“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!”

“Uhhh, what is that?” I thought. I turned over and pressed snooze on my alarm clock. “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” I quickly fell back asleep.
“Beep, beep, beep!”
“Time to get up,” I thought. I always got up the second time my alarm went off. I jumped out of bed and soon felt like something was different. After getting dressed, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. As I looked in the mirror I noticed something was definitely wrong. I frantically started to feel my face. Instead of my hair touching the tops of my shoulders, it was now touching the tops of my ears. There were no earrings in my ears, and my eyelashes were shorter. “I look like a b- b- boy!” I thought to myself.
“How can I be a boy?” I asked myself. That was impossible. “What, I went to bed as a girl, but woke up as a boy?” Then I thought, “Wait, if I look like a boy, does that mean my voice is different too?” Well, I had to find out. I took a deep breath and quietly whispered, “Hello.” Except, instead of saying hello in a high voice, it was hello in a really deep voice.
“Oh, no!” I shouted. “What should I say to my mom?” I exclaimed. I quietly thought in my head, “Oh yeah, so I went to bed as a girl, but woke up as a boy. Yeah, like she’s going to believe that.” I needed to think of a plan. How would I get past her without saying anything? I was so worried because my mom is one of those moms who loves to have excruciatingly long conversations with you.

I finally thought of a plan that might work. I would wear a sweatshirt with an oversized hood that covered my head and hid my face. Then, I would go downstairs, quickly get my food out, and shove the food down my throat. That way, I wouldn’t be able to talk to my mom. I brushed my hair. It was a nice break to not have to spend hours on my hair making it look perfect. “Ok, it’s game time,” I told myself.

I ran downstairs as fast as I possibly could, opened up the pantry, and took out a bowl and cereal. I quickly poured the cereal into my bowl and then the milk. I took a heaping spoonful of cereal and shoved it down my throat. I chewed extremely slowly, so I wouldn’t have time to speak.

“Emma, Emma, take smaller bites. Oh my gosh,” she said. But I didn’t. I just kept shoving more and more food in my mouth. Finally, it was time to go to my bus stop. I stood up, waved goodbye to my mom, and bolted to my bus stop. I got to school fine without saying anything.

Luckily, our school doesn’t have a policy against wearing hoods, so I decided to keep mine up so people couldn’t see my short hair. I opened my locker, took out my books, and went to my first hour comm. class. In class we were reading out loud “Tiger in the Woods.” We were doing popcorn reading. That’s where someone reads as much as they want, and when they’re done they pick someone else. Right after Ellie was done reading, she looked around the room and thought about who she should pick. Then out of nowhere she shouted, “Emma!”
“Huh? How will I be able to talk without someone realizing that I am a boy?” I thought inside my head. I took a deep breath and tried to talk in the most girlish voice I could. I started to read, “Just then, the tiger stepped out from his den.” My voice sounded like a screech coming from a horror movie. After that, the bell rang, “Beeeeeep!” “That is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me in my life!” I thought.
Next, I headed off to science. The only thing I would have to worry about was greeting the teacher before coming into the science room. Mr. Johnson was standing right next to the door waiting to greet me. I shook his hand without saying hello, smiled, and walked into the room. He probably thought I was odd, but at least I didn’t have to talk. I went through the rest of my classes without saying a word.
When I went to bed that night, I fell asleep instantly. The next morning, when my alarm clock went off the first time, I got out of bed and raced to the bathroom. I looked at my face. My hair was touching my shoulders, my earrings were in my ears, and my eyelashes were longer and darker. I jumped up and down with joy. Then I remembered my voice. I was so nervous; my hands were trembling and I could feel sweat dripping down my face. I took a deep breath in and out and quietly said, “Hello.” I couldn’t believe it! My voice was back to normal! I was a girl again! I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs. My mom said hello and started having her long conversation with me. Instead of ignoring her, I listened to the whole thing, and I was glad to do so. I was just so happy to be myself, and I never wished I looked different, or that I was someone else, again.