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Kindle Notes & Highlights
“You’re disgusting,” said Mom, resignation in her voice. “I’m a teenage boy,” said Scott. “What do you expect?”
When she was little, her grandfather had told her that if she counted a hundred telephone poles in a row, an electric fairy would grant her one wish. George didn’t really believe in the electric fairy anymore, and sometimes she didn’t even know what she was wishing for, but counting telephone poles had become a comforting habit.
She had genuinely started to believe that if people could see her onstage as Charlotte, maybe they would see that she was a girl offstage too.
She refused to write down MAN, even though it kept smacking her in the face, blocking her view of other words.
“If you’re gonna be transgender and all, you’re going to have to be a lot more careful. You won’t be able to throw up on every bully you meet.”
The butterflies in her stomach had butterflies in their stomachs.
Scott snuck glances her way too, but where Mom’s eyes were filled with concern and confusion, Scott looked at George as if his sibling made sense to him for the first time. George had never been gladder to have an older brother.
The moment George reached the ground, she cried too. She slumped against the backstage wall, hugging her knees, as she cried in sadness and joy. Charlotte was dead, but George was alive in a way she had never imagined.
Oh.” Kelly stopped. “My uncle’s going to figure out something’s up the moment I call you George, isn’t he?” George thought about her private name. She had never said it out loud before, not even to her friends in the magazines. “You could always call me Melissa,” she said now.
“I didn’t even know you had any skirts,” said George. “I don’t wear them to school. Boys are dirty and try to look up them.” “I’d never try to look up your skirt.” “Of course not. You’re not a boy.” “Oh, right.” George laughed.
Q: How do I talk about the main character? A: Call her Melissa. That’s the name she likes. If you slip up and call her George, no big deal. Correct yourself if you think of it, and move on. Same thing for her pronouns. She is always a she. Always.
