Cindy and Chris

Cindy trembled as her stepmother berated her, yelling profanities and slurs like they were her names. Nancy had taken over the doublewide trailer since Cindy’s sweet, caring father had died suddenly a year earlier, and Ms. Stone was a raging alcoholic. Because Cindy’s father was so loving and accepting, she had fully transitioned in middle school to living her life as a girl, but her drunk stepmother didn’t really like the fact that Cindy identified as a woman. She would point out any masculine features remaining, and say Cindy would never truly pass for a girl.

Cindy typically remained strong despite Nancy’s words, but this time, she couldn’t take it. She shook with seething rage, and yelled at her stepmother, calling her by her name. Ms. Stone did not take kindly to being put in her place, so she locked Cindy in her room. Cindy wasn’t sure she could take much more of living with her stepmother. She was seventeen and about to graduate from high school. At that point, she would be free, but she didn’t know if she could do the time.

Cindy, still locked in her room, got the idea and called her godmother. Betsy answered the phone right away and talked to her about everything going on with her stepmother and how much she missed her dad. Cindy made Betsy promise to visit soon, and they hung up. Soon she had drifted off to sleep, and the dream she had was fantastic.

She dreamed of a splendid mansion, with lots of servants and butlers and maids, glass chandeliers in the foyer, beautiful stairways that led to long hallways with many rooms, and a boy, who was everything she could’ve wanted. They danced for hours in the moonlight and then he got down on one knee.

Her stepsister’s pounding on the door woke her up suddenly, and she was sad that the dream was over. She got up and made breakfast for her step family, fed their cat Tom and her dog Mars, and went on her way to school.

The day at school wasn’t her normal routine. Today, she met with the prom committee to put the finishing touches on the school’s prom night plan. It was happening this Friday night, and as the liaison from the Gay-Straight Alliance to the Prom Club, it was important for her to sit in on these meetings. With the final touches being made, the theme choice was middle ages royalty. They didn’t know it, but her dress was going to be fantastic.

When Friday night came, Cindy got dressed and looked stunning. It was the dress her father gave to her for this very occasion after he found out he was dying and wouldn’t make it to her prom. She went to ask her step sister to help her with fastening some clasps on the back of the dress, but Anna did the opposite. She purposefully ripped Cindy’s dress all the way down so she couldn’t possibly wear it. Cindy ran away to her room and cried, knowing she’d never get another dress like it, never mind in time.

That’s when Nancy came and told Cindy that she was going to drive Anna to prom and Cindy would stay behind. Ms. Stone locked the door again and left Cindy there, alone and emotional.

As Cindy saw the lights from Nancy’s car going down the driveway, she heard a knock on her window. It was Betsy! Cindy climbed out of her window and hugged her godmother. Betsy talked to her about life and expectations and disappointment. She told her that Cindy didn’t need a fancy dress to look like a million bucks, that she was perfect in every way, and that she was going to go to prom. Cindy climbed back in her window, put on a simple but beautiful dress, and her godmother took her to prom.

When Cindy walked into the convention center where the prom was being held, all eyes turned to her. She was never that popular in school, but tonight everyone was looking at her. She got nervous and tried to walk back out, but Betsy pushed her inside and soon everyone had gone back to what they were doing.

Cindy walked around the room, the only one not dressed to the tee in medieval style, and then she saw him. A boy across the room, tall and light-haired, and he had just laughed at a joke his friend had told him. He was gorgeous, muscular, and just so damn tall. Cindy mustered the courage to go over to him, and as soon as he saw her, he stopped talking to his friends.

He met her a little way from where his friends were standing and introduced himself as Chris. He had just transferred into the school the day before and he said his friends had actually told him about her. She was smitten with him and danced with Chris all night.

At the end of the night, Chris’ dad drove them home, and when Cindy got out of the car at the doublewide trailer, she’d never wished she could stretch time more than in that moment. She kissed Chris goodbye, and he said they’d see each other the following Monday.

But the following Monday, Chris was nowhere to be found. Cindy asked around and no one can say for certain if they’d seen him. Panicking, Cindy hyperventilates when a girl comes up to her and speaks calmingly to her. The girl’s voice brings Cindy out of her panic attack, as it sounds very familiar.

Cindy finally gets a good look at her savior and seems to recognize her a bit. She introduces herself as Chris and reveals that they are gender-fluid. Cindy, beside herself with delight, kisses Chris.

In their last two weeks of school, they find out they have been accepted into a common college and decide to go there. Over the summer, Cindy and Chris really got to know each other and went to college, truly in love with each other.

Cindy’s stepmother and stepsister continued to live in that double-wide trailer and they never find happiness because they were only happy when they made Cindy miserable, but she was too busy living happily ever after.