My muse has been kind. More of Morgan's first day in High School.

The rest of the day I got more odd looks and the occasional question from other kids. Obviously word was spreading.

It was mostly girls with the questions. And I was indeed getting tired of the same ones over and over.

The looks seemed fairly evenly split between guys and gals, though more of the guys tended to have the looks that implied trouble in the future.

A few of the girls seemed to figure I was ok, in spite of my oddity. At least they were willing to talk to me in spite of it. One was in several of my classes. Christine (call me Chris) Watt. We'd gotten to talking in the first one we shared and had compared schedules.

She came up to me in the hall as we approached English class (which I knew we shared).

"So, I hear you're a guy?"

I shrugged.

"Yep. That a problem?"

She thought for a moment as we looked for seats in the classroom.

"Let's grab these two." She pointed at a pair of empty seats next to each other off to one side of the room. I followed her over.

After we sat down she looked over at me.

"No. It's a bit different from what I expected, but I guess I'm OK with it."

She suddenly snickered and I looked a question at her.

"Sorry, I was thinking that I'd have to change my plans. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go over to the mall and check out some stores with me, and then maybe hang at my place."

I glanced around and noticed that nobody else was sitting close to us yet. I quietly replied "You don't have to change your plans unless you'd rather not have me with you."

She looked surprised.

"Hey, I like shopping for clothes. And do you think any guy would pass up a chance to hang out with you?" I joked.

Chris started to say something then stopped and looked at me funny.

"That's a girls top you're wearing isn't it?" she said quietly.

"Guilty as charged. Guy stuff doesn't fit very well unless I go for really baggy."

We had to quit talking then as the teacher called roll. After that there was the usual "what you'll be learning this semester" stuff and signing out our textbooks. Finally she gave us a reading assignment and like most of the first day classes had, left us to our own devices while she dealt with some paperwork.

Chris and I weren't the only ones carrying on quiet conversations then.

"So you're serious about wanting to go check out the stores?"

"Sure, you never know when you might find a cute outfit. Or some nice accessories. And trying stuff on is fun."

"I thought you said you were a guy!"

"I am. Let's just say I'm dressing down so I'll have less trouble until folks get used to me."

"O-kay. But won't there be problems in the stores?"

"Nope. As long as I look fairly girly, the law says I can use the changing rooms. Heck, I can use the bathrooms. Just not locker rooms."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. We had to go through all that when we found out I was gonna look more girl than guy."

I slipped her one of the copies of the laws that I had in case anybody tried to argue things. A pain, but better safe than sorry.

We agreed to meet get together after 7th period.

I knew that after school would be the real test. That's when I expected that somebody would start something. Hopefully I could keep Chris out of it.

We had 7th period together too, so we left the class and I stopped for a minute.

"I think it's time for a bit of misdirection. Come on."

With that I led her to a nearby bathroom. She squeaked a bit as I headed in, but followed. Yes, it was a girls bathroom. That's what I used unless I was dressing to emphasize being male. Which I hadn't today. I'd gone for more of an androgynous look and not tried to hide my breasts.

Fortunately, the bathroom was empty. While I used one of the stalls, I heard Chris talking on her phone.

I was busy digging things out of my pack. I switched tops, and swapped my slacks for a pair of tights. I got my shoes and socks back on, then fastened a short skirt.

When I stepped out of the stall to do my makeup I heard a gasp from Chris.

I did a twirl.

"You like?"

It was quite an outfit. But it was also something I could move easily in.

Skintight black top with sleeves down to my wrists. Leaving no doubt about my breasts. Black tights. (hey, I've got great legs) black ankle socks and my black canvas shoes. The kind with the crepe soles. They give great traction. Good for running or fighting.

Oh yes, the skirt? Bright red.

As Chris stared, I used the mirror to apply a really bold makeup job. I definitely didn't look like a guy. More importantly, I didn't look much like I'd looked all day at school.

Just for the hell of it, I put on some jewelry. Earrings, a pendant and some bracelets.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked a stunned Chris.

"Oh. My. God. I can't believe that's you."

"Well, it is. Think anybody will recognize me?"

That snapped her out of it a bit.

"Maybe, Probably not though." She paused and eyed me again. "Damn, I think I'm jealous. You look better than I do."

"I seriously doubt that." I tried to leer at her but she just laughed.

I took off the jewelry, explaining "Just in case I do get recognized, I don't want to risk getting any of it grabbed in a fight."

We headed out. First we hit her locker. Then we hit mine.

And that's where my planning failed.

I should have hit it before changing. We later figured out that somebody had seen me at it earlier, and been waiting. Worse, they were bright enough to hang back when they saw the very different me getting my books from it.

First thing I realized was when we got outside. We were just at the edge of school property when I heard running feet and someone yell, "Get the faggot!"

I tossed my pack to one side and spun around to face the attackers.

There were three of them. I managed to feint and draw one out of position and nail him as I stepped past his rush. I heard the sound of blows off to the side but I couldn't spare the attention, I had to deal with another one who wasn't coming in as stupid as the first.

I'd blocked a few blows, and was trying to maneuver to get an opening when I heard more feet running up from behind.

"Oh great, I'm surrounded" was going through my mind just as a voice shouted "Police! Freeze!"

I kept an eye on my opponent just in case he did something stupid. Luckily, he wasn't that dumb.

"OK, young lady, you can step away from him." said the voice.

I carefully stepped back and to the side so as to stay out of the line of fire if the cop had his gun out. In doing so I was able to turn to see the rest of the scene.

There were three cops. The guy I'd hit first was just getting up. With a cop watching him. And much to my surprise, the third attacker was curled up on the ground with Chris standing over him. An older cop was moving in on him.

The cops separated us, and cuffed all three of the attackers. I had to give a statement. So did Chris. I noticed that the two younger cops took our statements, and the older one just watched from off to the side.

I'd recognized one of the guys from my PE class. I guessed the other two were his buddies. He'd been one of the guys who thought I was queer.

After getting our statements the two younger cops loaded the three guys into the back of their car and drove off. I was picking up my pack when Chris and the older cop came over. Chris looked kinda nervous.

The cop said "You don't have to worry, we saw the whole thing. You probably won't even have to testify. You had some pretty nice moves. You kept yours busy long enough for us to get there and end things."

"Uh, thanks, I just hope the school won't come down on me and Chris for fighting."

"Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that. They aren't likely to do that to the police chief's daughter, so they can hardly do it to her friend, now can they?"

"Eep."

He grinned at me, "Especially when the chief saw the whole thing."

I just stared. Chris looked at him and went "Daaad!"

My life flashed before my eyes, The police chief's daughter. Eep.

I guess he could see that I was panicking.

"Easy, I don't have any problems with you being friends with Chris. We've had a couple of folks transition on the job here, so I'm kinda familiar with this sort of thing. Though from what I understand, you aren't exactly transitioning, are you?"

"Uh, nossir."

He smiled. "You don't have to call me sir." He held out his hand. "Andrew Watt"

I took it and replied, "Morgan. Morgan Howe."

"Well, Morgan, I've got to get back to work, but maybe we can talk later. Have Chris give you my number so you can call me if you think there's going to be trouble. You're lucky that Chris called me today."

With that he was off to his car.

Chris looked at me and said "Sorry, I called him because I was kinda worried that something like this might happen."

"It's OK, you were right. But how'd you manage to nail the huge guy.?"

She laughed, "What, you think my dad would let me run around without having to go through a self-defense class?"

We wound up talking about it as we headed off to the mall. Turned out we both went to the same dojo, just different classes.

As soon as we got to the mall, Chris dragged me into a bathroom and got me to put the jewelry back on. I decided it was probably safe enough there, so I went along.

She also did a few things with her makeup "in self defense" she claimed.

We spent a couple of hours prowling the stores and tried on quite a few things.

I realized it was getting on towards dinner time and pointed out I'd need to be heading home.

Chris suggested calling our parents and seeing if I could have dinner at her place. I wasn't sure about facing her dad again, but she talked me into it.

I'd already sent my folks a text letting them know there'd been a problem after school but everything was OK.

So after she checked with her mom to make sure it'd be OK, I called home and asked dad if I could have dinner with my new friend.

"Dad? A friend who's in a lot of my classes asked me to have dinner at her place..."

"Oh, you actually made a friend? And with a girl at that. Well, if it's OK with her folks. Just behave, OK?"

"Thanks dad, and I wouldn't dare misbehave."

"Oh?"

"Her dad is the chief of police.... "

That got a chuckle from dad. "I'm sure there's a story there. You can tell us about it when you get home. What about your homework?"

"We don't have much and since we share a lot of classes we're going to work on it together."

"Well, if you really do work on it, you don't have to be home until nine. Just be careful on the way home."

I knew what dad meant. The more I looked like a girl, the more careful I had to be if I was alone especially after dark.

We chatted a little more then Chris and I headed for her house. Turns out it was only a mile or so from my house and on the same bus line. That'd make getting home easier.

I mentioned that to Chris and suggested she come over to my place the next day.

Before we left the mall I used a bathroom to redo my makeup. I got rid of most of the jewelry too. When I was done I looked a lot more like a girl that a mother wouldn't mind her daughter being friends with.

Chris pouted. "Aww, I wanted to see what mom would do when she saw you!"

"I'd rather be able to visit you again. Shocking your mom isn't worth it."