One boy is about to learn that he has already passed such an event, and nothing will ever be quite the same…

“Hello, Catherine Riley-Harrigan?” the caller asked for confirmation.

“The same…”

“This is Xenia van de Meer at West Grove High School. I’m the guidance counselor for your daughter Kelly’s freshman class. I don’t know if you remember meeting me or not?”

“Of course, I do! It’s Doctor Van de Meer, isn’t it?”

“Why, yes it is, your Honor!” Xenia returned the professional form of address.

“Oh, just call me ‘Cat’. If this is about Kelly, the applicable title, after all, is ‘Mom’.”

“Then I go by ‘Xee’ informally,” said the counselor. “And I’d like to keep this call as informal as possible because until now, Kelly’s record has been unblemished and I don’t want the vice-principal to initiate a disciplinary record for her.”

“Well, thank you. I can appreciate that.”

“Anyway, she didn’t show up for her fifth and sixth period classes today. I don’t expect she’ll show up for the rest of the afternoon.”

“I kinda guessed that, Xee. When I came in, she was curled up on her bed crying.”

“What’s wrong?”

“An affair of the heart!”

“Aw! That’s so sad,” the counselor agreed. “But it’s still sweet in a way, too. It’s as much a part of her education as the classroom.”

“I know, but it’s still painful. I still remember my first unreciprocated crush,” the judge and mother confessed. “It’s never easy.”

“Mine wasn’t either,” recounted Xee. “But I’ll never forget how Mom and Sis sat on either side of me that night. We had pizza, ice cream, and watched old movies. They helped make it seem not quite so bad.”

“Thanks,” acknowledged Xenia. “I’ll remember to keep those tactics in mind if it gets too painful for Kelly.”

Then Xenia reprised the reason why she had called. “Anyway, I’m glad you answered when I called. Please, let me explain West Grove High School’s policy on truancy. When a student without a prior disciplinary record is truant, a teacher or administrator may contact the parent or guardian directly or may refer the student to the vice-principal. If the student is referred to the vice-principal, then a new disciplinary record is created for him or her. That makes the student liable for detention and other penalties for any future truancy. Since I’ve reported it directly to you, Kelly is off the hook for now.”

“So, you’re saying that you’re letting her off with a verbal warning?”

“That’s the gist of it,” the counselor summarized. “As a judge, I’m sure you understand that leniency may be granted for a first offense and I’m willing to consider a teenaged girl’s first heartbreak as a mitigating factor.”

Cat smiled at what the counselor had said, although she wasn’t sure whether as a judge or as a mother. She’d allow Kelly a mulligan for skipping class under such new and trying circumstances. Yet her daughter’s suspected use of alcohol continued to worry her, but she had decided already not to confront Kelly without more evidence than merely thinking that she might have smelled alcohol on her breath.

“Thanks for your understanding, Xee,” said Cat. “While I have you on the ’phone, can you tell me how Kelly’s grades are looking right now?”

Xenia pulled up a current summary of mid-term grades for Kelly. “All her grades are in the ‘A’ to ‘B’ range, mostly ‘A minus’ to ‘B plus’. Many students would kill for grades like hers,” Dr. Van de Meer remarked.

“I know that,” Cat confirmed. “But I also know she’s capable of ‘A pluses’ across the board.”

“Of that I have no doubt,” agreed the counselor. She pulled up a spreadsheet and quickly ranked students in the freshman class. “Only five other students in the freshman class here have scored intelligence quotients equal to or greater than your daughter’s. She has quite a mind and a very creative imagination”

“Any ideas about what I can do to help her bring her grades up?” Cat wondered.

“Kelly has no lack of drive,” Dr. Van de Meer observed. “I think that any student with as much energy as she exhibits can easily be frustrated in a classroom—any classroom, taught by even the best of teachers.”

“But what can I do for her?” queried Cat again.

Xenia thought for a moment. “First, talk to her about what she does and doesn’t like in school very generally. I’ll do the same but focus on specific courses. Then we can trade information. But I have a hunch that she may need some other activity not associated with school.”

“Well, it’s a plan, anyway,” Cat conceded. “Let’s talk again next week, then.”

“Alright, then,” agreed Xenia. “We’ll talk next week. Goodbye…”

“Goodbye…”

The five girls continued walking along their accustomed after school path. They’d already established a protocol of walking two blocks to On Firm Grounds, a coffee shop that catered to students from both the high school and a nearby community college, as well as the neighborhood residents. As they walked, they continued discussing the topics of the day, including Brandon and Kelly.

“Who wants to get in touch with Kelly and see how she is?” Valerie asked.

“Well, it might be easiest for me,” suggested Teri. “I think I was the last to talk to her at school. I could just follow up with her where we left off.”

“Anyone else have another idea about contacting her?” Valerie asked, soliciting additional opinion.

“I think Teri’s the right choice for the very reason she gave,” Alice concurred. “If Kelly’s still sensitive to the same issues that she ran home from, not having to explain it again to someone else won’t stress her out so much.”

“I think Teri and Alice both make good points,” added Holly. “I can’t think any of us a better choice.”

“I agree,” Debbi confirmed.

“Alright, then,” concluded Valerie. “Teri, you contact Kelly and give us an update—tonight if possible.”

“Okay, then,” agreed Teri. “I’ll try to call or text her tonight. And I’ll update everyone with whatever I hear.”

The girls continued along their way to the coffee shop.

“Next order of business,” announced Valerie, “is helping Brandon MacDonald get more comfortable with his feminine side. Any thoughts?”

“I’ve said it before, so I’ll repeat it,” Alice warned them. “It’s a bad idea. I’m not convinced he has so strong a feminine side as everyone else seems to think, and even then, that doesn’t mean he’d wanna dress like a girl every day.”

“But you saw the video, Alice,” Teri contended with a broad, sweeping gesture. “How can you deny it?”

“I’m not denying it, Teri,” Alice maintained. “But I don’t interpret the video in the same way that you do.”

“Then how do you interpret it, then?” Holly asked.

“To me, Brandon looked like an actor—a method actor to be specific—getting into a new role,” Alice described. “Until yesterday, had any of you ever seen him act girlish? Did any of you see him making any girlish moves today? No, you didn’t, because once he had completed playing the role, he broke character.”

“What’s a method actor?” Valerie asked.

“A method actor immerses himself in a role all day, every day, living as the character twenty-four and seven,” explained Alice. Even off-stage or off-camera, the method actor tries to maintain the behavior of that role as long as the production runs.”

The other girls remained speechless for a moment until Holly asked Alice to clarify. “So, you’re saying that this was just a role and Brandon’s finished playing it?”

“That’s pretty much it,” confirmed Alice. “He only needed to play ‘Brandi’ yesterday and he’s done with the role now.”

“Is there any way we could get him to play the role again?” Debbi asked.

“From what you and Val told me Brandon said to you, and what he told me himself, he doesn’t want to,” concluded Alice. “And we need to respect his decision.”

“Aw!” Teri whined. “But he makes such a pretty girl.”

“Still, he has to choose his own identity,” maintained Alice. “None of us has any right to interfere with who he is.”

“This seems important to you,” Valerie observed.

“Yes, it is,” affirmed Alice. “I think Kelly’s been pushing us too hard to bring him on board as a girl for her own reasons. But I think we need to treat him as we expect ourselves to be treated.”

“I think Alice is right,” opined Holly. “We should just back off. It’s one thing to appreciate his ability to look and act like a girl. It’s quite another to try making him see himself as a girl.”

The other girls were surprised to hear Holly express such an opinion. She was usually too timid speak out, so her affirming Alice’s position held special significance for her friends. Her ready agreement meant that not only did Holly consider the issue not to be difficult, but that she also found the ethics clear.

“Well, if Holly agrees with Alice on this, then I’m convinced,” conceded Valerie. “Debbi, Teri, how ’bout you?” Teri and Debbi nodded their agreement to the others. “We have a consensus, then,” announced Valerie, smiling with relief.

“Let’s get our coffee, then,” Teri beamed. I’ve been wanting a mocha all day.”

Jenny closed the door behind her and stood against it smiling.

“You look very happy,” her mother observed. “What has happened?”

“Mom, I had my first kiss today,” Jenny sighed. “And Brandon walked me home.”

“Come into the kitchen,” said her mother. “You must tell me all about it.”

Jenny complied with her mother’s request and sat down at the kitchen table. Smiling, her mom poured them each a cup of tea and set a small plate of shortbread cookies down between them.

“So, Jenny, tell me about your first kiss.”

“Well, Brandon is my lab partner in Earth Science,” she began explaining as she nibbled on a cookie. “Today was our turn to go up to the rooftop weather station and collect data.”

“Brandon is the boy who is good at mathematics?” Mrs. Chang asked her daughter.

“Yes,” the girl answered with a dreamy look in her eyes. “That’s him.”

“Continue, please.”

“Anyway, after we had collected our data, Brandon locked the weather cabinet and when he turned around, I pulled his lips to mine.”

“So you kissed him first?”

“Yes, I did,” confessed Jenny with a blushing smile. “And a moment later, he took my hand, pulled me to him, and kissed me back. We let that kiss linger a moment longer than our first, then a gust of wind blew and we hugged tighter.”

Smiling, Jenny’s mom sipped her tea. “You would like to begin going out with this boy?”

“Yes, Mommy, I really would,” Jenny replied. “I believe he’s the kind of boy you and Daddy wish for me.”

“Then you know the rules,” her mother advised. “You must invite him to dinner and we will meet him.”

“I will invite him next week, then,” resolved Jenny. “I believe you and Daddy will approve. He is the kind of boy who will mostly want to study together on our dates. So we would have them at a library, his home, or here, where we’d have adults nearby.”

“I’m so proud of you, my daughter,” Jenny’s mom praised her. “You are seeking a nice boy. What can you tell me about his family?”

“Well, his dad’s a physician and his mom’s a nurse,” she told her mother. “He has one sister, Sheila, who’s a year older, but I haven’t met her yet.”

“A doctor and a nurse for parents sound like a good family.”

“Brandon also introduced me to his best friends, Jeff and Mark, at lunch today. They live in the houses next to him and they’ve all grown up together.”

The mother could appreciate how forthcoming her daughter had been, but understood a reason that even Jenny didn’t know. The girl indeed was lovestruck and couldn’t stop thinking about Brandon. So she couldn’t stop talking about him, either. Mrs. Chang couldn’t help but think back to her first boyfriend, so many years ago.

Kelly’s cellphone rang yet again with her favorite tune by Justin Bieber. She saw Teri Hamilton’s name and picture appear on the screen. Her friends had been trying to call her and had sent her text messages all afternoon. She really didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Hello, Teri!” Kelly answered with an impatient, irritated tone in her voice. “Whaddya want?”

“We’re all worried about you, Kelly,” Teri answered. “We just wanna know how you’re doing?”

“I’m still upset about Brandon, but I don’t wanna talk about it,” Kelly stoicly dismissed her friend’s inquiry. “Look, I’ll be at school tomorrow, so we can talk then.”

Teri pondered a moment. “Alright, I can wait until then,” she replied. “You have a good night, okay?”

“Okay, Teri,” Kelly agreed, still anxious and annoyed. “You have a good night, too.” She ended the call. Then, just to be sure she wasn’t bothered again, she turned her cellphone off. She also noticed that the battery charge was getting too low, so she plugged it into her recharger. After that, she curled up on her bed again, holding Benny the Bear close to her.

The door to Sheila’s bedroom was open, but Brandon still knocked on it to gain her attention.

“Sis, can I come in?” he asked. “I need your help.”

“What for?”

Brandon pointed down to his bare feet. He hardly ever went barefoot, not even at home. Then Sheila noticed his toenails, still painted pink from two nights ago. She just giggled.

“Yeah,” Brandon remarked. “I kinda don’t want pink toenails in the showers after gym tomorrow.”

“That’s right! Come on in and I’ll take care of it for you.” She pointed for him to sit on the seat of her vanity. Taking a bottle of nail polish remover, Sheila sat cross-legged on the floor while her brother took the seat she had indicated.

“I can’t believe how cool you are about it all,” Sheila told her brother. “You’re such a good sport to go along with all this.”

“It was a lot of fun,” he admitted. “You and Mom seemed to have had fun with it as well.”

“Yes, we did,” she affirmed.

“They took a video of me in English class yesterday. I did look like a girl in it. It was kinda scary to be honest.”

Sheila began removing the nail polish from her brother’s toes. “How did it scare you?”

“Not only did I look like a girl, I seemed to act, to move like one,” he explained. “And I don’t even know how I learned to do it.”

“Sounds interesting. Maybe, you really are more of a girl at heart than you know.”

“I think that Doctor Van de Meer was trying to tell me that. She had me look the word androgyny up, and it seems to describe my situation pretty well.”

“Y’know, I was really proud of you yesterday,” Sheila said with a smile, inclining her head to one side. “Knowing you have some girlishness in you—well, I kinda like that.”

“Jenny and me, we kissed today.”

“Then, like—spill! What happened?”

“Well, we’re lab partners in Earth Science, second period, and it was our turn to take readings from the rooftop weather station. We had finished recording the data and I had just locked the cabinet and turned around when Jenny planted her lips right on mine. Then just before going downstairs, I pulled her to me and gave her an even longer kiss. Then a strong gust of wind blew, so we held each other closer.”

“How romantic!” Sheila commented. “What happened next?”

“When we got back to the classroom, Mr. Danvers winked and patted me on the back. He let us go back up there to read additional data after last period. So Jenny and me made out a little more while we watched the ‘Swarm’ waiting to ambush me and the guys.”

“The ‘Swarm’?”

“That’s Jenny’s name for the popular girls in our class.”

“But why the ‘Swarm’?”

“The Queen Bee and her Wannabes.”

“Oh!” Sheila giggled at the logic. “But who are they?”

“Of course, Kelly’s one of ’em, as are Debbi and Valerie, who loaned me the dress, shoes, and purse; Alice Johansson and Teri Hamilton, both in homeroom with Kelly and me; then Holly Thompson.”

“So why were they waiting for you?”

“Well, I found it hard to believe, but at lunch, they said they wanted to make me into one of them—a girl!”

“Is it because of how you dressed up yesterday?”

“Yeah, I think so,” affirmed her brother nodding.“When I gave Debbi and Val their things back this morning, they seemed upset that I didn’t wanna do it again.”

“But if you enjoyed it, I would’ve thought you’d wanna dress up again.”

“Well, I do, but not with them and not at school,” he confided. “Just at home around you and Mom, or when Jenny comes over—around those I can trust.”

Sheila just smiled back at her brother. “So maybe I can have a little sister now and then after all?”

“I could see that working out,” Brandon said, also smiling, “But I still need some time to think about it. These feelings are all so new to me.”

“I can understand that,” Sheila sympathized with him. “To grow up as a boy and suddenly to find out you look good—maybe even better—as a girl would be enough to mess with anyone’s mind!”

“Well, then consider my mind as thoroughly messed with,” affirmed Brandon.

His sister smiled again. “If you need help figuring it out—especially all things girly—that’s what a big sister is for.”

“Y’know, Sis, I think I appreciate you a whole lot more now than I did as a result of this gender-bending and everything.”

“And I can say the same about you,” she affirmed, continuing to clean her brother’s toenail polish off.

Would you look at the video the girls took of me?”

“Sure,” agreed Sheila. “Where is it?

“I think I may have it on me…,” replied Brandon, poking his fingers into the tight watch pocket of his blue jeans to retrieve a key drive. Sheila sprang from the floor, taking the drive from her brother and went to her desk, where she plugged it into an appropriate port of her personal computer.

“Are you okay if I just copy it?” she asked him.

“Sure,” he answered. “Just don’t show it to anyone else without my approval.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that!”

“I just wanted to hear you say so.”

Sheila downloaded and began to view the video. As it progressed, her excitement quietly increased until she felt that she could no longer withhold comment.

“Brandon, you move, you act so delicate, so—so feminine!” exclaimed Sheila. “You do it so natural, like you’ve always been a girl. When—how did you learn that?”

Brandon had sit down on the side of his sister’s bed, watching behind her. “I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I might have picked it up unconsciously by observing you and Mom, girls at school, or wherever else. I wasn’t even aware I was doing it until Alice gave me the video and Jenny watched it with me.”

“You’re demonstrating more or less ideal behavior for a girl.” Sheila turned from her computer screen and looked her brother in the eye. She smiled at her brother, then held his hands in her own. “Listen—I think Mom should see this. And you had an idea, but I’d want us to talk with Mom about it first.”

“What idea?”

“Dressing up here at home,” she reminded him. “I think you need to let your feminine side out to play now and then. That’s prob’ly why Doctor Van de Meer told you to look androgyny up. I think it’s a growing part of your character and your counselor must see it, too.”

“Have you seen me acting feminine at other times?” Brandon asked. “I’d like to know. I wouldn’t wanna behave like a girl and not know it.”

Sheila wasn’t sure. Certainly she hadn’t expected such a question. What had she noticed about her brother? “Y’know, I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure,” she admitted. “Nothing specific about you screams ‘girl,’ yet overall, I can see you as one.”

“How can I tell if someone sees me as feminine?”

“I guess they’d have to tell you,” replied Sheila.

“Kinda like the Swarm did?”

“Yes. Kinda like that.”

“I’m just so afraid of what happens next,” Brandon confessed.

“First of all, no one can make you into a girl—or anyone else you’re not—unless you let them,” advised his sister. “Stand for who you are and don’t change unless it’s what you want.

“That’s something Doctor Van de Meer was telling me.”

“Well, she’s right, so don’t you forget it!” Sheila encouraged her brother. “Now, if you let your inner girl out to play, would that really be so bad? Half the world’s people are girls. Maybe you could learn a little something from us. Try thinking about it awhile.”

“Thanks, Sis,” offered Brandon smiling. “I think I will.” With that he returned to his room and Sheila shut the door to her own. All the while Sheila wondered if Brandon were perhaps a sister as well as a brother, or maybe a sister instead of a brother. But more important than that, she was very happy that her brother seemed to be bonding with his first girlfriend.

Kelly carefully hung her cheer uniform on the front of her closet door. The cheerleaders always wore their uniforms to school on game days. For Homecoming, this would include both the varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders. Since Kelly, being a freshman, was junior varsity, her uniform was crimson with royal blue accents and white trim. She wore a white bodyliner under the shell top. (The varsity uniform color scheme simply reversed the crimson and royal blue.)

As she slipped her nightgown on, Kelly wondered if she would be wearing her cheer uniform to the game or perhaps a formal gown, instead. The talk she had heard suggested that she was favored for Freshman Homecoming Princess, but she did not want to get her hopes too high for it. She sat down at her vanity and began brushing her hair.

As she tried to banish thoughts of Brandon from her consciousness, new thoughts entered her mind, thoughts of Holly Thompson. At the thought of her, Kelly felt that same tingling in her breasts and tummy, and between her legs that she also was used to feeling for Brandon. In the mirror on her vanity, she could see her nipples distending beneath the diaphanous fabric of her nightgown. That she was beginning to think about Holly when she wasn’t thinking about Brandon was now bothering her.

“Thinking about him again?” Cat asked her daughter, approaching from behind.

“How could you tell?” Kelly asked her mother, deciding to let her think that she still pined for Brandon at that moment. Kelly was feeling even more embarrassed by her newly discovered lesbian attraction to Holly—not something she wanted Mom to know about.

“I saw the reflection of your nipples sticking out under your nightgown, honey,” Mom said. She took the hairbrush from her daughter’s hand. “Let me do that for you. Remember how I would brush your hair and do your sleep braid every night?”

“Yes, Mom. I liked you doing that. I wish we could start doing it again.”

Cat smiled as she pondered Kelly’s suggestion. “Well, I’ve been brushing Caitlin’s hair and doing her braid before bedtime. Maybe we could all get together before bed and help each other with our hair.”

“Kinda like before Maureen went off to college?”

“Mm-hmm,” Mom answered. “Maybe we should start again tomorrow night?”

“Maybe,” conceded Kelly. “I’m not sure what will happen for the Homecoming game tomorrow.”

“How are your chances for getting Homecoming Princess?”

“Don’t wanna say,” objected Kelly. “Might jinx it!”

“You’re so Irish, my little Kelly!” Cat embraced her daughter from behind. “But if you win, have you thought about who your escort would be?”

“Oh, Mom, I’d choose Brandon. Even if he’s dating Jenny, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t refuse to escort his class’ Homecoming Princess.”

“Have you talked to him about it yet?” Mom asked.

“No, but he has a strong sense of loyalty to the school. He’d do so out of duty if for no other reason,” Kelly reasoned. “The Homecoming Committee will announce the winners tomorrow morning during homeroom. If I win, I can ask Brandon just as soon as I get the news. But again, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore so I won’t jinx it.”

Cat continued to brush Kelly’s long, wavy, auburn mane. “Anyone else whom you might consider?”

“Well, not now,” her daughter denied. “I could’ve asked Billy Danziger. I did like him some, but he refused to wear anything girly at all for Gender-Bender Day. Most guys borrowed something to wear from their girlfriends or sisters, even if they just wore pantyhose under their jeans or a pair of lacey ankle socks. But Billy decided he was too ‘cool’ to wear any item of a girl’s whatever. He’s got absolutely no school spirit. He’s not nearly so ‘cool’ as he thinks he is.”

“He seems to have upset you,” her mother observed.

“Mom, I’m a cheerleader,” Kelly reminded her. “School spirit is very important to me. That’s one of the reasons I like Brandon. He went all out for school spirit yesterday.”

“How did he manage that?”

“He dressed completely as a girl,” Kelly testified to her mother. “He borrowed a dress that fit him from Debbi and a pair of pumps with a matching purse from Val. He even wore girls’ undergarments and pantyhose with it. I was kinda proud of him. We all were.”

“You mean your girlfriends and you?”

“Mm-hmm. For Brandon to do that, he must take school spirit seriously.”

“Or maybe he was just having fun with it,” suggested Cat.

“Whatever the reason, he was a really cute-looking girl!” replied her daughter. Cat noted Kelly’s naughty grin in the mirror as she began plaiting her daughter’s sleep braid.

“That’s certainly a strange trait to seek in a boyfriend,” Cat mused aloud.

“But it makes him special, Mom,” Kelly explained. “I think it’s nice that a boy would be willing to experience some of what it’s like to be a girl.”

“I do see the logic of that,” her mother conceded. “And I think that a boy willing to do that won’t grow up to be a male chauvinist jerk.”

“But then why can’t I get Brandon’s attention?” Kelly asked, almost pouting.

“Kelly, you’re a free spirit—a very free spirit,” Cat told her, speaking with an honest pride. “And I love that about you. Brandon, though, comes across to me as almost of an opposite temperament. His spirit is very brooding, and I don’t think you quite appreciate how easily your antics have frightened him away.”

“Am I that bad?”

“To Brandon, yes. He’s very likely afraid that you might embarrass him somehow. Most folks aren’t so eager to step out of their own comfort zones as you are. Brandon is like that. He’s not able to be the free spirit that you are. I think he wishes he could. I believe he admires that in you and is perhaps a little jealous of that about you. But it’s just not in his own nature. Honestly, I can’t quite imagine him wearing a dress to school.”

“Are you saying that Brandon and I are incompatible?”

“In a word, yes,” replied Kelly’s mom, tying her daughter’s braid off with a red ribbon. “I don’t think that you and he would get along very well as a couple long-term. Eventually, you’d feel bored with him, while he’d always feel like he were holding you back. I think he knows that instinctively, so he’s declined any chance to start a relationship with you.”

Kelly’s eyes began welling up again, as they had all day. “So I don’t have any chance at all with Brandon?”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I just don’t know how,” concluded Cat, hugging her daughter closely. “You need a boyfriend who can be happy with the girl who you are and you can be happy with the boy who he is.”

Bravely, Kelly tried to smile at her mom through her tears, but she couldn’t quite manage it. Her heart had been devoted to Brandon from a very tender age and she still felt strongly for him. But she also knew her mother’s advice to be true.

“I guess I need to get to bed,” the girl told her mom. “I still have school tomorrow and I have to cheer for both the pep assembly and the Homecoming game. And I don’t know how the vote for Homecoming Princess turned out, so tomorrow will be busy for me.”

“Then let me tuck you in bed,” Cat said. “I don’t get to do that too much anymore—not even with Caitlin.” Kelly just smiled weakly and nodded to her mother, holding Benny the Bear close to her. So Cat tucked her daughter in and kissed her on the forehead before turning the light out.

Brandon’s mom had laid out his clothes for Friday. The khaki trousers would be fine, but he went to his closet for his royal blue polo shirt with the school logo in crimson and white trim.

“Mom, I’m wearing my official school polo shirt tomorrow,” he yelled out into the hallway. “They’ve asked everyone to wear their school colors for Homecoming Day.”

“That’s okay,” his mom said. “You can wear the other shirt next week, then—oh! I put clean pajamas in your top drawer. And I also washed the babydoll that you wore to bed the past couple of nights in there, too, just in case you might want to wear it again.”

“Do you want me to wear it again?” Brandon asked, his voice somewhat subdued.

“It’s your choice, Brandon,” his mom assured him, appearing in the doorway of his bedroom. “It’s okay with me if you want to dress as a girl. It’s also okay if you don’t. I do want you to feel free to find out and to express who you are. And I think your dad feels the same way.”

Brandon sighed as he felt relief at what his mom had said. “Thanks, Mom,” he said. “That helps, because even though I’ve grown up as a boy, I’m not so sure which way to go.”

“The good news is that I’m still your mother and will love you either way,” she said. “And whether you wear your pajamas or the babydoll tonight, you can still wear the other tomorrow. So don’t worry about any decisions that you’re not yet ready to make. We can talk more about it over the weekend.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Good night, son! I love you.”

“Good night, Mom! I love you, too.”

Brandon closed the door to his room, went to his dresser, and opened the top drawer. Pajamas or babydoll? But his mom was right, whichever he might choose tonight, he might choose the other tomorrow.

So for tonight, he took his boy’s pajamas from the drawer.