Max

Chapter 1

I stared at myself in the mirror in my bathroom. My deep black hair was growing fast, almost down to my shoulders. I was always so tempted to cut it, but I knew Mom wouldn't like it if I did. I had just put some makeup on my eyebrows to make them bigger, and I was trying to decide whether I liked it or not.

"Maxine!" Mom called. "Come downstairs, I just bought you some new clothes!" I groaned. I hated when Mom did my shopping, she always bought me dresses. What I really wanted were jeans and flannel tops. And I got so angry at her when she called me Maxine. I quickly took a makeup wipe and wiped away what was on my eyebrows.

Ever since I was young, I knew I was a boy. Nobody had to tell me, I just knew. Dad understood, but Mom never did. And she still doesn't.

"Mom, I told you I hate dresses," I pouted, staring at the one she was holding. It was bright pink, my least favorite color. I was about to tell her not to call me Maxine, but I held my tongue.

"Just try it on, please. I'm tired of you always wearing James's clothes." James is my twin brother. Ever since Dad died, he took on the "man of the house" role, and promised to take care of me the way Dad would've. And that meant lending me his clothes so I could look more masculine.

Deeming it useless to argue with Mom, I went to my room and put on the stupid dress. It was frilly, and itchy. I felt so insecure when I put it on.

I came back out, and James was standing with Mom in the hallway. "Ew, I hate it," he exclaimed.

"That makes two of us," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Come on, honey, it's cute!" Mom gushed. "James, don't be mean to your sister." James flinched, but didn't say anything. He knew I preferred masculine pronouns, but I hadn't told Mom yet.

"Can we return it?" I begged.

Mom sighed, a disappointed expression on her face. "Fine, but you need more clothes. Come shopping with me tomorrow, that's the only time we can go before school starts."

"Hey, Max, wanna play on the Wii?" James asked, trying to get me away from Mom as soon as possible.

"Sure. Thanks, Mom!" She tried to say something, but I ran down the hall before the words could escape her lips.

"We're probably gonna have dinner soon," James said, handing me a controller. He and I liked playing Mario Party 9, even though none of our friends did. "I invited Lana over." Lana is James's girlfriend. I liked her, but we weren't friends, per se. She was just starting sophomore year, and James and I were both juniors.

"Nice," I replied, picking my character. I went with Toad, and James went with Yoshi. "What are we doing?"

"Step it up." James and I watched the screen as the rainbow stairs popped up. We played for a while until the doorbell rang. James went to answer it, then came back a minute later with Lana. She was such a pretty girl, with bouncy blonde curls down to the middle of her back and bright green eyes.

"Hey, Maximillian!" Lana liked to call me by my chosen name, rather than my nickname, Max. I liked it, I really felt like a boy when she said it.

"Hey, Lana! How's it going?" I stood up and gave her a hug, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Not bad, you?"

"Oh, it's bad. My mom just bought him a dress," James quipped. "Bright pink, with frills." I nodded, rolling my eyes at him.

"Other than that, I'm okay," I smirked. "She's taking me shopping tomorrow."

"Oof, good luck," Lana exclaimed. "Try not to get her to go to Forever 21. Hot Topic is good, but not Forever 21."