I awoke to Brianna charging through my bedroom door; she was never one for knocking. My first reaction was to roll my head to the left and glance at the bedside alarm clock which now read: 6:45 AM. Brianna was fully dressed in a silky blouse and black pants, and before I knew it, she was tossing clothes onto my bed.

“I found a shelter for Angela,” She explained rather offhandedly. “Get up, get dressed, we’re taking her right now.”

“I…can’t you just drive her over there?” I asked, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I didn’t want to move from the bed at all.

“No, Allison,” Brianna said sternly. “You took that position at the sorority and yeah, I know it was technically for trans sorority members but you jumped right on this and wanted to help so…get up.”

“Why are you being such a bitch?” I said sleepily, trying to push myself up on one arm.

“I’m sorry, Allison,” She said. “I really am, but I need to be at work in an hour and a half and we absolutely have to get this done. Not to mention you have a thing over at the house today.”

“A thing?”

“A meeting…thing, I don’t remember what Remy said.”

I had a lot of reasons for not wanting to leave that bed. First of all I was tired beyond measure and secondly, a trans girl’s worst fear is climbing out of bed and trying to get ready for the day. Doing your hair, perfecting your makeup and making sure you’re at least passable from fifty yards is the daily dread and challenge. I had no choice though; Brianna was pulling the sheets back and urging me to get up. I sighed and placed my feet against the carpet as she thrust the clothes into my arms. Just as quickly I was ushered to the bathroom and quickly found myself at the vanity beside her as she paid her makeup brushes out and wiped her face with a damp cloth.

“Where’s Angela?” I asked, hastily applying my makeup without even stepping into the shower.

“Downstairs,” Brianna told me. “The guest bathroom.”

“Where are we taking her?”

“Uh…it’s not exactly a shelter, it’s a family that takes in LGBT people, in uh…situations like this. I had them checked out, they’re legit.”

“Why couldn’t we find them yesterday?” I asked, puzzled as I applied foundation to my face and moved on to some basic contouring. “We looked everywhere and-“

“It’s not a place that advertises,” She explained. “Just a family home, they don’t want it too obvious, you know?”

“I guess…” I said, trying to concentrate on the liquid lipstick I was now gripping in my right hand. I held it up to my lips and made an effort to keep it straight, but let’s face it, I never could. Just as I was about to press it to my lower lip, Brianna snatched it from me and commanded me to stand still as she gracefully applied it and held a piece of toilet tissue to my face for me to blot.

“Okay, get dressed, we’re taking her over there.”

“Why did we have to do it now?” I picked up the blue dress that Brianna had picked out for me and pulled it over my body after discarding my pajamas. “The house will still be there later won’t it?”

“Because you need to get back to your house and I have things to do,” She said quickly, brushing out her hair and turning toward me. “You’re a college girl, you need to be with your sorority, not wasting the entire semester here.”

“Okay, that I agree with,” I nodded. I really didn’t like being away from the Alpha house, at all. I felt like I belonged there, and for me that was a gift of epic proportions. I wondered what Remy was doing right now. “Oh god dammit!”

“What?” Brianna asked, looking back at me as she reached the bathroom door.

“My legs,” I pointed to them; where they had usually been bare, you could now see the slightest hint of hair poking through the skin.

“Have you been keeping up on your waxing appointments?” She glanced, down, sort of inspecting me.

“I mean…I missed one,” I admitted shakily.

“Get a longer dress,” She shook her head. “Then get downstairs, we have to go.”

I returned to my room for a moment and threw on a much, much longer green floral dress with wrap v-neckline and a sash that tied in the back. It hugged my waist, and I grinned a bit as I examined myself in the mirror. The breast forms filled out the top of the dress perfectly though I was sure I’d have to adjust the setting once or twice during the day, and the material hugged my waist perfectly. I ran my hand along the waistline and nearly died of happiness before I abruptly remembered my legs. Ugh, my legs. How was it that one single thing could bring out the dysphoria hammer and completely smash an otherwise happy moment. I turned away from the full-length mirror just as I heard Brianna call for me again. Picking up my purse, I pressed onward, out of the room and down the stairs. Angela was standing next to the kitchen table, fully dressed unlike last night. She was dressed in one of Brianna’s outfits, a simple white scoop neck top and a pair of black pants. Maybe she wasn’t comfortable being seen outside in a skirt yet.

“What if they don’t like me?” Angela asked nervously. “I don’t know these people, I…can’t I just stay here?”

“Even if that were possible,” Brianna said, taking her by the shoulders. “You need a place where you can grow; my living room isn’t going to do that for you. And don’t worry, they love you already.”

“How do you know that?” Angela’s voice was shaky. “They don’t know anything about me.”

“They know that you’re in trouble, and they have a lot of experience with trans people. Their names are John and Evelyn Shapiro, they have a trans daughter attending Bellcrest and they know exactly how to help you get started, if that’s what you want.”

“I…I don’t know what I want,” Angela began to quiver. “They’re going to hate me.”

“They’re not going to hate you,” I said, trying to be helpful, even though to be honest I had no idea who these people were. “You just have to give them a chance.”

“Uh, yeah,” Brianna glanced at me, she knew I was talking right out of my ass. “And I promise you, if you have any problems you can call Allison, she’ll be more than happy to help you.”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” I said. I’d done a great job of helping so far, but I swear my superpower was just shutting the hell up and letting everyone around me do the heavy lifting. “You have my number, right?”

“No…” She shook her head slowly.

“Okay, let me get it for you,” I unzipped my purse and reached for my phone. Sliding my finger across the screen to unlock, I noticed a new text message from an area code I knew very, very well: 704, North Carolina. I exhaled harshly and tapped it, watching the phone screen turn pale white for a moment. The message box opened, and I saw a lone message from the one person I never wanted to hear from again:

You need to call me, now. – Audri

I closed my eyes for a moment and gritted my teeth.

“You know what?” I said. “I’m going to get you that number in the car, let’s just get moving. As we headed toward the door, I texted back a single response: no.