It Will All Work Out (Intersex gxg)

Chapter 1

***

A/N - Okay, so let's just get this out there. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen. No, I really don't want them converted into fanfics or into other languages as well.

Thanks!

Loiosh

***

Age 14

The bark of the maple tree was comfortable against my back, having been worn smooth from years of me sitting in this same position. Because it was a kind tree, it also gave me the perfect amount of shade from the hot July sun as I relaxed in my treehouse, a dozen feet above my back yard, and just out of earshot of the sounds my mom and the random guy she had in her bed were making. Did I wish the tree was like one of those walking and talking ones from the Lord of the Rings and could get me out of there? Yes, very much so.

It was yet another happy birthday to me.

It wasn't always this way. Four years ago today, I had a loving family. I had parents who doted on me and made sure I was doing well in school. They cared about how I was doing. Four years ago today, our family had plans to go to the beach if the weather cleared. Four years ago today, I turned ten years old. Four years ago today, my father died picking up my birthday cake at the baker.

My mom and I didn't cope well. We both grieved, but my mom never got over him. A part of her blamed me for having a birthday, which was foolish. Another part of her blamed herself, because she had forgotten to pick up the cake the previous day on the way home from work. But the courts blamed the delivery truck driver who was going too fast and crushed by dad's little car. We got a nice insurance policy payout, and then a lawsuit settlement from the delivery company, or so I was told, but I didn't know too much about it as I had only been ten of course and nobody explains that stuff to a kid. Considering my dad had made a lot of money before, we should have been pretty well off. I mean, I had a college account with $100k in it before I was even born, which a lot of kids would be thrilled to have.

Mom did okay for a while. I guess she got a lot of support from friends and family, and I know a lot of food kept arriving randomly at the house as people tried to help us. But maybe six months after the funeral, she left her job as a personal assistant. I thought it was cruel that they would let her go, but evidently, she had quit because it was all too much for her to handle. She tried to move on, to find someone who would make her happy. That lasted for another half a year or so as she dated random guys who I couldn't even remember. When none of them filled the void in her heart, she turned to dating apps that would give her a quick fix that would fill a different void. I kept asking her to talk to her parents, or her brother, but she wouldn't listen. I knew she needed help, but I was too young to do much about it. And maybe that is why she started ignoring me, to the point where it could be weeks between us seeing or talking to each other. But oh, did I hear her.

It made me ill. Even on days like today, another forgotten birthday. But how could we celebrate when it was also the anniversary of the day my dad died and our family ended?

As for me, my grades fell for a bit, but I managed to bring them back up since I'd had a month to process things before school started in the fall. Of course, that was when the bullying started. No longer was I the girl with the best kicks in elementary school kick ball games. No longer was I the one that you wanted on the soccer team. Now I was the one with the dead dad, the one who was easy to pick on because I just couldn't help but cry when they talked about how flat he must have been, or if they'd just mopped him up and put him in a bucket. Yeah, juvenile stuff. I was also pretty small, for all my kicking prowess, and close to the youngest in my class, so it made it easier for them to push me around. It never escalated to beatings, but it still sucked. I'd love to say things were going to get better in High school, but I held out very little hope of that.