thirteen
Michael placed two boxes of pizza on the dining room table. "I am a pizza enthusiast," he said, "This is my real job." He reached over the table, stacking three slices of pizza on his plate.
"That's disgusting," Juli said, grabbing a single slice.
"What?" He asked, his mouth already filled with pizza.
"Watching that pile of grease on your plate makes me want to vomit." She tied her hair up in a pony tail, letting the black strands lay upon her shoulder. "Can you bleach my hair?"
"Your dad would murder me." Michael pointed to Joey sitting down at the table, "He didn't talk to me when I shaved Joey's undercut."
Joey smiled as she sat down. She reached a hand up to feel the back of her head. "We need to touch that up, soon. It's growing back."
"After dinner," Michael whispered. He watched Calum and June come into the dining room, June holding Cal's hand tightly.
Michael knew Calum had a parent/teacher conference about June today which automatically put him in a bad mood. Mike was trying to avoid Calum as much as he could, he didn't want the man to snap at him.
Mike got June a plate, putting a slice of pizza on there ceramic. He made sure she was set and comfortable before going back to his own meal.
He watched Joey fidget around in her seat. Mike and her made eye contact and suddenly he realized what she was about to do.
"So, Dad," Joey started, moving her plate further away from her.
Calum looking up from his dinner, looking over at his middle child. "What's up, Buttercup?"
"I talked to Michael about this a few weeks ago, and I think it's time to talk to you about it, too."
Mike bit his lip and could feel his breathing stop. Calum gave Michael a look, obviously upset that he wasn't involved in something. Especially when it involved one of his children.
"Is that so?"
"I—," Joey paused, looking up at Michael once more. "I don't want to be called a girl, Dad. I don't want to be a girl. I'm not a girl."
He let out a shallow chuckle. "I don't understand."
"I want you and everyone to call me a boy. I want to be your son. I'm he, I'm him." Joey gripped at the placemat in front of him, his tan hands close to tearing apart the Tiffany blue mats.
"You're a girl."
"Cal," Michael dragged out his name, "Did you not hear anything Joey just said? He wants to be a boy. He's a boy."
"Don't defend Joey, she's confused."
"Dude, listen to your kid. He's not." Michael looked from Calum to Joey. Joey had tears brimming his eyes as he looked between Calum and Michael.
"Dad, I'm still me, I just want you to see who I really am," Joey pleaded. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the strands.
"What am I supposed to tell everyone? Oh yeah, my little girl is now a boy."
Joey rolled his eyes at the same time as Michael. Juli and June stayed quiet, slowly watching everything unroll in front of them.
"This isn't 1804, Dad. People understand transgender, or at least I fucking thought so."
"Don't swear at me." Calum looked over at Michael, ready to start a fight. "You knew about this? Were you ever planning on telling me that my daughter is now a boy?"
