--- 6 months later ---

    I thumped my suitcase down into my dad’s car, then slammed the trunk shut with a satisfying thunk. I went and sat down in the passenger’s seat, buckled up, and we were off.

    He said, “How are you doin’, sport? You feeling ready for college?”

    I stared down at my feet and said, “Yeah. Sure. Ready as I’m ever gonna be.”

    He chuckled and continued, “I remember my ol’ college days. I had such a great time hanging out with the boys. And I guess I got a little bit of learning in there too.”

    I sighed and looked down at my phone. Kate was sending me Snapchats of the fancy dorms at her fancy college. Her fancy college that was all the way across the country. Bleh.

    My dad kept going on about his fraternity, while I ignored him and fiddled with the radio. Between cities, all you could really get was country music, weird Christian stations, and stuff in Spanish. Eventually I kinda gave up and left it on a random country station.

    After a few hours, dad’s stomach started rumbling and he decided to stop at a diner just off the interstate. We parked and got out, and the rippling summer heat washed over me. I sighed and took off my customary hoodie, trying it around my waist. I couldn’t wait for winter, the superior season where no one thinks it’s weird for me to wear a jacket all the time.

    We walked in and took a seat in a red-and-white booth over to the right of the door. It was cooler inside, thank god for air conditioning. A waitress dropped off some extra-thick menus, and I stared down at one like it was intensely fascinating. Well, the waffles did at least look pretty good.

    The waitress came back after a few minutes and chirped, “Hi, my name is Stephanie, I’ll be your server today. What can I get for you, sir?”

    Dad replied, “I’m gonna get the chicken-fried steak, and can I get a side of fries with that?”

    “Absolutely,” Stephanie said, “And for your daughter?”

    I blurted out, “Can I get the waffles? With strawberries?”

    She scribbled something down and said, “Sure thing.” I stared at my dad, my heart beating fast, expecting him to say something as the waitress walked away.

He just laughed and said, “I told you you need a haircut. You don’t want everyone at college to think you’re a chick, do ya?”

I inhaled and relaxed a little. She thought I was a girl! Even if my dad thought it was a mistake, I knew that it wasn’t. And at least he didn’t really seem mad about it.

I said, “Hey dad, I’m gonna go to the bathroom, ok?” and stood up. He gave me a thumbs-up as I made my way over the back of the restaurant. Fortunately it had single-occupancy bathrooms (even though they were gendered), so I’d be by myself for a little.

I shut and locked the door, then started looking at myself in the mirror. I was trying to grow out my hair, so now I had dark, slightly messy hair down to my shoulders. My face was kind of androgynous I guess, it looked less pointy than it used to and more round. I had never had much facial hair, but now I had pretty much none. My eyes and lips also seemed a little bolder now too, in some small way.

My gaze moved downwards to my chest. I hadn’t put my hoodie back on yet, and I realized to my embarrassment that you could kinda see my nipples. They were just getting real pointy, and even though I was wearing a thick Zelda t-shirt (well, thick as far as t-shirts go) I guess it wasn’t enough. My waist was definitely getting narrower too, and my butt looked a little larger than it used to.

I kinda did look like a girl, or at least super androgynous. Hell yeah!