Free Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley Page B

today, didn’t you?”
    I was suddenly aware that my hands were still on Sarah’s hips, and I released them hastily as Jessa grudgingly took a seat and Henry began to tell us all about how he’d come out to his parents over the weekend and they’d reacted well. “Sorry,” I mumbled to Sarah as we sat down, embarrassed that my hands had lingered on her sides.
    She sounded a little distracted as she replied, “No, it’s okay,” and while Henry spoke, I saw her lean forward to place an elbow on her crossed legs and rest her chin in her hand. Her fingers traced her lips at least once when she thought I wasn’t looking, and my insides twisted again in that way I wasn’t used to them twisting.
    “Katie,” Jake said some few minutes later, and I nearly jumped as I swiveled around to look at him.
    “Hmm? Yeah?”
    “You and I talked a little about how you’ve had a hard time dealing with being newly out. I wondered if you wanted to share any of that here.”
    “Oh, have you guys really had it that bad?” Hattie jumped in before I could reply, sounding genuinely interested. “I thought you were friends with the people who normally do the harassing. No offense or anything.”
    “We can’t be friends with everyone,” Sarah told her dully, her chin still in her hand. “Besides, some of it’s anonymous.”
    “Oh, the texts?” Violet asked, speaking for the first time today. “I got them too. Sometimes I still do.”
    Hattie nodded her agreement. “When guys come out as gay or bi, other guys like to use slurs and physical violence against them. But when girls come out, we get slurs, occasional physical violence, and sexual harassment.”
    “Right?” Sarah chimed in again, straightening up suddenly and gaining some enthusiasm. “Do you have any idea how many threesome requests I’ve gotten?”
    “It’s even worse because we’re bi,” Hattie agreed. “But they’ll ask any girl who isn’t straight, honestly.”
    “When I came out,” Jessa announced abruptly, and everyone looked to her, surprised she was joining the conversation after Sarah and I had, frankly, given her quite the smackdown just minutes ago.
    She cleared her throat and looked straight at us as she continued, “I had a couple guys come up to me after school and corner me in the parking lot, insisting they could turn me straight if I just gave them the chance. They wouldn’t take no for an answer. I still wonder what they would’ve done had another kid not walked by and seen them. They got spooked and backed off.”
    “I had an old friend from another school: a guy,” Violet added while I was still trying to absorb Jessa’s story, “who messaged me online to tell me he thought I was really brave and that if I ever had any problems I should tell him and he’d stick up for me because he knew what it was like to get picked on. It was really sweet, actually. Cut to three months later and we’ve been in touch for a while; he gets drunk and tells me all about how I need to come visit him and smoke a joint or drink with him and then try having sex with him because he’s different and I should try everything once.”
    “All of us have stories like that,” Hattie added. “So you’re not alone.”
    “And we all have stories about getting picked on, or getting beaten up or called names,” Henry added. “I’ve been called a faggot dozens of times. That doesn’t make it hurt any less when it happens, but I guess at some point you just have to realize that there are a lot of people who are ignorant out there, and that that’s all they are. Just ignorant people. And we have each other to help us get through it.”
    “That’s why we come here,” Jake agreed. “To share our stories. So we can sit here in this circle and know we’re not alone.” He smiled. “So if you’d like to share… How has your first week been?”
    I took them all in. All thirteen of them were watching me, and at my side, Sarah folded her hands in her lap