Chapter 1

Chapter 1: “Coming out of the closet”1

“Come one mom, this is nothing to freak out about” I reassured her, although clearly I was wrong. Out of the two of them, I expected mom to be the one to freak out the least.2

“Freak out? Who’s, freaking out? Not me!” Mom answered with a frantic sort of assurance that you would only expect from a criminal that had just been caught in the act.3

“Dad? What about you?” I desperately turned to my father to see his reaction.4

“Umm, well, I suppose that I don’t car if you like boys or girls, as long as your happy” My father was no master of words, but sometimes the simplest way is best. My mother burst out again, this time crying.5

“Mike! How could you say that?” She asked, as if he had just committed a terrible atrocity.6

My father rapped his arm around her, “Now now, Mary, if Red is… well… you know,” He paused as if he couldn’t think of the right word Or possibly the fact that the world Lesbian was such a harsh word, and wasn’t to be used  by civilized people, “likes girls” was what he came up with, ‘Then I think that we should just show our support” He padded her on the shoulder and comforted her.7

“Red, I think we’re going to need some time here to sort things out” He paused again, “Alone”8

“Oh, alright, well I’ll be in my room if you guys need me again.” I headed off to my room. I suppose this was to be expected. I mean if you went along your whole life thinking, “That man would be a good husband for my daughter” it would be quite a change in mind set to have to think,             “That man would be a good husband for my daughter, but she doesn’t like men”9

It went allot better then I thought it would. They could have been utterly appalled at the news. I know a few girls whose parents refused to let them back in the house at all. I slumped onto my bed, and turned on my Stereo system. It was not an extensive one, but better then the average. The whimsical sound of the Flaming lips came forth with, from speaker. I was lucky enough to convince my parents to let me have a phone in my room, so I was not completely without anything to do. I decided to call Alex. She was the person that persuaded me to “come out of the closet” as it were10

“Hello? Who is this calling please?” A high-pitched squeaky voice came over the receiver. Ugh I thought to my self, Alex’s little sister Chelseia.11

“Hey Chel, is Alex there? This is Scarlett” I winced. Chelseia held the receiver away from her and then screamed in an annoying singsong voice, “Alexandrea Vivian Brown! Your Girlfriend Is On The Phone!” Of all the bratty little sisters there were in the world, Chelseia ranked pretty high on the Rictor Scale.12

“She’ll be here shortly.” She said sweetly. Then off the phone again, “And tell here I’m not your personal secretary!”13

“Gimmie that you brat!” There was some rustling sounds on the other end and then foot steps leading away from the phone.14

“Scarlett? How’d it go?” Alex’s voice drifted over the receiver.15

“Hey Alex, I dunno, I think that my mom is kinda taking it hard, but dad seems to be handling it well”16

“That’s weird, usually it’s the other way around” She said17

“I know that’s what I was thinking, anyway, it looks like I won’t be getting kicked out” I replied.18

“Well, you know what you do if they do threaten to kick you out, you give them the ‘Commune Speech’”19

I smiled just thinking about it. It was conceived during lunch one day, when me and Alex were going over worse case solutions. One of them happened to be me getting kicked out of my house. It was then that the genius plan known as the “Commune Speech’ was born. It would go something like this: I would push a hand through my hair and say something like “Well I know some other girls, like me, that are living in this commune, I guess I could go live with them” then I would innocently play with a lock of hair. The thought being, everyone knows what goes on in communes. People have sex and do drugs. And gays have a reputation of being incredibly sexually active, even more so lesbians. And when drugs are thrown into the mix, well it was a recipe for disaster. And upon hearing this, know everthing that they do, my parents would throw their arms around me and beg me to stay. That was the theory anyway. It was pure genius, but it looks like I wouldn’t be able to use it after all, I suppose that’s just the way it goes.20

Yeah that’s right, but I still have to wait for mom and dad to finish ‘sorting things out’ whatever that means”21

“Well, at least you don’t have to deal with a little sister jumping around all the time saying, “You’re gay! You’re gay!” I mean, she even took me to school for show and tell once”22

I laughed at the thought of it. Chelseia standing up, bringing Alex to the front of the room and proclaiming, “For show and tell, I brought my sister!” And then the teacher would smile and think, what a nice child. Then the teacher would say, “And what does she do, Chelseia?” And Chelseia would get the world’s biggest grin, and say “She’s a lesbian” The room would fall into hisarics, and the teacher would cover her mouth in shock.23

Suddenly I heard footsteps heading for my room.24

“Alex? I think their coming, wish me luck!”25

“Luck, I love you,” She whispered26

“Thanks, love you to” I hung up the phone quickly, and turned down the music. My parents knocked and I opened the door. I returned to my spot on the bed, and my mother sat next to me, and my father next to her. It looked like a scene from “Leave it to Beaver” Beaver would get in ridiculous amount s for trouble, but by the end of the show things would always turn out all right. I could just imagine my father saying, “Now Beaver, I know you have a different sexual preference…”27

“Scarlett, honey” Mom’s voice jolted my from the hilarious thought.28

“Yeah mom?” I turned to face her.29

“I’ve done a lot of thinking, and your father and I agree,” She paused, and pardon the cliché, but the tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. When she continued, it had seemed like it had been hours.30

“We’ve decided that if you, well… you know, are different, then that’s okay. You’re still our daughter, we’re here to love and support you” She sucked me into a hug, and left dad standing there. He winked at me, and I gave him the thumbs up. I suppose I wouldn’t be going to the commune after all…31