Katelyn sits on the bleachers and watches as the other girls on the swim team compete. Because of her states, new law outlawing nongenetic girls from competing in girls’ sports. She couldn’t compete anymore. Last year she could, but this year she was informed by her school board that if she wanted to compete. She would have to do it on the boys’ team. Otherwise, she’ll be riding the bench.

Her coach didn’t mind her being on the team, and neither did any of the girls on her team. So, she still wears her swimsuit and cheers them on during the meet. She watches as Felica swims against the girl she beat last year.

Coach Evans looks over and notices Katelyn is trying to put on a brave face. She knew Katelyn enjoyed swimming and competing. She thought the new law banning nongenetic girls from competing was a pile of crap. But there was nothing she or the other coaches could do to overturn it.

She knew Katelyn wasn’t going to swim for the boys. There would be questions about her swimming on their team, and some boys would feel embarrassed being beaten by someone like Katelyn. She looked so much like a girl that it would be unfair to her. It was already unfair that she couldn’t use the girls’ locker room while the other girls were using it.

Coach Evans walks over to Katelyn. “Katey, why don’t you go ahead and change while everyone is out here.”

“All right, coach.” Katelyn gets up and starts walking toward the locker room.

She walks inside the locker room and changes out of her swimsuit. She doesn’t bother to take a shower like she usually would after competing. She didn’t even get wet. She puts on the shorts she wore and her bra to support her D-cup-size breasts.

She puts on the tank top with a picture of a female biker skeleton riding a motorcycle, holding up her left hand, giving the world the middle finger. Under the image and written in flames were the words FUCK YOU BARTOW COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM!

She brushes out her long brown hair and ties it back into a ponytail. She checks her appearance and puts some light makeup on. A smile appears on her face because she designed the image silk screened on her tank top.

She walks back to the pool area and sits down on the bench. The words were written on the back of her tank top, showing the back of the female biker skeleton rider with her hand up, giving the world the middle finger.

Katelyn hears a few parents complaining about her tank top. A sly smile appears on her face. It was the reaction she wanted to get from the stuck-up bastards. She had already made a bunch of items protesting against the new law. She even drew images of the people who submitted and approved the new law dressed in drag.

One adult sitting behind her in the bleacher commented about her being rude and disrespectful. Katelyn looks at the person, “just like assholes like you, who want to put people down. Respect is earned, not given.” As she turns back around to watch the final match.

“Young man, you do not speak to me in that tone.” Mrs. Brinkley looks at Katelyn.

Katelyn looks at the woman, “first off, do I look like a male? I don’t think so. Second off, I’ll talk to you any way I fucking want. It’s people like you that are making my life unenjoyable.”

Katelyn got up and walked away from the woman before she could say anything else to her. She knew her tank top was going to cause problems. That was why she made it and wore it. She walks over to coach Evans.

“You know that woman is on the city council and her son goes here, don’t you?” Coach Evans looks at Katelyn when she mentions that.

“I don’t care. Principal Hoffman has it out for me, anyway. He doesn’t like that I’m Charley Kadeen’s child.”

“Why would he care whose child you are?” Coach Evans looked confused.

“Because he and my dad were in love with the same woman. My mother chooses my father instead of him. My father also got picked to play professional football, where Mr. Hoffman busted his knee in his senior year. He wouldn't have been injured if he had passed the football instead of trying to run it himself.” Katelyn knew all about the rivalry between her father and her principal.

“I can’t believe Mr. Hoffman would be so petty.”

“Oh, you hadn’t seen anything yet, coach. When I transferred here from my old school last year, he tried to tell me how I was supposed to dress. He wanted me to dress more like a boy than a girl.” Katelyn remembered her first day coming to school and being called to the principal’s office.

“I can believe that. You’re lucky your parents are supporting your decision.” Coach Evans knew not a lot of young people were that lucky.

“If they were alive, I think they would. I don’t know how they would feel.” Katelyn wished her parents were still around.

“What happened to your parents?” Coach Evans was curious.

“An IDE blew up my dad, and my mother was killed while trying to apprehend a suspect. She was a detective in the Augusta police department.
She and her partner were both killed by some gang members when they went to capture their leader.”

“Who are you living with now?” Coach Evans didn’t know Katelyn’s parents were dead.

“With my aunt and uncle on my mother’s side of the family. They are okay, but they let me do whatever I want. As long as I don’t come home in handcuffs, they don’t care what I do.” Katelyn knew how laid back her aunt and uncle were.

Coach Evans shakes her head. She couldn’t believe what Katelyn was telling her.

“Looks like we won the match.” Coach Evans watches as James Day wins his match.

“That’s good. I’ll see you later, coach.” Katelyn grabs her gym bag and exits from the pool area.

She walks over to the bicycle and unlocks the chain securing it. She ties her gym bag to the rack behind her seat. She mounts her bike and starts peddling for home. She listens to some music from her cell phone as she peddles.

It takes her twenty minutes to arrive home. She noticed her uncle’s car was missing from the driveway. She uses the side door to enter the garage and parks her bicycle out of the way. Normally, she would toss her school swimsuit into the washer and the towel she used. However, since her swimsuit was cleaned, she didn’t use her towel either. She takes her gym bag upstairs to her bedroom and tosses it on the floor near her bed.

She sits at her computer and accesses her secondary Twitter account to see what mischief she can do. She posted a few drawings of the Republicans that voted for the stupid bill that banned her from competing on the swim team. She took her time with these drawings and ensured she got every detail right.

She showed all the men who voted for it either having sex with young men or young men having sex with them. She did a few dressed in sexy drag. She logs off after she is done. She takes her bra off and lets her breasts hang free.

She still couldn’t get over how big her breasts got. Sure, it caused her to have her testes removed. When her aunt discovered she was developing breasts as big as her own. She took Katelyn to a doctor to see what damage had been done. It turned out that the hormones she ordered online had damaged her testes to the point where they had to be removed.

The shots she gave herself had redistributed all the fat in her body. It had also stopped her from growing any taller. She was now stuck at five feet tall and weighing 95lbs. She was a little wide in her hips but still had some curves thanks to her swimming.

She was working on the online college work she needed to complete by Monday. She was taking AP classes in high school and college courses online. She maintained a 5.0-grade point average. What little free time she had, she either spent it making new products to sell online or painting. She loved art and sometimes volunteered at the local museums.

She finishes up her assignments for her online course. She checked the time and noticed it was around seven o’clock, and no one was home yet. She walked downstairs to the kitchen to see what they had to eat. There wasn’t anything she was in the mood for or that didn’t take much time to cook. She pulls her cell phone out and places an order with Door Dash. She used her uncle’s credit card she still had to pay for the food.

While waiting for the food to arrive, she walks into the den and puts a movie on. She had to give her uncle credit for having a kick ass theater setup. She plops onto the sofa and waits for the food to show up.

On Monday, when Katelyn arrives at school. She is immediately called to the office during the first bell. She takes her stuff with her because she feels she already knows what this is about.

As Katelyn walks into the office, she notices Mrs. Winter and Mrs. Stokes, along with several student helpers, already in the office.

“Is he in, Mrs. Stokes?” Katelyn looks toward the older woman.

“He’s in, and so is Mrs. Brinkley.”

“Oh, goodie. The B from the swim meet.” Katelyn was trying not to cuss in the office.

“Be nice, Katelyn.” Mrs. Winter looks at Katelyn like she would her children.

“Where’s the fun in that?” An evil smile appears on Katelyn’s face.

Katelyn walks up to Principal Hoffman’s office door and knocks on it.

“Enter.”

Katelyn walks into the office and spots Mrs. Brinkley and two other women she didn’t know. She looks toward principal Hoffman “you wanted to see me?”

“Close the door behind you, Katelyn.” Principal Hoffman noticed the t-shirt Katelyn was wearing.

It said that republicans are gays that haven’t come out of the closet yet. There was an image of one of the senators of Georgia dressed in drag peeking out of the closet. Mr. Hoffman could tell that it was Katelyn’s handy work.

He looks at Katelyn. “Mrs. Brinkley and her friends said you were rude to her and were wearing an offensive tank top the other day at the meet. Is this true?”

“Rude, yes. The offensive is in the eye of the beholder.” Katelyn didn’t consider the message on her tank top offensive.

“Young lady, that shirt is offensive, and there is a dress code here at this school.” One of the women Katelyn didn’t know spoke.

“Well, if you don’t like what is printed on my t-shirt, don’t look at it, as for the dress code here at school. It’s outdated and full of sexist standards. There is this thing called the First Amendment. It says I have the right to express myself if you don’t like it. Tuff!”

“You’re just a child. You don’t have any rights except what we give you.”

“I’m a child with an IQ score of one hundred fifty-eight, and I have rights guaranteed by the constitution. Do you want to keep sparing, or can I get back to my classes?” Katelyn was getting tired of these women.

“I want an apology for what you said the other day and just now.” Mrs. Brinkley looks at Katelyn.

“Fat chance of that happening.” Katelyn wasn’t going to apologize for anything.

“Katelyn, if you don’t apologize for your actions. I will have to suspend you from school.” Mr. Hoffman looks at Katelyn when he says that.

“Then you have to do what you have to do then.” Katelyn wasn’t scared of being suspended. It wasn’t like her aunt and uncle were going to do anything.

“You know if I suspend you, you can’t compete on the swim team again.” Mr. Hoffman makes sure Katelyn understands she will no longer be able to swim.

“Like I’m competing now. I'm freaking bench warmer and It’s bitches like her that I can’t compete now. And dumb asses like you that won’t support your trans students.” Katelyn turns and walks out of Principal Hoffman’s office.

She walks out of school and begins the long walk to her aunt and uncle’s place. She is tired of the restrictions and new laws the governing body of Georgia is coming up with to punish people like her. High school is supposed to be a time of learning and enjoyment. Instead, it’s been nothing but heartaches.

It would take her at least an hour or so to walk home. She wishes she could make these small-minded people understand that people like her had no choice in how they felt. Sure, she could go along with how society wants her to live, but then she would be miserable.

As Katelyn is walking home, she hears someone honking at her. She stops and looks at who is honking their horn. She spots Mr. Reinhart, her next-door neighbor honking at her. She waves at him and watches as he pulls over.

Mr. Reinhart was returning from the hardware store when he spotted Katelyn walking on the road. He knew she should be in school right now. He wondered why she wasn’t and started honking at her to grab her attention.

He watches as she runs up to his truck. He rolls down the passenger side window and looks at her “what are you doing out of school, young lady?”

“I was suspended from school because I wouldn’t apologize to Mrs. Brinkley and her friend.”

“What did you say to them?” Mr. Reinhart knew Katelyn was opinionated about a lot of different subjects.

“She commented about me being rude to her when we were at the swim meet. I told her off, and now she wants me to apologize to her. She complained to Mr. Hoffman and he said if I didn’t, he would suspend me from school. So, I told him to go ahead and do what he had to do and left.”

Mr. Reinhart just shakes his head. He knew life was hard for Katelyn. He knew her parents and knew her aunt and uncle. They never took an interest in what Katelyn did. Sure, they made sure she always had what she needed for school and such, but they never went to any of her swim meets or took her anywhere.

“Come on and get in. I’ll give you a ride back home.” Mr. Reinhart unlocks the passenger side door.

“Thanks, Mr. Reinhart.” Katelyn climbs into his truck and fastens her seatbelt.

“Any time, kiddo.”

Once Katelyn was secured. He puts his truck into drive and drives towards home. Katelyn sits quietly and watches as Mr. Reinhart drives. She wonders how she is going to explain her suspension to her aunt and uncle. Not that they were going to care.

After a while, Mr. Reinhart pulls into his driveway. He turns the truck off “here we go, kiddo. Are you going to be okay until your aunt and uncle get home?” as he looks at Katelyn.

“I’ll be fine. The worse they could do to me, is ground me. It’s not like I have a very active social life.” Katelyn opens the passenger side door and gets out.

“You be careful, Katelyn.” Mr. Reinhart watches as Katelyn exits from his truck.

“I will and thanks again for the ride.” Katelyn shuts the truck door and runs across the street toward her aunt and uncle’s place.

She uses her house key to unlock the door and heads upstairs to her bedroom. She sits down at her computer and researches what she needs to do to get her GED degree. She knew if Mr. Hoffman had his way, she would be expelled for a year or more.

The rest of the day Katelyn draws some more designs to sell online. They would express how she felt about the new laws Georgia was shoving down people’s throats because the Republicans in congress and the state government are pandering to the religious right and the conservatives.

Katelyn posts more government cartoons she drew to express herself online. She gets a few offers from some news companies to buy her drawings. She sends them her price and waits for a response.

When her aunt and uncle get home from work, they call Katelyn down from bedroom to the living room. Her aunt looks at Katelyn “I got a call from Mr. Hoffman today, informing me you were suspended from school for a week. You mind telling me why you wouldn’t apologize to Mrs. Brinkley?”

“Yes, ma’am. She’s a small-minded prick with low intelligence.”

“Young lady, you can’t go around insulting people like Mrs. Brinkley. She has money and influence and can make life difficult for you.”

“Big deal. She puts her panties on like all of us. Its assholes like her that has caused me not to be able to compete on the girl’s swim team.”

“You can still compete on the boys swim team, Katelyn.” Ralph looks at his nephew and couldn’t what he had done to himself.

“Seriously? Do you actually believe that?” Katelyn looks at her uncle with disbelief showing on her face.

“Watch your tone, young lady.” Ralph noticed that Katelyn had the same fiery temper that her mother did.

“I’m not going to apologize to small minded people like Mrs. Brinkley or any one else. As far as I’m concern, people like her should be lined up and shot.”

“Our country isn’t like that, Katelyn. Everyone has the right to believe like they do.” Ralph tries to be patient with Katelyn, since she was still a child.

“And I have the right to be who I should have been born, instead of how society wants me to be. By making these damn laws to restrict my rights to happiness. They are saying I am a second-class citizen.” Katelyn tries to calm down.

“Well, that’s a different subject matter altogether. Since you refuse to apologize to Mrs. Brinkley and walked out of your school. You’re grounded for a month. Also, if you still refuse to apologize to Mrs. Brinkley, you will need to find something to do, instead of just staying home all the time during your suspension.”

“What do you suggest?” Katelyn looks at her aunt and uncle with a confused look on her face.

“What we suggest, is that you get a job.”

“I have a job. I sell merchandise online.” Katelyn has been making money selling her custom-made t-shirts and other items.

“About that. You need to find something different to do.” Ralph has been hearing from some of the people he contributes to about his nieces’ images.

“If your friends can’t stand the heat, uncle. They shouldn’t do what they are doing.”

“Young lady, I’m getting a little tired of your smart-ass remarks. If you keep it up, I’m going to turn you over my knees and spank you.”

“You wouldn’t dare, uncle.” Katelyn has never seen her uncle carry through with physical punishment before.

Before Katelyn could move from where she was standing, her aunt grabs her arm and pull her towards her husband. Before Katelyn realizes it, she is bent over her uncle’s lap and being spanked. Tears stream from her eyes as her uncle spanks her.

When he is done, she falls to the floor and looks at him. She couldn’t believe he just spanked her and her aunt helped him.

“Now, go to your bedroom, young lady.” Katelyn’s aunt looks at her as she laid on the floor.

Katelyn gets up off the carpet and heads upstairs to her bedroom. Her ass was sting from her uncle spanking her. Her aunt and uncle have never spanked her before.

During the week, Katelyn’s uncle gets her a job working at garbage substation. He figures after she works there for a week, she will start behaving. Her first few days she throws up several times from the smell of the trash. It was hot out and the smells coming off the trash was overwhelming.

She has to leave her work boots outside to air out. The coveralls she wore were washed every day. Some of the guys that worked at the substation were nice and gave her a few suggestions on how to deal with the smell. The supervisor that ran the place was hard as hell on her.
She learned the first few days not to sass back at him. He would assign her to some of the worse jobs at the station. That included cleaning the bulldozer they used to push the trash into the trucks to haul away.

When she got home, she drew some pictures of some of the people in congress and Georgia’s state legislative that supported bills against women reproductive rights and bills targeted at the LGBTQ community. They included things she has seen at the substation with those people mouths being filled with trash from people supporting those bills.

Katelyn’s political cartoon draws start drawing attention from several magazines and news agencies. She gets a few threats from people about how she portraying them or their supports. Whenever she receives those emails, she sends a picture of a baby crying or complaining they are being mistreated with their favorite congressman or woman coming to their rescue like a mother would.

After spending a week at the substation, Katelyn doesn’t apologize to Mrs. Brinkley or Mr. Hoffman. Instead, she posts pictures of them acting like bullies on the internet. The local newspaper gets wind of her drawing and ask if they could print it.

She gives them permission to print the drawings. She takes the ones they are asking about down and put some different ones up instead. When her aunt and uncle see the politic cartoons in the newspaper, they weren’t too thrilled about it.

Typically, they didn’t care, but when it concerned their hometown. Her aunt and uncle managed, because they liked their social standing with some of the people in the local Republican group. Her aunt and uncle were diehard republicans and will support the party no matter how stupid they act.

One day while Katelyn is out riding her bicycle. She comes across some group giving a drag queen reading at her local library a hard time. She stops at a convenience store and buys a few 2-liter bottles of soda. She goes back where they are and shake the bottles up and spray the protesters with them.

Several guys come running towards her. She tosses a few bottles at them. One of them manages to grab her. He spins her around and punches her in her face. She knees him in his groin area as hard as she can. Another man grabs her from behind and spin her around. He smacks Katelyn hard across the mouth.

Katelyn spits at him. Her mouth was hurting where he hit her. She notices her had a gun tucked in his pants. She grabs the gun and pull the trigger. The weapon pulls out of his pants, as he falls to the ground in pain.

Another guy tries to grab the gun out of her hand, but the gun goes off again. The bullet hits the guy in his chest. Before Katelyn could let go of the weapon. Someone hits her hand hard with a board. She releases the gun and it falls to the ground. Her hand was hurting like hell.

Katelyn feels herself tackled to the ground by several people. The cops show up and handcuff her and take her down to the police station. She refuses to cooperate with the cop that held her when he tries to fingerprint her.

“My hand hurts you, dumbass.” Katelyn manages to kick the officer.

Katlain was walking through processing when she noticed a fight going on between a teenage girl and several police officers. She grabs the girl
from behind and saw her hands were cuffed. One of her hands had blood coming from it and looked to be broken.

“Everyone, stand down. Get these cuffs off this girl and get her some medical attention, now!” Katlain couldn’t believe no one hadn’t noticed the damage to the girl’s hand.

One of the officers call the paramedics, while another removes the cuffs. He notices how bloody and weird looking the young woman’s hand looked.

“How did this happen?’ Katlain looks at Kathlyn when she asks.

“Someone smacked my hand with a board.”

“Why would someone do that?” Katlain was curious.

“Because I was holding a gun that I took from a guy that attacked me. It went off twice when he tried grabbing me and when another guy tried grabbing it out of my hand.” Katelyn was shaken up.

Katlain looks at Katelyn’s hand and lets out a low whistle. She could see where one of her bones had broken through the skin.

“Hurry up and get that ambulance here.”

Katelyn looks down at her hand and faints after seeing how bad it was.

Katlain supports Katelyn’s unconscious body. She looks at the poor girl and notices she had blood on her clothes. She sees bruises starting to form on the Katelyn’s face.

Several Hours Later:
Katelyn wakes up in a hospital room. She notices her right hand and wrist were wrapped up. Her face still hurt her. The last thing she remember was being in a police station and a woman helping her.

As she looks towards the door to her hospital room, it opens and the woman that helped her comes walking in with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“How did I get here?”

“You fainted when you saw your hand. I contacted your relatives and they said they would be here in a few hours.” Katlain couldn’t believe that Katelyn’s relatives were taking their time to see their niece.

“Figures. It sounds like something they would do.”

“Well, I decided to wait around to talk to you when you woke-up.” Katlain takes a sip from her coffee.

“What do you want to know?” Katelyn watches the woman.

“Why don’t you tell me how you got involved in that protest down at the library?” Katlain pulls out a digital recorder and presses play.

“That’s easy. I saw a crowd of people harassing the drag queen reading to a bunch of kids inside the library. I went inside Little Sue’s and bought several 2-liter bottles of soda and shock them up. Once they were nice shaken up, I opened them slowly and sprayed the protesters with them.”

“How did you come to shoot two guys?” Katlain was watching Katelyn facial expression.

“The guy who owns the gun, he grabbed me and spun me around and smacked me in my mouth. I noticed he had the gun tucked in the front of his pants and grabbed it. When I grabbed it, it went off. The other guy that got shot, tried to grab the gun from me and it went off.”

A smirk appears on Katlain’s face when she hears that. She has always warned some men she knew to never carry their gun tucked in the front of their pants.

“So, you didn’t have the gun on you when you showed up and the only thing you did was defend yourself?”

“And spray some protestors with grape and orange soda.”

Katlain smirks again at that statement. She got the reports from the officers who handle the call.

“You know, you didn’t have to talk to me about what happened without a lawyer and a person from child protection services.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, except get my hand damage. It was those small-minded dip shits that broke the law.”

“Well, I hate to say this, they are blaming you for everything.”

“Figures, blame the kid for everything.”

“Don’t worry, the truth will come out. By the way, my name is Katlain Zane. I’m a detective with the Augusta Police department.”

“What are you doing in Sparta?” Katelyn was curious.

“Can’t tell you. However, I will make sure you are treated well, after what some of those officers did to you.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now relax and get some sleep.”

“Thanks, I think I’ll do that.” Katelyn closes her eyes and fall asleep.

Several Weeks Later:
Katelyn sits and listen as one of the protesters describe what happened that day. Her lawyer was seated next to her. Katelyn didn’t know how she was going to pay the woman, until she was told that Detective Zane had asked her to represent her. That had surprised Katelyn.

As for her aunt and uncle, they told her that Mr. Hoffman was suspending her for the rest of the year form school. Also, they weren’t going to pay for her lawyer or anything. She got herself into this mess and she could get herself out.

Katelyn figured she’ll work on getting her GED so she can continue taking her college courses. Also, she was going freelance as a politic artist.
The local newspaper that bought her drawings, was willing to buy more from her. On top of that, she had several orders online that she needed to fill. Her Ulna bone in her right hand had been broken and the doctor had to put a metal plate on the bone. So, she didn’t have full use of her right hand.

As for detective Zane, she sent a picture she drew of the detective to her. She figured that detective Zane would appreciate it.

The trial goes on for about three days. By the time it concludes, she’s found not guilty and all charges that had been brought against her were dropped. During the time she was in court, she would draw the protesters as little kids complaining because of what happened. She posts the drawings on her website.

The next few months, she attends physical therapy for her hand. She also gets her GED from an adult learning center. She was so bored with the class she was required to take. When she gets her results from taking the GED, she sored in the high nineties in every subject. Some of them she scored one hundred percent in.

She stays in touch with detective Zane and works from home. She upgrades her silk screening equipment, so she can do more then four shirts and such at a time.