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Learning to Be Normal

Jaz woke up and ran their hand through their hair, feeling the new lightness of the shorter cut. It felt weird. With a surreptitious look over to Penny's bed, Jaz quickly ascertained that their room-mate had already headed downstairs for breakfast. Nobody had seen them fussing with their hair in the confusion of waking up. With a relieved sigh, that almost turned into a wry laugh - when had they suddenly become so worried about what others thought of them?? - Jaz rolled out of bed and stretched. A look through their side of the closet was sobering. Their new foster Mom had spent a fortune on them. How on earth was Jaz ever supposed to pay them back for this?? Clearly, there were a LOT of chores in Jaz's future. Running a hand over the threadbare clothes they had brought from home, Jaz remembered the glee with which Penny had disposed of her old clothes, and wondered if they should do the same. However, these were one of the only things they had left from their previous life... and it felt weird to get rid of it. Peering around to make sure Penny hadn't returned, Jaz pulled out her backpack and stowed the old clothes in there, out of everyone's view. Nobody could make fun of her for keeping her nasty old clothes if they didn't know about it, right?

Zipping up the backpack and stuffing it into the back of the closet, Jaz looked down at their brand new PJs, and, hearing the sounds from downstairs (not to mention the delicious smells), Jaz headed down for breakfast.

Clearly, eating breakfast in one's PJ's was a thing in this house, and everyone else was in theirs, too... including Wendy. Jaz sat down, and Wendy cheerfully served them a heaping plate of warm, delicious pancakes (another luxury Jaz had never had). Penny apparently had a million things to say, and even the quiet one, Timika, jumped into the chat with a big grin. Having cheerful chats over breakfast was even stranger than having something that tasted like it ought to be dessert for breakfast, and Jaz struggled to keep up with everything.

After breakfast, the kids all scattered to go get ready for school, but Jaz, with a thought to needing to somehow pay the family back for all the lovely new clothes, quickly started collecting plates and putting them into the family's dishwasher. (Which was another novelty. Jaz had never even heard of machines that would do your dishes for you...)

With the dishes all finally cleaned up, Jaz headed upstairs to get ready for school in a mad rush, and barely made the bus!

After all the other kids were off to school, Wendy spent some quality time with Jimmy and his blocks. When he went down for his nap, she headed to clean up from breakfast, only to find that the dishes had all been rinsed and placed neatly in the dishwasher. Wondering who had decided to do some extra chores, she bemusedly started the dishwasher, and looked around for something else that might need cleaning while Jimmy was napping.

After school, Jaz met Wendy out front of the school with a big grin. Today, they were going to get to go back to Therapy and actually see Gemma again. The novelty of riding in a privately owned mini-van kept Jaz completely busy on the way to Newcrest, and Wendy chuckled at Jaz's wide-eyed joy at such a simple thing.

Gemma practically ran out of her office and swept Jaz up in a big hug, welcoming them back to therapy with a huge smile. She commented appreciatively at Jaz's new look, and clearly was happy to meet Wendy, as well.

Jaz chattered on about everything that had happened since they had last seen Gemma, and Gemma breathed a sigh of relief on Jaz's behalf. Hearing normal kid things from this particular patient was the highlight of Gemma's entire MONTH. After seeing the horrifying state of the Malone household there at the end, Gemma honestly had felt terribly sick in the pit of her stomach. It had been awfully hard to feel any sympathy for either of the Malone parents, especially Marnie at the state things had deteriorated to.

Nearly shaking her head to remove the vile thoughts from her head, Gemma tried to focus again on Jaz's excitement at the things that had been happening in their life. It was clear that this had been a much-needed change for Jaz, and it had had an immensely positive effect on their young psyche.

As Jaz finally wound down on all the fun stories they had to share, Gemma (trying not to interrupt) interjected that she had something she hoped Jaz could try to do this next week.

Curiously, Jaz turned and asked what that might be.

"I have done some research, and I've found a pen-pal site for alternate-gender youngsters who are interested in meeting other kids who might be able to understand their point of view a little better. I'd like you to put in an application, and see if you can't find a new friend." Gemma said, a little hesitantly. She watched a cloud go across Jaz's face, and wondered what Jaz might be thinking.

Jaz, however was in no way able to tell what they were thinking. Because Colin was the first thing that popped into their head. They wished they could tell Gemma that they already DID have a friend who could sympathize with the gender identity struggles, but, Jaz knew there was no way they could out Colin like that. Not even to Gemma. They'd promised. With a sigh, Jaz pushed Colin out of their thoughts, and asked their next question... "What's a Pen Pal??"

With a short laugh, Gemma explained pen pals, which seemed like a complete novelty to Jaz. Gemma gave Jaz the paper she'd written up with the information about the website, and asked whether Jaz thought they could get to a computer this week to apply.

"Of course I can. There's one at my new home!" Jaz replied with a smile, and took the paper from Gemma. They scanned it briefly, then folded it up and stuffed it in their back pocket with a smile.

Gemma started to walk out of the office with Jaz as the appointment ended, and was surprised when Jaz stopped just as they got to the door.

"Gemma?" Jaz said, putting their hand on her hand, stopping her from turning the door handle.

With concern, Gemma stopped and turned to Jaz. "Yes?"

"Wendy said I might contact my brothers to check on how they're doing, but I'm worried about Mom. Do you think I could, maybe, find out what happened to her? I'd like to make sure she's going to be okay.... and that my new brother or sister will be taken care of, too."

With a gasp, Gemma caught herself thinking of how she could certainly take a page out of this youngster's book on familial love, care, and forgiveness, and caught Jaz up in another hug. "Absolutely. I will contact Kayla for you, and see if I can find out where Marnie ended up so you can make sure she's okay. I'll let you know next week, okay?"

Jaz hugged Gemma back, smiled as they waved goodbye, and skipped off down the hallway after Wendy Judd. Taking a shaky breath, Gemma made a mental note to call Kayla Bliss later, and pasted a smile on her face as she headed in to meet with her next client. That child, she mused... was something else entirely. Something precious.

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