Free Bad Idea by Erica Yang Page A

That was new. All the girls who
had come to talk to her about their questions had desperately
wanted her to comfort them and tell them they hadn’t caught the
gay—even if the kind of comfort they wanted involved making out
with Emmy. She’d been tired of that since about five minutes after
she’d come out.
    Her surprise, however, was quickly replaced
by another flash of irritation. If Daisy was gay, too, and knew it,
why had she been letting Emmy take the brunt of everyone’s
homophobia and curiosity all these years?
    “Good for you,” Emmy said coldly. “Why don’t
you try telling the rest of the school? See what they think of you
now.”
    “I’m trying,” Daisy said simply. “You’re the
first person I’ve told. I mean, ever.” She took a deep breath, her
body visibly trembling.
    “Congratulations.” Emmy couldn’t keep the
grudging tone out of the word, and Daisy’s face fell even
further.
    “I thought…I thought you might want to talk
about it a little more.”
    Emmy frowned. The first person she had come
out to was her dad. He’d given her a big hug and taken her out for
ice cream. What she’d liked the most was that he hadn’t said
anything about how he loved her no matter what. Emmy had feared
that phrase. When she’d heard of parents saying that, she couldn’t
help thinking that was the same thing they’d say if their kid had
leukemia or a criminal record. Her dad had just taken the
information in. After they ate the ice cream, he’d asked if she had
any questions, and she’d told him she didn’t because she’d already
done a lot of reading.
    Daisy was smart enough to have done the
reading, too.
    “What do you want to talk about? I’m not a
therapist, you know.”
    “I know.” Daisy wrapped her arms around her
chest and rubbed her sides. “I’m sorry to bother you.” She turned
to go.
    Emmy’s stomach cramped. Coming out to her dad
had made her feel like he was really cool about her being a
lesbian. He’d reacted no differently than if she’d told him she
really enjoyed soccer. Coming out at school after that had been
quite the rude awakening, and she knew not everyone was lucky
enough to have a dad like hers.
    “Wait,” Emmy said. “Hang on a sec.”
    Daisy stopped walking, but didn’t face
her.
    “I’m being a jerk. I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay,” Daisy said. Her voice was still
far too soft, and Emmy finally turned off the music, hoping the
gesture would make up for some of her coldness. “I get it. It’s not
like we’re friends or whatever.”
    Friends. Emmy had been realizing
lately that she didn’t have any. She had people who laughed at her
jokes, but Iris had been her best friend as well as her girlfriend.
She hadn’t been able to figure out how to fill the gaping hole that
had been left in Iris’s wake. She’d thought about trying to replace
Iris with new friends, but graduation was so soon, it didn’t feel
worth it to make the effort.
    “Being out at this school sucks,” Emmy said
to Daisy’s back. “I’m just mad about it.”
    “No, I get that.” Daisy shuddered. Emmy
feared she was crying, but she couldn’t approach her about that
now—not after shutting her down so hard. “And I’m a big coward,
right? Running around with Jo Quang, letting everyone think I’m
just a prude.”
    A sudden suspicion entered Emmy’s mind. “You
and Jo aren’t…”
    Daisy snorted. “No way. Her picture’s on the
Wikipedia entry for boy crazy . And I told you. I haven’t
talked about this to anybody before.” Her breathing sounded
like that of a broken, struggling animal.
    “Look, I’m really sorry. I should have…Do you
still want to get lunch?”
    Daisy did turn around then. Tears streaked
her face. “I’m just going to go,” she said. “I think maybe I’m not
ready to talk about this after all.”
    Emmy’s heart twisted in her chest. This was
her fault. She’d failed a fellow queer, the first one who’d come to
her without also trying