Bonus Chapter
Reminiscence

“Hi, I’m you from the future,” a girl said, appearing before me. She outstretched her hand, looking expectantly at me. “Katie Lee, nice to meet you.”

“You’re me?” I asked, squinting my eyes in confusion I looked down at her hand and back up, making the conscious decision not to shake it. ”But wait, you’re a girl, I’m not a girl.”

“Well you will be,” she said rather matter-of-factly, with a big smirk on her face.

“No I won’t, I’m a guy” I said, stamping down my foot. Who did this random girl think she was? “You’re just messing with me. Who put you up to this prank? Was it Jack?”

“Don’t you think we look a little familiar?” she asked, giggling a little.

“I mean - uh - yeah,” I said, stammering over my own words. She did look suspiciously similar to me, but that couldn’t mean anything. It could just be a passing resemblance. I vocalized my thoughts. “But that doesn’t fucking mean anything.”

“Well, in two months you’ll be me,” she said, pointing at herself. “Skirt, makeup, and all.”

“I would never wear a skirt or makeup,” I said, scoffing. Why would I ever do that? I was a man and men didn’t wear skirts or makeup. “That’s bullshit.”

“Also you’ll be dating Matthew,” she said, a wide grin on her face.

“Matthew?” I asked, offended by the insinuation that I would ever date him. “I barely talk to him, also I’m not fucking into guys.”

“You are, you just don’t realize it yet,” she said, laughing at me again. I was starting to get a little tired of this girl and her ridiculous claims.

“I think I would realize pretty quickly if I liked guys,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m not that stupid.”

“Have you ever had a crush on a girl before?” she asked, a knowing smile on her face. “Answer me that.”

“Umm, no,” I said, thinking of some of the girls that everyone in school seemed to have a crush on. I just never found any of them attractive or desirable, something my friends thought I was weird for.

“Yeah, exactly, that’s because you’re into guys,” she said. You’ll love him sooooooo much, he’ll give you big kisses on the lip and you’ll like it.“

“Ew, can you stop it?” I asked, miming throwing up. “Even thinking about kissing Matthew is making me want to vomit, why would I ever do it voluntarily? Also, back to the point, I would never be a fucking girl. I’m a man. Do I have to spell it out for you? M-A-N, that’s what I am.”

“Very manly man you are, standing at 5’3,” she teased, walking closer to me. I realized we stood at the exact same height, something that perturbed me.

“S-Shut up,” I said, growing bright red. My friends always teased me about being short, but the teasing felt different from her. It made me feel a little embarrassed, in a good way. “I’m a little short, but I’ll grow.”

“Only thing that’ll be growing are your boobs,” she said, poking at my chest.

“Ow, I don’t want to fucking have boobs,” I yelled out, slapping her hand away. “I mean, they would feel kind of soft and nice, but I’m a guy. Guys aren’t meant to have boobs.”

“I told you, you’re not a guy at all, you’re a girl,” she said, doing a quick twirl. I noticed her skirt flare up, it did look a little nice. I wondered what would happen if I tried one on. No, I was already succumbing to her influence, I couldn’t wear a skirt. I was a man.

“How did this all even happen in the first place then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “If you’re actually me, tell me that, how did I become a girl?”

“Hmm, let me think,” she said, rubbing her chin. “Oh yeah, that asshole Jack had the genius idea of stealing panties from the girl’s locker room. So we did it and got expelled. Had to go to Rosewood after that.”

Rosewood, the school my aunt worked at? How would I possibly go there? It was an all-girls school.

“What?” I asked. “How would I go to that school, I’m not a girl.”

“Exactly, that was the genius plan our aunt and mom made up,” she said, giggling. “We would dress up as a girl to go to Rosewood until the next year when we could transfer back to a normal school and return to being a guy.”

“Oh, so you’re just doing this to go to school, right?” I asked. I wanted to deny what she was saying, but she knew too many details about my life for it to not make sense. “Right?”

“Nope, it turns out we were transgender all along,” she said, pointing at me and then back at herself. “So we’re a girl for life now, isn’t that just great.”

“No,” I yelled out, shaking my head. “That’s not great, that’s terrible. What would Mom think of me? Fuck, what would Dad think of me?”

“Well, Mom’s like my #1 supporter, so I don’t think that’s an issue,” I said, shrugging. “Dad would be supportive too if he was still around, you know that.”

“So I really end up being a girl in the future?” I asked, finally giving up. She was right, there was no way she wasn’t me. As much as I wanted to deny it, it seemed like I really would become a girl.

“Yup, you are now Katie,” she said, smiling now that I seemed to have accepted what she was saying.

“Damn,” I said, tapping my foot on the ground. “That’s who I really was this entire time?”

“Yeah, you know that strange empty feeling you always had swirling inside of you?” she asked. “Likes something was off? Like a piece of you was missing? That was gender dysphoria.”

“That’s what it was?” I asked, eyes welling up with tears. What she described was exactly how I had felt for a while now. I was just going through the motions every day, feeling like something integral was missing. I never knew why, but what she said made perfect sense.

“Yeah, that’s what it was,” she said, coming closer to me to give me a hug. “Aww, don’t cry, it’ll be okay, you’ll be me in a few months.”

“That’s why I always felt so sad,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, that feeling will be completely gone soon,” she said, smiling gently as she pulled away from me and put her hands on my shoulder. “You’ll be a girl, have a good group of friends, the best loving boyfriend you could ever ask for, and a supportive Mom. Life will be finally worth living.”

“I guess I’ll look forward to being you then,” I said, trying to smile.

“Just hang in there a little longer,” she said, giving me some pats on the head. I hated to admit it, but it felt a little good. “It’ll be alright.”

“Thank you,” I said, looking at her in the eyes to let her know it was genuine.

“Of course,” she responded, smiling brightly at me.

Everything faded to black for a second, and a sudden noise assaulted my ears.

“Tyler, wake up,” I heard a voice say as someone shook me from the side. “Tyler!”

“Oh,” I said, my eyes flickering opening suddenly. I saw my mom in front of me, a rather worried look on her face. “Mom?”

“Yes, I’m your mom,” she said, laughing slightly. “You were sleeping like a baby, you just wouldn’t wake up no matter what.”

“Sorry, sorry, I think I was dreaming,” I said, rubbing my eyes.

“What was the dream?” she asked curiously. “Must’ve been real interesting for you to not wake up despite me yelling at you multiple times.”

“I don’t remember,” I said, trying hard to remember what just happened. “I just remembered it was… hopeful.”