I've already said before
that I hate history
because of how
boring and useless
it is,
but the worst class
of my day
by far
has to be gym.
A gym class
is no place for
someone like me,
who will
inevitably
have to choose between
two genders
that I don't fit into.
It's terrifying -
and while I don't
normally
have overwhelming issues like
extreme anxiety or
insurmountable stress levels,
this class is enough
to push even me
over the edge.
Most days,
instead of choosing to change
in a locker room
with people who will only
torment me for it,
I change in the restroom
just down the hall
from the gym.
After leaving my things
in my locker
(which, thankfully,
is nearby),
I usually arrive to class
just in time
to join the flow of students
heading into
the gym -
and if I'm lucky,
no one notices me.
My mother,
upon enrolling me here,
had tried to assuage this...
uncomfortable situation
I've had to deal with
at every school
I've gone to.
When she requested for me
to be scheduled out of gym
and tried to explain
my 'situation'
to the admissions person -
they, of course,
didn't understand at all.
Nothing she said
worked in my favor
in the end,
but at least my mother
had tried.
Today, we are playing
one of the sports
that I hate most:
basketball.
"Boys over here,"
the teacher says,
"and girls there.
I'll split the teams
evenly
between the lot
of you."
I'm left
in the middle
as everyone disperses,
stuck between genders.
My solitary company
unintentionally rebels
against the teacher's request,
to my immediate
dismay.
I can't think
or move
or even decide
which gender I
look the most like
to everyone else
so I can join
the corresponding group.
"Cam,"
the teacher says
in a deadpan,
"find your group, please."
It is nowhere to be found,
sir,
because you have only created
two
of the necessary
three groups.
Please understand
that this is
entirely
beyond my control.
Of course, he never will.
I must look so confused
and stupid
and ignorant
right now -
but I can't help it.
Where
do I belong
in this scenario?
"Sir,"
a familiar voice
speaks out
from behind me.
"I think Cam
is sick again.
May I please take...
Cam
to the nurse?"
I turn to find Matty
standing out from her
group of females,
hand raised in question -
and it's like an
angel
has appeared before me,
providing a viable
route of escape
from the situation.
The teacher grumbles
a reply -
an affirmative reply,
I assume,
though I'm too dazed now
to know for certain -
and that's all
Matty needs
before she takes my arm
and drags me
away
from the gym.
×
Extra chapter today because I'm too lazy to write anything else (besides the thousand and one story ideas I come up with on a daily basis and never actually use). This chapter also makes me kind of angry, ngl. It's funny how people can exclude others so easily, even without meaning to.
If you guys enjoyed this chapter, please feel free to vote and leave me some feedback below; it would be much appreciated! I love hearing from you guys!! c:
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Misalignment | ✔
Novela Juvenil"There are a million shades of grey between their black and their white - but no one ever cares to see them." In a world with a limited view of gender, Cam Shills struggles to come to terms with their identity as neither male nor female, a shade of...
