The Project Gutenberg EBook of Identity, by Zoe Blade

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Title: Identity

Author: Zoe Blade

Release Date: August 12, 2009 [EBook #29676]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDENTITY ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Illustration: Cover art]

Identity

A short story by Zoe Blade

(C) 2008 Zoe Blade. Distributed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

"Flat-chested Faye, flat-chested Faye," chanted the girls on the table
next to Faye and Rebecca's. The large hall smelled of cabbages,
potatoes and baked beans, and everyone else was talking and eating and
moving chairs so loudly that Faye could hardly hear herself think.

"Just ignore them," suggested Rebecca.

Faye didn't say anything. She opened her lunchbox and fished around in
her deep blazer pockets for her medication. She teased a pill out of
the bottle and washed it down with some orange squash from her Helen
Fryer thermos flask.

"It's not healthy to have secrets, you know." Rebecca peered across at
her, trying to make out the label on the bottle.

"They're called antiandrogens." Faye slipped the bottle back into her
pocket. "I told you, I have a hormonal imbalance, that's all." It
wasn't even a white lie, she told herself. It was just being vague.

"Is that why you haven't... you know... developed yet?" Rebecca took a
bite out of her sandwich.

"It's not healthy to be so pushy, either." Faye forced herself to
start eating her lunch; she wasn't feeling hungry.

"Sorry," said Rebecca. She took a sip of her drink. "It's just that
it's not the same without you during swimming lessons. Who else am I
going to tease?"

"I'm sure there must be someone," said Faye.

Rebecca looked up as she thought to herself. "How come you're not
allowed to go swimming with us, anyway? Just because you haven't
started puberty yet? I mean, Jenny's way behind everyone else too and
she still goes swimming."

"I'd rather not talk about it