Reality

[BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!]

My alarm startled me out of my very pleasant dream, nearly making me fall out of my bed. My bed was right next to a window, so carefully moving my curtain to check outside, I saw that it was pitch black outside. My still half-asleep brain wanted to believe that I had a few more hours of good sleep left, but my heart knew that it wouldn’t be the case.

I lazily reached for my alarm clock, missing a few times and hitting my hand against my nightstand, before finally grabbing it.

[5:37 AM]

“Ugh…” I groaned silently. “But I don’t wanna…”

I had school today, which is why I am currently groaning and moaning. I don’t particularly hate school; in fact, I consider myself a huge nerd and have my favorite and least favorable subjects. What I don’t enjoy, however, are bullies and my “friends”. More on that later.

I groggily got out of bed and stumbled over to my bedroom bathroom. Picking up my toothbrush, I began about my day. Showering has to be my top ten activities of the day, mostly because it’s a time where I can just relax and reflect. I could just waste away for hours in here.

But unfortunately, I have to be considerate about my family. While our living condition may look like your average middle class American family, our financial situation is anything but. My father abandoned us when I was 9 for a younger woman and my mom constantly works to support me and my sister, and I feel like a useless son as I am unable to get a job and relieve her of her stress.

Jumping out the shower and breathing a sigh of content, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I’m not the worst looking person you’d ever meet, but I’m not movie star worthy material either. If anything, I’ve been compared to Danny DeVito more times than I could count.

I have long curly hair that reaches to my lower back, chocolate brown eyes, and a pretty brown complexion. My face looks more feminine that masculine, so I get mistaken for a girl a lot. In fact, my next door neighbor thought I was a big sister for over 2 years before we went over to her house for Christmas.

“Martin, are you done yet? Mom said she’s dropping us off at school,” a cute feminine voice announced on the other side of my door. It was my sister, Mary. “You better not be late!”

“I’m never late!” I playfully say back.

“Yeah, right” Mary said. I could hear her little footsteps leave my room.

I laugh a little and continue getting ready for school. Getting scolded by my mother is one thing, but getting scolded by my sister is one hell I wish on no man.

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“Did you shave, honey?” my mom asked.

I felt my face getting hot. “Mom!” I yelled. “…can you be discreet?”

My mom and sister laughed.

“I wasn’t talking about *that*!” she said, trying to stop laughing.

I crossed my arms. “Very funny, mom, you know my chest hair hasn’t kicked in yet…”

Mary giggled. “We know, we just like to remind you sis,”

I irked. “Don’t call me sis ever again.”

She shrugged smugly. “Cut that long hair then.”

I rolled my eyes and focused my attention to the building and people we passed by as we sped through the streets of Houston. I never liked the city, always smelled like ammunition and cat piss. The people were either extremely friendly and nice, or extremely horrible and toxic. Never in-between.

“Y’all want to visit Aunty Sherley after school?” my mom asked.

Mary instantly got excited, jittering in her seat and squealing like any other 11- year old girl.

“Will Jenny be there?” she asked, her words coming out her mouth at 60 miles per hour.

My mom smiled warmly at her. “Of course your cousin will be there,” she assured, then she looked at me with a sly smile. “Wanna know who else is there?”

I instantly knew who she was talking about. “No…No! If he’s gonna be there, there’s no way in hell I’m going!”

“Ah, come on! You love playing with Tristian!”

I blushed. “What he does to me isn’t playing, it should be classified as sexual harassment!”

My mom and Mary laughed again.

“You really are a girl!” Mary teased. I grabbed her cheek as she struggled to resist me.

“Let go of your sister’s cheek, you’ll ruin her cute little face,” my mom commanded while stifling her laughter.

“Y-yea, lef go uf my cute wiffle cheek!”

I gave her cheek one last good before letting go of it. She gave me a dirty look while rubbing her face.

“And besides,” my mom began, finally controlling her laughter. “That’s just how boys play, I know Tristian means no harm,”

“He means all the harm!” I said back. “He’s always trying to get me to do… stuff…”

I saw my mom raise an eyebrow through the visor. “What kind of stu-“

“Don’tworryit’snotimportant, heylookwe’reatmyschoolI’llseeyoulaterbye!”

My mom stopped the car and I wasted no time getting out of it. I could just sense Mary and her giggling at me. What does it take to be respected around here.

Sighing, I walked through the sidewalk and into my school’s main gathering area. A huge crowd of kids gathered around the entrance waiting for the bell to ring so that they could enter the building. Several hangout areas had been erected for students to lounge around while they wait.

I scanned the crowd of teenagers until I could see my friend group. Luckily, I didn’t have to scan very far as I found them chatting under a large tree. Tsagi, one of my closest friends, spotted me and waved for me to come over.

I walked over and we did our handshake and he made a sly chuckle.

“What’s so funny, Tsagi?” I asked.

Tsagi was a short Asian teenager with a buzzcut, light pale skin, and furrowed brows that constantly made him look angry. His personality wasn’t really the best if I was being honest; the guy had ADHD and not to mention major anger issues.

Back to reality, Tsagi worriedly looked around as if to make sure no one looking his way (which I doubt as he is really short) and pulled out a magazine from his backpack. He covered up the cover with his jacket so I couldn’t really get a good look at it.

“What’s in your hand?”

“A magazine, dumbass,” he sneered.

I rolled my eyes. “Are you gonna keep being a scared little loser or are you gonna show me the magazine?”

He cussed at me and hesitantly brought the magazine into view. I could only see a quarter of it but I already knew what it was. I gasped, grabbing Tsagi’s collar and pulled him closer to me.

“Are you stupid? If anyone catches you with that magazine, do you realize how much trouble we’re in?!”

Tsagi sneered and hit in the stomach, making me recoil a bit and stumble back. “Relax, femboy, I’m not stupid enough to get caught.”

I highly doubted that, but before I could voice anymore concern, the bell rang. A wave of kids all went for the cramped entrance, me included, and I felt like I was crushed under a mountain of B.O, perfume, and…breakfast burritos?

Finally breaking free from the stampede of teenagers, I took a breath of fresh air. For some reason, today felt different. Not different in a “oh they’re serving chicken sandwiches, which they never do” but different in a “something life changing is about to happen”.

I didn’t really think about it that much and began heading to my class, ready to get on with my day.