It was frosty on Monday morning, the end of the summer always had a few really cold mornings, then autumn would come and there would be rain and wind. School uniforms were certainly not made for cold or wet weather! Both Abby and Anne were shifting from foot to foot, trying to keep their toes warm. They were wearing their thickest tights and had their hands bundled up into the coat sleeves but the cold was biting, the end of Anne's nose felt like it was a solid lump of ice.

"Damn, why is the bus always late when it's bad weather?" Abby asked her.

"Well, hopefully it is late, we will be waiting a while longer if we missed it." She stamped her feet and shivered.

"We could cuddle together for warmth!" Abby suggested.

"I'm already getting called a lesbian, let's not fuel the rumours." Anne said in a surly voice.

"I guess we're not coming out anytime soon then." Abby said, with a tone of disappointment.

"I don't know if I'm ready. It's a big step. It will affect all our friends too." She said apologetically.

"Hmm, oh, there's the bus!" Abby waved at the bus driver.

They showed the little red bus passes, even though the same driver had picked them up every day for the last three years, and got on the old clapped out bus.

"Why do the school runs get the crappiest busses?" Abby griped as they sat down Infront of their friends.

"It's because school kids are vandalistic dickheads!" Heather said from the back row. "Come see this."

Abby got up and visited the seats two rows back. Someone had scrawled 'Homos only' on the back of the seat.

"How original." She said as she sat back down.

"To think Jo has gotten this all through highschool. I know I've said it before but people are dicks." Susan said, using a wetwipe from her bag to try and remove the words.

"My mum has banned me from socializing with her." Lucia said quietly.

"What? I can understand dumbass teenagers but what's your mum got against her?" Heather asked.

"She's Islamic, where she's from they drag homosexuals into the street and stone them to death." She replied, sullenly.

"What are you going to do?" Susan asked, wondering how much worse it might be if suddenly Lucia's best friend came out.

"Well, I'm just not going to tell her. It's not like she can see who I hang out with at school." She gave a sly smile, "She doesn't talk to my friends anyway, I don't know if anyone other than Susan has ever met her. If I hadn't let slip about Jo dressing like a boy she never would have known."

"Jo came round our house for dinner yesterday." Jenny said, "It was really fun, mum had us playing music after dinner. Dad played the drums, it was like being in a band. Even mum joined in on her harp."

"Your mum invited her to dinner?" Heather asked, "she never invites me!"

"She was helping her fill out a scholarship form, she had a bunch of stuff to sign." She explained.

"I'm thinking I might apply to the local uni too." Susan said. This got a lot of attention.

"What brought that on? I thought you wanted to 'fully embrace student life' live in a student flat, miles away from your parents and go out partying, all that stuff." Lucia asked, surprised.

"Yeah, maybe." Susan said, trying to drop the subject.

"I guess you could persuade your dad to get you a flat in the city, it would be a long commute from the burbs' every day otherwise." Jenny suggested.

Susan had a fleeting fantasy of living in a flat with all her friends, going to the same university.

"We should all apply, we could all live together! That would be so cool!" Heather said, obviously having shared that fantasy.

"I don't think you get seven bedroom flats!" Abby laughed.

"We could bunk in with each other." Heather defended her idea.

"Hey, I just got rid of one offensive slogan, don't give them more ammunition!" Susan scoffed.