Career class, the most boring class. Ever. My name’s Christopher Wensel, supposedly male. I act more feminine than anything, really. That’s besides the point though.

Career class isn’t actually about careers, it’s more so about the world and things that go on. Today’s subject is kind of weird. The LGBTQ+ community. Odd. Our school hates bringing it up. The administrators always look disgusted when they talk about it. Why would they want to teach us about it if they’re so distasteful about it?

“Alrighty class, let’s begin,” Ms. Elaine Redd began. She preferred to be called Elaine instead of Ms. Redd, the only time we call her Ms. Redd is when an administrator is doing one of those teacher performance things.

“I know most of you don’t really know what the LGBTQ+ community is, so let me explain. The L in LGBTQ stands for lesbian. Being lesbian means you like girls, but you’re a girl yourself. The G stands for gay, which means you like guys but you’re a guy yourself.”

She took a moment to shift in her seat. She looked nervous, anxious of judgement. I didn’t know much about Ms. Elaine, but she gave me a “not so straight” vibe.

“The B stands for bisexual, meaning you like both girls and boys. The T stands for transgender, meaning you feel like the opposite sex you were assigned at birth. A disorder comes with being transgender, and it’s called dysphoria. Say you were assigned the male sex at birth, but you feel more feminine than most guys. Dysphoria is the reason why you feel that way, but really you were born with a female brain instead of a male brain.”

That hit really hard, the transgender thing. I’ve finally got an answer. Maybe I’m transgender! No wonder I’ve loved to experiment with makeup. No wonder I like to hangout with girls not because they’re cute, but because they’ve got something I don’t; A female body.

“The Q stands for queer. Queer is an umbrella term for someone who isn’t ‘straight’ or their assigned sex.” Ms. Elaine continued on, but finally finished with the Q. “Does anyone have any questions?”

My friend, Lilian, raised her hand.

“Yes, Lilian?”

“There’s a plus sign on the end of LGBTQ. Is there more you’re not teaching us?” She was questioning a bit dangerously. She needed answers, too. She’s vented to me about liking more than just guys and girls. She needed an answer, too.

“The rest of the LGBTQ+ community is going to be taught tomorrow, but I will quickly inform you about pansexuality with the little time I have left with you.” Shoot. Class was almost over. “Pansexuality is where you love someone for their personality, not their gender. You basically love everyone.”

Lilian had her answer.

Another kid rose their hand. Eric. He’s stupid academically, but notices things most people don’t.

“Yes, Eric?” Elaine sighed, a bit anxious about a question coming from him.

“Are you lesbian?” He bluntly asked. She spat her coffee into her mug and laughed a small bit.

“You’re awfully clever, but no. I’m bisexual. Is it really that obvious?” She had a slightly happy glint in her eye. There’s so much emotion you can see in Elaine than other teachers. Probably because she’s younger, but she seems so.. Different. Different from them.

The bell rang. I fake busied myself. I wanted to ask Elaine about so many things. As everyone else left, I went up to her desk anxiously.

“Ms. Elaine? I just want to thank you for the lesson today.. You’ve helped me realize that I’m not a girly guy, but transgender. Thank you..” My voice broke and I began to cry. She smiled motheringly.

“Aw, Hon.. Your welcome.. If there’s anything you need help with you know you can come to me, right?” I didn’t know that, but I nodded. She hugged me tightly, and I hugged back. She seemed so understanding.

“Being.. Not so normal is really hard, especially when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. I have an after school club for queers like you if you’d like to attend. It’s where you can get help from other queers like you and get things like, in your case, feminine clothing and products to help you transition. At least, until you’re old enough to get surgery..”

She gave me a paper with the name of the club and times they meet up. I had stopped crying and kids were coming in. I was going to be late.

“I’ll write you a pass so you can get to class without getting in trouble, okay?” She smiled at me. I nodded as she began to fill in a hall pass for me. She tore it out of it’s stack and handed it to me. “Hope to see you at the after school club, and have a wonderful day, Hon.” I returned the smile, grabbed my stuff and headed to my locker.

I needed to attend that club.