Tina Kennard

Gary and I arrive at school and I get out. I wait until he’s finished and then give him a french kiss I know will make him weak on the knees.

“Wow, Tina, what’s gotten into you?” Gary asks with a wide grin.

“Nothing, I’m just really fond of you,” I say in an innocent voice. I grab his hand and walk over to the girls. I keep holding his hand as we are standing in front of them.

Carmen is sitting on Bette’s lap and they are so busy devouring each other’s lips that neither of them notices me. I try to hide how it makes me feel; I try to hide it from our friends as well as Gary. Alice tries to block the sun with her hand above her eyes as she looks at Gary and me.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” she asks me, an appreciating look in her eyes.

I laugh. “This is Gary, my boyfriend,” I say, emphasizing the last word. I turn to Gary and kiss him again, but less firm.

“What? Since when do you have a boyfriend, Kennard?” Shane asks me in wonder. She, too, always says I’m a lesbian and I’m just denying it.

“Since Saturday,” I answer. “Hasn’t Bette told you?”

“Bette knows?” Dana asks with a frightened look in her eyes, mixed with amazement.

“Yeah, it was pretty clear at practice yesterday. I figured she’d have told you, or has she been in this state with Carmen ever since she arrived?”

“Wow, let’s get some things cleared out,” Shane intervenes. “There are a few things I don’t understand. First of all; what practice? Second; why didn’t Bette and you arrive together? You always do. Third; why hasn’t Bette told any of us about this? Carmen only just arrived before you did, so she could easily have told us.”

Gary apparently decides it’s time he gets involved in the conversation.

“It was the practice of my band,” he says. “Our band, actually,” he correct himself as he lovingly gazes into my eyes. “It’s called Shades of Silence, and Tina is the singer. Bette is the guitarist, and we all came together yesterday to practice and brainstorm a bit. I don’t know why Bette hasn’t told you. I’d say you ask her, but she seems rather… busy.”