Anyone But Me #girlxgirl

C1: Zyana

"Here, pass!" Sam exclaims, running up to me to get the ball. I shake my head, doing a spin around my defender and making a three pointer.

"Man, you're good, Brae," Maxwell tells me, dropping his arms from defending position. I shrug.

"Better than you, Well," I reply. He rolls his eyes.

"You really shouldn't play shirtless," he says, nodding towards my exposed chest. I'm female, but I haven't started developing yet. Honestly, I never want to.

"Who cares? I'm practically a boy," I tell him.

Alastair lets out a snort. "Yeah, right. You're a girl, Braelyn."

"Well, I don't feel like one," I say, sticking up my chin. "Besides, even if I am, I'm still better than the three of you combined."

"Just because you want to be a boy doesn't make you a boy," Alastair says. The hot summer sun beats down on my neck. Even though I'm only ten years old, I know I want to be a boy.

"Just because you want to be as good as me doesn't make you as good as me," I retort. His eyes widen as Sam and Maxwell burst out laughing.

"C'mon, Alastair, leave Brae alone," Sam says through laughs.

Alastair glares at me. "You think you're so good?" he asks. "How about three on one, us three versus her?" he asks.

"Yeah!" Well says excitedly.

"BRAELYN ZURI FENN,  COME BACK INTO THE FLAT RIGHT NOW!" My mom screams. I glance at them before leaving the alley basketball hoop and going into my back yard. "PUT YOUR GOD FORSAKEN SHIRT ON!" she orders me. I grab the shirt that I hung  over the white fence of the flat's back yard and slip it over my head. It's dark grey and has a red guitar on it. "CAN'T YOU AT LEAST DRESS LIKE A WOMAN??" she asks, holding up the pink dress she told me to wear this morning. My older brother and sister stand at the door, my sister horrified, my brother not seeming to care.

Blushing and embarrassed, I walk into the flat and softly start to cry.

"You're a woman. I don't understand why you're too dumb to understand that," my mother yells at me, a look of utter disappointment stretching across her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got her number. I can't believe it.

She's the most wonderful person I've ever met. Maybe my life won't be so bad here in the states.

"Oh my God, she totally loves you. It's adorable," Olwen tells me. I shrug. I hope my African accent didn't scare her off. I was adopted from Africa when I was around a year old. My mom couldn't take care of me, and my adoptive dad was there for research, and he decided to take me home to my adoptive mom, who couldn't have any more babies because of some cancer she had right after the births of my adoptive older siblings. "You like her back, right?" asks she.

"Totally," I mutter, dazzled from what just happened.

My phone buzzes and I pick it up with shaking hands. If she likes me back, I would be so happy, I wouldn't be afraid to come out anymore. Let's just hope she's OK with me being trans.

hey Braelyn this is Zyana     

hey Zyana, I text back.

that's a cool name by the way, I add on.

braelyn is an adorable name. can i call u brae?

I gulp. After a second, I decide to reply. yeah, sure, can i call u zy?

She takes a bit to respond.  uh sure, lol 

For some reason, I feel like calling her Zy isn't the best thing. Maybe it's what someone she doesn't like calls her? srry i don't have to call u that

no it's fine, just don't call me zy zy

k kool

I can almost see her smiling as she reads that text. She is so cute that I don't even have words for it. The way she lifts her pinkies while she drinks her lattes and espressos...

"See? The US isn't so bad after all."

I shrug. Usually I wouldn't hang out with girls, but Olwen is OK. She's nice, and smart. I used to have a crush on her, but I got over it when I found out that she's straight and she likes Sam, who's still in the UK. I really miss all of my friends from the UK, even Alastair. He was kind of a jerk, but whatever.

But Zyana... her blue eyes, her blonde hair... every move she makes is elegant and calculated. She'll be in my school next year. I haven't started at actual school yet because it's kind of pointless to join so late in the year, so Olwen and I are being home schooled by her mom.

"Well, I'd better go. Nice talking to you, Olwen," I say. She smiles playfully as I get up and almost trip over the steps as I get downstairs and hop onto my bike.

Biking is amazing. It's almost as awesome as playing the violin or guitar. I wonder if Zyana plays anything. Hopefully she does, and she's good at it. If she is, then I'm guarantied one class with her!

I pull up to my house, leaning my bike against a bush and walking inside.

"... and I love you more than-" a voice starts before being cut off by my entrance.

I look up to see Noah, my older brother, making out with his girlfriend on the couch. They are kissing, or at least, they were. They just met a few days ago when we moved here. She lives next door, and their bedroom windows are only three feet away from each other.

"Hey, Sara," I say. I'm in such a good mood that I won't even let my idiot adult brother mess this up. He's 19 and he's still in the house. I'm 14 now, which means I still have four more years.

"Hey, loser," my older sister, Emma says to me, walking into the house. "Oh, it's you," she says to Sara. I don't know why she hates her so much.

Emma storms upstairs, and Sara walks to the door and starts outside. Angry, Noah follows her. "Sara, wait..." he starts.

"No, I'm tired of putting up with this! You're an adult. Get a job," she says, slamming the door.

Noah runs upstairs after Emma.

And I'm left alone with my buzzing phone.