1-Cassiopeia
For being the group in school relentlessly known for gossiping, it took a while for us to hear the news. Vera Miller, very popular, very blond, VERY religious, and apparently also very gay. Nobody really knows who or how the topic got around, but it's what I hear in every conversation in the cafeteria right now. When the most popular girl that's also religious suddenly is outed as a lesbian, people won't keep quiet about it. And if our group, nicknamed the 'Loose ones', known for troublemaking and gossiping aren't the ones that spread this information, it must be something much more serious than usual. And it is for Vera and her boyfriend. For Vera and her family. Right now she's in the office with, I assume, most of the administrators and her parents. This rumor (or maybe truth) has become such the center of attention that everything is stopping for it.
"So, do we think this was somebody that has beef with Vera spreading a rumor or Vera spreading it for attention and pity?" Yuka asks our group as we sit in the cafeteria. We don't have to be quiet about this drama (not that we're quiet even when we need to be) because everybody else is talking about it right now, as well.
Mariposa rolls her eyes, "That could be really rude, Yuk. What if she really is a lesbian and now she's being burnt for it?"
Yuka scoffs, "Yeah sure, little blond Christian princess of the school has been lying all these years and she actually loves girls. Be for real, she has a bible verse in her TikTok bio, and she has dated like 10 different guys."
I'm not paying complete attention, I watch the distance where a bunch of kids are crowding around Vera's friend group (the group of kids that have been like popularity royalty since middle school when "popular" became a thing). The group is being interrogated by peers and all of Vera's friends are dismissing everybody, including her boyfriend (Jock quarterback that's a player and dickhead) who looks downright pissed about it all.
"I don't want to annoy them any further, the group is being pestered a lot, but I mean don't you guys wanna know what's going on?" Elias asks from next to me.
I sigh, "I'll go over and ask Carter today after school." Carter is one of the 3 boys in Vera's friend group, he's also my next door neighbor. He's sort of the only one in his group that doesn't hate me, he's too kind to really hate anybody, I think.
There's one thing important that must be known about my friend group and theirs. Since middle school, both our groups have been popular, but we haven't always been in these little cliques. At first it was just being known at school, and then drama hit and we all started to shift into enemies and divided friends. They're the perfect ones with everything anybody could want, and that's why they're popular. We're the ones that cause trouble in classes, our lives, and with relationships. That's why we're popular. And we've had quite the experiences between the groups.
Omar speaks up, "What if like, she is gay? What will happen? Her parents are really religious, maybe we should try talking to her instead of trying to guess, this could not end very well for her."
Omar feels this way because he knows how it is to have parents disown you because of your sexuality. He came out as gay to his parents 2 years ago and they haven't spoken a word to him since then. Not on either of the birthdays since then or any of the holidays, not when he got announced as valedictorian, and they probably won't at his graduation either. All they do is keep him alive, they don't buy anything extra for him, just let him live in their house and give him food. He has to do everything else for himself. No matter how much we've done to Vera's group or they've done to us, he is taking in to account how Vera might be doing.
Suddenly, Trent (Vera's boyfriend) slams down on his lunch table and stands from the seat, trudging through plenty of people and leaving the cafeteria with an aggressive shove of a door.
"That's an exit if I've ever seen one," Yuk says aloud. The silent space slowly begins to trickle back into the frantic murmuring about gay Vera Miller.