“Are you sure you are okay to go to school today Jill?” Jill’s mom asked her with a worried expression on her face.

 

Jill was sitting in the front passenger’s seat right next to her mom inside of their car in front of the school.

 

Jill was wearing a wig made of long brown hair and was wearing her favorite blue dress. She was also wearing a light amount of makeup that she applied with her mom’s help this time.

 

After being able to enjoy the rest of her summer back at her house as a girl full time it was finally time for her to go back to school.

 

“I’ll be fine mom! I was actually really looking forward to today! I am honestly not sure what you are even worried about.”

 

“I am just…concerned for your safety…”

 

“Mom, I am pretty sure that the school hasn’t gotten any more dangerous over the summer break. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about.”

 

“Alright, as you two continue this weird conversation I am going to head to class.” Jack says as he gets out of the car and walks towards the school.

 

As the two girls watch him walk through the front gates of the school the mom sighs.

 

“...Okay…if you’re sure…Just…have the school call me if anything happens, okay…”

 

Jill’s mom gives her daughter a great big hug and kisses her on the cheek.

 

“...Uh…sure…Can do…” Jill says as she tries to think of the reason why her mom is automatically so worried about her.

 

Jill exits the car and looks back at her mom one more time.

 

“I love you Jill!”

 

“I love you too mom!”

 

With that out of the way, Jill finally walks into the school and towards her classroom.

 

As Jill walks out of sight her mom takes a deep breath and rests her head against the steering wheel of her car.

 

She meant to tell Jill about what might happen to her now that she was out in public as a trans girl, but she didn’t want to be the one to break her child’s heart so she kept putting it off until it was too late.

 

She takes one more look at the school and sighs before she drives back home.

Jill skips into class with a smile on her face.

 

She notices a couple of people giggling as she walks towards her desk and takes a seat, but doesn’t think much of it.

 

“Hello class!” Mrs. Johnson says as she welcomes her students back from their summer break.

 

“Hello Mrs. Johnson!” The students all say in unison as they respond to their teacher.

 

As Mrs. Johnson takes roll call, she notices something interesting.

 

“I’m sorry miss, but you appear to be sitting at Jimmy's desk…who also doesn’t appear to be here today…can you tell me why this is?”

 

“With pleasure!” Jill says as she stands up to reintroduce herself to her class.

 

“Hello class, I actually used to be Jimmy, but I changed my name to Jill.”

 

She does a curtsy and takes her seat again.

 

Mrs. Johnson goes onto her computer and into her emails and realizes that she missed a crucial piece of information that was hidden inside of an email that she accidentally didn’t read.

 

“I am so sorry Jim…Jill…Your mother actually did email me about this, but I didn’t see it until right now. I will make a note to update your information in the school’s system later today.”

 

After that was settled, the rest of Mrs. Johnson’s class went by mostly how it normally did…aside from the fact that quite a few students were whispering to each other and laughing about something.

 

Jill was wondering what was so funny, but didn’t think much of it.

 

As the bell rang for recess Jill ran out onto the playground with the rest of the kids.

 

“Hey guys!” Jill says as she runs up to her friend group.

 

All four of her friends were boys.

 

First, there was Johnny, who had a backwards red baseball cap with black hair sticking out above the adjustable closure and a jersey of the same team color with the number 64 on it.

 

Then, there were the identical twins Garry and Harry who both had short blonde hair. The only way to tell them apart is that Garry wore gray shirts and Harry wore black shirts.

 

Finally, there was the self imposed leader of their little group, Terrance. He wore a blue varsity jacket with a red T on it that he got from his older brother after he graduated high school along with a white undershirt.

 

They all looked at Jill with confused facial expressions.

 

Nobody said anything for about a minute, but Terrance was the one to break the silence.

 

“...Uh…I am sorry miss…but who are you?”

 

“...Oh, you don’t recognize me…That makes sense. Let me introduce myself then. I am Jill, but I used to be Jimmy.”

 

She extends out her hand with a small smile on her face expecting a handshake and an introduction in return.

 

…but this isn’t what ends up happening…

 

Terrance looks to the side and takes a deep breath.

 

“...Jill, is it…I am sorry Jill, but this friend group is boys only…so…yeah…”

 

Jill stands there both confused and in stunned silence.

 

“...What?” Jill says as she cocks her head to the side.

 

Terrance shrugs.

 

“...I am sorry, I truly am, but there is nothing more that I can do…”

 

“...But…but we used to hang out all the time…we’ve known each other for years…”

 

“...You seem to not understand what I am saying…so let me put this in a way that you will understand…Jimmy was a boy so he was allowed to hang out with me and the other boys…But since Jimmy is now Jill and also a girl you aren’t allowed in this BOYS ONLY friend group…”

 

“...Why?” Jill says as tears form in the corners of her eyes.

 

Terrance puts his hands up in front of himself.

 

“...Woah…Don’t blame me…That’s just how things work…”

 

“...But…it doesn’t have to be this way…” Jill was basically sobbing at this point.

 

Terrance looks towards the others (who all also just shrug) as he tugs at his collar a bit.

 

“...Look…I don’t make the rules…I just follow ‘em…”

 

Terrance starts to walk away and beckons the other boys to do the same.

 

“...Garry…Harry…” Jill says as she reaches out towards her other ‘friends’ before they also walk away.

 

They both quickly glance at Jill with somewhat concerned expressions, then look at each other, before finally putting their heads down while following Terrance.

 

“...Johnny…please don’t do this…” Jill says as she grabs his sleeve in a last attempt to try to prevent one of her friends from walking away from her.

 

He tugs his sleeve out of her hand.

 

“...I am sorry Jim…”

 

“...Jill…My name’s not Jim anymore…”

 

“...Whatever…You heard what Terrance said…”

 

“...But…”

 

“...Goodbye Jill…”

 

Johnny jogs a bit to catch up to Garry, Harry, and Terrance and joins them in their conversation. Jill couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but she could have sworn one of them turned back for a second just to point at her which was followed by them laughing about something.

 

She hoped they weren’t laughing about her, but she wouldn’t be shocked if that was the case at this point.

 

Jill just continued to stand there and stare at the spot that she last saw her ‘friends’.

 

She suddenly felt her eyes fill up with a second wave of tears before she fell to the ground and started to sob again.

 

Eventually she stopped crying and looked around to realize that recess has probably already been over for quite a while at this point.

 

She uses one of the sleeves on her dress to wipe the tears and snot off of her face before she slowly makes her way back to the classroom.

The rest of the day was just a daze to her.

 

Sure, things were still happening, but Jill was barely aware of any of it.

 

Eventually, the final bell rang and Jill left the classroom and went to find her mom’s car at the front of the school.

 

As her mom opened up the door to the car she already noticed that the small amount of makeup that she applied to her daughter’s face that morning was smeared downwards.

 

…She could already tell that Jill has been crying…

 

“...So…how was your day at school?”

 

…Jill didn’t say anything in response to this…

 

…She just started to cry again…

 

Her mom leaned over and hugged her.