January 9th, 2014
The front door of the house swung open and Sierra trudged her way into the quiet house, slowly shuffling her way to her bedroom. She was quite exhausted from today's events, and decided it was better to just make a beeline home and get some rest rather than stay at school and do some after school activities.She was alone for now. Mom wouldn't be back for at least another hour or two, she had to do teacher stuff like grade papers or whatever, and Dad's shift at that zoo was over at 5 PM, so for the next few hours she'll have the house to herself. Not that she really wanted to do anything but take a nap. Hopefully by the time she wakes up Mom would have dinner ready.
She lazily opened the door to her room, dropping her backpack to the ground and kicking off her boots as she shuffled over to her bed - which had an ungodly amount of plush toys littering its surface - and proceeded to collapse forward onto its cushioned surface. She breathed a sigh of relief as her tense body began to relax, allowing herself to be engulfed by her legion of stuffed toys. She turned her head, her eyes barely staying awake, and looked at the calendar that was affixed to her wall. Her eyes lazily scanned through the dates, eventually settling on tomorrow's date, which was circled in red and had the words "B-Day!! / Tell Mom + Dad" written on it.
Tell mom and dad...
Sierra sighed and rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. Tomorrow was going to be... trying. She could tell. It was one thing to turn 14, it was another to come out to her parents as being bisexual. Frankly, she was scared of what might happen. She knew things would change. How could they not? She had resolve to come out to her very conservative parents that she was bi, and they didn't exactly have the highest opinion on homosexuality. Would they even understand how she feels? Will they reject her? She did research and found that about 40% of the underage homeless population consisted of kids who were kicked out of their homes and disowned by their parents for being part of the LGBT. Just thinking about terrified her. What if her parents disowned her?
Her anxiety was beginning to flare up, and a sinking sensation in her chest became notable as she dwelled on these thoughts. She began to take slow, steady breathes to calm herself.
Things were going to be fine.
Everything was going to be fine.
Getting herself worked up wasn't going to help anything. Especially since she had resolve to them tomorrow.
Her parents had planned this day in advanced, having requested the day off from work so they could spend time with her. They were all going on a trip somewhere, but she wasn't quite sure where. They wanted to keep it a secret for her birthday surprise. She would miss a day of school, sure, but she'll just make it. Her grades were pretty good right now, and if she has trouble she could always ask her mom for help.
Still she couldn't help but feel a little scared. Her parents didn't exactly have the highest opinion on homosexuality. In fact, she risked getting in trouble in middle school when she repeated some of the things they've said. But once she realized she liked other girls and came to accept that she began to feel a uncomfortable listening to their opinions. She kept quiet at home, but she was more open about it at school. A lot of people were accepting of her bisexuality, surprisingly. She was more than a little afraid to be shunned by everyone. Some gave her a hard time for it, but a lot of others either didn't care or were nice to her about it. Like Beryl! Beryl was always nice to her.
Beryl was also, as Sierra noted, pretty darn cute.
But even if she was comfortable with being open at school, being open with her parents was a daunting task. She had considered keeping it under wraps until she moved out after high school - she liked boys as well, so it would have been easy - but that wouldn't be the right thing she felt. She loved her parents, and if she wanted them to love her for who she was then she has to be honest with them and come out.
Still, she had her doubts. Doubts that lead to fears.
Without looking, she reached down and plucked a plush toy from her bed and held it high, making it look down on her. In her hands was a plush Muskox, which she had lovingly named Chippy. It always amazed her how she could keep track of all her plush toys' names. She had so many by this point that it would be difficult for anyone to keep track of them all. Of course for some of them she got a little lazy, like with Chippy here, who she named while eating a bag of potato chips at the time. She looked up to the toy, her eyes making contact with Chippy's lifeless plastic eyes.
"What do you think I should do, Chippy?"
"Be honest!" It replied, or rather Sierra moved its head up and down and giving it a silly voice to make it seem like it was talking. "If your parents love you then they'll understand!"
"You are so right!" She happily proclaimed as she hugged the toy close to her chest. While it wasn't exactly getting advice from someone else, it did provide something of a small comfort to reassure herself with one of her beloved plush toys.
Thinking on it, she was glad no one at school knew of this particular hobby. It was probably the most girly thing about her, and if anyone found out about it she could say goodbye to whatever coolness she held among her peers. Especially if they knew she talked to some of them and gave them dumb voices to amuse herself.
Right now it didn't matter. She just laid there clutching Chippy, her eyes growing heavy as she cleared her thoughts. Tomorrow was the big day, but for now... Now was a time to rest. She could worry about tomorrow later.
"Everything will be fine..." She thought, before drifting off to sleep.