Boy

Chapter 3

Cade walked into social studies late. Me. Bilter, the teacher, was already up in front of the room going on and on about about the 1920s. When Cade's teacher didn't even acknowledge Cade coming in late, he felt a sense of relief because his teacher wasn't angry. Quietly, Cade walked to his seat in the back beside Brandon and Josh.

Cade immediately got greeted by Josh saying "Hi Rachel! You're late again. Sometimes I wonder about you. Always being late, and how you don't care about-"

Then, Mr. Bilter cut josh off saying "Josh, Rachel, detention after school today." Annoyed, I turned back to Josh and flipped him off.

As class came to an end, Mr. Bilter asked me to stay after. So as soon as all the students filed out, he came over to me. He said "Rachel, I don't get it. Lately you've...I don't know...changed. I want to be a supportive teacher but if you just blow off my class and don't care about what's going on, I can't help you."

He then looked me in the eyes saying "is something going on? Do you need guidance or is something not going right?"

I nodded.

He asked me to tell him. I took a deep breath in and said "I'm transgender. I prefer the name Cade."

Mr. Bilter got a confused look on his face. He looked at me and then looked at the ground. I knew he wouldn't get it.

So he said "is that why you're acting all weird lately and not caring? Is it that your so focused on yourself or Cade or whatever you are?"

Getting tears in my eyes I tried explaining it to him. "No it's not that! It's called struggling to be myself." I then stood up from my desk and walked out of the classroom.