Chapter 50

“And about your gender identity?”

Anton mutely shook his head. To his relief, Ellen merely made a note and nodded.

“Are they accepting of that relationship?”

“Yeah,” Anton said. “Some of the boys tease Jude a bit, but it’s not like nasty teasing. And he’s really—he doesn’t get weird in public or anything, and there’s this one kid, Will Thorne, he says stuff sometimes and Jude just gets in his face, like. It’s not secret.”

“Would you say it would be a different relationship if you were a cisgender male?”

Anton opened his mouth—and paused. Would it be? They’d have done more than a bit of kissing on his bed, he was pretty sure. Jude obviously wanted to, and Anton kind of did, too, so maybe if he wasn’t so weird about getting naked and letting Jude see him, touch him properly, then…

“Maybe we’d have…done more. You know, in bed.”

This was what he liked about Ellen—she didn’t call him on it or challenge him, she simply said, “Anything else?”