Gwen pushed open the door to the toilets and breathed a sigh of relief before immediately regretting it, the odor of urine and other smells immediately launching an olfactory assault. Gwen gagged and almost choked. It was an experience that was a far cry from what shi was used to. The girl’s toilets were usually clean and smelled strongly of perfume. Here, however, the gurls toilets looked almost neglected, like they hadn't been cleaned in a while.
The layout was pretty similar to what Gwen was used to; the walls were a nondescript color, but they were covered in graffiti. Slogans and catchphrases lined the walls, mixed in with a couple of phone numbers and, to Gwen's disgust, what looked like drawings of vaginas.
On one side of the room in the corner there was a row of sinks in front of mirrors. On the same wall on the other side of the room, Gwen was surprised to see a row of urinals. Gwen had never been in the boys’ room before, but shi had an idea of what urinals looked like, and these were unlike any that shi had ever seen. Shi supposed that they had been designed to fit the female body. The basin of the urinal was curved and stuck out; sure enough, as Gwen entered the toilets, there was a gurl already using them. Shi stood over the urinal as a stream of urine poured out from underneath hir.
Not wanting to be caught staring, Gwen ducked inside a cubicle. Shi didn't really need to go; shi just wanted somewhere to decompress, and the toilets were the first thing shi thought of. Shi shut the door and sat down and was greeted by a large, rather detailed and slightly hairy drawing of a vagina sketched onto the back of the door. Gwen shuddered and tried hir best to ignore as shi looked back on the events of today.
Hir second class of the day was math, which had turned out to be fairly pedestrian compared to everything else in this world. Math is math anywhere, apparently. The only noticeable difference was the teacher. It came as no surprise that the teacher was a female, but what did surprise Gwen was that it was someone that shi recognized. But beyond sharing the same last name—Ms. Cho had never married—and occupation, little else was the same. This version traded in hir usual smart shirt and pencil skirts for closely cropped hair and a white dress shirt tucked into a pair of black dress pants. This version, instead of being friendly and approachable, was aloof and a tough taskmaster who brooked no trouble in hir room. It was actually kind of scary to Gwen.
The sound of the urinals flushing and then movement followed by the sound of a sink running brought Gwen out of hir reverie as shi waited for the other gurl to leave. When shi was sure shi was alone, Gwen broke down crying.
A wave of delayed processing and mental reckoning crashed down on the woman. Even though shi had only been here a few days, shi could feel the weight of expectations. Shorn of hir reputation, shorn of hir makeup and good looks—unless someone thought hir handsome, a thought that made hir shiver—shi had to work hard. All shi had was hir brain and the feeling that not every conversation was a battle shi had to win. And Jenford, who actually talked to hir like a normal human being instead of doing what Sarah did so often and monopolizing the conversation.
Perhaps it was because, down toward the bottom of the social ladder, nobody is fighting, Gwen thought to hirself. Indeed, she became nervous and rather shy whenever shi came across Sarrah and hir friends in the hallways.
The bathroom door creaked open, jolting Gwen out of hir own brain. Shi looked up, fighting her tears to see.
“Gwen?” Jenford asked gently. Recognizing the voice, Gwen dried hir eyes as best as shi could before exiting the stall. My face must be a mess! Gwen thought, thinking of hir makeup, before remembering that shi wasn't wearing any. “Everything okay?” Jenford asked again. Gwen nodded, gently wiping hir eyes. “Whoa! Chick, were you crying?”
Gwen nodded. “Yeah, I guess,” shi replied, hir voice wavering as shi walked up to the sink to wash hir face. Looking in the mirror, other than slightly red eyes, there was nothing to suggest that shi had been crying. That’s one advantage of being a gurl, shi supposed. If shi was still a girl, there would have been huge streaks of mascara running down hir face. “It's just been a little overwhelming, you know?” Gwen explained, glancing over at Jenford. “Coming here to a new place, it's all just taking a lot of getting used to.”
Jenford shifted uncomfortably, still reeling. Shi wasn't used to other gurls opening up like this; that was more of a boi thing. Shi placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. “I get that. Like I said earlier… I know how you feel, it can get a bit overwhelming at times, but you'll get used to it. I thought that you looked uncomfortable, so I came in here to check up on you, but I never expected to see you crying,” Jenford admitted. “I know that it can be tough but you need to woman up. Gurls don't cry.” Gwen sniffed a little but nodded. Shi was starting to realise that, in this world, gurls didn't share their feelings with each other. “Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were crying.”
Gwen offered a weak smile. “Thanks.”
