South of Sunshine (24 page)

Bren gives me a crooked smile. It’s the most glorious sight I’ve seen in weeks. I can’t help but grin from ear to ear. “Come here.” Bren stretches her long arms out to me. I take her hand, and with a slight pull from Bren, I’m enveloped in her arms, comforted by ocean and spice. “God, I’ve missed you,” Bren mumbles against the top of my head.

I squeeze her as tightly as I can, not wanting the moment to ever end. Though she may be here now, she will have to return to Boston, sooner or later. “Wait,” I say as I pull myself away from her chest. “How are you here, with your car, if y’all are back in Boston?”

“Mom and I were first, until dad finished up business here. We stayed at my gran’s for like a week. But then we sat down and had a family meeting, and we decided the best place for me to finish high school was Knoxville, and—”

I step back with a mix of shock and excitement. “I’m sorry. Did you say Knoxville? As in Knoxville, Tennessee? As in four-freaking-hours-away-from-Sunshine Knoxville, Tennessee?”

Bren laughs. The sound is low and easy and melts me to the core. “I believe the post office prefers just Knoxville, Tennessee, but yes, that Knoxville.” She smiles. “My parents thought it would be better for us to go ahead and move there, get to know the area, the people, and settle in, especially since I’m going to be a Lady Vol.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Though technically the UT doesn’t call us that anymore.”

“A University of Tennessee Volunteer? Wait, you got admitted to UT? I thought you got a full ride to Notre Dame.”

“No, I wish. But I got a pretty decent athletic scholarship from UT Knoxville that I couldn’t pass up. That’s why my dad accepted the job in Sunshine to begin with. Not to mention other benefits that might come from living near Sunshine.”

Oh my God, UT Knoxville.
Mother and I can’t afford UT—nor do I have the grades to get in—but maybe there’s a community college nearby, and I could stay at the dorms. There are tons of historical sites in and around Knoxville that I could study—Civil War battlegrounds and the Native American Pinson Mounds.

And just like that, the possibilities of my future start to take shape.

Bren weaves her fingers with mine. “And besides, I kind of left my heart in Tennessee, and I was hoping I could visit it sometime.” She pulls my hands behind her back, forcing me forward, right up against her body. Those big brown eyes seem to drink me in. There’s a whole lot of
oh please, oh please, oh please
pounding in my chest.

Inches from my face, she stops; her eyes scan my features. It takes all my power to keep my breathing at a smooth, even pace. Somehow my memories of how she felt so close did not do the real beauty in front of me justice. Her brows are sculpted into two perfect crescents. The soft peaks of her lips are filled with the most luscious amount of volume. That hair.
God
, that hair! I want the right to run my fingers through it every day and twice on Sundays. “Man, you are gorgeous.” The words slip involuntarily out of my lips.

She bites her bottom lip to hold back a knowing smile. I want to smack myself for looking like a drooling puppy too. Bren clears her throat. “Do you think maybe we can try this again? I hear long-distance relationships never work, but maybe we could give it a try. That is … if you’re still into me.”

Oh yeah, community college in Knoxville, hundreds of miles from Sunshine, sounds perfect to me.

My body sways into the curve of hers of its own volition. “Oh yeah … just a little.” My voice is barely a whisper. I part my lips before she even bends to kiss me. Our lips touch, soft and tentative at first but firmer as the lapse of time apart seems to catch up with us all at once. Her hands slip out from mine and wrap around me.

I don’t know how we are going to do this with just weekends and holidays. It sounds more like a child-custody situation than a relationship, but the precious time is worth it. I have no idea even where I’ll go to school next fall, but this, right now, is at least something I can latch on to.

Bren’s grasp tightens and pulls me up right against her body. Um, yeah, this is way better than the nunnery I had planned.

The metal side door opens. “Seriously, people?” Van’s voice stops our kiss, but we just stand there, smiling at each other as if we don’t even notice him. “We’ve got, like, a Gay Pride Parade here we’re trying to set in motion. Make a little small-town history. And you two are out here sucking face. Perfect.”

We stand there, foreheads touching, unconcerned about the world around us. After a moment Bren asks, “He’s not leaving, is he?”

I peer past her shoulder. “Nope.”

“You think if we keep kissing he’ll get the hint and go away?”

“No way. When Van’s not busy being an eavesdrop whore, he’s a Peeping Tom.”

“I can hear you two.”

Bren chuckles against my mouth as she gives me a peck. “I’m not done with you.”

“I hope not.”

“Ahem.” Van clears his throat.

“Vander, Vander, Vander.” I walk toward him by the side door. Bren’s tight on my heels, hands latched on to my waist. I love that she’s feeling the same need to hold on as I am. As if our separation, might break the dream. “What am I going to do with you?” I ask Van as we go back inside to the float.

“I was thinking, since I can’t ask Johnny Depp, I’ll ask you. Be my queen?” From behind his back, he reveals the most gorgeous copper crown I’ve ever seen.

“What is this?” I take the crown from his hand. Colorful crystal beads on thin copper wire are woven in an intricate lattice pattern to form the shape of a crown. It’s absolutely stunning.

“My idea, but Charlotte’s creation.” Past his shoulder I see Charlotte Wozniak puffing up proud, her arm around her girlfriend, Jacinda.

“But in the gym I thought … the whole ball and Bren thing … I just assumed that you wanted …”

“Bren?” Charlotte busts out laughing. It’s more like hiccups than a laugh. “I was trying to distract the class so you could bust your move, and when you didn’t, I gave you a friendly little push.”

“Friendly, huh?” The biting sting of the volleyball is fresh in my memory. I’d hate to see how she treats her enemies. “What about Sarabeth and Andrew’s crowns?” I ask.

With a bobby pin in her mouth and her hands working the real crown into her hair, Sarabeth says, “You’re taking my place on the float and you want my crown too? Hell to the no. Plus I’m not standing up there by myself, no thank you.” She finishes pinning the silver and crystal crown on her head. “It’s bad enough I’ll have to stand on the field with Andrew tonight before the game. Ugh.”

Charlotte bends over a shoe box with crushed tissue paper. She pulls out a second handcrafted crown. This one is larger with fatter crystals; less dainty, more masculine. “This one might be a little heavier.” She lifts it over Van’s head. “But you have plenty of hair for Jacinda to pin it to.”

“You made these? This week?” I ask in awe. Charlotte nods. “They’re so gorgeous. I … I can’t thank you enough.” I’m amazed. Camouflage, mullet, and ass-kicker are all I see when I look at her. I’m utterly baffled that someone as hard-edged as her could create something so delicate. What an ass I am. Here I go, not wanting people to judge me for what I am, when all the while, I was judging Charlotte.

Jacinda snap-pops her bubblegum. She steps in front of me with a colorful sash in her hands that says
LGBT Royalty
. Her gum does nothing to mask the stale aroma of cigarette smoke. “I thought maybe you’d like to wear a sash, like they do for the real thing.”

Her curled hair is teased up huge and poufy, molded stiff with half a can of Aqua Net. I’m tempted to advise her against smoking with hair that flammable. I didn’t realize she had so many freckles, which soften her rounded cheeks like a little kid. Of course the marker-thick eyeliner and hairy spider-leg eyelashes tell me she’s not a child in the slightest.

Jacinda drapes the sash over me and makes a slight adjustment to center it just perfectly on my shoulders. She leans in to whisper to me. “You’re brave. You know that?” She picks a piece of glitter off my sweater and steps back.

I feel like I’m the one who should be saying thank you to her. Sarabeth pins my crown to my head, giving me words of love and encouragement. Van is over to the side, receiving his own LGBT royalty sash. A smaller sign that says,
Love Everybody
, is shoved in my hand, the rainbow glitter not quite dry. Somebody tells us we’ve got the huge supply of candy between our thrones to throw to the kids. There’s more candy for those who’ll ride in the back of the pickup that pulls the float. It’s like the world is happening around me, and I’m only an observer. All of this is because of me. Me.

Bren squeezes my hand. “You okay?” She steps into my line of sight.

There’s this humbling realization that my plan is coming together. In a few minutes, the whole town will know what I am. I won’t be able to hide behind my lies anymore. Something about the absolute truth is freeing. Today will go down in Sunshine’s history as the day of the first Gay Pride Parade, and for once, this town will have to face the reality that not everybody fits in the same mold. They will either embrace diversity or suffocate in their own hate. Either way, I’ve done my job. I look up at Bren. “I’m doing this.”

“Yeah you are, babe.” Her smile is contagious like a yawn.

I’m sporting a grin that reaches all the way to my heart. “I’ve never done this before.” The words tumble out in a hurried rush of excitement.

Bren leans in close and cocks her head all serious. “What? You mean to tell me you’ve never been in a Gay Pride Parade before?” She shakes her head and tsks. “Oh, you haven’t
lived
until you’ve been in a Gay Pride Parade.” My body rumbles with laughter. She gives me a good luck peck on my cheek before jumping into the back of Chuck’s truck.

She’s right, I really haven’t lived yet.

But I am now.

The float jerks forward and slowly moves toward Main Street. Butterflies flutter in my stomach. Van reaches over and grabs my hand. “You ready?”

“You bet your life I’m ready.”

Bunches of color dot the crowd like scattered Skittles—just small groups of high school students who rallied in support. Not quite the wave of rainbow color I was hoping for, but a good start nonetheless. From the end of the strip, I can see all the way up to the courthouse. At the top, the juniors’ float rounds the corner of the Court Square, and on it, a giant book lies open. But the pages aren’t the “I Wish I Were in Dixie” sheet music as they were rumored to be. Instead a giant fluffy quill has scrawled the words,
God made marriage between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve
across the pages. It’s a big fat slap in my gay pride face. Their float has
nothing
to do with the Tennessee Treasures theme, but their anti–gay marriage statement will surely get some votes.

Van squeezes my arm. “Don’t let it get you down, Kaycee. Stand tall.”

I smile at Bren who’s sitting in the back of Chuck the Buck’s truck and find strength in her presence. I lift my head up and pull my shoulders back.

Buckets of candy are packed all around her and Terrance. Sarabeth stands behind the cab of the truck. She winks at me before she turns around, executing a flawless homecoming queen wave as we approach the crowd. Kids scream as fistfuls of candy rain into the crowd.

A couple of businesses participated in Pipsqueak Harry’s service-learning project. Colorful balloons and posters brighten the lone Mexican restaurant in town. A few others took a more subtle approach with
No Bullying
and
Stop the Hate
signs in their windows. Maybe the message isn’t as loud as rainbows, but their small gestures mark their place in history. A moment in time when their participation changed lives in Sunshine, whether they realize it or not.

A few shops are closed, unusual since it’s not a Sunday. The Christian fish symbol and Christ’s cross are painted on their doors with the words,
Protect our religious liberties!
The Hannigan Funeral Home that Chelsea’s family owns has
Leviticus 18:22
painted in bloodred on the front window. It makes me feel sad for her … for like a half a second. Old Man Jenson hulks in front of his barbershop, scowling at us as we pass. Andrew and his fellow plaid cronies stand next to him with the same face of disgust. Van, Sarabeth, and I exchange glances as our minds arrive at the same idea. In unison, our hands dive into our candy buckets, and we throw fistfuls of candy at Andrew, causing a horde of children to scramble around his feet. I smirk.

Halfway up Main Street, my jaw drops open, and I forget I’m supposed to be tossing candy. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen rolls into view.

The giant brick wall that greets everyone who passes through town no longer features Sunshine’s Wildcat football pride, but a different kind of pride.

A magnificent rainbow streams from a huge lopsided heart painted in the bottom corner. The colors wave up and across the wall like flowing ribbons. The Sunshine High School Wildcat’s roaring mouth has been repainted into a cartoon grin, no longer terrifying but a big ole pussy cat.

“
This
is the ‘art banner’ Melissa was talking about.” Van yells over the screaming kids so I can hear him. I shrug. His guess is as good as mine. “Can you believe it?”

I point to the top of the two-story building. As we roll around the Court Square, we can see Keira and three of her fellow art students from school waving at us. Paint covers their hands and arms.

“Omigod, that is not some small banner.” Van tosses a few more handfuls of candy.

“No, it isn’t. But it’s amazing.” I shake my head, smiling. But holy smokes, we’re going to pay something fierce for ruining their football wall of pride. I shake the worry from my head and fling a fistful of candy to the kiddos.

“Kaycee Jean McCoy,” Van says, “I’d say we’ve done good today. Haters be damned.”

“Agreed. All I wanted was some colorful streamers on the float. Maybe a show-your-pride banner. But this, this is way more than I ever hoped for.” Though in my heart, once we got started, I imagined something explosive, like those Gay Pride Parades in San Francisco. Next year, Kaycee. Next year.