Faye, her eyes still fixed on the floor.
She could feel them welling up already.

Her father piped up. "We can give you some other pills that will give
your body the oestrogen it ought to be producing. They'll make you
look more like your friends, you know, put some weight on your hips
and..." he glanced at her chest, unable to be so blunt to his own
daughter. "...other places." He quickly changed the subject, adding,
"But you'll have to meet us half way, you understand, and start eating
properly."

Faye looked up at him, hope in her eyes. He looked blurry behind her
tears.

"Plus, you know... we've been saving away since your birth. I know
Christmas and your birthday have always been lean, but you'd be able to
have an operation to fix..." he glanced down at her groin. "...you
know."

"Really? You mean it?" Faye sniffed.

"There is another option," her mother pointed out. "I don't want to
pressure you into anything, but it would mean your body wouldn't be so
scarred. You could use the money to go to college, and you could even
have children one day. It _would_ be nice to have grandchildren."

Her father gave her mother a look that silenced her.

"What do you mean?" asked Faye, her eyes darting from her mother to her
father.

"There's a new operation you can have." Her father shifted in his
seat. "They came out with it a few years ago."

"It's perfectly safe," assured her mother. "Lots of girls with your
condition have had it."

"What kind of operation?" Faye didn't like the sound of this at all.

"It would mean you wouldn't mind your body so much." Her mother looked
hopeful. "In fact, you'd welcome its growth."

Faye tried to work out what her parents were getting at. "What kind of
operation?" she repeated.

"It has something to do with the way the brain's wired up," said her
father.

"Brain surgery?" spluttered Faye, shocked that her parents could
suggest such a thing.

"You'd still be you," assured her mother.

"For the most part, anyway," corrected her father.

"Oh, stop scaring her!" scathed her mother. Facing Faye again, she
added, "You'd still be the same person. You'd just be... well... a
boy."

Before Faye knew what had happened, she'd dashed out of the room. She
ran up the stairs, their outline a blurry mess behind her tears, and
slammed her bedroom door shut before flopping onto her bed, her eyes
buried in her arm.

When she finally let herself sob uncontrollably,