Status: Finished

Bent

The Kiss

My badness started at a birthday party in sixth grade, for a little girl named Belle. Even then I wasn’t popular-her mother had made her invite everyone in the grade, so she reluctantly handed me an invitation. Still, I was having fun with my best friend at the time, Pennylee Wilson. She was a cute girl with dark pigtails and a dimple in each cheek. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to like girls-that had never been brought up. So, when I kissed Pennylee in the bounce house, it was a shock. Pennylee’s mother, who’d always been really nice to me, huffed up and pulled her away, yelling, “Don’t go near my daughter!” Other kids were pointing and laughing, calling me names.

I was rushed from the party and sat down with my parents. “Are you a dyke, Willa?” I didn’t understand what they were talking about, why my parents were so angry. “Do you like girls?” Behind them, David, my older brother, shook his head. “No.” I knew to obey whatever David said. “Why’d you kiss Pennylee then?” I was just a sixth grader, confused and scared. “Cause, cause I wanted to.” Mom leaned in close and shook a finger in my face. “Girls do not kiss girls. Don’t you ever kiss a girl again, Willa.” I nodded meekly and headed up to my room, my only refuge.