My new arm twinkles in my ear, and I happily shoot up from slumber. Today is the day! I quickly take my meds, and then hop out of bed. My feet hit the ground and I dash to my dresser to throw on all my undergarments before digging through my closet for an outfit. Ugh! I don’t have anything to wear for today!

  After searching all of my clothes I find nothing appropriate. I wonder if my mom could lend me something… I throw my sleep set back on, and head out to the living room. My mom is sitting on her tablet, wearing a gray skirt, bck blouse, bck jacket, and tall bck boots.

  “Good morning, Emmy!” My mom says with a grin. “You excited?”

  “Extremely!” I say with a bright smile. “Can I borrow an outfit for today?”

  “Of course.” She says with a grin. “Let’s go see what we can find.”

  I follow her into her room, and into her walk in closet. She starts searching through the hangers, pulling off various things, before putting them back on. Eventually, she holds up a bck A-line dress.

  “How’s this?” She asks.

  “Perfect.” I say with a smile. “Um… What shoes do I wear with it?”

  “Ooh!” She says, and picks up a pair of bck fts off the ground. “These.” She turns to a drawer, digs around in it for a moment, and comes back with a tan pair of strangely shaped socks. “And these.”

  I smile, and take the items from her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Emmy.” She says happily. “Now, go get changed, while I make breakfast. We have to leave in an hour.”

  I nod, and dash back to my room. The dress is easy to slip into and, after tightening the belt, fits retively well on me. The socks are a bit uncomfortable, as are the fts. I really don’t like the feeling of the tops of my feet being exposed.

  Once dressed, I head into the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. Through all my practice, I’m able to get my makeup done really quickly, and manage to get my hair looking really good.

  After I’m completely done, I head to the kitchen for breakfast. My mom is setting out a pte of eggs in purgatory. I smile at her as I sit down. “Thank you, Mom.”

  “You’re welcome, Emmy.” She says happily. “I wanted to make your favorite for today.”

  “You’re wonderful.” I say, and dig into the food.

  When I am nearly done with my food, my dad walks in from the back hallway, wearing his normal suit and tie. He smiles at me as he enters the kitchen. “Hey, Little Lady, you ready for today?”

  “More than ready!” I excim. “Today is going to be awesome!”

  My dad chuckles, and drinks from a cup of coffee on the counter. We sit in silence while I finish my food. Once I’m done, my mom starts talking. “Okay, do you have her documents?”

  “Got ‘em here.” He says, and holds up a folder. “We’re all set.”

  “Then let’s go!” My mom says excitedly.

  My mom practically pushes me out the door, and to my dad’s car. He hops in the driver seat, and we set off. I sit there, my leg bouncing, trying to distract my racing brain. I can’t keep my mind occupied on its own, so I pull out my phone.

  ‘Hey, Paige!’

  ‘Good morning!’

  ‘I’m heading to court now! I’m so excited, I can’t stop thinking.’

  ‘Hey, Emmy!’

  ‘I’m so excited for you! Today is such a big step for you! I’m genuinely so proud of you!’

  ‘I cannot wait to legally be Emmy Luna Valera!’

  ‘Then on Monday I have an appointment with the principal.’

  ‘School is coming up real soon too. I’m gd you got the appointment before it starts.’

  ‘By the way, next Saturday is my birthday, and I’m having my friends over for a slumber party. I was hoping you’d come.’

  ‘I’d love to.’

  ‘What time?’

  ‘Everyone will be getting here around 430.’’

  ‘I can come pick you up though, if you want.’

  ‘I’d like that, a lot.’

  ‘We just got to the courthouse, I’ll text when I’m out.’

  ‘Sounds good. Have fun.’

  I hop out of the car before either of my parents, and immediately start for the doors. “Come on!” I shout.

  “We’re coming, we’re coming.” My dad says. “Hold your horses.”

  “I don’t wanna be te!” I shout.

  “We won’t be.” My mom says. “If anything, we’ll be sitting there waiting for a bit.”

  I sigh, and slow down to wait for them. We walk into the building together, and head through security. Once we’ve been checked, we make our way up to the same pce we went st time, where a list is sitting on the window.

  My dad scans the sheet, and then leads us along the hallway. “Courtroom five.” He says.

  We take a seat on a set of benches outside the room, where there are various other people waiting. I recognize a few other people as trans, and give one of them a soft smile. He smiles back, and I continue looking around. Others join us, and soon enough there are a good twenty people waiting around the door.

  Some of them are obviously family members, there to support people, most are alone. After another few minutes of waiting, a woman walks up and approaches the door.

  “Okay, everyone!” She says loudly. “Please make your way inside in an orderly line. Fill the room front to back, out to in.”

  There is a general rumbling of ascent, and we make our way inside. I end up sitting right behind the guy who I smiled at earlier, and watch with interest as everyone fills the courtroom. It is about what I expected, if a bit small. There is a rge desk on a dais with a name pte reading ‘Judge Sanders’.

  After another few minutes, someone who I can only assume is Judge Sanders enters the room. The woman from earlier calls out. “All rise for the honorable Judge Sanders.”

  We stand, and once he is at his seat, he waves at us. “Please be seated.”

  We all sit, and I smile at the man. He looks middle aged, with short peppered hair, and a joyous smile on his face. With great severity, he pces something made of green translucent pstic on the table in front of him.

  “Hello everyone!” He says brightly. “I hope you are all as excited for today as I am!”

  “Yes!” A few people in the crowd shout.

  “Wonderful.” He says, slightly defted. “I’m going to call you up one by one by st name, when I call, please approach the counter. You will be signing using your current legal name, not the name you are switching to.”

  I nod in understanding, and wait anxiously as he calls up the first name. I watch an older man approach the bench, and speak quietly with the judge before signing his papers.

  “Congratutions, Adam McKinley!” The judge shouts.

  “Thank you, your honor.” He replies.

  My eyes continue to roam the room, and I grimace in disgust as I see a man wearing a stained t-shirt that says ‘Free Beard Rides’, dirty cargo shorts, and flip-flops. This is an important event, and should be treated with respect… Not whatever the heck that guy thinks he’s doing.

  The judge calls up the next person, and the trans guy in front of me walks to the bench. They talk for a moment before the man speaks up. “This isn’t right. There’s supposed to be a hyphen between these two names.”

  “Oh.” Judge Sanders says, and thinks for a moment. “That shouldn’t be a problem.” “Can you fix it, please.” The man asks. “I don’t want it to cause any problems.”

  The judge smiles at him. “Sure. Hand your ID to my secretary, and she’ll get it reprinted correctly.”

  The man walks over to the secretary, and the judge calls the next person. I watch a trans woman walk up to the bench, and start speaking with the judge.

  The man talking with the secretary loudly excims, “Oops, my bad.” And steps back in front of the judge, nearly pushing the woman out of the way.

  “You will have to wait until I am done with her.” Judge Sanders says to the man.

  “Come on!” He says loudly. “I was just here!” The judge’s eyes flick up to the back corner of the room, and the man turns to see the bailiff approaching. “Sorry, sorry.” He says. “I’ll wait my turn.” He gives me a soft smile as he passes by, but I refuse to meet his gaze.

  The woman signs her paper, and the judge congratutes her, before smiling up at the courtroom. “Valera.” The judge calls out.

  I stand up and approach, my parents coming behind me. We approach the bench, and the judge smiles at my dad. “It’s good to see you, Gerald.”

  “Good to see you too, Thomas.” My father says quietly.

  The judge pulls a folder in front of him, opens it, and holds a page out to me. “Please read this, and ensure that your name is accurate, every time it appears on the document.

  I take the page and scan it. My dead name is on there repeatedly, and my new name is on there twice. I smile as I read ‘Emmy Luna Valera’. I’m so happy I never have to use that crappy old name ever again.

  “Looks great, Your Honor.” I say with a smile, and pass back the form.

  He pushes it straight back to me, and hands me a pen. “Unfortunately, it needs to be signed with your dead name, and it needs to be legible.” I nod in understanding. “The good news is that you will never have to use that old name ever again.”

  “Thank you.” I say softly, and sign my name.

  He smiles at me before speaking loudly. “Congratutions, Emmy Luna Valera!”

  I follow my dad back to the bench and take a seat. The judge continues calling people up, leaving the trans man for st. He approaches, and smiles at the judge. “My bad, yo.” He says, his disrespect causing me to sit ramrod straight, and grimace. “I thought there was a hyphen, but I was wrong.”

  I tune out the rest of what they say. I swear, I wish I could shout at that guy, but it would only make things worse. Once the man is done, the judge picks up the green pstic object, and stands.

  “I want to once again congratute all of you for this monumental step in your lives.” He says, and presses a button on the object. It whirs, and bubbles begin to spill out of it and float along the room. “For your own reasons, each of you has decide to change the way you interact with the world, and that is a wonderful thing!” I smile, and cp harder than anyone else. I like this judge. “Now, we will be making copies of your documents, please wait out in the hall, and we will be by to distribute them soon.”

  We all make our way out into the hallway, and I stand by a bench, letting my parents sit while we wait. While we’re waiting, I take a few steps away to look at the photos in a case on the wall. The case is full of images of the various people who work here, from the judges to the janitors.

  “Emmy, right?” I hear a voice say behind me.

  I turn to see the annoying man from earlier, and properly take in his checkered vans, ripped jeans, tank top, and fnnel. “Yes.” I say coolly, before turning away.

  “You’re really cute.” He says softly. “Could I, maybe, get your number?”

  “No thanks.” I say flippantly, not bothering to look back at him.

  “I see.” He says, clearly upset. “Can I ask why not?”

  “I don’t owe you an expnation.” I say, but turn to him. “Maybe I’d have said yes if you weren’t so disrespectful during the proceedings.”

  “Oh, come on.” He says arrogantly. “Really? That’s your reason? Who cares?”

  “I care.” I say firmly. “That judge was incredibly kind, and showed a genuine interest in helping trans people, and you couldn’t even bother to be respectful, couldn’t bother to get your own damn name right, couldn’t bother to wear something even halfway formal to a flipping court proceeding!”

  He blushes slightly, and looks down. “You’re so cute…”

  I growl and roll my eyes as I push past him. “Some people, I swear…”

  My parents look at me as I storm up to them. “What was that about?”

  “He tried asking me out.” I say, with a little disgust still present in my voice. “Asked why when I told him no, and didn’t like my reasoning.”

  “I’m sorry.” My mom says.

  “What a weirdo.” My dad comments.

  I see my mom’s eyes narrow as she looks over my shoulder. “He’s staring at me, isn’t he?” I ask darkly.

  “Yup.” My mom says icily.

  My dad stands up, and gestures for me to sit. I do, and he stands between me and the guy. “Thanks.” I whisper.

  While we wait, I pull out my phone.

  ‘I am legally and forevermore Emmy Luna Valera!’

  Paige’s response is nearly instantaneous.

  ‘I’m so happy for you!’

  ‘Hey so, you know how I got you into that horror game the other day?’

  ‘I want to buy you a different one. It’s multipyer, and we can py online together.’

  ‘What console do you have?’

  ‘I py on PC.’

  ‘Also you don’t have to spend money on me.’

  ‘I want to.’

  ‘I like you a lot, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can.’

  ‘If you don’t want to, you don’t have to…’

  ‘I do want to. I just feel bad that you’re spending money. I feel like a burden, ya know? I’ll happily py it with you. When I get home, would you like to call about it?’

  ‘You’re not a burden I promise. I’d do anything for you, completely of my own volition. I’d love to call about it. Just call when you get home.’

  I consider responding to that second sentence. I am kinda starting to crush on her too… But I’m also crushing on Tyler… This is too confusing.

  ‘Thank you, Paige. I will. Talk to you soon.’

  A man in a bck robe walks quickly by, and I jump as a bubble pops against my nose. Whoa… He walks by again, bubbles trailing behind him, and stops in front of his secretary who is holding a whole stack of papers.

  “When I call your name, please come grab your forms, and then you are free to leave.” She calls out. “Adam McKinley!”

  She calls names in the same order as during the signing. I smile softly to myself as I hear a groan from behind my father when the man who asked me out’s name is skipped. They call the woman who came before me, and I wait anxiously for my name.

  “Emmy Valera!” I smile as she calls out my true name.

  My parents and I approach her, and my dad takes the documents from her. “Thank you.” He says with a smile.

  “Always happy to help!” She responds.

  My dad leads us through the crowd and down to the lobby. I cannot stop the ever present smile on my face as we walk to the car.

  “You happy?” My mom asks.

  “Extremely.” I reply. “I can’t wait for our appointment on Monday!”

  “Right…” My dad says slowly. “Shoot, I’m sorry, Emmy. I have a court date that day.”

  “It’s fine…” I say softly. “You can go, right mom?”

  “Of course, honey.” She says, and squeezes my shoulder. “It’ll be just fine with just the two of us.”

  “Thank you.” I say with a gentle smile.

  The drive home is quick, and I lean against the window, grinning the entire way. We pull into the driveway and I happily make my way inside. I head to my room, and pull out my phone. Just as I am about to call Paige, my phone rings.

  I answer it and hold it to my ear. “Hi, Tyler!”

  “Hey, Emmy.” He says softly. “How are you?”

  “I’m good.” I say with a grin. “How about you?”

  “I’m good.” He parrots. “I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Sure, what’s up?” I ask.

  “Wanna go get sushi next week?” He asks.

  “Um…” I say softly. “I’d very much like to see you, yes. I’m not sure about sushi though…”

  “Do you not like sushi, or are you worried about not having vegetarian options?” He asks.

  “Worried about veggie options.” I confirm. “I’ve only been to one sushi pce that had them,” With Holly… “But I don’t want to go there…”

  “I’ll find one that has options for you.” He says, his voice light. “What’s the one you want to avoid?”

  “Tempura Garden.” I say sadly. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, Emmy.” He says earnestly. “You’re absolutely fine. When do you want to hangout?”

  “I know you said next week,” I say softly. “And we can do that if you want, but could we maybe do a week from monday?”

  “Sounds great.” He says happily. “Whatcha got going on next week?”

  “I have a meeting with the principal, a hair appointment, and a birthday party.” I say.

  “Your birthday is this week?” He asks.

  I giggle. “No, it’s my friend Paige’s party.”

  “I hope you have fun.” He says. “I’m looking forward to dinner with you.”

  “Me too.” I say softly. “I’m sorry, I gotta go. I promised Paige I’d call her when I got home, and I’ve already been home for a bit.”

  “Now worries, Emmy.” He replies. “Have fun. Talk to you ter.”

  “Talk to you ter.” I say gently, almost wishing I didn’t have to hang up. I’ll make up for it by texting him ter.

  I swipe through my contacts and click on Paige’s name. The phone rings once before it picks up.

  “Hey, Emmy!” She shouts excitedly. “I missed you.”

  “Missed you too.” I reply softly. “You wanted to talk about a game?”

  “Right!” She says happily. “Okay so, let me tell you all about it, then if it sounds interesting I’ll buy it for you. Sound good?”

  “Sounds great.” I say happily, and kick back onto my bed.