5Chapter One: A Little Introduction
Gender Identities to Know:
Agender aka Genderless, Non-gender: an identity under the nonbinary, genderqueer and transgender umbrellas. Agender individuals have no gender identity and/or no gender expression. They may simply describe this in terms of having no gender or as identifying as a person rather than a gender.
Cisgender: a description for a person whose gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex all align (e.g., man, masculine, and male)
Transgender: a blanket term used to describe all people who are not cisgender; occasionally used as "transgendered" but the "ed" is misleading, as it implies something happened to the person to make them transgender, which is not the case
Sexual Identities to Know
Pansexual: a person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction for members of all gender identities/expressions
Polysexual: the sexual attraction to multiple genders and/or sexes but not all.
Homosexual: a medical definition for a person who is attracted to someone with the same gender (or, literally, biological sex) they have, this is considered an offensive/stigmatizing term by many members of the queer community
Metrosexual: a usually urban heterosexual male given to enhancing his personal appearance by fastidious grooming, beauty treatments, and fashionable clothes.
Heterosexual: a medical definition for a person who is attracted to someone with the other gender (or, literally, biological sex) than they have; often referred to as "straight"
Bisexual: a person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction to people of their own gender as well as another gender; often confused for and used in place of "pansexual"
Asexual: a person who generally does not experience sexual attraction (or very little) to any group of people
Demisexual: a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone. It's more commonly seen in but by no means confined to romantic relationships. The term demisexual comes from the orientation being "halfway between" sexual and asexual. This term does not mean that demisexuals have an incomplete or half-sexuality, nor does it mean that sexual attraction without emotional connection is required for a complete sexuality. In general, demisexuals are not sexually attracted to anyone of any gender; however, when a demisexual is emotionally connected to someone else (whether the feelings are romantic love or deep friendship), the demisexual experiences sexual attraction and desire, but only towards the specific partner or partners.
Romantic Identities to Know
Homo-romantic: romantic attraction towards person(s) of the same gender – the affectional equivalent of homosexual
Demiromantic: a person who may identify as a "grey asexual" because they may feel sexual desire once a reasonably stable/large emotional connection has been created. – The affectional equivalent of demisexuality.
Poly-romantic: romantic attraction towards multiple, but not all, genders – the affectional equivalent of polysexuality.
Non-Romantic: lack of romantic attraction towards anyone.
Hetero-romantic: romantic attraction towards person(s) of a different gender – the affectional equivalent of heterosexuality.
Bi-romantic (also ambiromantic): romantic attraction towards males and females (but not necessarily at the same time) – the affectionate equivalent of bisexuality.
Pan-romantic: romantic attraction towards person(s) of every gender – the affectional equivalent of pansexuality.
Let us begin:
In the highly conservative town in Long Island, New York, there would always be those kinds of people. The freakish devil's spawn that your mother warned you about. The queers! The kind of girls who slept around with other girls and wore slutty clothing, boys who enjoyed wearing eyeliner and had higher voices, and people who didn't even have a gender.
These people were viewed as abnormal and ostracized for many years before one of them decided to put an end to it. Deanna Sage was pissed after being deducted two points for not reciting something verbatim. The previous day, another student had said something even further from the original statement and he was praised for having a brilliant memory. She was held at a higher standard than her peers. The teachers looked for any excuse to bring her down a notch. Deanna wouldn't give them the satisfaction and worked to become the brightest person in her grade. To the untrained eye, the petite Asian woman appeared reserved and antipathetic. Those who knew her could say otherwise, somewhat, she has been a misanthrope and sadistic and manipulative and void of many, many emotions... Okay, so maybe they were right. Conforming to stereotypes wasn't really her thing; she essentially annihilated all of them. She could have easily been mistaken for a straight girl; long hair, large earrings and high heels didn't give off a particularly big lesbian vibe.
There were others similar to her and she has been quick to spot them. It was her sophomore year that she formed her group. There were only four of them; herself, Annika Lombard, Tessa Langston, and Blair Tomlyn. Deanna didn't trust herself with absolute power so she appointed Annika as their leader, but everyone knew Deanna had the final say. Annika was another that could have blended in with the rest of the town, but her promiscuity was well known and she was regularly slut shamed. Annika didn't care though. People were too obsessed with sex, an act that Annika found repulsive but a necessary evil. Deanna called her the witch because in the sixteen hundreds witches were depicted as having flaming red hair and bright green eyes. Annika was headstrong and frequently used her large sex appeal to get what she wanted. Despite being asexual, she had engaged in more sex than all of her friends combined. Annika didn't enjoy it but it got her nice things. She was irresistible to men, women and others alike. Just assume she was the Shane of her town.
Blair Tomlyn was their little pet. A tiny blonde girl with her hair always tied back with a powder blue ribbon, she saw the good in everyone. In spite of themselves, people weren't horrible to Blair. She was such a kind and caring individual that people had an unspoken agreement to just leave her be. Blair also had an amazing memory. Her mind worked in similar ways to that of a computer's hard drive. Everything got filed away in a certain folder and with just a bit of effort she was able to access it at any given time. School came easy for her because of this very reason. She was often called out in class for daydreaming during a lesson, but much to the chagrin of others, she achieved top grades. The only subject that vexed her was English because her brain just didn't function that way. All that inferring, metaphors and symbolism drove her crazy. She preferred what was to what could be, and yet her imagination was excellent.
The others may have been smart, but Tessa Langston was the brains of the group. She had the ideas and just needed people to help her follow through. She didn't need to work for her grades, her musical abilities were rivaled by no one and she could have been MVP of her team if people weren't so prejudice. And yet she was still despised simply because she wanted to fall in love with the person and not the gender. While Deanna and Annika were spitfires, Tessa was able to stay in control. It would be a very rare occasion if Tessa were to lose her head, but it had been known to happen and never ended well for anyone. The brunette had deliciously long fingers that were great for her music and for fingering. Tessa was a model citizen in many respects. She did like to walk around barefoot and doodle on her wrists so her feet were heavily blistered and hands constantly ink stained.
It was a year later and they were on the prowl for new member. In that year they increased their people by fifty percent. David Nolan came first. He was a tall African American in the grade below theirs. David was met with only slight apprehension. They were all cisgender females and David was a transgender male. They let him in though, as a way to bridge separations and end pre-judgments. Plus, David had certain qualities in him that the others didn't possess. He could listen. While Blair remembered everything, she was often so wrapped up in her own little mind that things didn't process with her. David was an observer. He lurked in the shadows and watched. He served as their makeshift therapist. Apparently their group existed just to defy stereotypes. David was the sensitive one, but no one would know it if they just looked at him. He had many piercings and dark hair with purple streaks. And lord the muscles on that man!
Later that very same year, Delaney Pryce was integrated into their society. It seemed this was the year for non-binary folks. Though Delaney looked like a girl, thought like a girl and generally was very feminine, Delaney hated the idea of genders. Delaney was a genderless person of Latin descent. Some agender people preferred the pronouns xis or something to that effect, but Delaney wasn't particularly fond of those either. Some people were surprised by this. Delaney didn't care. Delaney just was. If one were to refer to Delaney for something, they would call Delaney by name. It made sentences awkward as hell but Delaney didn't give a damn. People would survive if their sentences sounded odd. Delaney's blue-green eyes weren't common among Delaney's people, but neither was Delaney.
In a town of religious bigots, radical republicans, and cishets, the odd ones out had to ban together. The people of the town were terrified of a gay uprising. Why not give them one? A joking plan, of course but it was terribly amusing to think about. The entire town despised their group, but no one hated them more than Charlotte Reed.
She was the spawn of the most self-righteous, holier-than-thou couple in the state. Charlotte wasn't a bad person. She was just ignorant along with the rest of the town. Charlotte didn't realize the true extent of how much her words hurt people. If she was being truly honest with herself, she was a bit scared of them. Some lash out at what they fear most. Charlotte would get her chance at redemption someday. The question would be whether or not she would take it. Charlotte wasn't your stereotypical antagonist. She wasn't a blonde cheerleader with a body that could rival Aphrodite. She was blonde sure, but she wasn't the most popular person in the school. Rather intelligent, Charlotte was very likable. You know, except for the fact that she was a die-hard homophobe.
Our girls and guy weren't perfect. They had their fatal flaws and weaknesses. They didn't always do the right thing. Though they all claimed to have no secrets, it was a lie. Between the group there were little to no secrets, but as for the rest of the town, well the group may have already been considered disgusting, but if their dirty secrets ever got out... well, it would have the town talking for decades to come.
In fairy tales and almost every other book in existence, everyone gets their happy ending. The villains are vanquished and the hero gets the girl. But in the real world, heroes don't exist and the villains almost always win. The so-called villains are even worse than their make-believe counterparts. The fairy tale bad guys are simply misunderstood. We only know one side of the story and who's to say the story wasn't twisted in the telling? The real evil doers had the money and the power. They made sure to buy off the system to ensure their happily ever after. This is reality and reality is a dark and depressing place. This is the tale of the good and evil in the world. A story that, for once isn't slanted in the favor of the heroes and the villains are just ignorant. No one is wholly good or wholly evil and this is no exception. This is the telling of the lives of the oppressed and their fight for equality and a voice.