Mighty Fall {Trohley, Petekey}

4: Pete is such trash for mikey oml

Kelsey awoke the next morning to her mother yelling at her to get up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she had to close them because her light was on and it really, really hurt her eyes to look at it.

"I've got a huge headache," she lied. She really didn't want to go to school that day, facing Andy and especially Joe would just be too much for her.

"Suck it up, buttercup," Ms. Stump replied.

"No, mom, I'm, like, dying here," she reasoned, and it wasn't much of a lie. She was emotionally exhausted from everything that happened last night, so much that she wasn't sure if she wanted to get up at all that day. She probably would, though, as she usually felt gross around noon whenever she made a feeble attempt to stay in bed all day.

Her mom sighed, thinking about it for a second. "Fine, I'll call the school. But you gotta get your room clean while I'm gone." She paused. "Actually, I think I can stay home today. I'll probably spend most of it at the computer, so just yell if you need something."

"Oh no, you don't need to stay home just for me!" Kelsey rushed to say, she didn't want her mom to miss a day of work just because of her. Ms. Stump was a lawyer, and never had much opportunity to take the day off.

"No, it's fine, nothing important is happening today anyways, and plus, you've got the plague, I can't just leave you home alone all day."

"I'm not a kid, mom, I can take care of myself."

"You're fifteen, I'm an adult, and I still can't take care of myself when I'm sick."

"We're different people!"

"I carried you for nine months. We're similar people."

"You're despicable."

"You're my daughter," Mrs. Stump finished, ruffling said daughter's hair and getting up off of the bed in which Kelsey lay, and walking out her bedroom door to go tell the school that Kelsey was staying home that day.

As soon as her mother had left the room, she found her phone from under her duvet, unlocked it, and texted Pete to let him know that she wasn't going to be at school the next day. Once that was done, she turned her attention to the mirror where she had spent half an hour looking at herself just yesterday, making her super late for school. She thought about how it was Wednesday, the only day that mister Radke actually taught for once, and sighed. The one day that she needs a day off, she's missing the only important day of the week, at least for math class. But then again, it was also a day where she had gym, day three, and she was so happy that she didn't have to spent a painfully long time surrounded by girls, and people assuming that she was a girl, and-

- shit, she did sound a little transgender right then.

What if Joe was right? Joe was her best friend, and he had experience with these kinds of things, and...

But no. Kelsey Stump was, in fact, 100% female. A girl.

But she hated that word! She wasn't a girl, but she wasn't trans either. She thought of everything she knew about trans people: they were... Confused? She felt like trans people were just trying to be quirky or dramatic, and she knew that it wasn't the case, but she just couldn't help it. She understood how hurtful stereotypes were, but she just could accept the fact that these people were real. To her, they couldn't be complete if their gender wasn't their sex. It was like a package deal.

Kelsey sighed. She was doing a lot of that today, it seemed. Her mind just wasn't making any sense. She knew she was just finding excuses to hate trans people, but she'd never admit it to herself. She opened her phone, and selected one of the many cat-themed apps that were installed, trying to distract herself but only half succeeding.