The Wrong Body [Frerard AU]

Chapter Twenty

There was a knock on her door. "Frankie?"

Frankie ignored her mother and continued to play the complicated riff on her guitar.

Her mother voice sounded again. "Frankie, I'm coming in."

"'Kay."

She heard her mother walk into her room, but didn't look up from the guitar. Instead, she turned the volume up, hoping her mom would get the hint and leave as quickly as possible.

"When you asked for a guitar, I thought you'd get one of those wooden ones," her mother complained. "That thing is so noisy. Why don't you try a different activity instead? Should you take dance lessons?"

Frankie froze in mid-song. "I don't dance," she said stiffly.

"Oh, sure you do," her mother scoffed. "Anyone can dance. You just need to move your hips a bit."

Which I can't do. "If dance is so easy, then why would I need lessons?"

That seemed to stump her. Frankie turned away from her mom, hanging her guitar back on its stand and switching off the amp.

"You have so much junk on your dresser," her mother continued. She picked up an envelope. "Surely you don't need this?"

Frankie turned around. She saw what her mom was holding and her eyes widened. It was envelope Mrs. Ballato had given her at Lindsey's funeral.

"Yeah," she said faster than usual, walking over to the dresser. "I'll take care of it, don't worry."

"That's my girl," her mother said sweetly. She dropped the envelope back on the countertop and gave Frankie's shoulder a squeeze before exiting the room.

Frankie ignored her last comment and picked up the envelope. She sat down on her bed and ripped it open. Out fell a sheet of paper. Frankie picked it up and read the title.

Ray Toro: The story of a boy who was trapped inside a girl's body.

She scanned the rest of the article in awe. Ray had everything she ever wanted– a supportive parent, money for transitioning, and friends who supported him. Frankie would kill to have all that.

She continued to read the article, only pausing when a series of pictures showed up. The first one she spotted was him and a girl holding up a baby. They must be a family, Frankie realized.

There was a caption underneath the photo: Ray with his wife, Christa, who is also transgender, and their son.

Frankie's eyes widened. His wife was transgender as well? This was interesting. She started to read the paragraph near the picture.

"Christa and I could do two things with the money we had," Ray explains. "Use it for the surgeries or create a family. We chose a family."

Well, how would that work, with Christa having male genitals and vice versa?

"Like all couples have sex," Ray says. "But I was the one who was pregnant... it was awful. I was afraid to leave the house because our neighbors didn't know about us [being transgender]. Those nine months were probably the worst days of my life."

Frankie set the article shakily. Ray and Christa had sacrificed their surgery money in order to have a family. Could she ever do that? No. Not at all. Just thought of herself pregnant was making her sick.