“That… sucks,” I said, eloquent as always. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. If any of you have to go through that. It’s unfair.”
“So you can see why we’d ask,” Kai said, trapping me neatly.
I didn’t owe them shit, but I could see where they were coming from. “I’m bigender.”
It was met with silence.
A trickle of sweat dropped down the back of my neck.
Then, “Bigender,” Kai repeated.
Diego shook his head. “I don’t know what that is. Trans? Is that trans?”
“It’s like gender-fluid,” the bigger boy said. “Right? You go back and forth.”
Yay. This was going so well. “Sort of? Gender-fluid is variable and can run a spectrum of gender identity. Bigenderism tends to only focus on two, though it doesn’t have to be just male or female.”
They didn’t seem impressed. “So you can be a boy or a girl?” the first girl asked.
I didn’t think now was the time to get into the psychology behind it. “I… guess? It’s a little more complicated than that. I feel both simultaneously, but sometimes one is more dominant than the other, which is why I tend to use specific pronouns when I—”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Diego asked. “Or a girlfriend?”
They all seemed very interested in that.
Oh god, I was going to murder Marina for taking so long. And possibly Jeremy, but that would most likely mean having to touch him in order to rip his face off, and that brought a whole new set of problems. “No, I don’t. I’m single.”
“Why?” Kai asked.
I smiled at them. “Because between going to school for the last five years in order to get to be with your bright and shining faces and getting stuck in plots out of eighties movies, I haven’t had time.”
They had questions. So many questions. I could see it on their faces. But before they could open their mouths and continue, I was saved.
“This seems like it’s going so well!” a voice said.
I turned to see Marina and Jeremy standing behind me. Marina was smiling widely. Jeremy looked amused. Oh yeah, I was going to have to get over whatever problem I had, because I would go after him first for letting me flounder.
“Does it?” I asked. “I think maybe you’re seeing things differently.”
She laughed. “Nah. It’s best to get in front of the firing squad early so you can get it out of the way. Take the shots, and then we’re golden. They can be insistent, but they’ve got a point. It’s best to know where everyone is coming from. And speaking of! Everyone, this is Jeremy Olsen. He’s our interim director until we hire a replacement. He loves answering questions, so feel free to ask anything you want.”
Jeremy no longer looked amused.
This pleased me greatly. “Yes, Jeremy. Why don’t you come right over here and tell us all about yourself? Perhaps a speech from our fearless leader?”
He scowled at me as he came to stand beside me. “Trouble,” he whispered, bumping my shoulder. “You’re trouble. How did I not know that about you?”
I shrugged. “We’re not in a classroom anymore. I’m sure you’re going to find out a lot more about me.” I blanched. “Wow, that did not come out like I meant it to. Do me a favor and pretend I didn’t say that.”
He snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Whatever the hell that meant.
Jeremy looked out at everyone in the room. I started to take a step back to let him have the floor, but he reached out and grabbed my wrist, squeezing it once before letting go. I stayed right where I was, my brain screaming about desks and porn and for some reason cursing in Spanish.
“It’s great to meet all of you,” Jeremy said, and he was using his professor voice, the one I remembered very clearly from the days where he paced back and forth in front of a large class, the women (and a good number of the men) sighing dreamily. “And thanks to Marina for the warm welcome. I can’t wait to get to know all of you. While I may be temporary, I promise that I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can. I’m told that you didn’t see a lot of the previous director, but that’s not how I work. I’m more hands-on—”
Shoot me now.