When everything feels like the movies

By Raziel Reid

Subjects: Homophobia, Homosexuality, fiction, Identity, High schools, Motion pictures, Gay teenagers, Fiction, Children's fiction, Juvenile fiction, Youth, fiction, Schools, Gays

Description: Everyone wanted to break me. But stars aren't broken, they explode. And I was the ultimate supernova. My name was Jude. They called me Judy. I was beautiful either way. School was basically a movie set. We were all just playing our parts. The Crew, the Extras, the Movie Stars. No one was ever real ... especially me. I didn't fit any category. All the girls watched me - I could walk so much better than them in heels, and my make-up was always flawless. All the boys wanted to, well, you know ... even if they didn't admit it. They loved me, they hated me, but they could never ignore me. I only had eyes for Luke. A red carpet rolled out from my heart towards him and this year, on Valentine'sDay, I was going to walk that carpet and find my mark next to him. It would be like a dream. But my dream was going to turn into a nightmare. This is my story.