When I was little, I totally knew what it was like to be the only chick in a group of boys. Although I never thought much about it, everyone else did. Someone always had an opinion on me and why I was always hanging out with the guys and it made me sick.
I can finally say I've met someone just like me in Toni Valentine from One of the Guys! I brought her in today because I want everyone to know what it's like being us! So Toni, what is it like being the only girl in a group of all those guys?
"Hey. Toni Valentine here. You know what I love? HORROR MOVIES. Any kind, really, but in particular creature features. Yep. I like monsters. That’s because I saw one, in the flesh, when I was in fifth grade. The guys saw it too. Anyway. Let me tell you a bit about them, my guys: Loch. Cowboy. Ollie. They’re my best friends. And, yeah, they’re all dudes.
Sometimes my mom will ask me if I like being the only girl in my group of friends. I’m not sure how to answer that, I guess because I don’t really think of it that way. There’s never really been that gender line. Not one I ever saw, anyway. Loch. Cowboy. Ollie. They’re just my buds. We like movies and hunting for monsters and playing basketball in Loch’s driveway and video games. You don’t have to be a certain gender to enjoy any of that stuff. The guys have always accepted me as one of them.
Even when Loch starting dating, the first of us to take that plunge, I never felt uncomfortable as the sole female in the crew. The boys never asked me to leave the room when they would talk about girls they liked. They never gave me funny looks. They never made me feel like I shouldn’t be right there with them, making jokes, laughing, part of everything. Until I transferred to the Winston Academy for Girls senior year. Then things got weird.
But before all that, when it was just the four of us, I felt comfortable. It was those moments—when we were out on the lake, when we were watching movies in Loch’s basement—that I felt like the girl thing didn't matter. We were just us, you know? Four friends with a history. Sigh. I totally miss that.
So there you have it! Boys and girls can still be just friends. And it doesn't have to always be weird.
BIO: Lisa Aldin graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in English Literature. She now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband and daughter. ONE OF THE GUYS is her debut novel.