The Study

Chapter 12: Homecoming Proposals

It had been a few weeks since the sleepover and things were starting to get back to normal. I had been dragged into the events committee for homecoming by the girls, and we had finally settled on the theme "Around the World." We had worked hard on the decorations and everything else, and it was all coming together nicely.

As I was sitting down to eat my lunch, Jessica plopped down next to me. "Hey, you know who you should ask to homecoming?" she asked with a sly grin.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to ask anyone to homecoming, Jess. I'm perfectly fine going by myself."

Ava, who had been sitting nearby, overheard our conversation and chimed in. "Oh, come on! There's a rumour going around that Levi likes you. You should definitely go for it!"

I felt my face flush with embarrassment. "That's not true," I protested weakly.

But Jessica was already nodding eagerly. "See, there you go! You have nothing to worry about. Go talk to him!"

I sighed, knowing that I wasn't going to get any peace until I at least tried to talk to Levi. "Fine, I'll do it," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

As luck would have it, I spotted Levi walking down the hallway just a few moments later. My heart started racing as I walked up to him. "Hey, Levi," I said, trying to sound casual.

He turned to me, a small smile on his lips. "Hey, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you had a date for homecoming yet?" I blurted out, my cheeks turning pink.

Levi's smile grew wider. "No, I don't. But I was hoping you would ask me."

I felt a huge grin spread across my face as relief flooded through me. "Really? That's great!"

We chatted for a few more minutes before he had to head to class, and I couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day.

After school, I met up with Jessica and told her that Levi agreed to go to homecoming with me. She squealed with excitement and hugged me, "I knew it! You guys will make such a cute couple!" I blushed and shrugged off her comment.

Later that day, I decided to spend some quality time with my brother, Darryl. "Hey, Darryl, do you want to grab some froyo? My treat," I asked, hoping to take my mind off of the upcoming homecoming.

"Sure, sounds good," he replied as we got into his car and headed to the froyo shop. As we were digging into our cups of frozen yogurt, I blurted out, "Guess who's got a date to homecoming?" I licked my spoon and waited for his response.

Darryl looked up, surprised, and asked, "Who?"

"Me silly." I grinned, feeling giddy, "Levi, the captain of the basketball team. He's so cute, and he said yes!"

Darryl's expression changed, and he asked, "Wait, what? It's a 'he'? Are you into guys now?"

I froze, suddenly feeling unsure about everything. "No, no, I'm not into guys," I said, trying to convince myself more than him. "I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, I don't like Levi. It was just a stupid crush."

Darryl's eyebrows furrowed, "Woah, okay, Bryan, are you okay? You're not making any sense."

I felt my heart racing as I quickly corrected him, "Uh, actually, Darryl, call me Heather when we're out in public."

Darryl looked at me with concern, "Okay, Heather, are you sure you're okay? If you need to talk, I'm here for you."

I smiled weakly, "Thanks, Darryl, I'm fine. I just need to figure some things out."

I walked away from my brother, feeling the need to call Mr. Smith. My emotions were running high, and I couldn't bear the thought of being stuck in this body forever. I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hey Mr. Smith," I said through gritted teeth.

"Heather, what's going on?" he replied.

"My name is Bryan," I corrected him, "and I'm angry at you."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What's wrong?" he asked.

"You know what's wrong. This transition is messing with my head. Today I was excited that a guy asked me out, and now I don't even know what I like," I explained.

"I understand that it's confusing, but it's just temporary. And do you like this boy?" he asked.

"I thought I did, but now I don't know. I don't want my sexuality to change because of this," I replied, my frustration boiling over.

"I understand how you feel, Bryan. Let me talk to the specialist and see if there's anything we can do," he said soothingly.

"I didn't sign up for this. The only reason I'm doing this is because of you guys," I said, my voice trembling with anger.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Just give me some time to figure this out, okay?" he said.

"Fine," I said before hanging up the phone.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.