Most people in class hadn’t known her well enough to make the connection themselves, but there were enough people able to put two and two together that before long the whole class had figured it out. It was the same girl who’d talked to him on Tuesday that was sent to confirm the situation, and she almost felt bad for the girl. Clearly she wasn’t exactly high on the social totem pole if she was being used in such a way on a regular basis.

 

“So… Like… You’re Jay?” She clearly didn’t want to be asking the question, and was just as clearly not confident in the answer. Brooke understood, she hardly looked like her old self at all.

 

“Nope. Name’s Brooke. I’m trans, been on HRT for a while now and it finally just got a bit too hard to be worth hiding it.” The lie flowed smoothly, her building confidence blazing through her own fears of messing it up in a way that only further bolstered it.

 

“O-oh… uh… Wow… HRT can really, like… do all that?” The girl was obviously looking her over, and with her reinforced confidence she was able to identify a fact she would have previously ignored as an impossibility. The girl wasn’t just looking her over. She was checking her out. This girl was taking her all in, and was definitely liking what she saw.

 

Brooke leaned forward, her smile growing mischievous as she rested her chin on her hand and her elbow on her desk. She looked up at the other girl with half lidded eyes as she spoke in a sultry tone she hadn’t even been fully aware she was capable of. “Oh yes, all this and more. If you’re free after school today, I’d be happy to educate you on all the wonderful benefits I’ve experienced.”

 

Seeing the girl blush, and struggle to fight back a smile made it all worth it. A moment later and with a mumbled excuse behind her the girl was gone. The class erupted into minutes of chatter before class finally started, and she enjoyed every moment of it. As much as a part of her feared it, there was just something thrilling about being the centre of attention.

 

Class itself was uneventful, save for the frequent glances from her classmates as she worked. Some were simply curious, while others were obviously checking her out, but she never managed to catch anyone showing any kind of hostility. It was surprisingly a much nicer experience than she’d been fearing. 

 

As she made her way out of the class she was drawn from her contemplation by a smirking Sarah standing with her hand on her hip. “So I guess there goes subtle then.” Her tone was playful, and Brooke had to stifle a snort in response.

 

Instead she responded with a shrug. “I’ll be honest, it just kind of slipped out… But also? I’ve been doing subtle for years now and hating every moment of it. It feels good to be able to stand out for once.”

 

Sarah’s smirk softened slightly as she patted Brooke on the shoulder. “You know what? Go for it. If it causes problems I’ve got your back.”

 

Their conversation was cut short by the thinning crowd of students serving to remind them they had a class to get to, and so the two parted ways. Brooke was sure the conversation had drawn plenty of attention just by virtue of Sarah’s popularity, but she realised she hadn’t been particularly aware of it at the time. She had just been able to focus on the brief exchange rather than worrying about what others would think. It was honestly such a small thing to be proud of, but she was, and she intended to hold on to that.

 

Her next class was a little less dramatic. She’d walked in, gone to speak to the teacher, and been told “Ah, you must be Ms. Bernard. Very well, you may take your seat.” and that was that. A couple of students shared her first period and had clearly been sharing the information around a bit, but once again class passed by without incident.

 

Third period was her first shared class with a member of the club she’d spoken to the day before. A boy in jeans and a T-shirt who’s name she’d forgotten almost as soon as he’d said it. He greeted her as she came in and asked how she was doing, keeping everything vague without seeming suspicious. It was honestly a nice gesture. Unfortunately she still needed to check in with the teacher and he was kind of getting in the way.

 

With a quick apology she disengaged from him and made her way over to the older woman who seemed to have started teaching English with the express intention of destroying all love of literature. As she caught the woman’s eye Brooke couldn’t be sure if the scowl was because of her specifically, or just because a student apparently wanted to talk to her.

 

“Ms. Bernard I presume?” Her voice croaked out with clear disdain, like each syllable was physically painful for her. That did seem to indicate this wasn’t just a general level disgust with all students, but she still wasn’t totally convinced. 

 

She gave a quick nod, which earned a snort from the older woman. “Fine. Whatever. I got the memo. Go to your seat and don’t make trouble.”

 

Another nod and she made her way to her seat, going over the interaction in her head along the way. It still wasn’t entirely clear how much of her displeasure was specific to the situation. Honestly, she’d seen her English teacher hand out much less pleasant conversations several times over the multiple classes with the older woman, so that was probably not too bad?

 

Her fourth period teacher didn’t even seem to fully acknowledge the situation, and she somewhat feared he’d end up passing out right there in his chair. Sadly for the mild comedic value it would have had, he’d managed to make it through class without falling asleep.

 

As she made her way towards the cafeteria she found herself absolutely baffled by the sheer lack of response. Sure, kids were obviously talking about it, and she was getting looks, but it was more on the level of hearing someone had tripped and fallen by the front gate than a major life changing decision that was a major source of political conflict. They were a church town! Why were there so few people freaking out?!

 

Admittedly, it wasn’t like it was a particularly religious school. They taught evolution and sex ed and everything, but… She realised she’d never really interacted with other students enough to actually get a feel for the type of school she attended. As it had turned out, her school was mostly filled with people who didn’t care enough to make a fuss and would rather just focus on their own stuff. Which… made sense, she supposed.

 

She got a bit of attention when she entered the cafeteria, but besides a few guys checking her out it faded quickly. Her good mood was somewhat spoiled by the realisation that lunch was apparently meatloaf, and further worsened by the realisation she’d have to eat it with her dumb human teeth. She was almost prepared to write off lunch entirely when she caught sight of Sarah waving her over.

 

She was sitting with four other girls, three across and one beside, so Brooke found herself sitting beside Sarah rather than across from her as she would have preferred. They all seemed friendly enough, but the three sets of eyes all focused on her still managed to trigger a familiar anxiety. She felt like she was being scrutinized, that they'd pry out her deepest, darkest secrets with their eyes alone.

 

The process only lasted a second or two before Sarah spoke up, and Brooke did her best to quash the irrational reaction. “So! This is Brooke! She’s staying with me and my mom for a bit so I figure we should hang out! Brooke, these are my friends from the soccer team.” She spoke with her usual level of cool enthusiasm that somehow straddled the line between energetic and aloof, and Brooke found herself wishing she’d leaned a bit harder on the aloof side.

 

“Oh! You’re the trans girl people have been talking about!” The heavily tanned blonde chirped, almost bouncing out of her seat. “Oh wow you really are a cutie aren’t you? Welcome to being a girl, I promise it’s great!” She spoke with such enthusiasm Brooke was matching her high five before she even realised it had been offered.

 

The girl on the other side of Brooke spoke up next. “So, what kinda stuff do you like to get up to? If you’re gonna hang out with Sarah I hope you’ve got some muscle under that dress or she’s going to run you absolutely ragged.”

 

Brooke blushed a bit at the question. She… hadn’t really had hobbies. “I mostly played games with friends and read a lot, but I think I’m probably going to try and socialise more now that I finally feel like myself?”

 

That earned some approving nods, which were interrupted by a conspiratorial whisper from Sarah. “From what my mom tells me she’s actually pretty fit under that dress.”

 

Brooke’s eyes boggled at the comment. She’d only gotten her new muscles that morning! How could Sarah already know about them?!

 

“Oh yeah?” Came the curious question from one of the other girls on the other side of the table. If she had to describe the feeling of the shorter girl’s gaze at that moment the only word that would occur to her was ‘hungry’ and apparently she’d decided Brooke was a snack.

 

“Oh yeah, my mom let her mess around with some of my old gear in the backyard. She was apparently running around out there for nearly an hour! Came in looking like she’d gotten into a fight with the lawn if my mom’s to be believed!” That got the group giggling before the last of the girls spoke up.

 

If not for the presence of Brooke and Sarah she’d have easily been the tallest at the table, but what stood out was the striking eye makeup on her dark skin. A part of her lamented she couldn’t copy the style, but wondered if inverting the colours would make it work? “So, you gonna come give the soccer club a try? If you’ve got that kind of stamina I’m sure the coach would be happy to replace Mary.” 

 

The other girls all groaned at the mention, and the girl with the striking eyes offered an explanation. “Mary is a pretty good player, but she has absolutely no stamina. She’ll barely get halfway through practice before she starts complaining.” 

 

Brooke nodded at that; she could see how that would quickly annoy her teammates. “As much as I think I’d enjoy running around and playing, I’m not really much for competitive stuff. I feel bad for the other team when I win, and feel bad for myself when I lose, so there just isn’t really a result where I end up happy.”

 

The tanned blonde who’d spoken first sighed. “Yeaaah that’s fair. My sister’s like that. We can’t even have family game night unless it’s all cooperative. Though hey, we do play just for fun after school sometimes, you could always join up for that!”

 

She was certainly considering it when a thought occurred to her. “Or maybe I’ll see if I can join up with the cheerleaders.” She hadn’t really considered it thoroughly before she said it, but the more she thought the better it sounded. It was something that would let her use her new muscles, get lots of eyes on her, and make her feel extra girly all at the same time! It was honestly kind of perfect.

 

The grin from the ‘hungry’ girl across from her seemed to indicate she had at least one person rooting for her. Despite the look, it was Sarah who spoke up. “Oh yeah, it’d be great having you cheering me on during a game! I dunno if they’re still open for tryouts though. The cheer squad is apparently, like, super tight knit. Most of the girls on it have been in since at least second year.”

 

The conversation moved on to various other topics as they finally got around to eating, and by the time the warning bell rang Brooke felt like she’d been part of the group for years. Laughing and chatting with them just seemed to come so naturally that a part of her wanted to dwell on the years of solitude she’d endured. She did her best to ignore the regret, pointing out to herself just how much different the situation was, and how much differently their first meeting would have gone if it had been in their first year.

 

With a smile on her face she made her way to fifth period, and was delighted by what should have been an obvious fact: Abby was there! The moment Brooke entered the room Abby was out of her seat and giving her a big hug. They had some time before class, and before the teacher arrived, so they took their seats and began chatting about how Brooke’s day had been going.

 

Abby was relieved to hear it was going so well, and the conversation soon moved on to Brooke herself. Her outfit from the day before had fit, but it had fit in a way that largely masked her figure. With a properly fitted outfit on however, Abby couldn’t resist gushing about just how good she looked. Of course, she also took some time to praise Brooke’s nails, noting the change in details with some playful suspicion.

 

Brooke thankfully managed to escape that inquiry by speaking to the teacher. “Oh! Are you Brooke? Well don’t you look absolutely lovely!” Brooke blushed slightly as the older woman’s eyes practically sparkled. She had to be at least seventy, her long white hair tied back in a braid.

 

With a nod of confirmation from Brooke the woman continued. “Oh I was absolutely thrilled to hear the school was going to support you. The people up top can be such nonsensical busybodies that I really did worry. Well, even if we’re all supposed to be on your side you feel free to let me know if anything comes up won’t you? I fought beside your sisters at stonewall and if people start making a fuss here I’ll be happy to do it again.” 

 

She spoke with a joy Brooke had never seen her apply to her class, and in a moment Brooke had re-evaluated the boring old woman she’d written off months ago. It was clear why she wanted to teach history, and also clear why she had so little motivation for most of the school mandated curriculum. With a smile of her own, and a quick thank you that turned into a hug, Brooke made her way back to her seat.

 

Apparently Abby had been expecting something like that to occur because as Brooke took her seat Abby was sporting a big, knowing smile. “She’s the advisor for the LGBTQ+ club.” Brooke blinked. Ah. That made sense.