Chapter Five: One month later

A month had passed and Mitchie and I were still technically dating even though we hadn't been able to go on a proper date yet. No one knew, not even Ms. Munroe, but no one needed to know. It was our business and no one else's.

It was a Wednesday, meaning we didn't have work and it was the first day of Mitchie being ungrounded which meant we were finally going on our first proper date.

I'd told her I'd pick her up at half past seven and would take her out for the dinner, movie, ice cream and kissing I'd promised originally. At twenty past seven I was outside her house waiting for her to come out. I'd chosen to wear ripped dark skinny jeans, black knee-high boots and a red checked shirt with a black belt around the middle to show off the shape of my body.

The door opened revealing Mitchie talking to a light haired woman at the back of the room, I couldn't make out what she looked like but I presumed she was her mom. She closed the door behind her and grinned massively at me when I caught her eye. She was wearing a black and white summer dress, despite it being early October, with a red blazer over the top and a long gold necklace with a crucifix hanging over the top.

I couldn't help but grin at how radiant she looked, yet again. I'd never seen her looking bad, she got more and more beautiful everyday with no exaggeration. She was getting happier too, she'd made a fair few friends at school finally and she was more relaxed about things since her mom was over her smoking addiction. I couldn't be in a bad mood around her, no matter what, she just had a way of making me grin every single time she entered a room or whenever her name popped up on my phone.

"Hey beautiful," I greeted her and kissed her cheek softly. "You look amazing." I told her honestly, causing her to blush and move to peck my lips.

"You're looking stunning as ever." She replied as she pulled her dress down slightly. I'd never once seen the girl in pants; it was always either a skirt or a dress.

We drove the short distance to a small, secluded Italian restaurant in a comfortable conversation and smoked together along the way. The restaurant was one of my favourites growing up, it was dimly lit by candles dotted around the small room and there was Italian music playing lowly in the background. There were around four other couples in there talking privately amongst themselves eating their meals and generally enjoying themselves.

"Reservation under Russo," I told the blonde woman who was standing behind a podium waiting to seat customers. She nodded and we followed her to a table set for two with a white lace cloth on it, situated near the window, opposite the kitchen. The waitress handed us a menu each and smiled politely, pulling out a notepad.

"My name's Sarah, I'll be your waitress for this evening. What drinks can I get you?" She asked sweetly with an innocent smile. Mitchie ordered a glass of wine whilst I ordered half a pint of beer as I was driving, after that I'd drink non-alcoholic drinks. "I'm sorry ladies, I have to do this as it's my job; do you happen to have any ID?" She asked us, expecting us not to have any. I looked to Mitchie, panicking, who nodded and pulled her fake ID from her bra. The waitress checked it and nodded before turning to me.

"I don't have any, don't worry about it, I'm driving anyway so I probably shouldn't. I'll have a glass of lemonade instead." I ordered, shrugging at Mitchie who giggled.

"Okay then, I'll be right back with your order, my apologies for the inconvenience." She quickly pranced away with a spring in her step. As soon as she was gone Mitchie burst into a fit of laughter and I blushed furiously.

"Are you seriously stupid enough to forget your ID?" She asked me jokingly. I shrugged and looked down at the menu, embarrassed that I'd stupidly left my ID lying on my desk. Mitchie copied and her eyes widened in shock at the price list. "Holy shit, Lexi! How ridiculous are these prices?" She exclaimed rather loudly, causing a couple a few tables over to look over at us briefly. I put my menu down and reached across the table to take her hand.

"Mitchie, you're my girl, my girl deserves the best. You're beautiful, you're my princess and tonight I want you to feel like a princess. I know that this is only our first date but it has been a month and to me, you are perfect." I finished my speech and leant across the table to meet her lips in the middle in a slow, passionate, romantic kiss.

We were pulled apart by the sound of someone clearing her throat and looking up we saw Sarah standing there with our drinks and a shy smile. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, here are your drinks." She told us, hurriedly placing them down and then scurrying off again. Again, we began laughing after she'd left and decided on our meals.

After we'd eaten it was nine o'clock and the movie we were going to watch was starting at twenty past nine. After paying the check and leaving a tip for Sarah, after everything she saw during that hour and a half she deserved it, I stood from the table and held Mitchie's blazer up for her to slip into. As we left I wrapped my right arm around her waist and pulled her close to me, letting her rest her head on my shoulder and place her left hand in the back pocket of my jeans.

She drew small hearts on my butt through the fabric all the way to the car until we got in and started driving. "Thank you for dinner, beautiful." She told me, kissing me quickly as I stopped at the traffic lights.

We arrived at the cinema five minutes before the film started and got a large coke to share. We held hands throughout the duration of the movie, occasionally kissing but generally focusing on the action/comedy before us.

By the end of the movie it was eleven thirty and we went to get ice-cream at Mickey's ice-cream parlour. Mitchie ordered mint choc-chip and peanut butter whilst I ordered cookie-dough and chocolate then we went to sit at the corner table in the deserted parlour. All of the chairs were on top of the tables and the place was clearly due to close soon but we made no effort to hurry up and let the elder man close up, this was our date and our night.

Mitchie got some ice-cream on her nose which I noticed after we'd finished nearly half so I leant forward, kissed her nose and licked it off. It was peanut butter.

"Well that was spontaneous," Mitchie giggled as she wiped her nose with a napkin to get the sticky remaining ice-cream off it. I smiled at her adoringly and continued to eat my ice-cream which was quickly refilling me after the meal. "Thank you so much for tonight, it really has been the perfect first date and I'm looking forward to many more after this one if you want to." She said softly, stroking the back of my hand with her thumb and running her bare foot up my leg and back down again.

"Definitely, I really like you Mitch, I've never met anyone like you, you're so down to earth and perfect for me in every single way. I really hope that we stay together for a really long time." I told her honestly, genuinely meaning every single word. Tears formed in her eyes and she squeezed her eyes shut to stop them escaping. "Don't cry beautiful, pretty girls should never let tears ruin their beautiful faces."

"Lexi, you're so charming, you know exactly what to say to make me feel beautiful. I want to take you out next time. How about Friday night we go for a picnic in the park at night?" She suggested nervously, almost as if she didn't already know that I would say yes.

"That sounds perfect." I quickly told her to wipe the nervous look from her beautiful face.

"Then we have a date." She quipped, finishing the last bit of her ice-cream.

I got Mitchie home just in time for her midnight-school-night curfew. We shared a kiss over the gearstick again and at one minute to twelve Mitchie bade goodbye to me, calling me her 'Sexy Lexi' and ran into her house as fast as her heel-clad feet would allow her without breaking her neck.

I drove home quickly because I was tired and truthfully I hated driving at night.

The next day, Mitchie.

As I walked in to my first period class I saw it; the photograph of Alex and I kissing at the Italian restaurant last night, accompanied by the words 'New Girl Is A LESBIAN.' I noticed a few people staring at me as I walked up to the paper and tore it down angrily, praying that it was the only one.

By morning break I had realised that it certainly wasn't the only one. There was one pinned up in every classroom which most teachers had removed but there was also a huge one three times the size of the others pinned to the student noticeboard in the corridor. During every lesson before morning break the teacher would pull me over to see if I was okay, which I guess was to be expected considering what they'd all had to remove from their boards.

I tore it down and ripped it in half, then tossed it in the nearest trash can. As I walked to my locker to exchange my books people were pointing at me and laughing, whispering behind their hands making it even more obvious that they were talking about me. I buried my head inside my locker and prayed for break to finish sooner.

I felt someone tap my shoulder and turned around to see my friends Jodie, Alicia and Paige standing behind me with sympathetic smiles. "We're so sorry about this, Mitchie. How are you?" Jodie asked kindly as she handed me a poster which she must have taken down from somewhere. I stuffed it in my locker and slammed it shut, drawing the attention of a few girls who quickly looked away and started whispering again.

"I'm alright, I suppose. Fuck this." I groaned out, banging my head against my locker repeatedly until Paige grabbed my hair and stopped me.

"People are saying some pretty cruel shit, Mitch. We've been backing you up and defending you but there's so many of them saying it." Jodie told me with a sad smile. As if on cue Ashley and Courtney, the school bitches, walked past and glared at me. I glared back, causing Courtney to let out a high pitched squeal.

"Ew, the dyke looked at me!" She yelled, causing literally everyone to turn and face us, including the Geography teacher that was walking down the hallway.

"Fuck off." I responded quickly for lack of a better response.

"Does she think I'm attractive?" Ashley asked to no one in particular, she turned around to Courtney and smirked. "I bet she watches us all change in gym." She cried out loudly, causing a lot of people to gasp.

"Courtney, Ashley; that is more than enough. Walk on and leave the poor girl alone." The Geography teacher finally stepped in. The both of them started to walk away but Courtney just couldn't resist.

"We are not changing in the same room as that freak."

That was it, I snapped. "Oh, hell to the no." I growled, quickly pushing off of my locker and beginning to walk toward the two bitches with my fists balled, ready to kill the pair of them.

The geography teacher walked up to me quickly and put her hand on my shoulder gently but firmly to prevent me from moving before I could get close enough to swing at them. "Sweetheart, go to the guidance counsellor and tell her what happened. She'll help you." The teacher instructed me kindly, gesturing for me to go down the corridor toward Mrs Goldman's office. Jodie, Alicia and Paige walked alongside me, staring out anyone that looked in my direction.

"You guys… you're all okay with this aren't you?" I asked, allowing my paranoia to kick in, quickly prompting them all to nod eagerly.

"Of course we are, Mitch. We love you, we just want you to be happy." Alicia said as we reached the guidance counsellors office. "We'll go to our lessons, text us all and let us know how it goes, okay?" I nodded and knocked the door. The girls all disappeared as Mrs Goldman opened the door and called me in sweetly.

"I was expecting you, Miss Hollingsworth just called up to me and told me she'd told you to come up here," She began to explain as I sat opposite her. "Remember that you don't have to answer any questions that you don't want to but… what happened?" She asked kindly, genuine care lacing her voice.

"Alex turned out to actually be gay, we went on a date last night and someone obviously saw us. Now the photo of us kissing has been posted all around the school and everyone knows." I explained briefly to her, not wanting to go into much detail.

"I know, there was one posted on my office door this morning. I've thrown it in the trash and I've got security checking the cameras to try and find out who posted them. They will be punished severely for it…" She trailed off, I knew there was something she wasn't telling me so I didn't respond, I just waited for her to continue. "Mitchie, I've had to call your mom…" She spoke in just above a whisper, apologising with her eyes. I stood up abruptly and looked at her in disbelief.

"What the fuck?" I shouted at her, almost certain that half of the school probably heard. "You… You promised that she wouldn't be called… what the actual fuck?" I shouted at her, mortified that she'd actually called her. Oh my God my mom knows I'm gay and she didn't even hear it from me!

"Mitchie, sit down, relax and please, let me finish." She said firmly. I let out a huff of air and sat back down, "I've called your mom and spoken to her, I told her that there have been some vicious rumours started about you and now you're taking some grief for them. I didn't tell her what rumours were started or any details. Your mom does not know that you're questioning your se-" I cut her off quickly.

"I'm gay."

"Your mom does not know that you're gay, she just knows that you're having some trouble with people and that we're going to do all we can to help you deal with it." She quickly told me, trying to get all of her words in before I cut her off again.

"And what exactly are you going to do to help?" I asked cockily, knowing that there wasn't much they could do now that it was all out.

"I'm not sure yet but when we know, you'll know." She seemed certain of herself, like she knew the person that had done this was in a lot of trouble. When I didn't speak again she continued. "Please believe me when I tell you that this issue will be taken very seriously and we'll do everything we can to ensure that this school remains a safe and happy environment for you."

I nodded, I couldn't think of anything to say as reality set in; everyone knew and they were all bitching about it. All-girls schools sucked sometimes.

"Okay, thank you."

She ripped a piece of paper from a booklet and handed it to me. "Go to your lesson, here's a late pass, if you feel overwhelmed or want to leave at any point just ask to come here and do so. If the teacher says no for whatever reason ignore them and come anyway." She instructed me with a small, sympathetic smile.

As I walked in to my next lesson late I could hear people whispering about me, 'dyke,' 'I'm not changing with her,' and 'I bet she loves the all-girls school.'

I had a feeling that this was just the beginning.