In this chapter, our hero learns about restroom rules, bravely selects what to eat for lunch, and joins his first SIGL meeting.

Copyright 2020 by Heather Rose Brown

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Vic was leaning against the far wall when I entered the girl's restroom. Chrissy dabbed under his closed eyes with a fingertip, leaving behind shiny tan dots.

Vic's eyes popped open when the door thunked closed behind me.

"Would you relax?" Chrissy asked as she spread the dots with another finger.

"I don't wanna get in trouble again."

"It's just concealer. Nobody'll even notice."

Vic smiled at me, but there was a worried look in his eyes when he asked, "Does it look like I'm wearing makeup?"

I walked across the room until I was standing next to Chrissy, then took a long look at Vic's face. "I guess your eyes are still a little red, but your lids don't look as bad as they was before. Besides that, I wouldn't have guessed ya had anything on."

"See," Chrissy said as she recapped a small, tan bottle. "If she don't see it while looking ya square in the face, I'm sure nobody else will."

Hearing myself called 'she' hit me ... well ... maybe not like a ton of bricks, but at least as hard as a loosely packed snowball. Griff had called me 'her' and 'she' too ... at least, at first. On the other hand, the school therapist didn't act weird when I said I was a boy, and called me Tommy when I'd asked her to.

While I was juggling gender stuff in my head, the bathroom door creaked open, and an annoyed voice asked, "What's a boy doing in here?"

I turned and saw a couple of girls standing near the doorway. "I'm sorry," I said as I took a step away from them. "I was just worried about my friend, and ... well ..."

The taller girl flung her long ponytail over a shoulder, and her duffel bag swayed in her tight grip. "Why ya 'pologizing for him being in here?"

The shorter girl wrinkled her freckled nose, then poked the other girl in the ribs with an elbow. "Can't ya tell her friend's a delicate?"

The taller girl's face went from angry, to confused, to embarrassed. "Oh ... sorry 'bout that." Her face turned pink as she rushed into a stall.

The shorter girl unwrapped one of the arms she had around her backpack, and waved as she walked up to us. "I'm Jessi,"she said as she held out a hand to me.

I shook her hand as I said, "I'm ... uhhh ... Tracy."

Jessi smiled when she let go, then asked, "Ya still getting used to your name?"

"Whatcha mean?"

"Ya sounded a little unsure when ya answered." She tilted her head towards the closed stall door, and said, "If you're worried about Tanya, don't be. She's just having issues with the new bathroom rules."

"Ahhh," Chrissy said while waving her hand under a faucet. A gush of water flowed over her fingers as she asked, "What kinda issues?"

"It's sorta complicated," Jessi said, "but it mostly boils down to a problem with a boy who'd been harassing her."

Vic sighed and said, "I can relate."

Jessi turned to him and asked, "You having problems with a boy too?"

"Sorta, yeah. He decided I fancied him, so he cornered me in the boy's loo, and tried to-"

"What's a loo?" Jessi asked.

Chrissy gave Vic a gentle smile, then reached for a paper towel as she said, "It's British for bathroom."

"Hold on," Tanya called out. A toilet flushed as the door to her stall opened. "They made a delicate use the boys room?" she asked as she strode towards the nearest sink.

Vic's jaw clenched for a moment, then he said, "I'd tried getting my mum and dad to sign that stupid form, but they're both stuck in the dark ages, so it was a no go for where I wanted to go when I needed to go."

"Dang," Tanya said as she scrubbed her hands. "Not being able to be yourself, 'cause somebody wouldn't sign a form, sounds pretty awful." She sighed while rinsing off her hands, then smiled at Vic as she reached for a paper towel. "For what it's worth, I think ya aughta be able to at least use a bathroom ya feel safe in, no matter what your parent think."

"Really?" Chrissy asked as she dragged a backpack off the counter.

Tanya nodded as she dried her hands. "Everybody deserves a place they feel safe."

Chrissy pulled out and activated her tablet. "Would ya be willing to thumb-sign our self identified gender petition?"

Tanya drummed her fingers against her thigh, then smiled as she tossed the paper towel into a waste basket. "Sure!" she said as she dug a tablet out of her bag. "Could ya send it to me?"

Jessi reached into her backpack, and pulled out a tablet as she said, "Me too!"

Chrissy tapped her device a few times, then made a couple of swiping motions. Tanya's and Jessi's tablets chimed at almost the same time. After a minute or so of reading, Jessie pressed her thumb against the face of her device, and Chrissy's tablet beeped.

Tanya thumbed her tablet a few seconds later, then said, "I'm glad you're doing this."

Everyone's devices chimed at the same time.

"Sounds like second period's over," Vic said while threading an arm through the handles of the tote bag at his feet.

Jessi grabbed Tanya's wrist when the muted ringing of a bell started in the hallway, "We better get to study hall if we wanna be ready for another one of Mr Garner's pop quizzes."

Tanya groaned as she was dragged out of the bathroom, but there was a playfulness in her voice when she said, "Don't worry 'bout me. Save yourselves!"

Vic giggled, then touched the back of my arm as he asked, "Ya got third period lunch?"

I wriggled my backpack off my shoulders, and looked for my tablet as I said, "Lemme check." After finding and starting up my device, I poked at a few of the icons. "Ah," I said when my schedule finally opened, "says here I got first lunch shift for third period."

"Great!" Chrissy said as she stowed her tablet. "That means ya can join us for today's meeting!"

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"Dangit," I said as I stuffed my jeans back into my backpack.

"What's wrong?" Vic asked while picking up a tray from the stack by the lunch line.

"I forgot to ask my mom for lunch money this morning,"

Chrissy picked up a couple of trays when the line moved. "Don't worry," she said as she handed a tray to me. "There's a meal stipend on your student ID card."

"A meal what?" I asked as I slung a backpack strap over my shoulder.

Vic set his tray on the serving line rails as he said, "It means the school gives you a free lunch when you scan your card at the cash register."

While I wondered how the school could afford to give out free lunches, a couple of boys shoved open the double doors near us. A cold breeze rushed in, and my legs prickled with goosebumps when it blew up my skirt.

"Brrrr," Chrissy said as she set her tray next to Vic's.

"Double brrr," I said as I stepped up next to Chrissy, and placed my tray with a dull clack on the serving line rails.

Chrissy rubbed her arms as she said, "I really wish they wouldn't make us wear skirts. At least, not when it starts getting cold."

"Me too," I said as I nodded. I'd often felt jealous about girls being able to wear pretty things, but I never really thought about there being a down side for them as well. Having your legs turn into popsicles while wearing a skirt was definitely a big down side. I was wondering what other things girls had to put up with, when I realized someone was trying to get my attention.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Regular or veggie loaf?" asked a burly man in a chef's uniform on the opposite side of the serving line.

"Huh?"

The man gestured with a spatula to a pair of trays filled with brown slabs of ... something. "Would you like the regular meatloaf," he asked, "or the vegetarian option?"

"Ummm ... which would you suggest?"

He held a plastic-gloved hand a few inches from his mouth, made a kissing sound as he opened his fingers, then grinned and said, "Both are très magnifique!"

I said a quick prayer to any school lunch deities who might be listening, then pointed to the tray on the left.

The man gave me a quick nod, then filled a ceramic plate with foodish looking items. "Enjoy!" he said as he reached over the sneeze guard, and handed the plate to me.

Once I picked something to drink, a chipper lady behind the register tallied up what I had on my tray. I tapped my card on the scanner in front of her, nodded and smiled when she thanked me, then turned and looked for someplace to sit.

"Oh, there she is!" Vic said. I glanced in the direction he was pointing, and saw Richie waving at us. "Looks like she saved seats for all of us," he added as he began walking towards her.

Chrissy smiled at me as she said, "C'mon!" then followed behind Vic.

I almost fell into my old habit of finding someplace I could eat alone, but having lunch while being surrounded by friendly faces was too tempting. "Habits are for nuns," I said to myself, then took a couple of quick steps until I'd caught up with Chrissy and Vic.

"Hey there," Richie said when I sat beside her. "Everything go okay with Dr Korvin?"

"I guess so," I said as I shrugged. "We talked a bit about Griff."

Vic grumbled under his breath, then stabbed his fork at a chunk of meat ... or possibly a meat-like product.

Chrissy patted his arm and said, "I've got a feeling he's gonna be gone for a while."

Vic sighed and said, "Sorry 'bout that. Just hearing his name can set me off." He sat up straighter and smiled. "Don't mind me."

"How 'bout a new topic?" Chrissy asked.

Richie nodded and said, "Good idea." She rapped her knuckles on the table, then said, "Let this official meeting of the Self Identified Gender League come to order!"