Genderfluid (A Cinderella Story)

9: My Step Mother

We stepped through the door to the house and immediately, an irritating, loud voice called my name into the living room. I sighed, tossed my medications to the counter and flinched as my dad pat me hard on the back in a sympathetic, "good luck" kind of way. I made my way out of the kitchen.

"I'd like to have a word with you," She said bitterly, demanding me to sit as I entered the room. I sat on the couch across from her.

She wore thick, heavy makeup (jeez, seventies peacock green eye shadow?) with boldly done eyebrows, glossy, stretched out skin. She had a slender waist with spindly appendages and beady brown eyes, making her resemble that of a spider. The outfit she wore was obnoxious, revealing and just overall hideously matched. Her hair was long and blonde, and she held a cup of steaming hot tea to her face.

"Yeah?" She sipped from it.

"Did they give you any medications?"

"A bunch," I replied, "Mainly for pain." She smiled bitterly.

"I'll be speaking to your father about those; I don't want pain medications in this household."

"What?" I asked, "Are you kidding me? I obviously need them! I was just in a coma for christ's sake!"

"That's another thing," She said loudly, "that boy. The one who hit you..."

"What about him?" I asked, sitting back further into the couch.

"I want this nonsense with you to stop, Elizabeth."

"I don't see any nonsense."

"You know what I'm talking about," She said, "That gender nonsense, dressing like a girl some days and a man other days!"

"It isn't nonsense!" I growled. "It's how I feel-"

"You are a GIRL. You cannot wake up one day and feel like a man because you are a WOMAN. That boy hit you because he thought you were a faggot."

"Well, I'm not a "faggot" and it's called being Gender Fluid-" Her voice rose an octave, becoming more thick and deadly as it rose in pitch.

"You are FEMALE. The children of this day and age make labels up for all kinds of conditions they give themselves, to make themselves different from everybody else. Well you AREN'T different, and I want it to stop!" I had enough. I stood up, anger building inside my chest.

"Who the hell are you to tell me what's real and what's not?" I yelled, startling her. She dropped her tea on the table, the cup breaking into several pieces and its contents spilling everywhere.

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"You need to listen here," I said, my voice dropping to a deadly tone. "I will not sit here, like your daughters, and be told what to be and what it isn't okay to be. You either accept me as I am, or don't, but if you don't get the HELL out of MY house!" She gawked at me, her eyes bulging, her saggy skin making her resemble a turkey.

"How... How dare you disrespect me, an adult! I am not your equal!" The woman said, standing up and getting in my face.

"You think that just because you married my dad, it means that you can do whatever you want to me, say whatever you want to me. You think you can tell me how to live my life, but, NEWSFLASH!" I said loudly, throwing my hands in the air as if they were little fireworks going off in the sky. "I won't let anybody tell me that, not my father, not you, not even my MOTHER." I walked to the hallway, smiling back at her slyly. "Please, do talk to my father. I can't wait to hear him tell you how ridiculous you sound."

And with that, I left.

~

I took the pain medications and went into the shower. The shower, as I grew older, became a place where I thought about my life and things of that nature. I thought a lot of my mother while I was in there that night, and a lot of Silver. I had even thought about Skyping him later, but I figured he wouldn't be home.

The two of us had been through a lot together. He was always there for me, and I for him, even in the most terrible and difficult times. He never let me down, never tried to hurt me, never let me fall without being able to pick me back up...

Just the thought of him made my heart pound wildly in my chest. His smile, so bright and enchanting; The thoughtful, caring words he spoke; Those gorgeous green eyes, filled with love and compassion- all of those things added to the atmosphere that seemed to spark around us.

For the first time in my life, I thought I was in love.

I got out, wrapped a towel around myself and walked to my room, pulling on a bra, a pair of underwear and a big t-shirt Silver bought me as part of a Christmas present. It was white, the band name Evanescence dragging down the front in gooey letters.

That step mother of mine managed to get my dad to talk to me, but he didn't punish me. He asked me what happened, told me I shouldn't have spoken to her as I did and that, though she was wrong, she was still an adult that deserved respect from me. I wasn't getting my pain medications taken away; My dad told her that she was being ridiculous, like I predicted, and convinced her they could only do good in my hands. It was good to know he had my back, even though his new wife thought otherwise.

I followed the routine of medicating, showering, and then going to sleep for three straight weeks. The pain medication worked fantastically, and my mood was mellowed out as well.

That kid who hit me, his name slipping my mind at every given time I thought of him, walked around with a pretty hefty cast. He and Courtney apparently had broken up, but by the looks of it, they would be getting back together soon.

School proceeded as normal, a bunch of my classmates and teachers came up to me over the next week, telling me how glad they are that I turned out alright.

It was now the week of Adrianna's birthday party, one of the biggest ones yet. Tons of people were invited there, and as the date grew closer, my gut screamed at me not to go. The day came and I met with Silver to go there; we walked together, the pain medication making me slower and less reactive than usual.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" He asked me softly, grabbing my arm when I almost tripped onto the train.

"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine." But something inside me was telling me to turn around, that this was a bad idea.

I should have listened.