#1: Jaymi, 14
"I sat down next to my mom on the couch and asked her if she understood that I liked girls."
I was afraid of telling my mom I was bi. I didn't think she would be mad, I just knew she would have questions about my sexual relations with girls. I knew I didn't want to answer those questions just yet. I was pretty sure she hadn't even gotten used to the idea of me going out with guys and making out with them. This liking girls thing would be a shock to her.
I didn't really mean to come out. My friend and I were talking about it one day - she didn't know my mom didn't know - and my mom walked in. I shut up, but my friend said to me, "Wasn't Brittany so hot today though? I think she likes you."
My mom just looked at me weird and walked out of the room. I told my friend that she could go to my room and watch TV while I talked to my mom.
I sat down next to my mom on the couch and asked her if she understood that I liked girls. She said she did and asked if I still liked boys. I assured her I still liked boys but at that point in my life I was more interested in girls.
She asked if I had told anyone other than her and my friend. When I told her that the whole school knew because I already had a girlfriend, she told me that maybe I should wait awhile before getting involved with a girl, because it was probably a phase and nothing more. I told her maybe it was, but I would treat it like every other phase in my life and just go through it.
She accepted that. I knew she would. My mom has always been really supportive of gays and lesbians.
I still really like girls, but I have relationships with guys because I moved in with my grandparents and they refuse to realize I am bi. Another reason I am quiet about being bi is because I live in a small town that is very old-fashioned and doesn't believe in same-sex relationships.
I know that I will probably have to come out someday, but maybe I will get out of this extremely prejudiced part of the world and back to my normal life.
#2: Caity, 13
I didn't intend to go to go to this kid's party, but that night I had weight on my chest I had to get off. I had to tell my best friend about my bisexuality.
When I got there we talked for a little bit but I just wasn't ready. She was kind of ignoring me. Upset, I found refuge in the girls' bathroom where some of the popular girls comforted me. I'd broken up with my boyfriend that day.
After about an hour, I went and found my friend again, and took her outside onto the deck. I told her I felt like she didn't care about my feelings. She said it wasn't true and that she cares about me a lot.
I was nervous and sick to my stomach now. I said, "I have something to tell you. I - wrote it out on paper 'cause I just can't seem to make the words come out of my mouth."
I handed her a note, folded tiny, and she opened it slowly. I saw the shock in her eyes when she read the two words written on the very center of the paper. It simply read, "I'm bisexual."
Her eyes grazed the note for an agonizing minute. Finally the silence was broken and she said, "Let's go for a walk." We strolled around the corner where there were few people. "Explain this to me," she asked.
At a loss of words, things stumbled from my mouth like, "Well - because I was raped - because guys..." I found myself pleading for her trust, and she gave it to me. She reassured me that she would always be my friend no matter what my sexuality was. Shortly after she called her mom and asked if I could go hang out at her house for a while.
"Oh, Caity just told me something. Can she come over for a little while?" We watched TV at her house and all the while I felt this relief, like, finally, someone knows the real me.
When it was time to go home, she walked me to my front door, and once again she assured me, "I'll always trust you." I ran up to my room and shed tears of joy.