As we walked together to our homeroom, I looked at Josh and asked him. “Josh, how did you get to me just before Miss Jenkins tried to attack me? I thought you were going to the classroom.”

“I’m not sure, I was walking to the classroom and I felt something was wrong and before I noticed I was running towards the Principal's office.”

“Was it like a hunch or something else?”

“I’m not sure, I felt like you were in danger and I reacted.”

“Maybe we should look into that later.” I told him.

“Yeah, probably.”

As we walked I noticed several boys looking at me, heard some whistles and some catcalls. ‘Didn't they recognize me?’ I thought to myself feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Josh, I need to stop by my locker for a minute to get my books, I'll meet you later, okay?”

“Are you sure you don't want me to stick around?”

“I'm sure, I don't think anything will happen with all these people around.”

“Okay, I'll see you in a couple minutes.” He said and went ahead.

I went to my locker and picked my books, I was walking towards my homeroom when I heard a voice that made me shiver.

“Hey, babe. Are you new here?”

“What do you want, Tom?” I spat at him.

“Calm down babe, I was just introducing myself, but I think my reputation precedes me.” He said with a grin.

“I'm getting late for class, and I don't want anything to do with you.” I said turning around and walking away.

“Come on babe, I'm just trying to ask you out for a drink and get to know each other better.” He said and grabbed my arm. His touch made me shiver, not in fear, but because something was wrong, very wrong. His touch felt cold, evil and filled with lust.

“Let me go!” I said.

“Come on babe, I know you want to go out with me, how else would you already know my name? Don't play hard to get.”

I turned around and slapped him on the face.

“You little bitch.” he said angrily.

At that moment Josh came back and said. “What is going on here?”

“Stay out of it, Heart. This is between me and the bitch here.”

“What did you say?” Josh asked angrily.

“I said stay out of the way, this is between me and the bitch. Now go away or you'll regret it.”

“No one talks to my sister like that you prick.” Josh said and punched Tom right on the face and Tom fell down on the floor looking shocked.

“Let's get out of here Sis” Josh said holding my hand.

“Thanks Josh.”

"Another feeling?" I asked.

“Yeah. What was that about?” Josh asked me as we were closing up to our classroom.

“I think Tom was hitting on me, I don't think he recognize me.”

“We need to keep an eye out for him, I think there will be trouble when he finds out who he was hitting on.”

“Something is very wrong with him, Josh.”

“Like I can't see that. Everyone knows something is wrong with him.”

“It's not like that, Josh. I can't really explain it, but when he grabbed my arm, his touch felt wrong, very wrong.”

“Great, one more thing to worry about.” Josh said shaking his head.

Amazingly enough we arrived just as the bell rang, we entered our homeroom and sat on our seats. I felt like every set of eyes in the classroom were looking at me.

“Hi, my name is Kelly, are you new here?” Kelly, a bubbly red haired girl that sit in front of me asked.

“Hi, I'm Joan and no I'm not exactly new.”

“How so? You must be new, I never saw you around before.” She told me looking confused.

As I was about to say something, our principal came into our room and said. “Good morning everyone. I have an announcement to make, as some of you know, Mr. Jameson got transferred to another school and I would like to introduce to you, your new teacher, Miss Rhea Hunter.”

I looked at the door and my mouth dropped, entering the classroom was Rhea, she looked a bit younger, like 24 or 25 years old, but it was her. I looked at Josh and he had the same look on his face. ‘What's she doing here?’ I thought to myself.

The morning passed slowly, I couldn't concentrate very well, I kept wondering what Rhea was doing at my school. I also heard a lot of talking in the classrooms and the hallways, people were trying to figure out who I was and why the teachers didn't say anything about my presence as I was clearly new at the school. That was from the girls, the boys seemed more interested in looking at me with hungry eyes that made me feel like a piece of meat.

At lunch time I sat down at an empty table at cafeteria to eat and I saw Kelly coming my way.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked me.

"Sure."

"I'm still trying to figure you out, girl. You said you are not new, but no one seems to know you."

"You don't really recognize me? Did I change that much in just a week?" I asked her.

"Huh?" She looked confused.

"Come on, I sat behind you at homeroom the entire year and you still don't know who I am?"

"What? The one that sat behind me was...." She then raised her hands to her mouth. "Johnny?"

"Not anymore, I am Joan now. It's better if people heard from me than to have rumors floating around."

"B..but how? Are you a boy? I heard you tried to kill yourself last week."

"No, I'm not a boy, and I did spend the whole week at the hospital. They found out I was really a girl and had to operate me."

"Operate you?"

"Yes, the doctors think my first period might start at any moment and they had to remove a birth defect. I was misidentified as a boy at birth because of a bunch of skin that resembled a penis. You can freak out now." I told her.

"Freak out? Why?"

"Because I know people think I am a freak, they always did."

"I never thought you were a freak, a bit girly yes, but not a freak. Did you know you were a girl?"

"I always felt I was a girl." I admitted. "When the doctors said I was 100% female, with all the girl parts it was the happiest day of my life."

"Life must have been hell for you. Did you really try to kill yourself?"

I looked down ashamed and said. "Yes it is, that's why I ended up at the hospital in the first place." I said feeling the tears building up.

"Oh god!" She said and hugged me. "Things were really tough for you weren't they?"

"Yes they were, and Tom beating me up on daily basis didn't help either."

"Are you talking about that jerk Tom Arnold?"

"Yes, I can't understand why he does those things. Why is he so mean?"

"I don't know." Kelly said. "But my sister said he wasn't always like that."

"What?" I looked at her confused.

"She went to junior high with him. She said he used to be a very nice boy, an all around good guy."

"Are we talking about the same Tom Arnold?" I asked her.

"Yes, my sister said he used to get along with everyone, protecting the smaller boys from the bullies and befriending them, but one day he seemed to become distant, avoid talking to people and sit alone in a corner. A few weeks later he changed and became angry and violent, picking up on the smaller boys and bullying them, apparently he became what he hated the most and no one knows what happened."

"That's very strange." I told her. "If your sister is right is like he became a completely different person almost overnight. I wonder what made him change so much."

  
###
  

While we were talking, Mindy and Jen came and sat with us.

"Hi Joanie." Mindy said with a smile and sat beside me.

"Hi sis." Jen said. "Who is your friend?"

"Oh, Kelly, meet my sister Jen and our friend Mindy."

"Nice to meet you." Kelly said.

"Kelly sits in front of me at my homeroom."

"You two seemed to be having a very interesting conversation." Mindy said.

"Yes, we were talking about Tom Arnold." I told them.

"That Jerk?" Both said at the same time.

"Yes, the one and only." Kelly said.

"What about him?" Jen asked me.

"I'll tell you later sis." I told her looking around and seeing Tom looking at us with a strange look. I think Mindy saw that too because she agreed with me.

"Okay, but I'll want to know everything later." Jen told me.

"Of course."

  
###
  

"So, Kelly. What do you think of my sister."

"Jen." I said with an angry look at her.

"I liked her. I never knew her before when she was Johnny, but I do like Joan."

"Thank you." I told Kelly.

"You are welcome, Joan. I hope we can be friends."

"I'd like that very much. I never had any friends before." I said and hugged her.