Saul is strange. He’s waiting at my locker every morning when I arrive at school. He greets me with a kiss, sometimes right on the lips, even with students and teachers all around us. It makes me nervous the first few times he does it. I’m not out at school the way I am at home, and with all the weird stuff that has already happened to me there, I wasn’t planning to add to my troubles by letting the real me out of the closet. But Saul doesn’t seem to give a damn what anybody thinks. We get funny looks the first couple of times we kiss, but after that, nobody even glances our way. He makes a point of leaving little notes in my locker between classes, notes that say sweet, goofy little things like “Miss you,” “Hi, there,” and “I want a hug.” Every afternoon, once school is done, he takes me out somewhere, to a movie, or for hot chocolate at Starbucks, or to the art galleries downtown. My favorite kind of date is one where he parks on the lakefront, and we make out in the cozy warmth of the backseat while boats skim along the icy waters in front of us.
