A short dialogue from upcoming chapter

A little scene from upcoming chapter 12. It will be generally a little lighter than the previous ones, as I want to show some teenage life, and the relations (and the everyday struggle of Pauline, and how she adjusts to being a girl). But as the finale of the story will be political, there will be some news about the situation in Poland, so the characters will talk about LGBT+ community. Let's say that if you invite Martha for your trip, Olivier will undermine her engagement. And yet, you'll get another piece to Martha's personal arc, as you keep asking "how did Martha know about the ritual before she got to school?"

***

"I think I don't understand," Martha said quietly. "Can you explain it?"

Olivier smiled mockingly.

"Sure I can."

"Olivier..." you started, but he stopped you.

"Don't worry. I remember what I promised."

Martha looked at you.

"Have you made him promise to behave?" she hissed. You rolled your eyes.

"Maybe I should ask you too," you muttered.

"I'll be kind," he said. "It's really simple. Martha, let's face facts. You're a cold bitch."

"Olivier!" you exclaimed.

"I don't think it's offending. She chooses to be like that. She's a diver, and we know what the divers do. I know the temptations, believe. Last month I needed to choose. And I chose not to be a diver."

"I believe you're so hard right now, as you persuade yourself how noble you are," Martha said with a deep contempt in her voice.

"At least I don't whore myself for the chips. But I understand. Really. You're just an egoist. So why do you keep lying to us - and maybe to yourself - that you really care about the other people?"

"I certainly don't care about you, Olivia."

"Oh, are we deadnaming right now? That's exactly my point. You don't give a shit about trans people. You tricked me. You used your access to gender switch power not to help some miserable people but as a cruel joke. So, for me, Martha, you should wipe your ass with the rainbow flag. It's what you're doing with it anyway."

Martha looked like she was hit. Her eyes bulged out, her face darkened.

"Martha..." you started, but you were no side in this conversation. She stood up rapidly.

"It's so easy to judge," she whispered. "Ignorance is a blessing, for sure... I know you won't understand it, Olivia, but I tell you something. Imagine that. You're a trans person. Your middle school is already a Hell. You loathe your own body. Focusing on your grades is a challenge. A big challenge, because already you're... different somehow. And in our society being different means that you're a freak. So, everybody treats you like a freak. Maybe you even believe that you're a freak. And you somehow graduated well enough to be at Rosset's. Maybe you believed those rumors, maybe you have nothing to lose. And you know what could happen?"

You noticed the tears in her eyes. She clenched her fists.

"Imagine that nothing happened," she said quietly. She winced. Her mouth started to tremble. "Because Auntie isn't Santa Claus. The Parity is a force, not a person. It just changes... More or less randomly. Do you think that being a transperson somehow favors you? No, it doesn't. So, after those years you see how people around you are changing. Even more - you see that their lives were rewritten, so they weren't freaks, they weren't sissies... In the eyes of their parents and the world... They're just people who they are meant to be. And you see that when you didn't change."

She cried openly. Yet, even that you didn't see her in such a condition, you didn't see her tears as the weakness.

"But you're right, Olivia. Then that person meets the divers and they could take advantage of such victim. Things that Robert wanted Pauline to do seem to be innocent foreplay..."

She took a deep breath.

"If I can't fulfill someone's dream, I don't give empty promises. Rosset's isn't a place for people who are easy to harm."

She turned around.

"I have to go out for a bit. The muggles* would be soon anyway."

* Alina, Justin (and eventually Claudia) would be called "the muggles" as they don't know about the Parity.