“Hey, Uru!” Kailee greeted. “How was your hangout?”

“It was good,” I said, smiling. “He walked me home, actually.”

“Oh, how sweet of hi-you’re blushing.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Uh, your face tells a different story.”

There was awkward silence between us for a moment.

“So, is he cute?”

I definitely felt my face grow hot this time. “He’s handsome.”

“Geez, you’re in deep. C’mon, tell me about him.”

I sat next to her on the couch. “His name is Marcus, and he’s from the other continent.”

“Ooh, a foreigner.”

“He’s got blond hair, and dark skin, and green eyes, and it sounds like a terrible combination at first, but if you’d only see him! And his voice is kinda monotone at first, but then he’s a little more expressive the more you talk to him. He’s really sweet. And he smells nice.”

Kailee smiled at me. “Aw, he sounds nice. But, Jiyuru…Have you told him that you’re intersex?”

“Yeah, I did. It just kinda…came out.”

“Well, what’d he say?” she asked when I stopped talking.

“He said that if I didn’t know what I wanted, the safest option was to not get surgery. And I think I want to start going by they instead of he.”

“Gotcha. This Marcus guy sounds pretty cool. I’d like to meet him one day.” She winked.  “See if he’s worthy of your affections.”

“We’re probably not even gonna end up together. On a more important note, Mom probably won’t cancel the surgery. How do I avoid it?”

Kailee leaned forward. “That’s the easy part, actually. Before your surgery, you meet with the surgeon and a few other doctors. They’re going to ask you if you want the surgery. You tell them no, and it’s a done deal. They’ll cancel the surgery. Just…watch out for Mom.”

Before I could ask what she meant by that, the door unlocked.

“Speak of the…” She glanced at me. “Maybe I won’t call her that. Hey, Mom!” 

“Hey, Kai! Hey, Uru! Did you have fun hanging out with your friend, Jiyuru?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Awesome! I was actually thinking that next week, I have to take Kailee shopping for a few things. Why don’t you ask him to come?”

“I can ask,” I replied, trying to sound cool instead of excited.

“Good, ‘cause I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable dragging you in a room full of women’s…clothing. Make sure you text him!”

“I will.” Once she walked away, I asked, “Why’d she say that so weirdly?”

Kailee sighed, hooked her arm through mine, and sat me down in her room, giving a long lecture on the things I might soon be experiencing in my body. “See,” she said, beginning to close, “Mom should be the one telling you all of this. However, something has convinced her that you were meant to be a boy and were just not born right. As such, the responsibility has fallen upon me and…” She scrolled on her phone. “...the National Intersexual Persons Health Database, more commonly known as the NIPHD. I hope this was helpful.”

“Very,” I said, now understanding what a period was. Well, also now just learning about the existence of a period.

“Good,” she breathed. “But on the bright side, you get to have a whole day with Marcus.”

“If he agrees to come,” I said nervously.

Confidence in her eyes, she told me, “He will.”

~.~

And he did! One week later, Mara and I were standing in the mall, my mother and Kailee already abandoning us.

“Have fun, boys!” Mom called.

“Bye, Marcus. Bye, Jiyuru!” Kailee winked at me. She had done a lot of winking recently.

I waved, then turned to Mara. His expression faltered slightly when my mother referred to us as boys but didn’t bring it up.

“What do you wanna do?” I asked, hoping to keep it light.

“Some window shopping? I didn’t bring a lot of money.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “I don’t really go to…stores like this. Usually just grocery stores. So I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

He smiled gorgeously. “Then I shall teach you the joys of window shopping.”

What followed was a lot of trying on clothes and giggling when we put on goofy outfits.

I’d never had this much fun before…but there was no way I couldn’t notice the dirty looks some of the passersby gave him.

“Jiyuru, do you want to stop in here?”

Currently, another clothing shop stood right in front of us.

I looked away from him. “Why do you ask?”

“We’ve passed here a bunch of times, and you’ve kept staring at that skirt. Do you wanna try it on?”

I felt myself flush. “A little…”

“Well, come on, then. I think your mom’s still on the second floor. She won’t catch us.”

Us. Like we were in this together.

“Um…Okay.”

We walked inside, me mostly hiding behind Mara. 

“Welcome to Everyone’s Boutique!” a staff woman said. “Is there anything specific you two are looking for?”

Mara pointed to the black skirt I wanted to try. “Could they try on that skirt?”

“Sure! Right this way, you two.”

I quickly put on the skirt, then stepped out of the changing room to show Mara. “What do you think?”

“You look cute, Jiyuru. It’s very becoming on you.”

I blushed and laughed at the same time. “Who uses the word ‘becoming’ any more?”

“Only me and my mother, apparently.” He paused before asking, “Do you want it?”

“The…skirt?”

He nodded.

“But…you said you didn’t bring a lot of money. I can’t put you out like that.”

“You know,” he said, “when I offered to walk you home, you began with ‘I can’t,’ and just now, you said, ‘I can’t.’ I’m the one offering, Jiyuru. Let me follow through.”

After a moment of considering his words, I nodded.

“Thank you. Now, change before your mom comes back.”

I turned back into the changing room. As I hung up the skirt, someone banged on the door. “Jiyuru, open the door, pretty please. Your mom and sister are in the store. Kailee’s been distracting her, but she seems to be getting irritated. If she comes here…”

I would be in big trouble.

I opened the door for Mara, and he rushed inside, closing it behind him. “Okay, if we just hold out for a few, they should…” His voice trailed off as he stared at me.

Well, not me. My legs.

My first thoughts went to the scars on my legs. “Oh, um…don’t mind the scars, I guess.”

He tried to avert his eyes but failed. “It’s-it’s not the scars. You just have really nice legs.”

Huh? “What do you mean?”

He covered his face with his hands. “Don’t ask. It will probably sound really bad. You should finish getting dressed.”

“Okay,” I said, still confused. I’d ask him about it later when he seemed more inclined to talk about it. I pulled my pants back on, then asked if he thought we could leave.

“I think so.”

He peeked out of the door, then motioned for me to follow, not forgetting to tell me, “Oh, grab the skirt.”

~.~

We walked out to the parking lot, Mara holding the bag from the store.

Mom’s face didn’t leave the bag as she asked, “Who’s that for?”

“Oh, it’s just a gift. Ran in and grabbed it before we came out here.”

Better excuse than I had.

We had agreed that he would take it with him, then sneak it back to me at school. After all, both of us had agreed that my mother wouldn’t like the idea of me wearing a skirt.

Mom left it alone, and we went our separate ways. 

~.~

<Jiyuru’s Journal>

I feel more like me. I don’t know, I just feel less constricted. It’s been crazy, but with Kailee teaching me all these things, and Mara being…Mara, I feel a lot more accepted than I did before. Although, I still wonder what he meant about my legs. They’re nice??? I don’t get it. But I’ll ask him. Aside from that, I’m really worried. The surgery is coming closer, and I don’t want to upset Mom, but I don’t want to lose any part of myself. Kailee and Mara are supportive of me, but…Who knows, maybe I’ll want surgery in the future, like he said.