Maya was quiet while she and Brielle hung outside the library with their friends. She hadn’t really recovered from Charlie’s betrayal the day before. Everyone seemed to understand, because they merely gave her brief looks of pity before focusing on Brielle.

“I’m afraid to go back to first period,” she admitted to Amelia as they reached their homeroom.

“She has that class with you, doesn’t she?” Amelia asked, frowning. “That must suck. Promise me you’ll give her the cold shoulder.”

“I’m worried I might break down and cry if I even look at her.”

“Oh, come here.”

Amelia raised her arms and the two embraced just before the bell rang. Maya answered roll call, but otherwise kept her head down. How many people in this room had read the article and were thinking about her now?

Maya was shaking when she sat down in English class. Lily wasn’t here yet. Maya froze when she saw Charlie enter the room. They locked eyes as Charlie walked by and smiled at her.

“Hi, Maya,” she said nonchalantly.

Maya was still frozen. Then her breathing started to pick up, going faster and faster. Her vision was blurry when Lily finally sat down beside her.

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked in a hushed tone. “Are you okay, Maya?”

She shook her head no and a brief sob escaped. Lily reached over the gap between their desks and took Maya’s hand. Maya felt her heart leap and immediately pulled away. When she saw the hurt look on Lily’s face, her heart plummeted.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I just… I’m feeling a lot of things right now.”

“It’s okay.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is this about… the article?”

Maya nodded.

“I heard about that. I’m so sorry. That bitch… Why did she have to… I don’t understand why someone would do such a hurtful thing.”

“She doesn’t even care,” Maya whispered. “I don’t understand it.”

“I should give her a piece of my mind.”

“Please don’t. I just want her to go away.”

The bell rang at that moment, and the teacher stood up from his desk to begin class. Maya sank down in her chair and tried to listen. But Charlie was sitting a short ways behind her. It was all Maya could think about throughout class.

Once they got some time to work independently, Lily leaned in close to Maya and whispered, “People are going to forget about this. I promise, in a week or two it’ll be like it never happened.”

Maya groaned.

Lily changed tactics. “I can’t imagine how bad you feel right now. If it was me, I wouldn’t have had the strength to show up in school. You’re such a strong person and I admire that, Maya.”

“Thank you,” Maya mumbled, but she couldn’t look Lily in the eye.

She was grateful that Lily was trying. Maya truly was. But it was hard to feel much of anything positive at the moment. Lily understood, right? She wouldn’t hold it against Maya, would she?

When the bell rang at the end of the period, Maya bid a quiet goodbye to Lily and grabbed her things. She kept her head down as she started the walk to her next class. Those people weren’t whispering about her, were they?

Then, over the intercom, she heard, “Attention, students. Will Maya and Brielle Patterson please report to the principal’s office?”

Maya’s heart sank. What was going on? Did this have anything to do with the article? What else could it be? A pit settled in her stomach as she changed course and headed for the front office.

She imagined the principal telling her and Brielle that there was a problem with their legal paperwork and they were being removed from school. But it was several weeks into the semester. If there was a problem, it would have come up before now, right?

Brielle was already sitting outside the principal’s office when Maya arrived.

“Do you have any idea what this is about?” she asked Maya.

Maya shook her head and sat down, not trusting herself to speak. She’d never been summoned to the principal’s office before. They were allowed to simmer a few minutes before the door opened and the principal ushered them inside. Maya and Brielle sat down in the two chairs in front of the large wooden desk while he sat back down.

“I’m glad you’re both here,” Principal Crawford said. He cleared his throat and looked down at some paperwork as he continued limply, “Some students came forward recently with a concern of theirs that involved you two.”

“What?” Brielle asked. “Who?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” he replied, frowning. “But these students felt… uncomfortable. They didn’t like the idea of two girls who… used to be male using the same facilities as the other girls in our school.”

Maya’s mouth was dry. Beside her, Brielle jumped to her feet and swore.

“You can’t be serious!” she cried.

“Miss Patterson, please sit down.” The principal adjusted his tie. “They went over my head and brought a petition to the school board, who reviewed it and suggested that we separate the two of you from the student population, for everyone’s safety.”

“This is bullshit,” Brielle spat, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. “You can’t stop us from using the toilet.”

“You can use the staff and nurse’s restroom whenever you need to go. That’s pretty special, if you ask me. We don’t normally allow students to use the staff restroom.”

Maya found her voice again.

“Principal Crawford, that’s not fair,” she said weakly, “We’re legally female. My sister’s right; we should get to use the girls’ room.”

“It’s out of my hands, children,” the principal replied. “Until the school board changes their mind, you’re just going to have to get used to this.”

“No!” Brielle cried, and Maya sank down further in her chair.

“Miss Patterson, that is enough!” Principle Crawford snapped. “The matter is settled. Please return to class.”

Brielle looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel, but Maya stood up and grabbed her softly by the arm. Maya shook her head, and Brielle yanked her arm from her grasp. Then Brielle turned and stormed out of the office, swinging the door open with way more force than needed.

Maya followed, running after her sister and then slowing to a walk when she caught up. Brielle was muttering under her breath. They were going in the opposite direction of Maya’s next class.

“Do you believe this?” Brielle asked tersely.

“No, I don’t,” Maya replied, blinking tears from her eyes. “I think he could have stopped it if he wanted to.”

“Go back to class, Maya.”

“Not until I make sure you’re okay.”

Brielle stopped and turned to face Maya. She opened her mouth to protest, but Maya gave her a long, hard glare. Brielle wilted under her gaze. Then she placed a hand on Maya’s shoulder.

“I’ll be fine, Maya. I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Alright. Do you think we can beat this, sis?”

“…Yeah. I’m not giving up quietly.”

It was hard to focus in math. Maya felt like more of a freak than ever before. At one point another girl asked to use the restroom and left the room. Maya buried her head in her arms and groaned. The article had been bad enough, but now she was being punished for being trans too?

When math finally ended and Maya made it to the lunchroom, she was met with a pleasant surprise.

“Lily?” she asked, sitting down next to Brielle. “You’re eating lunch with us now?”

“I wanted to be here for you, after what happened yesterday,” Lily said, blushing ever so slightly.

Maya felt a bit of heat rise in her own cheeks, but then Charlie’s warm smile flashed in her mind and she wanted to throw up.

“Thank you,” she said, trying to smile in return.

Amelia added, “Brielle told us what the principal said. I’m so sorry, Maya.”

The table was mostly quiet. Maya tried to focus on her food, but she wasn’t all that hungry. Brielle, next to her, was tense and jumpy. She kept looking around the cafeteria.

“You’re making me nervous, Brielle,” Maya whispered.

“I’m sorry. It’s just… some of these people had to be involved. I feel like I’m surrounded by snakes I can hear but can’t see.”

“Who would do such a thing?” Jason asked. “That’s so cruel. You weren’t hurting anybody.”

“Some people will look for any excuse to be awful,” Eric muttered darkly.

He was sitting beside Brielle, who reached out and placed her hand on his. He took it and squeezed softly. Maya and Lily locked eyes briefly, but Maya looked down at her food.

“Is it true?!” came a familiar voice from behind Maya.

Her heart sank. Maya couldn’t turn around. She couldn’t face Charlie again after the day before. Brielle spun around in her seat. Several other members at the table recognized Charlie and glared at her.

Charlie continued, seemingly oblivious, “People are saying that the two of you have been banned from the women’s restrooms. Is that true? How do you feel about it? Is there anything you’d like the world to know?”

Maya leaned forward and hid behind her arms, shaking.

Beside her, Maya heard Brielle growl, “You’ve got a lot of nerve, showing up here.”

“Oh, you two are magnets for good story fodder. What do you say I set up an interview with the two of you—”

Brielle stood up. Eric stood up too, but to grab her by the arm and stop her from leaping at Charlie. Across the table, Lily also got up from her chair.

“Charlie,” she said, “you hurt Maya real bad. Unless you’re here to apologize, she doesn’t want to see you.”

“That’s for her to decide, isn’t it?” Charlie asked.

“Go away!” Maya cried, beginning to sob. After a moment, she felt Brielle’s hand on her shoulder.

“You heard her,” Brielle snarled.

There was a “hmph” from Charlie, followed by, “Very well, then. I’ll see you later, cute stuff.”

Maya heard Charlie walk away, but still needed a few moments of deep breathing to calm herself down. She was feeling really light-headed all of a sudden. Brielle sat down beside Maya and  wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Unbelievable,” Jason muttered.

“Who does she think she is?” Eric asked.

“You should call the website she published the article to and have them take it down,” Amelia said. “Threaten to sue or something.”

Brielle nodded, admitting, “That seems like the best course of action. I’ll talk to our parents about it.”

“Are you alright, Maya?” Lily asked.

Maya’s head was throbbing lightly. But she nodded and sat up straight, then took a deep breath.

“I need to be tougher than this,” she told her friends. “I can’t break down every time some jerk tries to make life difficult for me.”

“Oh, Maya.” Brielle grabbed her sister in a gentle hug. “I’m sorry. Don’t say that. You shouldn’t have to put up with this at all.”

“Bones heal back stronger,” Maya replied. “That’s what we always used to say, right?”

Brielle rubbed Maya’s back and retorted, “But bad injuries leave nasty scars.”

“Yeah, Maya, it’s not right that you have to put up with this.”

“We hate seeing you hurt.”

“People shouldn’t be allowed to get away with treating you this way.”

Lily added, “You don’t deserve this, Maya.”

“Thank you. All of you,” Maya replied, tears welling up in her eyes. “You don’t know how much this all means to me.”

“We’ll figure this out,” Brielle assured Maya, letting go of her.

“I believe you. But can we just not talk about it for right now?”

There was a murmur of agreement from the table, and Maya relaxed. She picked up her sandwich and continued eating. Only for a moment, though.

“You’re not eating, Maya?”

“I’m not—” She coughed. “—all that hungry.”

She continued coughing. Maya couldn’t stop hacking into her arm. Other tables around them went silent. When Maya was done, she was dizzy.

“Maya!” Brielle cried. “Are you still sick?! Is… is that blood?”

Maya looked down at the arm she’d been coughing into. A few specks of red covered the sleeve of her jacket. Maya’s breath caught in her throat. Her vision started spinning.

“It’s… it’s nothing,” she insisted, wrapping her arms around her torso and curling up. “My throat must just be torn up from coughing too much. Ilham’s going to message me back and tell me it’s nothing, any day now—”

“The witch?” Brielle asked. “Hold on, you’re still talking to her? You told her about this?! Maya, how sick are you?!”

“I’m not—!”

Another coughing fit started, too fast for her to cover her mouth. Maya’s whole body started spasming. She felt someone grab onto her, but her whole world was spinning. Maya struggled to take a breath and felt herself falling. There was a sharp jerking motion and Maya snapped back to reality.

“What happened?” she mumbled.

“What happened?!” Brielle was red in the face. “Maya, you’re not okay! I’m taking you to the doctor. Get up!”

Maya found herself nodding.

“Okay,” she said, “Tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll go to the doctor.”

People kept talking, but Maya decided to rest her head on the table for a bit. After a few minutes, she started to feel better. Her head didn’t hurt as much anymore. She still wasn’t hungry, though. When Maya sat back up, everyone’s eyes were on her. She tried to smile, but nobody was buying it. Her secret was out.

“Can I borrow the phone, Brielle?” she asked.

Brielle handed it over, and Maya quickly signed into her email. She sent an email to Ilham, explaining that she was getting worse and asking, or perhaps outright begging, for confirmation that it was just a normal mundane illness. Then Maya took a deep breath and forced herself to finish eating.