Jamie was staring down at his book. He'd got it from the local bookshop a few weeks ago. It was the answer to what he was feeling deep inside, and how he could let it flourish. He'd read it, and...it gave so much information. What was happening, how perfectly normal it was, how he could come out...everything.

But a sudden feeling of dread began building up in the pit of his stomach. Maybe this wasn't the answer. Maybe it was only what he wanted to hear, when in reality, this feeling was nonexistent. Maybe-

"Jamie! Jamie I wanna play!"

Sophie burst in. Jamie's eyes widened. He'd been able to hear her footsteps far away enough for him to hide it, so why hadn't he heard earlier?

He looked around, desperate to find a hiding place for it. "Go away Sophie," he snapped. Usually this would deter her from spending time with him, but today, that just wasn't the case. The blonde climbed up onto his bed. "Whatcha reading?"

"I-nothing," Jamie lied, holding his treasured possession to his chest. "Don't lie to me! Give it! I wanna see!" Sophie began to pull it from his hands. Panicking inwardly, Jamie pulled it towards him. The two were soon engaged in a tug of war, and just when Jamie was about to win, the book went flying across the room and landed, open on the page he was reading.

"Ooh!" Sophie ran over.

"No! Sophie don't!" Jamie exclaimed. He winced as she began reading. Then, slowly, she looked up. "I don't understand," she said. "Why do you-"

Jamie began to cry. His body racked with sobs. Sophie didn't know what to do. She'd never seen her big brother cry before, but she was determined to make him stop. She ran over and sat next to him on the bed.

"What?" Jamie asked harshly, looking at her.

She did what her mother always did when she was upset. She hugged Jamie, and said, "it's OK. It'll get better, I promise."

Jamie looked down at his younger sister. She was already aware of the fact he was crying, and she was trying to help him. It was comforting, and he hugged back.

"Thanks Sophie."

Sophie then smiled and pulled away. "I wanna tell you something Jamie."

"What's that?" Jamie asked, turning to her. He felt bad for shouting at her earlier, and wanted to make up for his actions. Her face went all serious and that now familiar dread was building up again, making him nauseous. Then, she said something which made him nearly fall off the bed in shock.

"I'm gonna tell you what it's like to be a girl."

Restraining himself from bouncing up and down in excitement, Jamie merely nodded. "Go on."

So Sophie did. Everything, from what he could wear to the private stuff.

"I know a lot about that already," Jamie said. Periods seemed painful. However, since learning about it, he'd always wanted to have one. He thought he was strange, but the book reassured him otherwise.

"Jamie..."

"Yes?"

"Can we read this together? I wanna learn more about this."

"Sure," Jamie said. He watched as Sophie got to her feet, ran to the book, and then back to the bed, holding the secret Jamie had kept for three weeks. Eagerly, Sophie sat next to Jamie, legs hanging off the bed, twiddling.

"So, where do we start?" she asked.

"Here," Jamie pointed. Then, being the good big brother (sister) he was, he began to read to Sophie, like old times, when he didn't have to worry about this thing called secondary school.

Half an hour in and, in turn, the Bennett siblings had read fifteen pages so far. Sophie was fascinated, and Jamie was overjoyed that she accepted him (her) for who he was. Then, Jamie yawned. "Alright, enough for today," he said, closing the book.

"Jamie..."

"Yep?" Jamie asked, removing some books from his bookshelf to make space for the large book.

"I'm gonna keep this between us."

Jamie turned and faced his younger sister. Tears welling up in his eyes, he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you."

Sophie smiled widely and hugged back. "You're my sister, why would I not accept you?"

Jamie pulled back and stared at her. Smiling, Sophie began to tear up. "I love you," she said. She cried of happiness, hugging him, and Jamie hugged her again for the third time this hour.

Then, Sophie said, wiping tears from her eyes, "I need to go now and do homework. Bye, uh..."

"I'll think of one, don't worry," Jamie assured her. "But for now, just call me Jamie."

Sophie nodded, smiling before walking out his room.

Jamie felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Relieved, he collapsed onto his bed, grinning to himself, staring at his ceiling.

He was going to tell his friends tomorrow, and hopefully, they'd accept him too.