Intro by Carla Ann

“Tiffany, I’ve asked you how everything is going with people and the activities you’re involved in, but you haven’t mentioned how you are coping with everything.” She emphasized the ‘you,’ when she asked that.

“Well, better than I was last year,” I started. “Way better than last year… I have a lot of friends now, and I’m not getting picked on every day.” I saw her eyes boring into me looking for something else. “Alright, I don’t know how I’m doing right now.” I told her honestly.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well for one I’m really tired of everyone guessing I’m five if I wear the wrong clothes.” I told her hesitantly. I was sure my parents had filled her in with everything anyway, “Tuesday was pajama day. Mom and I had found some cute pajamas with feet on them that would fit Amy and me, so we wore them for pajama day. We really did look cute dressed like that, and I was having a lot of fun with it. That was until the sub in English class thought that I was someone’s little sister that had come them to school that day.”

I was really surprised Dr. Reynolds didn’t laugh about it, but I continued, “Then the next day the whole squad was wearing shortalls and our hair done in pigtails and I looked to be about five again. One of my best friends even brought a doll to school to play a joke on the sub that we’d had. I don’t think she knew that it really upset me though. I’m not five, I’m twelve! Amy has grown about five inches here in the last couple months, but I’m still the same height I was last year. It’s good for cheerleading stuff because people can toss me so easily… but…” I was doing my best to not go into tears over all of this. “as long as we’ve got my puberty stopped then I won’t be doing much growing. That’s all on top of the fact that I’m never going to be able to have periods like my friends… and I’m stuck with this stupid thing between my legs,” I told her with a great deal of exasperation. “I’m so tired of having to look at it, or hide it, every time I turn around. I know you can’t do anything about it till I’m eighteen – but I wish it could be gone now!” I had gone to tears now.

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The Legal Stuff: Dreaming of Cheers  © 2010 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright  © 2010 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface
 
 
It’s been a long road to publishing this third book in my Standing Up to Life Series. I began writing the first book over two years ago, putting the first two books out in a quick succession of six months work. The third book became more challenging to finish as I had set my sights on only writing a trilogy. I declared myself finished last August, but found myself unhappy with the ending. Well seven months later I feel this is ready to give to you, my readers, and I hope you will enjoy it. It has not gone on the track I had expected, and indeed there will probably be at least one more book following this in order to complete Tiffany’s story. I hope you will find that your wait has been worth it.

Like the first two books I posted here, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. This time I am going to upload two chapters per week to the site. The full version should be completely posted by August. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($5.95 for the eBook).

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy reading Dreaming of Cheers!

 

Chapter 25:

 
THURSDAY MORNING WAS free of the torment from yesterday, but only because my parents had scheduled another appointment with Dr. Reynolds. They were all worried about me — Dr. Reynolds included — because all I seemed to be doing was crying late at night. “I’m not going to give them the satisfaction,” was my reply to Dr. Reynolds who suggested that holding it in until then every time was bad for me. She kept asking me questions making sure I wasn’t suicidal or something, before I eventually escaped back to school, certain I had missed even more homework.

“Are you okay Tiffany?” Kyle asked me on the way to band that day.

I sighed. “Yeah, more or less. I’m just tired of getting threats, and even more tired of people worrying about me more because of them…”

All the way to the band hall he listened to me talk, just nodding at the right moments and saying two word sentences, but I felt better after talking to him than I had talking to Dr. Reynolds. Just before we went into the band room I did something I didn’t expect anymore than he did. I gave him a quick hug and said, “Thank you for being you Kyle.” We must have both been red as we walked in, because when I sat down with my saxophone Jessica turned around from the clarinet row in front of me and whispered, “What happened?” clearly she wanted the gossip.

“Nothing,” I said to her honestly, more or less. I didn’t want to say we’d hugged because that would have brought more questions.

Thankfully Mrs. Remar chose that moment to step to the podium and begin her reign of tyranny over our band for the day. “Jessica turn around!” she said unhappily. I watched Jessica roll her eyes towards me but I managed to avoid the giggle that threatened to escape from my throat. She rehearsed us without mercy that day. I felt bad for Melissa, a flute player, because she had played a wrong note… Mrs. Remar nearly took her head off for it.

The end of class couldn’t have come quick enough for any of us. As I walked to Coach Holt’s office where I had stashed my cheer bag that morning, with Kyle in tow, I reflected that I may have just moved from the frying pan and into the fire though. Coach Holt was sure to be going after us today too. “Hey Tiffany, here’s your bag,” she told me as she reached into her cabinet behind her desk.

“Thanks,” I told her.

In the meantime I felt her give Kyle and then me a look before continuing, “Why don’t I go with you down there since I’m ready to close up my room.” She said that as if she’d had an especially long day already. Not a good sign!

“Okay,” I said. I looked at Kyle and said, “Thanks for walking me over here, I’ll see you tonight?”

He caught the hint of dismissal and said, “Yeah, my mom is going to come with me,” he said the last bit fairly embarrassed.

“So’s my mom, and Amy’s coming too,” I added.

“Oh… okay I’ll see you later then,” he told me.

As soon as he was out of sight, and Coach Holt had her keys out to lock her door, she asked “So… are you two going out?”

“Umm… not really no…” I told her.

“Too bad, you two would make a cute couple,” she told me with a smile.

I muttered a reply about my parents not letting me date till I’m sixteen or something. She just gave me a knowing smile. Like Mrs. Remar I felt that Coach Holt could read every thought going through my head sometimes. It wasn’t fair!

Practice went on forever that day it seemed like. Amy and I walked slowly out to my mom’s waiting car and got inside. “Hey girls,” she said as we got in.

We both mumbled a tired ‘hi,’ as we sat down and put our bags next to us on the seat.

At my house we had enough time to each take a shower, change into some nicer jeans and tops, eat, and then head off to the local community college auditorium. It was actually a pretty nice auditorium for a town like ours. We were going to have our concert there next week instead of at the high school. The stage was bigger there, and it was a lot easier to set up. When we pulled into the parking lot I looked around to see if we saw anyone we knew, but didn’t so I became immersed in a conversation with Amy.

“There’s Mrs. Remar,” I said as I looked at the program and saw her listed as ‘Alto Saxophone.’

“That’s the kind you play?” Amy asked uncertainly.

“Yes,” I told her. I didn’t blame her for not knowing I guess, but I really wish she had chosen band as her elective in sixth grade. Not that the two of us didn’t have fun in choir too, but band was where I worked a lot harder.

We had sat down in the middle of about the ninth row back, so we were about even with the stage, and talked for a while before I heard, “Oh hey!” from Mom. I turned around to look and saw Kyle and his mom walking our way. Unfortunately I was sitting with Amy on the right side of me, Mom on the left, and there was no way Kyle could sit next to me. I almost pouted before realizing Mom might see it and ask me about it. Amy and I had been sitting with our arms through each others and she gave me a knowing squeeze.

Kyle ended up sitting next to Amy, and his mom sat on the other side of my mom. “I’m glad to see you came,” I told him over Amy’s lap.

“Well its extra credit right?” He asked with a smile. The three of us talked fairly loudly for a bit until Nikki, her mom, Jessica and her mom, and a couple others showed up to watch too. The sad part was there were only maybe a hundred people in the audience. All of us from school were still talking loudly when the lights in the house went down and the band went quietly out onto the stage in the dark.

From out of nowhere we heard, “One, Two, a One-Two-Three-Four,” at a really bright tempo and then the lights came up right as the band began with a really big loud chord. With a typical big band setting of five saxes, four trombones, four trumpets, plus rhythm they put out a lot of sound! It was awesome to watch them play some really hard music. In the middle of the first song I watched Mrs. Remar stand up and begin to solo. I couldn’t believe how fast she was moving her fingers… and it sounded so good! As she sat down I clapped with the rest of the audience. I heard Kyle catcall from on the other side of Amy. I also felt rather than saw the glare coming from his mother on the other side of mine.

It was one cool song after another from the band. They played everything from swing, to funk, to rock, and in between before the intermission happened about eight-thirty. “We almost should go home,” Mom said to me.

“No Mommy, please can we stay?” I asked.

She looked at Amy standing next to me in line for the bathroom too and said, “I guess. Make sure you’re not cranky for Melanie tomorrow though,” she added. “Oh speaking of that, don’t forget you two need to pick out a couple of your dresses for tomorrow,” she said.

“Huh?” I said at first before remembering, “Oh yeah pictures,” I said. I’d forgotten that Amy’s parents were having family pictures done tomorrow, and I was being brought along for the ‘fun’ too.

“Yeah, pictures,” Amy said beside me. Apparently she’d forgotten too. She groaned, “That means I’m going to get stuck in holiday dresses too…” she pouted.

“At least you won’t have to wear them after this year,” I told her, “I’ll probably still fit in them when I’m thirty at this rate.”

“Tiffany, you are growing, and I promise you’ll be at least my height by the time you get to high school,” she told me.

“Five foot two is not very encouraging Mom,” I told her annoyed.

“Well you’re dad is five-six, that’s probably about as tall as you’re going to get.”

“You’ll just have to cheat with heels Tiff,” Amy said to me.

“I’d look like a hooker wearing heels tall enough to make me look the right height,” I complained.

Mom just laughed at me at that point and motioned me towards the stall that had just opened. I went in and used the restroom and waited for Amy and my mom to finish. Amy took a bit longer than she normally did since she had to deal with the whole tampon thing at this point. She came out looking disgusted, “I hate this,” she told me once again. I felt bad for her, but I was still insanely jealous — I’d have traded bodies with her at the drop of a hat.

The three of us returned to our seats and Amy scooted over to talk to Nikki leaving Kyle next to me for the second half. I resisted the urge the whole time to reach over and take his hand. It wouldn’t be fair to do that to him. He didn’t need to be branded a freak as much as I was. ‘Plus, how could he possibly ever like me knowing what I was?’ I asked myself over and over again.

The end of the show came at almost ten. Mom hurried us out to the car and quickly towards bed when we got home. She only paused in her hurry to send us to bed long enough for me to be forced to choose two of the dresses that were sure to make me look like I was a little kid. In the pictures that we had taken as a family I had looked pretty, but more in that little girl way than I liked to think about. When I had taken pictures with Amy over the summer we’d been the same height and she hadn’t started growing breasts yet so we looked like we were pretty close in age. Now that she had several inches on me and was growing a chest she was sure to look like an older sister.

‘Well she is almost a year older than you,’ part of me said. And if I was ever going to have an older sister Amy was definitely the best to have. Still… I sighed eventually and held Emily, my tiger, even tighter while rolling over in my bed to look at Amy already asleep on my trundle bed next to me. Mom had to give her some Midol before she was able to get comfortable. She really did seem kind of miserable, but it didn’t change my desire to have the chance to have that myself…

 

IN THE MIDDLE of the night that night I woke up suddenly, I couldn’t figure out why for a couple moments until I realized my chest hurt, and hurt a lot. I sat up and walked to the bathroom where I pulled up my shirt. I looked at my breasts, the nipple areas seemed really red, and I noticed it seemed maybe they were actually bigger? As I brushed my finger up against it to touch I just about screamed… it hurt! Was there something wrong? They’d been sore a month before, but nothing like this!

I heard a knock at the door and quickly pulled my shirt down, “Are you okay in there Tiffany?” I heard Mom ask.

I opened the door, “I don’t know,” I told her.

She entered, gave me a hug, and then said, “What’s wrong?”

“My chest is really sore,” I told her embarrassed.

“Show me?” She asked.

I was kind of reluctant to pull my shirt up, but she said, “Tiffany it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

I pulled up my pajama top and she smiled, “Well I guess they’re definitely growing, huh?”

“Are they?” I asked.

“It looks like it to me sweetie.” She paused before asking, “Just how sore are they?”

“Really sore,” I told her. I had seen in the mirror though that they had developed into larger mounds of flesh seemingly overnight.

She reached into a drawer and pulled out a sealed box that said, ‘topical analgesic’ on it. She opened the package and handed me a tube of stuff that looked a lot like the stuff you put on cuts. “Sweetie rub this onto them and let me get you some medicine to take too.”

I did as she told me and winced as I touched my nipple areas. It did help though, so that made things better. I had just finished up and pulled my shirt back down when Mom returned with a glass of water and a white pill. I took it and asked, “What was that?”

“Midol,” she said.

“Is that going to be alright for me to take?” I asked a little worried.

“Sweetie it’s mostly Tylenol. It’s got a couple other things in there, but it should help.” She suggested.

“Oh, okay.” I said and gave her a hug. “Thanks Mommy,” I told her.

“I love you sweetie,” she returned the hug. “Now off to bed.”

I went back into my room and found Amy slept through everything. She did seem to be tossing and turning though. I had a feeling she was going to be just as sore as me tomorrow, just in different spots. I had trouble getting back to sleep though, ‘I really am growing breasts!’ I said over and over excitedly to myself.

 

MOM WOKE ME up early that morning since Amy was staying with us. The bathroom schedule always got tighter on those days and so I was always the one woken up earlier. “How are you feeling sweetie?” she asked.

“Still sore,” I told her honestly as I accidentally brushed my left breast with the back of my hand.

“It’ll get better,” she said. “I put a tube of this in your backpack, rub it on in the bathroom if you need to later,” she suggested.

“Okay,” I told her before giving her a hug and disappearing into the bathroom. I looked at myself topless in the mirror for a few moments and became excited. ‘When will I be able to fit into a real bra?’ I asked myself. I had put my own clothes out the night before, but at some point Mom had added one of my extra sports bras to my clothes and a note, ‘Tiffany, you’re going to need to start wearing something all the time now unless the shirt has something built in.’

I smiled a bit at that until I got into the shower and found the water did not feel as good as it normally did. I washed quickly and after applying some more of the cream, returned to my room to wake Amy up. She went into the bathroom while I spent time doing my hair in front of my dresser. I decided to add a little bit of mascara that day… I felt so much more like a real girl now!

Amy didn’t look so great as she came in from the bathroom, so I offered to do her hair, she accepted with a smile. It helped her feel better at least, and that made me happier. “What’d you spend so much time in the bathroom with your mom last night for?” She asked me.

“Well… umm…”

“Tiffany there’s no way you can shock me at this point,” she told me.

“Well I woke up and my breasts were hurting a lot…” I blushed deeply as I continued, “so she gave me some cream and…” my face felt redder, “a Midol.”

“Are they growing more?” She asked excitedly. My sports bra was definitely hiding some of the shape.

“Uh-huh, but it hurts!” I told her.

“That’ll stop in a week or so, at least mine did.”

“I hope so.” I told her.

She looked at her watch and asked, “Can I see?”

I showed her my chest again, she’d seen it a month ago so I figured she’d have a good ability to see growth, “Wow! You’re going to grow quick I think.”

“How quick?” I asked kind of nervous all of the sudden.

“I bet you’ll catch up with me in another month or so,” she said. “I’m just an A cup though, so that’s not that far to catch up. My mom’s a lot smaller than yours too, so that may mean you’ll get bigger than me,” she said the last part kind of enviously. I kind of wretched a bit at that though. My mom was a bit too big for what I wanted. Hopefully since I wouldn’t be having a kid I’d be able to stay a more reasonable cup size. Well, plus the hormones for me could be regulated too.

She was so excited for me that morning that her mood improved. Her cramps also improved that morning too. Her mom picked us up like normal that morning and got filled in by Amy. “Tiffany’s breasts are growing, Mommy!” she told her not long after we got in the car.

“Great,” she turned around and told me at the stop light nearest my house. After a seconds pause she asked, “Are they sore?”

“Uh-huh,” I told her. “My mom gave me some stuff for them though,” I added.

“Good, remind me I want to take a look at them and make sure everything looks alright later,” she told me. That was the one bad thing about her being a doctor, she liked to keep an eye on both Amy and I herself every now and then. Amy complained about it to me frequently, though it had only happened to me once before. She gave me a knowing look though.

At school the morning actually started off alright. In choir we had the tryouts for soloist that morning. “Okay, Tiffany, you’re next,” Ms. Beecher said to me as she started playing the piano part. I took a deep breath and then sang fully.

“Very nice Tiffany,” she said and then had the next girl go. She had two others go and sat thoughtfully looking at some notes she’d made on the clipboard in front of her. “Okay drum roll please,” she said. Some of the boys began drumming on their knees. They did just about everything for her, since they all thought she was ‘hot.’ “The soloist is going to be Ms. Jacobson.” She said.

“Congrats Tiffany,” Amy said next to me hugging my shoulder. Kristina and my friends all congratulated me, but I couldn’t help but notice some of the other kids were glaring at me. Another girl, Caitlyn, who had tried out looked absolutely like she wanted to kill me. The more I thought about it she was friends with Lucas and Jarred… I hoped things wouldn’t get worse now. Ms. Beecher had us sing the whole song now with me standing out in front of the choir for the first half of the song. It started with a solo, the choir came in, and then I had another part. After that she had me rejoin the first row of sopranos where I normally stood.

I left choir beaming. That had been awesome! I was getting to sing a solo and also play a solo at our Christmas concert! It was a combined concert every year with the bands, the orchestra, choirs, and jazz band. At the end of the concert we were going to be playing and singing a piece all together. I had already agreed to go ahead and play with the band for that part because it would be easier. Ms. Beecher had been fine with that because there would be all of the choirs for that anyway. It was going to be a long concert though.

When we got to English Ms. Damien announced, “Okay ladies and gentlemen leave your bags here, we’re going to go the library and check out some books for your next book report that will be due after Christmas.”

I grabbed a book that I needed to return for the report I had finished Wednesday night, and walked down the hallway with a group of my friends. Ms. Damien was right behind us as she had closed the door and turned off the lights. She herded us down the hallway hushing us to be quiet. Some of the boys, Jarred included, had certainly chosen to be noisy just to cause trouble. Once we were in the library she set us loose. I went with Amy to turn in our books from the last project and then we began looking for something else to read for this one.

“This one’s on the list,” she said as she pointed to a gigantic book that said War and Peace on it. “It’s even worth extra points,” she said sarcastically.

“I think I’m going to pass on that one. I mean there’s Babysitter’s Club on the list too — that hardly seems like a fair comparison there,” I told her. She laughed too.

After about ten minutes we both had a book and sat down at a table with Nikki, Kyle, and a couple other friends, and began talking about different things. “So what are you up to this weekend?” Nikki asked the two of us.

“My parents are making us get a family holiday picture tonight,” Amy told her.

“Us?” She asked.

“Tiffany’s getting dragged along for the fun too!” She said with a smile. I answered with my own fake smile.

“Anything else exciting?” Kyle asked.

“No, we’ll probably end up just hanging out or something,” I told him. Honestly I was hoping maybe we’d get a chance to play with dolls or something non-grownup. I was tired of everything and just wanted an escape from the events of the past week.

“Cool,” he said.

My group of friends all coalesced on our table and eventually got loud enough the librarian chewed us out. Ms. Damien decided that meant it was time to herd us back to the classroom. I was in front right behind her with Kyle right next to me. I got to my desk and noticed that my bag was tipped over — I didn’t remember leaving it like that. As I opened the bag up I couldn’t help but screech. “WHAT?”

Ms. Damien came over there and gasped as well.

Inside my bag was a Barbie Doll, but it had been mutilated. I started to reach to pick it up but Ms. Damien said, “Tiffany let’s just take your whole bag down to the office.” She suggested with her hand on my shoulder. The whole class hadn’t quite made it back into the room yet so she tried to keep me quiet as I walked with her towards the door where the call button to the office was located. She pressed it.

A second later a voice came over, “Yes Ms. Damien?”

“Would you get Mrs. Henry to come down here please?”

“She’s busy right now,” the secretary started.

“Not that busy,” she told the secretary.

The secretary wasn’t stupid and figured something must have been bad for her to say something like that. And, if nothing else Mrs. Henry would instruct Ms. Damien herself in how not to be rude. “I’ll get her for you.”

I waited there standing by Ms. Damien’s desk for a long moment before the bell rang. Mrs. Henry showed up right then, saw me, and sighed as she put the pieces together. “I take it this has to do with you Tiffany?” She asked.

“Unfortunately,” I said.

The two of us walked down to the office and she looked inside my bag herself. She started to touch it but I said, “Actually Mrs. Henry I would like to the police to take a look at this,” I told her. She started to complain but decided it was probably a good idea. The school’s resource officer was called in.

“You didn’t touch this at all?” he asked the two of us.

We shook our heads. “I’ll be right back, okay?” He said.

He returned a bit later with a small tackle box in his hands. He pulled a pair of gloves out of there and picked up the doll. ‘Poor Barbie,’ I thought to myself. The hair had been somehow pulled out of the plastic — something I figured must have taken a lot of force. One side of the face was melted off with a lighter or something, the other side gouged with a knife and blood painted on there with marker.

I recognized the outfit on her — I had the same dress for my Barbies — it had been ripped up with a knife and more cuts made on it. One hand had been snapped off, the other burned. Both legs were broken, and underneath the doll I noticed that yet another note had been left. The officer took out some powder and a brush and dusted it for prints. I watched as I could actually see small prints become visible on the arms and face.

“Well there are some fingerprints on this,” he said and he took some print strips and collected the dust off the doll in the familiar elliptical shape. “I don’t know what good they’ll do us, but I’ll take them down to the station and see if they match any of our known kids here.”

I looked at him hopefully, “Tiffany don’t count on us matching anyone though. There are over seven-hundred kids in this school… and we only have maybe twenty of them with fingerprints from being busted for things.” He put the doll in a plastic Ziploc bag and sealed it before using his gloved hands to pick up the letter. He carefully uncrumpled it and sat on a desk for us to read.

‘Freak, this is your last warning. Drop out of school and give up your solo in choir or we’ll be making you look exactly like this doll.’ There was a colorful epithet at the end and the paper seemed to have drops of blood on it.

“Mrs. Henry I want to get my captain down here, this is beyond your average junior high threat at this point,” he told her with concern in his voice.

“If you think that is best,” she said reluctantly. “I need to call her parents and let her know about this incident,” she said to him.

For my part I sat down in a chair to the side of her desk and tried my best to blend into the woodwork. The next couple hours was filled with embarrassing questions from two other officers that came in and started asking me questions, Mrs. Henry and Ms. Damien questions, my mom questions, and finally a couple of my friends. The cops seemed to be taking the threat really seriously. “Why didn’t you call me down last week?” the resource officer asked Mrs. Henry point blank. She didn’t have a good answer for him. I guessed that I wasn’t supposed to hear that question, so I pretended to not hear it.

Eventually the bell rang for the day to be over. “Do you still want to go over to Amy’s tonight?” Mom asked me gently.

I nodded. I still hadn’t cried yet. I was afraid if I spoke too much though I was going to start.

“Okay then, let me walk you out to Melanie, she’ll be waiting outside, and then I’ll come back in here and deal with the rest of this.” She told me.

I nodded again and let her lead me out with her arm around my shoulder. I couldn’t believe it was getting worse. Before it had been bad, but now everyone seemed to be really scared about it. I’d been asked questions about everything. The choir thing had seemed a key they thought. I told them about Caitlyn’s look at me, but other than that I didn’t have any idea. It could have been any of the kids in or out of there. It might have just been a friend of someone’s too.

Amy looked up at me from across the parking lot as I crossed to meet her at her mom’s car. Melanie didn’t know anything had happened but picked up on it pretty quick. “What happened?” she asked my mom.

She explained and Melanie immediately gave me a big hug just like the one my mom had given me when she’d come into the office. “Do you still want to go along with us to do pictures?” She asked me.

“Sure, no reason for whomever this is to ruin my life…” I said softly. I was on the verge of crying but I didn’t want to let it out. Whoever it was might be in the parking lot and watching to see if they could get the satisfaction. ‘I REFUSE TO GIVE IT TO YOU!!!!’ a voice in my head screamed at them. ‘Screaming… that would feel good,’ part of me said.

She looked at me with concern in her eyes that mirrored my mom’s. “Do you want to keep her tonight?” she asked my mom.

“No, she wants to go with you guys still, and like she said it would give them a victory in some small way — at least the way she looks at it.” Then she added, “Plus I know she’s safe with you.”

Melanie gave my mom a big hug too and opened the door for Amy and me to climb in. I hadn’t realized it but she’d put her hand through mine several moments before. “We’ve got an appointment in about fifteen minutes at the salon,” Melanie told the two of us as we got into the car. “Hair and nails both,” she said as if she could read a question in my mind.

That thought made a thin smile appear on my lips. “You’ll have the nails and hair that way for the pictures, and if you’re careful the nails will still be nice for your concert Tuesday night.” She added.

“If they survive dance practices,” Amy said sourly.

“We can always get them filled if you chip them,” Melanie said to soothe her.

 

Chapter 26:

 

THE THREE OF us made my third trip to this salon walking in together. “Good afternoon Mrs. Hancock,” the owner said as we walked in the door. “We’re all ready for the three of you if you want to follow me,” she said and led us back to an area where we put on robes in place of our clothes. This salon and spa was upscale and amazing in every way. The three of us quickly changed with the two of them looking the other direction from me. It was a quick process and we filed back out fairly quickly. It was about four and we were supposed to get our pictures done at six as soon as Amy’s dad could get out of the office.

“How are you doing, Tiffany?” The lady, Lilly, said to me as I walked out of the changing area.

“Not so great, but nothing you can do about that,” I told her.

“Well I’ll see if I can’t change your mind on that sweetie,” she said with a smile as she led me over to her station. As I sat down she walked in front of me and said, “Okay what are we doing today?”

“Well I guess maybe a trim… but it can’t be too much because we need to have our hair fairly similar for our dance competition next month,” I told her. I was actually kind of glad to have that as a subject changer.

Amy’s mom came up behind her real quick on her way to a station down the row and told her something. “Alright Mrs. Hancock,” Lilly told the girl.

Lilly now had an interesting gleam in her eyes that made me wonder what kind of insanity she was planning. “Well since she told me that I know exactly what I’m going to do for you Tiffany,” she said.

“Is there supposed to be an evil cackle after that?” I asked her.

“Maybe,” she said and then giggled, “but I’ve never managed to perfect that laugh. Don’t worry, I’ll trim it for you so it’ll keep looking right and then I’ll get it done the way your mom wants it.”

“She’s not my…” I started to say, but paused before anything came out of my mouth. Who’s to say she wasn’t a mom for me at this point? I decided just to nod at her instead. Lilly washed and conditioned my hair really good and then began snipping and cutting here and there. When she finished she showed me my look in the mirror for my approval, “That’s looks great!” I told her. It wasn’t a lie, it looked better than the last time I’d been in there for a cut.

“Great!” she said. “Now for the evil part!” She made a show of scissors in her hand as if she was going to cut it all off.

“I will haunt you forever if you do that,” I said calmly.

She snickered, apparently since this was my second appointment with her she felt like she could have some more fun. “Okay Tiffany let’s get your hair up now,” she began twisting and pulling and curling my hair for the next twenty minutes. My whole head felt like it had pins pulling out all of my hair by the time she finished.

“I’ll show you the look when I get done with your nails,” she told me a few moments later as she began the process of working on my nails. She had taken my shoes off for me since I’d forgotten to do that in the changing room. “Well your toenails are in good shape sweetie, your fingernails are quite a mess though,” she gently chided me as she filed at a fingernail.

“It’s nearly impossible for me to keep from breaking them during dance practice sometimes,” I told her.

“You’re on a squad at your junior high?” She asked.

I nodded, “Amy and I are the co-captains of our dance squad. We’re going to go to the national competition in January,” I told her with a smile.

“You must be really good then,” she told me.

“I hope so… we work really hard at least.” I paused and added, “It’s our first year of having a junior high squad though so who knows what’ll happen.”

“I’m sure you’ll do well,” she said as she moved on to another finger, “Now do you want some tips on these?”

“They probably won’t survive…” I started.

“You never know.” Pointing to Melanie she said, “And she said you’re doing pictures and having a concert next week?”

“Yes.”

“Well then let’s put some longer nails on you then. Your mom already told me the color she wants, so don’t worry about that,” she said before I could hope to input that.

‘What madness is she up to now?’ I thought about Amy’s mom. I wondered what kind of photo session for a family would possibly involve this much work…

After what seemed an eternity, she was done with my nails and letting them dry. “Okay, let’s just do some makeup and you’ll be done!” she said. “I’m bringing over Lynette for that, give me just a couple minutes to get her.” As she started to walk off though, she said, “and no peaking!” to me.

I grumbled. My head was getting used to the pins that were holding my hair up in some shape or another, but now I was really curious. I looked down at my nails and saw they were a pretty design with a combination of a medium purple, and white snowflakes. The center of each snowflake had a little diamond rhinestone glued in there. She had also done some other little squiggles in the background design of each nail. They looked gorgeous!

I was so curious about my hair that I almost went ahead and turned the chair around before Lilly got back with Lynette, but she got back just in time. “How are you doing?” Lynette asked me. I recognized her from the first time I had been in the salon.

“Better now,” I told her. That was the honest truth — all the pampering was helping to dull the pain of the day.

“Good! Now do you have any makeup on today?” She asked me.

I started to shake my head no, but then remembered something she could already see I was certain, “I do have some mascara on,” I told her.

“Okay, I can take care of that real quick.” She pulled over a cart from a neighboring station and had me close my eyes while she cleaned the mascara off my eyes. Once her palette was clear she began working on me. “I’m not going to do a whole lot here sweetie, you have such a nice complexion you don’t need much.”

“Thanks,” I said as she used a wedge and some liquid foundation on my face. She worked on it for a moment and then worked on my eyes. She spent most of the time quickly putting eye shadow on my eyelids. She added just a tiny bit of eyeliner. “You really don’t need this, but Mrs. Hancock said she wanted you to have a certain look for the pictures you’re all about to take. I just finished doing Amy’s makeup almost the same way,” she said with a smile.

She eventually pronounced me done and I was turned around to look at myself in the mirror.

“Wow!” I said. Somehow she had managed to make me look like I was about two years older than I normally did! I still looked a bit younger than twelve, but I didn’t look like I was seven then. My hair was done up in a tall bun with ringlets coming out of every side of it. It was similar to how it had been done for the film festival in New York, but different slightly. I looked beautiful though!

“You like it?” Lilly asked.

“Absolutely!” I said and threw my arms around her shoulders. “For once I don’t look like I’m five years younger than I actually am!”

Lynette looked at Lilly and said, “This is the only time in girls’ lives they want to look older. I’d kill to look five years younger than I am…” she grumbled.

I gave Lynette a hug too and then was led back to the changing area. I had just finished when Amy came in. I saw her hair and she saw mine at the same time, “Cuuuute!” we both said together. That started us giggling as she hurried up to catch up and get changed. Melanie somehow was already waiting for us to leave and she said, “You two look beautiful!” and she gave each of us a hug.

“Okay, let’s get over to the portrait studio, it’s going to take a little bit to get you two dressed I’m guessing.” She said taking a hand from each of us and walking out with us. Her hair wasn’t done as high, but it was really pretty. We each told her that. “You’re both going to steal the show,” she assured us both.

When we got into her car I noticed that my dresses from home weren’t in there. “Umm… Melanie didn’t you have my dresses earlier?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer she just smiled at me. I wondered what she was up to. Last time something like this had happened was the week after I came out to my parents. We’d gone to the same portrait studio we were going to and she’d had dozens of outfits waiting for both of us there. ‘Was she doing the same again?’ I asked myself. I looked at Amy and she shrugged, she didn’t know any more than I did.

The two of us tugged our coats close to us as we got out and went inside the portrait studio when we got there. I could see the familiar ‘Rogers Portrait Studio’ sign and smiled.

“Hi Mrs. Hancock,” he said as we walked in together. “Tiffany, Amy, how are you two ladies doing?”

I just smiled at him. I’d had a crummy day that was improving a lot thanks to pretty things. “I’m guessing you’re ready to get these two changed and going?” he asked.

“Yes please,” she said to him. “My husband should be along in about forty minutes. I figured we could get these two done in some individual poses, together, and a couple with me with them before he gets here then we’ll do the ones with all of us in them.”

“Sounds good!” He said. He led us down to the changing rooms he had in his large studio. “It’s all in there as you requested,” he told her.

“Thank you,” she told him and then opened the doors to two of the changing rooms. “Stay here for a second,” she told us. She disappeared for a second and checked on something before returning, “Okay, Tiffany in this one, Amy in this one. Put on the dress that’s in there and then come out here so I can make sure you are set.”

I looked at her suspiciously before going into my changing room and seeing the dress.

“WOW!” I exclaimed. I ran out and hugged her real quick before returning to put it on. It was a gorgeous color that was somehow in between a true purple and lavender. It had two straps at the top, an a-line bodice, and a skirt that flared out. It had a ton of beads on it and as I touched it I could tell it was made of taffeta. The best thing about it, I thought as I began taking it off the hanger, was that I was sure it wouldn’t make me look like I was five! The pictures I’d taken with my parents the previous month certainly hadn’t managed that feat. I’d looked much younger in those pictures — it had bothered me.

I unzipped the back and carefully slipped it over my head. I noticed that the netting that was poofing the skirt out was really rigid. After I slipped on the dress I tried to zip it up myself, and was proud of myself when I succeeded. There was a bow at the back though, and I knew there was no way I would be able to tie it pretty enough for pictures so I just looked at myself in the mirror for a few moments. I was gorgeous. There was no other way to describe me at that moment. I smiled when I realized that you could sort of see the breasts forming on the inside of my dress. I had worried about that for a second since I knew my sports bra was definitely not appropriate for the dress, but I realized a second later the dress had a sort of bra built into it already.

“Are you about done in there Tiffany?” I heard Melanie ask softly.

I breathed and walked out. “How do I look?” I asked her.

“Gorgeous,” she breathed out, “you and Amy both.” Amy was already in the process of putting on a necklace and earring set that her mom had handed her. As she looked up at me I saw she had the same dress on as I did, in a bigger size of course, and hers was a pretty blue. “Turn around Tiffany and I’ll get your bow for you,” she told me.

I turned around and she tied the bow quickly before spinning me around. “You two are going to look gorgeous together in those dresses!” She squealed. As she looked at us I thought she was going to start crying, “You know its fun to shop for one daughter, but a second one makes things a blast,” she said with a wink.

“Here Tiffany,” she said handing me a fairly large white jewelry box, “This is for you.”

I opened it up and saw a gorgeous necklace that had a purple amethyst set in… “White gold? I can’t accept this…” I started to say. It must have cost a fortune.

“Nonsense, I got one for Amy so I had to get one for you. Hurry up and let’s get it on,” she told me with a smile. I handed her the necklace and she quickly did the clasp around my neck. I then put in the pretty matching earrings.

“Thank you so much!” I told her and gave her a hug and then Amy a hug too. In the end the three of us were embraced and I was on the verge of losing my control over my tears. I forced myself not to though as I didn’t want to look like a raccoon for the pictures.

“Okay, I need to get changed myself,” she said. “I’m going to have him get started on you two while I do that though,” she told us.

“Roger?” She said.

“Are they ready?” He said coming up a few moments later.

“I think so. You know what I want right?” she asked him.

“I think so. Go ahead and get ready yourself and we’ll be able to get through it all pretty quickly I think.” He said that with a smile before saying, “Okay ladies, this way.” He told us.

The next thirty minutes or so were a blur as he did pictures of us together and separate. About half-way through one set of pictures of Amy, I watched Melanie walk in so I walked over and hugged her. “You look really pretty,” I told her.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she told me with a smile. She’d put on a floor length gown of her own that was a pretty blue. I sat for a second wondering about how it would look with the three of us and decided it was going to be a great picture. Several more pictures were taken of Amy and me before we started doing some with Melanie. She did one set with just Amy for a bit and then included me for way more than they had done by themselves. I hoped Amy wasn’t feeling like I was intruding. Anytime I worried about that though she just continued to have a big smile on her face that I knew she wasn’t faking.

After a lot of pictures of the three of us in tons of poses, standing, sitting, and even laying down, Amy’s dad arrived and got into the pictures. He was wearing a suit and tie that somehow managed to work with all of our outfits. I wondered if Amy’s mom picked it out for him. Again they did some pictures with just Amy, and then a bunch of pictures with me too.

“Okay girls let me just get a couple pictures of just Mom and Dad and I think we’ll be done.” The photographer told us with a smile.

Amy and I actually were holding hands while they did the pictures and I think we both felt even more like sisters now than we had before. “What now?” Amy asked as her parents stood up from the last picture.

“Well we’re going to go have a nice dinner and go shopping in town for a bit,” she said to us.

We were both smiling, “Okay!” Amy and I said in unison. Everyone started laughing and continued to do so a lot as we walked out of the portrait studio. Amy’s mom had already picked up all of our clothes from inside the dressing room so we were ready to go. “Here ladies,” she said to us as she handed us each shawls that matched our dresses to put over our shoulders and arms. She also handed us each a dress coat that matched with our dresses nicely.

“Thanks!” I told her. I couldn’t believe she’d spent even more money like this on me. The dresses were at least four-hundred dollars each, Amy and I had guessed quietly. She was more accustomed to it though, so that didn’t make her jaw drop like it did me. The jewelry was at least two-hundred as well too. As the four of us walked into a really classy restaurant in Albuquerque we took a lot glances. Several teenage boys that were sitting in the waiting area couldn’t keep their eyes off of us. Something that Amy and I had some private fun with.

“Would you two stop tormenting those poor boys,” Melanie whispered to both of us as we were escorted to our table.

I blushed a bit as we were caught, but Amy said, “You would do it too Mom if you were our age!”

Her mom giggled a bit. The maitre’d at the table pulled the chairs out for each of us and pushed us in towards the table. “Have a good evening,” he told us as he walked away. A handsome waiter came and waited on us shortly thereafter. “I’m Mark and I’ll be waiting on you tonight. If I may ask what’s the occasion?”

“Just getting some pictures done,” Mr. Hancock said.

“I’m sure they were all gorgeous. You ladies especially look very pretty tonight,” he told us.

“Thanks,” Amy and I both giggled. He had made us both blush.

Dinner was nice and quiet. We each had a really nice meal and were well tended. Mark seemed to sense a pile of tip money coming his way if he did a good job, and made sure he lived up to that. “Thank you sir,” he told Amy’s dad as he handed him cash to pay the bill and told him to keep the change.

“Okay, so shopping now?” He asked us.

“No, bathroom first,” I said.

“Me too,” Amy said.

“Me three,” Melanie said, “We’ll be back, Greg.”

Amy and I felt like we were being herded by her mom towards the bathroom. I found it challenging and not much fun to go with dresses this big. I managed to avoid letting the dress hit the toilet though and I considered that an accomplishment. As I came out of the stall I found Amy hadn’t beat me like I figured she would have. I noticed she had her purse with her when she came in though so I guessed right that she was still dealing with monthly fun. She had that same disgusted look on her face again as she washed her hands. An older lady came in and said, “Wow, you two princesses look gorgeous!”

“Thank you ma’am,” I said to her.

She spoke to us for a couple minutes admiring our dresses until Melanie saved us from her and we got back in the car to go shopping. “Where are we shopping?” I asked.

“I figured the bigger mall?” She suggested.

Amy said, “Okay!”

At the mall we definitely looked out of place for shopping, but it was nice to be able to show off our dresses! We didn’t buy anything, or really try anything on, but we looked around and went to a couple of the main stores like Macy’s and Dillards for a bit before heading back to their house. It was about a thirty minute drive and Amy and I just sort of zoned out in the warm comfy car.

“Tiffany, are you awake?” I heard while Amy’s hand gently nudged my shoulder.

“Huh?” I had one of those moments where it’s like no, but yes, but I don’t want to be, and then said, “Sure.”

“Girls let’s go upstairs and get you changed into your pajamas.” She told us. Apparently Amy must have been just as tired because I didn’t hear her arguing. As we climbed the stairs she stayed right behind us, like she was afraid we’d fall backwards or something. At the top of the stair case we both paused long enough for her to undo our bows. She ended up unzipping us too, even though we could have gotten it ourselves.

I got to my room and pulled the dress back over my head, and then found a hanger for it in my closet. ‘I’ll get the real hanger later,’ I told myself. I found a pair of pajamas in a drawer and put them on before going into the bathroom and washing the makeup off of my face. I had a feeling I was going to collapse very shortly. I would have done it immediately, but I realized my hair was still up and I didn’t know what to do with it. I was afraid that if I left it in the pins all night I was going to have a massive headache the next day, but I didn’t want to ruin it either.

Melanie must have had a built in stress-meter or something because she appeared behind me all of the sudden and started taking it all out for me. “I hate to take it out,” I told her.

“You can’t leave it in all night though, it’s pinned too tight,” she told me agreeing with my fears. She pulled at a few of the pins and combs for me. I was happy that even when the curls came down off the top of my head, it still looked pretty. “If you really want it I can redo it for you in the morning,” she told me.

“No that’s okay,” I told her.

“So you said earlier you were feeling sore?” She asked.

I sighed, “yeah, I haven’t been paying attention to it all day though until you mentioned it.” I really hadn’t, I’d been distracted for most of the day by everything.

“May I see?”

I pulled up my pajama top and let her look at my swollen breasts. She carefully and gently prodded a bit before saying, “Everything looks normal,” she told me. “Looks like you’re going to grow pretty quick too,” she added.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, well you have enough hormones going through you from your pills that you should be. You should probably also be growing taller by a few inches here in the next couple months too,” she added.

I gave her a hug, “Thank you for everything.”

“Any time Tiffany, any time.” She said returning the hug before kissing the top of my freed head and saying, “Now do you want to go to bed or do you want to have a pajama party downstairs with Amy and me with some hot chocolate?”

“That sounds good!” I told her. She and I walked downstairs where Amy had a tea kettle going with some hot water. Amy smiled at me and the two of us sat down on bar stools next to each other. Her mom poured boiling water a few minutes later into cups with hot chocolate mix. It was a good time with the three of us in our pajamas just relaxing. A little later, after watching Amy and my eyes drooping low she said it was time for bed. Neither of us argued.

I had been in my bed trying to sleep for all of like twenty seconds before I fell asleep. I had desperately needed it. At some point in the night I started dreaming dreams that were way too vivid.

 
 
I was walking down the hallway from Mr. Martin’s class to the cafeteria, but for some reason none of my friends were with me. ‘It’s not far,’ I told myself a little nervous with everything going on. From the side hallway before you turned down to the cafeteria I heard, ‘There’s the freak. Get it!’ I turned back quickly to look and see fourteen kids chasing me with baseball bats and knives in their hands.

I ran as quickly as I could. I’d be safe in the cafeteria, Mrs. Henry or someone would be there right? As I tried to open the door to the crowded cafeteria I couldn’t get in. It was locked! I ran down the hallway to another entrance from that side, it was locked too! I could see Amy, Kyle, Nikki, David, and all of my friends sitting there waiting for me. Somehow I knew that no amount of screaming would get their attention in time though.

In the meantime I caught a glimpse of the group and saw that they were getting closer. I turned the corner and decided to try and run in through the entrance that was next to the snack bar… there had to be a way in!

I could see the door there was open, but before I could get there someone tripped me and I went flying. “GOTCHA!!!” I heard a voice that I instinctively knew was Jarred’s say. As I rolled over I could see him begin to bring a baseball bat down on my head and I screamed!!!!!!!

 

“Tiffany! Tiffany! Are you alright?” I heard a familiar and comforting voice ask me.

‘It was all a dream…’ I told myself and immediately started sobbing and holding onto Melanie. Amy came in too since she’d heard me and climbed onto the bed next to me hugging me too. I just kept crying.

‘It seemed so real,’ I told myself. ‘It’s going to happen,’ another voice in my head told me. I must have eventually cried myself back to sleep since I don’t remember anything else from that night.

 

THE NEXT MORNING I woke up when I heard, “Tiffany can you let go of me, I can’t breathe.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“You’re squeezing me too hard,” I heard Amy say.

I woke up enough at that point to realize something wasn’t right. I hadn’t gone to sleep with Amy in my bed… that just sounded wrong… I looked up to see her face a few inches from me and my arms around her neck. “Oops… sorry…” I turned red.

It was at that point that I realized how much of a baby I’d been last night… I tried not to start crying, but a few tears came through my eyes before I could wrench the glands shut. Thankfully Amy was sleepy enough that she didn’t notice. “Are you feeling any better?” she asked gently once she’d managed to breathe for a few minutes.

I shook my head but said, “I don’t know…”

“What happened?” She asked me gently.

I couldn’t remember saying anything last night and I was sure they must have thought I was possessed. “It was a really bad dream…” I said.

“Someone attacked you?” She guessed.

I shuddered but nodded, “Like twenty people…” I told her about it. “And just as I thought I was going to be able to make it to safety Jarred tripped me…”

She hugged me yet again and I started crying again. “Tiffany we’re not going to let anything happen to you,” she promised solemnly.

“I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do about it Amy — it’s going to happen.” I told her with a certainty that scared me.

She leaned back from me and looked at me with a worried expression, “Don’t say that Tiffany. You know we’re always there with you…”

“I know, but I just… I just have a gut feeling something’s going to happen soon.”

“Maybe you should go to another school?” Amy suggested. She saw the look in my eyes, “I’d go with you — I know Mom and Dad would be fine with that. Maybe even a couple others of our friends would transfer too…”

“It wouldn’t help Amy. I’m going to run into this no matter where I am. Anytime someone learns that I wasn’t born Tiffany it’s going to happen.”

The two of us talked quietly for a long time. “Nope, not going to let it happen,” she told me sure of herself finally.

I didn’t believe her, but I was ready to think of something else. Thankfully Amy’s mom took that moment to open the door and say, “How is everyone doing this morning?” She asked that as she came and sat next to us on the bed and gave me a kiss on my head and a hug.

I just shrugged in response, but Amy said, “Mommy, Tiffany’s worried she’s really going to be attacked. That’s what her dream was about last night.”

“I had a feeling it was something like that,” she said to me gently. “Tiffany you know we’re not going to let anything happen to you right?”

I just smiled weakly at her. I didn’t believe it. I was sure something was going to happen. She gave me a calculating look to try and decide what to do with me that day. Apparently she decided there was one solution for a look like that, she started tickling me!

“Hey that’s not fair,” I said as she had me giggling uncontrollably. “I’m going to wet my pants!” I told her loudly.

“We’re not going to let anything happen to you sweetie,” she said a few minutes later, “believe it, alright?” She told me.

I just nodded. “Okay, it’s nine-thirty in the morning and I think we need to go shopping all day today. Have you gotten Christmas presents for your parents yet Tiffany?” she asked me.

I shook my head, “not for my mom.”

“Well then let’s go do that today. A girl’s day out sounds like a good idea today,” she said while tucking some hair behind mine and Amy’s ears at the same time.

“Come on,” Amy told me pushing me to get up and head to the shower.

I fumbled around in my drawers there finding a pair of jeans and a sweater to wear for the day. I found some underwear, including my last clean sports bra at their house, some socks, and then climbed into my shower there. The hot water helped clear my head a little. I still felt like I was doomed, but at least I wasn’t doomed without people who cared about me…

By the time I made it downstairs Amy was already there eating a grapefruit. That kind of sounded good so I stole her other half and began munching on it. Melanie came down the hall from her office and said, “You two about ready?”

“I need to stop by my house,” I told her.

“What for?”

“I don’t carry my money with me to school…” I told her. I needed to grab the hundred dollars I had saved up for presents out of my purse at home.

She looked at me like she wanted to argue the point and offer just to pay but didn’t. Amy’s mom was smart that way, and I really appreciated that. “Okay, we’ll stop by there on our way out of town.”

My parents were both gone when we stopped by my house. I was glad I remembered to grab my key from my backpack before we left! I quickly went down the hallway and found my small purse and ran back outside locking the door behind me. I sat down in their car across from Amy and smiled at her. She was happy because she was going shopping, and I could almost forget about my troubles while we shopped.

“Now girls I don’t want you two wandering around without me, okay?” She said.

I nodded. She didn’t have to worry about me wondering off today, not after my nightmare last night. When we got to the mall it was already pretty packed. I was proud of myself though, I found a pretty necklace for my mom just twenty minutes into shopping — and it didn’t cost much either. I ended up buying her a blouse as well since I wanted to be fair to my parents and spend the same amount of money on them.

At that point, with fifty-dollars left in my hands I felt like there was lava in my purse that was trying to break through to the cash registers. I didn’t really find a lot of things that I wanted to buy though. It was annoying. Amy and I went through lots of clothing racks with her mother trying on different things but not deciding on anything. I did spend a little bit of money on some new lotion from Bath and Bodyworks. I had a feeling I was going to be fighting with Amy for it though since she loved it as much as I did.

By the end of the afternoon I was really tired, but had a good time. We went back to their house and had a surprise waiting for us. Amy’s dad had a huge stack of proof prints from the photographer on the kitchen table there.

“You two look so cute!” Melanie said to us.

I looked at the pictures and the happy sisters that sat there together. It did look like she was a bit older than I was, but not by much. The way everything was done made me look like I was about thirteen, and Amy only looked like she was about the same age. I wondered if her mom had gotten them to do that somehow with the makeup and hair… My favorite picture though was one with Melanie sitting on a block and the two of us leaned up against her on either side.

Melanie picked out about ten of the pictures and called the studio, surprised to find he was still in, I heard her say, “Yes, we want a twenty-four by thirty-six of that one…”

‘That was a big picture size’ I thought to myself. ‘It must have been the one we all liked of the three of them,’ I added.

After dinner that night I thought about playing with Barbies, but that thought ended the second I saw a doll that looked just like the one that had been used in the threat against me yesterday. Amy suggested we play with her old baby dolls instead, guessing correctly my problem, and I agreed. It was kind of strange to play with a baby doll after I’d changed a real diaper babysitting. My heart wasn’t really in it and we gave up after a short while.

“Wanna watch a movie?” she suggested.

The two of us ended up getting a movie going and her mom brought popcorn out to us and we all just sat quietly watching it. It was a quiet evening all the way through when Amy and I were told to go to bed. “Umm… Amy?” I asked.

“Huh?” She asked me as I climbed the stairs with her.

“Would you mind if I slept in your room tonight?”

She gave me a hug and said, “I don’t mind,” and we walked down towards her room.

Her mom came down the hallway a second later and asked, “Amy, do you know where Tiffany is?” She saw me a second later though. “Having a slumber party in Amy’s room instead tonight?” she asked with an understanding smile on her face.

“Do you mind?” I asked her.

“Of course not Tiffany!” she told me. She gave me a hug and helped us pull out Amy’s trundle bed. That night I hugged a stuffed teddy bear I kept at her house close all night. I did sleep all the way through the night for the first time in several nights though. Sunday passed quickly and we both ended up staying at my house Sunday night.

That night I had felt like crying again when I saw my mom. I gave her a big hug but held the tears in. I was afraid if she knew how upset I was that she would never let me go back to school at Holden again. I couldn’t run away though, I knew that with all of my heart it wouldn’t do any good.