Winter break came and went with a strangeness, none of the girls got to see each other, some whisked away on family vacations, others kept busy with holiday events, family obligations, babysitting, and most surprisingly boyfriends.
Various adventures were had but none of it was comfortable, even the parts that felt good and natural were disrupted by the fact that in the back of their heads they knew that this was not the way things were supposed to be. But everyday they got up, and everyday they lived their lives, and everyday they went to bed, and that is how they came to the end of break.
On the last day, they got an email from Mrs. Holloway. “Start off the Semester right. Wear your school colors or uniforms to school on the first day back!!.” It was sent out to everyone at school but as the girls read it they knew what it was. This was a test. A line in the sand. Who was in and who wasn’t was going to be on display for everyone. To wear your uniform, or at least colors would be a signal to everyone that you were on board, part of the team, and it might draw Ms. Holloways attention away from you, make life easier, and for some that was an easier ask than for others.
Delilah read the email and immediately put out her purple and gold uniform, for her it wasn’t really a question, this was who she was now, she couldn’t just give up on it because something strange had happened along the way. She was just going to get on with being who she knew herself to be and hope for the best.
Jenny sat staring at the uniform with her name embroidered on it next to a school spirit outfit of purple and yellow, next to a t shirt and jeans. She pondered her move. The uniform clearly stated that she was on the team, her mirror reflected a girl who looked like she would kill it on the field, her imagination told her that she could be THE girl on the team if she wanted, the new queen of the school. Then again she knew what had happened to the last girls who tried to be that, how Sarah had ended up a melting before her eyes into a slop of pink goo, the essence of popular cheerleader girl. She knew it was some of that same power which had made her as she was today, pretty, popular, and a part of the team, like it or not. That and Karyn’s wish for her to be “totally awesome BFF’s”. Her phone buzzed at the thought of Karyn.
“Are you going to wear it?”
“Don’t know, what are you wearing?” The idea of matching with her BFF was important to Jenny.
“Well I don’t have a uniform, but I don’t want to piss off the witch”
“ You think it would?”
“ You want to risk it? I don’t want to end up a bimbo or whatever else she might be able to do.”
“ Good point. You want to wear my away uniform and I can wear the home?” Sharing cloths was something BFF’s did.
“I was thinking about just going in a school spirit shirt.”
“Lol, you look terrible in that! It hides everything!”
‘I’m not happy about any of this but it’s not like I have other options.”
“Come over, we can work out our outfits and come up with a plan for how we are going to handle this.”
“Alright be over in a bit”
“Don’t worry Kare Bear, I won’t let her turn either of us into Bimbos
Miranda put out her Track and Field outfit, thankful for the loophole that being athletic gave her, she had a feeling that Track and Field and cross country were going to become increasingly important to her in the coming months. She had gotten used to being on the female side of life, she had even started dating her former best friend Tom Wells, but there was no way that she was going to be on the other side of the field, she wanted to be on the field being cheered on, not on the sidelines whooping. The Tom thing was just….it made sense ok? Don’t ask her about it, she doesn’t like blushing.
Jade and Nadine both decided to just wear something vaguely in the school colors and fly below the radar. Nadine wore her cross outside her shirt, just in case. Jade thought about calling out from school that day, but fear of that drawing even more attention, a home visit, some of that false care, made her reconsider.
There was never a question in Trinities mind what she was going to do. She had made the choice a week before. When she was changed, when Trevor ceased to be and Trinity stood in his place, she had come into the world with pale skin, large boobs, bright brown eyes, and long dark hair, streaked with purple. She thought it made her look cool at first, expressing her rebel nature, she didn’t think about the implications that it could have been done in the name of school spirit. Then the thing that happens with hair dye started to happen. It started to fade, and deep purple became soft lavender highlights and then faded to blonde streaks with hints of the purple that was once was still evident. Her parents were supportive, thinking this was a school thing. Trinity was horrified. So she shaved it. She went to school that day with soft stubble of a week’s growth. The horror had transferred from her to her parents. Trinity felt brave. No one was going to tell her how to be, what to be, or what we was. And filled with the confidence of a righteous fuck you, Trinity went to school in black.
