Insight

Chapter Twenty-Four: Contraband

Camp became increasingly more familiar and yet made me more uneasy as the weeks passed. Our group sought out every possible chance to read the newspaper, but none of them panned out. We tried during chores, we tried during meals, Moxy and I even tried to leave a meeting with Those Who Be, citing needing the bathroom as the reason, but there were always Nurses around. The only time we could even really talk about it was before Nurse Io got to the GSA meetings, even though now we called them QSA-Queer Straight Alliance-meetings on Aiden's behest. We also jokingly called them Queer Crew meetings because we never had a cis-straight person attend. It was always just our group, Orin, and Nurse Io. We had accidentally let slip to Orin that we had contraband, but they seemed fine with it and nobody came to accuse us so we figured they probably hadn't and wouldn't tell anybody.

We had been trying to work out how to get the newspaper to the QSA meeting cabin for ages and decided to discuss it again over dinner before our QSA meeting.

"Maybe we could smuggle it tonight during the meeting with Those Who Be?" Izzy suggested.

"We tried to get out of one of those meetings before and got stopped, remember?" Moxy stated.

"That shouldn't stop us from trying again." Aiden said.

"Although it should definitely be different people; they might get suspicious if Syany and Moxy consistently try to get out of the meetings." Raven cautioned.

"Izzy and I could do it." Lucy offered.

"We can pull the 'we're twins and we both have to use the bathroom at the same time because we're twins' thing. That usually baffles people. And it's a better excuse than 'buddy system'." Izzy smirked at Moxy.

"Hey! At least I tried." Moxy said, still embarrassed about her lame excuse.

"I think the twins should definitely try tonight." Raven said. Everyone nodded in agreement. With that settled, we all dug into our dinners. Halfway through my meal, Orin arrived and shortly after that, so did Nurse Io.

"Alright guys, I have news!" Without waiting for anybody to respond to his announcement, Io continued, "We can turn this, our meeting cabin, into a gender neutral cabin! But we'll still have to have our meetings here so we'd essentially be meeting in some of your guys' living quarters which might be weird. And since this cabin is slightly bigger than the regular cabins, we can fit a total of eight of you in here!"

"Oh, so who is planning on moving in?" Izzy asked, looking around.

"Me." I said, surprising myself. Since when have I thought of myself as non-binary? But after it came out of my mouth, I realized it was true, I didn't feel male or female. "Huh. I guess I just came out."

"Congratulations!" Io exclaimed.

"What pronouns should we use?" Aiden asked.

"Ah, the important question." Raven joked.

"Oh, uh, I guess they/them? I just now realized I don't feel like I'm part of the binary. I mean, I guess I knew, because my pronouns bothered me a little, and I never thought of myself as a she, but it's just fully dawned on me."

"Well, if Syany's moving in, I might as well." Moxy said. "I mean, I'm a girl, so if it bothers anyone I guess I won't, but being a non-cis person, I'd feel more comfortable here."

"I assume myself and Aiden are moving in." Raven added, and Aiden nodded.

"So that's four. Orin, are you going to move in?" Io asked.

"Uh, I mean, I don't mind being in a male cabin, but I'll think about it."

"Alright, well, I'll tell them to move a tentative five beds in here. And are you guys alright with us continuing to use this place as our meeting place? If not, I can see if I can find another meeting place."