The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [11]
Regan wasn’t openly gay at school. Her friends knew, but at school she played the pronoun game, referring to her social plans using “we” instead of “she,” or “significant other” instead of “girlfriend.” She knew people wouldn’t care enough to ask why she brought Crystal to the assembly.
Regan surreptitiously nudged Crystal’s arm. “In the pink,” Regan whispered and gestured with her eyes toward Mandy, the blonde queen bee, laughing ahead of them in line. “That’s her.”
Crystal looked her up and down. “Viola was right,” Crystal whispered back. Regan squinted, trying to recall what her best friend at school had said. “About her ass,” Crystal continued. “Yours is better.” Crystal pointed with her chin. “And him? With the tattoos? That’s him?” she asked, pointing to Wyatt.
Regan turned to look, her heart sinking. As little as she cared for him now, it still stung to see him with Mandy. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s Wyatt.”
Two years before, when Regan had first arrived at Johnson, a lonely, anxious Vermont transplant, she was surprised to find that she immediately was attracted to Wyatt, who seemed her polar opposite. Where Regan was a mixture of dorky and punk, Wyatt was a popular, motorcycle-riding, often tactless jock. Regan thought now that his in-your-face machismo perhaps was why she had agreed to date him, after dating only girls and slight, artsy boys. Wyatt was her chance to be with someone undeniably manly so that she would know for sure whether she wanted to give up on males altogether.
Wyatt, who had swooped in on Regan that September, had his moments of tenderness, but even months into their relationship he insisted on keeping their connection a secret because “I don’t want anyone to know I’m fucking the weird girl.” This was especially hard for Regan, who was candid and outgoing. Wyatt made fun of her constantly for “being a dork.” He told her that she was the first nerd he had ever been with. When she asked him why he was with her, he said, “I wanted to see what nerd love was like.” Wyatt was fun to flirt with, though, which made school more interesting for Regan.
After nine months, Wyatt dumped Regan via text message. She learned then that he had been cheating on her with pretty, popular, cheerleader-types like Mandy. When they returned to school in the fall, Wyatt and Mandy were openly a couple. Mandy and her inseparable friend Francesca seemed intent on humiliating Regan. They gossiped about how Wyatt showed them PG-13-rated photos that Regan had taken for him (at his insistence). Francesca flat-out refused to be Regan’s partner at a student fundraiser. Mandy spread lies, telling people that Regan was stalking Wyatt and trying to ruin Mandy’s life. Regan had barely ever conversed with Mandy, but Mandy cut Regan off from some of the few friends she had made.
Regan was mostly on her own at school and feeling adrift in a state where people who worked at the grocery store didn’t even know what falafel was. (When she asked someone to help her find falafel, the staffer said, “Tilapia?” Regan said, “No, falafel.” He apparently thought she had a speech impediment. “Aw, don’t worry. I understand what you mean,” he said. Then he took her to the tilapia.)
Now, everyone took seats in the same places as they had before school had let out for the summer. The cliques were divided mostly by subject specialty: the math whizzes on one side of the room, the performing arts department on the other, etc. Separate groups of whites and blacks sat together. Regan thought the racial divide at Johnson was “vast and offensive.” Most students hung out only with students of the same race. At lunch, even among teachers, whites grouped with whites, blacks with blacks, cliques