An Unlikely Connection: Part 3

Chapter 8: New Beginning

My lips were trembling. I felt like I was about to have a panic attack. I couldn't believe it after all the attempts I tried to prevent failed. The peer pressure got to Yosefin. She was in the parking lot near the hospital when she called. Her doctor somehow found a way to reverse her mutations. The first phase of her medications involved injections that would attempt to rewrite her mutated DNA. If it became successful, she could sound different or look like her male counterpart. The next phase, if she chose, would be surgery. She didn't expound on the details but I knew the dramatic changes that might occur. 

"You're really doing this?" I said, trying to keep myself together.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm so nervous that I can't stop smiling." The fact she had a smile on her face pissed me off.

"Why... why would you do this?"

"Dude... you know why."

"I know they're for stupid reasons," I said, raising my voice. "Come on, Yosefin. Don't do this."

"I'm a building away from fixing myself," she said like she was forcing her words through her teeth. She was silent yet understandable. It sounded like white noise mixed with the sound of crashing waves.

"To fix what's not broken."

"Josh," she said and went silent for a second. "I'm not going to argue with you."

"Well, I am!" I argued with her as I drove home. We kept going on even after I put the groceries away. My parents were in the kitchen when they heard us talking. I had to walk down the neighborhood street to get some privacy.

"Bro! You're gonna make me late!"

"Good!" I said, screaming. I pulled the muscles inside of my neck from how loud I spoke.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She said with her voice down. "You're my boyfriend. You should be supporting me." I nearly spiked my phone once I heard her say that stupid shit.

"I have."

"Fucking when?"

"Ever since you began to question yourself." She began to fumble and stutter on what to say. "I've been trying to make you see there was nothing wrong with you."

"You just don't want me to be what I am supposed to look like!"

Her statement hit me hard. She revealed a part I didn't openly admit. I didn't want her appearance to change. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact of what she was. If her look switched, she might be happy, but I wouldn't be able to look at her the same way.

"You're right," I said. "I don't want you to look like that." She was still aggravated. She asked me why I didn't want her to change despite knowing the truth. I reminded her for the last time how special she was and the drama we went through that got to the point of being in a relationship. "You were fine before your cousin opened her mouth," I said.

"But... my father, Josh," she said, softening her voice.

"He didn't stop you from pursuing me," I said then added, "He didn't stop you from becoming what I got to love."

"He'll... never let this go if I don't do something."

"I know." We went silent. I could hear her sniffing the mucus back into her nose. "Go in and do it, Yose. Goodbye."

The second I hung up, she said my name. Only the first two letters came through. I shut off my phone so I wouldn't see her call me. The heartbreak and anger I felt battled with each other. I had to do something new to keep my mind off of her. I went to my room, looking for anything and everything to distract me. When I looked around the foot of my bed, I saw my skateboard. The last time I used it was when Yosefin and I skated at the park. Vanessa came into my room right before I was about to leave with the board.