Mask Off

"Dance with me," Iago said, holding his hand out.

Jule looked at him with a face, hesitating. Iago's face fell at the reaction and stopped.

"I'm sorry. I made you uncomfortable."

"No, I just... I'm sorry..."

Jule turned and ran through the double doors, leaving Iago standing there alone. He followed to see his date slumped between the doors of the bathroom, sobbing.

"Jule, what's wrong?" he asked, standing a safe distance away.

"I don't know which fucking bathroom to go in!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I lied when we met, okay? I'm not trans. I'm not a woman. I don't want to be a boy. I'm fucking confused, okay?"

"That's okay," Iago said.

"No it isn't! My whole existence is fucking wrong and everyone knows it."

Tears were hitting the floor now. Iago, now sitting a foot or so away, took Jule's hand. "I understand how that feels."

"What the fuck are you talking about? You can't understand this unless you're going through it."

"This is the first school I've ever been to. I'm technically not alive. My parents were some badass bank robbers and I guess they just had me in their backseat and kept going. When they went down, they told me to go down to some house with this note and the people just took me and made me do all of this. But it doesn't feel right, you know? I used to be helping break safes and learning how to pickpocket people without them knowing. I still do it sometimes. It's just a habit. I mean, I'm not going through not knowing my body but this world that I'm supposed to be in isn't me and now I can't really leave."

"You don't exist?"

"I mean, I do now but I didn't for the first seventeen years or so."

"You're seventeen?"

"Yeah, that's what they say. I only really know my birthday because my parents would always do a special job for it. We didn't do cake or balloons or any of that. Well, we did once but that was just for a job."

"That's badass."

"Not to me. It's just life. All these action movies look like child's play sometimes."

Jule laughed at the floor. "So what happens now?"

"Whatever you want. That's the best thing I was ever taught. Go with the flow. You know how I feel about you. And whether you want to be with me or someone else, you've got a friend for life."

Teary-eyed, Jule pulled Iago into a tight hug. Iago smiled and kissed Jule's head.

"Want to go back to prom now?"

"Why would I want to? It was boring anyway."

Iago smiled and held Jule's hand. "I can at least walk you out."

"That would be nice."

As they walked down the hallway, Jule spoke up again. "So, your name isn't really Iago?"

"No, it is. Othello was my mom's favorite play. She had a thing for Iago. She said he was the best villain she'd ever read. Liked his charisma."

"She sure missed the mark with you, huh?"

"She definitely did. But I barely heard my first name."

"What did they call you? Agent 007?"

"We were bank robbers, not spies." Iago chuckled.

"So, what was it?"

"Racecar."

"Racecar?"

"Yeah, my dad had a thing for palindromic names. I would've had a sister named Hannah."

"Sisters are overrated."

"Oh yeah? You have a sister?"

"Correction, I have five sisters. My mom likes to joke that I may be going through whatever I'm going through but I'm still the most low maintenance of her kids."

"At least she's supportive."

"Yeah, my parents had a friend that committed suicide a year before I was born and she was always understanding. That's my namesake. And when I told them, they said she taught them to always be understanding so they'll ride this rollercoaster with me."

"That's nice. Your sisters don't say stuff about it?"

"Of course not. That's not even hitting below the belt. That's shooting someone in the head during a petty argument. We love each other. No matter how mad they get, they never say anything bad about who I am or call me names or anything. Hell, my six-year-old sister just punched another kid who was talking shit about me."

Audrey walked past with a face and giggled to her friends. Iago looked at the ground. "Must be nice. My family is always throwing this shit at me. Let something go missing and it's WWIII in that bitch."

"That's not family. That's just mean. Family is supposed to love you no matter what."

"Fat chance."

They were outside now, standing in front of Jule's pickup truck.

"You going home now too?"

"No. I mean, I don't want to but even if I did, I can't leave without Audrey and Jackson."

"Would they notice if you left without them? I mean, I can give you a lift if you want."

"Only if you drive slow. I'm in no hurry to get home."

"Don't worry. I'll drive at a snail's pace."

"Good." Iago climbed in.

Jule started the car and drove down the street. Iago sat quietly in the passenger seat, playing with a quarter.

"So, have you ever been to Paris before?"

"I mean yeah, a couple- Oh, you mean here. No, this is my first time."

"Maybe I can show you the tower. Though I love the movie theater. My sister works there and can get us some free popcorn."

"I'd love that," Iago said with a smile.