August
“He didn’t keep a clean house,” Jean muttered as she, Linda and Tyler went into the townhouse once occupied by Jean’s son, Codie. Movie and superhero posters adorned the walls, a massive video game setup dominated one of the walls of the front room. The kitchen was nearly bare and the bedroom had an entertainment center set up with a massive TV, several DVD players, stereo and speakers along with a bed and couch. “What are we supposed to do with all of this garbage?” Jean asked.“We sell it, Mom,” Linda said.
Tyler opened the door to the other bedroom to reveal more than three dozen comic book longboxes and bookshelves full of graphic novels, trade paperbacks and statues. “Holy crap,” Tyler exclaimed.
Jean and Linda followed him into the room. “Oh, Goddamn it,” Jean said. “How do we sell these?”
“I’ll take them,” Tyler said.
“We don’t have room for them, Tyler,” Linda replied. “Look at all of this. There must be 40 or so boxes and four bookcases.”
“I’m just going to call that comic book store downtown and see if they will give me a thousand dollars for the boxes,” Jean said.
“Grandma, there is no way that all of these comics are just worth a thousand dollars,” he pulled a lid off a box and grabbed a random comic. “This is Fantastic Four number 45. It’s got to be worth about a hundred bucks.” He showed the comic to his mom and grandma. The Fantastic Four were prominently on the cover with four other costumed people sneaking up behind them, the caption ‘Among us hide…the Inhumans’ ominously hovered between the two groups of superpowered beings.
“These comics are why Codie killed himself. He spent more time with them than with people,” Jean said.
Tyler sighed with an annoyed tone. “Mom, please?”
“If it’s okay with your grandma then it’s fine with me,” Linda gave in.
“Fine. Take them,” Jean waved her hand. “We’ll hold a garage sale for all this other crap.”
Tyler moved the boxes of comics and shelves of graphic novels into his bedroom, which displaced much of his room. He spent the next two weeks before school started reading his new comic collection by just pulling a comic out at random.
When school started, he decided to take graphic novels or trade paperbacks to read during downtime. The first one he took was Batman: The Killing Joke. When he arrived in his Earth Space Science class for third hour, he sat down at one of the lab tables and pulled it out and started reading.
Riley Saxberg came into the room, walking past Tyler and sitting down one row behind and one row over from him. Riley stood up and glanced at the graphic novel. “The Killing Joke?”
Tyler turned to look at Riley, her short, brown, curly hair with a white, lace bow in her hair. Riley had a round boyish face but feminine features in the lips and eyes. Riley’s hair was short, only down to the start of her neck. Tyler could see the small lumps of her breasts and the round stomach like a young boy who hadn’t lost his baby fat. Riley was wearing a black shirt with some band Tyler had never heard of—Thousand Foot Krutch.
“Yeah,” Tyler nodded.
“I own that one. Have you read Arkham Asylum?” Riley asked.
“Not yet. I just got a bunch of books from my uncle so I am slowly getting through them,” Tyler said.
“Cool,” Riley sat back down.
The classroom had filled up and one seat was left behind Tyler and to the left of Riley. Jarret came in and groaned. “I got to sit next to the shemale?”
“Shut up,” Riley rolled her eyes.
Jarret sat down. “I don’t know why someone would want to quit being a man. I mean, we’re awesome!” Jarret exclaimed and a couple of male students agreed loudly.
“You’re really proving how awesome you are right now,” Riley turned to Jarret.
“Whatever,” Jarret shrugged and laughed with the other guys while pointing at Riley.
The school bell rang indicating the end of passing period. The teacher stood up from his desk, walked over to the door and closed it. “Welcome back. I hope you all had a good summer. This is third hour Earth Space Science just to confirm that you are in the right class.”
Tyler closed his book and slipped it into his notebook. He looked back at Riley who was sitting with his head on his hand and doodling in a notebook. Tyler then turned back to the teacher.
Riley Saxberg and her family moved here last spring but Riley and her sister Hannah finished out the school year at their old schools. Riley had wandered around town for most of the summer where she met Sydney who would end up becoming her best friend.
“If Jarret called you a shemale then you need to tell someone,” Sydney said as they went through the lunch line.
“Mr. Hartman was right there and didn’t seem to care. Besides, this school won’t even let me use the girls restroom so all Jarret would get is probably a good talking to. Give it a month or so and I’ll stop being an oddity,” Riley said.
Riley and Sydney walked by the table Tyler and his friend Jackson were at. Tyler looked up at Riley and watched her walk by. “Do you know anything about that new girl Riley?” Tyler asked.
“She’s in three of my classes but I don’t know anything about her. Rumor has it that she’s really a he,” Jackson said.
“Yeah,” Tyler sighed. “Jarret called her a shemale in Earth Space Science and she basically admitted it. I don’t know. She tried to talk to me about the comic I was reading and I was kind of snapped at her.”
“People are probably mean to her all the time. She’s probably used to it,” Jackson shoved a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. “They need to give us more food for lunch,” he complained.
Over at the table where Riley and Sydney sat, Riley had just finished the breaded chicken sandwich. “Do you know Tyler Bray?”
“Pretty well. We’re not friends or anything but we’ve grown up together. He’s nice. Kind of quiet and can be weird sometimes. He used to try too hard to get people to like him and laugh. I don’t really see that anymore,” Sydney explained. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Riley shrugged. Riley looked around the lunchroom and into the commons area. “I thought Hannah had second lunch as well. I wonder where she is.”
In one of the restroom stalls in the girl’s locker room in the basement of the school, Hannah had her arms resting on his shoulders as she sat on his lap and had sex. When they were finished, they readjusted their clothes, flushed the condom down the toilet and started making out. “I told you that no one would come down here,” Hannah smiled deviously.
“It was a good idea,” Matt said and they kissed again.
“I noticed during freshman gym that when everyone is at gym, no one comes down so we’d have the place all to ourselves.”
Hannah had the same hair as Riley only hers went down past her shoulders and was in a ponytail. Hannah also had her dad’s features of wide eyes, small mouth and sturdy chin. She was also a couple inches shorter and her breasts a little bigger. Matt had floppy dark hair that covered his ears and forehead. He was tall and lanky with short, curly hairs above his lip and poking out from his chin. Matt looked at his watch. “We should head upstairs and eat some lunch. We have ten minutes left.” They walked through the locker room and went back upstairs holding hands. “Is it true that your sister used to be a guy?” Matt asked as they walked into the cafeteria and going to get their trays.
“My brother is a guy who thinks he’s a girl. No amount of drugs or surgery is going to change that,” Hannah said angrily as they went through the lunch line.
The next day, Riley was already in Earth Space Science when Tyler came in. “Hey, Riley,” Tyler approached her. “I thought you might like to read these,” he handed her three graphic novels, all very similar in style and artwork. They were titled Superman’s Metropolis, Batman: Nosferatu and Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. “The Superman one is first. It’s based on German Expressionist films of the 1920s. The story and art are both amazing.”
“Thanks,” Riley smiled at him as she took the books.
He smiled back.
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