"See! He's sleeping. Let's do it another time."

"It's okay. I don't mind waiting."

"That's not the problem here! Go on! Shoo!"

I was awoken from my sleep by whoever was arguing at the door to my room. I blinked my bleary eyes open once again, looking at the late afternoon sun beam through the curtains.

Oh man... Too much sleep. It's gonna be hard to get to bed tonight.

With that, I literally roll out of bed, trapping myself in my bedsheets. I tried to get free, wiggling and kicking at the sheets to make enough space to get up. I grabbed my loose shirt off the floor and tossed it back on. I noticed too late that it was on inside out, but who cares, I was only going out to the kitchen to put my bowl away. I walked out of my room, catching the last of the conversation Maya was having with someone at the front door.

"Listen, we don't have a club meeting tomorrow. We'll definitely hang out then, okay? My parents are gonna be home any minute now, and I still haven't poked around to see how they feel yet."

I jumped back into the hallway, almost walking straight into the sight of some mystery girl Maya was talking too. I think Maya was trying to convince her to leave? Which is weird. Why would mom and dad have a problem with her bringing a friend over? Tanisha comes over so many times it feels like she lives here. I peeked around the corner at them, while they continued their talk at the front door.

"Okay, okay! I get that your worried," the girl said. "Are you still going to do stick with the plan even though-" She looked over Maya's shoulder suddenly, immediately spotting me standing in the hallway while they have their little talk. I quickly backed around the corner out of sight, my heart beating out of my chest.

"-Actually, I'm gonna  head out now. Text you later?" I could almost hear the smile in her voice as she said that.

"Um, sure? I'll talk to you later?" Maya waved goodbye and shut the door after the girl left. I peeked back around the corner, watching her just... stand there. We both jumped in surprise at the little jingle from her phone. She dug into her pocket, and as soon as she looked at her phone, quickly whipped around and saw me standing in the hall.

Did that girl tell Maya...

"Oh. Hey." Was all she said to me. She plopped down onto the nearest spot on the couch and began tip-tapping away on her phone.

Ooookay.

At least she wasn't trying to talk my ear off like she had been doing recently. I ignored her and walked to the kitchen, dropping my bowl into the sink. With nothing else to do, I eyed the living room, watching as Maya continued texting someone.

I want to play the game now, but I don't feel like answering Maya's annoying questions again.

I was going to go back to my room and ignore her, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had nothing else to do until bedtime anyway. It was a risk I had to take if I wanted to do anything else with my free time today. I hesitated, tip-toeing past Maya on my way to the controller sitting on the floor. But right when I crossed in front of her, she suddenly hopped up from the couch.

"Going shopping with mom and Aunt Gigi." She stated, walking past me on her way back to her room.

"Hmph." I grunted. I knew that already. It's not like I wanted to go anyway. Whatever...

I grabbed a controller and turned on the game, watching Caleb come out of the front door of his house and greet me like he usually did. I wasted a bit of time walking around the island doing menial tasks, when Maya came back from her room and flopped over onto the couch. We sat there in silence, me playing the game, and Maya staring up at the ceiling. She was unnaturally quiet. I could feel that she wanted to say something-

"Had the club meeting today."

Here we go...

"Mmhmm." I grunted again.

"It's called the Gender and Sexuality Studies Club."

The clacking of my controller stopped as I tried to process what I just heard.

"Sounds long. And stupid." I went back to playing the game.

"Yeah, I definitely thought it was a weird club when they told me about it. The names a work-in-progress."

"Mmhmm."

"Anyway! I went with Tanisha and Chu. Ah, you remember Chu, right? I told you about her, but she's never been over to our house."

"Mhmm."

And there was also this other boy who joined too. His name was Gabriel..."

At this point, I started to tune her out to put my full attention back on the game. It seemed that she was excited to join this club. That's great. Good for her. But I didn't really see why she had to talk my ear off about it. It had nothing to do with me-

"-Because of that, Gabriel's a girl now. Oh! And her name is Julia."

...

What.

What Maya had said was so bizarre, that my mind blanked for a moment. I slowly turned around to see her looking at me with a small smirk on her face.

"...What are we talking about?" I asked her.

"Oh my god. Were you even listening to what I was saying?" She giggled.

The way she asked that question made it seem like she was annoyed, but she was... smiling.

"My new friend, Gabriel, was actually a girl. So they are a girl now. And her name is Julia. So call her by her name when you see her, she might be coming over tomorrow." She explained again.

I just stared at her in confusion. Was I hearing this right? I thought this Gabriel was a guy? Why is she calling him a girl now? I don't...

"So, you really weren't listening?," She sighed. "I'll explain again, so pay attention this time."

I shifted slightly on the spot so all of my being was focused on her, clinging onto the next few words that came out of her mouth.

"Gabriel, when we first met, told me that he never felt like he fit in with the other boys. He actually like hanging out with girls instead. He felt like he belonged."

Huh.

I... Could understand that. Malik is my best friend. My only friend actually. But that's because he's so comforting to be around. I don't think I could be friends with other guys. It always felt so... intimidating, when I was in a group of them. Like we were in an unspoken competition with each other at all times.

I nodded for her to continue.

"He also didn't like his clothes. The look, the feel on his body, he hated it. Said that everything that was for boys was 'boring' or whatever. That's why he was so drawn to women's clothes.

That... was very relatable. Uncomfortably so, actually. It sounded like Maya was talking about me. I kept comparing how I felt to this 'Julia' person, and the more I did, the heavier this strange feeling in my chest got. It just sat there, annoying me. Prodding at me...

"That's when he discovered something about himself. He didn't like being a boy. He didn't like other people seeing him as a guy. He hated his body and the way the world treated him because he was a guy.

This all sounded so unreal. How... How did this person I had never met described how I always felt so perfectly. Like they knew me.

"He decided that he didn't want to be a boy anymore. So, he's not. She's a girl now, and her name is Julia. Like I said earlier."

What. That... No. How does that even work?! You can't just say that you don't want to be a boy, and them not be one! It doesn't work like that! It makes no sense!

Maya's explanation had me fuming! My anger was beginning to rise, but it stopped when I tried to figure out why I was suddenly mad. Maya didn't deserve it, and that made me feel bad. I was about to turn around and yell at her for no good reason. Maybe because... Maya had told me about this mystery person, who had wanted to be a girl, and just because he said that he was, that was it. He's a girl now. 

It sounded so fake. It had to be a lie. I peered back at Maya, still lounging on the couch, just staring up at the ceiling like usual. Well, I wasn't going to listen to her lies anymore, Because I know the truth. You...

"You can't just be a girl..." I mumbled.

"Yes, you can." Maya stated bluntly, like it was a fact. With no doubt in her mind. It pissed me off.

"No. You can't."

"Yes. You can."

"That's impossible! You can't just say you are a girl and then be a girl!" I shouted.

Maya sat up on the couch and flicked through her phone. She shoved it right in front of my face.

"This is Julia. It took a lot of work and practice, but you'd agree that she's a girl, right?"

The girl that was in our house earlier?! 

I stared at the picture for a long time. Studying it. Trying to find something within it that would tell me the truth. That this wasn't real. That you couldn't...

"That's not possible..." I whispered.

"And who told you that?" Maya asked, sliding back onto the couch.

Tears welled up at the edge of my eyes as I held my head down so Maya wouldn't see me. I remembered the face of my dad, yelling at me, telling me it wasn't possible. My mom, asking me to just... forget it. Like it never was a question in my mind.

"Dad..." I told her. "And mom. Th-they told me... They said that-" I squeezed my mouth shut.

Sh...

Maya whispered something under her breath that I couldn't quite catch. She was deep in thought when I peeked at her from over my shoulder, her chin resting in her hand. 

"Y'know..." She started. "Mom and dad can be wrong sometimes."

I was in the middle of wiping my face when Maya spoke up.

They... Can be wrong? But-

"Like, remember when dad got a computer virus on my old laptop? I tried to tell him that the job website he was on wasn't safe, but he went on it anyway. Or when mom thought she knew where Malik had moved to his new apartment? We drove around in circles for half an hour until she finally listened to my directions."

Yeah. Yeah, I did remember that. Mom was soooo embarrassed that she didn't even bother to get out of the car when she dropped me off. And dad immediately bought Maya a new laptop when her old one got corrupted.

"They... Can be wrong sometimes..."

"Yup!" Maya rolled over onto her stomach and hoisted herself up on her elbows. "And Julia's living proof of that. It's what our club is all about. Y'know, challenging what you know about gender and stuff.

I waited for Maya to continue, but she stopped talking after that. I looked up to see her tapping away at her phone again. Why did she stop? I... I wanted to know more now. More about Julia. How she came to the conclusion that she was a girl. And this weird club that Maya decided to randomly join. I went to ask her a question-

BEEEEEEP!

A car blaring it's horn quickly rolled up our driveway.

"Ah! It's Mom and Aunt Gigi," Maya said, bouncing up from her spot on the couch. "Gotta go. Bye!" Before I could say anything, she had thrown the front door open and sprinted to Mom's van. I watched as she climbed through the door on the driver side, stopping as she greeted Miss Denise in the seat next to her. Mom turned around to talk to Maya for some reason. They talked for a bit, then everyone in the car turned and smiled at me, waving 'goodbye' as they backed out of the driveway.

I stood in the doorway, silently waving back to them as the van disappeared around the corner. I did annoy me a little that I wasn't allowed to go. Not allowed to have fun the way only Maya could. But I was more anxious than anything now. Because Julia was coming over tomorrow.