"Non-binary?" I asked, "You think I'm non-binary?"
Razmus shrugged his shoulders,271Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTIa4G6Hpf
"I'm not sure- only you can figure it out- I'm just helping you out,"
I stared at my hands that were far too feminine for my own liking.
"I think that might be it, Raz," I replied and looked up at him, turning my head away from my hands to look at him. Razmus smiled.
"Well- don't make a full decision yet; you still need to figure it all out, so.. I would try it for a while, change your name, etc. etc. and then see where things go from there," Razmus replied. I smiled widely.
"Well then let's get to name picking then!" I said excitedly.
Razmus and I had over 100 names written down on a sheet. We checked which ones were my favorite and eventually narrowed them down to three. Arrow, Onyx, and Gene.
"So what one is it going to be?" Razmus asked. I shrugged my shoulders.
"I really like Onyx and Arrow," I replied.
"Hm.. Okay- one moment," Razmus said as he took out his phone and started scrolling. After two minutes Razmus put the phone in my face, "I guess your new name is Onyx,"
I looked at the phone to see a spinner with three names on it and on the screen was a big box with the name "Onyx" in it. I smiled.
"So, Onyx- are we gonna head to class or what?" Razmus asked. I nodded and we both stood up and walked to class. As we walked to class we compared each other's schedules and found out we had 5 classes together which meant we had three classes without. Our next class was a class we had together. When we both got to class we sat together in seats in the back of the room, since we got to class early and there was no seating chart. After around six minutes the bell rang and the teacher began taking attendance.
"Good morning, students- I am Mr. Draefus- spelled-" He began to write the spelling on the white board and turned around when he finished, "I am going to be taking attendance and when I say your name please tell me something about yourself. The attendance list goes in alphabetical order by last name just so everyone's aware," He had a kind of monotone, boring voice that made you want to fall asleep. It drove me insane.
"My last name is Alexander," Razmus said.
"Oh I know that," I replied before I realized that meant Razmus would likely be first, "Ohhh- shit,"
"Razmus Alexander?" Mr. Draefus said curiously. Razmus raised his hand and stood up.
"Hi- um I'm Razmus; friends call me Raz or Mus but if I don't know you please just call me Razmus," He said. "My pronouns are he/him and I'm an LGBTQIA+ activist and am actually a part of the activism club and many other clubs, so if you want to get to know me outside of schoolwork and also need a club to join you can join one of the clubs I'm in," Razmus then sat down and the teacher nodded.
"Thank you Razmus," He said as he made a face. He then continued down the list of names as Razmus and I talked. I had been so distracted that I almost didn't hear when he said my name, "Anna?"
I stood up, "Um- I actually have a preferred name and go by Onyx now- Nyx if we're friends," The teacher raised an eyebrow.
"Well I wont be able to call you that unless your name on the attendance list is changed," The teacher replied, "So Anna tell me something about yourself,"
My eyes began to well up as my face was red and hot from embarrassment and anger.
"I-" I began but Razmus cut me off as he quickly stood up.
"Excuse you, sir- no you are not going to call them by their deadname; you are going to call them what they asked you to because it is disrespectful as fuck and it's rude to deadname somebody- especially when it makes them uncomfortable. They changed their name because they obviously aren't comfortable with their birth name so I'm going to ask that you respect that and call them by what they just asked you to call them and if we're going to have an issue with that in the future I will take it down with the dean of students," Razmus said angrily and then took a deep breath to start speaking again, "I don't care what kind of transphobic issues you have outside of this school, but this school has a strict "no discrimination" policy, so you're going to have to respect that. And as for the "attendance list" I promise you we'll get that sorted out and changed as soon as we can since your incompetent brain can't think properly and just cross off the name on the list and write a new one, despite you being a high school English teacher with a college degree, but we're so sorry for the misunderstanding," Razmus then sat down as the teacher stood there, speechless. I smiled widely and looked at Razmus as I mouthed 'Thank you'.
"So um- I'm Onyx- Nyx to close friends like Raz, here," I pointed to Razmus, "Um- I like poetry a lot and I plan on joining the poetry club along with the activism club and drama club," I then sat down and the teacher continued down the attendance list, clearly irritated the rest of the class. Razmus and I couldn't help but laugh at how much the teacher expressed his anger with us throughout the class without directly saying it.
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I know it took a while to get out, but here it is! The next issue! Thank you again for reading and I would appreciate any helpful feedback on the story without getting upset!
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