The Online Job - Chapter 6

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Natti came in and put away his new purchases and sat down at his computer and after checking his email pulled up his lessons for today. There was something new and there was a story but this one had a little 10-minute video which was cute and fun to watch. Of course, there were the questions and he finished it with ease that was almost like 2nd nature. Even though there were 4 possible answers only one was the correct answer and it just seemed so obvious. This time he made $30.00 on each one. He looked at his balance and if he was able to do the same tomorrow he would have close to $200.00 total to go shopping with on Saturday.

Sitting there he heard his mother coming in and he went to meet her. She asked him the usual questions about how school went and he told her that school was fine, and then relayed to her about his shopping excursion with Tara. His mother commented on him spending time with Tara and he expressed his change of attitude towards her. “Mother I’m so surprised at how wrong I was about her. I always thought of her as kind of an emptied-headed person, but she has some ideas and thoughts about how people interact, and how much our clothing is factored into our lives. And it’s not just about what we wear, but how others see us in what we wear. It’s all-inclusive in the color, texture, how it lays on our skin, and about how we act in the different clothes. Casual clothes need to be more textural to give us the feeling of being casual. I can’t say for sure but I do believe that the correct type of clothes matched to our actions will increase our success in what we are doing.

They continued to talk about clothes as they put together their dinner of cold roasted chicken, raw broccoli, cauliflower, different kinds of squash, and carrots all cut into bite-sized pieces that they could share from one large plate. Eating the foods like this they both enjoyed the time that they spent with one another so much more. It wasn’t her food, or his food, but rather the food that they shared. Afterward, Alicia didn’t even realize that Nathan had helped her and she enjoyed they were spending so much more time together now. Then it hit her, she had just spent the last hour talking with her teenage son about him shopping with a girl for a girl's clothes. They had talked about fashion and even makeup. She was going into her room and she stopped and knocked on Nathan’s door. He told her she could come in and he was sitting on his bed reading a school book.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and not knowing what she was going to say just asked him if he was okay. He replied that he was and then she told him that she hadn’t remembered a time when he ever talked to her about clothes, makeup, or ate dinner with her. At least not the kind of dinner that they had just shared and that she was just wondering if he was feeling okay. She added that she hadn’t seen him playing a video game for a few days, helping her in the kitchen, and considering the way that you dressed this morning I just was curious. Now you have to admit that this wasn’t your usual behavior, and she was just curious about the (she tried to think of what to call it and settled on) the change.

Nathan closed the book and looked at her and thought for a moment replying that he just felt like doing these things. “I didn’t really think about it but I do enjoy it, and it seems like I just wanted to do these things.” He thought for a moment and his mother saw that he was getting ready to say something to her and waited for him to talk. “Mother I think I’ve always wanted to do these things but well I guess I was just worried about what other people would say about how I’m acting.”

His mother not really understanding what if any of his change of actions signaled but told him that she didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing, but if he wanted to talk about it to her that he could always come to her and she would listen and give him the best counsel that she could. She watched as he sat up a little bit and kind of looked down and back up to her and began.

Mom what if I wanted to start dressing like a girl all the time? I just felt so comfortable with the clothes that I tried on today. I tried on this blouse and a skirt and it really felt good. I was going to buy it today, but Tara told me not to and that we would come back on Saturday and purchase those and some more clothes, and then we could wear them to school on Monday. Do you think that would be okay? I mean okay with you?

She sat up a little not expecting this and she thought about it for a moment and then asked, “Nathan do you think that you might be gay, or even bisexual? Now I know this person that works in the coffee shop across the street from my store, the one that is in Miami, and he calls himself transgender. I actually don’t know much about it, but it is your life and if that is what you want I’ll support you just so long as you don’t hurt anyone or break any laws. Now about the school, I’m not sure what their policies are but I can call tomorrow and find out and I’ll let you know tomorrow. I think you might have an issue with one or two of your fellow students, but I know that the school has zero tolerance for fighting or bullying. If that happens I want you to let me know right away so we can take action and have it stopped.”

Nathan crossed his legs and propelled himself to his mother and hugged her surprising her again, and she just hugged him back. Hugging her he said, “Oh thank you mother, I’ll do that, and I think it will be fine you’ll see.” He sat back a little with his legs still crossed continuing to talk about his feelings and about what he had been feeling in the last few days. He told her that he never realized how much he wanted to do this, but it all just felt so right. Then today when we were shopping and Tara told me that we could go to school dressed the same way it sounded like something that I wanted to do so much.

Well, let me contact the school and make sure that you won’t be breaking any rules or violating any policy. I don’t think you will be, but have you thought of what that entails? If you are going to start dressing as a girl, and if you start to wear dresses then you will have to start doing other things as well. I mean it’s not just putting on a dress and go skipping off with your little girlfriend into the sunset. We will have to get you some different clothes, but that won’t be a problem as I’ve noticed that you have been growing and I’ve been thinking about getting you some new clothes anyway. Now there are a few other considerations as well. If you’re going to be wearing dresses then you will have to change a few of your grooming habits unless you want to look very strange. That means you will have to start shaving your legs; this summer, if you wear anything sleeveless, the underarm hair will have to go.

Nathan kind of smiled and said that wouldn’t be a problem since he had already shaved his underarms and legs and pulled up the left leg of his pants to his knee to show her. He saw the look on his mother’s face as he could see that she was thinking about this in real terms now. Then he asked her what else he would have to do?

His mother continued while seriously thinking about what the change would entail. “Well we will have to get you some clothes more befitting a female and I think I might have an inside track on that since Sylvia down at the store told me yesterday if I knew anyone that had a teenage girl to let her know since she had boxes of her daughter's clothes that she had been saving since she started college, but was going to give them all away to charity if she couldn’t find someone to give them to. That will get you started until you find your own style. Every girl has a style that she likes and then dresses that way. It will just be the way that you will feel comfortable while going about what you do every day. Remember the other day when I told you that three colors of eye shadow weren’t me, well that was just my style. It’s just like I don’t like to wear full skirts. I’m more comfortable in ones that are closer to my body, it’s just me.”

Nathan nodded and then asked if there was anything else that she could suggest? His mother looked at him and then told him that he might want to start to moisturize his skin because girls have very soft and smooth skin. Nathan jumped up and went into his bathroom and brought out what Tara had him buy that day. She looked at all the bottles and jars of crème and told him that this was a good start. She also commented that she used a lot of these same products. Then she told him not to buy anything else as she wanted to call the school tomorrow and make sure that he wouldn’t be violating any rules of the school. He agreed to that and they hugged again his mother started to leave, but then turned back to him and asked what he was planning on wearing tomorrow.

Nathan went to his closet and brought out a light blue sports shirt with a collar and a pair of jeans. His mother looked at them and approved of his choices. Then she said, “Nathan I don’t think you should tell any of your friends just yet about your decisions, at least not until I’ve had a chance to speak with your school tomorrow. Maybe the counselor will have some more information on the policies of the school.” She then turned to leave and Nathan called to her and told her that Tara had started to call him Natti, and asked if she could call him that as well? She just smiled and told him of course and then told him not to study too long and make sure to get to bed and get some sleep as she didn’t want him to have what she called tired eyes.

Getting back to her room she sat on the edge of her bed and thought about what her son had just revealed to her. She reached for her diary and began to write. The first couple of lines she used to relate what had happened during her day, and the next couple of pages were filled with thoughts about her son Nathan, or now Natti.

Natti looked at his clock and seeing it was only just a little after 8pm he figured that he could study until 9 and then be in bed by 10 since there is so much more to do now instead of taking a quick shower. He now had to moisturize his arms and face and he wanted to condition his hair and give it time to dry before getting into bed. Just as he was opening his book again his phone rang and he picked it up off of his bed. He saw the name on his screen was Tara, and he answered, “Hi Tara, what’s up?” Tara was calling him to ask about tomorrow, and she asked him if he always walked to school, and he said that he did as his mom didn’t leave the house until about 10am. She then asked him if it would be okay if she came by when her mother was dropping her off at school and they could give him a ride. He said that would be okay, hey whatever you want to do. So it was settled that she and her mom would pick him up and take him to school.

Tara and her mom picked up Natti the next morning and when he got into the car she transferred to the back seat with Natti. She was talking about the classes that they had and Natti told her about the two finals that he had. She wished him well and he told her that he had it all together. He had done well all year and that geometry would be the easiest, but also added that biology wouldn’t be an issue either. He then added that he became very interested in microbiology when they touched on it and that he would take that along with chemistry the next year. Tara’s mother asked Natti what he thought his grades would look like at the end of the year. He told her that he had straight “A’s” all through the year, and he didn’t expect that to change. Tara told her mother that she thought Natti was very smart, and her mother was impressed. Maybe a little would rub off on Tara who was a solid B student but could always use a little improvement.

As they got out of the car and walked up to the school entrance Tara saw a couple of friends of Dennis scoping them out. That prompted her to tell Natti, “Hey look my mom and I had a talk with Dennis’ mom last night and he won’t be bothering you, but if he does or any of his friends, let me know. I have another surprise for Mr. Dennis Hartman BBOC.” Natti asked what BBOC stood for and she replied, why big bully on campus. They both laughed and headed into the school.

The morning was rather uneventful. Natti breezed through the biology final and at lunch, Tara asked him if he ever thought about doing something with this, and picked up a lock of his hair. He said that had thought about it a couple of days ago but kind of thought that he might get it cut a little so that it would be easier to take care of, what with it being so curly. Tara looked at him with a little smile on her face and told him that she agreed with his thinking. After lunch, they walked out of the lunch room together and there was Dennis with a couple of his friends. The look on his face bore no goodwill to either of them and they didn’t return his look, or even look in his direction, even though they both had seen the look. After they turned out of the hallway Tara looked very seriously at Natti and told him to just steer clear of them, and don’t go anywhere alone. She added, that she didn’t think he would do anything, then she added that she wished she could give him a ride but her mother was picking her up early so she could pick up a new pair of contacts. She told him that she would call him later that evening.

Natti’s mom called the school that afternoon and was connected with a counselor. She expressed her son’s wishes and was surprised when the counselor told her that when the first parent had called this morning she had to check on the school’s policies herself. She then told her that if he started school the next year identifying as a female he would have to remain that way. If he changed back to identifying as a male there would be a $35.00 charge for a new ID card. She then asked if he wanted to start on Monday. The counselor that it being the last week of school it also wouldn’t be an issue, but that they couldn’t attend any formal school functions like a graduation or if they had to address the student body for some reason or another.

She thanked her and then asked, “You said that when the first parent called, how many parents called her.” The counselor told her that she was the 7th parent to call asking the same questions.