FOUL PLAY (book one)

chapter one

it was the first day of high school, second year. I was scared shitless; not only was I late but I was a part of the transgender community now. how would everyone take it? for so long I was a guy. now in a matter of two months I had developed breasts, a squeaky voice and was starting to look feminine. this would come as a shock to everyone, came as a shock to my family too. see I spent the summer holidays with my Aunt Deborah. she allowed me to do as i wished as long as i didn't disturb her and which ever guy was in the house with her. so one day she gave me money, she was drunk. I was so tired of being a guy; I had though of it for years but had no one to talk to and my parents thought it was just a phase when I experimented with her makeup and asked how it felt to have breast and wear a bra. the money my Aunt gave me I used to buy my hormones medicine and female clothes. she had to even noticed the changes until almost the end of my stay when she noticed a girl's bra in the wash (the first time she ever did the washing since I had come to sleep over). my parents had been pretty mad but my mom and older sister was understanding. my dad and older brother on the other hand had so much opinions and myths about it. the rest of the holidays went by with my parents arguing about whether or not I need a psychiatrist or an asylum with my mom saying I didn't need either. their marriage was breaking down and I felt it was my fault, I hit depression badly and still have it. I hide it well too, I wear long sweaters to hide my slit marks and I eat enough in front of my parents for them to not worry and only throw up the food out in my room. back to today. i couldn't find my car keys, my little sister might have hid it like usual. "table. keys on the table." my mother said as she walked past me calmly holding my baby sister who was fast asleep which is a first. maybe all would be well.

i regretted coming late. not only was all eyes on me, my homeroom teacher looked like she had just seen an alien invasion. "Rayden?" "Its Ruth now Miss"
some of the girls at the back were giggling but the boys outright laughed. "do you have a vagina now too?!" one of the screamed and the whole class laughed. I had expected the shock but not the mocking and blatant bullying. nothing new in Marlon high anyway. everyone here either fitted in one or two groups, the cool kids or the weirdos. the cool kids consisted of different groups, such as the cheerleaders, the jocks, the musicians, the athletes and so forth and the weirdos as you can guess consisted of nerds and outcasts. what a welcome back to school hey.

during lunch break we were allowed to leave school premises and boy was i grateful. not only did I not want to sit alone in the caf, I and lost the only friend I had...over the holidays he had become one of the cool kids and I guess i was happy for him. as I got in my car to leave someone knocked on my window. "Allison." "hey Ruth I was wondering if we could go out for lunch? I know this place that sells amazing mijitos and nachos" well I really did need a drink at this point. "yeah sure, get in"
"how does it feel being transgender? like do you still feel like Rayden or like someone else?" this was the funniest question I'd been asked about trangendering. "uhm i more or less feel like me. like who I'm supposed to be, being Rayden didn't quite sit well with me. but now I actually feel fulfilled like this is who I'm meant to be" she just smiled as if she understood and looked out the window, the rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence.

anyway she directed me to the cafè. it was huge but amazing, it was Italian and boy was it grand. it was owned by her brother so she got away with ordering alcohol. we order and as we waited for our order to arrive she started telling me about how dry her holidays were and how she was glad to be back. how does a rich girl get bored? "so do I call you she or Ruth now?" "I'm not only transgender I'm nonbinary but I prefer just being called Ruth." she smiled "Ruth it is then. I see Jace has been christened into the cool kids" "yep, happened over the holidays while I was in south africa. I heard he did something cool or the other. wasn't really interested until I found out he ditched me too, blocked me and everything. the works!" she laughed at my exasperated voice. "oh I was there when it happened. so there was the annual summer bash over the holidays, everyone was invited from weirdos to cool kids. the weirdos were only invited because y'know....anyway Jace did a double flap dive from the roof while drunk and he didn't drown to top it off he had a threesome with the hottests. the rest is history. sorry about him blocking you though" why does she care? we have known each other for years. we live in the same hood. why now? why all of a sudden?

"drive to that mountain, let's bunk" well I wasn't in the mood for the bullying anyway so we drove. she pulled out a joint, lit it and pulled then turned and offered it to me "oh no I don't smoke, thanks" "say it like I was asking. c'mon one pull won't kill you"
and that was the start of our friendship.
we sat on a hill and just spoke about random things; for someone whose rich her life really was shitty. she wanted to run away and finally do what she wanted to do but she was scared too. it was getting late so we drove back after stopping to buy alcohol, I dropped her home. at home my parents were not back and my older siblings were not around either. oh well peace at last. I went to my room and put on my headphones, listening to music until I fell asleep. later on in the evening my mom came knocking at my door, pulling off my headphones "have you seen your father? " "nope he wasn't home when I arrived. have you tried calling him?" my mom just walked out my room.
I went downstairs and found everyone sitting at the dining room table. my family wasn't that big but but enough for my parents to forget some of our names. everyone looked at me. guess they were still recovering. I sat. and that's when we got an eerie phone call. the police told us they had found a body in the main park and he's ID stated that he was Mr Cameron Orlands. my dad, our father. my mom looked like a ghost and everyone else started crying
that's the day my family was torn apart, everyone was divided and everyone had a different coping mechanism. we later found out that he had been shot in his car then his body was dragged to the park, we still haven't found his car.