Girl Next Door

Chapter 1 - Moving In

Callie's POV

Finally. I'm moving to med school and I couldn't be more excited. I have been dreaming of this day for years and all of my hard work has paid off, all the sleepless nights studying have been worth it. My parents couldn't be here today because they had a meeting because they are expanding their hotel chain which is apparently more important than dropping off their oldest child off at university; but then again, we haven't spoken properly since I came out...

Luckily, I am moving in with my best friends from high school, Addie and Mark so I am not alone today. We are moving into a three bedroom house a short distance from the university which means that I can sleep for longer and roll out of bed 10 minutes before class starts if I over sleep – which I often do.

Mark and Addie have disappeared off somewhere, probably to get lunch, leaving me to finish unpacking our van because both of them hate any physical activity, unless it is sex – they don't mind getting physical when it results in orgasms. I chuckle to myself and pick up the last pile of books from the back of the van and I can barely see over them because screw making two trips. I manage to get through the door without tripping up the stairs leading up to my new house and dump the books onto the table in the hall as Mark and Addie wander up to the door with a couple of take away pizzas, giggling like a couple of small kids who have done something they shouldn't.

"What have you done you trouble makers?" I ask them as they look at each other.

"Nothing" they both say at once.

"Just there is a really hot blonde next door, just your type, like really really really hot" says Mark with a smirk.

"I don't speak in vagina monologues and even I think she's hot Callie. She was moving her stuff into the building next door so maybe we should go introduce ourselves" Addie looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Sure, it'd be good to get to know some people around here other than you two love birds before classes start next week" I respond, trying to sound confident in my words.

"How about we pop round after we eat this pizza?" Addie says as she opens one of the boxes.

"Sure" I reply, slightly nervous because I know that Addie and Mark will try to embarrass me in front of this mysterious blonde and whoever she is living with.

We move into the sitting room and sit on the sofas with our pizza and eat pretty much in silence as we have had a long day from all the travelling and moving and we are all glad to be sitting town in our new place. All the craziness from the past few weeks with moving states, getting everything we need to live away from home for the first time we can sit, stuffing our faces with pizza as all the crazy calms and we can just exist.

Mark, Addie and I have been best friends since we started school and I probably would not have made it through without them. When I came out to them when I was 12, they were so super supportive and did everything they could to make me feel more comfortable and even fought people who picked on me, which one time resulted in Mark getting suspended for three days for punching some kid in the nose because he called me a "tranny". God I love my friends.

Anyway, when I came out they instantly changed the pronouns they used to refer to me as well as using my name and have had very few slip ups. Addie spent hours teaching me how to use make up in her room to the best of her 12 year old ability, and has continued to help me as we got older. She also let me borrow her clothes before I came out to my family and although she's smaller than I am I felt on top of the world. When we got older she took me clothes shopping every few months to find items that made my frame more feminine, which really helped, especially before I started hormones but then I haven't been on them for very long so the effects haven't reached their full potential. When I came out to my parents at 16 because I couldn't lie any more they let me stay at their houses for almost half a year before my parents would even let me back into the house, and even then they wouldn't speak to me. The only reason they let me back was because they thought it looked bad for their company and reminded me daily that I was going to hell for my alleged sins. Mark and Addie never gave up helping me to try to explain to my parents what I am going through and that no I am not possessed by the devil and no you didn't go wrong in raising me, I have been this way for as long as I can remember.

"Right, shall we go meet the new neighbours?" Addie says, looking at me.

"Let's get this over and done with then" I am nervous, what if they are transphobic or see me as a boy. My mind is racing at a million miles an hour with what if situations and my breathing is getting faster until suddenly Addie grabs me by the shoulder and shakes me.

"Callie! Calm down ok? I can see your mind going into over drive and I can take a pretty good guess at what is going on in that pretty little head of yours. Take a nice deep breath and I promise everything is going to be alright. You've got us by your side all the way"

"Yeah Torres, we won't let anything bad happen, we will just go and show our faces and who knows maybe we will make some friends"

My breathing is now much more regular and the storm in my mind has almost subsided.

"Thanks guys, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you and I don't really want to think about it. I love you guys so much". Tears start to fall down my face and Addie engulfs me into a comforting embrace and wipes my eyes with a tissue.

"Callie, we love you too" says Mark as he also puts his arms around me.

In that moment I felt safe. Safe from the world because I had my two best friends with me who I knew would support me through anything life threw at me.