off chance that she’s here. My blood sugar is low. I don’t remember the last time I ate anything.
I’m about to exit the building when I see the lights in the admin office. I walk in and see Principal Scott at his desk. He looks up from his computer. “Georgia, hello!”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I say. He takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. Last night has taken a toll on everybody. “Georgia, that was a lovely article in the Reporter.”
How many people have read it?
He opens a box on his desk. “I have too many donuts. Want one?” he asks, literally saving my life.
“Thanks, Mr. Scott,” I say before grabbing two (glazed and chocolate icing). “I need your help with something for Pony.”
He motions for me to sit down. “I’m all ears.”
PONY, 1:30 P.M.
I open my eyes and see the most unbelievable thing.
Georgia.
She’s in the chair next to me, head down in her phone. She’s here. She’s really here.
I’ve spent the morning falling asleep and waking up and falling asleep again. These pain meds put me in the clouds. I’m ready to be off them. Maybe this is a dream.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” She drops her phone, opting for my hand.
“Georgia, I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I’m here,” she says, and nothing sounds sweeter than her voice, and nothing feels better than her hand holding mine. “I told you I would be,” she adds.
I think of my hospital gown and ground-beef face, ashamed. “Why?” I ask. “Do you just feel sorry for me?”
“No,” she says flatly.
“This doesn’t feel real,” I admit.
“It’s real, Pony. You have just been through a lot.”
“But you didn’t want me, remember? ’Cause I’m trans? And now you have a change of heart?”
“Pony, my heart hasn’t been the problem. I had some things to figure out. But that was then, and this is now,” she says, squeezing my hand.
I desperately want to believe her, but she lies. “How can I trust you?”
She gets up and sits on the bed. “Watching you reveal your truth onstage last night changed me. I saw how far away I was from my truth. I was miles away from the real me.” She pauses to find her words. “I have spent too long keeping an outdated image intact at the expense of what I really want. I lost the real me. The me who loves to read and write. The me who never wanted to date Jake.” She finds my eyes. “The me who wants to be with you.”
“And you’re back to the real you?”
She laughs. “God, I wish. But I’m on my way. I’m here with you. And I wrote something for the Hillcrest Reporter last night. Something I put my name on. Something about you.”
“Kenji and Jerry told me,” I admit.
“Did they show you?” she asks.
“No. And my parents took my phone home last night.” I nod over to her phone on the chair. “But yours hasn’t stopped vibrating.”
“Yeah, you could say the article has been well received.”
“It has?”
She shrugs. “A couple likes and shares.”
My heart is pounding. What could it say? Why are people reading it?
“Pony, do you want to see it?”
I’m a joke—that’s why people are reading. I never want to see another person from Hillcrest again. “Could you read it to me?” I ask. “My head is still a mess.”
She grabs her phone from the chair and slides into the hospital bed, lying down next to me. While pulling the article up on her phone, she rests her head on my shoulder.
“You ready?” she asks.
I am not ready, but I say yes.
She clears her throat and begins.
STAY GOLD, PONY
by Georgia Roberts
Hillcrest is not about hate. Hard stop.
What happened on the stage at homecoming and later in the bathroom is completely and utterly unacceptable at this school or any place on planet Earth. Let’s not shy away from the facts: Two of our fellow students were publicly outed, and another was severely beaten. There will be no tolerance or leniency for these acts of hate.
What was going through Pony’s head in the bathroom? Did he wonder how people could be so cruel? So full of hate? Did he think he was going to die?
Sadly, what happened to Pony last night happens to transgender people all the time. The Trevor Project’s latest research paints a dark picture:
71% of LGBTQ youth reported discrimination due to either their sexual orientation or gender identity.
47% of transgender and non-binary youth were physically threatened or abused in the past year.
58% percent of