“You know,” Luke said to his sister as they waited in line to have their photos taken, “I kinda expected my first day at uni to have a bit more fun and a less, you know, paperwork.”

“Or even a bit more learning,” Lucy laughed as she tried her hardest not to fidget.

To both of the twins, their first day at university had been a dream come true, and while that was true for a great many of the other teenagers in the room, for the twins, it had extra meaning. When Luke woke up in his dorm, he immediately smiled at the sight of his textbooks on his desk, the large Newcastle United poster on his wall… And the absence of any even remotely feminine clothing in his wardrobe. It took him no time at all to comb his short hair and wrap his elastic bandage around his chest, before pulling on a plain pair of jeans and his brand-new college hoodie. After slipping his feet into a pair of brand-new trainers, he headed along the corridor to his sister’s dorm room, where she had also begun the day with a smile on her face.

Like Luke, Lucy had also opted to wear her new hoodie on her first day, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of a pair of jeans, Lucy had opted for a casual grey skirt that ended 3 inches above her knee and a pair of opaque black tights. Instead of combing her hair, she brushed it out into a cute shoulder-length style; instead of an elasticated bandage, she applied a light layer of foundation to her face, followed by eyeliner, mascara and a light layer of lipstick; and instead of trainers, she slipped her feet into a pair of dark grey shoes with a 1” wedge heel. After meeting up with Susie, the twins headed toward the main reception area of the university to register on their course and collect their ID… And it was then that the reality of their situation began to dawn on them.

As Lucy accompanied her friends into the university’s main reception, she suddenly became very conscious of the fact that she was six inches taller than her brother and her friend, and that everyone who laid eyes on them would instantly be aware of that fact. They would then quickly pick up on her masculine jawline, her wide shoulders and her large hands, and they’d wonder why this person was wearing make-up, and why they were wearing heeled shoes and a skirt…

Like his sister, Luke was also overcome with nerves when he entered the reception area and found himself having to present himself to the assembled crowd. Unlike AngelCon, there was no guarantee of a safe space among the crowd, and even though Luke had tried his best to look as plain as possible, just like his twin, there was no disguising the fact that he was much shorter than average for a boy, with a skinny frame and even skinnier arms. While the crowd might have overlooked a tomboyish girl, they were less likely to so easily dismiss a boy with girlish features like Luke, and as much as he hated himself for thinking it, being with his sister only made Luke seem more out of place as a boy.

Both Luke and Lucy had read many blogs from transgender people in similar situations to them, and they often spoke about the ‘whispers and giggles’ they had to endure everywhere they went. While Luke and Lucy both consciously knew that everyone in the room was going to be excited at the prospect of starting their course and there would naturally be plenty of giggling, both teenagers couldn’t help but think they every giggle they heard was directed at them.

Fortunately for the twins, though, they weren’t stepping into the unknown alone. They knew that wherever they went, Susie had their backs, just as they had hers. Whatever difficulties, whatever teasing or bullying they had to face, they’d face it together, as they always had. However, both twins understandably would have preferred to have not had to face any bullying at all- and both held out the hope, however vain, that they’d be able to make new friends regardless of their ‘statuses’.

“Okay, stand on the mark on the floor please,” the photographer said as Luke stepped in front of his desk. “Look into the screen, and… done. Go to the next desk, they’ll have your ID waiting for you. Next!” Luke bit his lip nervously as Lucy took his place in front of the camera, while he took his passport and registration form along to the person creating his student ID, fully aware of the fact that his passport and registration form bore different names- and, more crucially, different genders.

“Okay, name and date of birth please?” The woman behind the next desk asked, making the young man bite his lip nervously.

“It- it’s Luke, Luke Miller,” Luke replied hesitantly before handing over his documents. “March twenty-second, 2001.” Luke fidgeted and felt his body start to sweat and itch with anxiety as the woman took his documents and frowned. “There- there’s a letter stapled to the back of the form. From the admissions secretary. That should, like, explain stuff.” Luke felt his leg jiggle uncontrollably as the woman studied the letter, her frown deepening with each line. The prospect of spending three years at university with an ID card that read ‘Lucy Miller, female’ filled Luke with dread- but so did the prospect of the woman calling Mr. Croft down to reception and discussing the situation in front of everyone present…

“…Okay,” the woman said, before pressing a few buttons on her machine. A few seconds later, she handed Luke a small, laminated card that made him smile when he saw what was written on it.

Name: Luke Miller
Date of birth: 22/03/2001
Gender: M
Expires: 30/06/2022

“Like it?” Luke asked his sister with a wide grin as he showed off his new card.

“I will do when I get one of my own!” Lucy chuckled as she approached the desk, her own documents in hand.

“Hi,” the woman said, letting out a quiet sigh as she took Lucy’s paperwork from her. “I suppose you have a letter from the admissions secretary as well?”

“Well- umm- yes…” Lucy mumbled, her entire body tensing up as she suddenly felt several pairs of eyes turn her way- including the angry eyes of her brother. All of a sudden, Lucy felt very exposed- she had been casually outed by an employee of the university less than 30 minutes after setting foot in the building, and everyone would now be asking questions- not to mention whispering, and giggling…

“Here you go,” the woman said, handing Lucy her ID card. Even though the details on it gave her name as 'Lucy Miller' and her gender as 'F', Lucy still felt self-conscious as she slipped it into her purse, imagining every pair of eyes in the building following her as she walked back to the corner where her brother was stood, his face contorted into a scowl and his body almost quivering with rage.

“Better get used to THAT, I suppose,” Lucy mumbled, frowning as her brother rolled his eyes.

“Well I don’t plan on getting used to that!” Luke sneered. “I can’t believe she just said that! There’s got to be someone we can complain to, right? ‘Cause I don’t plan on spending the next three years being treated like THAT.”

“Well we- we can look into that later,” Lucy sighed. “Still got, like, the library to register for, and the student union, and there’ll probably be someone there who can help, right?”

“Well- I guess,” Luke said with a sigh as Susie approached with her ID in hand.

“Hey, you two,” the ginger haired girl said with a sympathetic smile. “I kinda heard what just happened…”

“You and everyone else,” Lucy sighed. “On the plus side, I guess no one’s chasing us out with torches and pitchforks, like.”

“Not yet, anyway,” Luke snorted.

“Nah, no need to be pessimistic like that,” Susie said with a shrug. “I doubt anyone would realise what was so important about the letter anyway. Everyone’s, like, too busy with their own stuff to worry about either of you. Ehh… you know what I mean, I hope, like, you realise I didn’t mean that as an insult, but-“

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Luke said with a sad smile. “Just kinda hoped- heh, I dunno why, but I kinda hoped things would be, you know, easy? Like, we’d just come along here, get on with our own business without anyone, like, asking any awkward questions…”

“People will get used to us eventually,” Lucy said. “It’s probably just, like, teething problems, that sort of thing.”

“I’m not holding my breath…” Luke grumbled as he and the two girls made their way toward the university library.

After spending another 45 minutes in a queue at the library, during which both twins continued to feel out of place- and continued to hear whispers and giggles that they couldn't help but think were directed toward them- the twins received their brand-new library cards. Both Luke and Lucy were grateful that they only had to hand over their student IDs rather than the letter from the admissions secretary or worse yet, having to answer any awkward questions. With the morning’s tasks completed, the three teenagers headed toward one of the university’s many cafes for lunch, getting their meals and sitting at a small table at the side of the room- just as they’d done all throughout the previous two years at college.

“Aye, this makes a change, doesn’t it?” Luke snorted sarcastically as he picked at his burger.

“Meh, it’s still only our first day here, it’s not like we’ve had a chance to actually meet anyone yet,” Susie said with a shrug. “Once we’ve actually started on our course, like, maybe things will be different, I dunno.”

“Well- maybe,” Luke shrugged. “It’s not like anyone’s going out of their way to say ‘hi’ to us though, is it?”

“It’s not like we are either,” Lucy reminded her brother, who opened his mouth to reply, only to simply sigh and nod in agreement. “Though if we did, we’d have to, like, ‘explain’ ourselves, I guess.”

“Explain what?” Susie asked with a shrug. “That you’re a guy and a girl just starting university? I think most people can probably tell that already.”

“Aye,” Luke said. “But there’ll be plenty who won’t be able to tell which of us is the guy and which of us is the girl.”

“If that’s the case, then maybe they need to go back to kindergarten, never mind university,” Susie snorted, before grimacing. “You two- you two aren’t having second thoughts, are you? I mean, like, not just about, like, transitioning, but about uni, the whole thing, like?” Lucy bit her lip and shared a look with her brother as she pondered her answer.

She, like Luke, always had the option of abandoning her transition and simply attending university in the gender to which they were assigned at birth. But Lucy knew that her brother would never be willing to do that, and if that was the case, then neither was she. Nor was either twin likely to abandon their studies before they’d even started- they’d worked hard to earn admission to one of the most prestigious universities in the world, let alone the UK, and they deserved to be there just as much as anyone else. Living independently in the gender they truly identified with had been a dream of theirs since they were children, and just because the reality had included more hurdles than they'd expected, it didn’t mean that it would be any less worthwhile in the long run.

“…No,” Lucy replied firmly.

“HELL no,” Luke said. “This is who I’m meant to be, and where I’m meant to be, and if I have to take on the whole university to prove it, well, bring them on.”

“Atta boy!” Susie said with a giggle. “Though… Let’s not hope it’s TOO much of a fight, eh?”

“Fingers crossed,” Lucy chuckled nervously.

After the twins finished their lunch, they headed toward the university’s main Student Union building, once again finding themselves in the middle of a large crowd and feeling like they didn’t blend in. However, the twins took some comfort from the fact that the attention of the crowd wasn’t on them, but rather on the tall, dark-skinned young man at the front of the room.

“Hello Durham freshers!” The young man said in an ebullient London accent. “On behalf of the Student Union, I’d like to welcome you all to the uni. I’m seeing a lot of new faces out there, and a lot of nervous ones too!” The twins both bit their lips as they tried not to imagine the young man staring directly at them, followed by the rest of the crowd…

“Before I go on,” the young man continued, “I should probably introduce myself. My name’s Jerome Borden, I just graduated from the uni with a BA in politics and international relations last year, and I’m taking a year out before doing my master’s to act as the president of the Student Union. If you have any questions, feel free to come and speak to me or any member of the committee, our door is always open at any time of day. A lot of you are probably asking ‘what are the benefits to joining the SU?’. Well, I’m glad you asked, and I’ll let our events officer answer that question for you. Jess?”

“Hi everyone,” the young brown-haired woman said. “My name’s Jessica Corby, I’m the events officer for the Student Union, and I’d like to tell you about some of the things we have planned for this coming academic year!” As the young woman continued to speak, Luke and Lucy felt themselves both gradually tuning out her voice. As fun as the events and societies all sounded, the twins knew that if they signed up for them, they'd face the same problem they faced when getting their student IDs. As much as they wanted to kick back, have fun and forget about their ‘differences’, they knew that it would never be that easy, no matter how reassuring Jerome, Jessica and the rest of the Union sounded. Nonetheless, both Luke and Lucy had already made up their mind to sign up for the union, and with some trepidation, once the presentation was over, they joined the already-long queue. After a short wait, the twins approached the front of the queue, where Jerome was waiting for them with a wide grin on his face.

“Hi!” The tall, dark-skinned man said with a friendly voice. “Have you got your IDs?”

“Yep,” Luke replied nervously as he and Lucy handed over their freshly printed ID cards that prominently displayed their correct genders. The twins fidgeted as Jerome examined the cards, briefly frowning with confusion before a wide grin spread across his face.

“Ah, cool, are you two twins then?” Jerome asked, smirking as the two teenagers let out simultaneous relieved giggles.

“Ah- yeah, yes we are,” Lucy replied.

“And I’m guessing you’re from just down the road as well, going by your accents?” Jerome asked.

“Aye, Newcastle born and raised,” Luke said.

“Nice,” Jerome chuckled as he scanned the twins’ ID, before biting his lip as he glanced back and forth between the cards and the twins’ faces. Luke and Lucy both felt their bodies grow tenser and tenser as Jerome typed a note into his iPad, before reaching into a small folder behind his desk. “I- I’m going to give you something,” the dark-skinned man said hesitantly. “If I’m making the wrong assumption, just- just feel free to throw these away, we can always print more, but if- if these are any use to you, then please take them.” Luke and Lucy frowned with confusion as Jerome handed them each a small pamphlet, before feeling their entire bodies tense up as they saw the words ‘Durham University LGBT Society’ printed at the top in colourful letters that the twins felt could be seen from a mile away.

“Th- thanks,” Lucy mumbled, before she and Luke hastily hurried away from the table to a secluded corner of the room, where they both let out long groans of frustration.

“Typical!” Luke spat.

“I- I’m sure he didn’t mean anything, you know, nasty by it,” Lucy whispered. “I’m sure he thought he was, you know, helping…”

“Some help,” Luke snorted. “He might as well have given us a sign saying ‘look at the freaks’ and told us to hold it over our heads or something.”

“Well- well it doesn’t mean we’d HAVE to hold it,” Lucy said. “And, you know, we were going to check out the LGBT society tomorrow anyway, weren’t we?”

“Well- aye, I guess,” Luke mumbled. “Ugh, I dunno, I- I just want to, you know, be a guy, like, a normal guy, not, like, a trans guy… I just want to be male first, transgender second, if that makes any sense?”

“Well- yeah, I mean, this IS me you’re talking to, remember?” Lucy replied as she gestured to the skirt that was hanging from her waist. “But this- I’m sure this is just, you know, teething pains or something. Give it a couple of weeks and it’ll be like we’ve been here forever. You’ll see.”

“Not sure I’ve got the patience to wait that long,” Luke scoffed, making his sister frown- as much as she loved Luke, she didn’t always love his temper, and she had noticed that it had got worse over the previous months. She’d hoped that Luke being able to be the boy he truly was inside would’ve eased his stress, but if anything, Luke had only seemed to get angrier since starting university. Lucy could hardly blame her brother for his anger, though- she’d felt just as tense when Jerome handed her the leaflet, regardless of how he intended the gesture.

“Hey you two!” Susie said with a grin as she approached the pair, which faded when she saw the frowns on their faces. “What- what’s up?”

“This is,” Lucy sighed, handing Susie the leaflet, only to frown when the smile returned to the ginger-haired girl’s face.

“Ah, this is cool!” Susie giggled. “You said you were going to sign up, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-“ Lucy replied.

“It- it’s kinda, you know…” Luke continued, before sighing angrily. “He just, like, handed it to us without even asking, like, we’re THAT obvious, you know?” Luke and Lucy both frowned as their friend barely suppressed a giggle. “…What?”

“Oh- I’m, sorry, it-“ Susie replied. “It’s kinda cute the way you two finish each other’s sentences like that, that’s all…”

“Funny,” Luke snorted, before sighing and sitting down on the floor, closely followed by his sister and his friend. “I just- ugh. I dunno. I don’t want anyone’s sympathy any more than I want them, you know, pointing and laughing at us, I guess.”

“Ehh, I get that, I suppose,” Susie shrugged. “Still, though, ‘sympathy’ isn’t the same thing as ‘friendship’, is it?”

“Well- I guess not,” Luke replied with a shrug. “And you’re right, I DO want to check out the LGBT society. Knowing our luck though, even there we’ll be singled out…”

“Well, there’ll be at least one person there who’ll be on your side,” Susie said, giggling and rolling her eyes as the twins frowned. “Umm, me? Like, I fancy women, that qualifies me at least as ‘B’, right? Even if I identify as ‘P’, like.”

“Well- true,” Lucy said, a smile slowly spreading across her and her brother’s face. “And I’m sure Jerome is actually on our side, he’s just, like, getting used to his new role just like we’re getting used to ours. BOTH our new roles, heh.”

“Well- I guess,” Luke shrugged.

“And he probably knows a few things about being on the receiving end of discrimination, too,” Susie said in a quiet whisper.

“…Also true,” Luke mumbled, before letting out a long, tired sigh. “I don’t want ‘being a victim’ to be the only thing we have in common, though.”

“Don’t think any of us do,” Lucy sighed. “But, like, we’ll make new friends when we sign up for the LGBT society tomorrow.”

“Most if not all of whom will have been victims too,” Luke reminded his sister, who could only frown and nod in reply as the excitement in the room continued around them.

Once all the freshers in the room had met with Jerome or one of the other union officers, the tall, dark-skinned man returned to the front of the room and addressed the crowd again.

“Okay, thank you all for coming today,” Jerome announced. “And many thanks to all those of you who signed up too! If you’re still on the fence, you can join the union at any time, just drop me or any of the committee an email and we’ll get you sorted. In the meantime, I hope you all had a great first day here at the uni! We’re all heading to the union bar now and you’re all welcome to join us, even if it might get a bit cramped in there! If it helps, though, for tonight only all union members get a 20% discount on all drinks bought at the bar!” Most of the students in the room cheered at this announcement and gradually made their way out of the large room, heading as one in the direction of the bar. Luke and Lucy, however, weren’t as enthusiastic as their peers- something their friend quickly picked up on.

“Okay, so are we heading to the bar then?” Susie asked, hoping to cheer her friends up but at the same time taking care not to sound insensitive to the anxiety they'd experienced.

“Ehh, I suppose?” Lucy replied, sighing as her friend frowned. “…What?”

“It- ehh, never mind,” Susie sighed. “I was going to say you could maybe be a bit more enthusiastic, but- never mind.”

“Yeah, hard to feel enthusiastic about being found out by literally everybody in that bar,” Luke snorted.

“Though we- we did choose, all three of us, to live away at uni for a reason,” Lucy said. “I mean, like, Newcastle’s only a short train ride away, we could easily have travelled back and forth every day, but we- we came here so we could be the REAL us. And I- ugh. I don’t want to, you know…”

“Don’t want to what?” Luke asked.

“Don’t want the ‘real me’ to spend all her time holed up in her room,” Lucy replied. “But you- you’re right, maybe, like, take it slow for the first few days, wait until we’ve made a few more friends… Ehh, no offence, Susie.”

“Ah- trust me, none taken,” the ginger girl chuckled. “I’m- I mean, I’d be kinda nervous too, not just in your, like, ‘situation’, but- heh. I am a TOTAL lightweight when it comes to booze, and, like, just a few drinks, I try to snog the wrong person, and- well, yep.”

“You’re kinda not in the same boat as us, though,” Luke snapped, before grimacing. “I- I'm sorry. And I do get what you mean.”

“Once we get signed up with the LGBT society, then things will get better,” Lucy said confidently. “Then we’ll have somewhere that we know is a safe space.”

“It’s just shit that we even need a safe space in the first place,” Luke sighed. “Even if we are, like, overreacting to Jerome, it- ugh.”

“I know what you mean,” Susie sighed as she and the twins started heading in the opposite direction to the rest of the crowd. “So… dinner then back to our rooms for some reading, then?”

“Aye, works for me,” Lucy replied with a heavy sigh, taking one last glance back at the crowd heading to the bar before following her brother and her friend to the cafeteria.

After a quick dinner, the three teenagers spent the evening in Lucy’s room, alternating between reading material for the course and watching Netflix. The trio headed to bed just before 11pm, though neither of the twins slept much that night, both of them wondering whether they’d ever be able to enjoy the social life of their classmates, whether they’d have to hide the ‘real them’ forever- and whether they’d ever have to hide behind their birth genders again…

The following morning, the twins woke up early, and just as they had done the previous morning, pulled on their hoodies, with Luke opting for the same pair of slouchy jeans while Lucy pulled on a short denim skirt over her black tights. Luke and Lucy met with Susie for breakfast, and while they talked at length about their course, none of them brought up their encounter with Jerome the previous afternoon. After their bellies were full, the trio headed toward the nearby lecture hall for their first ‘official’ day at university.

When Luke, Lucy and Susie arrived at the lecture hall, they were unsurprised to discover it already more than half full, with many of the seats near the back already taken. With nervous grimaces, Luke and Lucy headed up the stairs toward a free row of seats halfway up. With each step, the twins grew more and more anxious as they heard the familiar sounds of whispers and giggles around them- sounds they had already started to grow accustomed to, and that they knew consciously would only be due to anticipation about the upcoming lecture, but which they still couldn't help but think were directed at them. The twins consoled themselves with the fact that everyone there was there for the same reason, and that was to learn, not to point and laugh at them. Nevertheless, they couldn’t help but shrink into their seats whenever anyone else passed them and glanced in their direction.

The lecture lasted for an hour and 20 minutes, at the end of which both Luke & Lucy’s brains were frazzled with both the information they had to take in, and the knowledge that it was merely lesson one of a three-year course. At a loose end until the afternoon, Luke, Lucy and Susie headed to the library to do more reading for their course, before heading to lunch at the same cafe they'd visited the previous day, instinctively heading to the same out of the way table they'd previously sat at.

“Okay,” Lucy mused as she tucked into her sandwich. “Beginning to think we’ve maybe bitten off more than we can chew, heh!”

“Meh,” Susie shrugged. “It doesn’t seem all THAT much harder than what we were doing at A level. Oh- umm, unless- unless you mean, well, you know…?”

“…A bit of both,” Lucy mumbled in reply. “I mean, like, no one seemed to, you know, ‘notice’ during the lecture, did they?”

“I didn’t notice anyone ‘noticing’,” Luke said. “Then again, I was trying hard not to, well, ‘notice’, if you get what I mean.”

“I guess,” Susie shrugged. “Feeling a bit more positive than last night, then?”

“Meh, a bit,” Luke replied. “But, like, no one was ever going to say anything in a packed lecture hall, were they? They’d probably get thrown off the course completely.”

“No one’s saying anything in a packed lunch hall, either,” Lucy reminded her brother. “And besides, even if people are, well, ‘looking’, I’m sure they’ll get used to us soon enough.”

“The sooner the better,” Luke mumbled, before frowning as he remembered one thing- with the exception of Susie and to a lesser extent Jerome, they hadn’t actually interacted with anyone else at the university, instead keeping themselves to themselves. And while Luke had no problem with staying under everyone else’s radar, even he was forced to admit that he couldn’t expect people to get used to him if he wasn't giving them anything to get used to.

Both twins, however, were excited by the prospects the afternoon would bring- specifically, the chance to make new friends. Once they’d finished their meal, they eagerly made their way to the Student Union building, where the student union displays had been replaced by a large number of stalls advertising a myriad of different special interest societies. Both Luke and Lucy felt genuinely excited at the sight of all of the societies, at the many chances to make new friends and new hobbies, but it was one society in particular that caught their attention, which they and Susie made a beeline to once they entered the hall.

“Hi!” The tall blond man said in a soft east midlands accent to the trio as they approached the stall, behind which was a multitude of flags including a rainbow flag and a blue, pink and white flag that had come to mean a lot to Luke and Lucy over the previous few months. “Are you interested in joining the LGBT society?” Luke and Lucy momentarily froze at the blunt nature of the young man’s question, wondering whether or not he’d ‘sussed’ them as easily as Jerome had the previous day. It took them several seconds to realise that in this instance, it wasn’t an unfair question- they were, after all, stood at the society’s booth and were there specifically to join the society, after all.

“Umm, aye!” Susie said, breaking the awkward silence that the question had triggered. “Do you- do you need to know which, umm, which ‘letter’ we are?”

“Not if you’re not comfortable telling us,” the blond man said with a warm smile. “I’m Rick, by the way, Rick Collins. I graduated from the uni last year and I’m sticking around to help run the society this year. And I don’t mind telling you I’m, well, ‘G’, hehe!”

“I’m Susie Parker,” Susie said with a grin. “And I suppose I’m technically ‘B’, but I think of myself more as pansexual.”

“’P’ it is, then!” Rick said. “There’s room for every letter of the alphabet in our society, hehe!” Luke and Lucy both fidgeted awkwardly as Susie finished filling in her details, neither twin wanting to single themselves out as they began to imagine the whole room staring at them, just waiting for them to approach the booth and ‘out’ themselves. After a brief pause while Rick smiled supportively at the two of them, Lucy took a deep breath and stepped toward the table… Only to freeze when she heard a giggle from behind her.

“I knew it,” a loud whisper said, making Lucy freeze on the spot. She whipped her head round to try to find the source of the whisper, only to frown with embarrassment as she noticed a group of four girls stare in her direction with wide grins on their faces, only to turn away and giggle when their eyes met Lucy’s. Lucy closed her eyes and tried not to weep as she prayed for the ground to open up and swallow her whole, before letting out a startled yelp as she felt another hand close around hers- though much to her surprise, the hand didn't belong to her brother.

“It’s okay, honey,” Rick said gently as he gave Lucy’s hand a gentle squeeze. “They’ve been there all afternoon, some people with a mental age of five think it’s funny to laugh at other people!” Lucy giggled as Rick raised his voice toward the end of his sentence, earning angry sneers from the group of girls that washed over him like they were nothing. “I’ve messaged Jerome to see if he can send someone down to get rid of them, but he hasn’t messaged me back yet.”

“Yeah,” Lucy whispered, frowning at the mention of the Student Union’s president’s name- something that didn’t go unnoticed by Rick.

“Wh-do you have some kind of a problem with Jerome?” The blond man asked, before scrunching his face into a tight grimace. “Oh, please tell me it’s not ‘cause he’s black…”

“Ah- no, not at all,” Lucy hastily replied. “We- we’ve got no problem with race trust me! It’s just- ugh. Yesterday, at the SU sign-up thing, he- he gave us a pamphlet for your society. Without, like, without even asking us, he just, like, assumed…”

“Ugh, Jerome…” Rick sighed with an overdramatic shake of his head. “I- I can guarantee you he did NOT mean to offend you, he would’ve only given you those pamphlets if he thought he was helping you. Though I am going to have a word with him about jumping to conclusions, trust me!”

“Th- thanks,” Lucy chuckled as she finished filling in her details on the form, only to hesitate before turning away from the booth, for fear that the gang of girls were still there.

“It’s okay, they’ve moved on,” Rick reassured the young woman. “I think maybe I scared them away for you, hehe! Either that or they’re jealous that you rock a denim mini far better than they ever could!”

“Heh, thanks,” Lucy said, blushing as a smile started to spread across her face, before stepping back to allow her brother to step up to the desk.

“H- hi,” Luke said nervously, glancing over his shoulder as he began filling in his registration form.

“Hi!” Rick replied with a wide grin that Luke soon mirrored. “Are you three friends, then, like from secondary school or college? I’m just asking ‘cause of your accents, heh.”

“Umm, us and Susie, aye,” Luke replied. “Me and Lucy, we- we’ve known each other a bit longer than that, heh!”

“We- we’re twins,” Lucy explained, blushing even deeper as Rick squeaked excitedly.

“Ah, that is so cool!” The tall young man enthused. “So you’ve known each other your whole lives plus nine months, then?”

“Something like that,” Luke mumbled, his smile widening, before deepening into a frown as he paused, expecting a question from the taller man. “I- I’m sorry, I was- I was kinda, you know, expecting you to ask a question…”

“I’m not going to ask anything you’re not comfortable answering,” Rick shrugged. “And given that I’ve only known you, like, three minutes, I don’t know you well enough to know what you are and aren’t comfortable answering, so I figure best to err on the side of caution.”

“Heh, thanks,” Luke chuckled bashfully.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to know each other a bit better in the next few months,” Rick said with a smile as Luke bit his lip.

“Yeah, umm,” Luke mumbled. “You’re kinda- kinda assuming too…”

“Oh- oh god, no, I didn’t mean it like THAT!” Rick said flapping his hands anxiously. “I do have a boyfriend, heh, though I- heh. No assumptions, heh.”

“Yeah,” Luke chuckled. “I’m kinda not looking right now anyway, heh.”

“Well, other than looking for new friends,” Lucy interjected.

“Well, you’ll definitely find those here,” Rick said with a smile. “You can never have too many, right?”

“Oh, you- you’re an Angels fan too?” Lucy asked.

“Well, duh!” Rick chuckled. “Though in my mind I’ve promoted them all from 'angels' to ‘goddesses’, heh! I don’t think there’s an official university fan club, though… Maybe someone should found one?”

“Yeah, maybe- maybe next September!” Lucy chuckled. “Do you- do you have any, you know, recommendations for, like, ‘friendly’ societies? Like, for people like us?”

“They should all be,” Rick replied after a moment’s thought. “Though I admit that’s emphasis on ‘should’. All I can recommend is to, well, put yourself out there. Make friends, get to know people… If you do run into any, well, ‘giggling toddlers’, just come to me or Jerome, we’ve got your back.”

“Heh, thanks,” Luke said, genuinely relaxing for the first time since setting foot in the university.

“Thanks,” Lucy mumbled, grinning bashfully as Rick beamed a wide, genuine smile at the trio as they moved away. However, as hard as she tried to focus on the positives, like Rick's unconditional support, the teasing Lucy had been subjected to gnawed away at the back of her mind.

For the first time ever, she’d faced active discrimination simply for being who she was, and it cut her deeply. It wasn’t even anything 'major'- just a few giggles and sneers- but to Lucy it may as well have been a blow to the face. It was a reminder that she was an outsider, that she was different, that there will always be those who believed that she didn’t deserve to live the life that she wanted to, or even needed to live. And worst of all, in Lucy’s mind, it was just a taste of things to come. One day, giggling, the next day, teasing, the next day, even worse. All of a sudden, the skirt that Lucy had been excited to wear to university started to feel very uncomfortable.

“Hey,” Luke whispered to his sister. “You okay?”

“Meh, I guess,” Lucy replied with a shrug, before sighing. “…No. Ugh, I- I dunno. I mean, we’ve been literally braced for the worst-case scenario ever since we got here, and, like, that was barely anything, but still…”

“Yeah, well, try to remember that you’re not alone, okay?” Susie said softly. “You’ve got us and now you’ve got Rick as well, and I’m sure the rest of the society will be on our side too. Not ‘your side’- OUR side.”

“Thanks,” Lucy whispered.

“And it wasn’t ‘barely anything’ if it made you upset,” Luke insisted. “You’re a girl, just like I’m a boy, and if anyone thinks that’s funny, or if anyone wants to disagree, I’m more than happy to change their minds for them.” Luke bit his lip as he tried to reassure his sister- the teasing Lucy had faced had hurt him just as much as it had hurt her, but unlike Lucy, Luke had had to physically restrain himself from confronting the girls.

“Thanks,” Lucy chuckled. “Wouldn’t kill me to grow a thicker skin, though.”

“Well, maybe, maybe not,” Luke said. “But like Susie says, we’re not alone. If we get worse heading our way, we’ll deal with it together. If we get nothing else, we’ll still deal with it together. Right?”

“Right,” Lucy replied with a grin. “Always!”

“We- we’re going to have a look at some of the other societies,” Susie said. “You coming?”

“I- I’m going to sit down for a bit,” Lucy said softly. “Just going to, you know, read up on the LGBT society a bit. I’ll catch you up.”

“Are- are you sure?” Luke asked.

“I’ll be fine, honestly,” Lucy said with a smile that immediately fell as her brother and her friend walked away. Still feeling self-conscious following the confrontation, Lucy slunk off to a small seating area at the side of the room, where she sat down and started checking the LGBT society’s page on the university website on her phone. She was only alone for a few seconds, however, when she became aware of someone standing over her- and it wasn't her brother or her friend.

“E- excuse me?” The young dark-skinned woman asked with a mild Indian accent. “Is- is anyone sitting with you?”

“Umm,” Lucy mumbled as she felt her body tense up. She braced herself for more teasing, more giggling and potentially even worse, but she quickly reasoned that anyone who wanted to make fun of her probably wouldn’t ask for permission beforehand. Also, the fact that the Indian girl looked just as anxious as Lucy felt hinted that she probably wasn’t there to cause trouble after all. “…Sure, have a seat.”

“Th- thanks,” the Indian girl said, elegantly lowering herself into the seat next to Lucy. “I- I’m Priya, by the way.”

“Lucy,” the tall transgirl replied, before biting her lip as an awkward silence fell over the two of them. “What- umm, what subject are you studying?”

“Economics,” Priya replied with a smile. “I actually- I actually won a scholarship last year, heh.”

“Lucky you!” Lucy chuckled. “I- I’m studying biochemistry, me, my brother and our best friend are all on the same course.”

“Ah, that’s cool!” Priya said with a nervous chuckle. “So are you- are you and your brother twins?”

“Yep,” Lucy replied. “Umm, do you- do you have any siblings?”

“A brother and a sister,” Priya replied. “Though not twins, my brother’s four years older than me, my sister’s 16 months younger, so we’re not in the same school year.”

“Ah,” Lucy said, leading to another awkward silence. “What- umm, what part of the world are you from?”

“London,” Priya replied with a sad smile.

“Ah, cool,” Lucy said. “I mean, umm, what part of- where were you born?”

“…London,” Priya replied more firmly, frowning as Lucy grimaced. “If you mean ‘where was my family originally from’, then the answer is Kolkata, but I’ve only spent, like, a total of three, maybe four months of my life in India.”

“Ah- sorry…” Lucy mumbled as her cheeks turned red. “Ugh, can’t believe I’ve been mistaken for racist like, twice in five minutes…”

“Especially-“ Priya said, before biting her lip and continuing cautiously. “Especially as, well, you were on the receiving end of discrimination just now too.” The Indian girl tried to smile sympathetically at Lucy, but all the transgirl wanted to do at that moment was crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

“You saw,” Lucy mumbled.

“I did,” Priya whispered.

“How- how many other people saw?” Lucy asked, closing her eyes as she dreaded the answer.

“I don’t know,” Priya replied, before sighing. “Lucy, I- I don’t want you to think that I’m being, you know, condescending or anything, but- ugh. Earlier, I- I said I have one sister. While that’s technically true, I- I feel like I actually have, like, seven. Back in London, I- I kinda have, like, a ‘clique’, a gang- not ‘gang’, but you know what I mean- of girls. Two… Two of the girls were transgender. And I don’t want to seem like I’m jumping to conclusions, I mean, I swear I probably wouldn’t even have noticed if it wasn’t for those girls-“

“I-ugh,” Lucy interrupted. “You’re not being condescending, but I- I don’t want pity either.”

“Do you want a friend?” Priya asked, smiling sympathetically as Lucy was unable to answer her question. “’Cause I know first-hand what it’s like to be discriminated against.” Lucy bit her lip as she instinctively knew that was the Indian girl was saying was true.

“So- so what are you saying?” Lucy asked. “We can be, like, outcasts together?”

“Well I’d rather be- well, ‘incasts’ in a group of friends I really like,” Priya replied. “I said earlier that I have two transgender friends in London, and I- I haven’t always been kind, or as kind as I should have been, to the younger of the two girls. I dunno if it’s because she was, like, nearly three years younger than me, but- yeah. Really don’t to make the same mistake twice. So, well, bottom line… Want to be friends?” Lucy paused as she pondered the Indian girl’s request. She didn’t doubt that she was being sincere in her request, but at the same time, Lucy didn’t want to only make friends with people who felt sorry for her- or even with people who only made friends with her just because she was transgender. Lucy wanted friends who liked her for who she was, like Susie did. However, every time she tried to think of a reason to decline Priya’s request, one saying, one catchphrase ran around her head over and over again.

“…You can never have too many friends, right?” Lucy asked, giggling as her new friend let out a squeak of excitement.

“Oh, you’re a fan of the Angels too?” Priya asked.

“Well, duh!” Lucy giggled, slowly starting to relax as she started to put the other girls' discrimination behind her.

“I- I didn’t want to assume,” Priya mumbled. “Like, with it being a cliché and all that, heh.”

“It’s okay,” Lucy shrugged. “I- I actually met Jamie-Lee, like, this summer just gone. We went down to London for AngelCon and- yeah. Greatest couple of days of my life, heh.”

“Yeah, we were at AngelCon too, all eight of us,” Priya said. “Though if we’re comparing ‘Angel brags’, I DID study ballet for four years at the Krystie Fullerton School of Dance…”

“Oh- no way, really?” Lucy asked, giggling as her new friend smiled smugly.

“Yep,” Priya said. “I quit when I was sixteen, I was never really good enough to go professional, not like my sister, but I- I still really, really love dancing. Have you- have you ever taken any dance lessons?”

“Ah- no, HELL no,” Lucy chuckled. “My- ugh. My dad and my granddad’s heads would probably explode if they ever saw me go anywhere near a ballet class. Heh, we’ve never even seen Billy Elliott, despite being from the same part of the world, heh!”

“Heh,” Priya chuckled. “Did wonder if I was being quote-unquote ‘racist’ there, heh.”

“Think you’re on safe ground,” Lucy replied, sharing a giggle with her new friend.

“I- I’m actually on my way to sign up for the dance society,” Priya said. “I mean, it’s been a while since I last danced en pointe, but I did bring my pointe shoes with me, and it’s good exercise… Do- do you want to, umm, you know… Come along with me?” Lucy looked at her new friend with a mixture of surprise and horror on her face. It didn't take long for Lucy to ponder her reply.

“Oh, I- I really, REALLY can’t dance,” Lucy babbled. “I- I told you I’ve never taken any lessons, before, I’d be hopeless, I’d-“

“They have loads of different types of classes within the society,” Priya interrupted. “Including classes for absolute beginners, I’m not just, like, signing up for advanced ballet, but I’ve always wanted to try street dancing, so I’m signing up for the beginner class there too, and- and I have asked another girl on my course if she wants to sign up too, she’s had no formal classes either so- yeah. You really, really wouldn’t be alone.” Lucy bit her lip as she more carefully considered her reply. Within minutes, she’d gone from feeling like the worst person in the world to gaining a new friend with the potential for even more. And the truth was, as stereotypical as it may have been, Lucy DID like the sound of the beginner dance class. At school, she’d grown to envy the girls who regularly made up dance routines during their playtime, and had always wanted to be part of a group like that. And now, that acceptance was being handed to her on a plate. And yet, as convinced as she was by Priya’s sincerity, there were still concerns in the back of her mind. What if any of the girls who'd bullied her were in the group too? What if she made a fool of herself in her first class? As Lucy asked herself these questions, however, she came to a revelation- they were all questions she’d asked herself before.

What if going to university as a girl would lead to her being discriminated against, or worse? Well, for Lucy, that question had already been answered: she’d receive the support of friends, both old and new, and figures of authority like Jerome or Rick. What if she made a fool or herself wearing a skirt, or make-up, or anything else feminine? Well, she hadn’t. Sure, some idiots had found it funny, but the vast majority of the students had treated her as nothing out of the ordinary. Despite what had happened, taking the plunge and attending university as ‘Lucy’ had paid off for her so far. Lucy decided that she may as well take another 'plunge'.

“…Sure, why not?” Lucy replied, earning another excited squeak from her new friend as they headed through the crowd.

As Lucy was making her new friend, Luke and Susie were stood looking at the queue for another of the university’s many societies- one that had stood out to them more than any of the others. And judging by the length of the queue, they weren't alone in feeling that way.

“Are you sure you’re sure about this?” Susie asked her friend, who fidgeted nervously.

“Yep,” Luke replied bluntly, though internally, he was far from certain. At a slender 5’ 4”, he was dwarfed by most of the men surrounding him, but that didn’t deter him- he loved football, and he wanted to play the sport for the university. Whether or not he actually could, though, was a question Luke found himself unable to answer.

Even if he signed up for the society, Luke didn’t expect to make the university's first team, but he was determined to give it a go nonetheless, reasoning that if he couldn’t prove himself as a footballer, he’d at least go some way toward proving himself as a man. However, with each step that brought him closer to the sign-up form, he grew less and less confident. After all, just because you played football, or even liked it, it didn't make you a man. Even if you played on a team with other men, it didn't mean they had to accept you as one of them. Luke wasn't even sure that it meant he'd be able to accept himself as a man...

“H- hi,” a young man with a soft Geordie accent said from behind Luke and Susie, momentarily startling the two teenagers. Luke forced a smile on his face as he turned around to greet the dark-haired newcomer.

“Oh, umm, hi,” Luke said, trying not to frown at losing his train of thought.

“Are you- are you looking at the football society too, then?” The young man asked.

“Meh, maybe,” Luke replied. “I- I never really played much at school, so maybe- maybe just as a fan, heh.”

“Yeah, same here,” the young man said with a sad sigh. “I- I’m Gavin, by the way, Gavin Penny.”

“Luke Miller,” Luke replied. “This is my friend Susie.”

“Nice to meet you,” the ginger girl said with a warm smile. “Are you from Newcastle too?”

“Aye,” Gavin replied with a proud grin. “Lifelong Toon fan and proud, heh!”

“Same here,” Luke said, gesturing to himself and Susie. “Which college did you go to?”

“Umm, Newcastle College, Scotswood Road,” Gavin replied. “I’m doing modern art.”

“Yeah, our college was on the other side of the city,” Susie said. “And we’re doing biochemistry, so- yeah. Not a lot in common, heh!”

“Apart from the most important thing?” Gavin asked, smirking as his two new friends both nodded in agreement. “And- heh, and umm, kinda something else, too… I- I don’t want to assume, but are- are you-“ Luke felt his entire body tense up as he awaited Gavin’s question. While, like Lucy, he’d braced himself for the possibility of being ‘clocked’, he was no less anxious when the time finally arrived. Luke tried to console himself with the fact that Gavin was at least asking out of curiosity, and seemingly without malice, but he still felt his body tense up- and still felt guilty that his sister had had it far worse than he did…

“Are you-“ Gavin continued to stammer. “Are you two a couple?” Luke felt his entire body decompress as the question was asked, before smiling and shaking his head.

“Nah,” Luke replied. “We- we’re just friends, that’s all.”

“Ah,” Gavin said with a smile. “I kinda- I kinda thought, ‘cause I- I saw you at the LGBT society booth, and I’m kinda- kinda, well, ‘G’.”

“Ah, okay,” Luke replied.

“Yeah, I’m- well, if I only had those four letters to pick from, I’d be ‘B’,” Susie said with a smirk.

“Also- also ‘B’,” Luke said. “And, umm… And, umm, ‘T’ as well…” Luke grimaced as a look of shock spread across Gavin’s face, followed by a wide grin.

“Okay,” the dark-haired young man said. “Now THAT I would not have guessed!”

“What, really?” Luke asked skeptically. “Never mind the fact I’m, like, a foot shorter than most guys?”

“Last time I checked, being male wasn’t a rollercoaster,” Gavin shrugged. “As in, like, there’s no height limit.”

“Well- I guess,” Luke mumbled.

“And you should totally try out for the football team,” Gavin said, his smile widening as Luke’s frown deepened. “I’m serious! It’s about time the team got some ‘representation’.”

“…What team, the football team or ‘Team LGBT’?” Susie asked with a smirk.

“Why not both?” Gavin replied with a shrug that made Susie giggle, even as Luke continued to frown.

“Tell you what,” Luke said. “I’ll try out if you do.” This time, it was Gavin who frowned, bringing a look of confusion to Luke’s face.

“Much as I’d love to,” Gavin said quietly, “I doubt my multiple sclerosis would let me.”

“Oh- oh god, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Luke mumbled, his cheeks reddening as his new friend rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well, I appreciate that, but I don’t really need your pity, thanks,” Gavin sighed. “MS doesn’t stop me from supporting the team, though. Nor does being G, B or, well T.”

“And no ‘letter’ should stop me from playing for them?” Luke asked, smirking as her new friend nodded. “Meh, okay, I’ll give it a go then, what’s the worst that can happen, like?” Other than being laughed out of the booth, Luke darkly thought to himself. Or beaten up, or spat at…

As much as he focussed on the worst-case scenarios, though, Luke remembered what his sister had said the previous evening- he couldn’t spend the whole three years at university holed up in his room. With a determined nod, Luke led his two friends to the queue for the football society, quickly reaching the front of the queue where a tall, good-looking blond-haired man was waiting for them.

“Hi!” The blond man said enthusiastically. “Are you just wanting information for the society, or do you want to try out?”

“I- I’d like to try out, please,” Luke replied confidently, before fidgeting as the blond man regarded him with a quizzical stare. “For the- for the men’s team.” Well done, Luke thought to himself with a grimace. THAT's not going to raise any eyebrows.

“…Okay,” the blond man said with a shrug as he handed Luke a form. “Just fill in your details and get them back to me, try-outs are Thursday afternoon. I’m James Thorn, team captain and head coach.”

“Thanks,” Luke said with a determined nod as he also picked up pamphlets for Susie and Gavin, before walking away with a confident smile on his face. Even if he didn’t make the team, he could still say that he’d tried. After all, like he’d said to his newest friend, no ‘letter’ should prevent him from doing the things he loved.

On the other side of the room, however, Lucy was feeling increasingly nervous as she and Priya headed toward the dance society’s booth, where the Indian girl greeted her course mate with a smile, while Lucy waved politely, conscious of the fact that she stood a full nine inches taller than both women.

“Hi Claudia!” Priya said with a giggle. “I twisted your arm, then?”

“Ye- yeah,” The petite blonde girl replied in her soft West Midlands accent, before turning to Lucy and biting her lip nervously. “H- hi, I’m- I’m Claudia, Claudia Chapman.”

“I’m Lucy Miller,” Lucy replied, cautiously extending a hand for the petite girl to shake, before smiling and leaning in for a hug instead, which Claudia happily returned. “So, umm, Priya persuaded you too, then?” Lucy couldn’t help but let out a quiet giggle as her new Indian friend chuckled and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah,” Claudia replied. “We- we sat next to each other in our first lecture, got talking… She mentioned that she did ballet in London, I said that I’ve never taken any dance lessons before, and here I am.”

“It wasn’t quite THAT quick,” Priya interjected. “But I am glad you’re both here, hehe! Shall we sign up?”

“Umm, sure!” Lucy replied, even though her stomach was almost churning at the prospect of putting her name down for the society- something not helped by the height difference.

“Hi!” The young woman stood at the dance society’s booth said as the trio approached. “I'm Laura, I'm the secretary for the university's dance societies. Are you interested in joining one of our classes?”

“Yep!” Priya replied with an excited giggle. “I’d like to join the pointe class and the beginner street dance class, please!”

“Okay,” Laura said, before letting out a grimace. “Ah, I- I’m afraid those two clash, the classes are both at the same time, so I’m afraid you’ll have to pick one or the other.” Lucy fidgeted as she saw the dilemma in Priya’s eyes- it would be just her luck to make a new friend who introduced her to a new hobby, only for the friend to abandon her less than ten minutes later, even if she had also just made another friend who’d be in the same boat.

“…Put me down for street dance,” Priya said with a warm smile that made Lucy breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

“Are you sure?” Laura asked.

“Positive,” Priya replied as she flashed a smile at her two new friends.

“Okay,” Laura said. “I’ll also pass your name along to advanced ballet if that’s okay, they don’t do pointe work, but you’ll be able to keep in practice at least.”

“That’d be great, thanks!” Priya said with a smile, before letting Claudia step up to the table.

“Hi!” Laura said to the petite blonde woman. “Are you three signing up together?”

“Ye- yeah, but I- I have literally zero dance experience,” Claudia replied.

“That’s absolutely okay,” Laura said with a warm, friendly smile. “We have classes for people of all skill levels, and I know for a fact Kacey, the teacher of the street dance class, is very friendly, I’m sure you’ll get on perfectly. It is beginner street you want to sign up for, right?”

“Umm, yeah,” Claudia replied, before giggling nervously as her student ID card was scanned. “Are we- are we going to have to wear, like, costumes, or special clothes or anything?”

“Not for street, not really,” Laura replied. “Even stage costumes are going to be, like, jeans and crop tops, that sort of thing. No fancy tutus, I’m afraid!”

“St- stage?” Claudia asked anxiously. Her anxiety, though, paled in comparison to the fear that suddenly gripped Lucy's body.

“Yes…” Laura replied, before smiling sympathetically at the petite woman's clear anxiety. “Though they can’t make you dance on stage if you don’t want to, but trust me when I say there is literally no other feeling like it!” I can think of a few, Lucy thought to herself as she had to fight off a wave of nausea.

“Yeah,” Claudia chuckled, before stepping aside and letting Lucy approach the desk. As she tried to walk forward, though, Lucy felt her legs freeze to the spot. It had taken her literally months just to be able to leave the house as the girl she really was, and had taken all of her strength and willpower to simply speak to Priya and agree to join the dance society. But dancing on stage? Putting herself in front of an audience, with the spotlight on her, and all of her flaws- her many, many masculine flaws- was another thing entirely. Especially as she’d been ridiculed not fifteen minutes before when she was merely keeping herself to herself…

“Hi?” Laura said, bringing Lucy’s attention back to the present. “Are you here to sign up for the street dance class too?”

“Hmm”? Lucy asked, before pausing as she considered her response. While Lucy was reluctant to subject herself to any further ridicule, she kept coming back to the fact that, just like she'd told her brother and her friend the previous night, she didn’t want to hide herself away her whole life. What little she knew of Priya and Claudia told her that they were decent girls who had the potential to become great friends, and while she had no intention of abandoning Luke or Susie, all three of them had come to the university with the intention of making new friends. And besides, dancing seemed like a lot of fun to Lucy. It would keep her fit, and better still, could give her ‘instructions’ on how to carry herself like a woman- something she’d only had a few days’ experience of, after all. “…Yes, I’d like to sign up for street class, please.”

“Cool!” Laura giggled. “Just scan your ID there, please.” Lucy grinned nervously as she scanned the card that proudly listed her gender as ‘female’, though her smile quickly turned into a frown.

“I- umm, I kinda have no dance experience either,” Lucy mumbled.

“Well, like I said to your friend, that’s not a problem,” Laura replied with a smile. “And we can cater to all shapes and sizes too, just because you’re nearly six feet tall, it doesn’t mean you can’t dance as well as anyone else, heh!”

“Yeah,” Lucy nervously chuckled as her panic levels rose again- if Laura had made the observation about her height, she must surely have noticed the other parts of her that were ‘unusually shaped’ for a girl, and while she herself may be sensitive enough to not say it out loud, she must surely have noticed the reason for the 'unusual shapes'. “I- umm, my- my other, you know, ‘thing’… Will that- will that be a problem?”

“Umm… What ‘thing’?” Laura asked, making Lucy grimace with frustration.

“My- my ‘thing’,” Lucy repeated, her heart racing as the other woman continued to look confused. “That I- I’m transgender.” Lucy bit her lip and braced herself for a backlash, but rather than look angry or disgusted, the blonde woman instead had a look of surprise on her face.

“Oh, you- really?” Laura asked. “I- I’d genuinely never have guessed!”

“Is it- is it a problem?” Lucy whispered anxiously.

“No, of course not!” Laura replied with a giggle. “It’s just- I really wouldn’t have been able to tell, you know?”

“Oh- come on, really…” Lucy mumbled.

“I’m serious!” Laura said with a supportive smile that made Lucy blush. “Though I admit, it’s not like I’d be, you know, looking or anything, but, you know, you’ve walked up to me wearing a skirt, and make-up, and with your hair… Only thing I’m going to think is ‘this is obviously a woman, why question it?’.”

“Heh,” Lucy chuckled quietly as a smile spread across her face. “Not- not everyone has thought that, though.”

“Ugh, have people been giving you a hard time about it?” Laura asked softly.

“Well- not as hard as it could be, I suppose,” Lucy sighed. “Just, you know, a bit of behind my back whispering, that sort of thing…”

“Still though, that’s not exactly going to help you,” Laura said. “Have you spoken to Rick at the LGBT society? He should be able to offer you a lot of help, and not just advice but practical help too.”

“Yeah, he- he kinda chased off a bunch of girls who were, you know, giggling…” Lucy mumbled.

“Sounds like Rick,” Laura said with a cheeky grin. “Well, if you ever have any trouble in this society- and you absolutely shouldn’t- let me know and I’ll do the ‘chasing’, hehe!”

“Thanks,” Lucy said with a smile as she took her paperwork from the table and headed back to where her new friends were standing.

“Is everything okay?” Priya asked. “You were kinda a while…”

“Y- yeah, everything’s fine,” Lucy chuckled, before taking a deep breath as she felt her whole body relax. “I just- I just wanted to make sure that I was, you know, okay with them, sort of thing.”

“Why wouldn’t you be okay with them?” Claudia innocently asked, frowning as her two new friends started to fidget.

“You- you didn’t tell her, then?” Lucy asked her Indian friend.

“When did I have the chance?” Priya retorted. “After we got talking we came straight here.”

“But- while I was talking to Laura?” Lucy asked.

“I’m not going to gossip about you behind your back when you’re literally ten feet away!” Priya replied with a forced-sounding chuckle that disguised her irritation at the implication.

“Seriously, guys,” Claudia interrupted. “What- what am I missing here?” Lucy and Priya both paused as they looked at each other hesitantly, before the taller girl spoke up.

“That I- ugh,” Lucy said with a sigh. “I guess I AM only going to have to tell you once, I- I’m transgender. Like, born male, but not anymore.”

“Wh- really?” Claudia asked, raising Lucy’s anxiety levels again. While virtually everybody she’d told had reacted positively to her, it would only take one person reacting negatively to potentially make her life a nightmare. Especially if they'd be in the same society together for three years...

“Ye- yeah,” Lucy replied as she squirmed.

“Huh, that’s cool,” Claudia said with a friendly smile.

“Umm, okay…” Lucy said hesitantly.

“What? It’s, like, 2019, why should it matter?” Claudia asked, smiling nervously as her new friends grinned widely at her. “…What?”

“I think this might be the start of a beautiful friendship,” Priya mused as she and her two new friends headed off to check out the rest of the societies together, Lucy beaming a wide, proud grin.

After roaming around the booths with their friends for another half an hour, the two groups rendezvoused at the LGBT society’s booth, where the twins introduced Claudia and Priya to Gavin and Susie, and most importantly, to each other. After chatting and getting to know each other for fifteen minutes, the group started to make their way away from the excited crowds.

“This has been fun!” Priya said with an excited giggle as the six teenagers left the hall. “What have you guys- sorry, guys and girls got planned now?”

“Umm, probably heading back to our rooms, maybe do a bit of reading, watch Netflix maybe,” Lucy replied with a shrug.

“You- you’re not going to the Student Union bar, then?” Claudia asked. “There’s another freshers’ night- heh, think there are freshers’ nights all this week.”

“Though it’ll have a hard time topping last night, right?” Priya said with a grin as Luke, Lucy and Susie all fidgeted uncomfortably. “…What?”

“We- we kinda, you know, stayed in last night,” Lucy replied. “In our rooms…” Lucy felt herself blush as her three new friends looked at her confusedly.

“Oh, you really missed- oh,” Priya said, her eyes widening as she realised the reason for the twins' reluctance.

“Y- yeah,” Lucy grimaced. “We’d have felt kinda- kinda, umm…”

“Exposed,” Luke interjected. “That’s probably the best word for it, heh.”

"Aye, I suppose I get why you might think that," Gavin said quietly. "But, like, we're all here for the same reason- well, reasons. To learn and to have fun. And the university DOES guarantee safe spaces like the bar for people like you and me." Gavin smirked as Priya and Claudia looked at him with confusion, before pointing to the rainbow badge on the strap of his backpack.

"They can't guarantee that no-one will be transphobic, though," Luke retorted. "Or homophobic. Or racist or anything like that."

"Well, in that case, we'll tell them where to go," Susie said. "If anybody hurts any of my friends, even if it's 'just' emotionally, I'll rip their arms off." A brief but awkward silence fell over the group as the twins started to fidget, both thinking the same thing.

"...Thought you were going to say a different body part to 'arms' there," Lucy said, smirking and blushing as her four friends all laughed not at her like the giggling girls from earlier, but with her, like the friends they were.

"Well, if you want me to do those too, I will!" Susie said, making the other five teenagers laugh even louder. "But only on people who piss us off."

"Agreed," Lucy said with a giggle as she, her brother and their friends made their way to the union bar.

A short while later, the group were sat around a small table in the union bar, and even though it was hot, noise and crowded, neither Luke nor Lucy wanted to be anywhere else at that moment in time.

“Cheers!” the six teenagers all toasted, clinking their glasses together before settling back into their seats.

“You have to admit,” Susie said to the twins quietly- or as quietly as she could in a crowded bar, anyway. “This is better than Netflix in our rooms, isn’t it?”

“Well…” Luke replied hesitantly as he glanced around the room. Despite his friends’ reassurance, he was still conscious of the fact that he was one of the shortest, if not THE shortest guy in the room. He was conscious of the fact that he and his sister had been ‘clocked’ twice in as many days, and no matter how dedicated the university was to promoting diversity, as he'd said earlier, they couldn’t guarantee that every student would be accepting or welcoming of them. However, Luke was forced to concede one fact- that he, Lucy and Susie had already made three good friends in the space of their first two days of study, and from what Lucy had told Luke, part of the reason for their friendship was because they were transgender. And even beyond Gavin, Priya and Claudia, the twins had a support mechanism in place in the shape of the societies they had joined, as well as the Student Union, despite Jerome’s initial faux pas. For the first time in a long while, Luke felt optimistic about his future. Even if he didn’t make the uni’s football team, he’d still have fun cheering the team on with Gavin and Susie. And watching his sister dancing, too…

“…Much better,” Luke said with a wide, genuine smile that his five friends mirrored. “So, Priya, how long have you been into dancing?”

“Umm, since I was twelve,” the Indian girl replied.

“Somebody had ballet taught to them by a bona fide Angel…” Claudia teased, making Priya blush as her friends all blushed.

“Oh, you were at Krystie Fullerton’s school?” Susie asked. “I heard that’s really exclusive, hard to get into.”

“Me and my sister signed up just after it opened in 2013, before the Angels were a 'thing',” Priya retorted. “At which point it became easy to get into only if you knew the right people, hehe!” Priya grinned as her friends all gave her good-natured jeers.

“And in fairness,” Susie chuckled, “if you ever see me in a pair of tights and a leotard, you have my permission to shoot me, heh!”

“Meh, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea,” Priya shrugged.

“You got THAT right,” Luke snorted, earning sympathetic smiles from his friends. “Eh, I’m okay. Not worn a pair of dance slippers in years, and I intend to keep it that way!”

“You’d look better in football boots, anyway,” Gavin said with a teasing smile.

“Though street dance is apparently just done in regular clothes and trainers,” Lucy said with a grin. “And it’s open to boys as well as girls…”

“I’ll pass, and you know why!” Luke said, smirking and shaking his head as his sister giggled, before the excitement levels at the table were increased by the arrival of a figure the twins had met earlier in the day.

“Hey, guys and gals!” Rick said with a playful grin. “I’m glad to see you’re all having a great time, but if I can just interrupt for a sec, I’ve had to drag someone over here who has something he’d like to say to you two…” Luke and Lucy both frowned and felt their anxiety levels rise as the blond man waggled a finger in their direction, before smirking as Jerome skulked up to their table with a nervous smile on his face.

“Hey guys,” the tall dark-skinned man said with a tired chuckle. “I- heh. It’s been brought to my attention that yesterday, I may have kinda been a bit unintentionally insensitive when talking to the both of you. For that, I humbly apologise- Rick’s spoken to me and explained the situation and- yep. I’m truly sorry for any offence I caused.”

“Apology accepted,” Lucy said softly.

“…Apology accepted,” Luke said, before smiling genuinely as Jerome breathed a sigh of relief.

“I mean, the more I think about it,” Jerome said, “it’s kinda like if someone just handed me a leaflet for the rap society, heh. Not that I don’t like rap music, but- yeah.”

“Or if someone handed me a flyer for a local curry house,” Priya said stoically.

“Well- exactly,” Jerome sighed. “Trust me when I say that I HATE discrimination of any kind, and I am absolutely mortified to think that I’m actually guilty of it. Even if it was unintentional, it doesn't excuse it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it,” Lucy said. “Like you said, it was unintentional, now you know not to do it again. And it’s not like we weren’t already planning on joining the society.”

“Heh, I guess,” Jerome said with a warm, friendly grin. “You should think about joining the SU committee next year, you know? Not- not in a, like, ‘affirmative action’ kind of way, but because you seem, you know, really mature.” Lucy giggled and bit her lip as her brother and friends teased her with playful jeers.

“I- I’ll think about it,” Lucy chuckled. “Want to just get settled in first, get a start on our coursework, that sort of thing.”

“Well, that’s fair enough,” Jerome chuckled. “I just hope you’ve had a warm welcome here at the uni.”

“Yeah…” Luke replied as he looked around the room again, but more specifically at his new friends- friends that as little as 24 hours ago, he thought he’d never make. While he was unsurprised that Lucy had made new friends, for the first time in a long while Luke was feeling optimistic that he and Lucy would go on to make many more friends, both on their course and in their societies. Friends who would accept them as the boy and girl they were, just as Susie did, just as Gavin did and just as Priya and Claudia did too. Luke was optimistic that while university would be hard work, it would also be fun for both himself and Lucy, and that they would finish their course as the man and woman they were destined to be.

However, both Luke and Lucy were realistic enough to know that the road ahead wouldn’t be smooth…