Pencil Shavings (a Genderfluid story) - COMPLETED

Chapter Three: The Dance

I blushed as Taylor grabbed my hand, pulling me closer. She had decided just to simply take me to the school dance, which was okay with me. I was usually terrible with dates.

"So," she asked as she swayed with the music. "Have you ever dated anyone before?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Who?"

I shook my head. "Can't tell you."

She smirked. "Dude, I'm sixteen. I can keep secrets."

I nodded. "Girls: none. Well, one, counting you."

She smiled at that.

"Boys, three."

"Three?" she asked, pulling away.

I stared at my feet. "Uh...yeah? Justin, Clark and Stefan."

"Dude. Three guys?" Taylor shook her head.

"What? How many have you dated?"

A smile spread across her face as she said, "Seven."

I rolled my eyes. "Boys?"

"Yeah, boys dum-dum. Girls! I told you was pan, right?" she asked.

I'm confused.

"But..." My voice wavered. "I'm a boy....And you can like all genders..."

"Well, yeah, but still. I like girls more than boys."

I nodded. "That makes sense. I got it. So, you're pan. I'm genderfluid. Argh, it's so confusing!"

"How does it work?"

"What, being genderfluid?"

"Yeah."

"Well, as one of my friends put it: 'It's more like flows. Instead of shifts. All the time. One minute I'm a boy, the next, I'm a girl.' But, yes, as that applies to me, it's not completely true. For me anyways. Everyone's different. For me, it is most often shifts, though it does flow." I smiled.

Taylor nodded. "I get it."

"Also, the genders don't just flow between male and female. Even though that's the case for me, some people change from male to bigender, or agender to female, and so on."

She frowned. "I don't get it."

I laughed. "I'll explain later. Want to go get something to drink?"

"Yes," she replied. "Of course."

After we were done with our sodas and eaten a slice of our favorite pizza, we headed back to the dance floor.

I watched as Taylor swayed to the music. "Dang...," I muttered. I continued dancing beside her.

I laughed and took her hand. I spun her around, us both laughing our heads off. The music was loud, and filled the entire room. I cheered when Queen's "We Will Rock You" came on.

Taylor laughed. "You like this song?" she shouted over the music.

"I love this band!" I yelled back. "Everyone does! Well, if they don't, they should!"

"Really? Cool!"

I laughed and sang along.

"Alright!" the principal said into the mic. "Now what we're doing: you can come up and write a name of a song, and we will play it! Alright? Let's get started!"

The music came back on, and I jumped up and down. "I'll be right back, okay? Stay right here!"

Taylor laughed. "Alright!"