Julianna waited patiently as I gingerly stepped off the bus and we joined the throng of students heading towards the school. Fortunately for me, the bus had pulled into the school grounds so that I didn’t have to suffer any more humiliation from the gurls across the road. Giving me a smile of encouragement as the bus doors snapped shut behind us, Julianna offered me hys arm to help me balance as we made our way across the yard in those atrocious pink heels.
Looking up from my heels, I took in my surroundings. There were bois everywhere! Some were standing around in a circle gossiping away about Goddess knows what; others were simply making their way towards the main building, which, I noted, was actually a lot bigger than the gurls’ school. I guess that, with there being more bois than gurls, it made sense, but it was just something that I had never noticed before.
Jonatha and Michelle-Anne had already gone on ahead to meet up with some of their friends and that just left me and Julianna standing there rather awkwardly. Some of the bois standing near us were giving us some funny looks—well, mostly me, actually. I guess that most of them knew about my situation. I mean, how often do you hear of a gurl dressing up as a boi?
“I wonder who your buddie is,” Julianna said, trying to break the tension. I blinked, turning my attention away from the bois and towards my boifriend.
“Buddie?” I repeated, unfamiliar with the term. Julianna nodded as we started to walk inside.
“Yep, as a boi we’re encouraged to share everything and so at school we get paired up with another boi who becomes our buddie for the entire time we’re at school. It’s kind of like having a best friend.”
“That’s just weird,” I commented. “In the gurls’ school, we normally just work on our own and only get paired up for school projects and such.” Julianna nodded.
“Yep, that’s because you’re a gurl. Gurls are supposed to be able to work things out on their own. Gurls are expected to lead the country, run businesses and score touchdowns and whatnot. It’s a little different for us bois. We’re dependent on women, right? We look to them when things get too hard for us and need something solved. However, in bois’ school, there are no women...well, except for you, of course.”
I blushed as Julianna continued.
“Because of that we’re taught to share with each other, help each other out. That way when things become too hard for one of us, two of us might be able to work it out.”
“Wow,” I exclaimed, letting out a small whistle. “I guess that I never thought about it that way.” It was true though, what Julianna had just said. Bois and gurls worked things out differently, and the whole buddie system was starting to make sense. Can you imagine if the schools were merged? Bois would be constantly asking the gurls for help. They’d be so annoyed.
“Well, you’d better get used to it,” Julianna suggested, pausing at the front door and nodding hys head toward the inside. “Because, in here, you’re a boi.” Hei pushed open the doors and revealed to me the bois’ school.
“Whoa!” I exclaimed as we entered. The bright colors of the school were nearly blinding me in comparison to the dull, industrial gray walls that I was used to over in the gurls’ school. Instead of the drab corridors I’d come to expect, I was greeted by creamy white walls and shiny purple and white checkered flooring. It was like walking on to a movie set. How many times had I seen scenes like this in horror movies as the bois were running away from a madwoman or something only to be saved at the last minute by the hero of the movie?
Julianna smiled as hei saw my reaction.
“I know...pretty, right?”
“Um,” I stammered. “Yeah, pretty.” Although that wasn’t exactly the word that I would use: ghastly was more like it. Before we could go any further, we were greeted by a low-pitched voice calling to us over the crowd.
“Oh, Zoanna!” We turned and looked towards the sound of the voice and, for a moment, I thought that I heard Julianna groan. Walking—no, strutting—towards us was a vision of beauty. My jaw dropped as I realised that Ramona Birch, the hottest boi in the entire school, was walking towards us.
It was like the world had been plunged into slow motion and I couldn’t help but stare as Ramona strutted down the corridor in a tight, figure-hugging fuchsia pink dress. The dress had frilly, capped sleeves and came down to just above hys knees. On hys feet Ramona wore a pair of dizzyingly tall, seven-inch matching pink stilettos.
“Zoanna, honey, there you are.” Ramona cooed as hei drew level with us. I about wet myself as hei leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek with hys ruby red lips. “I was waiting for you over by our locker.”
“Our locker?” I repeated as I looked over to Julianna. Hei nodded and then I remembered what hei had told me about bois sharing everything. “Right, our locker.” And without saying a word to Julianna, Ramona took my hand and dragged me off deeper into the bowels of the bois’ school.
What have I gotten myself into?
