Introduction
Hayden
Brady went home last Friday. Had to leave the school and wouldn’t tell anyone why. Not even me, and I was his roommate, but I guess it’s better that way. The less I talk to anyone the less chance they have of noticing that there’s something different about me. Having a unisex name never really mattered much to me, but it worked to my advantage three and a half years ago when I applied to the prestigious Rydell Academy Boarding School for Boys and I got accepted because they thought I was a boy. Hayden is commonly a boy’s name after all.
When I got the acceptance letter my first feeling was pride. I thought I was the first girl admitted to an all-boys school. I thought I was leaving my mark on the school’s history. Only problem is, the pronouns on the acceptance letters were all wrong. Him, his, he? What really made it click was when I realized that they hadn’t made any provisions for a separate dorm room for me, seeing as I am female. I had a sharing dorm room with a boy in the same year as me.
At first, I was thoroughly disappointed and hell-bent on setting them straight. I mean, how could they have managed to miss that I was a girl? I know I wasn’t the only female to apply, tons of girls apply every year and who can blame them? Rydell is probably the best school on the continent. Being denied the opportunity to learn there simply because you were born with the wrong genitalia is stupid. That realization was what stopped me from coming clean. I deserved the opportunity. Based on my merits, I was accepted. Coming clean would result in them revoking my acceptance because I’m a girl. So, I didn’t.
Instead I invested in a ton of baggy boys clothing and a breast binder to flatten out my breasts. I mean I’m not generously endowed as some would say but they aren’t small enough to go unnoticed. I then went on to get a boy’s haircut that didn’t make me part with all my hair because I’ve never been okay with the idea of losing all of it. With my square jaw and sharp features, I managed to pass for a very short boy (think Kevin Hart). I blame it on my genes.
So that was that. I made it into Rydell and have been here for three and a half years with no one suspecting a thing. The only sport I play is chess which doesn’t require a shower in the changing room afterwards and I always make sure I’m fully dressed before I exit the bathroom in my dorm. Fortunately, the Rydell hostel is big enough to house two boys in a single room that has its own bathroom, otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted a week, let alone three years.
Anyway, my old roommate Brady had to leave the school in the middle of the term and no one knows why. I didn’t ask. All I know is that I’m the only occupant of my room until the new kid gets here. So far, it’s been heaven. Brady used to snore and keep me up half the night with other things I really don’t want to go over. The weekend since he left has been utterly blissful. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t a horrible guy, we just weren’t friends. And I hope the new kid isn’t as much of a slob as he was.
