As Stephanie kicked her legs under her seat and chatted with Trixie the next morning, she felt much better than the night prior. A smile lined the child's face and she felt at peace until Miss Regina made her way over to her desk. The teacher leaned forward, a tired smile on her lips, resting her arm on the kid's desk.

"Stephanie, you're needed in the office." The woman yawned, giving the child a reassuring grin.

Nervously, Stephanie flickered her eyes over to Trixie and back to the teacher before pulling herself to her feet. "Am I in trouble?"

The teacher chuckled. "No, you're not in trouble." She yawned again. "The office just needs you to come by and help them sort out your papers."

Sighing in relief, the small girl nodded and made her way out of the room and to the office.

When she opened the door, she couldn't help but hold pity in her heart for the office workers. Two men sat at the tall desks, sorting through papers and rubbing their heads in concentration, and she could almost feel their migranes.

"Excuse me?" Stephanie said softly, peeking over the desk at one of them. "I was called down to help sort through my papers?"

The man ahead of her, who wore a green suit and a name tag that said, 'Hi, my name is Timothy Simpcan" on it, sat forward when she spoke, peering over the desk at the girl. A smile lined his mouth as he noticed her bright pink outfit and matching hair. "Well, what's your name, Pink girl?"

She giggled a little and leaned on the counter. "My name is Stephanie Splitz, but it was Steven Splitz before."

The man made an 'o' voice before sorting through some of the papers, finally reaching hers. He looked down at her and swallowed hard. "'Honey, I can't find your paper at all." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Do you have any other last names?"

Stephanie twisted her arm behind herself abashedly. "Well, I'm staying with my uncle right now. His last name is Meanswell. Maybe Sportacus put it in as that?"

Nodding, the man flicked through the thick stack of papers again, stopping on one and pulling it out. "Yeah, here it is. Do you want it changed to Splitz?"

Stephanie bit her lip as she looked at the man. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she wanted that or not. Her relationship with her mother was rocky enough right now, but she felt wrong completely abandoning it. When the man realized the girl's nervous nature, he gave her a pitiful grin.

"Going through stuff at home?"

Nodding softly, Stephanie met his eyes.

"How about we leave it for now?" He put the paper down for a moment. "If it needs changed later, you can come tell us."

Stephanie nodded, smiling softly at the idea. She wasn't sure if she considered herself a Meanswell just yet, but she also didn't feel safe calling herself a Splitz anymore.

"One more thing," he pulled out another paper, "we need you to bring home this paper and fill it out. Since you're new." Looking at the paper she was handed, Stephanie nodded. It was just an Emergency Medical Form.

"Oh, and Mr. Simpcan?"

The man perked up slightly, nodding, "Yes, Stephanie?"

She twisted her arms behind herself again. "'What do I do if other kids are being mean to me?" She quickly elaborated. "Because of how I was…because of how they thought I was a boy before."

The man nodded slowly, considering what to say. "Well, we've been considering having an LGBTQ club again."

One of the other office workers over heard, spinning her chair over to the two, "It will be brought up at the PTA meeting tonight." She said, smiling down at the child. "We all want it to happen," she motioned to herself and the other two office workers, "but some of the parents don't like the idea. They think we're forcing ideas onto the kids. It's an elective club, though, of course, so I don't get the big deal."

Stephanie nodded, putting her hands up on the desk. "Yeah, I think they just don't like people who are different. Like me." Stephanie narrowed her eyes. She trusted these people. They were adults, after all. "I'm different because everyone used to think I was a boy, but I've always been a girl." Looking up at the woman in particular, she fidgeted her hands together. "Would I be allowed in the LGBTQ club?"

Nodding, the woman gave her a small smile. "Of course, dear. Everyone is allowed to join." She looked at the papers in her hands, "it's mainly for little kids going through things like you are, but we encourage other kids to join, too, so they can learn how to be respectful to the other students, and just learn in general."

Stephanie nodded. "What does LGBTQ mean, anyways?"

The woman shared a glance with the man beside her, who snickered and took over. "Let's just say that it's something all of the people in this room are."

Slowly nodding, Stephanie accepted the answer, but made a note to herself to ask about it at home. "Well, I'm going to ask my uncle to bring me to the PTA meeting tonight. I know he'll want the club to be made."

"That' the spirit, kiddo!" The woman cheered, pushing her glasses up, "But for now, you better hurry back to class!"

Now excited with the idea of a club full of kids that don't hate her swimming around in her head, Stephanie skipped out of the room, flapping her arms happily.

The rest of the day went by swiftly, with Stephanie telling Trixie and Stingy about the possible LGBTQ club that would be made, the two agreeing to join in support of their friend and out of their own curiosity.

When the twelve-year old made it home and ran into the house, it caught Milford off-guard, who was happily baking cookies in the kitchen.

"Uncle Milford! Uncle Milford!" She cheered, grabbing his arm and smiling up at him. "Can you take me to the PTA meeting tonight? It's very important!"

The older man looked down at his niece, a tender smiling tugging at his lips. "I'd love to, but I've got a lot of work to do this evening." He ruffled the kid's hair. "And I'm afraid Bessie does, too."

Suddenly, the happiness drained from the girl's face and became one of nervousness. "What about…what about Sportacus?"

The mayor smiled wider. "He might be free! Go ask him, he's in the living room."

Cheering, the little girl raced to the other man in the house, struggling to talk for a minute, flapping her hands in front of him. Gently, he led the girl to the couch and sat her down while she calmed down enough to talk.

"Sportacus, Sportacus! Will you come with me to the PTA meeting tonight?" She managed out, her voice squeaking like an unoiled faucet.

Chuckling, he ruffled her hair. "Well, sure! But why are you so excited for a PTA meeting?"

Flapping her arms excitedly, the girl pulled her backpack off, pulling out a sheet of paper with doodles all over it. On the paper, in the corner, the words 'LGBTQ club' was written. She pointed at the word and continued to happy flap.

"Ah, an LGBTQ club? That would be good for you." He glanced at the other doodles on the page, which were just sill drawings of Stephanie and her friends. "Do you know what LGBTQ stands for?"

The little girl shook her head. She took a deep breath before speaking, "I just know that I am LGBTQ somehow. And so are the office workers. They said so."

Nodding, Sportacus handed her the sheet back. "Do you want to know what it stands for?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"Well, the L stands for Lesbian. A lesbian is a girl who only dates girls." He explained, pointing at the letter L, watching the child nod before continuing. "And the G stands for Gay. That's when a guy only dates guys." The girl smiled and clapped her hands. Sportacus took that as permission to move forward. "B stands for bisexual. Bisexual people are people who like two or more genders." His eyes locked with hers. "Do you know what genders are?"

Shaking her head, Stephanie looked at the paper. Sportacus grinned. "Well, gender is who you are. For example, you're a girl, and I'm a boy. That's your gender." Stephanie nodded.

"So, a bisexual person likes two or more genders?" She asked softly, and Sportacus nodded.

"And T is transgender." He stared into the little girl's eyes again. "Have you heard that word before?"

Stephanie nodded slowly. "Mom used to say it a lot. She said it was a disease, though." She looked at the paper.

Sadly, Sportacus rubbed the girl's shoulder. "It's not a disease at all, Stephanie. It's a little hard to explain, but…" he squeezed her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "You know how people used to say you were a boy?" She nodded. "But you've always been a girl on the inside, right?"

Nodding, Stephanie looked at her hands and stopped happy flapping. The mention of the past made her nervous, and far from excited.

"That's what transgender people are. It's better to just say trans, though." When the girl looked up, her head tilted, her went on. "When people say the whole word, it sounds really technical and rude, doesn't it?"

Stephanie nodded. "It makes me sound like a science experiment."

"Exactly. And the same thing happens to little boys, too. Sometimes they get trapped in the wrong body when they're born." He leaned back in his seat. "And Q usually means Questioning. It's for people who are not sure if they're LGBTQ or not, yet. Sometimes it also means Queer."

Stephanie knitted her eyebrows together. "I thought that was a bad word, though."

"It can be a bad word." He looked down at the confused child. "But sometimes it's not. It matters who says it. If a Queer person says it, then it's okay. But people who aren't queer should avoid it." He went on, relaxing into his seat. "Do you know what it means?"

The girl thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"Well, it's used as an umbrella term. That means many different LGBTQ people can use it. A bisexual person can be queer, but so can a gay person."

Stephanie nodded in thought before biting her lip, Stephanie looked up at the man. "So, you can take me, though?"

Sportacus jumped up from his seat. "Of course, I can! What time is it?"

Nervously, Stephanie twiddled at the paper. "I forgot to ask."

Chuckling, Sportacus pulled her to her feet. "Don't worry about it. I'll go look it up on the school's website and we'll go tonight, alright?"

The girl nodded excitedly and flapped her arms. Sportacus left the girl on the couch and searched up the needed info and returned promptly. The two sat and chatted until it was time to go.

Slouching over in her chair, Stephanie found herself bored. She waited and waited for the discussion to arrive at the possible LGBTQ club. When it seemed to not be arriving, Sportacus nudged the girl. "Hey," he whispered, a small, awkward smile on his face, "how about you go play with the other kids? You look bored."

Grinning in agreement, the girl gave him a nod and approached the group of students in the corner. One girl looked up and noticed the newcomer, poking the other girl at her side, who glanced up as well, eyes widening. The two girls turned away, followed by the boy standing with the group.

Whispers flew among the small kids until Stephanie tapped one of the girls on the shoulder and they went silent. "May I play with you?" She motioned to the meeting occurring behind them. "I'm bored, too."

The tapped girl twirled to her side. "We're not allowed playing with kids like you."

A little hurt, Stephanie tied her arms to her side. "What do you mean…? I'm just a kid like you."

A grimace on her face, the girl turned around fully, followed by the other two children. "But…you're not like us." The girl beside her nodded.

"You're a boy...aren't you? Gabe told us so."

Tears pricked at the corners of Stephanie's eyes. "I'm not a boy. I'm a girl, too."

The group of bullies exchanged nervous glances. "No, you're not. You're just pretending to be a girl."

The boy nodded. "It's kinda gross." He snickered. "You weirdo. Dressing as a girl doesn't make you one."

The girls joined in the laughter and Stephanie hung her head in embarrassment, tiptoeing back to Sportacus. Burying her head in his arm, Stephanie sniveled.

Taken aback, Sportacus turned to the young child. "What's wrong, Stephanie?"

Wiping her eyes, the girl gazed up at him. "The other kids don't want to play with me. They think I'm too…different."

Gently, Sportacus started to dab the girl's tears away. After a moment of thought, Sportacus received an idea. "How about you tell all these parents what just happened and why it happened?"

A bit confused, Stephanie leaned over the table anyway, clearing her throat. "Excuse me?" The principal, who was the one currently talking, stopped, his eyes falling on the young girl, many other eyes following. "Mr. Principal, I was just picked on because people look at me different for being born a boy. As you can tell, I'm a girl, so it hurts."

Smiling, Sportacus patted the girl's back. "And that is why a LGBTQ club would be very helpful. This poor girl gets picked on because students don't know how to accept diversity."

The principal nodded. "An LGBTQ club? We haven't had one of those in years." He rubbed at his beard, scanning faces. "Well, I think it would be a fine idea, Mr.…"

"Sportacus."

"Mr. Sportacus?"

The mentioned man nodded. The principal seemed a bit taken back by the name, but smiled anyway. "Well, we don't have anyone to lead the club." He looked around the room. "Any volunteers?"

"I wouldn't mind managing the club." A voice said, and when Stephanie turned to see the person, she was happy to find Mr. Simpcan's face.

"Are you sure an LGBTQ club is a good idea, Mr. Orlando?" A woman asked suddenly, her eyes staring the principal down.

He grimaced and turned his head to the superintendent. "I don't know, what do you think, Barb?"

The jolly woman smiled at the principal and then to the worried woman. "Well, I think it's a wonderful idea. Could definitely help kids with their self-esteem and prevent bullying to an extent."

Stephanie leaned against Sportacus and nodded. "I would like to not get picked on anymore." She said innocently, and the superintendent smiled gently at the girl.

"Well, we've got a club leader, now we'll just need a few volunteers to help out with organizing meetings. Any takers?" The principal asked, and right away, Sportacus raised his hand as if he was a student himself.

"I'd be happy to help out with the club."

The principal smiled at Sportacus before glancing over the room. "Well, little girl, looks you're your dad is willing to help. Anyone else?"

Stephanie looked up at Sportacus, slight discomfort showing on her face from Sportacus being called her father. She flapped her hands slightly, and he pat her back. "They just didn't know." Stephanie simply nodded and kept flapping.

One woman raised her hand, the woman beside her copying the act. "We would be happy to help out the best we can." Stephanie took notice of the woman's touching hands and smiled to herself.

One other woman joined in before the principal decided that was plenty volunteers for the time being.

"Would it be alright if we had the first meeting soon?" Mr. Simpcan asked suddenly, taking the principal off guard.

"Well, why hurry so much? We have plenty of time to plan." He replied, knitting his hands together.

Mr. Simpcan glanced over at Stephanie. "With all due respect, Sir, I think it would be best to start as soon as possible, to help spread information and give the LGBTQ students in the school a support system within the school walls.

The principal's eyes fell on Stephanie, softening, before returning to the office worker. "That would be alright, I suppose. When would you like to have the first meeting?"

The office worker grinned in relief. "Well, I was thinking of having the meetings on Fridays after class is dismissed, so how about next Friday?" He leaned forward, elaborating, "That would give us enough time to spread the word and still have time to prepare a room and whatnot."

Scanning the parents in the room, which ranged from incredibly happy to incredibly upset, the principal shrugged. "That's fine with me."

Immediately, a woman spoke up. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I don't want my children poisoned like this."

"It's a club, your child wouldn't have to attend." Mr. Simpcan said abruptly, flapping his hands nervously.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but the school would be filling up with gay kids! I don't want my kid to turn gay because of all of this."

A man across the table started hollering at her, and within seconds the room was overbearingly loud. Stephanie shrunk against Sportacus side, wincing in pain. Why did people have to be so loud? She gently tugged on his sleeve, causing him to look down at her.

"Something wrong, Steph?" Sportacus asked softly, and the girl nodded.

Normally, talking was easy for Stephanie, but the sound of people arguing often overwhelmed her and forced her into going nonverbal. She simply flapped her hands in distress before pointing at the door.

"Do you want to go home?" Sportacus pulled her slightly closer to him, trying to soften the noise on her ears.

She recoiled away from the touch, pointing again, this time more aggressively.

Nodding, Sportacus stood up and slowly ushered the child out of the room.

Once in the hallway, Stephanie shrunk and covered her ears, breathing heavily. It didn't completely alleviate the intense feeling in her chest, but it helped slightly. Worried, Sportacus slunk down beside the girl, waiting patiently for the silent meltdown to pass.

After a few minutes, Stephanie's breathing had returned to normal and she looked over to the man. She still didn't have the energy to speak verbally, but she pointed at the exit, and Sportacus nodded.

Raising to his feet, he offered his hand to the child, which she graciously took, nearly falling as she rested on the balls of her feet. Without another word, he walked her out of the building and to the parking lot.

Once in front of the car, she prepared herself to climb in the back seat before Sportacus opened the passenger door, motioning her in. Flapping her arms in comfort and glee, the girl climbed inside and buckled herself, relaxing into the comfortable seat instantly. Before they could even arrive home, Stephanie dozed off.

Carefully, Sportacus carried the child inside and to her room. Lightly tucking her in with her Stegosaurus plush, Sportacus flicked the light off and was ready to leave the room when a small voice stopped him.

"I'm sorry."

Confused, Sportacus turned the light back on and entered the room, crouching by the side of her bed. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know why I acted like that, back at school. I just felt really overwhelmed. It was really loud." Pulling her plush close to her, the girl looked down at it abashedly.

Smiling softly, Sportacus put his hand softly on the girl's. "There's nothing to be ashamed about, Stephanie." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I think you might've had a meltdown."

The tired girl sat up in her bed, leaning against the frame. "A meltdown? What's that?"

Leaning forward, he crossed his hands in front of him. "Well, a meltdown happens when people get too overwhelmed. Sometimes things are too loud, or too bright, or just too intense." A small grin grew on his face. "They're completely normal. A lot of people have them. I have them sometime, too."

Her mouth fell open dramatically. "You?"

Sportacus chuckled. "Yes, even I have them sometimes. For different reasons though."

Curious, she tilted her head.

"Well, you know how you were too overwhelmed because things were too loud?" The girl nodded in response. "I'm kind of the opposite. When the world gets too quiet, it scares me. It overwhelms me." He stood up. "That causes me to have meltdowns sometimes. Now, you must be exhausted from that."

She yawned and smiled in reply, scooting herself under her covers. Sportacus chuckled and tucked the blankets in around the girl.

"Well, goodnight, Stephanie."

"Night Sportacus." With that, the lights went off for a final time that night.