What is Right (by Kevan Henshaw)

Laura took a deep breath. This was going to be a hard thing to do. She took the hand of her girlfriend, Lizzie and turned towards the school doors.

She was sick of hiding it. Sick and tired of all the homophobic jerks in her school who didn’t support her decisions. She had been dating Lizzie for three months now, and not once had they even held hands in the school. They were always afraid of what everyone would think but today was the start of something new. It was the start of something which may either be rewarding, or downright stupid. Laura knew one thing though… they’d find out together.

She let go of Lizzie’s hand, suddenly feeling nauseous. Thinking of all the disgusted looks she’d get, she slowly pushed Lizzie away, who looked at her in a concernedly. “Stop worrying about what everyone else will think,” she said quietly, “Do this for yourself.”

“Just don’t think about it,” said her best friend, JC, appearing behind her. They’d been friends since junior high and he’d always been there for her. Today, it was the same thing. Laura’s other friend, Tyler was also there. He normally talked quite a bit, but today looked somewhat sad for what his friend was about to face.

“Thanks guys,” she said and once again took Lizzie’s hand. She still didn’t want to hear the remarks of the jerks in her school, but three months was long enough to keep a relationship private. With one final deep breath, the four friends walked in the school, two of them hand-in-hand.

The reactions varied as they walked down the hall. Some people waved casually, others ignored the two and still others sent nasty looks flying Laura’s way. At the end of the hall stood the principal. “I want the two of you in my office,” she said grimly, “Now…”

Laura was amazed to see she was smiling, as was probably the principal. The overweight, older person looked down at the girls, as they sat down, never breaking their hand-in-hand contact. “Why would you lovely young girls cause such a scene?” she said in what she thought was a sweet toned voice. It really wasn’t though… it sounded forced and broken, “You two surely know the school rules. No acts of intimacy on school property. This includes physical contact. Let this be a warning, but the next time I see…”

All of a sudden the office door burst open. In came JC and Tyler. They had obviously been eavesdropping. “Mrs. White,” Tyler said, breaking his morning-long vow of silence, “You cannot tell these girls they can’t hold hands.”

The principal stared for a second at the boy. Then laughed very loudly, “And why the hell not?” she choked, finally settling down.

“Because there are couples sitting outside your office at this very moment with their lips locked and you haven’t said two words to them.”

Laura, Lizzie and JC all stared at the principal waiting for her reaction. Finally she whispered as though talking to a baby, “But they aren’t the same sex, now are they?”

Tyler looked like he was going to kill her. Instead though, he simply said, “You’re right. They aren’t.” And he turned around and entered the hall with JC close behind him.

The principal looked back at the girls. “Well you little dykes,” she said, completely losing her calmness, “I think a suspension is in order. I’ll just draw up the forms right now, and then you can…”

But all of a sudden as she looked up, she saw JC and Tyler still standing in the doorway, but they were no longer apart. Their lips were entangled in a fury of passion. The principal swore loudly and walked out into the hall trying to usher them in. Laura and Lizzie saw her expression change to deep loathing and they ran out into the hall to see what was happening. Nearly every student in the hallway had left the people they were hanging out with to kiss someone. But not just anyone. Someone of the same sex. Laura wore the biggest smile. Even some of the people who had given her dirty looks were now rolling around on the floor, lip-locked with their best friends.

The principal ran across the hall to the home economics classroom, trying to get help controlling her students. It was no help though. The male teacher was too busy making out with the gym teacher to even notice the principal. Without a second glance she grabbed the keys to her minivan, and never again came back to the school.

Laura couldn’t have been happier.