The Other Kid

Introduction

Ashlynn. That was the name that was given to me at birth. Of course, I didn't hear it much these days, and before that too. My grandparents used to only call me Ashlynn, and my parents would call me Ash, unless they were pissed at me.

My siblings didn't call me Ashlynn, but called me that when they were annoyed at me or wanted to annoy me. I would also hear it at school; substitute teachers, over the speaker, guest speakers, and people that didn't know me well.

It came to me that I was a boy when I was seven years old. Young, right? But something in me made me do it. I remember this day very clearly.

In second grade music class, we were starting to practise for the spring concert at school. It was a song where boys had one part and girls had another.

Mrs. Garcia told the girls to go to one side of the room and boys to the other. While everybody was splitting up, I sat still where I was assigned, not exactly knowing which way to go.

Finally, seven year old me with hair just above my shoulders, stood up and joined the boys. Everybody started laughing, thinking of it as a joke. But I didn't laugh. Mrs. Garcia glared at a group of boys who were still laughing, and they instantly stopped.

"Ms. Woods, what are you doing there? Go join the girls." Mrs. Garcia said softly. I didn't move. Mrs. Garcia sighed. "Can you explain what's going on?" I didn't say anything. For a moment, the classroom was silent.

"Meet me after class, Ms. Woods." Mrs. Garcia said impatiently, like she didn't want to make a scene in front of the class.

40 minutes later, all my classmates poured out of the door, rushing to get to lunch, while I guiltily walked over to Mrs. Garcia's desk. I pulled up a chair and sat down.

Mrs. Garcia sighed. "Is everything okay, Ash?" She asked. "Anything to tell me?" I stayed silent. I didn't know what to say. My mind was blank. "I'm sorry." I said. Mrs. Garcia's eyebrows curved. "No no, dear, it's okay. If it's not too personal, may you tell me why that happened?"

Mrs. Garcia was really good at comforting people, and I felt she was someone I could trust. "I'm a boy." I said blankly. Her eyes trailed from her computer to my face. "You think so?" I nodded. Mrs. Garcia's face looked sympathetic. "Have you told anybody yet? Most likely a family member?" I nodded. "Kyle."

Mrs. Garcia smiled. "You should tell your mother. She's a really good person to trust with this kind of stuff. "I told you because I trust you," I said. Mrs. Garcia's face showed a bit of confusion. "Do you not trust you mom?"

"No, no of course I trust her!" I said quickly. "I just... I'm not quite ready to tell her. I don't know how she'll react..."

Mrs. Garcia smiled understandably. "Everybody feels like that at one point, Ash... but trust me, she will love you no matter what."

I smiled gratefully at her. "Now run along, you're going to miss your lunch time."

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Ah yes, first real book. I'll start write the first chapter as soon as this gets posted!

👀

Also super sorry if it's short, the chapters will definantly be longer than the intro :)