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Saturday morning we all rise at the usual time, and after breakfast we divide up to do various tasks. My mother heads off to staff the dairy shop. Wendy is instructed to milk the cows with the assistance of Jill. My father heads off to see to the sheep and goats.

Mary and Jill brought a large pile of dirty clothes back with them from their house, as they didn’t have much opportunity to do washing when at school all day. Mary and I fix this now by washing nearly their entire wardrobes. We have large industrial size washers and driers to aid with looking after the cottages, so are able to get through a larger volume than an ordinary domestic appliance could handle.

As it’s a fine day, we are able to hang most of it out instead of using the driers.While Mary is hanging the washing out, I load the buggy with cleaning products and fresh sheets and towels, and then drive over to the cottages. After quietly unloading the contents into a shed, being careful not to disturb any guests, I return to the farmyard. Mary can’t drive and I won’t be here later to transport the materials.

At half past nine, I head inside and change into the tennis dress that Lisa has lent me. Mary disappears in the direction of the cottages on her bike to perform my normal cleaning duties while I wait for my lift. One of the families was loading up their car as I left, therefore they may have already departed.

A red car pulls up in the yard. I recognise Lisa sitting in the passenger seat and climb into the back. I am introduced to her elder sister and we drive off in the direction of the tennis club.

Lisa compliments me on my new hairstyle. I ask if she thinks it’s too radical for the tennis club. Her reply is that as I’m a guest and filling in at short notice then they wouldn’t dare complain in case I left them hanging.

We pull into the car park shortly before ten in the morning. I’m led into the unisex locker room. There are two changing rooms off the area. I deposit my sports bag into the locker next to Lisa’s. As I’m already dressed, there is no need to use the changing facilities. I have brought a change of clothes and a towel so that I have the option of showering after the tournament, although that might not be necessary if I’m going home directly afterwards.

I have a bottle of water and a small towel that I take with me to the courts. Four girls our age are waiting for us out on court, warming up.

I instantly recognise Julie and Stephanie, who found out my secret yesterday at the pool. The other girls I don’t know. I’m quickly introduced to Diana and Lucy, both of whom go to school with Stephanie.

“Simone?” Stephanie asks as she realises who I am, “I love what they did to your hair. It’s fantastic!”

“Please, call me Jasmine. I tend to go by my middle name amongst friends. Simone is just too close to Simon for it to be comfortable,” I reply. Turning to Lisa I ask, “I take it you haven’t told them anything about me?”

“No, I didn’t think that wise,” replies Lisa. I am thankful that I haven’t been gossiped about. “If you want to give them your history, then go ahead. I can vouch for Lucy and Diana but I don’t think it a good idea to mention it to anybody else. Some of the adults wouldn’t approve of what we’re doing.”

Julie and Stephanie move to my side and we all stand looking at the two other girls, who are now looking on in puzzlement. I decide it’s best if they know my status, so that if they are not happy with me playing, then they can say so now before we begin.

“What is going on?” Diana, the team captain, asks.

“You joked to Julie and Lisa that perhaps you should get a boy in as a ringer against Katrina,” I state. “Legally, I’m classified as male. I’m currently undergoing a sex change to bring my body in line with my mental gender.”

I watch closely for any sign of a negative reaction from the two girls.

“You remember me telling you about winning the silver medal in the inter-schools doubles tournament last year?” Julie asks. “She’s the boy I partnered. I could never work out why I couldn’t get her to play competitively here at the club, she’s good enough to compete.”

“I would have been competing against boys, and considering how uncomfortable I am using male changing rooms, I didn’t want to take up an activity that would mean volunteering to use the facilities more,” I answer. “Also I always knew that I would eventually change sex, which sort of rules me out of competitive sport. I don’t think I actually have a competitive advantage as I’m not producing large quantities of testosterone anymore, but I will always be regarded as not being on a level playing field due to my history.”

“If this was any other match, I might have an issue, but considering whom we are up against, I’m not going to complain. Anybody who can take that slathering great mawther down a peg or two is fine in my books,” Diana says.

Lucy shrugs her shoulders before adding, “Doesn’t bother me, although we will have to work out how to smuggle you into the changing rooms without raising suspicion. The showers here are individual, so that shouldn’t be a problem, as long as you promise to behave yourself and not peek.”

“That isn’t an issue,” Julie states, “she can walk naked through the changing rooms without anybody realising. She has been using the girls’ changing rooms at school since the start of term without anybody realising, despite my attempts to try to convince everybody otherwise.”

This gets a few raised eyebrows from Lucy and Diana, who are the only girls with which I haven’t previously shared a changing facility.

We have to cut our conversation short as the other team arrives, accompanied by a group of adults. I can tell from the name badges who are the coaches from each club, and who the umpires are.

We all shake hands and the officials take our names for the scoreboards. In addition to Katrina, we will be playing against Caitlyn, Jessica, Maria, Holly and Chell.

The organisation of the tournament is then explained. We are not going to be playing full games: instead, we will be competing in short rounds of thirty-one points. There are six girls on each team, and we will all play all the players from the other side. This means that we will each play six games that should take around fifteen minutes each. The whole competition is expected to take about two hours.

All thirty-one points are to be played: it is not the first to sixteen. Players change ends after sixteen points and change serve after each five points. The other difference is that there are no second serves or lets, to keep the pace of the game fast. This way we each have the opportunity to play as many opponents as possible without it taking all day.

Round 1
Julie	3		28	Katrina
Lisa	17		14	Caitlin
Stephanie	16		15	Jessica
Jasmine	10		21	Maria
Lucy	16		15	Holly
Diana	17		14	Chell

After a short warm-up, we start round one. For the first match I am playing against Maria. I haven’t played for a while and I’m a bit rusty. Maria takes the first ten points before I am able to get into my rhythm and start to score. I try to mount a fight-back, and I win the last five points to bring the final score to 21-10 in Maria’s favour.

The first round also sees Julie up against Katrina. Having played alongside Julie in doubles I know how good she is. In practicing for the doubles, we have played singles against each other and I know we were evenly matched skill-wise. Julie is more accurate than I am in ball placement, but I have the greater raw strength.

My reactions, once I have gotten over my initial clumsiness, are lightning-quick. Sheep are very unpredictable, especially when being chased, so I have become used to anticipating and rapidly changing direction. I would never have thought that the skills learnt rearing sheep would come in useful for tennis.

Katrina thoroughly defeats Julie by taking 28 of the available points. Luckily, the other girls hold their own, winning against the other competitors, although only by a few points each. If Katrina wasn’t on the team, I get the impression that we would have no problem in defeating them. There are two awards up for grabs, the trophy for the player with the highest overall score, which everyone expects will be Katrina, and the trophy for the best team, which will be calculated from the overall scores of all players.

Round 2
Julie	17		14	Chell
Lisa	1		30	Katrina
Stephanie	16		15	Caitlin
Jasmine	16		15	Jessica
Lucy	16		15	Maria
Diana	14		17	Holly

My second game is against Jessica. She is a grunter. Every time she hits the ball she sounds like she is about to have an orgasm. I have never understood the need for some of the women tennis players to do this. Even if a sharp outtake of breath is needed in exerting effort to strike the ball, why does this have to be done with sound instead of just silently?

Muscle memory has now taken over and I am back up to my usual form, despite my lack of practice. I manage to win the round by one point, a feat repeated by two of my teammates..  Julie manages to win against Chell by 17-14, but this is countered by Diana losing to Holly by the same score.

Once again, Katrina is the star player of the opposition, only dropping one point while thoroughly thrashing Lisa.

We have a short break between matches. My match is one of the first to finish, due to not having long rallies like some of the others.

I leave the courts in order to use the toilets and refill my water bottle, although not at the same time. I walk round into the clubhouse, removing my sunglasses as I do so, and follow the signs in the direction of the toilets. As I turn a corner, I come face to face with Bart.

“Well, well, I thought it was you out on court,” he says in a tone of voice that I can only describe as evil. Blocking the door to the Ladies’ toilets he asks, “Where do you think you are going?”

“Out of my way, Bart,” I reply, “I’m in no mood to play your games.”

“You can’t go in there, you’re not a lady,” he laughs at me. “Do the opposition know they have a boy amongst them?”

“I don’t have time to mess around. I have to be back on court in a couple of minutes. You don’t want me in the Ladies’, then fine, I’ll use the Gents’,” I answer and go through the next door, which isn’t currently being blocked.

Unfortunately, the bathroom isn’t empty. David is leaning in the doorway to the only cubicle. Bart comes in through the outer door, sticking up an ‘out of order’ sign with Blu-Tack as he enters.

I look backwards and forwards between the two of them. I’m regretting leaving my tennis racket behind at the court. I feel my pulse race and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I have just walked into the perfect trap. I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears and the colour in the room fades to an eerie grey.

They grin at me menacingly, “Okay, you have got me where you want me. What do you intend to do now? Beat the crap out of me? Rape me? Or do you just get kicks out of seeing a girl trying to piss in a urinal.”

“You’re no girl,” Bart says as he walks closer, “just a plain old faggot, trying to justify taking it up the arse.”

“I take it you’re not going to let me use the toilet,” I say, turning to David. He doesn’t move. “Fine, I guess I can try to use the urinal, although I no longer have the plumbing for it. I presume you’d rather wait until I’ve gone before trying to beat me up so that you don’t get soaked if I wet myself in the process.”

Sighing, I reach under the miniskirt and pull my knickers off. I let them fall to the ground before stepping out of them and picking them up. I raise the dress I am wearing above my hips, exposing myself to the boys, before walking up to the closest urinal. I spread my legs and get as close to the ceramic as I can in a hope to not splash all over the place.

“Wait!” David calls as he moves out of the way of the door to the cubicle.

I step back, let my dress drop and walk into the cubicle to sit on the toilet. I don’t bother to close the door. Instead, I keep an eye on the two boys watching me. I would rather let myself be seen than put myself into an even more dangerous position by letting my opponents out of my sight.

Sitting down, I start to relieve myself while the boys watch. “You thought I was joking when I said I cut my own balls off?” I ask as I fix the two in a stare. “I took a sharp scalpel and plunged it into the soft skin just behind my scrotum and sliced it in two from back to front. I had a red-hot soldering iron on standby to burn the blood vessels closed. Even so, it was very messy. I admit I lied about frying and eating them. I actually put them in a jar and buried them in a field.”

I can see the boys becoming increasingly uncomfortable at my description. Both are staring at my lack of genitalia. I start to go into detail, explaining the sight extremely graphically. David starts to look exceedingly ill before turning and throwing up into one of the urinals.

Two against one has just become evens, as I doubt David will be in any state to pose me any opposition.

Taking a handful of toilet paper, I pat myself dry before letting it drop into the bowl.

“What’s the matter, Bart, having second thoughts about trying to teach me a lesson?” I enquire, keeping my voice cold and low in volume. I desperately fight to prevent any fear from manifesting in my voice, projecting all my emotions into anger.

Reaching down beside the toilet my left hand automatically clenches round the toilet brush. I rise to my feet and slowly start to walk forward. I don’t bother turning to flush, or even worry about pulling my knickers up, as I step forwards towards my opponent, leaving my underwear on the floor.

“Do you think you scare me, little boy? What could you possibly hope to do to me? Nothing you can inflict will ever match the pain and suffering I’ve put up with all my life.”

Bart looks nervous and starts to back away from me. I can feel the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears driving me onwards. The illumination in the room seems to be getting dimmer as the remaining colour drains, leaving everything in black and white. I can feel my eyes bulge in their sockets as I struggle to see in the fading room. I can feel my head go light, but I concentrate of progressing forwards, fighting the urge to pass out.

“You’re insane!” Bart says as terror comes into his eyes as I stagger towards him.

I feel moisture running from my nose, so I wipe it away with the back of my hand. There appears to be a black inky substance on my fingers, but my brain fails to register what it could be.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” I shout as I start to pound Bart with the makeshift weapon. He puts his arms up to protect himself. The brush head snaps off and clatters to the ground. I continue slashing at Bart’s bear arms as he uses them to protect his head, the sharp plastic scratching his skin sending streaks of black across the room.

I’m grabbed from behind and swung round, David having recovered from vomiting coming to his friends rescue. I end up bent over a sink, a strange black liquid dripping into the basin from the tip of my nose.

I hear the two boys run out of the room as I lean on the counter and close my eyes, trying to regulate my breathing so that I don’t faint.

I open my eyes again and the black fluid dripping into the sink slowly starts to turn from black to red as the room becomes brighter as the colour saturation returns to my vision. I am staring at blood dripping into the sink from a nosebleed. Realising the problem I pinch my nose and wait for the dripping to stop. I look in the mirror, my face is flushed and my eyes appear bloodshot.

I turn on the tap and rinse the sink clean. I wash my hands and face to freshen up. I look down. Luckily, I haven’t dripped blood on my dress. I retrieve my knickers, pulling them back up into position before sneaking out of the gents. I pull the sign off the door and chuck it inside the room as I leave.

After refilling my water bottle from the fountain, and taking a drink of the cold water, I return to the court. I put my sunglasses back on to hide my eyes from view.

“There you are, we have been looking for you,” Caitlyn states as I join her for a quick warm-up before we start. “Are you okay, you look a bit flustered?”

“Stomach cramps. I’ve taken a paracetamol, so they should clear up soon. Case of rotten timing, I didn’t think I was due for another couple of days,” I reply, using menstrual pain as a cover.

Round 3
Juliee	19		12	Holly
Lisa	18		13	Chell
Stephanie	4		27	Katrina
Jasmine	11		20	Caitlin
Lucy	17		14	Jessica
Diana	18		13	Maria
Round 4
Julie	16		15	Maria
Lisa	17		14	Holly
Stephanie	16		15	Chell
Jasmine	16		15	Katrina
Lucy	19		12	Caitlin
Diana	20		11	Jessica

Caitlyn nods and we start the game. The incident in the bathroom has left me shaken and distracted. Caitlyn serves the first five shots, and I am unable to break her serve. I then take the next five, the first three of which she is able to break. The next shot turns into a long rally, the constant back and through getting the adrenaline flowing again, pulling me back awake. After hitting the ball back seven times, I’m able finally to slip it past her for my first point. The final serve I make is an ace before it is time for my opponent to take over serving.

Having gotten off to a bad start, I am constantly on the back foot trying to pull my score back level. I don’t manage it, and Caitlyn finally beats me 20-11.

Round four is the reason I’m here. I’m up against Katrina this time. She has only dropped eight points so far in the entire fixture. I need to make a dent in her record if we hope to win this tournament.

We toss a coin for who is going to serve first. I call heads, and lose. Katrina opts to serve first. It’s an ace, as is the second. She has raw power in her arms and can send the ball across the net at high speed, and even more importantly, accurately. She is consistently getting within a couple of inches of the lines.

This is where the other girls have been struggling. They aren’t quick enough to return the serve unless Katrina makes a mistake, which is rare. I use my fast reactions to at least attempt to get the ball back. I am successful at intercepting the ball, but have very little control over where it goes, as I don’t have time for lining up a proper return. On the occasions when I do get it back over the net, Katrina has plenty of time to line up and smash home a winner.

I have played against both Julie and Stephanie before. I know that they each have a strong serve, but neither can match my own upper body strength. While not overly muscular, I do have plenty of power, and I’m able to put this to good use, putting pressure onto Katrina with the speed of my own serves.

I don’t have the accuracy, so have to aim for the centre of the square, as there is no second serve if I mess up. Katrina has long arms, and even at the end of her reach can return my shots. However, at the limits of control, she is unable accurately to place the return, resulting in an advantage for me. I use this to good effect in the rallies from my serves, and I almost hold my shot. She only breaks twice, which is a far better start than any of the other girls has achieved.

In the next five serves by Katrina, she serves the second one out, the first time in the match. This results in one point for me. The next shot she plays cautiously at a slower speed, and I’m able to return the ball to the opposite corner before she can get to it.

Katrina has one weak spot. Being so large, she isn’t very nimble when it comes to changing direction. She can move quickly, but her mass is such that she can’t switch direction as I can with my lighter build. I therefore attempt to push her to her limits in rallies, making her cover the full width of the court. She does the same to me in return, but I’m more agile and can cope better.

By halfway through the game I have taken over a third of the available points, already surpassing the scores of my teammates.

After changing ends, I am once again serving. I manage to serve a blinder into the back left corner of the court. Katrina only just manages to return the ball, sending it down the centre of the court at medium length. I am easily able to return and send it to the right rear corner. Katrina dashes across the court, once again struggling to return. I’m able to position myself perfectly for her return and send the ball to the opposite corner. Katrina tries to change direction, but in her haste she slips on the dusty ground, twisting her ankle as she falls.

Katrina screams in pain as she rolls on the floor, my shot going unchallenged. Her personal trainer - Katrina being the only girl playing to have her own attendant - dashes onto the court to attend to her. I had hoped that she would struggle if I pushed her, but I hadn’t intended for her to injure herself. I make my way to the side of the court where my towel and water bottle are lying. I sit on the ground and sip the fluid while Katrina is helped to the sideline for medical treatment. The umpire comes down off his high chair and speaks to the trainer.

We stop for several minutes while Katrina has her ankle bandaged. Her trainer makes her walk up and down, and she has a noticeable limp at first. After a quick massage, a painkiller, and further strapping, Katrina insists on continuing the game.

We return to the court and resume play. Katrina is being very cautious in running around, and I’m able to send several shots past her. It’s only her ability to serve aces that’s keeping her in the match. Due to the added injury time, our game runs over time, and the other competitors gather round as spectators as they finish their own matches. I’m slowly reeling in the score as the match progresses, much to the delight my teammates who are vocally cheering me on.

I win the final point of the game, just beating Katrina by a single point. We shake hands over the net.

“Well done, you certainly gave me a run for my money. It’s nice playing against someone who can give me a challenge,” Katrina tells me.

I wish her well, and proceed to the edge of the court for a well-deserved rest before the next round. That last one was exhausting. The officials delay the start of the next round to give me a breather and so that Katrina’s ankle can be looked at again.

I find a grass bank and lay down, soaking up some autumn sun. The weather is staying hot unusually late this year. It’s almost October, yet still feels like August. I take deep breaths and try to bring my heart rate down. My ears have been pounding again, and that isn’t a good sign.

I’m not sure what happened earlier. My memory is a bit fuzzy. I can remember getting angry and attacking Bart, but it’s as if it was part of a dream and didn’t really happen. I don’t think I blacked out, but everything certainly went grey. I have fainted a couple of times recently when under pressure. When Dr Truman first measured my blood pressure, he stated that it was high. I wonder if that is what is causing the problem. I’ll make sure to get it reviewed at my next check-up.

Round 5
Julie	21		10	Jessica
Lisa	18		13	Maria
Stephanie	18		13	Holly
Jasmine	19		12	Chell
Lucy	13		18	Katrina
Diana	19		12	Caitlin

I make my way over to the court for my next game. This time I’ll be playing Chell. She is an Asian-looking girl, dressed in a white t-shirt and orange miniskirt. I’m now back on top form, and I’m able to put in a controlling performance to beat her 19-12. It is a good round for my teammates as four others take decisive victories, including a 21-10 win by Julie against Jessica. The only person on our side to lose is Lucy, who is up against Katrina. However, Katrina obviously is playing below form after her accident. She only manages to win by five points, which is a much narrower margin than her earlier games.

While I sit at the edge of the courts during the break in play, I am approached by Stephanie.

“I thought I’d better warn you, I have just seen Bart and David in the clubhouse,” she states. “Bart was in the medical room having some very nasty looking scratches seen to by Mrs Baxter. He claims he fell into some hawthorn bushes while larking about between watching matches.”

I can’t help but smile in relief. I was worried that I may get in trouble for injuring him, but it seems he isn’t willing to admit what has happened. I guess he can’t really claim I attacked him without first admitting that he lured me into a trap. I doubt either boy would want it known that they came off worse in a fight with a sissy like me.

Round 6
Julie	18		13	Caitlin
Lisa	18		13	Jessica
Stephanie	17		14	Maria
Jasmine	18		13	Holly
Lucy	15		16	Chell
Diana	14		17	Katrina

The final round pits me against Holly, a thin tanned-skinned girl with white African heritage and who has a very large nose. I don’t do quite as well, but still manage to beat her by five points. Lucy misses out against Chell by one point and Katrina once again puts in a credible performance to win her match 17-14.

When the points are added up, it is obvious that Katrina is the player with the highest overall score, as was expected. What wasn’t expected is that when the team points are added up, both teams have managed to score an equal 558. If my playing had been a bit more consistent then I’m sure we would have won outright. At least I achieved the objective of reigning Katrina in.

Our side is awarded the trophy on the grounds that we won more matches than the opposition, having only lost nine of the games.

	Katrina		Caitlin		Jessica		Maria		Holly		Chell
Julie	3	28	18	13	21	10	16	15	19	12	17	14	94
Lisa	1	30	17	14	18	13	18	13	17	14	18	13	89
Stephanie	4	27	16	15	16	15	17	14	18	13	16	15	87
Jasmine	16	15	11	20	16	15	10	21	18	13	19	12	90
Lucy	13	18	19	12	17	14	16	15	16	15	15	16	96
Diana	14	17	19	12	20	11	18	13	14	17	17	14	102
		135		86		78		91		84		84

We head towards the locker rooms and the showers. I am hot and soaking wet with perspiration. I am desperately in need of a shower. As I trudge inside, I wonder if I should wait for the other girls to finish. However, I’m exhausted and can’t be bothered with the fuss of worrying about who I might see in a state of undress. If any of the other players are unhappy with my presence in the changing rooms then they can wait until I leave.

I pull my bag from my locker and follow Lisa and Chell into the changing rooms, the other girls following on behind. Lisa immediately starts stripping, before walking naked across the room with her towel to one of the showers. She doesn’t bother pulling the curtain as she lets the water flow over her.

Assuming that this is normal etiquette, I copy her actions and I’m soon rinsing myself in the next cubicle. The opposition team members are soon doing the same. I note that Stephanie is the only other girl on our squad to be undressed. The other girls just sit drinking bottled water, waiting for the showers to free up. I am not surprised that Julie is hesitating, and I guess the other two girls are uncomfortable with my presence.

I quickly finish my shower so that the remaining girls have an opportunity to get under the refreshing water. I cross back to the bench where my sports bag is sitting and start to dry myself. A knock comes on the door, and one of the club officials, Mrs Jenkins, comes in.

“Excuse me girls,” Mrs Jenkins states, “but I have just been told that a boy was seen sneaking in here.”

I deliberately switch to drying my back, pulling the towel across my shoulder blades. This gives a full frontal view to anybody who wants to look. I’m intentionally facing the adult expecting accusations to come in my direction. I notice the woman take a good look at me as her eyes dart round the room.

Katrina then starts angrily shouting, “Not this crap again! Every time I do well some arsehole has to accuse me of being a boy. Just because I’m not Anna flipping Kournikova, doesn’t mean I’m a bloke. I’ve undergone every test possible and every time I’ve proved to be female.”

The sudden outburst by Katrina surprises the official, who immediately backs down, apologising profusely before backing out the door, almost bumping into another woman entering the room.

I recognise the person coming in from the protest outside of the school. I immediately tense back up, something that Diana notices as she glances towards me. Mrs Baxter, according to her club name badge, hands a large white towel to Diana, who has been waiting on one of the benches.

“Thanks, Auntie,” Diana says, taking the towel from the woman. Diana immediately undresses and walks past me towards the showers. She deliberately moves the towel from covering her front to her side as she comes past me, allowing me to get a good glimpse of her body. Diana winks at me as she passes.

I take these gestures to mean that she doesn’t have a problem with me. I finish drying myself off and get dressed in the floral print summer dress I’ve brought with me. Once again, I will be one of the few girls in a dress, with most opting for jeans. I note that Katrina also opts for a very feminine style, wearing a long ankle-length flowing skirt. I assume that this is deliberate so she won’t be mistaken for a guy.

I leave the other girls to change and head out into the locker room where there is a drinking fountain. I have to wait for Lisa and Chell to finish before I can take a turn slurping the ice-cold water. Diana, having quickly showered and dressed, comes up to me as I finish and signals for me to go to one side.

We head outside and round a corner out of earshot.

“Don’t worry about my Aunt,” Diana states. “I don’t share her views. Neither does my cousin, Tracy, who goes to your school. I had heard about Brahms having a transgendered student, and I have to say I’m surprised. I would have never known you weren’t born this way if you hadn’t have said.”

“Thanks,” I reply.

“Tracy isn’t in any of your classes, so you won’t know her. I think she may know who you are, but I know that she is denying all knowledge to her mother,” Diana adds. “A word of warning though, I think my aunt is planning to make a fuss about you at the governors’ meeting on Thursday.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I say, “and thanks for accepting me for what I appear to be.”

Diana smiles and pulls me into a hug, “No problem, Jasmine.”

We head back out to the front of the club where the opposition team are lining up to get on a minibus. After handshakes all round, we say our goodbyes. We wave the other team off on their trip home.

As promised, Lisa buys me lunch. Mrs Baxter gives the whole team a lift in her seven-seater people carrier. I sit in the middle row between Lisa and Julie on the way to a local restaurant, which is actually a pub that caters for families. We all end up having bangers and mash with a red onion gravy. It is thoroughly delicious. Mrs Baxter supervises the meal, making sure we don’t get too loud.

“That’s a very unusual hairstyle you have, Jasmine, very striking,” Mrs Baxter comments.

I notice that the table seems to become slightly quieter as everybody wonders how I’m going to answer the question. Diana has managed to brief the other girls not to say anything about my history without her aunt realising.

“I just hope I don’t get in trouble at school with it, I only had it done last night. I’ve been waiting for it to grow long enough to do something with - I really don’t like it this short. I’ve had to wear a wig since the start of term,” I reply.

“How come it came to be so short in the first place?” Mrs Baxter asks.

“I chopped it off in a fit of depression. We had a big family breakup a couple of months ago. My brother was kicked out after he revealed he’s a poof. I couldn’t cope with all the arguing and teasing it caused for me, especially when a number of people assumed I’m a lesbian because my brother’s gay,” I softly reply, “I basically had a bit of a Britney Spears moment.”

That isn’t actually far off from the truth. I did have longer hair and I was being teased about being girly. Knowing that I couldn’t safely become what I needed to be, I became depressed and decided to go ultra-masculine in style to throw people off my persuasion.

Julie puts her hand on my arm and squeezes in support as I look down at the table. I think she realises how close to the truth I’m actually keeping for once.

“What do you think? Do I need to take a wig with me on Monday?” I ask the others.

Everyone then starts to reassure me that everything will work out fine. They can see that this is a delicate issue for me. Even Mrs Baxter, who doesn’t know the full details, can see it is a cause for concern.

The girls quickly change the subject to matters that are more light-hearted, mainly how cute Justin Bieber looks in the latest teen magazine. I can’t help but chuckle. He is one boy who could certainly pass as a girl.

After a dessert of rhubarb crumble and custard, we sit and relax for a little while chatting before Lisa’s sister comes and collects Lisa, Julie and I. Julie is staying the night at Lisa’s for a sleepover. They drop me off at the farm shortly after 2pm.

Mary has done the cleaning of the cottages and is now working through the washing when I arrive. I drive the buggy back over to the cottages to pick up the cleaning products and the remaining dirty laundry. We spend the afternoon taking turns to iron clothes while listening to music. We also sort out the drawers and wardrobes in my room, Mike’s old room, and the guest room, so that we can put the girls’ clothes away.

I help to cook the evening meal. As I have already eaten a cooked meal, I have a hot chicken sandwich while the rest of the family sit down to a roast dinner. I do join them for an apple pie and ice cream dessert. I have to relate my sporting achievements over coffee.