Chapter One

                                    

                                          
The night before the first day back to school, I found myself fairly restless. I was never the greatest at preparing myself for a new year of school, let alone the final one. Suffice to say, by the time I got downstairs to the kitchen that morning, I already felt entirely too tired. My older sister by a year, Callie Clarke, observed me from across the table with a playful smile across the table. 
                          
I simply poured the almond milk over my cornflakes, as I gazed back at her with curiosity. 
                          
"I can tell that you didn't sleep very well last night," she said. 
                          
"Well, you would be correct. I didn't," I told her, as I sighed in a slightly defeated way, "I love school so much..." I trailed off. 
                          
"Are you being sarcastic? 'Cause I cannot relate," she said, with a slight smirk. 
                          
"No, I mean it. I really do love school. I love my friends. I can't believe that it's all going to be over soon," I said. 
                          
It almost didn't feel quite real, in all honesty. 
                          
 It felt as though time had just rushed by entirely too quickly. I had been preparing for year twelve all of my life. Now, I wished that I could go back in time again. Of course, I wouldn't want to go too far back. I was actually fairly thankful for the fact that my teenage years of being bullied were almost over. 
                          
"I understand, Phoebe," Callie replied with a sympathetic smile, as she took a sip of her orange juice. 
                          
My mother soon walked over to the two of us with some brownies. 
                          
"I made these for your lunch today," she told me, with a pleasant grin. 
                          
My mother, Vanessa Clarke, was wonder woman. At least, I was convinced that she was. After having three kids and our father walking out on us, she really had handled a lot. 
                          
"I love you," I said, with a warm smile. 
                          
"You're going to be amazing," my mother said. 
                          
"Thank you, mum," I told her kindly. 
                          
"You're very welcome," she replied. 
                          
I allowed my eyes to scan around the dining room momentarily to find that it was quiet, almost too quiet. Where had my youngest brother got to? 
                          
"Where's Bow?" I asked her. 
                          
"Bow's sleeping," Callie said, "He's like...five. What else do you expect him to do?" she asked me. 
                          
"He starts school today. I'll have to go and get him soon," I said. 
                          
My mother smirked at me. 
                          
"What?" I asked her. 
                          
"Phoebe, we have time, honey. It's only seven in the morning," she said. 
                          
Callie's eyes widened then. 
                          
"It is? What the hell am I doing here then? I don't have work for another three hours," she said, as she began to make her way back upstairs. 
                          
My mother gave a slight shake of her head in her amusement. 
                          
"Are you really alright, honey?" she asked me. 
                          
"I suppose I'm just nervous. You know that I came out at the end of last year. I suppose I'm just curious as to how people are going to react to me, you know? The openly gay Phoebe Clarke," I said. 
                          
My mother took a deep breath. She was always so peaceful when it came to these kinds of matters. While I may have been concerned, I knew that my mother would know exactly what to say to keep me calm. 
                          
"You're going to be just fine, Phoebe. You know what I think?" she asked me. 
                          
"Breakfast now!" Bow yelled, as he walked into the kitchen. 
                          
I chuckled as I poured him some cornflakes into his little Thomas the Tank Engine bowl. 
                          
"There you go, Bow," I told him. 
                          
"Thank you, Phoebe beanie," he said. 
                          
He tended to call me that because I could be known for wearing beanies, particularly my pale pink one with a little rainbow flag stitched into the back of it. It had been a present from my best friend Emmy Rose soon after I had come out. Of course, Emmy had always known. She had told me she was bisexual within the first few moments of meeting me back in year ten and as soon as I felt comfortable enough to tell her, I revealed that I was a lesbian. 
                          
It hadn't started off that way, of course. At first, I had thought that I might just be bisexual but things quickly turned around after I realised I didn't want to kiss my ex-boyfriend, arguably the most popular boy in the school, Ryder Smith. I had just never truly had much of an attraction towards him. As much as other people may have said that we were cute together, it turned out that they had been so wrong. Ironically enough, Ryder came out as bisexual about three weeks after I had come out as gay. I supposed that I had given him the confidence to do so. 
                          
 The two of us had been lucky enough to have been friends for three years now and although the break up had been hard, I knew that we would always be there for one another. 
                          
"What do you think, mum?" I asked her, as I went back to her previous question. 
                          
"I think that if they care that much then they're not worth your attention, darling. Maybe just take some brownies for them. Bribery works every so often," she told me, with a wink. 
                          
I released a soft laugh as I quickly stepped away to put my plate into the dishwasher and then turned back to her. 
                          
I checked the clock. It was ten past seven in the morning but in the knowledge that Emmy wanted to meet for coffee before school, I decided it was time to leave. 
                          
I gave Bow a quick cuddle and then stepped closer towards my mother to give her a kiss upon the cheek. 
                          
"Don't forget the brownies!" she told me. 
                          
Of course, I could never forget those. 
                          
I walked back to pack a few of them into a box and then placed them inside my backpack. I would have to hand them out relatively quickly so that they wouldn't melt in the heat of the sun shining down from above, but I could handle that. 
                          
I said my farewells to both Bow and my mother and yelled upstairs to Callie, who I was sure was probably either sleeping or binge watching a new anime on Netflix. 
                          
Once I was done saying goodbye to them, I walked outside into the heat of the day with a small smile upon my face. It was time to start the new school year. I could do this. At least, I had been so optimistic, until a bird defecated right onto my backpack.