Girls Don't Know Jack

Progressive Parenting

♫ I Feel The Love - Tritonal, Ross Lynch, R5

"Molly, come answer the door!" my dad shouts at me once more, impatience growing in his tone.

Staring back at myself in the mirror, I mouth, "You got this." And then, I patter out of my room, jogging down the stairs to the front door.

One last breath in before I swing it open to reveal a six-foot-tall teenage God dripped in cargo pants and an oversized long-sleeve.

"Hi, Jack," I say through a smile.

He gives me an unenthusiastic nod as I scan over his body thinking he couldn't be any more perfect.

With a scowl he asks, "Well are you going to let me in or...?"

"Oh—yeah, right." Quickly, I step aside as he takes a long stride onto the hardwood floor inside the entry way.

His head cranes up and around, taking in my home as I shift uncomfortably waiting for his reaction. For the first time, I wonder what his home is like.

What if this place looks like a total dump to him.

My family does pretty well—I'd say we're like high end middle class. But, also my dad is the homemaker in this household and its apparent in his eccentric touches around the house.

Plants litter every surface, lined along the floor in colorful pots, some even hanging from the ceiling near where we stand. And there's wacky, abstract art plastered everywhere. 

It's not exactly a traditional home.

Just then, my dad's footsteps reappear. "I came to meet the new friend!" he sings as he rounds the corner, round tanned cheeks stretched into a lopsided grin.

Once he meets Jack's eyes he freezes. "Oh, this is your friend? I thought you said you were working on a school project?"

"We are Dad," I assure him with a smile. Trying to save Jack, I go to tug on his sleeve to pull him upstairs with me, but my dad insists on talking.

"You go to Wilcrest?" he asks Jack in confusion. Understandably, I failed to mention our all-girls school had a new male student.

"Uh—yes, I do," Jack replies running a hand through his messy brown hair.

My dad lowers his brows and looks to me out the side of his eyes.

"Dad, this is Jack," I explain to him slowly, hoping he catches my drift to be cool around him.

He definitely misreads my tone as he widens his eyes and nods. "Oh! Okay. Well, hello Jack. Very nice to meet you."

I sigh and pull the boy up the stairs behind me as my dad calls up to us, "You two have fun!"

Tugging Jack's sleeve, I pull him into my small room, closing the door shut behind us.

"Uh—I think your dad thinks I'm trans," Jack says once we are alone.

Nodding I tell him, "Yup. Yeah, no he for sure does." I walk towards my desk to reach my laptop before pulling out the plastic chair to take a seat. "But it's cool. My parents are like super progressive."

Jack stands in the center of my room, brows crinkled. "Yeah, great, but like I'm not trans, so..."

"Right." I nod. "You can sit," I tell him motioning towards my bed.

He shrugs his maroon backpack off his shoulders and tosses it on my floor before taking a seat onto the edge of my bed.

Jack Moody is on my bed.