Call Me Nova

Nova’s Pov

    I stand in front of my new school, Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY. It is the first day of my senior year of high school. It has been just over a month since we moved to Brooklyn, and I have essentially killed off my past life letting go of everything from my past.well, almost everything. I still talk to Cassie weekly and text and email her as needed. She’s my bff and the only person from my past that knew the real me. I even had mom get me a new phone and phone number to match the fresh start that I am making. 

     Looking around I am relieved to see some diversity here, other kids with colorful hair, one proudly displaying a rainbow flag on their backpack and giggling with a girl with an eyebrow ring and mischievous look on her face. Her short hair is dyed in shades of greens and blues.I also see a group of typical jocks and some preppy looking kids, and a small group smoking across the street with their bad boy , gang banger type vibes…okay, them I definitely plan to avoid, but this school seems big enough to manage to avoid anyone I don’t want to deal with.

   I take a deep breath and head up the stairs towards the front of the building only to have someone collide into me at the first step. Looking down I see a pretty blond boy, who is blushing furiously. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean ro…Oh, you are beautiful! You should probably come with me before they see you, too!” He grabs my hand pulling me up the stairs and into the school, down a hall then into a music room where he leans against the door panting. “I’m sorry, but Jordan and his crew are not nice and I am afraid they would be all too happy to bully you as they do me. Not to assume anything, but you are just the kind of person they like to target. You are beautiful and well, not really masculine or feminine…so I don’t know, maybe you would be safe if they think you are a girl, but I wouldn’t want to risk it if I were you…” he runs out of breath and his eyes go wide as he realizes that he has been saying all of that out loud. “I’m Jace, by the way. I am not usually this talkative, but …”

    “He’s in awe of you! You are rather striking and I can’t quite figure out if you are a girl or a boy.” interrupts a sassy looking girl who I hadn’t noticed until now. I chuckle before taking in the pair. They seem an odd pairing and my guess is that Jace is gay, my gaydar is rarely wrong, but I won’t say anything as I am not sure he is out of the closet. He’s a sweet little thing with blond hair that falls in front of his eyes as he shyly glances at me. Dressed neatly, but fairly inconspicuous, like he doesn’t want to stand out too much, unlike myself with my purple curls and high heeled boots, with my super tight skinny jeans and purple tunic top, my makeup and earrings are on point. Yeah…I love purple so sue me. The girl is pretty as well. Her light mocha skin and dark brown hair with a streak of red with her pouty crimson lips and eyebrow raised, hands on her ample hips…she is definitely Latina and I love her style. Girl has the cutest flutter sleeve tee with roses printed on it and the tightest skinny jeans with her kitten heels and hoops earrings. “I’m Chantelle, by the way.” she intones before extending a hand to me.

     “Call me Nova and I’m not really a girl or a boy, if I were to tell the truth, I identify as non-binary, so thanks for not assuming that I am either.” I smirk as I shake her hand. The school already has my info and has me listed as Nova and a non-binary student and I have been informed that I can use whatever facilities I feel most comfortable using. Knowing how violent boys can be, I will likely opt for using the girl’s locker room and restroom. 

     “Jace is usually shy around people outside of our circle, so I am kind of surprised that he is talking to you. We usually meet up here before homeroom if we don’t come to school together. It helps give a little shelter from the bullies ever since Jace’s sexual identity slipped last year.” Chantelle says nonchalantly. 

     Jace shoots her a glare. “If someone’s big mouth hadn’t been overheard by my crush’s bimbo girlfriend last February then no one outside of our circle would know!” 

     “Jace, I told you how sorry I am, how was I to know she was in the library? She is never in the library and well, I was with Sidney waiting on the rest of our riot grrl revivalist un-official club and well, she asked about your strange behavior and you were already out to our circle, so…”Chantelle trails off mournfully. “You know I love you and never want to see you hurt.” 

     Jace sighs,”Okay, chica, but you still haven’t fully made up for it.” He giggles with a gleam in his eye before mumbling “If his mean ass wasn’t so fucking hot I would never even look at him.” 

     The pair laugh and I am lost since I have no idea who they are talking about but the bell rings and we all head to our homerooms, it turns out that Jace and I share a homeroom so we walk together.

      He shyly glances at me “Ummm…if you don’t mind hanging with the freaks and geeks you can join us at lunch as well. I think you would like our circle, or at least we will all like you.” a blush blooms on his porcelain cheeks. He is so adorable, not my type…too effeminate and shy for my liking, but sweet and kind so I agree to sit with his group at lunch.

*********

My classes go by uneventfully and at lunch I join Chantelle, Jace and their group. They introduce me to Evan and Grace and Eddie, but say that Neville is helping Sidney in the art room and they will be joining us a bit late. They are a jovial group each with their own quirks and I like them. I sit with them chatting as I take out the empanadas and guavacitos that my mom packed. The bodega always stocks locally made empanadas and guavacitos and they make a quick easy thing to toss in a lunch box. I know the guavacitos are made by Aunt Kelly's friend Guadalupe.  Guadalupe grew up around the corner from our family and was the first non-family person from the neighborhood to embrace Aunt Kelly when uncle Luis brought her home to Brooklyn with him before they were married. While Brooklyn is a diverse place our neighborhood is mostly Latinx so Aunt Kelly with her ivory skin, green eyes and amber hair, kind of sticks out. Although she and Uncle Luis have made some beautiful babies…speaking of which I have yet to see my cousins around school. My cousins Deirdre and Patrick both have their mother’s green eyes, though deirdre’s are more hazel green while Patrick’s are vibrant green. They both have light auburn hair and light mocha skin. Patrick’s hair is curly, similar to mine and uncle Mataeo’s but his sister’s falls in  loose waves like their mother’s. They are twins and a year younger than me. 

     “Are those gauvacitos?!” Chantelle chimes, excitedly. Her smile is broad and her eyes are pleading.

     I chuckle, handing her one. “Yeah, my family sells them at their bodega.My Auntie’s friend makes them fresh daily.” 

     Grace grins, “let me guess…your Family owns the Bodega on 41st ave? They have the best gauvacitos and…Oh, my gosh! I can’t wait until Neville meets you! He is going to want to spend a lot of time hanging out with you!” she giggles and gives a side eye to Chantelle who shrugs.

      “You mean your uncle is the hot guy that is married to that ginger haired white lady? no offense to our fair skinned friends.”Chantelle inquires.

       “EWWWW! That is my uncle you are talking about! Besides, if any of my uncles is good looking it would be Mateo, but something tells me that Jace would stand a better chance of getting his attention, not that that has been confirmed, since uncle Mateo has been working in LA for the last decade and keeps pretty private about his private life.” I shudder at the thought of uncle Luis being considered attractive by people my age. 

BANG

A loud sound rings through the air as a wall of brunette muscle stands behind Jace with a meaty hand firmly placed in front of the shy boy “Hey freaks! I see you have a new playfriend, she’s kinda pretty even if she has small tits! I just want to remind the fairy here, that I don’t want a repeat of last year. I like chics, you little faggot, so I don’t want to hear anything about you crushing on me and I don’t want you chicking out my junk in gym class…Why they let fags change with the rest of us I just don’t get! You hear me, Fairy boy?”

     “Y-yes, J-jordan!” Jace stammers with a scared expression as his blush turns his whole creamy face a deep red and he lowers his eyes to the table. No one bothers to correct his assumptions about my gender and I can see how tense each and every one of them is, As the muscular guy turns to walk away grumbling under his breath everyone slowly starts to unfreeze, a few taking large gulps before a series of relieved sighs round the group as he sits with the rest of the jocks. Just then a perky redhead and beautiful Latino boy walk up to our table.

    “Sorry we are late! I had to help Ms Delucca with moving the weaving loom and Neville volunteered to help me.Then we ran into his crush, Rick.” The girl beams, then turns to me “You must be Nova, I’m Sidney, my girl Chantelle told me about you during our art class!” She extends her hand for a shake then looks at my hand smiling. “You have soft hands with nice long fingers. Are you an artist or musician?”

     “Huh? I like to sketch and I write poetry. I have never learned to play an instrument, but I do love music.” I smile at her. She has a bold personality and I like it.

     “Well, if you like live music you have to come with us this friday! There is this great acoustic cafe near my place and this Friday the hottest and most romantic solo musician is slated to play…He often plays with a band, but it is when he is solo that he is most dreamy.Not that I could ever date him, since he is my adoptive older brother. My parents thought they couldn’t have kids and after adopting a couple I surprised them and came along.” She smiles and winks at me. 

     After lunch Jace and I walk to our next class together. Civics class is one of the 4 we have together. “I think Sidney likes you, she is pansexual so she doesn’t care what parts you have, but she is a wild one, so I would caution you about being anything more than friends with that one.” Jace whispers adding a giggle. This kid is really innocent I think and I wonder if he has ever had a boyfriend at all. Sidney on the other hand, she reminds me of Cassie, a bit much…so yeah, good as a friend, but not really someone I could or would date. 

     “Are you going with Sidney on Friday?” I ask Jace as we enter our classroom and take seats to the left, near the window.

     “Probably, we try to go to most of Aldo’s shows, he’s a cool guy and like Sid said, he’s steamy, too bad he’s a playboy.” Jace sighs. Yeah, my father is the playboy type, I don’t think I would want to mess with that. “And he’s straight.” Jace adds with an additional sigh. 

    The rest of the day passes uneventfully.