I am me.

Chapter 3

     As the day went on at school, the bandages tightened and it was painful. But at least I looked flat. At least I looked like who I was. My friends smiled when they saw me, hugging me tightly and unknowingly making it hurt worse. I gently pulled on Cyrus' new lip piercing, earning a whimper out of them. Cyrus was my best friend and people often think I'm crazy for having a nonbinary friend. If that makes me crazy, then I'm insane because I not only have a nonbinary friend, I'm in love with them.

     Cyrus has been my best friend since we were born, our dads being best friends. When my dad died, they were devastated as much as I was. Both of our moms never accepted either of us, and their mom and dad fought over it day and night. Finally, when we were in the third grade, Cyrus' parents got a divorce and his mom moved to Florida with her boyfriend that apparently she'd had for years. Cyrus stayed in New York with their parents, moving halfway across Brooklyn with their dad. We managed to get into the same high school, barely, and we've been inseparable since.

     I know everything about them... I even know that they're in love with their semi-boyfriend, even though he's dropped them more times than I've dropped the soap ((AN: lmao me)) in the shower. I guess all they can be called at the moment is friends with benefits. James will fuck Cyrus, just for something to do, and drop them. They won't hear from him for weeks, even a month or two at a time. Then he'll call up, asking them to come over and "hang out". The worst part is that he misgenders them. It's always "her this" and "she that" and you'd have to know them to see it, but I see that it hurts. They pretend it's no big deal, but coming from him, it hurts more than most. I'm always consoling them and hugging them and cuddling them and calling them because they're everything to me, even if I can't have them.