Different colored minds

It isnt your place

ALIANA POV

Three cheerleaders are sitting next to me in fold out chairs and in front of us, huddled together, is a group of trembling teenagers. They look as anxious as I do on the inside. It's always odd seeing it on other people. Seeing how it affects them. I know for myself I never let it show. People look down on me when they know what I'm going through on the inside. But then my eyes catch onto someone else. Smack dab in the middle of the group stands Abelle, proud and tall. I smile. Of course. How could I forget that face.
"Everyone tell us your names," I say lightly, eyeing the scared looking faces. I'm sure they've all heard all sorts of rumors about the cheer squad by now. I just want to know them for what's on the inside.
"Abby,"
"Michelle,"
"Margot," the list goes on and on until it reaches Abelle.
"Abelle," she smiles and steps back.
"Hold on," Serenity looks Abelle up and down.
"What's your actual name?" My eyes flick towards her.
"Abelle. Or if you're my parents. It's Abel."
"That's what I was wondering, thank you. Next," I look at Abelle. She lets it roll off of her like water. I can see it. She's not bitter. Or angry. She looks at peace. My fist clenches. There's a prickling in my chest—it isn't right. What serenity just did was not right.
"Anna," the names continue rolling off of the tongues of the students. There must be twenty people here. Finally when the last name is called, Xalia, I clap my hands together.
"Thank you for showing interest in cheer leading. Now that we know a little more about you we're going to be letting each of you perform for a minute, and show us your best moves."
And for the next hour I sit with baited breath, waiting for abelle's turn. Some girls have shocking strength others are fabulous dancers. But in my mind no one will ever compare to Abelle.
Abelle can do the splits, she knows how to do several kinds of flips. She'd be a perfect anchor because of how strong she is. Her balance is supreme. She's a perfect candidate. I'm impressed.
I think she even outperforms some of the girls in the current cheer squad. And she does it flawlessly and without ceremony. Finally when everyone has performed I start talking again.
"Alright, thank you all so much for that display of talent. Color me impressed. Now, I want to see the routines you can pull off in groups of five. So each of you pick a group of five. We will give further instruction then." Within minutes there are a few groups. There's stragglers which is to be expected but overall everyone is able to find team mates just fine.
"Now, we're going to show you a series of motions and I want to see how well you guys can pick it up." It goes super well. I especially notice how well Abelle is doing. It makes me smile. And I can't stop smiling until the end of tryouts. But when the girls leave the room, that's when the trouble starts.
"Well at least we know which one to count out," serenity rolls her eyes. I look over at her.
"Who?" I ask.
"You know, the tranny. I mean it's not like we can let him in. Girls wouldn't be safe in the locker room to change."
"They could change in the stalls, it's kind of weird that we change out in the open anyway."
"We don't have enough time for that."
"I think we'd be just fine."
"And I mean, what would they do about the uniform. It's not like he could wear a skirt. He'll have leg hair for goodness sakes."
"Serenity."
"Yeah,"
"Our job is to critique students on their abilities not their sexuality. If you'd like to do that, feel free to on your own time, not when we are selecting competitive students who are going to carry the team. She's the only one in try outs that can pull off those flips and she's more flexible than most of the girls on squad."
"You're not actually insisting we let him on the team are you," there's a look of disgust lingering on her features.
"I don't have a problem with her on the team, and if others of you do, it better be only based on her skill level not her sexuality." Silence spreads across the gym.
"Now, since there's only two positions it's probably best that we sleep on it for tonight. Tomorrow we can all put in a hat the two we think best fit the position and we'll go from there. Thank you for coming. I'll talk to you tomorrow." And with that I stand up and leave the gym.

They disgust me. They make my skin crawl. I know Abelle is different. That's why she's wonderful. I understand why people fight so hard to misgender people or comment on all the ways they should be accepted but at the end of the day they're still people. She's the best one from tryouts easy and the only reason they won't give her a glance is her sexuality. That's what I hate. They don't see her. They don't care about her. And they definitely aren't thinking through her best interests.

Abelle is everything Society tells us not to talk about. And maybe that's why I love her so much. She fights the odds by existing. I don't know how to do that. Fight everyone for my mere existence. Someone standing up for what they believe in is inspiring to me. That's what I think Abelle is doing. She's being herself. That's what is honorable. No matter how right someone is it's their actions that will tell you what they believe.

They may think that they should win this battle against Abelle but I don't think abele is trying to fight. If anything she just looks like she wants to get along with everyone.