Page 28 of Pieces of Me

The next morning Rylan was surprised when Scott joined him at the bus stop.

“Not riding with Lisa?”

“Not today” was his noncommittal response, and they didn’t say anything more as the bus lumbered to a stop. Scott climbed on first to shouts of greeting from all sides, people scrambling to make room for him to sit with them.

A quick glance toward the back sent a wave of relief flowing through Rylan; Gabriel was in their usual seat. When Rylan approached him to sit down, however, he froze in his tracks.

“G, what―” he croaked, his eyes bugging in disbelief. Gabriel was wearing a…dress, a strappy sundress. He had a pink headband on, and―Rylan couldn’t help but gasp―some sparkly eyeshadow and dark mascara.

Gabriel’s face was filled with misery, and Rylan sat quickly. “What happened, G?”

Gabriel stared out the window, blinking hard, and for a minute Rylan wasn’t sure he’d answer. “My parents happened,” he finally rasped. “And their church. Did a ‘prayerful intervention’ this past Sunday, said they needed to drive out the devil that’s causing my ‘confusion.’”

“Oh no,” Rylan exclaimed, and Gabriel went on.

“When they stopped praying, they said all I could wear from now on was…this type of thing.” He plucked at his skirt with distaste. “Threw out all my other clothes. Made me put on makeup. Said it’s all for my ‘own good.’” His voice was thick with tears. “They made me fast for two days.”

Rylan was horrified. “What? Fast―what? You mean nothing to eat for two days?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Just water.”

“What the actual fuck?”

“They believe fasting brings you closer to God, that when you’re not distracted by earthly things such as food, you’ll be more open to hearing God’s voice when he’s speaking to you.”

“Telling you that you’re supposed to be a girl.” Rylan clenched his hands into fists. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah. My mom said God doesn’t make mistakes, that I’m a girl. And wearing these clothes will make me feel like one, so problem solved, right?”

Appalled, Rylan didn’t know what else to say, so they jounced along in silence. He could hear Scott’s voice coming from all the way in the back of the bus, the laughter and excited chatter from the other kids ringing in his ears.

“Well, we’ll fix this, G,” Rylan vowed. “Somehow. You can’t come to school every day wearing a fucking dress.”

“They threw out all my other clothes,” Gabriel said miserably. “And searched my backpack to be sure I didn’t have anything stashed to change into. They’re gonna do that every day, they said, until I ‘come to my senses.’”

The bus jolted to a stop, and they stood, making their way to the front of the bus and down to the sidewalk in peace. Having Scott there must have kept the homophobic assholes in line, and Rylan was grateful for his presence, knowing that was the reason his stepbrother took the bus that day.

“We’ll think of something, G. I promise you that.” He patted Gabriel on the shoulder and watched him shuffle off. He was so awkward in the dress, humiliation and defeat in every line of his body.

“What’s going on? Why’s Gracie wearing dresses all of a sudden? It looks weird.” Scott’s voice came from behind Rylan, and he jumped.

“His family made him,” he said without thinking, closing his eyes in mortification when Scott’s eyebrows climbed into his hairline. Shit. Sorry, G.

“Him?”

Rylan squared his shoulders. Nothing to do but see it through. “Yeah. Him.” He stared at Scott challengingly. “He’s not a girl.” He waited for Scott’s incredulity, or scorn, but all Scott did was look at Gabriel and back at Rylan, his face speculative.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “Okay. Well, if he says he’s a boy, I guess he knows who he is better than anyone.”

Rylan blew out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Exactly. And his parents are making him starve himself so he can hear God better when he tells him he’s a girl.”

“That’s fucked-up. They making him wear that?”

Rylan told him what Gabriel said about it all, surprised when Scott loped off after Gabriel, his long legs eating up the distance. After a moment’s shock, Rylan hurried after him, dodging kids and weaving through the crowd.

When he caught up to them, it was in time to see Scott pull a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt out of his duffle and offer them to an obviously stunned Gabriel.

“Here,” Scott said, his voice gruff. “That dress looks fuckin’ weird, and you shouldn’t have to wear it.”