For her senior project, Dallas Delaney starts Girls Shit Too, a series of vlogs inspiring girls to ditch the constraints of femininity and adopt the perks of masculinity. That's when another girl in her English class, Adree, uses her own online plat...
That day at school, I found that the real-life responses from my peers were mixed, too. Some people were giving me thumbs up in the hallway. Others were snickering as I walked past. Right before lunch, when I was walking with Benny, someone screamed out, "Hey everyone, Dallas Delaney shits!"
I turned around. It was Chad, Valerie's boyfriend, and he'd garnered an audience for us. "I know," I said coolly. "Girls shit, just like guys. Was this the first time you've gotten that memo? Did you know that we have three holes, too?"
He laughed.
"Do you think I'm joking?" I asked, and my question was met with laughter from the surrounding crowd, which made Chad look uncomfortable. How did Valerie like this guy?
Chad's best friend, Dennis Hepler, jumped in right then. "No, he just thinks you're too disgusting to be a girl. Too bad; if you tried, you might actually be hot." Chad actually looked surprised at Dennis right then, like maybe he didn't agree with these insults being hurled at me, but he didn't step up in my defense.
Benny did. "Lay off her, dude."
"Wow, Benny, you're defending her?" Dennis said, getting up in Benny's face. "I thought you were too pussy for defense."
Before Benny could tackle Dennis (I could tell he was seriously considering it), I dragged him away.
Chad and Dennis weren't the only guys who tried to embarrass me that day, though Dennis's insults remained the worst. The rest of the comments were much lighter: I became a target for pooping jokes, but I was mentally prepared, taking it all in with a smile, coming up with on-the-spot comebacks that weren't all that bad. When some boy pretend-cried in the hallway because I'd shattered his illusion that girls poop rainbows, I told him it was no wonder he failed biology. When guys started asking me personal questions about my own bowel movements, I was so far above embarrassment that I would sometimes answer, and honestly. "Once or twice a day. After I drink coffee. Not like roses."
Valerie had gone from smaring at me to giving me the evil eye, and her gaze was the most penetrating in chemistry when I sat right across from her. I didn't care, though; any attention from her, good or bad, gave me tummy-moths.
After school, Mom told me that Roy had shown her the vlog. "I like it, sweetie," she said. "I'm surprised that you can do a project that says the 'shit' word though. If I'd done that when I was in school, things would not have gone over so well."
"Well, we live in a different world, Mom," I said, thinking about how awesome it was that Ms. Brooks had actually let me.
"Well, I changed seven diapers today. I feel like I get enough shit in my life already."
"I was going to call it Appropriating Masculinity."
Mom wrinkled her nose. "I guess the other title is more fun to say."
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