Knowing Me, Knowing You

Pity The Child

It was abuse that Ryan never thought he would endure. It was never his intention to come out during high school. He'd continue to pretend he was a girl until he was off at college where he'd be free to be exactly who he was. He'd find a gay-straight alliance or LGBTQ+ club that he could join and make friends through. He'd know how to be more open about being himself, and he'd meet people who'd lived through similar experiences. It was the only thing that helped dull the pain of dragging the concept of Missy around with him everywhere he went.

But from the moment he walked through the main halls, he noticed how a much larger sum of people had been staring at him than usual, he felt bile rise up his throat and settle in his mouth. His eyes constantly glanced around at his peers. Only a few people laughed, most stared nonchalantly or with sympathy, but it was the teasing that rang the loudest to him.

Walking down the hall to his locker, he froze when he saw a large poster taped to his locker that read RYAN THE TRANNY with his cheerleading profile picture posted on it. He gawked, unsurprised that someone would call him that but surprised that it came from one of his classmates. Inhaling a shaky breath, he walked up to the poster and pulled it down before crumbling it up and tossing it in the recycling bin across the hall.

A few people who were staring at him looked away once he glared at them. He turned back to his locker and opened it to grab some books for his first two classes. He tried to ignore it, along with everyone else in the school.

Once he needed to stop by his locker once again, he saw that another poster was taped to his locker. It said the same thing, only with a casual picture of him in his more masculine clothing. This one caused people to talk more, pointing out the parallels to him being transgender.

"Hey, Missy," Jessica slowly said as she walked up to him.

"Is there even any point in denying it?" he questioned, unable to look away from his picture. "It's out there now, and people are talking about it. So if someone decides to ask me if I'm trans, why should I tell them I'm not if it's true?" Finally managing to look at her, he shrugged helplessly. "Right?"

Jessica rolled her phone in her hands as she stared at Ryan, biting her lower lip. "It's your call in the end. I think you should just agree if someone asks, but you shouldn't have to make it a bigger deal than it is. This should have been your coming out."

"At least I'll have it in college," he sighed. "It just sucks, you know? Who would do something like this?"

Jessica's eyes bulged out of her head before she stared at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Please, I know it wasn't you," he chuckled. "You've always been careful about keeping it a secret."

"But I said your name out loud at school yesterday. What is someone overheard it?"

"In the locker room?" He scoffed. "Yeah, right. We would have heard someone come in. Besides, I know you'd never do anything like this to get back at me for yesterday."

"Of course not," she agreed, shaking her head quickly.

"Other than you, only Regina knew. And she'd never tell anyone."

Jessica scoffed. "Are you sure about that?"

"She's not one to spill secrets."

"Hon, you've known this girl for less than two months. Who cares if she's been in love with you for years? If she wanted to, she could easily spill your secret."

As true as it may have seemed, Ryan couldn't imagine Regina being the type to share that sort of secret. She'd always been respectful of keeping personal things quiet, and she'd never break someone's trust. And she would never go out of the way to hurt someone by calling him a tranny in front of the school like that. It wasn't in her to pull something so cruel.

He shook his head. "It can't be her. I know it," he whispered.

Jessica rolled her eyes and peeled the poster off Ryan's locker, shoving it in the recycling bin.

A giggle erupted behind her, and Jessica turned back to spot Mickey walking down the hall with a few of her friends. "Aren't you a sweetheart. Helping your friend when he needs it the most, even while you're mad at him. Really shows that you're a good person."

While a small burst of pride burst in Jessica's chest at Mickey's compliment, Ryan stared at her incredulously. "How did you know that?"

"I overheard you two talking," Mickey winked.

"You bitch!" he snapped, and she jumped before turning around to face him. "That was a private conversation. How did you hear it?"

"I walked into the locker room early yesterday and overheard you two talking. I didn't want to interrupt, because I," she stated as she placed her hand over her chest, "happen to be a good person."

"A good person wouldn't have posted a flyer on my locker calling me a tranny," Ryan seethed.

"I guess you're right," Mickey nonchalantly shrugged. "Even good people do bad things every once in a while."

"You just never learn, do you?" Jessica scoffed. "You did the same thing to Carter last semester, and now you're pulling this shit again? We get that you're mad about being kicked off the team, but it's because you do shit like this without any remorse that caused you to deserve to be kicked off the team."

With the crowd around them growing by the second, Mickey took a step closer to Ryan and smirked. "Looks like you should have kept me on the team. Being part of the sisterhood means that you keep each other's secrets. But I guess it's not a sisterhood anymore since they let a tranny be the cheer captain."

Ryan knew Mickey was trying to rile him up, wanting him to fight back, but he refused. He would never be violent towards someone so ignorant, because he hated violence. He didn't want to give the transgender community a bad reputation, so he chose to unclench his fists and stare her directly in the eye. "Don't you ever call me a tranny again."

"Why? It's true." Mickey looked at the crowd around her. "Missy is a dude. She wishes she was packing heat and could jerk herself off to sleep every night and...burp in public, or whatever tranny's do."

"Leave me alone," Ryan demanded.

"Fuck off."

"That's it!"

Ryan, Jessica, and Mickey looked back at the crowd to spot Carter slipping through. Without any regard for Mickey or repercussions, they punched her square in the jaw. She yelped as she fell to the floor, cradling her cheek.

Hiking their skirt up to squat next to Mickey, they smiled smugly as they leant in close to her ear. "I'm not afraid to punch you again. Hell, I'll even put a curse on you if you don't get up and walk away from these two for good, okay?" Standing up, they addressed the crowd. "If you don't scatter in the next five seconds, I will place a curse on each and every one of you fuckers. And I don't give a shit about any of the repercussions that come with it. Now skedaddle!" they snapped.

While the underclassmen scurried away, the others either shrugged it off or laughed in amusement as they left the scene. Mickey's friends helped her stand up and glared at Carter. "We're going to tell the principal what you did."

"Fine," they shrugged. "You do know that multiple people were filming your almost fight, and they heard everything you said. Not only will I go down, but I will gladly drag you to hell with me," they snickered, laughing jovially as they turned to Ryan. "Mind if we talk later?"

Personally, I do not condone the use of the word "tranny" in books, but for plot purposes, it was included. 

Vote, comment, and share.