He looked suspiciously at me as though I had an alternate agenda and after a seven-second stare down, he said “What’s the club?”

We didn’t have a name yet so I threw one out that I had seen online for other high school and college clubs. “Gay-Straight Alliance. We need a safe place.”

“That’s interesting,” he said. He showed zero emotion which was better than disdain or disgust. “I guess that’s fine but no food in here.”

I looked down at his sandwich and smirked at him. “We’ll clean up any messes. I’m pretty sure my father would kill us if we destroyed any school property.”

He folded his arms in front of him and leaned back in his chair. “If you need my help with anything, let me know.” I got his first genuine smile. It was short-lived because Hayley started tinkering on the piano. The scowl returned.

“Please don’t touch that,” he said.

Hayley looked guilty and held her hands up as though at gunpoint. Mr. Everett didn’t know that she could play the shit out of a piano and as much as I wanted her to show him up, I wanted to get back to the front office so we could get rolling on our new club. I gave him the form to sign. He filled out the faculty portion.

“Thanks, Mr. Everett. We promise to take care of things and not touch the instruments.” I grabbed Hayley’s hand and we ran out of there. We managed to get all paperwork finished and turned in before lunch was over. When we came out of the office, I bumped Hayley’s arm. “Look, there’s Parker.”

“Okay. So?” Hayley wasn’t a fan of the new cheerleader.

Parker was on my radar because she was so nice, smart, and gorgeous. Plus she jumped to help me when I desperately needed it. We’d spoken a few times since she was part of the cheer team and in my AP English class. I was so nervous around her. I wanted to get to know her better.

“She seems cool,” I said.

Hayley gave her an up-and-down and pointed her nose up in the air. “She’s straight as an arrow. Let’s find you somebody who won’t emotionally destroy you. Is there anybody else on your radar?”

“At this school? Not really.” That wasn’t entirely true but just because there was another lesbian here, didn’t mean I had to date her.

I gave Parker a small wave when we walked by. She smiled at me. It was a genuine smile and I felt it flutter around inside me. Nobody else gave me that feeling. Hayley was right. I was crushing on the new girl.