Synopsis: After receiving a number of threats, Allison leaves the AG house. Meanwhile, Brianna receives the phone call she’s been dreading.

“Why are we here? What’s going on?” I demanded as Brianna and I walked into her house. Remy had basically shoved me into Brianna’s car and told her to take care of me. No one would tell me anything and I was somewhere between being pissed off and scared for my life.

“I’m going to level with you,” Brianna told me. “Stephanie…did some damage and she did it really quickly. She posted on the Bellcrest Facebook page that the AG’s have a guy living in the house, and….it sparked some anger. Some serious anger. Like, all of those girls have boyfriends in other frats and they think you’re…ugh…this is bullshit. But the whole thread is a dumpster fire.”

“You…you think they’re actually going to hurt me?” I asked. I was feeling confused and frightened; I had read about this kind of thing online but since ‘coming out’ and living in the AG house I hadn’t really experienced. If we’re being honest I was starting to think that other people were exaggerating and that the world really wasn’t as bad as they were making it out to be. Had I been wrong? Was this really happening to me?

“I don’t know,” Brianna shook her head. “But for right now you need to lay low. You’re going to stay here, don’t worry about class.”

“Hold on, wait,” I said. “When can I go back home?”

“I…I’m sorry,” Brianna said. “We have to get this sorted out first.”

“But wait, no!” I started to tear up again. “Brianna I can’t leave AG. Those are my friends, it’s the first place….it’s…it’s the first place I’ve felt like I belonged. I…no this can’t…Brianna please help me.”

“Hey, hey hey,” She sat beside me and wrapped an arm around me. “You’re going to be okay. In the morning, when people are actually awake the university will take care of it. I’ve taken screenshots so we know exactly who is making the threats, and there are a LOT of people standing up for you. I mean a LOT. The people who are against you…they’re a minority but we moved you out of the house tonight because while they ARE a minority, they can still be dangerous. No one is going to find you here, so what I need you to do is go upstairs and get ready for bed. Okay? We’re going to sort all of this out in the morning.”

“Okay,” I finally said. I trudged up the stairs, still wearing the nightgown I’d been in at the AG house; they hadn’t even given me time to change. They’d just packed a few bags for me and sent me out the door. I missed my friends; I’d been so used to having Laura and Michelle down the hall, and Remy always ready to talk. I missed my big sister.

I went to the room I’d stayed in for the week before she’d driven me to my new dorm, though on the way there I paused briefly at her door. I remembered that during that week, pretty much every single time she’d gone to work I’d spent time standing in her walk-in closet sifting through her clothes, and even trying some of them on. It was a little weird, because she was my sister but…well, you know why I did it. Now I was standing here in her house, as the woman I’d always wanted to be. I had my own clothes, I had my own makeup, my name was Allison…things can change so quickly. The last three weeks had been full of wonder but they had taken a sharp left turn so quickly. I closed my eyes briefly and walked past her door, sitting on the bed in her guest room. It didn’t take long for her to walk upstairs holding a pink mug. She smiled as she handed it to me.

“Hot chocolate,” She said. “I even put extra marshmallows in it for you.”

I gave a weak smile and took a sip; it was wonderful. Probably the only silver lining from this horrible experience.

“Look,” She said. “I know this is…bad, but we’re going to get it sorted out. The university has a zero tolerance policy for hate speech so you’ll be back in the AG house before you know it. This is just for a few days, okay?”

I nodded, trying to believe it. It was honestly hard for me to believe that this wasn’t just the beginning of the entire thing falling apart around me. I finished the hot chocolate and Brianna took the cup downstairs. She reappeared a few minutes later and told me to get into bed. The last few weeks had been weird; before I never would have tolerated my sister telling me to go to bed but…

“You’re going to be okay,” She said. “We’ll get this sorted out in the morning, I promise.”

“Brianna?” I kind of sniffled. “I…I don’t want to be alone.”

She thought for a moment and nodded.

“Alright hon,” She said. “Come on.”

She took my hand and led me back down the hall to her room – a place I was very familiar with. She pulled her satin sheets back for me and I climbed into the queen-sized bed, melting into the comforter, exhausted. She switched the light off and climbed into the other side. The last thing I remember before I passed out was her saying: “Hey, don’t sweat all over my bed, okay?”

I think I let her down on that one; I had nightmares. Real nightmares unlike anything I’d experienced in a long time. Deep in the night I dreamed that I was a boy again, and that all of my girl clothes had been taken away. It wasn’t that it has happening in the dream that made it so scary, it was that in my dream it was being done to me by the people I loved. I knew of course that my mother and Brianna would never do anything like that to me, but the feeling of fear and hate barely subsided even as I opened my eyes the next morning. The room was illuminated in a gray light, outside rain was pouring onto the gables, eliciting a roaring sound as each drop slammed against the asphalt roof. It was like a metaphor for my life right now.

I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I relived myself and wandered down the stairs where Brianna was busying herself at the stove. On her kitchen island there was a plate of bacon, toast, bagels, a pitcher of orange juice, and a few eggs, sunny side up just like I liked them.

“Hey sleepyhead,” She said. “I made breakfast -- oh and Allison, you’re not at the AG house but for god’s sake, do your hair and makeup.”

At the AG house Brianna would never let me show my face downstairs unless I was wearing makeup. I guess it was the same here. I kind of smiled; at least some things never change, right?

“Sorry,” I said. “I guess I—”

“It’s alright,” She waved her hand as she brought a few plates over to the table. I moved the pitcher of orange juice over center and walked to the cupboard to grab some glasses. As we ate, she filled me in on what was happening with the University.

“Okay,” She said. “So for the most part it’s been worked out. The dean was really, really pissed and is pursuing disciplinary action against the people who made the threats. I talked to Remy and a lot of the girls in AG are seriously rethinking their relationships. Not to mention some of the fraternities are rethinking their member base.”

“They’re doing all of that…for me?” I asked, really confused.

“Not so much for you,” She shook her head. “It just showed them that they have a lot of snakes in their midst, most of them don’t want to be known as anti-LGBT fraternities. We’re not going to move you back in today; I want to wait a few days to make sure it all blows over but so far it’s looking really good.”

I smiled, that was great news. I had been starting to think that I would never see the inside of the AG house again. Outside, the storm worsened and a thunderclap shook the house briefly.

“I love the rain,” Brianna smiled. “Remember how much you loved it when you were a kid? I remember when you used to lay on the upstairs couch during storms and just stare up at the ceiling. Like, until you are ten. Then you suddenly started hating storms, you complained about them all the time. What happened there?”

I shook my head and smiled a bit.

“We got satellite TV,” I laughed. “The rain interferes with the signal, couldn’t watch my shows.”

We both laughed for a moment at the absurdity of it all and how those problems that seemed huge back then were pretty stupid now, by comparison. I was eighteen years old and already dealing with some serious adult problems. God, I wished I could go back to the days when I just listened to the rain.

As we finished eating Brianna’s phone rang, she glanced at the caller ID and excused herself. I busied myself with clearing off the table. Since living at the AG house I’d become almost obsessive about doing the dishes; it was something that had been expected of me and several of the girls had painstakingly shown me how to do them properly whether I was putting them in the dishwasher or doing them by hand. One of the requirements was that the sink had to be empty and the rest of the kitchen had to be pristine by the end of the night. I smiled sadly as I remembered a time when Laura had discovered a glass I’d left on the counter and chastised me over it for like half an hour. It sounds stupid, but at least it had made me a little cleaner. I finished putting everything away and then wondered what I should do for the rest of the day. I had my laptop; I could play some games but lately I really hadn’t felt like playing Elder Scrolls Online. I had been so immersed in the Greek social calendar and now I was kind of mourning the fact that I wasn’t part of it. I mean, Brianna had a lot of things to do here; there was Netflix, and there was her PS4 and huge collection of games that either of us had barely touched, though back in the day she’d been a serious RPG enthusiast. I guess her play time had decreased significantly but her tendency to collect games hadn’t. What was I supposed to do then? The next few days were going to be hell.

“Allison?” Brianna appeared at the edge of the kitchen and stared at me, a very serious look on her face.

“Yeah?” I said, looking at her confused.

“Come over here, sit on the couch with me, I want to talk to you.”

I froze in place for a moment. That tone of voice she was using; something was wrong, really wrong.

“Brianna?” I said questioningly.

“Over here,” She said, gesturing toward the couch in the living room. I crossed the room, stepping from the marble kitchen floor onto the carpet and set on her pleather couch. She sat down gently beside me and half-turned to look at me, placing her hands in mine.

“What’s going on?” I said. “Who called you just now?’

“Allison,” She said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, but Panhellenic just called me…it was Amanda Geer. They heard about the incident and Stephanie called them to complain. They…they’re saying that having you in the house is too much of a liability. Effective immediately, they’ve pulled your membership to Alpha Gamma.”