“The candy store closes every day at eight pm exactly,” Tiger said. “The last bus through here stops running at eleven. If I were to get lost I could call my auntie and she’d tell me how to get back to somewhere I know. And as for you, I know that you work in the café next door until ten thirty. I also know that you have a special friend who sometimes comes by here, before going to work, and and you have three cats.”
Darcy smiled. “You’re a pretty smart girl, tell me how do you know all that?”
Tiger smiled and put her bag of lemon candy that she’d just bought into her book bag. “It’s simple. Everyone who uses the buses and is any kind of smart knows the last time the bus runs on each street they normally walk down. The candy store hours are on the door, and on the sign behind you. I’ve seen you working at the café when my mom sometimes takes me to dinner there. Auntie told me to call her if I got lost. You introduced me to your special friend once. Didn’t you call them Ash? And as for the cats, you just look like a cat person.’
Darcy smiled again. “Yeah, Ash is pretty special to me.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “You’re going to miss your bus if you don’t hurry along to the stop.”
Tiger looked up at the clock as well. “Oh my god you’re right. Gotta go, see you later.” She grabbed up her bag and ran to the door.
“Bye Tiger.” Darcy really loved it when Tiger stopped by the shop, she was so full of energy that it seemed to liven up everything around her.
Mr. Mike came out of his office. “Good evening Darcy,” he said with a smile.
“Good evening Mr. Mike.” Darcy returned the smile.
“Will you do me a favor?” Mr. Mike said walking up to her.
“Yeah sure.” Darcy smiled.
“You seem awful chipper today,” Mr. Mike commented offhandedly. “I like it. Here.” He handed her a small yellow and purple plastic card.
“What’s this?” Darcy asked turning it over in her hand. “Loyalty card? I didn’t know we had a loyalty program.”
“We’ve never really had a super loyal customer. But will you give that to Tiger the next time she comes by? It entitles her to a twenty-five percent discount on anything she buys.”
“I think she’d like that. I’ll be sure to give it to her,” Darcy said with a smile.
“Thank you Darcy, I knew I could count on you.” Mr. Mike turned to head back to his office. “Oh, by the way,” he said stopping having suddenly remembered something important. “I got this message for you the other day. Someone came by with it, hoping to catch you. But you were in the back, and I offered to deliver it. But I sort of forgot. I think it’s about your friend Kitty. If I remember right, she’s the archeologist right? Here.” He turned and handed her the folded up note that was in his pocket.
“Thanks,” she took the note. She opened it up for a moment then after reading the first line her face paled. Even if only for a moment.
“Darcy child are you alright? You look a little pale.”
“Oh, um yeah I’m fine.” She glanced up then back down at the note. “Just a question does the name Angela mean anything to you?” The note said that Kitty had met with someone named ‘Angela’ and she asked for help finding her grandfather. The note also said that there was a problem and Kitty might not be making it back for some time.
“Angela? That was my daughter’s name.”
“Daughter?”
“She died in a car accident a few years ago. She was in England at the time.”
“England?”
“Yeah, my daughter often traveled she was an art historian, and a very kind soul. She’d been in England for three years when the accident happened.”
“Oh. So she wouldn’t have been a child. No. This is odd, maybe you’re not the same person Kitty is looking for.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well Kitty is in England right now, and was exploring rumors of a cross in a library that when touched showed glimpses of things that happen. No one is sure if it’s future or past it shows or just random. But while she was there she was talking to some grade schoolers about her job, and one of them heard her say she was from here and asked for help finding her grandfather, a Mr. Thomas Mike. But you don’t have a granddaughter named Angela do you?”
“As far as I know no. But it is possible, I mean I don’t know everything about my daughter’s life in England. It’s possible that when she died she had a child, but the father retained custody, as long as he is a good father I don’t see why that would be a problem. Text Kitty, and ask her if the girl knows her mom’s name, please?”
“Sure no problem. I can do that right now, if you want me to.”
it's like over twice as long, but should be better
“Ashlen, wait!” Darcy and Kitty ran out of the gym shortly behind their friend. They only hoped they could reason with her before she made some kind of mistake.
“Leave me alone!” Ashlen was ahead of them. She was scared, the only reason she could think of that anyone would follow her after what her boyfriend had said about her was to bully her. She hated thinking that these people were going to bully her too. Fearing that her boyfriend was also planning on coming after her, she headed to the one place in school that he couldn’t go. The girl’s bathroom. Ashlen then headed into the handicap stall and locked herself in. She hated the other stalls because they made her feel claustrophobic and she didn’t want to deal with that on top of everything else that was going on. She didn’t know much about herself but somehow her boyfriend calling her ‘tranny’ really pissed her off especially when her parents agreed. Her parents, god, they hated her. She knew they did because they said so.
“Ashlen, please--” Did she even recognize the voice? It sounded so distant. She let herself sink to the floor. Why? Why did they bother following me in here? Why do they bother trying to talk?
"Go away! Just... Just leave me alone!!" Ashlen said, trying not to let her tears be obvious from the sound of her voice.
"Ash..." She recognized the voice now, it was Kitty, of all people to follow her, she hadn’t expected it to be the two people she thought of as friends. Are they even still my friends?
Kitty leaned against the stall placing her hand and forehead on it, as if reaching out to her from the other side.
This time, Ashlen’s sob was heard. She just couldn't keep it in much longer. The ache was getting too much to bear.
"Ashlen, you know we'd never leave you. Especially not like this." Darcy said, trying to sound reassuring but there was a little quiver in her voice.
"You're lying!! Why would you even want to be friends with someone broken like me?!" The sentence came out with more difficulty than normal because of the sobs that came choking out with every word.
"You're not broken!!" Kitty said, lightly banging a fist against the door.
"You're really not, Ash..." Darcy's voice was steadier now. "Just hear us out. Please."
“Why? You’re just going to bully me like everyone else.” She couldn’t stop herself from saying it. It was what she thought to be true.
“Do not make me crawl under the door and hug you,” Darcy said her voice not masking the hurt she felt at the accusation. “We’ve been your friends since before we could walk. We aren’t going to bully you, or do anything to hurt you. What kind of friends would we be if we did that?”
“Terrible ones,” Ashlen said still trying to control her tears and her voice, but it wasn’t working.
“You’re not broken. You’re a minority,” Kitty said.
“An invisible. Just like us,” Darcy said hoping to lighten the mood.
Ashlen dried her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket. “M-Minority? How am I a minority? I’m white.”
“Not that kind of minority,” Darcy chuckled. “A sexual minority.”
“I think you mean minor,” Ashlen said sure that they were just confused about the word they were trying to think of.
“You’re sixteen that’s not a minor,” Kitty said but then thought about it. “I mean that is a minor but that’s not what we mean.”
“A sexual minority, is any sexuality that isn’t straight,” Darcy said.
“Should we really be talking about this at school?” Ashlen asked. She was calmer now, not crying as much. It seemed like they really did just want to help, but as far as she knew this wasn’t a topic they were encouraged to discuss on school grounds.
“School’s almost over, there’s no one here but us,” Kitty said. She quickly checked the other stalls to make sure, and sure enough they were all empty.
“What makes you so sure that I’m a minority?”
Darcy took a breath, really hoping that when she explained Ashlen wouldn’t get offended. “Because I remember the day in health class when everyone was talking about sex and who they felt attracted to and who they thought was hot and who wanted to do who and I remember you saying you didn’t feel like that about anyone. Not even the quote unquote hottest celebrities.”
“You mean it’s not because my boyfriend called me a fag?”
“You should probably dump that jackass,” Kitty said.
“Yeah, he’s not a good person. And no it’s not because of him,” Darcy said. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for a long time. But today, today’s a tipping point. You need to understand the truth of the matter, otherwise you’ll end up believing what those idiots out there have to say.”
Ashlen sniffled a little. They cared so much. She didn’t understand why, but the least she could do was listen. “I’m listening.”
“That day in class, everyone else called you a lair and said it wasn’t possible for someone to not be sexually attracted to anyone else. I know you weren’t lying. They were. It’s completely possible,” Darcy said she knew she had to keep this simple or Ashlen would get super confused and start thinking she was being misled. “It’s normal and natural. It’s nothing to worry about or be ashamed of. It’s called asexuality and it’s very real.”
“So it’s not all in my head. Imaginary?” Ashlen asked she was trying to understand it, and it did make a little sense. She remembered learning at one point or another that a as a prefix meant without, so someone without sexual attraction being asexual made sense.
“Not at all,” Kitty said she smiled then frowned for a moment when she realized Ashlen couldn’t see.
“Ash, I’m going to ask a serious question,” Darcy said causing Kitty to cast a suspicious glance at her. “Why do you go by Ashlen at school? But Ashley around your parents?”
“They think I’m a girl,” Ashlen said.
“Are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Are you a girl?”
Ashlen thought about that for a moment. No. She definitely wasn’t a girl, she hated being called a girl, it felt wrong somehow. “No, I’m not.”
“Are you a boy?”
“Ew, god no. I’m not a boy, but I’m not a girl. I don’t want to look like a boy or look like a girl.” Ashlen grew silent for a moment. Then really quietly added, “Are you sure I’m not broken?”
“I’m positive. You are special, not broken. I know a term that you might like, non-binary.”
“Non-binary?” Again she grew silent before speaking softly, “Doesn’t that mean robot?”
“No. I mean, robots are non-binary generally in gender terms, but being non-binary doesn’t make you a robot,” Darcy said. She sighed a moment. “This is why I called you an invisible. According to the government you don’t exist. I don’t exist, and neither does Kitty.”
“I…” Ashlen was thoroughly confused now. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m bi,” Kitty said. “Darcy is pan. You don’t hear much if anything about the three of us, ace, bi and pan. You hear nothing outside of lame sci-fi about non-binaryness.”
“So, that means the government doesn’t think we’re real?” Ashlen asked.
“Not much of anyone thinks we’re real,” Darcy said. “But we know better. We are real. We are here. And we do exist. For the time being let’s focus, school will let out soon, and we need to grab our things from our lockers before someone decides to vandalize them, again. Non-binary means you do not fit on the gender binary of male, female. Understand?”
“Yeah, but if I’m not a girl and I’m not a boy, is there a pronoun for me?” Ashlen hoped maybe if there was a pronoun she could use that it would help make it seem a little less childish to her.
“There’s a lot actually: ze, xe, e, sie, they, and if you wanted there are non-English pronouns that have no gender too,” Darcy said.
“They? But isn’t they plural?”
“It can be singular. When it comes to referring to people properly, they singular is actually quite common when you don’t know someone’s gender. Think about it like this. Person A walks out of a café, but accidentally left something behind. Cashier asks you if you knew them. You say no. Cashier says, that’s a shame, they left their wallet.”
“I get it,” Ashlen said jumping up excitedly. “I actually get it. So I’m they? It’s not grammatically correct.”
“Screw grammar. You’re a person, you deserve the pronoun that makes you comfortable.”
“Are you going to come out of the stall now?” Kitty asked. “It’s almost time to go home.”
Ashlen stood for a moment not speaking, she debated on opening the door and smiling at her friends like it was all okay, but she couldn’t keep that up long. Home. How could she possibly tell them? “I’m not going home.” Words like that don’t come easy.
“What do you mean you’re not going home?” They both asked it at the same time and Ashlen gasped, she didn’t think she had actually said it.
She slumped forward her head hitting the door. “M-my parents…” she sighed heavily. “They agreed with him…and disowned me. They said I’m not allowed in their house anymore. They don’t want me because I’m not the daughter they thought I was. Because I’m broken.”
She unlocked the door, tired of being separated from the only two people who cared about her. She stood back for a moment and opened it, then as soon as it opened she put herself in Kitty’s waiting arms and cried on her shoulder. Kitty held Ashlen gently rubbing her back until the tears calmed.
“It’s going to be okay, Ash. I promise.”
“I have a spare room in my house, maybe my mom would let you stay with us,” Darcy said. “It’d be like a sleepover, just a really long one.”
“I always liked your mom,” Ashlen said quietly.
“While you’re home with me I can show you some of the resources I found about this stuff,” Darcy said smiling.
“School should be letting out in a few minutes, we need to go grab our stuff, before someone else does.”
Ashlen simply nodded in agreement and followed her – no, their friends out of the restroom.
“Ashlen wait!” Darcy and Kitty ran out of the gym after their friend.
“Leave me alone!” Ashlen was ahead of them and ran to the one place in school that their jackass boyfriend couldn’t follow. The girl’s bathroom. Ashlen headed into the handicap stall –it was big enough that it didn’t invoke a feeling of claustrophobia. After locking the stall door they slumped to the slumped to the floor with their head on their knees. “Please just leave me alone.”
“Ashlen, I’m not about to do that. I’m your friend, and that’s not what’s best for you right now,” Darcy said seriously as she and Kitty took up almost defensive positions outside the stall door.
“Go away. Why would you want to be friends with a broken person like me?” Ashlen said trying not to let their tears sound on their voice.
“You’re not broken,” Kitty said.
“You’re really not,” Darcy agreed.
“Hear us out, Ashlen.”
“You’ve been our friend forever. We’re not about to do a single thing that would hurt you.”
“You’re perfectly not broken. A minority, just like us.”
“An invisible.”
“I-invisible? Minority?” Ashlen asked trying to make sense of it.
“Hear us out. Have you ever wondered why you feel so at odds with your body?”
“Yeah,” Ashlen said with a sniffle.
“Well we can explain that to you, mostly.”
“Do you remember the day that everyone was talking about who they thought was sexy? And how much they wanted to get laid?”
“Yeah. I said I wasn’t attracted to anyone like that. That I didn’t feel the need to have sex and they all got mad at me and called me a liar. But I wasn’t lying, honest.”
“I know. We can teach you about this stuff. If you’ll let us.”
“Wait you know about this? It isn’t just a thing I’m imagining?”
“No it’s not. Are you going to listen to us?”
“Yeah. But I’m not leaving here. I don’t want to end up seeing my jackass boyfriend out there somewhere.”
“That’s fine. But school’s almost over, and this would be easier to explain at my house,” Darcy said.
“I guess that’s okay. I can’t go home anyway.”
Darcy and Kitty exchanged a confused look. They weren’t entirely sure what could possibly make Ashlen think that they couldn’t go home.
“Why not? If I may ask,” Darcy said quietly.
“My mom and dad disowned me. I’m not their perfect daughter. I’m not their daughter at all. I never was. I never will be. I don’t want to be. So I don’t know what to do now, but at least I don’t have to worry about if mom and dad will approve of my choices. They never approved, but now it doesn’t matter. Hey Darcy do you think your mom would mind if I sleep at your house?”
Darcy and Kitty stared at each other. “We’ll see.”
None of them knew that standing just outside the restroom was a teacher. She made sure that no one went in to bother the three inside, and she could hear every word they said.
“This is an extremely important thing for the last question before the bell rings, Ashlen. Does it upset you when people call you ‘she’?”
“Quite a bit, yes. I’m not a girl. At least I don’t think I am. I don’t want to be. I don’t like it. I’m…”
“It’s okay,” Darcy said. “We’ll help you with this. We can do this much before we absolutely have to leave school. Do you feel like you’re a boy on the inside?”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m definitely not a boy.”
“And you’re not a girl?”
“Nope. Not a girl.”
“Then you are non-binary. This is special. I suggest ‘they’ for your pronoun. It’s common, so people won’t be likely to forget it.”
“But they is plural?”
“They can be singular. If you don’t like it there are hundreds of other pronouns out there.”
“So say someone is talking about me, and they use the right pronoun—“ Ashlen began but stopped when they realized they had no idea how using singular they would work.
“That person would say ‘they is’ instead of he or she is.”
“But grammar?”
“Screw grammar we’re talking about your life here.”
Ashlen sighed and decided that Darcy was right. Darcy was the smart one. She must be right. They stood up and unlocked the door. “So, are we going to your house Darcy? Do you have like some magic thing to explain this there?”
“Yeah, the internet and some books I took from the bookstore I work part time at. It’s okay though. The owner said he had bought too many of them and it was okay if I took a few.”
“You’re the best, Darcy. So how long until school lets out?”
Dear fucktard anon harassing my little angel, GO THE FUCK AWAY. If you're trying to woo her with that fucked up method of yours, it's not gonna work. You're just making her uncomfortable. Don't you have something better to do than to be a total creep, harassing someone on anon? Stop being a total ass and go get a life.
