Michelle came back home with a genuine smile on her face. Her mother wasn't home yet, probably because she went to pick up Elizabeth from school, but Michelle didn't think much about it.

She went to her room and threw the school bag on the floor, which she then opened to empty it from the school books and notebooks, but her eyes suddenly laid on the book Chrissy gave her shortly beforehand.

Curiously, she picked it up, threw herself onto the bed and began to leaf through the pages. It wasn't long, it was a short psychological novel that narrated the story of this, so-called, 'transvestite'. Michelle was drawn to the book and read it all wih attentiveness, not really because of the story itself, but more so for the descriptions of what the protagonist felt: the uneasiness you feel while looking at your naked body, feeling that something doesn't look right, as if this body doesn't belong to you, the feeling of being trapped inside your own skin. It's like she saw herself in a character for the first time, as if she was seen, understood and as she finally found the word that was on the tip of his tounge for years at this point.

Michelle didn't exactly understand he was a trangender man, he never had the opportunity to discover this reality. During the '80s it was very rare to get educated on these type of things. There was barely any awarness, all he knew is how there were these so-called 'freaks' on the tv sometimes, loud individuals with crazy outfits that screamed about wanting to get seen as human beings aswell. Chrissy and Seth were the first openly queer people he has ever met in his life aswell.

Nonetheless, Michelle still understood something about himself that he always felt deep down but couldn't point down what it was. However, with the discover of the answers for a million of questions inside his mind, another million of questions suddenly started to appear and the boy started to reflect.

"Would being a man make me happier? If they called me he instead of she, or if they told me I'm a beautiful boy instead of calling me a beautiful girl, would I actually feel happier, more comfortable? Is that even why I felt awkward in the first place whenever they called me that? If I was born a man, would I feel better about myself? Would I feel happy inside my body? Or is this just a fantasy I'm having, maybe it's just curiousity about how it would feel to be born inside a man's body. Everyone thinks that afterall, right? Now that I think about it I was the only girl in middle school that was unhappy about my boobs suddenly growing. I was much happier and confident as a kid and liked when boys confused me for one of them".

The answer wasn't simple nor immediate, obviously. However, Michelle felt as if he needed a change of some sort, he subconsciously knew what felt right, even though he didn't know that this was called a 'transition'.

It's as if he found the decisive piece of a puzzle, but the image was still incomplete and blurry. He was still far from fully understanding himself, from seeing the bigger picture.

As he finished reading he closed the book and frantically picked up some fashion magazines.

During the '80s a more androgynous look began to spread and lots of famous people began to challenge gender roles. Just think of Prince, or Madonna's way of dressing. Michelle wanted to try to change his style of clothing, he wanted to experiment, prove if his feelings were right, he wanted to see if dressing more manly would somehow help. He couldn't wait to see his friends again, they were the only people he could talk about things like that with without being seeing as a weirdo.

Lucky for him he didn't need to wait at all actually, since he looked at the clock and realized how it was almost 4 pm already. He ran out of his room and went through the kitchen as he talked to his mother who, during the meantime, already came back home.

"Mom I'm going outside!" He excitedly exclaimed.

Clara looked at him, a bit surprised by his sudden good mood and asked:"Where are you going?"

"To hang out with my friends".

"Oh! You already made some new friends at school? Have fun honey!" Clara said as she looked at him, pleased. Michelle slightly smiled at her reaction and opened the front door.

"Don't come back home too late though, you know the curfew!" She yelled as Michelle hurried to the parking lot.

Waiting for him at the parking lot were Seth and Chrissy, the latter as soon as she saw him gasped and hugged him.

"You're here!"

Michelle giggled as he also hugged her in response.

"Of course I'm here", he replied before noticing the absence of one of the boys.

"Huh... What about Rubén?"

"He's late," Seth replied, "as always. You'll get used to it aswell".

"What kind of clothes do you want to buy?!" Chrissy asked as she tried to contain her excitement , being her usual self.

"Uhm... Actually, I wanted to try a new style, maybe one similar to your guys cool sense of fashion".

Chrissy looked at Michelle, initially excited, but then she remembered a detail and suddenly became more serious: "Did you read the book I gave you?"

"Yes, I also brought it back".

Michelle opened her backpack, picked the book and lent it to Chrissy.

"I think it was useful, but I'm still a bit... confused":

"Oh! If you want to we can help you, do you want us to call you he and stuff? You can see if it makes you more comfortable"

"Wouldn't that be a bit... weird?" Michelle asked, chuckling nervously.

"Not at all!" Chrissy exclaimed.

"It all depends on how you feel", Seth added.

"Well... Alright, I guess it doesn't hurt to try".

Meanwhile Rubén finally arrived, and since he saw them talking to each other he felt the need to ask: "Hey, did I miss something?"

"Hi yes, call Michelle he and him or I will beat you up" Chrissy replied jokingly, but also not really.

"Wha-"

Chrissy didn't even give Rubén the time to reply and yelled: "LET'S GO!"

She put one of her arms around Rubén neck and one of her arms around Michelle's as she started to walk towards the mall, meanwhile Seth followed them from behind while giggling.

The young group began to walk through the mall, talking about this and that, laughing about stupid stuff and looking around various stores. They helped Michelle choose some clothing pieces and waited for him while sitting in the changing room, quivering from excitement cause they never saw him dressed similarly to them.

After some minutes Michelle came out of the dressing room, wearing a black tank top, a leather jacket and some pants with various zippers and chains.

"WOO-HOO! YOU LOOK SO COOL!" Chrissy exulted, attracting the attention of various people in the dressing room, who looked annoyed by the ruckus she was making.

Michelle chuckled, quite embarassed by the situation.

"Isn't it a little bit too much?" He asked while he looked at himself in the mirror again. Meanwhile Seth was staring at him, saying no words at all.

"What, cat got your tounge, Seth?" Chrissy snickered, playfully hitting the boy with her elbow to tease him.

"Shut up" Seth replied, feeling embarassed.

"I'm just surprised to see him with this style of clothing. It really fits you, it almost looks as if it was made for you", Seth said while he slightly smiled at Michelle.

"I agree, even though I don't really understand this style of clothing", Rubén added.

"The most important thing is that you like it though!" Chrissy said this while looking at Michelle, hinting that she was waiting for his verdict.

"I like it aswell, I love it actually but... I think my parents would kill me if I wore this, I wouldn't actually have the chance to wear it".

"Oh, don't worry there's a simple solution for this: don't give a shit about what they think", Chrissy said as she crossed her arms.

Michelle laughed at her response.

"Alright then, you convinced me! I'll buy them". He got back into the dressing room to change clothes back again, but as they waited for him to come out, Chrissy suddenly came up with an idea: "Michelle! What if we gave you a nickname?" She suggested.

"What?" He replied as he was changing clothes, then added: "Well, actually now that I think about I always fucking hated my name".

"You like Michael Jackson right? What about Michael? It's similar to Michelle, right?" Chrissy reflected. "Hm... Michael, Michelle, Oh! What about Mikey?! No, Mikey sucks, Michael sounds better, what do you think?"

"Seriously?" Michelle replied.

He finished changing and got out of the dressing room while holding the other clothes in his arms.

"Well, it would be an honour to be called like one of my favourite artists, I guess Michael or Mike for short would be fine".

Seth lent an hand to Micheal by taking some of the clothes he was carrying.

"Micheal fits you way better indeed". Seth smiled while looking at him, and Michael slightly blushed.

"Oh, thank you..." Michael looked away, feeling embarassed by the compliment and by Seth's sudden eye contact, while Chrissy slighly smirked as she looked at them.

"Come on, let's go pay for these clothes, I want some fries!" The girl exclaimed.

Rubén sighed as he walked with his friends. "And I'm seriously craving an hamburger right now. I haven't eaten at a fast food in ages".

Michael felt truly happy and free. At the beginning it felt weird, but after a while he didn't even notice how his friends were calling him a boy anymore. It just felt natural, as if this has always been who he is.

For the first time things were fastly changing, but this time it didn't feel new or overwhelming.

Michael was finally was discovering who he truly is.