Tug of War 40.2

Timothy and Martin had been best friends since kindergarten, and during all those years Timothy had never seen the other boy so stunned.

"T-Tim?!" Martin exclaimed, open mouthed. "It... It can't be!

"Are you sure?" Timothy asked, using his male voice.

"You must be kidding me! Is that really you?"

"I'm afraid so …" Timothy sighed,  back to talking like a girl.

"But you look..."

"You don't need to tell me, okay? I know how ridiculous I look."

"Ridiculous?! Ha! You must be kidding me... again! You look… You look so stunningly beautiful. Wow, I don't think I have ever seen a girl as pretty as you!"

Timothy felt a strange tingling through his whole body upon hearing that, and his legs started trembling as his friend kept looking at him in that penetrating way. It made the feminized boy so afraid and confused that he stepped back. 

"I… I wonder why you decided to come in this direction, anyway" Timothy commented, desperate to change the subject. "I mean, not that I am complaining or something... I truly fear what would have happened to me had you not appeared. But shouldn't you be in class now?"

"It was all thanks to Kate."

"Kate? I don't understand."

"She came to me earlier today looking for you. I told her I didn't know where you were and that..." Martin scratched the back of his head. "Well… that we hadn't talked to each other since last week when you got mad at me. She told me it didn't matter at that moment, and that it was crucial to find you as fast as possible because you needed someone trustworthy by your side." 

"I didn't quite understand what she was talking about" Martin continued. "But she looked pretty serious about it so I simply nodded when she asked me to search this area while she was going to look for you on the other side of school. Just before we parted, though, she warned me that you would be looking somehow different today, which made me even more confused. But now everything makes sense, huh? Anyway, I guess I should let she know that you are with me."

Martin then got his phone and started typing: 

Found him…

He stopped, thinking it seemed silly and wrong to refer to that person in front of him using male pronouns. He then tried again: 

Found her near the lockers. She's alright. 

Proud of his perspicacity, Martin looked at his friend again with one of his dreamy smiles. "So, what should I call you now?" 

"What you mean?" 

"Don't you have a mirror? Of course you have… People say girls have a lot of mirrors..." he started rambling. "What I mean is that Tim doesn't suit you anymore." 

"Is this really your biggest concern right now? My name?" Timothy asked, putting his hands on his hips, which in Martin's opinion made him looked incredibly cute. "Aren't you going to ask me first why am I wearing a skirt to school, for instance?" 

Martin shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think there is any mystery about it. Remember when I asked you last week if you wanted to tell me something? I told you that even someone like me could see that something big was going on. You were changing a lot, and so fast, you know... I just don't understand why you didn't open up to me that day. I guess you were afraid I was going to get mad? C'mon, Man! No… Can't call you man anymore..." Martin pondered the matter for a considerable time. "Anyway, I'm not a jerk like Adam or Steven... It doesn't matter if you found out that you want to be… No, that deep down you have always been a girl. I did some research on this topic and saw that this is a real thing… You still are my best friend, okay? No matter what."

Timothy didn't know what to say at the end of such speech. He felt a new wave of gratitude towards Martin and had to control himself not to hug him again. He definitely was a real, great friend… 

…Too bad he had gotten everything wrong.

"Listen, Martin" Timothy started, so nervous that he unconsciously began to curl a lock of hair around his finger. "This is not what you are thinking. I… I don't want to be a girl!" he claimed, knowing very well how ridiculous and unlikely it sounded due to the way he looked. "All this started innocent enough. Do you remember when I told you my father wanted to send me to a military academy to turn me into a Navy officer, just like him? Well, you know very well how much I hated such an idea, right? But my father kept tormenting me about it all the time, to the point where I was forced to try something crazy to teach him a lesson…"

"Then…" Timothy continued. "I started doing some silly stuff at home, like tying my hair in a high ponytail and painting my nails. My plan was to make my father so annoyed that he would let me live my life as I wanted just to see me stop acting like a girl. But things didn't go exactly as expected, and soon the situation got out of hand. I had to start acting and dressing more and more like a girl to keep the charade and then…"

Timothy stopped talking suddenly, realizing that it was being nothing but a futile effort. It was clear that Martin wasn't buying that story at all – the look of disbelief was etched on his face. 

"Buddy..." Martin started talking. "No, buddy won't do either. You really need to tell me how you want to be called from now on."

"Just keep calling me Tim, okay?" Timothy cried out, exasperated, and Martin looked hurt. 

"Fine, Tim. As I was saying, I don't know why you keep lying to me. I told you I'm going to support you no matter what, remember?"

"But I am telling you the truth, you fool!" Timothy stamped his foot, making his high heel click sharply against the floor.

"Are you?" Martin asked, as he shook his head. "Do you really want me to believe you came to school dressed as a chick just to annoy your father? How stupid do you think that I am? Who would do something like that? The truth, it seems, is that you don't trust me. Maybe we're not friends like I thought after all. Oh but look! Kate is coming right there. I guess she is a real friend to you, right? She knew you were coming to school like this today, didn't she? I see you don't need me here anymore, Tim, so I will stop bothering you. Bye" 

As Martin walked away, Timothy kept thinking he would rather Martin had shouted at him, even cursed him. That would have been way better than facing his friend's look of disappointment. It had definitely broken the Timothy's heart, and he soon enough felt tears coming to his eyes…