BethOfTheWild

CW: Transphobia/gatekeeping

“Hey, Jaden, I know we haven’t really talked since high school, but I remember you being pretty cool and also I guess we’re both trans? Anyway I’m guessing you’re still in the area based on your Facebook soo… would you want to, like, hang out at some point?”

Alyssa turned to Andrew, who was (literally!) hovering over her. “How’s that look?”

Andrew frowned. “Could you perhaps make it a bit more formal? I would suggest the following: ‘Hello, Jaden. I know we have not spoken in quite a while, but I remember having an overall positive opinion of you. Based on the evidence, it appears you are transgender as well. If logistics permit, would you be interested in getting lunch at some date in the near future?’”

“Boo. No. Dude, it’s not responding to a job offer. I’m sending mine.”

As Alyssa hit the enter key, Andrew surged forward at the keyboard, momentarily forgetting that he could no longer interact with physical objects. Instead, he passed through Alyssa and into her desk..

For an instant, as the two intersected, Alyssa found herself suddenly flooded with a feeling of numbness. As Andrew emerged through her front, the feeling subsided, but she was left with a lingering chill and sudden flashbacks to memories from high school.

“Dude! Not cool!”

“I felt something for a moment,” Andrew said, astonished. “Perhaps… I have the power to possess you?”

“Well, you better not,” Alyssa said. 

A moment later, a ding rang out from her computer. “Oh, hey! Jaden responded. Looks like they can do Saturday afternoon. I, uh, assume that works for you?”

“My schedule is wide open,” Andrew said.

“Awesome! Let me just figure out the details…”

***

They met at a local coffee shop/bakery. Nothing there was especially good, but it was cheap and the ambiance was decent. 

“Alyssa!” Jaden said as they spotted her from across the cafe’s backyard/garden area. They rushed over as fast as they could without spilling their chai latte, and the two sat down at a nearby open table.

Jaden set their drink down and leaned forward. “So, how’s life?”

“Eh, you know. It’s fine. I’m not, like, a Fortune 500 CEO but I’m definitely having a better time in general than I did in high school.”

Jaden laughed. “Tell me about it! God, I’ll never understand people who say high school was the best days of their life. I could not WAIT to be out of there.”

“What about you?” Alyssa asked.

“Oh, I’m working on logistics for this non-profit that helps LGBTQ youths! Everyone there is pretty chill. Besides that, I guess I’ve been writing some music?”

Alyssa looked them up and down. Button up shirt… gauges in their ears… “Do you play acoustic guitar?”

“Wow, do you remember that from high school?” 

Alyssa looked down at the menu. “Something like that. Uh, anything you’d recommend here?”

“The chai’s pretty good? And you can’t go wrong with a danish.”

“Hmm.” Alyssa took a short break to glance up from the menu and toward her ghostly self. He shook his head, frowning.

Well, looks this isn’t gonna work out for Andrew. I guess I might as well just try and have fun, then.

***

Several hours later, Andrew was growing increasingly frustrated. What did Alyssa think she was playing at? This person clearly didn’t have a ghost, so they should move on to the next one. Instead, she was yammering away utterly unproductively.

If he had a physical form, he would have nudged her. Instead, he briefly considered flying through her again, but decided it would be too much of a trespass. He resigned himself to simply twiddling his thumbs.

“Oh, I gotta get going! I have pottery class soon,” Jaden said, thankfully breaking up the encounter. Andrew breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief.

“What a waste of time,” he said as Alyssa got into her car.

“What? Rude. Hanging out with cool people isn’t a waste of time.”

“Well, it failed to accomplish anything measurable,” Andrew said.

“Yikes, I’m really realizing why I didn’t have friends in high school,” Alyssa said. Andrew decided to give her the silent treatment.

As she pulled into the garage, Alyssa wondered aloud, “I wonder why they didn’t have a ghost? They definitely transitioned. Like, basically unrecognizable from high school. Is it just me? Or is something different somehow?”

Andrew almost let his vow of silence slip. “I–”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that. When you say nothing, it’s never actually nothing. It means you’re mad about something. I should know cuz I do the same thing.”

Andrew exhaled. “Fine. I have a plausible hypothesis as to the pertinent difference between Jaden and yourself.”

“Yeah?”

“I believe they may not, in fact, be transgender.”

“What? Okay. Fuck off. That’s some gatekeeping bullshit.”

“Would it not explain the facts?” Andrew said. “Our society places a lot of pressure on young women, and it’s only natural to want to escape that. You can’t deny that when we were younger, there weren’t all these nonbinary people around.”

“Okay. I’m not talking to you until you take that back. You sound like a fucking TERF.”

“Fine. I’m not speaking to you,” Andrew said. They spent the rest of the afternoon in silence.