Boys Like Me

•~• Prologue •~•

I'd say my dream life would consist of two kids. With cheesy alliterative names and matching outfits. A boy and a girl. A daring wife and a boarder collie named Max. A total cliché life in downtown Ohio, where I would go to theatre arts school, and take dance classes, and walk to school on fine days.
I'd say my dream life is coming along fine. I'm in my dream place at my dream school, with a cat, Henry and my best friend around the corner. But I'm 22 now and I'm not married, or even seeing someone. Which is okay, I guess.

Basically, I was born to be a boy. But I wasn't. Instead I spend hours in front of a mirror, moulding cheekbones and wishing I was born in a different body than the one I was given. Here, nobody knows I once wore pretty pink bows in my hair and little floral dresses.

I am Jayden, and I am transgender. I have adventurous curly red hair that falls over my eyes, and freckles hiding under thick, brown glasses. I'm majoring in theatre arts, as if I could get any gayer, right? I've got two sisters who both live at home, in Pennsylvania with perfect little lives with perfect little dogs and perfect little husbands. My parents said it was a great idea to take a couple years to travel abroad before school, but I guess they changed their mind when I came out during my stay in Rome, considering neither of them have called since.

All my clothes are hung up except my under clothes, which are folded neatly in little bins at the top of my closet. Everything is sorted by colour. Today I'm wearing a blue and black striped sweater, black jeans, Doc martens, (as always). Paired with black earrings to match the jeans and blue socks to match the sweater, not that you see them much over the top of my boots anyway. I grab my glasses and my satchel and make my way to class with earbuds tucked into my ears. I usually wear headphones, but my buddy, Sam borrowed them and I haven't got them back.

The walk to my classes is long, but relaxing. I live in a small, four story appartment in Ohio. I attend one class for college, an acting class at Cleveland Academy, but I'm also involved in a play, and take dance classes. It's nice today. The sun is trying to shine between the clouds and the dying leaves crunch under my feet. It's november, but it's been warm, so I don't need more than a sweater during my walk to school. I'm surrounded by towering brick buildings, each one covered in thick vines overtaking the windows and thriving in every crevice. But I know this. I've studied the veins of every leaf on every vine; I've watched them flourish and creep over to the neighbouring buildings for the past year and a half. I know there are buses rushing and cars honking and dogs barking beyond what I can hear but my ears are filled with billy Joel and cave town instead.
Sam got me this journal during his trip to India, so I guess our journey begins here.