These Feelings

Chapter One: Spiked.

Leos P.O.V

   Waking up sucks. It sucks so much. Its like getting ice cream, and dropping it all over the floor, AND not having enough money to get a new cone. Thats what it feels like to me anyways. I shook myself awake, after letting my alarm ring for 20 minutes. I turned it off, and quickly unplugged my phone. I got dressed as I normally did, a t-shirt, sweatpants, and a binder. What's a binder? Its a compression device for the female chest area. I can't wait for the day I raise enough money for my gender reassignment surgeries. Being a trans boy in highschool sucks. Im 5'6, unlike other boys in my grade, who are close to, or taller than, 6 foot. My voice is still higher, despite being on testosterone since the beginning of grade 9. And yes, bullying exists. I wish it didn't, but transphobia is a thing, not to mention I'm what you'd call a "homosexual", so homophobia is also on the table. I'll get it straight, I'm not, and I'm transgender as well, so I have very few friends, many enemies, and many problems, and today is the day Im most scared of. Its grade 10 sports day, where every grade 10 student spends the entire school day playing soccer, euro handball, tennis, and volleyball. Im playing volleyball because its the only sport I'm good at, until I'm up front. I can serve, volley, and bump, but I can't block well, considering my height. I can barely reach the top of the net, and I tend to get hit with the ball alot, hard and fast. I shook the thought of injury out of my head, I was gonna shine today. Fuck what anyone else said. I packed my bag, including 7 dollars, a change of sports clothes, and my dance stuff, since I had practice right after school, and I walked out the door.

   I got to the school gate, and I was immediately ambushed by my two best friends, my only good friends keep in mind, Molly and Vera. "Yo! Ready for today? We're gonna kick some ass!" Vera exclaimed, punching her right fist into her left hand. "You forget we're up against them." Molly said quietly, pointing over her shoulder towards my main group of bullies. Tristan, the "leader", Chad, Marcus, Marcielle and Ben. "I think we have a chance with this superstar on our team!" Vera lightly punched my arm and I giggled. I stared at Tristans group again, all their body movements and chatter made them seem like normal highschool students, but they were hellspawns. "We can't let our guard down against them, okay?" I spoke quietly. Molly and Vera both agreed, and we began to make a plan. Our other two team members arrived, we spoke more about our positions, and formed a strategy, then all grade 10 students were called to the gym. Molly, Vera and I walked in the same formation we always did. Molly on the left, me in the middle, And Vera on the right, so that I wouldn't get hurt much. I still got pushed constantly from behind, but it was okay, I didn't mind because I was used to it. Molly and Vera hated it though. They hated when I was pushed around. 

   We arrived at the gym, and sat together, noticing that Tristans group sat behind us. Vera gave me a worried look, and Molly gritted her teeth at them. Tristan scoffed, and the other members of his group laughed. "Alright children!" Our gym teacher, Mr. Criseris, spoke quick and clear. "I need everyone in the change rooms, change and back to your seats. Ready. Set. GO!" Everyone jolted out of their seats when he blew the whistle, they made their way to the change rooms. I did too, reluctant to leave my seat. I'm not allowed in the boys change rooms, even though I look like a male and most teachers classify me as one, I have to use the girls change rooms because I have quote;unquote "female other parts." I followed behind Molly and Vera closely, being pushed by Marcus as I walked. I then noticed Marcielle following behind me. I pushed myself between Vera and Molly, whispering as I did. "Marci. Behind us, she wants to hurt me.. I know it.." Vera slowed down and created basically, a protective wall behind me, while Molly walked beside me. "Typical." I heard Marcielle whisper, but I kept walking.

   After we all changed, we met back on the bleachers. The coach called our teams by name, "First we'll have The Misfits vs Airstrike in this room, and Kahunas vs Strengthen in the room next door. Outside, It'll be Crackaway vs The Loyals on field one, and The Force vs Labour Workers on field two. Got it?" "Yes coach." Many of us responded in unison. "Good. With your teams, to your spots, and remember, have fun." "Fun? What's that?" Vera scoffed at us jokingly. We laughed. "You're right, we're too competitive to have fun." I replied. We kept laughing all the way to the room next door. Our team name is Strengthen, Vera and I came up with it since Molly, Maxi And Christopher didn't care to help us think of one, we chose it last minute. We laughed our way to our first game.