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“Oh my god, it was fucking amazing!”
Ashad had to laugh as Jeremy gushed over the movie. “I must admit that I have a bit of a man crush on Benedict Cumberbatch,” Jeremy continued.
Ashad nodded in agreement. “Who doesn’t though? He’s awesome. And those cheekbones…”
“Boys, this is starting to sound a bit, well, gay.” Toby tutted and tapped his foot in mock disapproval. “I’ll have to report to Ella, since she seems to be the head of the Gay Police.”
“Please no,” begged Jeremy. “She’s already convinced I’m gay. If you tell her, she’ll take it as a fact. She’ll never let me live it down.”
“We won’t tell,” promised Ashad, “on the condition that you buy us ice cream.”
Ashad could hardly keep a straight face at Jeremy’s look of disbelief. He chuckled quietly to himself as Jeremy agreed, muttering something bitter about already being broke.
Ashad chose a double chocolate fudge ice cream. Toby chose choc caramel, and Jeremy settled for a vanilla. “Isn’t vanilla too boring?” Toby asked him.
“Nope, I never get sick of it,” Jeremy replied, taking a delicate lick and grinning. There was something graceful about the movement of his tongue. It was how Ashad imagined the Ella from before (that he was totally forgetting about) would look if she was here today. Okay, that’s weird. Stop thinking about it, Ashad chastised himself.
“Oh look, there’s ice cream on your nose,” Ashad said, grabbing a napkin and swiping Jeremy’s nose before he could protest.
“Hey, I can do it myself.”
“I know you can,” he teased. He looked at over at Jeremy’s scowling face. Maybe he looked for a second too long, because Jeremy flushed slightly and looked down.
Toby cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll leave you guys to your flirting…” He stood up.
“Oh, fuck off Toby,” pouted Jeremy.
Toby laughed. “Someone’s got a foul mouth.”
They all decided to go home for the night. Ashad didn’t touch his English homework though. His mind wasn’t full of Ella anymore; his plan had worked in some way at least by taking his mind off of her. However, he was now haunted by Jeremy’s wide brown eyes.
. . .
Wednesday came and Daina was still occupying the spare room. That evening, Jeremy heard his mum try to call the Lim family again. It must have been about the twentieth time she’d called, and yet she got no response, just like every other attempt. Jeremy could tell she was frustrated; before this, his mum and Aunt Julia had gotten along well enough, but this seemed to have thrown their relationship over the cliff.
His mum gathered everyone into the lounge room. “I don’t usually call family meetings, but this is a special case. Daina, as you may have guessed, your parents haven’t responded to me at all. I don’t know how to get through to them. I’m very disappointed in their actions, to be honest, but what I want you to know is that Tom and I have discussed it: you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need to. Weeks, months, whatever, you’re like another daughter to us.”
Jeremy’s dad nodded. “And we have a spare bedroom, so why not make it yours. What do you think?”
Daina nodded slowly. “I don’t think they’ll take me back for a while, if ever,” she said. “I’d love to stay here if it’s not too much trouble. You guys will accept me no matter who or what I am, right?”
“Of course,” Jeremy said.
“We’ll even let you keep dyeing your hair those crazy colours,” added Jeremy’s dad with a wink.
“What if—” Daina stopped mid sentence. “What if I told you why they kicked me out?”
Jeremy’s parents shared a look. “We’re happy to listen if you want to tell us about it,” said his mum.
Daina thought for a moment. Jeremy could see fear in her eyes as she bit her lip. Her fingers started tapping on her knees nervously. “Well, you see… I don’t know an easy way to say it. I’m transgender. I’m not really a girl, and I don’t want to be a boy. Mum and Dad don’t believe me, they think I’m crazy, but I’m not.”
Seeing tears start to rise in her eyes, Jeremy rubbed her shoulder gently. “You’re not crazy,” he said softly. “So how do you see yourself? Should we use different pronouns?”
Daina nodded. “I use the term ‘agender’. I don’t see myself as having any gender — male, female or otherwise. I want to change my name to Darcy, and to use they/them pronouns. I know it’s a lot of trouble for you guys, but that’s who I am.”
“Sure, it might not be easy, but we’ll do it if that’s what makes you feel like yourself,” Ella said.
“We’ll do our best, so just remind us if we mess up,” said their mum with a smile.
Jeremy looked at his dad, who appeared thoughtful. “So… Darcy. If you’re going to stay here, then we should talk about school. Do you want to go back to your old one?”
Darcy shuddered. “No way. That place is horrible.”
“What about our school?” asked Ella. “I can’t promise it’ll be better, but at least it’s closer to home.”
Darcy nodded slowly. “That could work,” they said. “And if you guys are there, then at least I’ll know someone.“
“That settles it,” said Jeremy’s mum loudly. “I’ll take you in tomorrow and we can fill out the enrolment forms.” Jeremy leaned back deeper into the couch, trying to process all of the things that had changed in the space of about half an hour.
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