Synopsis: Remy is forced to accept some hard truths about Alpha Gamma while Allison tries to figure out what kind of person she really is.

“Um, Remy?” She said. “How…long have you been there?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Remy said dismissively. “Allison, you’re bleeding, what happened?”

“I…” I trailed off, still holding Brianna tightly.

“Okay, we’ll deal with that in a minute. There are a few things I need to talk to both of you about so…”

Brianna patted me on the arm and motioned for me to stand up. As we sat down at the table, she patted my forehead down with a damp towel to clear up the blood, though I had the feeling it wasn’t going to just go away. What had I done to myself?

“She’s going to need stitches,” Brianna remarked. “We’ll have to drive her to the hospital really soon, before this gets infected.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Remy said as she examined my head. “Allison, you can’t do things like this, seriously. I know you’re upset and hurt but my god, think before you act, okay?”

“I just…I don’t feel like…I mean, they made me feel like less of a woman I guess,” I tried to explain. Remy looked at me sympathetically and laid a hand on my knee.

“That’s what I’m here to talk to you about,” She said. “First and foremost, you’re a woman, Allison, as much of a woman as any I’ve seen, even if you have blood running down your face and you haven’t put your makeup on. Secondly, I filed an appeal on your behalf.”

“I was hoping you’d do that,” Brianna said as she leaned against the table, putting her hands out in front of her. “It’s not going to be easy, though. I feel like they did this on purpose.”

“You know,” Remy nodded. “It kind of feels like they let her in with the intention of letting her go as soon as something went wrong – and it did. Normally with a situation like this Panhellenic would investigate before they took such a drastic action. In this case, they didn’t and we all know why. They want to push this under the rug and forget that Allison even exists. It won’t look bad, they can make it go away as long as the chapter doesn’t complain, and they know we won’t because we could lose our charter, and in some cases, our scholarships if Panhellenic decides to make it look like we were complicit. It also depends on Allison not complaining because she pretty much feels defeated at this point.”

“So what are you saying?” Brianna demanded. “Are you saying you guys are just going to sit back and let this happen?”

“No,” Remy shook her head. “We had a conference early this morning about what we would do. All of the active members are in favor of coming forward. We don’t appreciate being used like this and we don’t appreciate them throwing Allison under the bus.”

“That’s…pretty bold,” Brianna said. I was listening but I wasn’t quite sure what was happening here. What did it even mean?

“It’s a risk,” Remy agreed. “And you know that Allison is going to have to pull her weight or this is all for nothing. Can you do that, Allison?”

Both Remy and Brianna stared at me. I had no idea what to say. What did they even want me to do?

“Okay, Allison,” Brianna said to me, leaning in a little bit. “Remy filed an appeal on your behalf with Panhellenic. That means you’re going to need to speak in front of the board. Can you do that?”

“I…I guess,” I said. “What should I say?”

“Can’t really tell you that,” Remy said. “Just make sure it’s good, because all of our lives are depending on it.”

“I want you to understand,” Brianna said to me as she stared directly into my eyes. “While I 100% agree with what they’re doing for you, you need to recognize that they’re taking a huge risk. This could get the chapter dissolved or at least placed under massive restrictions. I mean, no pressure but you didn’t pledge to Panhellenic, you pledged to your sisters and those sisters are about to go to bat for you. This is what it’s all about. Are you ready?”

“I think so,” I nodded. “I mean I…”

“Over the next few days you need to come up with what you’re going to say and you need to make it good. You need to give them a reason to let you back in because in a way, you’re literally fighting for trans rights. This is big, Allison, really big, and I want you to know that I’m so proud of you for taking it on.”

“Thank you…Brianna,” I nodded. “I just hope I don’t screw it up.”

“In about a week you’ll need to fly out to Indiana,” Remy said. “I’m going to go with you. Brianna will come with us too. You’re not going to be alone.”

“Indiana?” I said. “That’s…why?”

“That’s where our house is headquarter, Allison,” Brianna told me. “You’re going to go stand before the board and you’re going to give them a speech. Speak from the heart, be yourself. It’s going to be intimidating but please, remember we’re here for you. I’ll see if I can get mom to fly out too, okay?”

“Now with that aside,” Remy said as she inspected my head. “We’re going to have to get you to the hospital like, right now. Oh, and please, don’t do this again, we don’t want you to go to National looking like a Ragedy Anny doll, okay?”

Brianna shook her head and helped me to my feet. She had me change into a pair of sweats before taking me outside, and thankfully her car was in the garage, so we didn’t have to walk through the rain. They loaded me into the back seat and Remy chose to sit with me rather than riding up front with Brianna; that was a nice touch. As Brianna drove us further into town I listened in silence to the sound of the rain splattering against the windshield and zoned in on the cars passing us. Water sloshing against tires and the hum of the road beneath the chassis. For a little while, just a little, I was able to enjoy the rain again, and I had my sister, and Remy to thank for it.

“We’re here,” Brianna announced as she pulled under the emergency room awning. “Take her in, I’ll catch up with you.”

At the front desk, Remy explained why we were there. She simply explained to the receptionist that I’d gotten my hair caught in a car door and tried to pull it out. That was as good of an explanation as any.

“Okay, let’s fill out these forms,” Remy said as we sat down and she began reading over the clipboard. “Your name is…oh yeah, Miles Parsons. Do you know your social security number?”

I cringed a little at hearing my old name, I don’t think she noticed. I gave her all the information as Brianna finally walked through the door and took a seat beside us.

“Uh, insurance?” Remy asked. Brianna handed an insurance card across to Remy to attach to the clipboard. Why did she have my insurance card? I was on Mom’s insurance yeah, but…I felt like they controlled like every aspect of my life sometimes. Okay, I guess in some ways they did and I think I was enjoying it to an extent; maybe I liked being coddled but I also recognized that it was coming to an end. I was going to have to stand in front of National and speak. They were actually depending on me, and it didn’t feel good.

“You good?” Brianna asked, looking across me at Remy.

“Yeah, we’ve got this,” Remy said as she stood and carried the clipboard back up to the receptionist. We sat there and waited for a bit and fortunately the waiting room wasn’t very busy.

“Miles?” A nurse called out. I stood and expected to walk back there by myself, but Brianna stood with me and squeezed my hand. I looked to Remy who remained seated and smiled at me encouragingly.

We followed the nurse down a brief hallway and were eventually directed to a small curtained off section. I sat on the bed while Brianna took the chair.

“Look at that,” Brianna joked after the nurse left. “First class accommodations.”

“Mmm I kinda like the AG house better,” I said.

“Better than my house?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Well…” I trailed off. She laughed. It was good that we were able to laugh.

“Okay, Miles!” The doctor said as he walked in with a clipboard. “So you got your hair caught in a car door?”

“Yeah,” I answered using my feminine voice.

“Well, let’s take a look young man,” He said. Brianna scowled at him but he didn’t seem to take notice.

“Excuse me, doctor?” Brianna spoke up. “My sister identifies as a female.”

The doctor ignored her as he examined my head.

“We’ll just wash that out with antibiotics and stitch it up,” He said. “Give me one second.”

He briefly left the room and Brianna mouthed ‘Are you okay?’ at me. I nodded. I wasn’t okay. The doctor and nurse returned, quickly numbing the wound and stitching it up. I barely felt a thing, but throughout the entire procedure he constantly referred to me as ‘he’. I didn’t get it. I was wearing girl’s sweats, I had long hair and I sounded like a girl; or at least I thought I did. What the hell was wrong with this guy.

“Okay, Mr. Parsons,” The doctor finally said. “You’re ready to go. Try to keep your hair out of car doors – even though we both know that’s not what really happened.”

“EXCUSE ME,” Brianna finally stood up from the chair and glared at the doctor. “Why are you calling my sister a man?”

“I’m just going by what’s on the paperwork,” The doctor said. “And his ID says male. I’m going to go by his ID, and what’s obviously on the birth certificate.”

“Allison, let’s go,” Brianna said, taking me by the arm and guiding me out of the emergency room. “What a crock of shit.”

“We ready to go?” Remy asked as we walked out.

“Yeah, we’re ready,” Brianna growled as we passed her and she joined us.

“What happened back there?” Remy asked, confused.

“Douchebag doctor kept calling her a man,” Brianna said. “I’m filing a complaint. This is bullshit.”

“Okay so on the bright side,” Remy said. “Your hair looks pretty good. We can cover that scar up. I’m only saying that because you need to look good if you’re going to go in front of national. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Have to make a good impression.”

“That’s right,” Brianna said. “There’s a lot riding on this but you have some time to figure it all out. For now, let me go get the car so we can go get something to eat.”

“Where should we go?” Remy asked. “I like Steak n Shake but sometimes I can’t figure out if they have more than two employees working. Um, what about Dennys?”

“Too greasy,” Brianna said. “What about a buffet?”

“Are you crazy?” Remy said as she raised an eyebrow. “I need to keep weight off and you’re going to take me to a place where I can just shove food into my cock holster for hours on end?”

“Did…you just call your mouth a cock holster?” I asked.

“What? No,” Remy said dismissively. “Okay what about that Chinese place up by the mall?”

“I like Chinese,” I said, tying to be helpful.

“I don’t want to be hungry again in half an hour,” Brianna said.

As they argued about food I couldn’t help but concentrate on my impending doom. Was I going to screw this up? The chances of me being re-admitted were slim, and the worry began to creep into my mind. This could be the beginning of the end.