The sound of two bois singing woke Baylie and Biffanie up at the same time on Monday morning. Biffanie stirred first, followed by Baylie. Hei really didn’t need to get up this early quite yet, but hei would need help getting dressed and ready. After all, today was the day hei would be enrolled in high school—and hei’d be there for who knows how long.
“Who sings that song?” Baylie asked, the unfamiliar feeling of hys underwear against the sheets as hei got out of bed. “I know, like, no one famous.”
“Oh, it’s the latest by Curry Curry,” Biffanie explained. “Sethina and Sephina… Brotherelles. That’s why their voices blend so well.”
Baylie twisted hys face in confusion as realization kicked in. “Wait, Sephina?” hei asked. “As in Steph Curry?”
Now it was Biffanie’s turn to look confused. Hei shrugged hys shoulders.
“Could be, I don’t know anyone from your world… Is hei a famous singer in your world as well?”
Baylie shook hys head. “Basketball player… And a really good one.”
Biffanie looked amazed. “Wow! Bois can play basketball in your world?”
Baylie nodded. Weird, they both thought, as they each learned something about where the other came from.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two bois before Biffanie decided to break it by getting out of bed and crossing over to hys closet. “So?” hei asked Baylie, looking at the other boi over hys shoulder as hei crossed the room. “Ready to get dressed for school?”
Baylie shrugged hys shoulders, yawning a little. “I guess…” hei glanced at the pink digital clock sitting on the bedside table. It read 6:00.
“Why are we up so early?” hei asked, letting out a big yawn before quickly putting a hand over hys mouth when Biffanie shot hym a look. An open-mouth yawn was not proper for a boi like hym, Baylie had learned quickly. “Isn’t school not for another two hours?” Biff got up at 7 for school at 8.
Biffanie nodded as hei shuffled through the hangers, searching for the perfect outfit for Baylie. “Sure, school starts at 9, but you should know by now how long it takes us bois to get ready. That’s what all of those extra lessons we had last night were for. A boi needs a good two or three hours’ warning to get ready for, like, anything.”
Baylie reluctantly nodded as memories of the previous night came to hys mind. Biffanie and Brittanie had spent hours teaching Baylie how to put on makeup by hymself and how to put together the perfect outfit while also practicing how to walk in heels. It had been nearly midnight before Bianca had come up to their room and told the exhausted bois to finally go to bed. Biffanie was confident that Baylie was ready.
“Wait, 9:00? School starts that late?”
“We’re not gurls, you know. School starts a little later for us.”
Before Baylie could respond, Biffanie let out an “a-ha” as hei had found the perfect outfit for Baylie. Hei pulled the outfit out of the closet and showed it to Baylie. It was a baby pink, floral dress with a deep neckline and long sleeves. Baylie eyed the outfit.
“Isn’t that a bit too much for school?” hei asked.
“Yeah, kinda… But you wanna make a good first impression, don’t you? Imagine if you turned up to the principal’s office looking like a gurl dressed you.” Biffanie sighed. “I gotta shower, and then later I can help you with your makeup.”
“All ready now?” Biffanie and the other bois had gone off to school, and Nic was at work. It was just Baylie and hys dad, Bianca. “I know you must be nervous… Anything new does that. And from what you’ve said, this world is a lot of new to you.” Hei put a hand on Baylie’s shoulder. “But you’ll be fine.”
Baylie got into the passenger seat of Bianca’s pink minivan, and hei began the drive toward the high school. Baylie looked out the window intently, trying to identify all the differences on the otherwise familiar way to school. There was a big one when they pulled up. In Biff’s world, Lake Point High School was one large complex of buildings. Here, though, it was very visibly split into two. One was a small version of the building hei was familiar with: brick, stone, windows. The other was clad in rose pink brick in an otherwise matching architectural style. What caught hys eye was the wording on it: Lake Point Bois’ High School.
That suddenly made Baylie very, very nervous. It looked sort of like something out of a cartoon from when hei was little. At home, it was easier to ignore, but here it was laid out in front of hym just how differently society treated bois and gurls. Bianca parked the car, and the two walked into the office—surprisingly to Baylie, in the gurls’ high school.
“Why aren’t we going in there?” hei asked.
“You see, some of the women here have responsibility over the bois’ school too. You really think a boi can run a whole high school by hymself?”
The two bois walked in, and the boi at the front desk looked up. “Good morning laddies… You look lovely. Who are you here to see?” It wasn’t all that often that hei saw a boi come in.
“I’m here to see Ms. Catherines, the registrar?” Bianca produced a piece of paper and handed it to the receptionist.
“Ah yes, Dr. McMillan told us to expect you. We’re happy to help. Take a seat and shi’ll be out here shortly.” Bianca and Baylie sat in the waiting area for a few moments before an older-looking woman in a gray button-down shirt walked out. “Msr. Woodwoman?” The two got up and walked over.
“Good morning, and nice to meet you. I’m Ms. Catherines, and I’m the registrar for Lake Point and Lake Point Bois’. And we’re here to get you enrolled, correct?”
Bianca nodded. “That’s correct.”
“Well, follow me into my office.” The two bois walked behind hir and into hir office, which was rather pedestrian in appearance. Actually, the entire front office seemed normal. But Baylie could not imagine that the bois’ school was quite the same way, based on what hei’d seen. The registrar asked for and received his ID—made by Dr. McMillan’s team, a perfect copy of an official ID.
“So, the first thing is we need to figure out who your buddie would be. I see we have an even number of students right now, so you’d need to buddie up with two others.” Baylie looked at Bianca, a little confused. Hei supposed an explanation of whatever this meant would have to wait.
“What about with Biffanie?” Bianca volunteered.
“Put you with Biffanie and… Jonatha Carlyle?” the registrar asked, looking at hir computer screen as shi pulled up their student records. That was a first name Baylie had certainly never heard before, but it reminded hym a little of Jon Gibson, that kinda vanilla guy back in his own world.
“Yes, please.”
Shi looked at Baylie. “Well then, dear, we are going to put you in all the classes that Biffanie and Jonatha are taking. Advanced Makeup Techniques, English, Home Ec, Fashion… Maybe next semester you can take an art or music class.”
“That’s it?” Baylie asked. Now hei really had questions.
“Yes, that’s a full load of four classes. This isn’t gurls’ school, of course.”
“...Alright then, go ahead, Ms. Catherines.” Even Baylie knew this was one place where hei couldn’t cause trouble. This was just as important to Dr. McMillan.
“While I work out the particulars and have your father sign all the papers, why don’t you go over to the bois’ school and get a tour around so you aren’t completely lost tomorrow morning? I’ll tell the office there that you’re coming.” Though bois are usually lost, shi added to hirself.
“That’s a great idea, Baylie. You should head over there. And they can also tell you what supplies you need for your classes.” Ms. Catherines nodded, offering additional encouragement. Baylie walked out of the office and down toward the other building. The walk was short, but hei was still getting used to walking in heels, and hei was thinking about the classes the registrar said hei would have to take. Home economics? Dance? This is going to be some kind of adjustment.
Baylie opened the door to find a similarly arranged office, except this one had soft pink walls, and almost all of the staff working in the main room were bois. There were all sorts of student art projects on the wall, something comparatively lacking on the gurls’ side.
“Hi sweetie,” the receptionist greeted hym. “Are you the new boi taking a tour?” Baylie nodded. “Well, let me go get our deanelle of students to show you around!” Hei got up, and Baylie was left to notice that the few staff hei saw were all blonde. A moment later, the receptionist walked out with another, surprisingly youngish boi. Hei was dolled up: pink dress, white tights, pink heels, standing out on hys dark skin. Heck, hei could almost mistake hym for a student if not for the ID badge hei wore. Compared to the registrar’s plain outfit, like everything else so far at the bois’ school, it was a shock.
“Hi, doll,” the deanelle greeted hym. “My name is Msr. Carr, but everyone calls me Msr. Amiyah.” Hei took Baylie’s hand in hys own.
“Pretty nails,” Baylie cooed. Biffanie had told hym yesterday how important it was to compliment every boi hei met.
“Why, thank you. Now, let’s go out through those doors and into the school itself.” As soon as the two passed through the double doors, Baylie’s eyes might as well have been assaulted. The walls were a soft shade of cream, but the school had a purple-and-white checkered tile floor. There were banks of lockers on each side, but they were in pink and cream stripes. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
Baylie was still taking it all in. Hei couldn’t exactly tell this manne that it just seemed so off to hym. “Yes…” Hei hesitated. “Yes, it is.”
“So, here we use the buddie system. I know a few schools don’t any more, but we’re not Korea over here in Lake Point. I hear you’re going to be with your brotherelle and Jonatha? They’re two of the nicest bois in the school. You’re gonna be lucky.”
Baylie nodded, not sure what to say, as the two walked past a bank of lockers. “Starting tomorrow, you’re gonna share a locker with them. It’s the buddie way, of course—you share your classes, your locker, your grades. School is hard if bois don’t work together.”
The bell rang to signal the end of the period, and out of the various classrooms emerged dozens of bois, filling the hallways with laughter, chatter, and heads of blonde hair as they walked to their lockers or past them on their way to the next class. Biff Meadows had changed classes hundreds of times. But everyone here just seemed so alike. The more hei watched, the more hei realized just how deep the changes were. What was gurls’ school even like?
Those thoughts rolled through Baylie’s head as the deanelle showed hym around. The makeup classrooms, with lighted mirrors on every table. The fashion room, with a large library of fabrics. The home ec classrooms with their kitchen stations. Only a few classrooms passed for normal, and that was if you didn’t consider the pink-and-white colors and soft scent everywhere.
“I know your brotherelle and hys buddie will help you out if you get lost. We’re here to help you, okay, sweetie?” The administrator was gentle and understanding, though the reaction from Baylie seemed a bit much compared to a normal transfer student.
The two walked back up to the front office, where the deanelle handed hym a list of general school supplies to buy in order to prepare for class. There were a few normal things, like notebooks and pencils, but Baylie never thought buying school supplies would mean purchasing makeup.
But here hei was.
