The Day We Changed

Chapter One

"Alice, Francine is here to play with you!" my mother calls to me.

"Coming, Mama!" I call back, running down the stairs to meet with my friend.

Francine and I have known each other our whole lives, and we are practically sisters.

We look almost the exact same, with our blonde hair and pale skin, except she has violet eyes while my eyes are green.

Since Francine is older than me by two years, she tends to tease me a lot.

I don't mind it, necessarily, although she can get annoying sometimes.

"Alice!" Francine grins, running up to me and hugging me so hard that I can't breathe.

"Francine, let go!" I tell her, trying to make her let me go.

"Sorry," she giggles, "but you're just so cute!"

"I'm not cute!" I whined. "I'm eleven years old! Being cute is for babies,  which I am not!"

"Whatever you say, Alice," Francine giggles. "Perhaps when you get to be thirteen like me, you'll be more than cute. Beautiful, perhaps?"

I roll my eyes and cross my arms; Francine is always a 'flirty one,' as my mama calls her.

"Come on, let's play a game outside!" Francine suggests, pulling me out of the house.

"Fine, as long as we don't get dirty," I cautiously agree. "My mama says that it's not very ladylike to get dirty."

"Aw, don't ruin all of the fun!" Francine laughs, climbing up a tree.

"Francine, be careful," I warn her. "You're going to fall and get hurt!"

"If I fall, you'll be there to make sure that I don't get hurt," she taunted.

"If you think that I'm going to break your fall, I'm-" I begin to sass, but she falls on top of me before I can finish my sentence.

"Oops," she smirks and giggles unapologetically.

"Ugh!" I grunt, trying to get out from under her. "You're so mean!"

"What were you saying?" she teases. "You know, about breaking my fall?"

I sigh, giving up and putting the side of my head in my hand as she looks at me and I look at her.

I start to scowl at her as she just looks at me with an innocent look, and then we start to laugh.

"How can not I stay mad at you?" I chuckle as she stands up.

"Because we're friends," Francine answers, offering me a hand. "This is what we do, oui?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I reply, taking her offered hand as she helps me stand up.

"Admit it, I'm fun," Francine teases, ruffling my hair.

"Yes, you are," I smile.

"So, what next?" she wonders.

"Anything as long as it doesn't involve trees," I laugh.

She laughs, too, and we begin to walk back and into the house.

"How about I fix up your hair?" Francine suggests. "Those pigtails aren't really working for your adorable face."

"Oh, and like you know about what suits me?" I tease with a grin.

"I might know a thing or two," Francine smirks, pulling me up the stairs and into my room.

~~~~~~

"So, did you and Francine have fun today?" Mama asks me at dinner.

"Yes!" I answered with a big smile. "She even did my hair for me."

"That should give you some ideas for their Ball that they are having in a few years," Papa replies.

"A ball?" I wonder, confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's a fancy party, sweetheart," Mama informs me with a smile. "It's where people dance and talk with each other. Maybe, when we go, you'll find a cute boy."

"Ugh," I gag. "Boys are so gross and weird!"

My parents laugh, and my dad ruffles my hair like he always does when I say things like that.

"I used to think that girls were weird when I was a boy as well," Papa begins, "but then I met your mother at a similar party to what the Bonnefoys are planning, and everything that I had earlier thought about girls didn't matter anymore because I loved her."

"And I used to think that boys were silly, too," Mama adds, "but then I met your father, and I realized that he was the right one for me. So, if it can happen to us, it can happen to you, sweetheart."

"Will there really be a boy at the party for me?" I question, looking at them with wide eyes.

"You never know," Mama winks and grins at me.

"Either way, it should be fun, right?" Papa asks.

"Yes, Papa," I nod in agreement with a smile. "I'm looking forward to it now, even if it's still a long time away."

"Glad to hear it," Mama chuckles as we continue to eat and talk.

~~~~~~

"Ha, she even wears glasses!"

"Her clothes are so vintage, too! No one even wears those dresses, anymore!"

"Ew, she doesn't even have a cute body!"

"Yeah, she looks more like a boy than a girl!"

I run away from the girls bullying me, tears streaming down my face as I enter the girl's bathroom.

Being a girl sucks! I think, looking into the mirror with anger.

I look myself up and down, realizing that the girls making fun of me were right: I did look like a boy, even though I'm supposed to be a sixteen year old girl in her freshman year of high school.

I lean against the wall, sliding down it as I sob harder.

I think through my thoughts, running the words that the last girl said over and over in my head, and suddenly something...clicked.

"Maybe I'm not supposed to be a girl at all," I say to myself as I stop crying.

I take one of my pigtails into my hand as I stand up, looking into the mirror above the sink again.

I take my glasses off, setting them on the counter as I hold my hair back and behind my head.

"Whoa," I whisper in shock, seeing that I would actually look better as a boy than I ever did as myself right now.

I dig through my backpack after putting my glasses back on to find the pair of scissors that I had packed for school, but I couldn't find them.

"Well, guess I'll just have to cut my hair at home," I smirk to myself, grabbing my backpack and running out of the bathroom and into my classroom for my first class of the day.

I sit down in my seat, a big smile on my face as a new confidence fills me up from the inside.