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Mike doesn't try to sit with Bella anymore. She only had to get up and walk away twice. Now he sits with some other friends in another corner of the cafeteria and doesn't bother her. She can sit with Angela and Angela's boyfriend and Jessica and Jessica's current boyfriend and sometimes Eric and sometimes Lauren.
"So," Jessica says. "Bella, did you know Delaney came to school in a dress?"
"Oh?" Bella says. "I wonder if he made it himself."
Jessica looks rather stunned that Bella could miss the point by so wide a margin.
[You came to school in a dress, huh?] Bella inquires.
self_composed
edgeofyourseat
[Yup,] says Alice. [Mom let me. Hilary lent me the dress. I look adorable. And nobody's even beat me up for it yet.]
Sure enough, when he he walks into the lunchroom, he is wearing a cornflower blue summer dress that is totally unsuited to the weather but surprisingly suited to Alice. Whispers and giggles and surreptitious pointing follow him to the lunch line.
[Want me to sit with you, or no? I have actual gingerbread I actually baked, this time.] Alice showing up at lunch with wish-baking for Bella and/or her tablemates has kind of become a thing, irregular but more than occasional.
Sure enough, when he he walks into the lunchroom, he is wearing a cornflower blue summer dress that is totally unsuited to the weather but surprisingly suited to Alice. Whispers and giggles and surreptitious pointing follow him to the lunch line.
[Want me to sit with you, or no? I have actual gingerbread I actually baked, this time.] Alice showing up at lunch with wish-baking for Bella and/or her tablemates has kind of become a thing, irregular but more than occasional.
self_composed
[Dunno, do you want to put up with Jessica gawping at you and asking if you are 'a trans'?]
edgeofyourseat
[That sounds hilarious,] he says, proceeds to her table, sits, and opens his Tupperware of Mystery to reveal a lot of slightly misshapen gingerbread.
self_composed
"Why're you wearing a dress?" Jessica asks without preamble. But she takes a gingerbread, as do Angela and Ben and of course Bella.
edgeofyourseat
"Why're you wearing that shirt?" he asks in return, taking some gingerbread for himself. (It is delicious as hell, naturally.)
self_composed
"My sister borrowed my last other clean one," says Jessica, unimpressed.
self_composed
"But why would you feel like wearing a dress? Are you a trans?"
[I haven't wished myself precog powers yet,] says Bella dryly. [I have just met Jessica.]
[I haven't wished myself precog powers yet,] says Bella dryly. [I have just met Jessica.]
self_composed
"Well, I guessed that you're a trans, but you won't even answer a simple question," pouts Jessica.
edgeofyourseat
"Okay, try this one on for size," says Alice, waving his gingerbread in a shrug-like gesture. "It's not a simple question, and it's not gonna be a simple question until you stop thinking there's any good reason why I shouldn't feel like wearing a dress, and at that point you're probably gonna know the answer already."
self_composed
Jessica chews that over a bit. "I'm not a trans," she offers. "That's simple. If you are one that should be simple, too. And I don't think it's like illegal or anything?" She looks at Bella.
"Not illegal," Bella confirms.
"But it's weird! You're a boy, unless you're a trans, so -"
"I think it might be 'transgender'," Angela says softly.
"Oh. A transgender. So it's weird for you to wear a dress and you must have a reason because the boys who don't have reasons don't do it," says Jessica.
[Well, that was surprisingly lucid,] comments Bella.
"Not illegal," Bella confirms.
"But it's weird! You're a boy, unless you're a trans, so -"
"I think it might be 'transgender'," Angela says softly.
"Oh. A transgender. So it's weird for you to wear a dress and you must have a reason because the boys who don't have reasons don't do it," says Jessica.
[Well, that was surprisingly lucid,] comments Bella.
edgeofyourseat
[Yup. I'm surprised.]
"Okay," he says, "so what if the reason is that there's no reason not to?"
"Okay," he says, "so what if the reason is that there's no reason not to?"
self_composed
"But there are reasons not to," Jessica says. "You might get beat up, and also that looks really cold for February, and also everyone will think it's weird, and ask you why you're doing it, and also it doesn't fit you very well!"
self_composed
"Well, why don't you care?" Jessica demands. "And it - well, there's no such thing as a dress fitting on a guy, anyway." She starts to reexamine the fit before apparently deciding that would look uncomfortably like she was checking him out and breaking eye contact.
edgeofyourseat
"Okay," says Alice, "I'm taking that as a challenge. And do you really need to ask me why I don't care if I get beat up?"
self_composed
"Well, it doesn't make sense - I know you don't care, but I don't know why," Jessica says. "Why won't you just tell us if you're a trans or - a transgender or not?"
edgeofyourseat
He takes a bite of his gingerbread. [Bella, help me out here. How do I make this stupid question not stupid so I can answer it?]
self_composed
[Well, geez, I'm not clear on what you get out of wearing dresses and I can read your mind. If there's an answer you haven't been thinking of it while I've been looking.]
edgeofyourseat
[So read me?] he says.
The problem: he likes guy stuff and girl stuff, perhaps not equally, but both-ly. So if he says he's 'a trans' (Jessica's terminology doesn't bug him, except inasmuch as it is distractingly hilarious), that's wrong, but if he says he's not, that's also wrong. He's not a boy, but he's not a girl. Or he is a boy, and he is a girl. From where he's standing he can't really tell the difference.
Also, he just really likes dresses. He thinks they look cute on him. And he is totally going to make one that fits him perfectly, just to show Jessica what that looks like.
The problem: he likes guy stuff and girl stuff, perhaps not equally, but both-ly. So if he says he's 'a trans' (Jessica's terminology doesn't bug him, except inasmuch as it is distractingly hilarious), that's wrong, but if he says he's not, that's also wrong. He's not a boy, but he's not a girl. Or he is a boy, and he is a girl. From where he's standing he can't really tell the difference.
Also, he just really likes dresses. He thinks they look cute on him. And he is totally going to make one that fits him perfectly, just to show Jessica what that looks like.
self_composed
[So you're a mutant gender on top of everything else. Why am I not astonished?] Bella says. [Tell Jessica you're, I dunno, half-trans or something. I don't know why dresses are even a girl thing, they're awkward and impractical. I will go on wearing jeans or maybe motorcycle leather even after I take over the world and start affecting the use of crowns.]
edgeofyourseat
[Thank you for making me think about you in motorcycle leather again,] Alice says cheerfully. [You're the best.]
The crown adds a certain something to the mental image, too.
"How about half," he suggests to Jessica. "Half trans."
The crown adds a certain something to the mental image, too.
"How about half," he suggests to Jessica. "Half trans."