Looking Forward [LGBT Shorts]

Miya - Becoming Her

My roommate is a tomboy. I'm pretty sure there's some irony behind this statement. But it doesn't matter; Margo is pretty cool. What matters if she has an issue rooming with me.

My appearance has changed in the last three years. Aside from the body changes from hormones, I'm wearing goth-inspired makeup. (It's not really goth as more just black chic.) My hair is still dyed blue, and it goes past my shoulders.

Basically, I pass. There's nothing that Margo can pick up that I'm trans unless she snoops through my toiletries bag, where she can find estrogen.

We spend the first few weeks adjusting to the new college year and getting used to each other. Already, there's a list of rules we came up with to avoid annoying each other. As long as I don't whistle whenever I feel like it, Margo won't smoke her blunts with the windows closed. She got mad when I mistakenly said "joints", so "No mislabelling paraphernalia" is another rule.

I enter the dorm after classes end to see Margo meticulously sewing one of her shirts. "Bad rip?" I ask, putting my backpack down.

"Something like that," she answers. Her brown hair is cropped so she can put them in pigtails but not much else, so that's how she wears it now. Now and then she'd pull one of the tails as she thinks.

"Spit it out, what's going on?"

Margo ties the thread and cuts it short, finished. "There's this guy I'm sort of into, and he's going to a party tonight. Thought I can take my chance there."

"I see."

"You wanna go with me?"

I tsk. It's a Tuesday, and I'm expecting a call from my family like always. Tonight is Kelly's turn, and I'm sure she's been dying to tell me the events that happened since the last we talked. I'm still mind-boggled by Josh's stunt at his college, which I found out from my adoptive parents. Kelly better not bring news that isn't as big.

"It'll be your first great college experience," Margo teases.

"You say that as if I haven't had dozens of others. I'm a junior for Christ's sake." I don't mention that half of my experiences are pulling all-nighters because I'm in the mood for an Avatar: The Last Airbender marathon.

Putting away the travel-sized sewing kit, Margo shrugs. "Okay, fine. Don't go with me if you don't want to."

"I didn't say that," I protest. "Let me check up on something."

Taking out my phone, I get to my sister's number. Clacking my nails against the phone case -- I traded both Hello Kitty and TMNT for a Miraculous Ladybug phone case recently -- I think about what to type. Thanks to college, I'm going between formal, academic writing, and modern slang texting, and it's hard to differentiate between the two styles, sometimes.

What I end up texting Kelly is this: Apologies for the convenience, I must ask if we call another time. There's a party 2nite and my roomie invited me 😅 

Within minutes, she texts back:

That was god-awful to read 

You need to go and idk immerse yourself in a modern world without professors and grades

Text me tomorrow when you're free

Rolling my eyes, I go to my dresser and pull out various clothes to sort through. This party would be the first I attend this year; I might as well make it a good one to remember. The only thing is, what outfit would give me that impression?

By the time Margo shoves me out of our dorm and to the party, I have on a pink turtleneck with blue jeans. My hair's clipped up with a fancy gold band. She's changed into the shirt she was mending, which is a vintage-looking Wonder Woman shirt. It's badass if I have anything to say about it.