Unknown: STOP WHAT YOURE DOING

 

In the middle of my conversation with JJ, I had received a strange text message from, uh...

Who...?

 

<Unknown>

Maya: wrong number?

Unknown: what

Unknown: no this is amber

Unknown: roberts sister

Unknown: this is maya correct

Maya: yeah?

Unknown: your friends told me what you are doing

Unknown: im trying to stop you before you make a big mistake

 

A big mistake?

Still worried about JJ's outburst, I turned back to see him bent over and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. I could feel him trying to work off the stress. But what was he stressed about? Were my questions really that annoying? I felt the guilt building in my stomach as I quickly brought my phone up while trying to keep an eye on him.

Too late...

 

<Unknown>

Maya: i think i already messed up

Unknown: geez

Unknown: please call me when you get the chance

 

Amber's words made me nervous. Did I really do something to cause JJ to have this sort of reaction? Worried, I stood up from the couch and sat down next to JJ, somehow not catching his attention. When I gently placed a hand on his shoulder, he jerked up, finally aware of me.

"Hey, kid... those questions were really annoying, huh? Sorry about that." I said in the most calming voice I muster. I pat him on the back as I apologized to him. "You can ignore all of that, okay? That was my mistake." JJ blinked in confusion as my phone rang out once again.

 

<Nisha>

Nisha: hey. call me when you can okay??

Nisha: got a little problem over here

 

What now?

I turned and smiled back to JJ. "Sorry again! You can go back to your game now." I said to JJ as I gave him one last gentle pat on the back. AS I stood up and walked down the hallway to my room, I called Tanisha to see what was going on at her end.

"Uhh, hey..." She answered nervously. I could hear Leon arguing loudly with who I assumed to be Amber in the background.

"Hey. How are things over there?"

"Hold on." The conversation going on at her end of the call slowly died down until I heard the sound of a door clicking shut.

"Haah..." Tanisha sighed.

"You okay...?" I asked. I've never heard Tanisha sound so stressed out before.

"Hunh? Oh, yeah. I'm good. It's everyone else that I'm worried about." She said.

"Sooo, what happened?"

"Man, I don't know. After you sent that text, we told Mr. Robert and his sister about how were planning on talking to JJ about possibly being trans. Then his sister suddenly flew off the handle and told us to stop you from trying to tell him." I looked back through the messages I had sent a few minutes ago.

 

The group chat <Girlfriends> has been renamed to <Best Friends!>.

<Best Friends!>

Mymy: hey guys

Mymy: bout 2 have the talk with JJ

Mymy: wish me luck!

Nisha: good luck grl!  >o< b

Leon: Let us know how it goes

Leon: were rooting for you

Julia: be gentle okay?

Mymy:  -_- b

 

"Wait. Why would she try to stop me?" I asked while looking over our messages. "I thought it was a good thing that her knows about this stuff?"

"Haah... I don't know! She said something about 'not smashing eggs' or something, and then Leon started arguing with her," Tanisha said. "Mr. Robert and Julia are trying to mediate the situation now."

"How are they doing now?"

"Oh, one sec..." I think Tanisha pulled the phone away from her ear as the clicking of the door opening again sounded out over the phone. "We good now?" She said into the room. I heard a couple of incoherent mumbles from over the phone.

"Yup! I think we're good!" Tanisha cheered.

I laid down on my bed and asked a simple question.

"Okay... now, do you guys want to explain to me what I did wrong this time?"

 

---

 

"Mooooom, I don't want to go to school today. My stomach hurts..."

"Haah..." Mom sighed. She had been trying to get JJ to get out of bed and get ready for school for at least half an hour and he wasn't budging. I had been overhearing their conversation through a crack in the door while I was getting ready for school myself. It sounded like he really didn't want to go to school today and I knew it was my fault.

"...Fine," Mom relented. "Get some rest. But no video games or tv! Alright?" I peeked through the crack in the door, catching JJ nodding his understanding to mom from under the covers. I jumped back from the door as mom turned to leave.

"Alright, well... I'll be right back with some stomach medicine. I have to go to work, but I'll have you aunt Giannine drop by and check on you in a little bit, okay?"

"...Yeah," JJ mumbled, his voice muffled from being under the covers. "Thanks, mom."

"Get some sleep you little knucklehead~," Mom chuckled as she closed his door. She turned to me as I stepped past JJ's room.

"Something wrong with JJ?" I asked her.

"Hmmm..." She hummed, tilting her head to the side in thought. "He says his stomach hurts, but I'm pretty sure he's faking it... I took his temperature just in case I was wrong, but I decided to let him have this one."

"Oh, okay. Can I see him before I go to school?"

"Hm? Sure. Just don't stay in there too long, in case he's actually sick, okay?" Mom told me.

I set my backpack down in the hallway and knocked on his door. JJ responded with a barely audible 'yes?', so I cracked the door a smidge and peaked inside.

"Hey..." I called out to him. JJ peered over the edge of his covers at me with a questioning look. He didn't say anything, so I walked in and sat down on the corner of his bed. JJ laid his head back down onto his pillow.

"What do you want." He asked, clearly annoyed.

"I need an excuse to check up on my little sibling when they're feeling down?"

Even though JJ was fully submerged underneath his covers, I could tell that my words had caused him to flinch for a moment. He flipped his bedsheet over, shooting me a glare.

"You've been acting weird lately..." He grumbled.

"Ah, hmm... you think so?" I tried to smile through the accusation. JJ peered at me; his suspicion high.

I don't think i'm being very convincing...

My phone vibrated in my hand; the screen lighting up with a message.

 

<Jules>

Jules: hey

Jules: can we meet up?

Jules: want 2 surprise u with sumthin  ^.^

Mymy: ye

Mymy: ill leave now then

Jules: see u soon

Mymy:  -_- b

 

"Well, I was just seeing if you're gonna be okay. You sounded pretty upset after our conversation yesterday. Didn't mean to tick you off if I hurt you in some way. And if something is bothering you, you can always talk to me!" I jabbed a thumb to my chest and smiled as brightly as I could.

JJ's eyes went wide. He looked lost in thought for a moment as he watched me. He opened his mouth, clearly wanting to say something to me. I could feel it. and then...

He closed his mouth and looked away.

"Hmph." He breathed out. And flipped the sheet over his head and buried himself deeper in his covers.

"Uh, okay?" I think that was all I was going to get out of him. But that was okay. I stood up to leave JJ alone in his room. But I remembered just before I left- 

Ah, just to let you know, I got my first club meeting today, so I won't see you until later on in the evening." He laid completely still under the covers, not responding, so I gently closed the door behind me as I left. I looked at my phone to check the time.

The bus will be here in five minutes.

I snatched up my backpack off of the floor next to JJ's bedroom door and headed for the bus.

"I'm heading out!" I called out to my parents.

"Have a good day at school!" Dad yelled from the kitchen. Mom came out of the bathroom with some medicine in one hand, waving me goodbye with her free hand as she went back to JJ's room.

I made my way down the sidewalk, walking quickly so I could meet up with Julia. As I got closer to the corner where everyone was waiting for the bus, Michael caught a glimpse of me as I walked up to the crowd. His goons turned around when they saw the face he was making in my direction.

"Maya..." Michael craned his neck as he greeted me with a smirk. I swiftly ignored him, walking straight over to Omar.

"Hey Omar! What's up?" I gave him a playful punch to the arm as I blatantly ignored the other two. Omar looked around, confused and embarrassed as he stumbled over his words. "Uh, M-Maya! Hey?" He looked away when Darius glared in his direction.

"Yo!? I was talking to you! Damn!" Michael yelled, clearly bothered that chose to pay him no mind.

"I dunno, maybe I'll feel like talking to you when you stop being a dick head to my friends." I retorted. I turned away from his group, looking to see it I could spot Julia nearby. I shot her a quick message when I didn't see her among the crowd.

 

<Jules>

Mymy: im here

Jules: hey

Jules: im at the corner

Jules: by the blue house

 

I looked up, past Michael, who was trying to get my attention, to the small. abandoned blue house sitting at the other corner of the street. Julia was nowhere in sight, even when I waited a couple of seconds for her to appear.

 

<Jules>

Mymy: k?

Mymy: dont see u

Jules: can u come over?

Mymy: sure ?.?

 

"Excuse me," I said as I pushed past Michael again and around the line forming to get ready for the bus to arrive. I still didn't see her when I got to the front of the house. I took out my phone again to ask where she was specifically, when I heard a little 'hey' from the other side of the house. I looked up to see Julia stepping from the shadows. Surprised, my eyes slowly scanned her from head to toe as she approached me.

It seems Julia had gotten a fresh, new hair cut, styled into a wavy bob that ended just under the edges of her face. But that wasn't all. She was also wearing a dress with a black belt around the waist and a pleated skirt that stopped just above the knee. Over the dress, she wore a thin, white cropped cardigan. And on her feet were a pair of white pumps.

We stared at each other as the sound of the bus rolling down the street filled our ears.

"Well... what do you think?" Julia said, raising her arms out to the side. Her question unphased me, and the first thing I did was tilt my head to the side. I was shocked and confused at first, but when I seriously took another look at her...

"Damn, girl... You look great!" I exclaimed.

I don't think Julia expected that response, because she looked like she blanked out as well. She lowered her head after she came too though. I think she was smiling?

"Thanks." She mumbled.

"But, why now?" I asked. Julia deflated, slightly lowering her arms when she heard my question.

"Why... What?"

"I dunno... I mean, this is all happening very, very fast. I thought you would take some time to figure things out after you came out, then slowly build up to-" I motioned to, what I believe to be, the brand-new outfit on Julia, "All of this, y'know?"

Julia went stone faced as she lowered her arms all the way down to her sides. "You know, my dad said the same thing..." She released a deep sigh as she looked to the ground beside her.

"I've always wanted this... I've wanted this for so, so long." She lifted her head to stare directly into my eyes as the sound of our bus pulls up to the corner. "And I'm not going to wait any longer. There's so much shit I missed out on in life. And I refuse to miss anything else if I can help it. I want to go to school as the real me from now on."

Julia clearly had a lot of time to think about this.

Of course she had a lot of time to think about it! Duh!

"Okay," I said simply. "But what about them." I looked over my shoulder at Michael and Darrius horsing around at the back of the line while Omar nervously watched them a few steps back. "It's how everyone else will treat you is what I'm worried about. We don't want to see you get hurt.

Julia nodded. "And I thank you for thinking about me. But there is another reason. I want to be an example for anyone else who feels the same as Leon and I. I want to let them know th-"

HOOOOONK!

"C'MON!" Ms. Tammy shouted. Most of the people in line were on the bus, except for Michael and his cronies. All I could tell from what I saw, was that Darrius lay on the ground flat on his back, wanting nothing to do with their roughhousing.

"Boys..." I muttered as I turned back to Julia. She didn't look as confident as she did a moment ago.

"You ready?" I asked. She stood still, frozen like a deer in headlights as she watched Michael standing triumphantly over Darrius' body. So I tapped her on the shoulder. "Julia?"

"Hmm?!" It looked like she jumped a foot in the air.

"Are you ready?"

She didn't respond, continuing to watch the boys as Michael finally pulled Darrius to his feet, only to suddenly put him in a headlock.

I think she needs some help.

"Hand, please." I said, holding my palm out towards Julia.

She looked curiously at it, then slowly placed her hand in mine.

"Cool."

I set off at a brisk pace, pulling Julia behind me towards the bus. Omar was the first to notice us, watching in confusion as we stopped right in front of him.

"Hey Omar." I gestured to the girl I had dragged beside me. "I know that you guys have met before, but this is my friend Julia. She's a girl, just to let you know."

He stared at Julia, hard. His eyes looked like they would burst out of his skull at any moment. I turned to Julia, slapping her on the arm. "Introduce yourself!"

Julia shot me an annoyed scowl; I returned a cheesy grin in response. She then cleared her throat and proffered a hand to Omar.

"Hey, I'm Julia. My pronouns are She/Her, please use them when you refer to me from now on." I was shocked alongside Omar now. Julia's voice... It was different to how she had been speaking up to now!

"AYO! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" Someone yelled from the bus. Michael, with Darrius still clenched in a headlock, looked towards the shouting from the bus. His eyes wandered to where everyone else was pointing and taking pictures with their phone. They landed on Julia as he finally released Darrius from the grip he had on his head.

"Ain't no way. Ain't no fuckin' way! Gabriel!?"

"Dude! What the fuck happened?! You lose a bet?!"

Both Michael and Darrius ran up to gawk at Julia. I stepped up and stood in-between them before they got any closer and cut them off before they could say anything.

"Stop." I held out a hand to get their attention, before looking to Julia for confirmation. "Do you want to or should I?" I whispered.

"Nah... I got this."

"Cool." I smiled as I stepped to the side to allow Julia to address the impatient doofuses herself.

"Hey. My name is Julia. I go by She/Her now. I know you knew me as a different name before, but this is who I truly am. Nice to meet you." Julia held out her hand to Michael, awaiting a response.

"You're fuckin' with me... Gabriel, who did this to you, man? Cuz it's funny as fuck!"

I frowned at them as Michael and Darrius doubled over in laughter. I peeked over my shoulder back to Omar, who continued to stand there, slack-jawed.

Julia took a deep breath, clearing her throat to get their attention again. "I'm serious. My name is Julia, and I'm a transgender woman."

"You're a what?! No, seriously." Darrius laughed. "Who got you dressing in drag? Is this a wig?" He made to reach for the ends of Julia's hair-

HOOOOOONK!

"WE HAVE PLACES TO BE!" Ms. Tammy yelled. She looked exasperated as she looked at the five of us; the only ones not on the bus. Darrius snapped his had back to his side and quickly jumped up the stairs to the bus, before looking back to the rest of us still outside. Michael stared at Julia a while longer, then tilted his head looking past her at the guy still standing behind us.

"Omar. Let's go." He ordered. Omar suddenly jolted awake at Michael's command, scuttling around us. But before he got on the bus, he turned around to face Julia.

"Hi..." He stood there for a short, awkward moment. Julia didn't even get the chance to say anything as he whipped around and followed Michael onto the bus.

"That  could've gone better... But this is just the beginning!" I tried to stay positive as the other people on the bus still had their phones trained on us.

"By the way... Your voice. How did you do that?"

"A whole lotta practice..." Julia sighed. She was understandably nervous after that little exchange. So I took her hand in mine and pulled her towards the door. Ms. Tammy gave me an incredulous look as I passed by her.

"I'll explain later..." I whispered in her ear.

We stood at the front of the bus now, facing off against the barrage of stares and phones pointed in our direction. Even I was beginning to feel discouraged, until Julia stepped forward with her head held high. I smiled, letting go of her hand as we made our way down the aisle, people on both sides of us recording videos and taking pictures of us.

As we got to my usual spot, me moving aside so Julia could have the window seat again, a girl that was sitting in front of us turned around in her own seat to face us. She stared at Julia for an uncomfortably long time. Just as I was about to tell her off-

"Who does your hair?" The girl asked.

What.

Both Julia and I were shocked with how forward the girl was being, with Julia recovering first.

"Ah, Ms. Monique's place. On 43rd street."

"Thought so," the girl replied. "She's pretty good. Me and my mom go there all the time. I think I saw you there yesterday?"

Julia scrunched her eyebrows, searching her memories of the hair salon visit. She seemed to have come to a realization; her eyes lighting up.

"That was you? The girl next to the lady talking with Ms. Monique?"

"Yeah. That was my mom. We always end up spending an extra hour at her place just talking. I'm Kimberly, by the way. Call me Kim."

I smiled. It seemed that Julia was making a new friend. I went back to scanning the rest of the bus while they chatted. It began to fill up at each stop; new people getting on and being blown away by Julia's new look. I glared at anyone who looked like they would give us any problems.

When we finally got to school, we stayed in out seat until everyone else was gone, like we did yesterday. When it was just the two of us, Ms. Tammy stood from her seat, arms crossed, and waited for an explanation.

"Well?" I gently prodded Julia with an elbow.

"Right..." She whispered to herself.

She cleared her throat, then reached into her backpack for...

OH! The pamphlet!

"My name is Julia. And I'm a transgender woman."

 

---

 

"Oh. Hey!"

Tanisha greeted us at our usual meeting spot. She looked Julia up and down, before sending a smile her way.

"Lookin' good! When you told us you were making changes tomorrow, I thought it would be small things, but I'm not complaining."

I looked around for Leon. When we meet up like this, he always showed up a few minutes late. When Julia noticed me looking around and who was missing from our current group, she put two and two together.

"If you're looking for Leon, he should be getting changed right about now." She whispered.

Oh, right...

That does make sense. I've never seen him wearing those clothes that he had in his bag yesterday. And he usually showed up a little later than the rest of us when we met up in the morning.

"Speak of the devil..."

Tanisha pointed down the hallway. Leon had just walked out of the nearest girl's bathroom, wearing a pair of baggy, black cargo pants that almost overflowed onto the floor. He also had a thin, long-sleeve shirt that matched the color of his white sneakers. I went to raise a hand and call out to him, when I suddenly blanked.

Wait. Not Leon in public. But...

A hand rested on my shoulder.

"It's Chyou right now. Don't forget." Julia whispered again.

Right.

I smiled as Leon stepped up to his locker next to me, waving silently to the rest of us. He quickly twisted the password into the padlock keeping the door locked and when it opened, swapped a few textbooks from his bag to the locker. A familiar plastic bag rustled in his backpack.

"Hey, wouldn't it be better to keep that in your locker?" I asked him.

"I like to have it on hand, incase my parents stop by the school for some reason and I need to change." He said.

"Ah. Makes sense." I've personally never seen them, but I imagine it would be pretty nerve wracking to suddenly be called down to the office by your parents.

"We ready to roll? 'Cause the hall is starting to get crowded."

Tanisha was right. A small group of students had slowed down around us, staring quizzically at Julia like she was some newly discovered phenomena. They watched from afar but didn't approach us, mumbling to themselves out loud.

"Yeah. I think we should stick together whenever we can. Then we can all meet up and walk Julia to her next class. That sound like a plan?"

Everyone seemed to agree, so Tanisha took point, pushing her way through the crowd, as Leon and I walked on either side of Julia as we made our way to her first class of the day. We attracted all sorts of looks from people we passed by. But the ones I was most worried about were the looks some of the teachers and staff were giving. Julia and Leon had a class together, so we dropped them off first.

Tanisha turned aroud as we approached the classroom, waving her phone in the air. "Shoot us a message if something happens and we'll come running over, okay?"

Got it. We'll keep you guys updated." With that, Julia walked in to Mr. Boswick's biology class, alone.

Hm?

Leon stayed behind for some reason, watching as Julia introduced herself to a bewildered Mr. Boswick.

"Uh, Chyou? You alright?" I asked.

I was expecting some sort of upset expression on his face, but when he turned to answer my question, all I saw was indifference.

"I'm good," he said simply as he turned to me.

"Uh huh." Tanisha seemed unconvinced. "Well, get on in there. And let us know how it goes, alright?"

Leon peered back into the room, where Julia was now having an energetic conversation with the girl we met on the bus.

"Yeah... I'll stick with the plan." Leon finally walked into the classroom, greeting a still baffled teacher, before taking a seat next to Julia.

"Alright, Tanisha said. "First class of the day! Let's go."

 

---

 

The rest of the day was like a blur to me. I was too busy worrying about how Julia would be accepted by the people in our school to pay attention to anything in class. Whenever it was possible, we sat close together in class and sent texts to each other in the chat, letting everyone know what we were up to.  Everywhere we went, people gawked at Julia, but she didn't let that deter her plan. She would boldly walk up to groups of students that seemed even a little bit intrigued and introduced herself while handing out GSA pamphlets.

When it was nearing the end of the day, Julia had sent a message to the group chat.

 

<Best Friends!>

Jules: hey guys

Jules: im gonna set up outside mr roberts room

Jules: meet u there

Nisha: gotcha!

Leon: see you there

Mymy: set up  ?.?

Jules: for the club room

Jules: Youll see when u get here

 

When class finally let out for the day, I walked straight to Mr. Roberts class. I met up with Tanisha at the intersection in the hallway, where a small crowd had gathered around the entrance to his room. Tanisha pushed her way through to the front, me following close behind her, where we saw Julia. She was talking with someone at a folding table, where a large, colorful cloth was draped across it. On top of the table were a large stack of the GSA pamphlets.

"So, you're like a drag queen or somethin'?" The girl said; her friends giggling behind her. I scowled at that. But before I could do something, Tanisha stepped up to her first.

"She's not a drag queen. Maybe you should listen when she just told you who she is the first time."

"Relax, bitch. I was joking."

The girl flipped Tanisha off, balling up the pamphlet and dropping it on the floor. She turned around and left with her group.

"Hey, I'm gonna stay out here with Julia until we officially start the club activities. You can head on inside first."

I took a quick look around; most of the crowd had begun to disperse due to the disturbance cause by the girl and her group.

Oh?

Omar was standing far off to the side, one of the few people still left standing around. Julia stood up, welcoming him with a smile and holding a pamphlet out for him to take. He hesitated at first, but made to take a few steps towards her.

OMAR!

He jumped. Michael had called out to him from down the hall, with Darrius following close behind as usual.

"LET"S GO!" He yelled.

Omar looked between Julia and Michael, before lumbering off down the hall, shoulders slumped.

Julia sighed. "that's unfortunate..."

"I wouldn't worry about it. We can give him one tomorrow." I said, giving Julia a quick thumbs up before I let myself into the room. Mr. Robert was on his cell phone and rapidly flipping through a couple of papers. There was a woman leaning against the side of his desk smiling, obviously talking joy in the pain he was going through.

'One moment', he mouthed, frantically gathering the papers up. He started speed walking to the door with the papers held to his chest while he continued to talk on the phone. Before he left, he jabbed a finger at the woman, ordering her to 'take over'. With a smug smirk, she waved him away. Mr. Robert rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him. Just from that interaction alone, anyone could tell...

Siblings...

"Hey, I'm Amber. She/Her. Can I get your pronouns before we continue?."

Right.

"I'm Maya. She/Her. We spoke over the phone yesterday?"

Amber nodded. "Yeah. We did. Now tell me, how's your brother doing?"