By Sawyer Linderman
I walked out of the classroom, I didn’t feel in the mood to listen to the teacher. I had for so long! It was like the teachers in Charlie Brown. I never thought anything about going into the girls bathroom or the boys. It was automatic to go to the girls. I am a girl. I love gossip and laughter, to me I was a typical girl. Not a girl that looked like a boy. I wore dresses and had my ears pierced, typical girl things. Except for one thing. My hair was short. No matter how girly I tried to be, people would still mistake me for a boy. Stupid hair, I tell you, I sound like a girl, I dress like a girl, and I think I look like a girl. Trust me I’m not kidding.
So, I hopped down the stairs looking at all the younger grades windows. Kids were outside working on projects. I hardly looked at the sign that said girls, I knew it automatically. When I walked in, there were two younger girls. Probably in first grade or kindergarten. I didn’t think much of it really. I said my hellos and went to the bathroom.
As I began to leave the other girls walked out behind me. One of the girls spoke up, “Why did that boy go in the girls bathroom?” I stopped. My heart practically skipped a beat. I felt like I wanted to yell and scream. I wanted to tell her how wrong she was and that I go into the girls bathroom because I belong there too. I wanted to tell her to keep her little kindergarten mouth shut. But something inside me stopped. I don’t know if it was that the girl was so young, or that I would get in worse trouble than her. I really wanted to scream but I kept my cool, holding back the tears and anger. My voice cracked as a I said, “I’m in the girls bathroom because I’m a girl!”
The girl looked at me as if I was joking. Her face was half smiling half feeling bad. But I wasn’t smiling, I was holding back tears and screaming, my face was like stone. After what felt like forever, it was probably only a minute. One of the girls grabbed her friend’s hand and ran off. I stood there for a minute or two, overwhelmed with well, I guess everything. The fact that I would have to go back to math class, knowing people would question me about my gender, it was hard to even believe. I looked from the girls restroom to the boys then back and forth again. I’m a girl I whispered under my breath. I nodded as though satisfied with myself. I turned and walk up the stairs and back into the Charlie Brown classroom.
