Elaine tapped her foot anxiously. The rain made soft tinking sounds on the steel roof that protected the bus stop from the rain. Every now and then she’d use her hand to shield the three-inch person resting on her shoulder from the weather as she peeked out of the bus stop into the road to see if their bus was anywhere near.
“It should have been here almost seven minutes ago…” she said with an agitated huff. “We can’t be late on our first day! That would be so fuckin’ embarrassing.”
Hebe’s mind was elsewhere though, thinking about what University would be like. They hadn’t been to school since 8th grade, and their experiences hadn’t been exactly positive. Hebe was made fun of for their appearance, apparent androgyny, voice, and, worst and most obvious of all, their size. Teachers had been less than understanding and Hebe had to struggle simply to survive. They might not have even been able to go to any school at all if they hadn’t met Elaine. The decision for Hebe to accompany Elaine to University hadn’t been an easy one. They both argued in short bursts repeatedly for several weeks. In the end they agreed that Hebe was a person who had an inherent need to learn, just like any other person their age.
Hebe’s train of thought was cut short by Elaine raising her voice slightly to get their attention.
“Sorry, what?” Hebe said. “I wasn’t listening”
Elaine rolled her eyes. “We didn’t talk about where I’m gonna keep you on the way,” she said, looking down at the figure on her shoulder. “You can’t just be visible all the time, and also I’m always afraid you’re gonna fall from there.”
“Ah, shit.” Elaine was right. Hebe would be at the very least a distraction for the other students, not to mention in danger of getting dropped and lost. Do to their very light weight, they could take a much longer fall than a normal person could, but that wouldn’t matter if they got lost in the cavernous halls of school buildings. “Did you bring my fanny pack?”
Elaine scowled and looked away. “You know I hate wearing that. It literally makes me look like a white mom and Disney World.”
“What, you don’t like Mickey Mouse and all his cool friends?” said Hebe in a joking tone. This prompted a rather forceful but playful poke from Elaine. She ignored their jest.
“I’m afraid if I put you in my pants pocket you’ll suffocate, and if I put you in my backpack you could be crushed by all the shit in there.”
“You worry too much. Can we just do like we did in middle school?” said Hebe.
Elaine blushed. “I don’t know if that’s appropriate anymore. Also, I don’t have a breast pocket on this blouse.”
Before they could come to a decision, the bus pulled up abruptly in front of the two. The door opened and the bus driver gestured Elaine to board without looking up from the road. Elaine looked around frantically, before grabbing Hebe from her shoulder and cupping them in her hands to conceal them. Before Hebe had time to react before their face was pressed against Elaine’s soft fingers in darkness, a bit of clouded light seeping through.
“Bus pass?” Hebe heard the muffled, gruff voice of a woman who was certainly a smoker through her hands and immediately recognized the trouble Elaine was in: her hands were occupied.
“Uhh, right.” Elaine hesitated for a moment before quickly, and as gently as she could, rolling Hebe up into her left fist. Hebe had anticipated this and curled up into a ball to help conceal them. Elaine nervously dug around her backpack’s front pocket while the bus driver glared impatiently. Finally, she pulled out a red card and allowed the bus driver to scan the mag strip before briskly walking to the back and finding a seat as far away from the other passengers as she could. She sat down and silently opened her hand to make sure Hebe was ok, to which they responded with a thumbs up. Elaine pulled out her phone and pinned it between her ear and shoulder to give passengers the illusion that she was talking on the phone.
“Are you ok? That was really sudden,” said Elaine, glancing down at Hebe and then up before anyone got suspicious.
“I’m fine.” Hebe responded.
Elaine shushed Hebe. “They’ll hear you!” She whispered, eyes darting between passengers on the bus.
“My voice is so small, I think if I just talk kinda quietly I’ll be fine.” Hebe said, annoyed by Elaine’s anxiety. The bus started moving suddenly and knocked Hebe down on their friend’s hand.
“Fine. But we still have to decide what to do with you.” She furrowed her brow in thought, examining her clothes and backpack for a good spot. Her face lit up as she realized she had a loose pocket on the inside of her black zip-up hoodie. She lifted Hebe up and slid them inside. She tried to do this as discretely as possible, but when she looked up trying to act natural, she caught the eye of a girl about her age who had gotten on after her. The stranger had a nose ring and dark eyes, which lingered for just a moment too long before she turned back to face the front. Elaine suspiciously looked at the back of her head and her shoulder-length wavy black hair. She hoped the girl hadn’t seen anything, but judging from the look she gave Elaine, she couldn’t be too sure.
Hebe was startled by the abrupt movement but found themself in a comfortable and warm pocket. They peeked out only to realize their new hiding spot was pressed up against Elaine’s bare upper chest, close to her collarbone. Hebe blushed slightly and slid back down to find a comfortable spot. The two were very close, but situations like this never got any less awkward. From their spot in Elaine’s jacket pocket, they could make out the tattoo on Elaine’s lower collarbone. The tattoo was a simple one of only outlines, no shading or coloring, depicting a cherry blossom with a small bee resting on one of the buds. Hebe was wondering how they could get a tattoo of their own at their size when they felt Elaine stand up and start to move out the door. They could feel the air chill and their “room” bounce as Elaine exited the bus into the rain and started speedwalking to their first class. Hebe reached out and tugged on a thin chain necklace Elaine was wearing to get her attention. She slowed down and unzipped her jacket enough to look inside. From Hebe’s perspective, Elaine’s face now occupied the entire gap between her jacket and the outside world. Her loose hair fell down around Hebe.
“What’s wrong?” Elaine asked breathlessly.
“I just uhh… Before we get to class… I just don’t know what I’m supposed to say to the professor,” Hebe said, fear showing in her voice.
“Hopefully not that much. I think we just have to introduce you and hand them the ADA form we printed off,” assured Elaine. When Hebe found out they were accepted to Cascades University in Oregon, they discovered that the school, like most people Hebe met, had never dealt with someone their size. They were advised to seek help through the school’s ADA, the office that dealt with disability accommodation. They were sent an email containing a form which Elaine helped Hebe fill out detailing their needs and what the university can do to accommodate. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it was something. Hebe, not quite satisfied by this answer, slouched down in the pocket they were in and absentmindedly played with a piece of string that had come loose from the seam in Elaine’s jacket pocket.
Finally, Hebe heard a door open and felt the air get warmer. Elaine had left a gap in her jacket, and Hebe gazed at the building through the opening. The first floor had tile floors and few classrooms, mostly study areas, a few private glass study rooms, and a small coffee counter in the corner. The building was built recently and had an open concept, so as Elaine walked through the center of the floor, Hebe could see up the main shaft of the building all the way to the fifth floor, above which was a sunroof which let in obscured light from outside. To a normal sized person like Elaine, this was a pretty regular building with a few neat spots here and there, but it was the largest structure Hebe had ever seen. They gawked at the Greco-Roman columns that decorated the building’s interior and took in everything in their field of view with awe.
“We’re up on the second floor,” said Elaine quietly. She looked down to see Hebe’s face covered in wonder and smiled. Ever since Elaine had to mostly homeschool Hebe through high school, she knew that they needed to see more of the world to be happy. She was happy for them in that moment, and even sort of wished that mundane things such as the architecture in their Liberal Arts building amazed her as much as they amazed Hebe. She walked up the wide staircase that zigzagged along the central shaft and approached their classroom on the second floor.
“Shit,” she said, “class has already started. FUCK that bus driver.”
Elaine opened the glass door as quietly as she could and snuck into the nearest empty seat at the back of class. The professor, a Puerto Rican man with short black hair who looked to be in his early thirties, glanced up at them briefly, but didn’t stop lecturing. On the board, the words “ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION” were written, with a few bullet points beneath it. Elaine took out a short plastic desk divider about half a foot tall that she had bought and set it up to her left in a half-rectangle, with the open side facing her. She gently pinched the back of Hebe’s shirt and lifted them out of her jacket, placing her on the desk beside the divider. The girl who was sitting to Elaine’s left watched this ritual with a confused look on her face, trying not to stare and to appear engaged in the lecture, but she didn’t yet seem to spot Hebe. Beside them, Elaine also placed a small plastic baggy which had in it irregularly cut pieces of paper as well as broken up pieces of graphite mechanic pencil refills for Hebe to take notes.
The lecture wasn’t boring but wasn’t particularly interesting. The two roommates took shorthand notes about the United States’ pre-constitution government after the revolutionary war. Elaine occasionally caught the girl sitting to her left looking towards her, but each time they made eye contact, the girl would quickly look back to the chalkboard. After roughly half an hour the professor at the front wrote a question on the board, which read: “Do you think the original constitution could have used improvements? What would you have changed?”
“Alright class," the professor said in a louder voice than anyone expected he had, "you’ve heard enough of me talking. Now I want you to get into small groups of two to three and discuss this question.” He tapped the board, then paused for a moment. “Also, if you came into class late, could you come see me at the front? You’re not in trouble, you just missed a sheet I gave out.”
Hebe’s heart rate spiked. This would be their first ever interaction with a college professor! They organized their haphazardly scribbled pile of notes into a neat pile and stood up to look at Elaine. Elaine bit her lip nervously and lowered her hand for Hebe to board. They hesitated but got on to let her carry them to the front of the class. As they walked away, the two heard a gasp come up from behind them where they had been sitting. Hebe tried to turn and look, but Elaine’s arm blocked their view.
Two others had stood up and made it to the front before Elaine and were talking with the professor and accepting a few pieces of paper. Neither looked back to notice their unusually small classmate anxiously rocking back and forth on Elaine’s hand, but the professor shot a glance at the two each time one of his other students walked away from his desk. Finally, the two reached the front.
“Hello! I was told I’d have you in my class,” said the professor respectfully, addressing Hebe first, then Elaine. “I’m Professor Betan, I’m your professor for American Political History.” Elaine introduced herself, then waited for Hebe to introduce themself. After a few seconds of silence, Elaine could tell they were nervous, so she introduced Hebe as well. He then handed Elaine four yellow sheets of paper. “These are your class syllabi as well as a schedule that includes the due dates of all the homework and exams. Hebe, I’ll let your friend take care of your papers for now if that’s alright with you. Also, if you have difficulty using those, the forms are available on the class website.” Hebe nodded and smiled. For just an instant, Professor Betan’s smiling face changed to one of pity or concern, but they maintained their cheerful demeanor. “If there’s anything I can do to help you succeed in this class, please don’t hesitate to ask.” The two thanked Betan and returned to their seats, where Hebe got to see what the gasping was about.
The girl who had been sitting to their left had her mouth covered with her hands. Her eyes were fixated on Hebe. Elaine looked around uncomfortably before she sat down.
“Uh, hi,” she said, “I’m Elaine…” She paused and waited for their classmate to introduce herself.
“Oh! Hi, I’m sorry. I’m Izzy,” she said, without taking her eyes off Hebe. Izzy was wearing dark blue torn jeans and a yellow knit sweater. She brushed her curled brown hair out of her face, and the silver bracelets around her wrist jingled together. “Who’s your… umm…”
Hebe interrupted. “I’m Hebe.” They were annoyed that Izzy had asked Elaine, and didn’t want to think about how Izzy intended to end that sentence. “I’m a freshman.”
Izzy made a squeaking sound when she heard Hebe speak. “Hi Hebe!” she said in a slightly higher pitched tone, as if she were addressing a child. “It’s so nice to meet you! I had read about someone like this coming here, but I didn’t think you’d be right next to me!”
Elaine could sense the tension. “Soooo, do y’all wanna talk about the question?”
“Oh, yeah yeah, sure,” Izzy said, seeming to snap out of it for a moment. Before she looked back down at her paper, she whispered to Elaine “she’s so cute!”
“They,” corrected Elaine, “and don’t call them cute.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“
“It’s fine,” Hebe interrupted. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just discuss the question.”
The two were used to this sort of behavior from strangers, but it annoyed them nonetheless. Hebe had kept a low profile for most of their life, so most people weren’t aware that their condition existed. Meeting new people was always weird for them. Hebe simply rolled their eyes and asked what they had missed. After a moment of awkwardness, the three finally got into a discussion about the coursework.
. . .
As the class was wrapping up, people who had finished their discussion and packed their bags and started to shuffle out of class. Elaine had a shitload of colorful pens scattered about her desk space, so she was taking a moment to pack up. As people approached Elaine and Hebe, their conversations stopped abruptly one by one, and Hebe endured hundreds of stares from their classmates. Hebe could hear them whispering as they exited the class. Suddenly, they felt incredibly alien. They weren’t going to cry, but they really wanted to. Elaine noticed and looked down in sympathy, but didn’t want to make Hebe feel more vulnerable, so she kept quiet. After most of their classmates, including Izzy, had departed, Elaine heard Professor Betan call down from the front.
“Elaine, could I speak with you privately for a moment?”
She looked at Hebe in concern and reached out her hand, but Hebe waved it away and said they would be fine. “Almost everyone has left anyways, I’ll just pack up my stuff.” Elaine nodded and went up to talk to the professor. But as she moved out of Hebe’s line of sight, Hebe spotted one other person in the classroom who they couldn’t see before. She had wavy black shoulder-length hair and a nose ring, and was wearing a leather jacket and tall pleather platform boots. Elaine would have recognized her as the girl from the bus, but to Hebe she was a complete stranger. Despite this, her eyes were completely fixed on them. It wasn’t like Izzy, who was looking on in endearment and interest. This girl was in a trance, completely enticed by Hebe. Hebe stared back for a moment before giving a timid wave. As if she thought it was an invitation, the girl stood up suddenly and started walking towards Hebe. They didn’t know what to do, and didn’t want to seem weird, so they just pretended they didn’t notice. But as the woman crossed the room, clearly directed towards them, Hebe began to panic. Just as the stranger was just one row away from them, Elaine bounced back up the stairs of the amphitheater style classroom and picked up the rest of Hebe’s stuff.
“We’re good to go! Betan just wanted to talk about accommodations for you. We gotta hurry though, our next class is on the clear other side of campus.”
Hebe returned to their jacket-pocket sanctuary, but as they did, they glanced to see the girl from the bus standing still, staring at them. It sent a chill down their spine, but they brushed it off for the time being. They had better things to worry about.