"Mom, where are we going exactly?" It's been precisely 20 or 30 minutes since we left the house, and I already sounded like that one person would continuously ask, "are we there yet?" If they had any correlation of similarity at all. "JC Penny's, the mall that we were supposed to get new clothes." I almost felt shame from the last time that we there, but it wasn't my fault.

My phone suddenly began to vibrate, coming from my pocket. I fished it out, flipping it open to read the message. It was from Annabelle:

Annabelle: Hey

Me: Hey

Annabelle: What you up too?

I was excited to tell her, feeling myself light up and my self-esteem rising to the peaks of the highest mountains.

Me: I'm currently going to JC pennies to shop for clothes, hope to see you there!

I closed my phone, stuffing it back into the pocket. I could feel this day improving and getting brighter when we arrived at JC pennies, it wasn't as gloomy as it was yesterday.

The Cloudy skies cleared up, revealing it's baby-blue atmosphere, that hugged the earth in a dome. The sun's rays glistened across the JC Pennies building. I placed Lulu down on the seat that I sat on, shutting the door and rolling down the windows. Lulu stood on her back, paws whining and pawing at half the window that shielded her from falling out of the vehicle.

I gave Lulu one last comforting pat on the head before leaving, Mother and I both entered the building, and as we did, the doors automatically opened. We walked into the familiar aroma of perfume that filled the mall's entrance. "Mom, can I look for clothes on my own, I promise I won't take long!?" Mom nodded her head, "be back in five minutes."

I walked off, towards the men aisle, looking individually through the clothes. "Can I help you with anything?" I looked up to see Annabelle, and with no hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her neck, "It's nice to see you again!" Annabelle hugged me back, "Don't mention it." Once we stopped hugging, she looked at me and then at the clothes aisle I was in.

"The women's aisle is that away, why are you in this one?" I didn't expect her to ask such a question, but then again, last time, I never seemed to leave her with no clear answer to why.

"I'm trans," I finally admitted, she looked at me with confusion and then with a sudden realization. It all made sense now. Her eyes widened with amazement as if I was a miraculous discovery to her that she never saw before. She covered her hand over her mouth in shock, "I'm so sorry for that, I didn't know what came over me!"

I tried to reassure her before she began muttering obscenities under her breath. "It happens to me all the time. I'm quite used to it." She gave me an awkward stare, "How can you be so used to people misgendering you all of your life, that must be like torture!"

She was right it technically was, but I had a high tolerance for it, when I was younger, I always kept a pack of cards or a joke book on me to keep myself distracted from the misuse of gender labels, I've been given ever since my birth. "Well, as you said, it's been happening to me all of my life, I gotta get used to it somehow." Annabelle shook her head in confusion, "then what happened yesterday?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess it just wasn't my best days to go shopping, let alone I'm not exactly a fan." She tried to hide her laughter behind the pastel pink sleeve of her crop top sweater. I couldn't help but blush, "I always thought you were cute when you did that."

I said suddenly without a second thought, she looked up from her sleeves and for a moment we stared into each other's eyes.

I could've sworn it was like destiny, was I meant to have this girl as my own? Even if she was older than me just by three years, she was still the most marvelous and beautiful girl I've ever laid my eyes on. "I'm sorry I didn't know what that was, I apologize for that." She gave me a warm smile, "It's cool, you're ok, it's just that I have a boyfriend..."

I began feeling my world has suddenly sprouted than collapsed all at once. "I see, can't hit on a girl if she's got a boyfriend!" I said, trying my best to lighten the awkward tension that slowly surrounded the both of us

( or was it the air, I'm not sure.) but all it did was encourage weak laughter and dead silence.