Free Kendall

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
The heck just happened-

Kendall's POV

I stare there, in a daze as Ari walks away.
How in the world did they perceive me as phobic?

I pick up my backpack and head to the cafeteria, looking around.
I am transgender. Did the testosterone really work wonders?

I go into the room, where it is a social status nightmare.
The jocks and the cheerleaders occupy one end, talking too loudly and being stupid, while the theatre people, geeks and science nerds are on the other end.

Where were my people? I wonder. How would I fit in?

I find a table that nobody claimed, nowhere near the idiots and sit down.
My lunch is the same as always, peanut butter and strawberry jelly, with sour cream and onion chips. 
It's pretty boring, but I'm the one eating it, so others who hate can f off.

A girl with light blonde hair, almost silvery, sits her butt down in the seat across from me.
"Hi!" She says cheerily.

I look up warily.
"Hello."

"My name is Tate," the girl continues. "I am a sophomore and a pride ally. I also age-regress in triggering situations.
I nod, eating my sandwich.

"So, what is your name?"
"Kendall," I reply.
"Kendall's an interesting name. Ken-dall."

Tate continues to say my name with different variations, spelling it out with her voice.

"What are you doing here?" I interrupt as another person walks up behind her.
"You seemed in need of a friend," Tate says.

She looks behind her to find the new person.
"Hi, Quinn!" Tate says, smiling.

"Hello my baby girl," Quinn replies.
Xe look at me. "I'm Tate's caretaker."
I nod, looking up at xem.

"Hello, pretty boy," Quinn continues. "Did Tate come and bother you?"
"Nope!" Tate interrupts, making the anime-sparkle eyes at me.
"Not at all," I say, replying and completely lying.

"Good," Quinn says.
Xe plop down next to Tate, pulling out a classic brown lunch bag.

"So," Tate asks. "What is there to know about you, Kendall?"
I shrug.
"Nothing much, I guess. I just started going here, I don't have many friends. I have already insulted one person today by doing nothing, and I like going to bookstores."

Quinn watches me carefully.
"Who did you somehow insult?" Xe ask.
"Ari," I reply.

Tate makes a 'ssk-' noise, and Quinn winces visibly.

"How'd you insult them?"

I sigh.
"I accidentally used he/him pronouns, because they were presenting very masculine, and they called me out for it, corrected me and then labelled me as 'phobic'."

Quinn winces again.
"Are you phobic? A classic cishet?"

I laugh.
"Hell, no. I'm am definitely not phobic, and very transgender."

Tate smiles.
"Quinn is intersex, xe understand."

Quinn covers Tate's mouth to get her to shut up.
"You don't need to tell everyone that!"
Tate giggles and I break a smile.

Another person walks over and whispers something into Quinn's ear.

"Meet Rayssa," Xe say, pressing a kiss to Rayssa's temple. "She is my asexual bean."
"Girlfriend," Rayssa amends. "Now come on you three, I overheard that some gits are going to gang up on a person and a fight will break out. Let's get out of here."

Quinn looks at Tate and me, and I follow Tate's motions, packing up my things.
Some jocks start to go over to a table where two people sit.
We dash out of the cafeteria.

~

Rayssa leads us to an abandoned classroom, where Quinn and Tate unpack their lunches and continue eating.

"How are you guys so calm?" I ask.
The three of them shrug.
"We're just used to high school drama," Rayssa says. "It's shitty, it happens, and the student population will forget about it in a week or two and move on."

I nod.

"And we're going to help you talk to Ari again," Tate adds, giggling.

"You want to speak with Ari?" Rayssa asks, eating her sub from Subway. "Good luck with that, bro."

I shrug.
"They gave me an unfair start."

"That's man-code for  'I pissed off the genderfluid'," Quinn adds.
Rayssa's eyes widen.
"Ooh, tea, please go on and tell."

I groan.
"Let Tate explain, she's bursting at the seams."

Tate grins, bursting into an exclamation of what went down in my life earlier.
I look at my new acquaintances as they listen to her.

Maybe this could be the start of something new for me.