Chapter 3 - Visibility

Lance was nervously waiting by the curb when his dad pulled up. He opened the door and climbed into the car.

“How was your day?” Dad asked, pulling out of the school lot.

Lance was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to break it to him. “I didn’t go.”

“You didn’t go?” the concerned elder Biggs repeated.

“There was some craziness in the office and I wasn’t able to hand in the enrollment forms.”

“You have to enroll in school, Lance. How else are you going to graduate?”

“Maybe my old school can just mail me my diploma. There’s only 8 weeks left of school anyway.”

Lance’s dad sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s an option anymore. You need to go to school these last two months. If you didn’t want to move with me so early, you should’ve let us know.”

“But I did want to leave.”

“Then you need to go to your new school.”

“I’ll try again tomorrow.” Lance promised. He opened his backpack and looked for the forms he had filled out. They weren’t inside. “Great,” Lance thought, “I’ll have to ask for them again and start all over.”

“Don’t forget to register for buses too,” Lance’s dad added. “I can’t take off mid-day to pick you up every day for the next 2 months.”

“Well, you could just buy me a car.”

“Ha. You know we can’t afford cars for you and your sister right now. Maybe if you both had gotten those summer jobs we suggested.” 

“I know, I know,” Lance said, trying to end the conversation. “Have you heard from Mom and Simone?”

“Yeah, they called me before they both headed out in the morning. They miss us. They wanted to know how you were acclimating.”

“I hope you don’t mention today next time you talk.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“Thanks, I’ll call them myself when mom comes home from work.”

“Don’t forget. 3-hour difference.”

“I know, Dad.”

* * *

Zoey walked into her house and threw her purse and backpack down. She walked into the kitchen to grab a snack and sitting at the island was her tomboyish younger sister, Mackenzie. “Hey,” Zoey said, sounding depressed.

“Hey,” Mackenzie echoed. She was in the middle of working on something and it didn't look like homework. She had comic books splayed across the countertop and a sketch pad open.

“Watcha working on?” Zoey asked, grabbing an apple and closing the fridge door.

“I’m designing a cosplay outfit for TurboCon.”

Zoey held back laughter as she bit into the apple. “Why can’t you be normal?”

Mackenzie looked up and sneered at her sister. “Why can’t you be normal? Seriously, Zo. Don’t be a bitch.”

“Sorry, Mack,” Zoey apologized. “It’s been a rough day.”

“I heard Tyler dumped you for some cheerleader.”

“Well, she’s the head Cheerleader, but yeeeah,” Zoey said, trailing off and taking another bite of the apple.

“So what’s your plan?”

“Plan?”

“Yeah. I know you. When shit goes down like this you always find a way to rebound. Let me guess, you’re going to start dating one of Tyler’s friends to make him jealous.”

“No,” Zoey replied timidly. “I mean, I am… trying to talk to… umm… some guy.”

“I knew it.”

“But he, like, blew me off as if he didn’t know who I was.”

Mackenzie laughed, “That’s awesome. I already like him.”

“No, it's not awesome. I have six weeks to turn him into prom queen.”

Mackenzie stopped what she was doing. She dropped her pencil and stared at Zoey. “Wait, say that again.”

“I have to turn that boy into our prom queen.”

“He has to get elected prom queen? Umm, how exactly are you going to do that?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Is this boy a cis boy?”

“A what? He’s just a boy. I don’t know. I’m in over my head.”

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “Obviously. Why are you doing this? Clearly not to protest gendered institutions.”

“I sorta made a bet with Deanna–”

“Deanna again? Holy shit, Zo! You never learn. Why would you–”

“I dunno, but I did. But now I’ve got to make good on it.”

“OK, fine. So your boy. We’ll assume he’s cis. Now explain the school’s rules. Does the Prom Queen have to be a girl? I didn’t think our school even had a prom king and queen.”

“Not yet. The prom court election hasn’t been reinstated yet, but I imagine that’s how it will work.”

Mackenzie pondered that for a moment before speaking. “OK, So you have three options here. A. You get the school to make prom queen gender neutral. B. You disguise him as a girl. C. Your friend is actually transgender, but then this goes right back to A. Will a trans girl be eligible? But none of those options take into account your friend’s popularity.”

“OK, I’ll focus on Option A.”

Mackenzie giggled, “Yeah, good luck with that Zo. That’s a worthy goal, but not one you’re qualified to do.”

“Says who?”

“Says you. You don’t know the difference between cis and trans, and you want to fight for a gender neutral prom court.”

Zoey crossed her arms in frustration but wasn’t able to find the right comeback for that. Mack was right that she had no idea what she was talking about. “OK, Fine. Option B. I’ll dress him up.”

Mackenzie shook her head in disappointment. “Listen, I need to finish this up because I’m meeting up with my D&D group later.”

“Fine,” Zoey said walking away. “Nerd.”

“Bimbo,” Mackenzie called back. She watched her sister walk away and felt uneasy about the situation Zoey got herself into. Surely Zoey was playing with fire, and potentially making a mockery of gender in front of the whole school. Not to mention the feelings and psyche of that poor boy. Mackenzie felt an obligation to prevent that from happening. “Zoey, wait.”

Zoey stopped and looked back at Mackenzie.

“If you can convince him of your scheme, and you can convince him to crossdress willingly, then you can invite him to my D&D game tonight. But he’s gotta do this willingly, or I’m out.”

“Why a nerd fest? I need him to get popular. Not to be labeled a nerd.”

“Do you want my help or not?” Mackenzie raised her voice.

“Sorry. How will D&D help?”

“Call it a trial run. My friends are more accepting than yours. We’re role players and cosplayers. Many of them know the thrill of role playing a different gender. If you want your friend to feel accepted and go along with your scheme, then they should do it in a safe space.”

Zoey nodded. The gears were turning in her head. As much as the sisters fought, they were very much alike. Except Mackenzie focused more on imagination and artistic talents whereas Zoey focused on influencing others. Zoey realized that Mackenzie’s plan had merit. “Thanks. That’s a pretty good idea. I guess I need to talk to him first.”

Mackenzie nodded.

Just then, the girls’ father came into the kitchen. “Hi girls, how was school?”

“It was fine, Daddy,” Zoey smiled. “Will you buy us some ice cream?”

Mr. Sellers knew that tone. He crossed his arms and looked sternly at Zoey. “Uh-oh, what happened, Zoey?”

“She got dumped,” Mackenzie answered before Zoey, glancing at her sister.

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that, pumpkin,” he consoled. “You can do so much better than Tyler. I bet there are hundreds of guys lined up to take his place.”

Zoey smiled. “I’m in no rush.”

“How about you, sport?” he asked Mackenzie.

“School was great. The teacher liked my report on the conflict in Kosovo.”

“Excellent work, Mack,” he said. “Zoey, have you picked a college yet?”

“Crap,” she thought, “I was supposed to do that by now.” “No,” she mumbled, suddenly looking away, “I’ve been too busy–”

“Too busy?” he questioned. “Zoey, those things have deadlines. Acceptance, classes, dorms, loans.”

“I know, I know. I’m just having a hard time picking one. We applied to ten of them, remember?”

“Then narrow them down,” he said. “Remember, how do you eat an elephant?”

“I know, Dad, ‘one bite at a time’,” she replied, smiling and rolling her eyes. “I’ll get to it. I promise. Listen, I will be back in a bit. I want to meet up with a… friend.”

Dad nodded and Mackenzie giggled.

Zoey returned to her bags and pulled out the forms that had Lance’s home information on it. She then scanned the form, copied the information down on a piece of paper, grabbed her purse and left the house.

* * *

Olivia was in line at a local cafe waiting for her food order. Her friends had already gotten a table on the sidewalk, when someone appeared at her side.

“Hey babe,” Tyler said, looking like he was about to kiss her.

“Do you mind?” she said dismissively, stepping away from him.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, well my friends and I come here often. But you probably knew that already since you’re stalking me.”

“I’m not stalking you. My friends are right over there.” he said, pointing to a table at the far end of the restaurant. But about last Friday night–”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Come on,” he said. “I really want to go out with you again.”

“I don’t date meatheads.”

“Then what about last Friday?”

“I was,” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “I was drunk, Tyler.”

“So was I. But we can try again sober,” he whispered back.

“Ugh, Tyler, I can’t.”

“That wasn’t a ‘No.’”

“Ugh, Ok, fine. No.” She clarified.

“That wasn’t a very convincing ‘No’.”

“That’s the thing about ‘No’, Tyler, it doesn’t have to be convincing.”

“403!” a worker called as he put a tray of food on the counter.

“That’s me,” Olivia said, quickly grabbing her food and walking away from Tyler.

Tyler stood there and called back to her, “I can wait!”

* * *

Lance dialed his mom’s work number. He knew it was around lunchtime back home.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hi sweetie, how was your first day at your new school?”

“It was OK, Mom.”

“Did you make any new friends?”

“Not really.”

“Well, there’s always tomorrow. Today was your first day after all.”

Changing the subject, he asked, “When are you and Simone coming to visit?”

“Not for another few weeks. How are you and Dad doing?”

“Fine. He lets me do my own thing. But he doesn’t understand my social anxieties. I feel lost without the rest of our family.”

“Lance, honey, you know we love you and we care about you. Things will get better. Just take little steps to meet people and open up to them. I’ve got to get back to work now. Make sure you and your dad eat right. Look after each other. Love you both.”

“Love you too, Mom. Talk to you later. Bye.” Lance hung up the phone. 

Lance returned to his room and sat down amongst stacks of unopened bins of stuff, resuming the game on his Game Boy, when he heard the doorbell. 

His father wasn’t due home for another hour, so Lance paused the game and curiously went downstairs. He opened the door only to find the girl from earlier at school.

“Yeah?” he asked cautiously.

“Hi, Lance,” she announced in her friendliest voice, “I’m Zoey.”

“How do you know my name?”

Zoey held up the enrollment forms. “You left these on your park bench.”

Lance snatched the packets of papers from Zoey’s grasp. “I was wondering where I left those. K. Bye.” Lance went to shut the door, when Zoey blocked it from closing with her foot. They made awkward eye contact. “Um, this is the part where you leave,” Lance said.

“No, this is the part where you say thank you.”

Lance heard his mother’s suggestion in his head and sighed. Perhaps he was being overly harsh on this strange girl. “OK. You’re right. Sorry, I have a rough time talking to strangers.  Thank you for bringing me my forms.  Have a good evening.”

“Wait, Lance. Can I call you Lance?”

“That’s… that’s my name. What else would you call me?”

“Great. Lance. You’re new here right?”

He held up the papers. “Duh. School enrollment forms.”

“Well, I’m the most popular girl in school.” she stated, proudly.

“Is that an official title this school gives out?”

She frowned at his comeback. “No. The point is, I can help you.”

“I don’t need any Girl Scout Cookies.”

“I’m not here selling cookies.”

“Then what is this? Some kind of new-student mentoring program? I’m not even enrolled yet.”

Zoey was silent. “Damn,” she thought, “that would’ve been a cool idea as well. Too late now.” 

“No,” she said, “I saw you all alone on that bench and thought you could use a friend.”

“Oh, sure. The most popular girl in school wants to be my friend?”

“Yes, and I can make you more popular, too.”

“And why would I–”

“Because spending the rest of the school year living on a park bench isn’t going to win you any friends.”

“I wasn’t gonna… I mean, tomorrow I was…” Lance was getting flustered talking to the obviously attractive, yet enigmatic, girl.

“I have a unique opportunity for you.”

“Oh?” Lance replied, warily.

“You may have heard my boyfriend dumped me.”

Lance shrugged with disinterest. “No, I don’t do school gossip. I don’t even know who you are.”

“I’m Zoey, remember? So, Lance. I need your help. And by helping me, we will make everyone at school jealous of you.”

“Me?” he laughed. “Is this a joke? It has to be. Look at me. No one is jealous of me.”

“Not even at your old school?”

“Certainly not there. I was invisible there, and I’m invisible here. Nobody knows me, nobody cares.”

“Well I care, and trust me, if you stick with me, people will notice you.”

“That’s assuming I even want to be noticed.”

“Oh, but I got your attention.”

“How do you figure?”

“You haven’t shut the door on me yet.”

“I tried.  But, OK, Bye.”

“Before I go, please come to my house in an hour and we can discuss my plan.”

“Bye, whatever your name is.” He shut the door in her face.

“It’s Zoey,” he heard her say from behind the shut door. “My name is Zoey.”

He looked down at the school enrollment forms. Paper-clipped to them was a note that had Zoey’s name and address.

He stared at the note for a few seconds. He wasn’t really considering this, was he? How many nights had he dreamed about being noticed. Simone had tried to help him on occasion, but he felt guilty using his sister like that. Here was a complete stranger, and a very attractive one, offering him something very tantalizing.

He reopened the door and Zoey was still standing there. “I don't have a car.”

She smiled. “Then come with me.”

He stopped there for a moment trying to decide whether to leave with her. “OK, I just have to leave a note for my dad.”

“I’ll wait,” Zoey beamed with success. “Lance, your life is about to change.”