Chance slid on his chest binder, used to help flatten his chest even though his breasts were nearly gone thanks to testosterone. All he had to do was get the surgery to remove them and he could walk around shirtless.
He put his black t-shirt over it, looking at his chest from every angle. It was indeed flat.
Chance looked down at his boxers. There was no bulge. He had boughten a stand-to-pee-packaging a few months ago, but was too self conscious to actually even use it.
He pulled his jeans up his legs, letting them sag just a bit so that it wouldn't be obvious that he didn't have a penis. But it wasn't like anyone would be looking. The only time that it was a problem was when he had to pee or go into the locker rooms. His mom had spoken with the school about letting Chance go into the boys bathroom and locker room. It took a lot of convincing since they kept saying no, but eventually they allowed it once she mentioned bringing her lawyer into the situation.
Chance was always thankful for his mom, always doing the most just for him. She was his number one supporter.
There was a knock at his door, followed by his mom calling out his name.
"Come in," Chance said. He could see in the mirror his mom opening the door and peaking in.
"Hey, Chance. How you doing?"
He looked at his reflection in the mirror, fixing his hair. "I'm ok. Whats up?"
"Well, I just wanted to let you know beforehand so that you don't get mad at me."
Chance furrowed his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "Ok?"
"Darius is gonna be staying here for a few days."
"Excuse me?!"
His mom rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "I knew you would be like this," she mumbled under her breath. "Look, it's only for a few days. Stop being such a child about it."
"Momma, you know I don't like him!"
"If it bothers you that much, then sleepover a friends. That's all I gotta say." She made her way back to the door, taking one last glance at him. "Now get to school before you're late."
Chance heard the door slam shut, causing him to flinch and sigh.
****
"Damn, b. Must suck," Quinn said as he shoved chips into his mouth.
Chance pressed his fist against his temple, bouncing his leg in frustration. "And she tells me that if it bothers me that much that I should sleepover a friends house. I mean, it's ridiculous!"
"Hold on, tell me again why you hate him?" Quinn asked.
"It's just... he's fucking my mom. It's weird. I'm not used to having another man in the house ever since my biological dad left." Chance could faintly remember the day his dad walked out on him and his mom. An abusive and drunk bastard, who didn't even want kids to begin with, left because he didn't want to believe that he had a transgender son. He never respected him or his identity. He constantly misgendered him and called him by his birth name. He always called him transphobic names and even went as far as to physically hurt him.
Quinn held the potato chip between his fingers, bringing it up to his lips. "I dunno, b. He doesn't seem so bad. In fact he seems everything but bad." He shrugged his shoulders and munched on the chip. "I've met him before and he seems like such a good guy."
Chance rolled his eyes and rested his head on the table. "I need you on my side, Quinn."
"I am! But I genuinely can't find a bad quality about him. Dude seems good." Quinn ate the last chip before balling up the bag and throwing it into the trash bin like a basketball. "Maybe just accept the fact that he might be your new daddy," he said with a chuckle.
"Fuck no. I'll never accept him as my step-daddy."
Quinn pulled out his phone as it vibrated, holding a finger up to Chance. "Yo."
"Hey, Quinn," Tony said on the other line. "Wanna chill at my place for a bit, maybe kick back and smoke some?"
"Yea of course man. I'll bring Chance with me."
Tony scoffed. "I thought he doesn't smoke."
Quinn glanced up at Chance who was staring at him from the mention of his name. "Nah he doesn't. But he can still chill."
"Cool. See you later."
Quinn shoved his phone back into his pocket, picking up his bag as he got up from his seat. "Where we going?" Chance asked, puzzled.
"Chillin' with Baby T after school. Me and him finna smoke a fat one," Quinn said. "But since you don't smoke, you can just chill around with your sober self."
Chance nodded with a slight smile. "At least you're considerate."
****
Nina looked down at her paper cut that was on her finger. The teacher had let her go down to the nurse to get some bandaids, but Nina tried to refuse since the teacher was making a scene of how she didn't want blood on the desk.
"This is the third time already this has happened," the nurses voice said. Nina looked up, hearing it coming from the back.
"Yea I'm sorry. I just... I'm used to wearing it all the time."
The voices were coming closer, and eventually they were standing in Nina's view of sight. But it didn't look like they noticed her. The student that the nurse was talking to was slightly tall, dark glowing skin and a curly fade top with some facial hair.
"You can't be wearing your binder while doing heavy exercises like that. Next time you do, you'll not only faint, but you'll wake up with serious injuries."
The boy nodded his head and smiled at the nurse. "I know. You ain't gotta tell me twice." He looked over at Nina and immediately dropped his smile, hoping she didn't hear anything that they were talking about. "Anyways, Ima go to class now. Thank you." He walked over to the door, giving a nod to Nina as he left.
Nina furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why he did so.
"Can I help you?"
Nina looked up at the nurse and lifted her finger up. She moved the tissue away to reveal her bloody paper cut. Usually paper cuts don't really cut so hard that they draw blood, but for some reason it happened to Nina.
"I just need a bandaid," she said.
The nurse nodded and ushered her to follow along as they went to the back. "How did that happen?" The nurse asked as she grabbed the proper items to clean her cut.
"I was just looking for my homework and some papers in my bag cut me." Nina flinched when she felt the nurse cleaning it up. She sucked in the air through her teeth, trying to push through the stinging feeling.
The woman finished with cleaning and put a purple bandaid over her finger. "All done. And what's your name?"
"Anita Douglas."
The nurse went to her computer, typing in a few things before turning back to Nina. "Alright, you can go to class now."
Nina felt like asking the nurse who that boy was that she was talking to. He looked a bit familiar. But the nurse would never tell Nina who that student was. She thanked the nurse and left.
****
Quinn turned off his phone and looked back at the school entrance, seeing Chance walking up to him, smiling like always.
"Ay, you ready?" Quinn asked. Chance nodded and the two hopped into Quinn's car. "Guess what my girl just texted me?"
"What?"
"Said she wanted to see me tonight," Quinn said with a grin as he pulled out of the parking lot and through the school gates. "A brotha finna get some pussy."
Chance chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Good for you."
Quinn raised a brow. "You ever had sex, Chance?"
The sudden question caught Chance off guard. He felt like just screaming at him that he didn't have a penis and he refused to have sex with a man. But doing so would result in coming out to his best friend that he's a transgender guy. He wasn't really sure how he would react to that.
"Yea," he whispered. "many times."
"Oh shit. With who? Girls from our school?"
Chance pursed his lips. Should he lie again?
"A few. But most of them were from outta school. Some cute hoes." Chance shivered. He didn't like to lie like that. He wanted to be as honest as possible. But how honest could he be when he was keeping the biggest secret of all time?
"Yo, b, I know my girl got this cute homegirl. She single and bad as fuck. Maybe I can try hooking you up with her."
Chance felt his heart thumping hard in his chest. He could never date someone in the current state he was in. If his partner ever wanted to get sexual with him, what would he do? He told himself that after he got the surgery to remove his breasts and give him a penis, then he would start dating someone.
"Yea. I'd appreciate that."
Shit, why did I say that?
"Great. I'll talk to my girl in trying to set you guys up." Quinn smiled, taking a glance at Chance. "You'll like her too. She's a good girl. She don't smoke or drink. So y'all can be sober together."
Chance smiled nervously and nodded, looking out the window. His cheeks were warm from suppressing his emotions. He wanted to tell his best friend all that he was feeling. But he wasn't ready. He rolled down the window to let in some air.
****
Smoke from the blunt was everywhere in the room. Tony and Quinn passed the blunt to each on the couch other while Chance just sat on the floor, thinking of his next move in the game of dominos.
Tony tapped the blunt and let some ash fall on the couch, taking another hit before passing it to Quinn.
"I remember this one time I was beating my meat and—."
Chance tuned Quinn out. He didn't need to hear about his maturbation story. He never understood why guys needed to constantly talk about their dicks, but maybe it was just the way they behaved.
"Yo Chance, you mind buying some Fanta? One of the big ones."
Chance took a second before thinking what the heck, why not? "Alright. Lend me some money."
Tony pointed to a pair of pants that was on one of the chairs. "Right there. Should be some bills or something."
Chance stood up and walked over to the pair of pants that laid on the chair, grabbing them and sticking his hand inside of them without much caution. He felt something sharp prick him, making him pull out his hand real quick.
"Ow! The fuck?" Chance lifted his finger up to his face, seeing a little bit of blood dripping down his finger. Tony lifted his gaze towards Chance, raising a brow.
"Oh shit, I forgot I had a knife in those pants."
Chance sighed and showed Tony his cut. "Where you keep the band aids?"
"Bathroom."
Chance made his way to the bathroom, looking into the mirror cabinet for a bandaid. With his other hand, he rubbed his chin, feeling the facial hair that was growing in. For a moment, he felt proud of himself.
He turned his attention back to his objective of finding bandaids.
"Bro, there ain't shit!" He shouted from the bathroom.
There was no reply. Tony must have fallen asleep or something. Chance groaned and walked out the bathroom. He passed by someone's room, seeing it was cracked open a bit. He took a peek through the crack, seeing a girl working on a painting. It was coming along nicely. Chance wished he knew how to paint like that.
Nina could feel the presence of someone at her door. She assumed it was maybe Tony. She turned around, feeling like her heart suddenly jumped out her chest. A gasp escaped her lips as she fell over, dropping her palette. Chance didn't think he would scare the girl that badly.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry," he said as he walked over to her, helping her up. "I didn't mean to scare you—" Chance stopped talking and immediately recognized the girl. "I seen you around. You that girl I saw at the nurses office. And that girl I bumped into earlier this week."
Nina felt her whole body trembling. She felt like crying. She wanted him to just leave her alone and stop noticing her.
"You ok?" He asked. "Did I scare you that badly?"
"Wh... wh..." Nina couldn't form words. She was too nervous. Actually, nervous was an understatement. She was beyond that. She was petrified.
"Uh, I was just wondering if you had maybe had a bandaid." Chance showed her his finger, but she wasn't even looking. She had her eyes looking down at the floor, wishing he would just leave.
In order to make him leave though, she had to give him what he wanted. She went into her drawers, taking out a pink bandaid and handing it off to him.
"Thanks!" Chance said with a slight smile. Nina didn't react in any way. She just waited for him to leave. He raised a brow before finally getting the message and walking out of her room, hearing the door slam and lock immediately afterwards. He stared at the door for a moment before walking back into the living room, seeing Tony and Quinn asleep with the blunt now unlit between Quinn's fingers. He took the money from Tony's pants, being careful this time, and then leaving the house to buy the soda.