“Spencer, I don’t like her”, my mother said.

            “What”, I ask disbelievingly, “you cannot be serious.”

            “I am very serious”, she says in that frigid way of hers.

            “Mom, she was nothing but polite, even after you made her cry”, I say honestly contemplating smacking my mother.

            “Paula, what exactly don’t you like about her? She’s a sweet girl”, says my father, looking just as bewildered as I am.

            “I think she’s hiding something. And what does a 21 year old have in common with a 17 year old? And I was talking to a few co-workers and they said that their daughters said she is gay”, my mother says sounding utterly disgusted with the word gay.

            “Paula, so what if she is gay and 21 and 17 isn’t that big of an age difference”, my father say.

            “What do you mean so what? It’s a sin. And I don’t want her influencing Spencer”, she says. I’m just standing here in a state of disbelief.

            “Paula, Spencer is a smart person and she can choose her own friends. I trust her judgment”, my father says.

            “Mom, Ashley is really cool and she’s really nice. She didn’t have to talk to me when I met her, she’s a fun person to be around”, I say finally finding my voice.

            “I don’t want you spending a whole bunch of time with a person like that”, my mother says.

            “A person like what”, I all but scream.

            “She’s a sinner, she’s gay”, she says like that’s all the reasoning needed in the world.

            “Seriously? Is that all you can say? We are all sinners, Mom”, I tell her getting even more frustrated.

            “Paula, this is ridiculous, you have no real reason to dislike her. Spencer, you can head up to bed, and I’ll talk to your mother”, my father tells me.

            “Okay, thanks”, I tell him and move to give him a hug before turning to head up the stairs. Once I’m out of sight I can hear their heated whispers. Have I mentioned that I can’t stand my mother most of the time. Seriously, she was gossiping about Ashley. And that all that did was tell me that she will flip her shit if I come out, but I really want to tell my Dad. I feel like he would support me and not label me as some sort of freak.