After a while, I woke up and procrastinated doing my homework. The fight I'd had with Megan had left me a mess and all I wanted to do was vent. My first instinct was to call Kai, but I knew he would only ignore me as seemed to be the trend with him. Another part of me wanted to call Lily, but I still felt a little awkward about cutting our date short, and I already knew what she'd say to me. Rachael popped into my mind as an option, but we hadn't talked in so long and I didn't feel like rehashing everything just get to back to where I started. I made up my mind to just keep it all to myself and trudge on through whatever work I needed to get done.

Monday was rough. Lily had heard what happened from a friend of a friend and did her best to comfort me. I shrugged her off, which I felt bad doing, but I mostly wanted to just move past things and forget about it.

During lunch, I could see Megan across the cafeteria avoiding eye contact and sitting solo off in a corner. I put my focus back on food and went about the rest of my day.

I biked home, changed into my work uniform, and made my way to the store. I knew that work would always take my mind off things. I clocked in and my shift went mostly as normal. Ross was working just behind me and I knew he could tell I was down, but he didn't know what to do about it. He tried shooting the price gun at me to lift my spirits. I gave him a half-smile, but it was clear I didn't have the energy to keep up our usual antics.

I got home and there was a text waiting from Sadie.

"Heard what happened, free anytime if you need to talk."

I sighed in relief. "Why had talking to Sadie never crossed my mind?" I thought. I called her and she picked up after immediately after the first ring.

"Hey," she said with warmth in her voice.

"Hey," I replied back softly.

"That physics quiz was no joke! I'll be lucky to have gotten a C on it."

"Somebody was out on dates and didn't study," I teased, feeling a little better.

"Oh well, you know how it is," I could practically hear her roll her eyes over the phone. "So, Megan's being a bitch huh?"

Aaaaand we got to the actual reason for the call.

"Yeah... I just... I thought of all people, I wouldn't have to defend myself in front of her, you know?"

"Mmmm," she replied back in agreement.

"And I mean... some of what she said was totally true. I have never and will never know what it’s like to know that I’m in the wrong body for most of life, but I don't know what I did to make her think that I was trying to claim I had?"

"You probably didn't do anything," Sadie said after I trailed off, "My guess is that she saw what she wanted to see in you, and when she realized that you weren't what she'd made you up to be, she got jealous."

"I guess... I just wish that... We have so much in common that nobody else does and I liked being able to talk to her. It just sucks..." I was now audibly fighting back tears.

"Yup, it sucks," Sadie said in somber, but comforting agreement. I was truly glad to talk with her. Going through it out loud helped me figure it out. I took some deep breaths.

"Hey, thanks... I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Of course," she said, "Anytime Amelia."

I took another evening nap and woke up to the smell of dinner being served. I ate mostly wordlessly, finished my homework, and crashed on my bed, falling asleep in seconds.

Tuesday was wholly uneventful. I had the day off as usual, so I just meandered home and spent most of my evening perusing Netflix.

Come Wednesday I was back at work, and I was feeling better having put some time between the events of the previous Sunday.

Ross noticed my rise in energy and continued his usual pestering. While things had slowed up, he called over to my register.

"This is Agent Gomez paging agent Baker, please respond," he said making radio noises even though the crappy phones gave the vibe he was going for.

"Go for Agent Baker."

"We've got a level five emergency! Register two is out of spray bottles. I repeat, register two is out of spray bottles."

"Copy that!" I said and hung up dramatically. I grabbed one of the spare spray bottles from beneath my register and wielded it like a handgun, ducking between cover as I made my way over to his register.

I turned my back to him, pretended to clean off the register in front of him, and placed the bottle on his conveyor belt. Then I did a phony whistle, making my way back to my register. Once I returned I got another call.

"Good job Agent Baker. Mission accomplished," he said trying to keep himself from breaking character. I of course was struggling to keep from cracking up. Then a customer got in my line and I hung up the phone and composed myself.

"Hello, sir! Did you find everything you were looking for today?" I asked. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place from where.

He simply stood there staring at me unresponsive for a few seconds. Then he opened his mouth, "Are you, Baker?"

"Yes," I replied unsure of where this was going.

"That Isaac Baker kid?"

"Umm, yeah, but I go by Amelia now---"

He slammed his hands down on the conveyor belt.

"You need to keep you crazy ass away from my daughter! You hear!" It clicked, and I realized he was Lily's dad. She never talked about her home life much, and I'd only ever seen him one or two times before. I was spooked.

He leaned in and grabbed me by the scruff of my apron. "I don't want you anywhere near her! If I even suspect that you two have so much as looked at each other, I will tear you apart piece by piece." He was so close that I could smell the heavy stench of alcohol on his breath. I was still, but inside I was panicking. Fortunately, the security guard on duty had stepped in and was pulling him away from me.

"I warn you! Don't mess with me son, or you'll regret it!" he shouted as the guard dragged him out of the store. All eyes were on me, and I stood unmoving, completely shocked at what had just unfolded.

Monica didn't waste any time. She already turned the light off at my register and was directing people over to Ross's. She held me by the shoulders and moved me to her office. I sat down and she handed me a cup of tea and gave me the rest of the day off. I was still very much in shock, so I went along and biked home. It dawned on me later that I could have had my parents pick me up, but that also meant I'd have to tell them what happened, and they didn't need to worry. At least I hoped.