Shivley: A Now United Story

Ch 13: Hunger

Hello friends! I just want to take a quick moment to say Happy Pride Month! The trans community has been facing a lot of transphobia lately and it's important to talk about this. JK Rowling recently published an article essentially questioning the identities of trans-women and claiming trans women are not women. Today Trump ended Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care in America during the coronavirus pandemic. We need to stand with the LGBTQAI+ community and right now the trans community specifically. In this conversation it is also important to specifically talk about black trans women and men who are vulnerable to transphobia and racism.

Also as promised, a Shivley moment :)

The next morning Shivani woke up exhausted. It was 9am which meant she had slept for all of four hours and that the United Ball was in less than 12 hours. Great. She could feel the puffiness underneath her eyes as she forced herself out of bed. She noticed Hina's side of the bed was already made, but Hina was nowhere to be found.

She yawned and sleepily walked over the bathroom and found a post it note from Hina that simply said, "I'll be back soon!" Hmm. Shivani wasn't sure what to make of it, but she hoped that she hadn't scared Hina off with all of her crying and ranting. Hina was a good friend, but Shivani wondered whether Hina thought the same of her.

Just then the sound of the door opening startled Shivani who walked out of the bathroom to see Hina walking in with her arms filled with bags.

"Hi! Good morning Shivani! You were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up, but I got us some breakfast and some junk food for our next sleepover!"

Shivani smiled. Here she was thinking Hina was done with her, and Hina wanted to have another sleepover. She ran over to hug Hina who quickly recovered from her initial shock and hugged Shivani back.

"Hina - thank you! Seriously, you are the best."

"Shivani! Remember we're friends? You never have to say 'sorry' or 'thank you' to your friends." Hina glanced at the clock and gasped, "Oh no we only have five hours before we should get ready for the United Ball. We need to hurry up and then we also have to figure out what you're going to tell Bailey."

Shivani nodded excitedly. It was nice to have someone to talk to boys about. Well, really just one boy - Bailey May. "Yes! I'm going to grab my stuff from my room and then once I'm ready I'll come back up to your room okay?"

Hina nodded and opened the door for Shivani. As Shivani walked towards the elevator, she smiled thinking about how last night she felt confused, alone, and misunderstood. In one night Hina had helped her overcome those feelings and now she felt more confident than ever. For the first time she felt like she wasn't completely out of her element.

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It was now 11am. Shivani and Hina had gone over all the possible conversation scenarios that could occur with Hina role-playing as Bailey. Shivani sighed. This was going to be great. This was going to be great. This was - well, it was at least going to be bearable.

With each step she took towards Bailey's room she could feel her heart beating. This was ridiculous. Why was her heart beating? Why was her facing heating up? Was she nervous? Why would she be nervous? She hated Bailey, right? She shook her head. Despite everything, she couldn't hate him. She was curious about him. Who was he and what did he want?

She took a deep breath in and exhaled as she knocked on his door. Room 3713. She took a step back and waited. Would he be happy to see her? Would she be happy if he were happy to see her? Wait, why would she be happy? All these questions circulated in her mind as she waited. The seconds that passed were agonizing. As thirty seconds passed with no response Shivani turned to walk back up to Hina's room, but just then Bailey opened the door.