What's My Age Again?

"Can you two try to have a Christmas list made by tomorrow night? I need to start shopping on my days off." My Mom complained to May and I.

"Yes Mom." May and I both answered back.

I already knew what I wanted my mom to get me. I've been asking for an iPad and now was the only time she would get it for me. I needed to figure out what I was going to get her, May, and Kellin. Well I didn't know if Kellin was mad at me or not. We haven't talked outside of school in two days. He was still stuck on me telling my mom that I was dating someone. He wouldn't tell me why all he would say was, "it's important for her to know these kinds of things," whatever that meant. I didn't understand it, maybe if he told me what was really bothering him I would actually consider talking to my mom.

My mom hadn't said anything suspicious to me yet. She would check every once in a while on my "rashes" but nothing to suggest she knew about Alex and I. I don't know why Kellin would all of a sudden want me to tell her anything. Things were going good between Vic and him so it wasn't like he was jealous of my relationship. I decided to call him and see if he would tell me the real problem.

I went up to my room and closed the door so our conversation wouldn't be overheard. Then I unlocked my phone and pressed Kellin's names to call him.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey do you have a moment to talk?" I asked him.

There was a slight pause before he said, "Uh yeah. Of course."

"So you've been kind of standoffish with me lately and I wanted to know why. Did I do something because I'm really so-"

"You didn't do anything, Jack." He sighed.

"Then why have you been acting so weird around me?"

"I just...I've been under a lot of stress and I've been taking it out on you. I'm sorry." He apologized. It was strange, usually when something was bothering us we would tell each other about it but he was still being secretive.

"What has you so stressed?" I asked.

"Just school and stuff." He was lying.

"Okay so why have you been trying to convince me to tell my mom that I'm dating someone?"

"Because she needs to know, Jack."

"Well have you told your mom that you were dating someone?"

"No."

"Why not? Why should I tell my mom, but you not?" I questioned. I was frustrated not knowing what was really going on.

"It's different. I don't know this is complicated." He said, sounding just as frustrated.

"It's not complicated! All you have to do is tell me what's really going on." I snapped.

"Well all you have to do is go tell your mom." He snapped back.

We were silent on the phone for a moment. Of course this wasn't our first argument, but it's been a while since we have. I didn't know how to fix this problem. I wasn't telling my mom about Alex and Kellin wasn't going to tell me what this really was about.

"I don't know what's wrong with you?" I finally said.

"What's wrong with me?" He scoffed.

"Yeah you! Usually we tell each other everything. What's so different this time?"

"It's not my secret to tell."

"What does that mean? If it's about me and you know it then why wouldn't you just tell me?"

"I promised both of our moms that I wouldn't tell you."

"Why would you hold out on a secret that both of our moms know, but I don't know? Is it about Alex? Did you tell them?!" I asked angrily.

"No it's not that at all!" He yelled.

"Then tell me!" I demanded.

"No Jack."

"Tell me!"

"No. Just go ask your mom." He repeated.

"Fine." I hung up in his face and threw my phone down. Luckily it didn't crack or else I would have been really angry.

I wasn't going to tell my mom that I was dating anyone. I was just going to ask her what Kellin overheard her and his mom talking about.

I went downstairs to where my mom and May were sitting in the living room. I didn't know if May knew anything about this, but I was too annoyed to care so I asked right in front of her.

"Mom." I said to get her attention.

"Yes, Jacky?" She didn't take her eyes off her phone.

I didn't know how to even phase the question. "So um is there something you need to tell me?" I asked, sounding unsure of myself.

She looked up from her phone at me. "Uh no I don't think so." She shook her head.

"Well I heard just heard that there was something you and I should talk about." I shrugged.

"Was that by any chance from Kellin?" She asked and I nodded. I really didn't want to throw him under the bus but I needed to know what was going on.

"Sit down, Honey." She sighed. I sat down across from her scared of what she was about to tell me. "I really wanted to wait until it was absolutely necessary to tell you this before I had to."

"What is it?" I mumbled.

"Um sooo.” She sighed and thought of a way to tell me. “When you were born you weren't just a normal baby, you were special." She said. May nodded along with her which suggested she knew what my mom was about to tell me.

"Special how?" I asked.

"You were born with all the parts that made you made you a male plus a uterus and ovaries." She spoke slowly, but I didn't understand what she meant by that.

"What?"

"You have both female and male reproductive systems."

"So I'm a girl and a boy?" I asked and she nodded.

"Kind of."

I burst into laughter because this had to be a joke. She was just saying this to get me off her back about the real problem.

"Jack, Honey, I'm serious." She said in a serious tone, but I continued to laugh.

"Jack she's not kidding." May said and I wiped at my eyes. They were trying so hard to convince me.

"Sure whatever you two say." I chuckled.

"Look at me." My mom told me. I rolled my eyes not falling for it, but I looked.

"I'm not trying to mess with you. I'm serious, you have both reproductive systems which means you have a chance of becoming pregnant. That's why I was always so concerned with you dating someone. If you have sex with a guy you run that risk. I just didn't want to tell you until you began dating. I didn't want you to feel different about yourself."

It did kind of make sense. She was always trying to get me to tell her if I was dating someone. Plus Kellin panicked when I told him Alex and I had unprotected sex. She was telling the truth. I was pretty sure all of the color had drained out of my face.

"Please say something, Honey!" She begged.

"...I don't know what to say."

"I know it's a lot to take in. I'm so sorry."

"I'm going to go lay down." I whispered and got up. I don't think I made it to the first stair step before I fell to the ground.

I woke up in my mom's bed with her and May next to me. My mom was rubbing my face with a wet towel. I don't know how long I was out.

"Hey Jacky, are you feeling okay?" My mom asked.

"Yeah I think so." I answered. "What happened?"

"You passed out shortly after you stood up."

I remembered everything now. She told me that I had both male and female parts. I still couldn't believe it. I wasn't a normal teenage boy anymore, I never was. This meant that I was going to have to be extra careful when I had sex with Alex from now on. No more unprotected sex.

"How do you feel?" May asked me.

"Confused."

"I know it's really difficult to accept, but I can help you with any questions you might have." My mom said, letting her doctor side come out.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want to rest." I told her and she nodded.

My mom and May stayed with me until I fell asleep again. I woke up in the middle of the night with my mom next to me sleeping. I didn't feel like getting up and going to my own bed. I picked up my phone and saw that it was three am. I also saw that I had two text messages from Alex. The first one was telling me how much he missed me and the second was apologizing for probably disrupting me while I was probably doing homework or studying. I texted him that I wasn't feeling too well and that I would call him when I woke up in the morning. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning and saw that I overslept and missed the beginning of school. My mom wasn't in bed with me anymore. I got up and found her in the kitchen eating doughnuts.

"Hey, I let you sleep in today. I figured you didn't want to go to school after everything." She said.

"Yeah thanks." I said.

"I bought doughnuts from Krispy Kreme!" She exclaimed but I didn't get as excited as I usually would. Krispy Kreme doughnuts were my favorite, but I still felt down about yesterday's news. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked and I shook my head. I really wanted to forget everything she told me yesterday and pretend I didn't know anything about it.

I walked over and picked up a doughnut and slowly began eating it. I couldn't even fully enjoy my doughnuts. This news was ruining everything. I wish I never pressured Kellin into telling me or asked my mom about it. It was good that I knew it now though, so I could be more careful with Alex.

Speaking of which I needed to call him like I said I would. I also needed to call Kellin and talk to him. I put a few doughnuts on a napkin and stood up.

"I need to go do some homework." I lied and my mom nodded. She probably thought I was actually going to do homework to distract myself from what I just learned. I went up to my room and called Alex. It was kind of early so I wasn't expecting him to be awake, but he was.

"Hello!"

"Hey Lex." I mumbled. I didn't mean to sound so depressed, but I could help it.

"Baby what's a‘matter?" He sounded concerned.

"I don't feel good." I told him.

"What hurts?"

"My head."

"Aw I would come over, but I have a few interviews to do with the guys today." He complained.

"It's okay. My mom is here taking care of me."

"Yeah, but I want to take care of you too." He said, making me smile.

"It's the thought that counts."

"I guess." I could hear Matt in the background telling him it was time to start. "Okay. I really don't want to go, but I have too."

"It's okay. Talking to you actually made me feel a little bit better."

"I wish I could talk to you longer. I'll call you later on to check on you again, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." We hung up.

I remembered that Kellin was in school and that I couldn't call him. I actually got out my homework to do it while I waited.

Notes

Alright who guessed it?