Page 8 of Sass in the Grass

Jovian felt all the blood drain from his face. “Highly encouraged?”

Triumphant with her smile, Lou added a wink for fun. “Yeah. I’ll let Coach Dixon haggle you on that. You’ll meet him soon.”

As she walked off laughing, Jovian was left on his own to grab a bottle of cold water and sit at one table.

Observing the others that were in the Mess Hall, he saw they were all in groups. No one was sitting off by themselves except for him.

That, well, he was unfortunately used to. No one had ever much liked him. From the time he’d left his parents and descended into the depths of hell that was public school, he’d found jealousy and hatred.

He was small, so everyone picked on him for that, but it hadn’t bothered him. His mom would take him shopping and tell him all about how much they were envious of him. No one had better clothes, and the lunches he brought were gourmet foods purchased fresh every morning from the organic grocery store.

Sitting at that table in the Mess Hall, he was reminded of those days, alone in the lunchroom at school. Sure, he’d felt lonely, but he was fine with it. Really. He was fine.

Mike suddenly sat beside him, and Kathy across from him. “Hey, Jovian,” she said, smiling, and he blanched when he saw pink lipstick on her teeth.

“Kathy, your teeth are pink.”

“Again?”

He was laughing and Jovian watched her, expecting her to get upset, but she didn’t. She ran a finger over her teeth while she laughed.

He would have died of embarrassment.

“You gotta tell her. She wears cheap lipstick, and it always rubs off on her buck teeth.”

She reached across and slapped Mike’s arm playfully. “So cruel!”

“Well, it’s true.”

Jovian had been mean about those things in the past, but for some reason, he gave advice instead. “There’s a good line of lipstick that isn’t terribly expensive. I could write it down for you.”

“Really? Thanks!”

“See? Stop buying your makeup from the dollar store.”

“He’s very mean to me, only because he can’t decide if he’s trans or not.”

Jovian’s neck nearly broke as he turned to Mike. “You’re…?”

“No! I thought so about two summers back. I mean, I like my…you know, dick, but I was really into women’s clothes, but then, I found some friends that helped me. Now I do drag.”

“You? You don’t…seem the type,” he said, realizing that sounded meaner than he’d meant.

Mike simply nodded. “I know. I didn’t think so either, but I like it. I’m still learning. There’s a lot more to it than throwing on a dress, ya know? You ever…?”

“Have I done drag? No,” he said, almost offended. “I like makeup to accentuate the better parts of my face, that’s all.”

“It’s a handsome face, and your makeup’s on point.”

For Jovian not being exceedingly nice to them, he couldn’t believe they were trying to befriend him. “Thanks.”

“Give me some tips?” Kathy asked.

“Yeah, sure, when you get some decent makeup,” he said snidely before he realized he was going to.

Neither of them seemed to notice. They both laughed as they agreed with him. Mike pointed and said, “See!”

“So mean!”

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