“You heard me, I’m pretty sure Temperance is trans.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Haven’t you heard her? I’m pretty sure she wanted to come out to you today! ”

“That doesn’t mean anything Mackie! There is plenty of things that she could have been trying to say!”

“Like what?” She said smirking once again. “Her gayness for you? Not only is that obvious, she probably wouldn’t have included me in that conversation.”

“Whatever, but do you have any significant proof that she is trans, Mackie? You know very well that she could have been trying to say any number of things.”

“Actually, I do have significant proof, while I was waiting for the both of you to stop doing amorous stuff in the kitchen, I noticed that there was a bottle of pills that had been very poorly hidden in Temperance’s bookcase. I looked at the label on the bottle more closely and then doing a research on what the pills were, I discovered that she had been prescribed antiandrogens. That’s my absolute proof Brooke.”

I didn’t know what to say… Temperance being the same as me… I… I didn’t know how to feel about it … Should I be happy that I met somebody like me or should I feel sad that shyness wasn’t the only thing that made Temperance’s life complicated?

“Brooke, are you alright? You looked really out of it for a second. Does it bother you that much that Temperance is trans as well?”

“What?! No! It’s just that I now realize that Temperance is dealing with so much stuff at the same time… I don’t know if I could handle the stress and the anxiety that she has to deal with daily.”

Mackenzie gave me a look of disbelief.

“Brooke, I hope you notice the irony in what you just said!”

Irony, what irony, there is no irony in what I just… Actually… Yes, there is plenty of irony in what I just said.

“Brooke, being empathic is great but think about yourself sometimes too, ok?” Said Mackie giving me a hug.

“I will sis, I will.”

The rest of the weekend was really uneventful in the physical realm, in my mind though, plenty of stuff was happening and few of the thoughts I was having were really positive. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened on Saturday.

Weirdly enough, none of the girls asked me about what had happened on that day. I questioned Chanel and Allison about it and they told me that Mackenzie had told them everything. They didn’t think that there was much they could do about anything that was happening, so they suggested to everyone else to simply not talk about it. “Worrying is useless,” Chanel words. I didn’t think so, but it’s not like could do anything about it Monday so… I tried as hard possible to forget about Monday.

Anyway, Monday afternoon came and I was standing in front of an office extremely nervous. I took a deep breath and then proceeded to knock on the door.

“You can enter,” Said a voice from inside.

I reluctantly opened the door and I was shocked to see that not only the nurse was in here, but the psychologist and … Temperance.

“Why are you here Temperance?”

Temperance mom started talking “To…”

Temperance interrupted her mother almost immediately. “Let me say it, I think it’s better if she heard it from me, mom. Brooke…I…I want to apologize, I…I told on you last week and that’s why I… I also kept avoiding you…”
I couldn’t look at her.

“Brooke, I just wanted to protect you! I didn’t want anything to happen that might get you kicked out of school. I didn’t want to lose you. You pretty much are the only real friend I have and seeing how my moms have the power to legitimize you being here… I just thought that it would be best if I talked them about you.”

“And you didn’t talk to me about it!” I said very angrily.

Temperance started crying. “Brooke, you go through so much risk every day. I didn’t want to want to wake up one day and discover that you were gone… ”

“So you betrayed me!”

“I’m so, so sorry Brooke! I just thought it would be better this way.”

“Brooke, Temperance really did make you a service. I really did discover that something wasn’t right in your documentation and I was really going to tell the principal that something wasn’t right. If I hadn’t met you on that weekend and if Temperance hadn’t told that she knew about you, I would have thought the worse about you. It’s one thing for a boy to end in an all-girls school, but it’s another for them to not out themselves, then start acting perfectly as girl and then to start befriending a vulnerable girl. Sorry, if that sounds harsh, but understand that I only wanted to make sure my daughter and all the girls in this school were safe.”

“It doesn’t sound that harsh, I spent my whole first week thinking about how bad my situation seemed… How I should have just said that this was an error and how I shouldn’t have let things get this bad… I don’t hate you for thinking along those lines if it had been anyone else but me I would have thought the same exact thing.” There were very few reasons that could justify my actions… and no the paranoiac state I was in the very first of school wasn’t a good reason I knew that now. If I hadn’t been trans and I would have still gone through this as long as I have, I would have stop being a paranoid wimp at about the third day and from then I would have just been a creep. As such, I understood her line of thinking and I also understood the fact that Temperance made the right decision by telling on me. I knew it… Yet …

I looked at Temperance and said very, very painful words.

“I understand your reasons, but I can’t forgive you right now, Temperance.”

She ran out of the room with her nurse mother going out immediately after her.

Mrs. Athena looked at me and sighed. “I hope, you can forgive her eventually Brooke, she really likes you and she really hated ratting on you.”

“I also hope I can forgive her too…”

“Oh, well. Sit down will you. This might take a while.”

I sat down.

“Now, let me tell you a few things. Me and my wife met working at a gender clinic we are strangers to trans people specially trans kids, seeing as we often worked with them as seeing as we often worked with them and seeing as … we ended up adopting one of our patients.”

I didn’t react.
She raised an eyebrow.

“No reaction… you already knew? Weird, Temperance told us we interrupted her twice before she could say it.”

“Mackenzie saw her prescription.”

“Oh… that explains that… I was worrying about her not …”

“Passing? Don’t worry about that your daughter is a beautiful girl,” I said blushing

“Tell her that to her, will ya! She doesn’t believe me or other mom when we tell her that.”

“Why?”

She looked at her watch.

“Well we have time and I guess she wouldn’t me telling you about her so here we go. As you can maybe tell by her name, Temperance came from a Christian fundamentalist house, the kind that normally wouldn’t have accepted her and that yet surprisingly did. Both her parents accepted her and loved her unconditionally, they did everything they could so she could live as a happy little girl. And happy she was, she would always enter the clinic with a smile on her face and her parents although disapproving of me and my wife’s ‘lifestyle’ still found themselves to be quite diplomatic. Anyway, things went south went both of her birth parents died in a terrible car accident and she found herself in her grandparents care for a few weeks. They didn’t take very kindly to Temperance’s gender status and they pretty much kept insulting her and abusing her for all of her stay at their house. Then surprisingly, it was discovered that her parents will it was said to give guardianship of Temperance to my wife and I. Apparently they considered us the only people they knew that would make sure that Temperance grew up to be a fine young woman. You should have seen the dagger in the eyes of her birth family when the two of us came to pick her up. It was so satisfying to save Temperance from their claws. Sadly though, we discovered that the damage was already done to Temperance. She didn’t smile that much anymore, she didn’t have confidence in her anymore and she had developed social anxiety. We tried to keep her in the same school she went to originally, but we soon learned that members of family spread rumors about her being trans and her having lesbian parents and let’s just say that we had to move out for safety. Now that I have told you about this, it’s your turn tell me about yourself Brooke, what’s your story?”

I took me a while before saying anything because I couldn’t thinking about Temperance’s life story, it was so similar to mine yet so different… I sighed and then started telling my life story.

It took a while, but I managed to go through my life story. I omitted a few details like my aunt’s abuse, because If possible I didn’t want to find myself in court. I wouldn’t be able to handle it, I knew that for sure.

Anyway as soon as I finished talking Temperance's mom stood up, went to a computer and then came back.

“I have just added a note on your records that says that you are transgender and that both me and my wife and I know about it. I will notify your P.E teacher about it, but other than that nobody else but me and my wife would have to know. I will send a word to the dorm that you have permission to use the shower room off hours. You won’t have to worry about getting expelled anymore, but you will have to see me for the next two weeks so we can talk a little bit more and so I can make sure my endocrinologist friend has time to see you. ”

“Endo what?”

“A hormone doctor… You are 14 and I can’t have you go through male puberty. I wouldn’t hear the end of it, I have to make time for the other students, you know!” She said smiling.

I hugged her.

“Keep those for Temperance, will you? Unless you want to be still mad at her.”

I didn’t feel betrayed anymore. Temperance hadn’t only saved me from being expelled, she had also saved me from puberty! I had to forgive her… I just had to.

I looked at my watch and saw that I still had thirty minutes till curfew I ran out of the office, went to the cottage and knocked on the door.

Her other mom answered. She looked surprised to see me, but then she smiled.

“She’s in her room and yes, you can go see her.”

“Thanks!”

I ran towards Temperance’s room and then slowly opened the door to see Temperance laying on her bed crying with headphones on her ears. I approached slowly and then poked her arm.

She turned and said “Brooke? What are you doing here?”

“You are forgiven.”

And with that I kissed her.

At dinner I was telling the girls about the very romantic moment I had with Temperance. When Chanel tapped me on the shoulder.

“What?”

“Very bad news, Brooke. I just received a call from home, Emma our maid and legal guardian when dad and Mackie’s mom are out has called me because she has discovered that dad hasn’t actually signed your adoption papers.”

“And?”

“Your aunt is still your legal guardian.”

“So? She doesn’t care about me I don’t see the problem, we just have to wait until Christmas and then I will not have to worry about that terrible woman anymore.”

“Brooke, if she discovers that this is an all-girl’s school, could you imagine what would happen?”