“Athena!”My mom yells at me while in the kitchen. I didn't respond as I was looking at myself in the mirror with a dress on and heels. I felt uncomfortable. My mom made me straighten my hair for school the next day. It sucks, I think to myself, what if i just pour a little water. I heard footsteps come near my room, it was mom. She opened the door with the biggest smile and her eyes got watery when she saw me. “You look so beautiful”, Mom says as I roll my eyes. “Why don't you wear dresses more often? I brought you so many.” Inside me I scream in disgust. “Can we go already?”I said looking in the mirror like I saw a different person. I wanted to wear shorts and a tank top but we are going out to dinner so I have to “dress nice”. 

At the restaurant I greet everyone with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Everyone told me how nice it was to see me dressed as a lady then a homeless man. “Oh my, I didn’t even recognize you, Athena. I almost never see you in dresses.”, My Grandmother says as she gently puts a piece of my hair behind my ear. I put a fake smile on my face and greeted everyone else, feeling like they don’t know the real me. “You should always wear dresses, like when you were younger”, My aunt says as I greet her. Feeling more unnoticed in my family. My uncle is usually the only one who understands me.

“Why you look so fancy, I look more comfortable with shorts”, My uncle says and I laugh. My uncle and his girlfriend buy me my clothes most of the day. By most of the time I mean like Christma gifts. My uncle is my idol. I can’t say that because everyone would get offended.

As we reserve our table and sit down I look at the menu. I saw the juiciest steaks and bbq ribs and I wanted them all. I told my mom what I wanted and she looked at me in disgust. “You should eat something more healthy and clean”, she said. And looked at the menu for something “better” for me to eat. A few minutes later she showed me the menu and pointed to a salad that she was also getting. “You should eat more salad to look more like a lady”,my mom said as I looked at the appetizing green veggies in the salad thinking of the steak and ribs I could have had.

When everyone ordered their food, I imagined their orders to be more grand than mine. My mom and I received our meals first, since the portion was so small. Our meals look like they could feed a family of squirrels in one bite. After I was done eating my “meal”, everyone got theirs. As everyone eats i start thinking about how good it would taste in my mouth, my mom catches me staring “rudely”. 

“Would you like some of my food?”, my grandmother offered with a piece of steak on her fork. I look at my mom and hesitate but she doesn’t notice, as I look back I already had the piece of steak that was on my grandmother’s fork on my plate. As she finished the piece of steak her stomach grumbled wanting more. She hesitated wondering what her mom would think. She panics if her mom saw her eat the steak, words overflow her mind. In the car ride home, she realized she was spaced out and missed half of dinner.

When she arrives at home, she changes to the clothes that made her feel like her. After realizing she hadn’t eaten in half an hour, she goes to the kitchen to get something to eat. As she looks in the cabinet, she saw her mom on the corner on her eye giving a confused look. “What are you looking for?”, mom says. “Looking for something to eat”, i replied.

“Didn’t you just eat?”, she asked confusingly. I turned my body fully to her.

“The salad didn’t fill me up and I'm tired of wearing uncomfortable dresses that make me girly and not myself. Just because I'm a girl doesn’t mean I have to dress a certain way”, I said confidently.

“Im so sorry I didn’t see you and instead of the imagine I wanted you to be in.” I tear up and she came up to me and hugged me.