P.S - Before you start reading this, I know already that some of the things here are a bit unrealistic or awkward, like I said, I wrote this when I was in seventh grade. Just enjoy it as much as you can or don't read it at all.

Kai sat outside the school waiting for the bell to ring, as he finished the homework he’d forgotten to do last night. When the bell finally rang he got up and walked to class, pushing his way through the swarm of students.

Kai sat in class, doodling on the corner of his math work in front of him. When the teacher walked into class everyone quieted and turned to the teacher. “We have someone new joining us today,” he said pleasantly, as he looked through the door and motioned for someone in the hallway to come into the class. The kid walked in and stood next to the teacher. She smiled brightly at everyone and waved.

“This is Ace. Ace can you introduce yourself to everyone?” The teacher said as he walked over to sit at his desk. Ace wore a dark grey skirt over black leggings and a red t-shirt under a denim jacket. Her auburn hair was up in a high ponytail.

Ace smiled again as she introduced herself, “Hi, my name’s Ace, I’m non-binary. Basically, that means I’m not a girl or a boy.” Ryan, Kai’s best —and only friend—  shot his hand up immediately to ask a question. Kai rolled his eyes and smiled at his friend's enthusiasm.

“If you’re not a girl or a boy then what do we call you?” He asked. Ace stared confused, not knowing what he meant. “She or he?” Ryan added.

“Oh, my pronouns you mean. I use they/them instead,” they replied. Ryan nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer, and relaxed back into his chair.

“Ace, you can sit behind Lily,” The teacher said as he pointed at Kai. Kai grimaced as he raised his hand to show Ace where he was.

He hated it, Lily, she, her, his body. He hated it all. But he was too scared to tell anyone. Honestly, he was jealous of Ace. They were able to be so open about who they were. 

At lunch, lots of students were surrounding Ace asking them lots of questions. The most popular ones being, “Why did you move here?” And “How can you not be a boy or a girl.” The latter evolves into Ace giving a description of different terms in the trans and nonbinary community. Most of the things they explained Kai already knew, but the were a few non-binary terms that he did learn while listening.

The only questions that Ace refused to reply to were, What their biological gender was—Obviously. It was a rude question—  and what their sexuality was. “None of your business,” was their only reply.

A few weeks passed and people mostly got used to Ace’s pronouns. Kai yawned as he walked to his desk, when he saw Ace he couldn’t help but freeze. They’d cut their hair really short and wore black jeans, they had a dark green hoodie on under their denim jacket. Their chest seemed strangely flat and it took a moment for Kai to realize why. They were wearing a binder.

Kai hurried over to his seat and sat down as other kids started coming into the class. A few other students gathered Ace to ask them more questions. “I wanted to look masculine,” they replied.

Class started and everyone returned to their seats as the teacher started to call attendance. “Lily,” the teacher called. Kai slid his hands into his sweater pockets and clenched his fists as he called, “here” barely loud enough for the teacher to hear him.

Kai wanted to come out, but he was too scared of others having a problem with him. He’d decided to ask Ace for help, but first, he needed to come out to them.

Kai ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote on it. Can I talk to you after school today?  He folded the note and when no one was looking tossed it onto Ace’s desk.

A moment later Ace tapped him on the shoulder and passed the note back to him. When he opened it they’d written something. Sure.

Can we meet at the park down the road? He wrote, before sliding the note back onto Ace’s desk. Ok, they replied. Kai looked back at Ace and they smiled at him.

Kai sat on a bench at the park, swinging his legs back and forth anxiously, Ace had been called by one of the teachers so they’d be a bit late, leaving Kai even more anxious than he already was.

The park was out of the way and not many passed through it since there was only one entrance and the park was surrounded by a tall hedge, making it almost invisible from the outside.

When Kai heard footsteps his head snapped up and saw Ace jogging toward him. They stopped next to him and Kai shuffled sideways so Ace could sit down.

Ace dropped down onto the bench, leaning their back against the arm of the bench and resting their knee against the back of it. Their other leg hanging off the side of the bench. For some reason, Ace always found a way to sit down in a weird position.

Kai could never understand why, he guessed it was just something weird they did.

“You’re Lily right?” Ace asked. Kai nodded and shifted again.

“Y-yeah, kind of, um, ugh, how do I say this?” Kai started, trailing off halfway. 

Yeah, great start Kai, he reprimanded himself.

He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn’t really know how to say it.

Kai clenched his fists and stared at his lap. He took a deep breath and then looked up at Ace. They were watching him patiently.

Kai took another deep breath before speaking, “I’m trans but I don’t know how to tell my parents,” Kai said it all in one breath, then fell silent as he stared at Ace waiting for a response.

After a moment Ace nodded slowly, “Alright, do you have any preferred pronouns?” They asked.

“Yeah uh, he/him, and uh, can you call me Kai,” he said as he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Are you safe?” Ace asked.

Kai blinked. “What?”

“At home. Do you have any reason to believe your parents would hurt you or kick you out if you came out to them?”

“Oh. No, my parents have always been really supportive of the community,”

“Alright good so how do you want to do this?”

“Who are the first people you want to come out to?”

“Huh?” Kai didn’t understand what they were asking.

“There’s probably a few people that you want to come out to first right?” Ace said.

“Oh. Yeah, my parents and my friend. Ryan,” Kai replied.

Ace smiled kindly, “alright Kai.” Kai couldn’t help but smile brightly when Ace used his name. “Anyway there isn’t really much I can say about coming out besides my experience, I think sitting them down and telling them straight would probably be best, also make sure you have somewhere you can go if things go wrong,” Ace said.

“I already do, my aunt lives an hour away from here I know she’d let me stay with her if I need to.” Ace nodded, obviously satisfied to know he was thinking ahead.

“Ryan’s the kid in our class who asked me a ton of questions on my first day, right?” Ace asked, Kian nodded. 

“He seemed accepting but he asks a lot of questions, so if there’s something you don’t want to be asked it’ll probably be best to set some boundaries,” Ace said, as they crossed their arms and thought. Kai nodded and decided to keep that in mind.

Suddenly an alarm went off, causing Kai to jump. Ace pulled out their phone and turned off the alarm. “Sorry, I’ve got to go now,” Ace said as they stood up.

“O-oh, see you tomorrow,” Kai stuttered.

Ace smiled, “See you tomorrow Kai,” they said before leaving. After that Kai sat on the bench thinking about everything that just happened for a while before finally heading home.

 It’s been almost a week since Kai came out to Ace, and it was Friday. He planned on telling his parents tomorrow, and he was already feeling like he was going to have a heart attack.

Kai was sure they were supportive, but he was still worried. What if it was different when it was their child.

Throughout the day he went over what he would say repeatedly. As Ryan and he walked home Kai continued to be lost in thought. Kai said goodbye to Ryan and walked through the front door of his house.

When the door clicked shut Kai didn’t move for a while as he took slow deep breaths to calm himself. He looked around his house to find his parents, his dad was in his office still working as he spoke to someone over the phone. Kai closed the door as quietly as possible and decided to come back later. His mom didn’t seem to be home yet.

Kai retreated to his bedroom, dropping his bag on the floor near the foot of his bed. And flopped down on his mattress. He pulled a book he’d read a hundred times already and started flipping through it.

When kai heard his mom come home he didn’t move, his dad was still working so he decided he’d talk to them both at dinner.

When his mom called him, Kai walked down to the kitchen. He wasn’t really hungry and he just pushed the food around on his plate.

His parents seemed to pick up on Kai’s mood, “Lily, are you alright?” His mom asked.

Kai nodded, suddenly the food in front of him seemed really interesting, but he had something to do. He put down his fork and slid his plate away from himself.

Kai looked his parents in the eyes before speaking, “I have something I want to tell you.”

His parents looked at each other worriedly before they turned back to their child. “Alright, what is it, Is everything alright?” Kai’s mom asked.

“I think— No. I know. I’m a guy. I’m trans,” He let the words rush out, as soon as he said it he went completely silent but he didn’t break eye contact with either of his parents, despite how tempted he was to turn his eyes down to the ground.

“Ok, what does that mean for you?’ Kai's mom asked as she slid her chair closer to Kai.

“I uh, want you to call me Kai, and can I use he/him pronouns?” Both of his parents nodded. Also, can I get my hair cut?”

His mom smiled softly, “Of course, it’s too late today but we can go tomorrow.” Kai couldn’t help but start crying and his parents gave him a hug.

The next day Kai and his mom drove to the barber first thing in the morning. “Mom?” Kai asked.

“Yes honey?” she replied.

“Thanks,” he said as he smiled.

When they got to the barber Kai’s mom paid the man at the front desk and Kai was asked to sit on one of the large black chairs. When his hair was finished being cut it felt really light.

After getting his haircut Kai ran to Ryan’s house. After talking to his parents he didn’t feel as stressed out about telling Ryan, although he was still nervous. Ace had been right about Ryan asking a lot of questions, but he didn’t ask anything that Kai didn’t want to answer. And he was very supportive, if not a little overwhelming.

Two weeks later Kai’s first binder arrived. 

Kai sat in class talking to some friends. Before he came out Kai was really shy and Ryan was his only friend but he’d gotten the courage to start making friends after coming out. He still wasn’t a really social person but he talked to a couple of his deskmates and a few of Ryan's friends. He also became friends with some of the girls who let him do their makeup sometimes,  Kai was a guy, that he was sure of, but he did still like things like dresses and makeup a lot, it just made him dysphoric, so doing other’s makeup was fun.

As the teacher walked in everyone ran to their seats, Ryan dropped into the seat in front of him grinning back at Kai one last time before turning to the front of the class before he could get caught as the teacher started calling attendance, “Kai,” the teacher called.

He couldn’t help but smile. “Here.”

Kai still felt uncomfortable sometimes, and there were times when he didn’t want to go anywhere people could see him. But things were getting better. He was getting better.

THE END