Under Her Skin

Chapter 6

The next day, Sunny carefully observed all that was happening at school. She walked, stared at the concrete floors, and mostly just avoided eye contact. With anyone. Especially the Kitties. They were the four popular girls who ruled the school: Callie, Tate, Ashley, and Selena. Blondest of the blondes. She was the biggest Kat. The girls were gorgeous, straight-teethed, thick-waisted, and wore designer fashions. Called themselves the kitties because they were frustratingly independent, elegant, and aloof.

Sunny could imagine that they would be given cars on their sixteen birthdays, recharged with the newest iPhone every Christmas, and have their own debit cards for shopping sprees. They had all the privileges of the world. They were everything, and she was nothing.

***

The bell rang. Sunny, holding an empty metal bottle, started searching for a water fountain. She asked a short bubbly teacher, who then pointed her to a part of the school she'd never been to before.

"It's behind that wall right there, in the corner," she said, pointing to a blue tarp that covered a whole section of the building.

"The part that's under-construction?"

"Yes."

"What's it for?"

"New bathrooms. Private bathrooms," she said, lowering her voice.

"Huh?"

"You know, for she-males. We don't want any incidents of people pretending to be transgender to get access to bathrooms or anything. We'll see how it goes."

"Oh," said Sunny, looking confused as if she couldn't comprehend how even the bathroom had become a battleground for equality.

"I mean, it's so gay. I'm glad the school is taking initiative. Some of don't have dysphoria," said the teacher. " They don't even look transgender." Sunny was shocked that a person with such authority could hold such ignorant views. Reluctant to, Sunny nodded, thanked her, and scurried over.

She looked as if her mind was moving, realizing that she was more similar than different to transgender people. That she too had to fight for her identity.

When Sunny arrived at the fountain, she immediately turned away, repelled by the sight before her. How inappropriate.

A brunette girl was pushed up against the water fountain, back arched like the top of a bendy straw. Holding her shorts that could probably go as underwear, was a brown-haired boy dressed in a hockey captain hoodie. Eyes closed and lips tangled, the sides of their faces mushed together. In all truth, Sunny had not expected this prodigy of the tongue.

The boy plunged it around like some writhing sea-shape into the girl's gaping maw, clearly overpowering her senses. They wiggled their mouths around and never stopped for air. Sunny looked disgusted and angry as if a bomb was boiling inside her stomach about to explode. It reminded her of the bears, their aggression, and lust. The boy occasionally dug his fingers in the buns of the girl, surging his tide of warmth up her leg. The kissing scene Sunny found was a smack dab between two adjectives: steamy and hot.

Quickly, nostrils flared, Sunny backed away and hid behind the blue tarp. She did not catch a glimpse of their faces because all she could think about was that it was gross.

Yet somehow, she seemed intrigued by the action. Her eyes had an unexplainable desirous emotion of both disapproval and rebellion. It was like one of those scenes in the movies, in which mother would always fast-forward. She would skip over it, pause the movie, and give her another lesson. But now the fact that she wasn't here to fast-forward it made her feel ever the more alive, free.