Arin Andrews - Some Assembly Required. The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen

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This book is a memoir. It reflects the authors present recollections of his experience over a period of years. Some names and identifying details have been changed, and some dialogue has been recreated from memory.

Text copyright 2014 by Arin Andrews

Jacket photograph copyright 2014 by John E. Barrett

Jacket design and object sculpture by Laurent Linn

Photographs on copyright 2012 by Arin Andrews. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Photographs on copyright 2014 by Anissa Denise Richter. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Photograph on copyright 2011 by Jana Andrews.

All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Book design by Laurent Linn

The text for this book is set in Aldine 401.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Andrews, Arin.

Some assembly required : the not-so-secret life of a transgender teen / Arin Andrews.

pages cm

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Arin Andrews shares all the hilarious, painful, and poignant details of undergoing gender reassignment as a high school student in this winning teen memoir Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4814-1675-7 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-4814-1677-1 (e-book) 1. Andrews, ArinJuvenile literature. 2. Transsexual youthUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. Transgender youthUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 4. TransgenderismUnited StatesJuvenile literature.

I. Title.

HQ77.8.A53A3 2014306.7680835dc232014010948

For my mom:

Thank you for loving me endlessly and giving me life, not once but twice.

I love you.

Getting dumped at prom sucks.

I mean, getting dumped period sucks, obviously. But to have it happen in formal wear in front of hundreds of people adds a humiliating slap across the face that an I-just-want-to-be-friends text cant compete with.

Its basically the exact opposite of being voted prom king. In fact, it feels like the prom king decided to have you executed.

Its not like there werent warning signs that the night was going to be a disaster. Id met my date, Jessica, during the second semester of my sophomore year of high school, when I was still going by my female birth name, Emerald. She was bi, and I was out as gay at the time. I never referred to myself as a lesbian, just gay. Lesbian would have implied that I was a girl who liked girls.

I knew that I was a boy who liked girls.

My friend Alyssa introduced me to Jessicawe were all in the same psychology class. Alyssa is the type of girl who likes to touch. She was always hugging me and holding on for just a little too long, but not in a flirty way. Shes just physically affectionate. Jessica was a little more removed. She had this aloof, ice princess quality that Id always thought was kind of sexy. Leading up to the prom, wed never dated or anything, though; I was always too shy to ask her out. So when prom came around and her friends were all taking it way too seriously for Jessicas taste, with limo rentals and elaborate invitations written in soap on a prospective dates car, I was beyond psyched when she asked me to take her.

Well make it a good time, she promised me.

Oh, yes we will, I thought, imagining us slow dancing under swirling lights.

I had started the very first steps of transitioning from female to male shortly after meeting Jessica. According to the standards of care within the medical community, I needed to live in public as a male for one year before I would be allowed to have any kind of gender reassignment surgery, like having my breasts removed. I began to ask people to call me Arin instead of Emerald, and to refer to me as he instead of she. For the most part Jessica was cool about it, but every now and then shed start whining: Why cant you just be gay? Why do you have to mess with this whole transgender thing? Why cant you be normal?

She considered herself something of a rebel, but I think my coming out as trans was one step too far over the line for her. Bisexual was edgy, gay was even cooler, but being transgender was a new one for most of the people in our school. But that was okay with me at firstI understood that a lot of people were going to have a hard time getting used to the change, and I naively didnt let her complaints upset me. I thought I could educate her.

Also, to be perfectly honest, she was two years older, and it was kind of a big deal for a sophomore like me to get to attend prom.

I spent hours getting ready the night of the dance. When I had been Emerald, if Id needed to dress for a formal event, Id throw on whatever hideous dress my mom had picked out for the occasion, and Id invariably end up letting her brush my hair since I couldnt be bothered myself. She loved to do it, though. She took any and every opportunity I gave her to try to make me look pretty. Mom named me after the Emerald Pool at Trafalgar Falls in Dominicashe had visited there while pregnant with me and thought it was the most beautiful place shed ever seen. It was a lot to try to live up to back then.

But for my first prom as Arin, I went all out. I discovered the color of Jessicas dress and bought a blue shirt to wear with my suit so wed match. I ironed all my clothes until the creases were razor sharp, and I polished my black dress shoes until I could see my reflection in them. I spent forever in the shower, scrubbing myself clean. After I toweled off and put on my bindera tight piece of elastic that squashes your boobs to give the appearance of a flat chestI messed with my hair for at least twenty minutes until I got it just right.