An Accidental New Life

 

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 with 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 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!

---

 

Entering her room, I didn’t find anything that caught my eye. I hadn’t been in the rooms of many girls, but Temperance’s room seemed quite normal. Turquoise walls, a desk, her bed a laptop and a few books, movies and video games in surfaces I didn’t name. Normal, I think. I could see that she had taken a few stuff of the wall, but I didn’t think that much about it. I mean, we all have our embarrassing interests, right? I sat on her bed and she sat beside me.

Temperance looked incredibly red due to my presence in her room. Honestly, though, her blushing matched my discomfort. Being here after everything that had happened yesterday was weird, being alone with a girl in her room was weird and, crap, being here wearing girl’s clothes was weird. It just started dawning on me how awkward this whole situation was. Not only for me, but also for her.

For the longest time, we just sat there in silence, awkwardly trying to think of a way to start our conversation. It took what seemed an eternity before one of us could even say a word to each other.

“Where are your moms?”

“Jogging. They… they should be back in about an hour. You know about them?”

“Yes, I heard of them that’s how I found you. You don’t jog?”

She shook her head.

“Not… not my thing.”

“Hmm… What… What is your thing?”

“Cl…clothes, movies, books and video games.”

I smiled at her last words and then I remembered how terrible I was to her yesterday.

“I…I want to apologize, yesterday I was kind of rude. I mean, I could make an excuse about being stressed and that being the cause of my behaviour, but that would be false. I just saw an opportunity to be smug and took it.”

“I… I …I was rude too, I shouldn’t have called you stupid. I… I don’t know you yet, but you don’t seem stupid…” Said Temperance with a shy smile. “And you… you made the effort to search for me and apologize. How could you be a bad person?” She added.

She was wrong about the whole me searching for her thing, but I would let her believe it. I wanted to be friends with after all.

“Say, could you keep quiet to your moms about you seeing me there?”

She nodded.

“Good.”

Once again a major crisis was averted.

“Why… why were you there last night?” Asked temperance blushing less than before.

“I have a condition that makes it very awkward to shower near the other girls.”

Technically not a lie.

Temperance eyebrows rose as I talked about a condition.

“Does… does one of my moms know about it? I... I don’t want to intrude, but…but you know they might actually give you an official permission for late night showers.”

I didn’t know how to answer that question without self-incriminating myself. I could lie to her, but then one of mothers would tell her the truth and I would be busted. I could also tell her the truth and hope that Allison was right about her.

I was tempted to take the leap of faith option, but then I remembered that many factors that made my situation seem way worse that it was actually. There was the whole being trans without any member of the staff knowing, the whole being in her room thing and of course the whole closet scene last night. Needless to say the odds weren’t in my favour in this very moment and just thinking about that fact made me teary eyed. I was screwed. There was no way around it.

“I have a story to tell you, but please do not freak out.”

Temperance had a puzzled look on her face as she nodded to my request.

“I don’t know how to say this, but I am not supposed to be here, I was accidentally signed up to this school.”

Temperance looked at me completely confused.

“The truth is that… I am transgender and I just discovered it this week.”

I think I saw her eyes lit up for a fraction of a second.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m biologically male.”

Her face took a quite serious look.

“You are biologically male and nobody at school’s knows it… you know how that sounds right.”

Her shyness was gone and I could feel her anger rising.

I couldn’t hold my tears anymore.

“Bad, terribly bad, I know… but please listen to me. It isn’t how it sounds.”

She stood up and then I thought that my life was officially over … To my surprise she came back with a box of tissues and said: “I give you half an hour, no more than that. If you can’t convince me before that I will have no choice, but to report you.”

I took a deep breath and started talking. I told her everything and when I mean everything I mean it. I talked about my mom, my aunt, Leon and his memories, my week and how emotionally exhausted it was. All throughout my tale I could see Temperance mellow as the words exited my mouth. By the end of it she was hugging me and I wasn’t the only one in tears.

“Brook... you are either the greatest actor and storyteller I have ever seen or the unluckiest person ever… And you know what? Seeing how you actually went to see me despite the risks, I can’t help but to believe your words.”

She restarted talking.

“The truth Brooke is that...”

As she said those words, the main door of the house opened.

“Temperance, sweetie, we are home! Come eat breakfast with your adorable mommies.”

Temperance deflated and went back to her blushing self.

“Mommy, I have a friend over could you be less embarrassing please!”

“Honey, have you heard that! Our little Temperance has made a friend!”

“Oh my God dear, I can’t believe this. Temperance come here with your new friend so we can take a good look at her!”

Thankfully I wasn’t wearing any makeup, so it didn’t look that much like I had a major emotional crisis.

Temperance took my hand and lead me downstairs.

“Look at them honey, they are holding hands. Our little Temperance is holding hands with someone. Can you believe it?”

I think I could feel Temperance embarrassment through her hands.

“Mom, mommy could you please stop em…em...embarrassing me in front of Brooke.”

“Oh, so her name is Brooke.”

“Well, hello Brooke. I’m one of Temperance’s mothers, the school psychologist, you can call me Mrs. Athena. Unlike the teachers the administration doesn’t mind how students call me,” Said a Tall woman with black hair and very blue eyes. She looked like she was in the late twenties despite some indications going against that.

Right beside her stood her wife, way smaller than her. She was a redhead with green eyes and a ton of freckles. She looked exactly like an older version of Temperance.

“You can call me Mrs. Emily, I am the school nurse. Say Brooke have you eaten breakfast yet?”

My stomach answered for me.

“Well looks like the answer is no. I hope you don’t mind pancakes!”

I think I saw Temperance mentally face palming herself. Sorry, Temperance, I will totally apologize for this when the time is right.
~*~
“So Brooke, how do you like your new school? Do you feel lonely or…”

“Honey! Could you please not do that, she just came here to have fun. Don’t scare her away!”

“Oh sorry dear! Hahaha! Bad habits. So how did you two meet?”

“At school! We met at school!” Said Temperance.

“Well obviously you met at school, sweetie, but how precisely did you meet?” Said Mrs. Athena.

She turned to me.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking that Brooke! I just want some reference on how to treat cases as a fusional as our daughter Hahaha!”

If Temperance could bury herself under the ground that would be what she would right now.

“I just saw her and thought that she might need more friends.”

“Oh, Brooke that so sweet of you! You get an extra pancake because of that! Temperance has been stressing since this summer about making friends in high school! Yet when she came here she didn’t want to leave our side! We started really worrying about her!”

“Honey! You are embarrassing Brooke and our daughter!”

“Sorry Temperance and sorry Brooke. I am just so excited!”

Breakfast here was fun. Very fun actually. Seeing Temperance’s cute reactions to anything her mothers said was priceless. The Webster-McArthur’s were a lovable family, the 3 of them. Especially Temperance, I kinda hated myself for saying that I didn’t want to meet her ever again this morning. I feel like I would have missed something wonderful if I had kept that promise.

As I was ready to leave right after breakfast Temperance approached me.

“Will…Will you come to hang out again? I mean… My moms are embarrassing, but you have given them expectations and I don’t want to break them… And I’m not sure if I can really leave you alone with everything going in your life and… and…”

For some unknown reason I was smiling.

“Don’t worry, I will come here again. Breakfast here is as entertaining as breakfast with my friends and my sisters. I might start coming here often… Hahaha.”

She laughed as well.

“Let’s meet at school next time.”

“I… I wouldn’t want to take some of your time away from your friends… you clearly need them.”

I hugged her and smiling at her, I said “You also are in need of a good friend! We will definitely hang out again and when the time is right I will present you to my friends and family.”

Although I didn’t mean it, that last sentence clearly had a double meaning and Temperance understood it.

“You… you are going too fast, perv!”

I laughed at her joke and hugged her goodbye.

I went back to my dorm thinking about Temperance. I really hoped she would get along with my friends and the rest of my family. She needed friends and as wonderful as I was, I couldn’t count for a whole network of friends.

As I entered my room I saw Beatricia and Adele talking with Mackenzie.

“We were waiting for you sister, tell us how it was while we start working on our homework.”

“Calm down Mackenzie, it wasn’t date. Just a friendly meeting.”

“Simple meeting, right. Then why are you blushing so much,” Said Trish.

“Ok, it ended up being more than a simple meeting, it kinda turned into a confessional and then a fun moment with her parents.”

“Confessional?” Asked Adele.

“Confessional. I had to admit my crimes after she discovered that something wasn’t quite right.”

“Did it go well? Was Allie right?”

“I couldn’t prove her theory, but yes it went well. Temperance is awesome. Cute, kind and very nonjudgmental.”

“Oh my … All those compliments and blushing again? Oh my sis … are you developing a crush for her. ”

“N…no what are you talking about? We are friends! Or at least we will become friends … soon hopefully.”

“Girls did you hear the same thing as I did when our little Brookie said that last word.”

“Yes, Mackenzie. I think our little Brooke might be going on a date by the end of next month.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that Trish. Remember how both of them are, there is no way they will be going out by next term.”

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever become as annoying as them. It almost seemed to be a requirement to be a teenage girl!

The week went unexpectedly well until Friday. When I say well, I mean as good as it can go when you have all your sisters and your friends teasing you about a girl you just met. There were no incidents this week which was quite nice! I mean, remember how much happened last week? You could write a whole novel with just those events!

Sadly, I didn’t see Temperance all week and that kinda tainted my week, but hey that’s what happens when you try to befriend someone has elusive as her. I’m pretty sure that in a week or two she might start hanging out with my friends. I just needed to subtly start presenting her to my other friends… A plan just started forming in my head.