The next hour, as I sat through fashion class, was probably the longest hour of my life. I was surrounded by pink and all things boily. In spite of everything I tried to pay attention to the class, Mss. Shackleford was teaching us the history of the corset, but in between their constant makeup checks (Ramona seemed to check hys every five minutes), Ramona and Tyronna kept gossiping about anything and everything and to make things worse, I had to sit through another three classes exactly like this.
Today was going to be a long day…
“And then, after the movie, we headed back to hir place where we made out on hir bed…” I rolled my eyes as Tyronna was excitedly telling Ramona about hys date with hys latest girlfriend, Crys. I knew Crys, as shi was in a couple of my classes, but I didn’t want to be hearing this sort of information about hir. No gurl does. Ramona just nodded happily as hei took out hys compact for what must’ve been the hundredth time.
“For Goddess sake, Ramona!” I cried out, slapping my hand against the table and looking over at hym, lipstick tube pressed against hys lips.
“What?” hei asked innocently.
“You’ve checked your makeup a hundred times. How many times do you need to check? It’s perfect.”
Ramona finished touching up hys lips and put the lipstick back in hys purse and smiled.
“I’m glad that you think that my makeup is perfect, but you know how bois are. We must be presentable at all times. And that means constantly checking our makeup even if, admittedly, some of us do it excessively…but I can’t help it. I have to look my best, at all times.”
“Ramona, Zoanna? Is there something wrong?” Mss. Shackleford called out, jerking our attention back to the class.
“Um, no M…Mss.,” I stammered, but Ramona piped up.
“Zoanna was getting fed up with how many times I was checking my makeup. Mss.” Ramona informed hym with a smile on hys face.
“Is that so?” Mss. Shackleford replied. “Well I must say, dear, that I’m a little disappointed. How many brotherelles do you have?”
“Three,” I replied.
“Then you should know what it’s like. We can’t help it, dear. Bois are raised to focus on two things: keeping the house tidy and looking their best. Everything else we leave to the gurls.”
I sighed. Mss. Shackleford was right. Bois were only good at two things. I guess that I just didn’t realise how important looking good was to them. Gurls don’t really pay attention to that sort of stuff. “You’re right Mss., I’m sorry. I guess that as a gurl I just never really noticed how much time you bois spend on your appearances.”
Mss. Shackleford nodded.
“It’s okay, Zoanna. You’re in a unique position… Gurls don’t normally get to see what goes on behind these walls, but I do expect that, from now on you’ll respect our tendencies and, maybe, follow up on them as well.” I looked at hym confused before hei continued. “I noticed that you haven’t checked your makeup at all since the class started…and if you’re going to be paired up with a boi like Ramona, then you need to up your game, sweetheart.”
I gaped at hym, wondering if hei was serious. Me? A gurl checking hir makeup? It was ridiculous, but then again, as I glanced around the class and saw every boi staring at me expectantly, I was dressed as a boi, and so I reluctantly dug into the purse that Julianna had given me and took out a compact mirror. I tried to mimic Ramona, touching up hys lips as Mss. Shackleford returned hys attention to the rest of the class.
