I groaned, thinking of the probably boring teacher I would get. I tried to see the upside of it; I maybe could catch an hour of sleep before my English literature class.

Somebody tapped my shoulder and I leapt up. I turned around and saw a tall girl with short, black hair. I felt my cheeks growing red as the girl winked at me. I mentally told myself off and put on my best smile.

“Are you new?” the girl asked me.

“Yes,” I nodded. “I’m trying to find my classroom, actually. I have Art in D4.”

“Wow, you have Art? You’re lucky!” the girl exclaimed. “I tried to get that too, but it was full! I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m Shane, Shane McCutcheon. I haven’t seen you before, that’s why I wondered if you were new.”

“Hi, Shane,” I said, extending my hand. It was sometimes hard to forget about the lessons of etiquette my father had pushed me into, 3 years ago. “I’m Tina Kennard. Why am I so lucky to be in the Art class? I think it’s really boring.”

Shane had started walking and I followed her, assuming she was leading me to my classroom.

“Yeah, it’s boring, but the teacher is really hot,” she said, turning a corner. “And by that I mean unbelievably hot. How did you get in?”

I smirked. “I’m not into that.” I mumbled something about my fathers’ influence to answer Shane’s question on how I got in.

“Into what? Teachers?”

“Into guys,” I said, waiting for an answer. Back home, nobody knew I was gay. I had hidden it from my father fearfully, as I had hidden the fact that I had a girlfriend.

“Who said I was talking about a guy?” Shane said, raising her eyebrows.

“Oh,” I blushed. “I – I just assumed…”

Shane arched her eyebrows even further and stopped dead in her tracks. “Do I look straight to you?”

I took in the girl in front of me and laughed. “No, not really. I just… you know, where I come from, you’re either straight or dead.”

“Good thing you’re in LA, then,” Shane said. “Here is the classroom you’re supposed to be in – you better hurry up before you feel the wrath of Elizabeth Porter. I’m off to English now. See ya!”