The Enchanted Forest and Other Stories by Zoe Storm

Author:Zoe Storm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: transgender, fantasy, lesbian, coming of age, magic, time travel, vampires, witches, mermaids, the fair folk
Publisher: Zoe Storm
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Fast Forward

I opened my eyes, and was confronted by the faces of my classmates, twisted into mocking grins. “Look, he likes boys!” someone jeered from the back, holding up an Orlando-Bloom-as-Will-Turner poster: the outline of my lips was painted on his forehead, in the bright red lipstick they’d somehow convinced me to wear.

I blinked; I felt my eyes start to get wet. “But… But you said this was a game,” I said.

“Yeah, a game to determine how gay you are,” the speaker replied.

“What do you like about him?” someone else called. “Is it his dreamy eyes?”

“Or his lovely hair?” another mocking voice added. “Come on, tell us!”

I gulped, my mouth dry. “I… I don’t like boys,” I forced out.

“Of course you don’t,” was the answer, accompanied by a mocking laugh.

“I…” I said, and gulped again.

“Come on, guys, lay off,” someone else said, and I turned my head to look at the speaker: Scott. The track team captain, and most popular boy in the whole school. “And get on with the times. Liking boys is perfectly normal.”

I smiled weakly. “Thank y–”

“For a girl,” he continued, and the room was again filled by uproarious laughter.

I felt as if I was sinking in a deep, dark abyss. “I… I’m not a girl,” I protested, my voice barely audible. “I’m not a girl. I can’t be a girl. I’m a boy.”

I saw a weird expression pass over Scott’s face, just for a moment, but then he grinned again. “Yeah, right,” he said. “Why are you wearing lipstick, then?”

“You made me wear it.”

“Nobody forced you, you put it on on your own,” Scott shrugged. “But alright.” He straightened up, and turned on his heel. “Come on, let’s leave her alone,” he said, walking away, his cronies following after him like a pack of scavengers following a predator.

He reached the door and opened it, then turned around to look at me once more; again a strange look flickered in his eyes for a brief second, but then he grinned again. “See you tomorrow at school, girlie,” he said, and then walked out.

I sat there, half-slumped on the floor, silently crying, for what felt like an eternity; then I dried my eyes, stood up, climbed on my bike, and made my way back home.

As I entered through the front door my father’s voice, almost drowned out by the loud noises of Monday night football, called from the den, “That you, boy?”

“Yeah,” I called back. “I’m home.”

“You’re past your curfew! Grounded for a week!”

“Fine,” I replied.

“What was that? You’re a man, speak up!”

“I said fine!”

“Good! Now get to bed!”

Not like I had any place to go after school or on the weekend, in any case. That night had been the first time in my whole junior high career that I’d gone out to a party, and it hadn’t ended well.

I sighed as I entered my room; passing in front of the mirror hanging on the wardrobe door, I caught sight of myself, and saw that my lips were

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