Cross School

38 - The Girl Who Could Wait No Longer

More than a month had passed since the events that occurred at Isabelle Chen's party, and no one was reeling from them more than Samuel Redding. He had done something he could never forgive. It pained him to think about that night, not because he really regretted it, but because he wanted to remember it fondly, and not as the time when he lost his best friend.

Rose was special to him. He loved her deeply, but he also loved his experience with Lucas, he couldn't be sure which love defined him. Rose was the only girl to ever catch his eye truly. In his life before, he had been set up with several girls by his parent's connections, all of whom were beautiful, and half of them were nice. Even back then he found himself more drawn to their appearance then personalities. He would admire their style of clothing, whether they had lots of makeup on or not, the types of makeup they wore. He found himself keeping track of things he was taught boys shouldn't think about. He didn't know what it meant until he was forced into his punishment at Priscilla Girl's Academy.

Being with Rose made both sides of himself happy. He was Sam, just a normal, shy kid talking to a girl he liked, alongside Samantha, the girl he became when Rose dressed him up and made him look pretty like her. A relationship with her would be the perfect compromise. But as the weeks and months went on at Priscilla, the question of who was making the compromise became harder to discern. After his experience with Lucas at the party, Sam knew full well that it was Rose who had to compromise.

Sam liked boys, and he wanted to be a girl. Rose wasn't the endgame anymore. He never even had the chance to go on a date with her, he was, and would always be, just her friend. Her backstabbing friend who nearly had sex with her brother, who also cheated on his girlfriend with him.

Charlie laughed like an idiot when everyone found out what Sam had done. The humor was lost on everyone else.

He never really saw Rose anymore. She stayed away from him during class and whenever he walked near her, she treated him like he wasn't there. Every so often he'd catch her glancing back, but his imagination did the work and plastered a resentful sneer on her face. He knew she hated him, and she wasn't the only one.

Bella Stanford had given him a good scolding and a hard slap when she discovered the scene at Isabelle Chen's party. Lucas suffered more physical pain, but Sam was left with more mental wounds, and a lot more to think about.

The other four boys seemed to be going through similar struggles, Sam noticed in the weeks since the party. Tyler was mostly quiet and never cross dressed anymore, Spencer exclusively stayed dressed as a girl and seemed to have some unspoken secret with Zach, who was a lot nicer and less of a bully. Charlie was the only one with any jest left as the school year flew by.

He obeyed the punishment, even though the principal had basically called it off. Charlie was having fun dressed as a girl and still retained a healthy relationship with the other girls at the academy. Sam couldn't help but feel jealous, especially after he saw Rose walking with him to class one morning.

To put it simply, Sam felt like shit.

'You look like shit.' Sam was lying on his bed, contemplating everything that had happened. Class finished an hour ago, and Spencer had wandered in, dolled up with a concerned look gazing down at Sam. He resented how naturally pretty Spencer was. He didn't even need a ton of makeup to look like a girl, all you needed to do was put him in a dress and apply some lip gloss, and viola, the picture of femininity.

Sam rolled over. He didn't want to look. 'Is everything alright?' Spencer asked. Sam heard him sigh. 'Of course it's not. I'm sorry, Sammy, I almost forgot...'

'Go away,' Sam whispered sourly.

'If you need to talk, I'm here for you, Sammy.'

Sam rolled back and let his friend see his pained, teary eyes. 'Leave me alone!' Sam lied, wanting nothing more than to be cradled in Spencer's arms. Spencer did just that. He crawled onto Sam's bed and hugged him harder and with more love than Sam had ever been hugged before.