I thought about pretending to be sick, but I needed to be there. What if Sage decided she wanted to cause trouble? I had almost hit her, after all. What if she wanted revenge? She could tell any sort of lie about me, knowing I’d never be able to admit the truth. Sleep hadn’t come that night. I kept having nightmare visions: Sage’s shirt accidentally being pulled off (hey, it could happen). Someone in the office realizing her birth certificate said male. A thousand scenarios that ended with Sage’s secret exposed and me branded as a homosexual. If word of her true gender got out, it wouldn’t matter that I didn’t know. No one would believe it. They’d think I knew Sage was a guy and didn’t mind. Or liked it! Shame never dies in a small town. Everyone would think I was gay. Jack, Tim, Brenda, even my mom. I was relieved to see Sage wasn’t in biology that morning. Maybe she’d changed classes like she’d said. Tim had already eaten himself into a food coma, so I was free to internally panic as Mr.
