finished.

“What is your name?” Killer asked suddenly.

“Uh… Katrina,” I said simply.

She smiled. “Kat. You’re defiantly Kat,” she said.

Wow. One day in the group and I have a nick name? Who exactly where these people, anyway? “Um… is it normal for people to act like that?” I asked, thinking back to outside the school.

“Oh.” Her face went dark. “Yes. I have to deal with it. It comes with being a lesbian. Korea’s gay too. Though, I wish they wouldn’t call Cid one…” she said.

I was shocked. “Why don’t you try to get help from the teachers or something? “I asked, horrified.

Candy laughed darkly. “They don’t care. They hate us. They bag on us too, because we hang out with them. There aren’t many gay people here… or at least out spoken, like these two,” she said.

“Hey, what are you, anyway?” asked Cid.

“Uh…” I answered. I didn’t really want to answer.

“You sure say um a lot,” said Killer, noticing that I didn’t want to answer the question.

We drove into Mickey D’s. I went ahead and ordered a salad and Cid when ahead and paid for it.

We ate on the way back to school. “Why do you call everybody by there real name?” I asked, turning to Cid.

“Oh. I just believe in using your real name,” he said. I gave him a weird look.

Candy laughed. “Because he doesn’t like his.”

I started laughing. After we got back and finished eating, we all headed off to class. “Hey, I’ll see you later, okay, Kat?” said Killer.

My heart did a flip-flop. Does she like me? “Uh… sure,” I answered. This was defiantly going to be an interesting year. I headed off towards my afternoon classes.