This might sound a little bit harsh, but I have to say that I am fool. The biggest of fools actually. When my mother died and my father, someone that I had never met in my life, proposed to take me in, I actually believed that I was going to live him. That of course wasn’t going to happen. That man without even meeting me once was sending me to a boarding school. A boarding school that apparently didn’t even know my name or my gender, because in the letter they sent me to tell me I was accepted they kept referring me as Miss Brooke Falconer. That was completely ridiculous, I mean, I was Brook Woods, a tough (yet slightly short) guy!

Changing my last name wasn’t the part that bothered me, I was expecting it since the moment “father” (I totally meant the quotation marks) decided to “take me in”. The part that really infuriated me was changing my name to Brooke. Although that extra “e” seemed to be an innocent and minuscule change, it had the potential to transform into a terrifying monster that would ruin my life. I was already teased for being small, having shoulder length hair and a gender ambiguous name, if my name started screaming female, I wouldn’t even be able to argue with anyone with those that wanted to tease me.

To say that I didn’t want to go the boarding because there was a chance I might get teased 24/7 was obvious. I didn’t have much of a choice though, it was either the school where I might or might not get teased or continue living with my aunt like I had done for the past few weeks. Thanks, but no thanks to that. Living with my aunt was like being Cinderella or being a certain boy who lived before he was accepted to a certain wizardry school, it was hell! A hell that would hopefully not have an equivalent in my new school. I was already putting my suitcases in the luggage compartment of a bus that would take me half way to my destination, so domain of Hades or not, I couldn’t regret my choice.

I entered the bus and went to the place indicated on my ticket, a seat completely at the back of the bus. I waited for people to come sit near me, but nobody came so I made myself comfortable and then I started recuperating all the sleeping hours I had lost due to my aunt.

“Hey kid, wake up, we have arrived at the terminal.”

I was woken up by the deep voice of a man who seemed to be the driver. I was startled for a second, but I quickly stood up and making sure to apologize to the man whose time I had taken, I exited the bus.

It was raining outside, but I wasn’t worried that worried about it, I mean, I had my suitcases with me, I could change anytime… Or at least I thought so until the universe decided to play a trick on me! I looked at the place where I had put my luggage and I realized it was empty!

Someone had taken my suitcases! I ran back to the entrance of the bus and asked the driver if he had seen my stuff.

“Sorry kid, we are not responsible if anything is lost, so I can’t do anything for you.”

Soon after finishing that sentence, the driver kicked me off his vehicle, closed the door of his vehicle and entered the bus station.

To say that I was livid after that interaction was an understatement. I was about to follow the rude man inside to find his boss and complain to him, but a car passed right beside me driving through an immense puddle of water and large quantities of water flew towards me. I suddenly found myself wet head to toe.

As the first cold drops of waters hit my body, I lost all my will to fight and started remembering the last year. Mother dying, living with my aunt, realising that my father did not care about me, losing all of my possessions and now this! I had managed to hold my tears until that point, but that… that was too much… way too much! The dam that had been holding my tears was about to break and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I just sat on the nearest bench and not caring anymore about keeping my appearance as a tough (although, short) guy, I started crying for the first since I was 5 years old. I reminisced about the past, about how I used to have so much fun with my mom, before cancer took her away from me. I thought about my aunt and how she used to deprive me of most necessary needs…

I had been crying for not even 2 minutes when I heard someone talk to me.

“I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

I lifted my head and I saw a young woman with short red hair talking to me. She seemed to be only few years older than me and she probably was the one that had been driving the car that had put me in this pitiful state. I wanted to be mad at her and tell she was a terrible person for what she had done, but she looked ashamed of what had just happened, so I forgave her.

“It’s Ok, I was already wet anyway,” I said to the girl while sobbing.

“Do you have a change of clothes? I wouldn’t want for you to fall sick because of me… ”

“I just lost all my luggage, it was probably stolen…” I answered truthfully.

The girl looked at me with a mix of shame and sadness.

“Do you live near here? We might be able to call your parents to take you back home and change.”

“My mother is dead and my father is out of the country at the moment … In three hours I have to take a bus to my new boarding school…”

The tears restarted falling again at full force.

The girl sat beside me and then held me until I stopped crying. Afterwards, we restarted talking.

“I’m sorry for taking part in what has probably been a quite terrible day, I can’t offer you much, but I think I may have clean clothes that will fit you in the trunk of my car.”

For a second I was happy, good news! But then I realized that the clothes she would lend me would probably be hers. I wanted to change, but I didn’t want to look girly.

“I’m a guy, you know. I can’t wear girl clothes.”

She didn’t looked surprised at my statement. She just nodded and started talking.

“I noticed the fact that you were a boy once you started talking, so don’t worry about that. The clothes I have in my trunk are somewhat androgynous so I thought you might still want to wear them.”

I was going to refuse, but the wind started picking up and I suddenly got quite cold. The girl noticed me shivering and so grabbed my arm and took me inside a beauty salon that was in front of the bus terminal. She opened the salon’s door with a key and told me to wait at the back.

I was going to say something, but I realized that she probably wouldn’t listen to what I had say. I waited in the back of the shop for 10 minutes before she came back with two bags in her hands.

She showed me two bags and then started talking.

“Change. No arguing,” She said in a quite serious tone.

I didn’t want to fight with someone that was helping me so I immediately followed her orders and entered the restroom that was behind me.

I started looking at the content of the bags.

Inside one of the bags and I found a pair of black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and a pair of purple sneakers. The clothes looked form fitting and honestly I kinda hated that, I had no doubt that by wearing these clothes some people might start confusing me for a girl. I was going to yell something through the door, but remembering the girl’s “No arguing” comment, I decided to just shut up.

After being disappointed by the first bag, I looked at the second one and my disappointment went through the roof like a ball going through a window. Inside, I found a few new pairs of socks and … a new pair of panties.

I had to make a comment. No way was I wearing those! I might have cried in public, but I still had little bit pride. Guys don’t wear those, ever!

“Huh… Did you really have to buy girl’s underwear?”

Yes, I know my words didn’t match my outrage, but that’s just the way I am.

“The clothing stores around here only sell female clothes, so even if they aren’t to your liking, go change kiddo!”

Being a rebellious teenager and an extremely manly guy, I decided of course to just get the hell out of the store… or not. I actually obliged and few moments afterwards I came out of the restroom with dry clothes but with most of my dignity gone. Here goes my objective of being a paragon of manliness.

“No need to be embarrassed, you are wearing those out of necessity, no? I am sure most people would understand. By the way, my name is Allison, what yours? ”

“Brook.” I said probably looking as red as a tomato.

“Well, Brook. You look quite tired so why not sleep in one of the unoccupied rooms of the salon. Few people are going to come in today, so it won’t probably bother my boss. I will wake you up in 2 hours, so don’t worry.”

I took her offer and followed her to one of the rooms of the salon.

“There is no bed here, but you can sleep on the chair, sleep well Brook,” She said with a soothing smile in her face.

I sat on the salon chair and hoping that Allison wasn’t secretly a serial killer or another kind of criminal, I fell asleep for a second time today.

“Brook, Brook, Wake up!”

Allison was shaking me up while calling my name.

“What? Is it time to go? ”I asked the girl who seemed to be panicking very hard.

“Yes, but there is been some kind of incident,” Said Allison seriously afraid.

“Incident?” I asked having somewhat an idea of what might have just happen.

“Remember when I said that this room wouldn’t be used today? Well, I was wrong … you were mistaken for a customer and …”

I stopped listening at that moment…

My hunch was right, I was totally given a girl’s haircut, right? Uh… Honestly at this point I didn’t even care anymore, the moment that I started wearing panties I had lost my man card and all of my dignity. Seeing how I was going to what seemed to be coed a boarding school, I might as well try to live as a girl … I’ m just kidding of course, my clothes should have dried by now, I am just going to change and then cut my hair once I arrive at school.

“Don’t worry, Allison, having a girly haircut is far from the worst thing that could have happened while I was asleep. I will just take my stuff and be on my way. I might have enough time to change before boarding the bus if I go now.”

“Sorry, Brook. I have caused you trouble twice today,” She said with guilt in her eyes.

“You helped thrice too, so you are still in the positives. Do you have the bag where I put my clothes?”

“You didn’t have it with you?” Allison said confused.

The universe sure hates me.

We both thoroughly searched through the building to find my clothes, but they seemed to have disappeared. So I just gave up.

“You know what Alison… I’m just going to take my bus, while I still have my wallet and my ticket on me. I seem to suffer from extreme bad luck, so I’m just going to take off. If you find my clothes, keep them, I have some of your clothes anyway too, so we will simply exchange them once we meet again… if that ever happens…”

Alison looked extremely sad, I could see that she felt bad about all the things that had happened today. She opened her mouth and uttered a few words.

“Sorry and bye Brook.”

“Bye, Alison,” Saying those words, I exited the salon and went back to the bus terminal. It wasn’t raining anymore, so at least I had that going for me.

I didn’t have any trouble finding my bus because the name of my new school was written on it. I presented my ticket to the driver and because I wanted to meet the least amount of people possible in my female form, I decided to seat at the back.

A few minutes passed and the bus started filling up, so I started looking outside, through the window, trying to avoid the gaze of others. My plan worked for a few minutes, but then someone started talking at me.

“Can I sit here?” Those words were said by a girl my age that had blue eyes, blond hair and a very warm smile.

Trying to make my voice feminine yet not caricatural I answered back. “Uh… y…yes?”

The girl sat right beside me and then restarting talking. “I’m Mackenzie, you?”

“Brook.” As I mindlessly uttered my real name, regret seemed to form in my mind. I hadn’t thought before speaking and now my life would be ruined if I ever met Mackenzie in male form!

“Your hair is very beautiful Brooke. Your short wavy bob goes perfectly with your face. ”

“T…t...thanks, your hair is very beautiful too.” Her hair was braided with a bun at the back. Her haircut, her platinum blonde hair and her clothes, a blue sundress, made her look like a princess or the heiress to a great fortune. I couldn’t help but be impressed by her elegance.

“Are you a freshman here, Brook?”

“Yes.”

“Same thing, over here, although I’m used to going to boarding schools and living in dorms,” Mackenzie said those words with quite bit of sadness.

“Busy parents?”

“Yes, like everyone here. You? ”

“Busy dad and dead mother.” I kept it short because I didn’t want her to know too much about me, I also honestly didn’t feel like talking about my family.

“I’m sorry about your mom…”

“So I am Mackenzie, so I am….” Although I tried to prevent it, a few tears fell from my eyes, Mackenzie seemed to have noticed it because she took out a few tissues and gave them to me. “Sorry, for ruining the mood.” I said while cleaning up my face.

“It’s my fault, for asking such personal questions, sorry…” Said the blonde.

“No, I asked them first, so it’s my fault, sorry...”

We looked at each other for a few seconds and then we laughed for a few seconds.

“We are apologizing so much we must sound Canadian to anyone around us,” I said trying to lighten our already improved mood.

“I’m actually Canadian.” Mackenzie said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep, Maple syrup, Hockey, poutine and everything.” Mackenzie said while laughing.

I joined her laughter too. “Aren’t you just describing Canadian stereotypes?” I asked jokingly.

“Yep, but you started it!”

Mackenzie started giggling and then so did I.

“Mackenzie, you are really funny!”

She looked surprised at my statement.

“You think, so… That’s the first time I got that compliment. You are really funny too. By the way, call me Mackie. Mackenzie, that’s just way too long. ”

“That’s what’s she said!”

Mackie stared at me.

“Sorry, Brooke but for that joke lame comment I will have to take away your title as the world funniest person.” Mackie said while laughing.

“First and a half, is still quite a good position,” I answered while still laughing.

“You are way too funny Brooke, your personality doesn’t match your appearance.”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I said to her

Yes, my words had a double meaning, but hopefully she would never know that.

I was having fun for the first time in months, in fact I was enjoying myself to the point of almost forgetting that after this first meeting with Mackenzie, I should try to avoid meeting her again. Those thoughts made me kind of sad, but it had to be done to make sure that my secret was never revealed to anyone. Thinking about that, I decided to enjoy my time with Mackenzie to the maximum.

Throughout our journey there wasn’t a minute were Mackie and I weren’t joking. We had decided to keep it light by not talking too much about our personal lives and it worked. I don’t know how we did it but Mackie and I managed to spend 3 hours just joking non-stop. If it was true that laughing made you live longer then me and my new friend might live to see the fifth millennium.

As the bus approached the school grounds, I realized that there wherever I looked I only saw girls. My eyes could have been deceiving me, so I decided to ask Mackie just to be sure. “Mackie, there seems to only be girls around here, why is that?”

“Because this is an all-girls school, duh!”

I won’t go too much into detail, but let’s just say that several f-bombs and insults towards my father went through my mind at that very moment.