On a Summer Night by Gabriel D. Vidrine

Author:Gabriel D. Vidrine [Vidrine, Gabriel D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NineStar Press, LGBT, contemporary, YA, trans, bisexual, asexual, coming-of-age, coming out, family drama, HFN, #ownvoices
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2018-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

I WENT BACK to the cabin where Wade was rounding everyone else up. Luckily, Ryan and his friends had stayed outside, gone off somewhere else. I told Wade what happened.

“Ryan found out I’m trans,” I said, “and announced it in front of the lodge.”

His face fell. “Oh, Casey, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“Have Ryan thrown out?”

Wade’s lips pressed down into a thin line. “You know how that will go,”

“Yeah, I know. Thought I’d try anyway.”

He gripped my shoulder in sympathy, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Can…can we just make an announcement at dinner?”

He looked surprised. “Really? You want to announce it?”

“I think it will be better than the rumors that are already probably spreading.”

“You might be right. I’ll put it on the list.”

“Thanks.”

We went to meet everyone else for the walk down to dinner. Alex was there, and I went straight up to him. “Thank you. You were right. They were planning to hurt me.”

“Oh, man, really? I’m sorry.” He looked stunned. He reached out and hesitantly touched my shoulder in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Casey.”

“It’s okay. I appreciate you telling me.”

“I should have said something sooner.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you did.”

We picked back up the pieces of our friendship on the way back down the mountain to the dining hall. Once there, we sat with Ella, Nick, and Lily. I leaned over and whispered furiously to Ella what had happened. Her face whitened, her mouth dropping open in surprise, until she clenched it in anger.

“What an asshole,” she hissed at me when I had finished. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Casey.”

I also told her about the announcement I was going to make. She reached over and hugged me from the side, and our heads touched. She knew how hard this was going to be for me.

I tried my best to be “stealth.” I was young and could easily pass as a young boy for the most part. But everyone at school already knew I was trans, so I wasn’t really stealth there. I’d hoped I could be here, fitting in and passing without everyone noticing, without having to tell them. And I’d succeeded, mostly. But even being stealth, I would always be trans. It always meant the possibility of discovery, of being outed. To some people, me being trans meant I would never, ever be a real boy, no matter what I said or how I looked. They were wrong. Being trans didn’t mean I wasn’t a boy.

There was always a danger to being trans, a danger that never went away. I could be stealth, but if I did something “wrong,” something too stereotypically girly, or if someone looked too closely, they might discover I was trans. My parents had not shied away from telling me of the violence and hardships some trans people encountered. They were real with me, sharing stories of trans people who’d been fired, beaten up, thrown out of their homes, had their children taken away from them, or had been murdered.

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