Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around. .

When we got back from church, I rushed up to my room to change. I didn’t really need too. What I was wearing would have worked for a relaxing Sunday afternoon, but it was a habit from my Robert days.
I changed into tan athletic shorts and a maroon t-shirt, slipped a turquoise headband into my hair, and skipped downstairs for lunch. Mom had fixed spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, after lunch I helped Mom clean up and was about to head upstairs when Mom called me back down.

“Becky? Come to the living room for a second, Princess.”

Princess? Jeez Mom was really digging deep for ways to reinforce my girly state. I slouched in the sofa, “Yeah, Mom?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been thinking about your situation with Luke and today in church I really felt God was speaking to me.”

Perfect! Another round of the God spoke to me game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate God or anything, but it seems like every time God spoke to Mom, I always came out of the situation a little worse for wear. By now all Mom had to do was mention the phrase and it was enough to put me in a bad mood.

“Becky, I had no idea that you’d been…treated that way before in your life. After a lot of thought and prayer, do you want to continue with this?”

"What? Mom are you just offering to let this go? There’s got to be a catch, what’s the catch?"

“Well, not just give up a punishment altogether, I’m just saying that if you feel like the experience would traumatize or otherwise harm you, then maybe it’s my responsibility as a parent to find another punishment for you.”

I was stunned. I really did not see this coming! Was this the end? Was I free?

“Don’t answer me just yet, think about it and let me know. Just make up your mind before school starts tomorrow, OK?”

I headed up to my room in stunned silence. I’d actually done it! I’d broke her! I could go back to being a boy! I laughed to my self. I pulled the headband out of my hair and threw it across the room. I ripped off my t-shirt, rolled it in a ball, and threw it as well. My shorts soon followed.

My God this really was over! I started to tear off my bra, and then stopped. Staring in the mirror I saw a girl. I reached and cupped my fake boobs. I’d ignored them, but this act caused me to get a bit excited. I stopped stroking my fake boobs and plopped onto the bed. I really needed to think now: if I did go back to being a guy, what advantage would I gain and what would I lose? It sounds like a stupid question but every decision has to be carefully weighted, even a seemingly no-brainer like this one.
I always think better when I’m doing something, so I went ahead and pulled down my nail polish kit and got to work. I know I did it yesterday, but I decided to switch to a turquoise color and it painting my nails always seemed to relax me. As I worked, I thought about it.

Obviously, if I just reappeared at school tomorrow there’d be a lot of questions. I could answer them but still, it’d be suspicious. Still it’d be better than being a cheerleader and shaking my ass for the entire school right? But at least as a cheerleader I was popular, respected, and even lusted after.
Is that what I wanted? What about in life? As a boy I was an outsider, I’d always seen myself as some kind of Batman figure, smarter and better than everyone else but always angry, alone, and feared. My family feared me but my brother respected me. As a girl I was the exact opposite, my family loved me but my brother was confused about me. Is that what I wanted?

I finished painting my toes, gathered my clothes from the various corners where they had landed, put them back on, and went downstairs.

I found Mom making tea in the kitchen and surprised her with a big hug. She turned around and returned my affection.
“Well, this is something I could get used to! I take it this means you’ve decided to stick with it?”

“Yeah, we’ll see where this leads. But thanks Mom for considering my feelings here.”

“You’re welcome, Baby Doll.”

Mom handed me a cup of tea and I headed out to the front porch to enjoy it. I was enjoying relaxing on our hammock when I saw Kaleb ride up on his bike.

“Kaleb! What are you doing here?”

He looked at me sheepishly as he walked up the drive, “Well I looked up movie times for Thor and was wondering if you’d like to go tomorrow at 5:40? We could grab dinner or something afterwards?”

“Sure, sounds great! But you didn’t have to bike all the way over here to tell me that, you could have just called, texted, or even just told me at school,” I gave him a knowing look and a smile. I was impressed that Kaleb had already done the research and was practically asking me out on a date. I didn’t think he had it in him!

“Well...I…uh…I like biking and it helps me think so since I felt like biking I thought I may as well come over here.“

“Well would you like to come in?“

“Um, no that’s fine. I’m on my way back home anyway, I’ll pick you up at 5:15, tomorrow, OK?”

“Sure, see you later Kaleb!”

I watched him ride away with a smile on my face. I knew all it would take to get him out of his shell was the right girl to give him attention; I just never thought I would be the right girl. Oh God, I’ve got to stop thinking of myself like that!

I walked inside and was greeted with a chant, “Kaleb and Becky sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Josh, what are you, five?”

“You totally wanted to make out with him!”

“Did not!”

“Oh yeah you did! You were all, ‘Come in! Come to my room smooch smooch smooch!’”

“Shut up! That’s not what I sound like!”

“Are you going to watch that movie at all or will you be too busy smooching with your boyfriend”

“That enough Josh!” I threw a pillow at him and he threw it back. Soon we were laughing and yelling as we threw pillows at each other! It was just like when we were younger, back when we got along all the time. I actually kind of missed times like this.

You know how you have to pay for something you’re looking forward too? I was looking forward to see Thor with Kaleb this evening, I wanted to see the movie, I was not excited about the date, but of course school was incredibly awkward.

For starters Luke and Sam seemed to be sending dirty looks in my direction all day. Secondly Kaleb avoided me, it was like he forgot I existed. That was not a big surprise, he ignored girls in general, but I was hoping that he’d at least acknowledge my presence.

I was so distracted with all of this other drama that I didn’t really pay attention in class, so of course I had several teachers pull me aside after class to lecture me about paying attention. Despite the day crawling along, school finally ended and I raced home!

Rushing upstairs, I glanced at the clock. It was quarter till 4, which meant that I had about an hour to get ready. I took a shower and I made sure that my legs and arms were completely hairless. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my body, and headed pack to my room to pick out something to wear.

What does a girl wear on a date? Do I go with something comfortable or something that would emphasize the fact that I was a girl? Heck, that was probably one of the reasons why I was so excited. Kaleb knew me well and while he was shy around girls, the fact that he had sisters meant that he picked up on details with clothing and mannerisms that most guys missed.

That meant that the risk was still there and I was starting to feel the same adrenaline that I felt when I was breaking into a locker before the bell rings. I decided to go with something girly, so I picked out a white sleeveless dress. Putting the dress on, I admired myself in the mirror.

The dress had a black belt with a blue buckle, red and white flowers along the neckline and about the belt, and a triangle shaped group of flowers that fell along the sides of my legs. I gave a little twirl that came out girlier than I expected. The dress came down to about the middle of my thigh, so I figured that brown gladiator sandals would compliment it perfectly. I looked at my reflection and figured something was still missing. My hair! I hadn’t really learned to do much more with my hair than to put it in a ponytail and I wanted something nicer than that!

“Mom! Can you come up here for a second?”

She came into my room and gasped, “Oh honey! You look gorgeous!”

I grinned, “Thanks Mom!” I still wasn’t used to having those kinds of words used to describe me but at least it meant I was passable. “Mom, I was wondering if you could braid my hair?“

Mom smiled, “Absolutely!”

I sat in a chair at the vanity while Mom went to work. I made a note to ask Mom to show me some different hairstyles then closed my eyes, sat back, and enjoyed the feel of Mom’s fingers running through my hair. It was so relaxing, almost like having a head massage.

Finally Mom stepped back, “Voila!” I looked in the mirror in amazement. Mom had fixed my hair into braided ponytails and had managed to fix a small white flower into my left braid. Walking over to my full-length mirror, I examined the full effect.

Mom came up behind me, “You look beautiful, Sweetheart. But there’s still something missing.” She left the room for a second then came back and slipped a silver necklace around my neck. The necklace was basically a silver flower pendant on a silver chain. The flower was resting just under the neckline of my dress and added a certain sense of glamor to the entire outfit.

“It was a gift from your Dad, actually the first piece of jewelry he ever gave me. I’d like you to keep it. You can wear it as Rebecca and if you ever find a special woman, you can give it to her as Robert. But for now it makes my little girl the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I hugged Mom with tears creeping out of my eyes. “Thanks Mom.”

The sound of the doorbell ringing snapped me back to reality.

“Mom! I’m not ready, I’m not ready! Give me a sec, tell him I’ll be down there!”

Mom chuckled and left my room to head downstairs. I took a deep breath, smoothed down my dress, and then grabbed my purse. Drat this purse wouldn’t go with my outfit at all! I grabbed a more stylish black leather purse from my closet and began transferring everything: wallet, lipstick, compact mirror, phone, keys, some spare change, perfume, tissues, wipes, eyeliner, nail file, and a condom? Where did that come from? Mom must have put it in there. I wanted to yell at her for that but there wasn’t anytime so I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs.

“OK, I’m ready to go!” I smiled to myself as I saw Kaleb’s eyes drink me in.

“Wow! You look fantastic!”

“Thanks Kaleb!”

Mom came out with a camera and took a picture of the two of us together. I headed out to Kaleb’s car while Mom grabbed Kaleb for a second. I was pretty sure she was giving him the same talk by Dad would have given him if Dad were here. Kaleb got in the car, plugged in his iPod, and we were off to the movies!

We spent most of the ride over just chatting about the usual stuff. I talked to him about his family; he had six sisters, one brother and his family was pretty conservative. He wanted to major in accounting, and he loved literature. Robert knew most of this stuff, but I wanted Kaleb to tell Rebecca so that I didn’t accidentally slip and know more about him than I should.
Thankfully, once Kaleb feels comfortable and gets talking, he doesn’t stop, so he didn’t really ask me too many questions. We arrived at the theater and Kaleb quickly opened his door, sprinted to my side, opened my door, and helped me out of the car. I was rather grateful for this as his car sat low to the ground and I’m sure that without his help I would have exposed more leg than I’d care to.

I didn’t let go of his hand after he helped me out of the car so the two of us walked into the theatre holding hands. Kaleb’s hand was smooth but there was a gentleness and affection that came through. God listen to me! Six months ago I would probably be cracking a joke about how feminine his hands were and now I was actually enjoying the feel of my hand in his.

Kaleb paid for two tickets then went ahead and bought a bag of Skittles and some Coke. The whole time I was just hanging back and letting him lead me. It was a little strange since usually I’m a take-charge person and whenever Kaleb and I had gone to the movies before, I was always pushing him along. Now here taking charge while I was just the arm candy.

We made out way to our seats and Kaleb handed me a glass of Coke. The movie started and soon the two of us were whispering and laughing with each other. I had a great time and once again I wondered how I’d let times like this get away from me. Of course, when we hung out before my head was never resting on his shoulder! The more physical contact I had with Kaleb the more alive I felt! That feeling combined with the feel of the dress and the smooth skin on my body meant that I had never felt sexier! Yet Kaleb still seemed to be holding back a little.

I tried to get him to initiate contact during the entire second half of the movie. I laid my head on his shoulder but he still wouldn’t even put his arm around me. I held his hand but that just wasn’t satisfying me because I was holding his hand, not the other way around.

Finally, in desperation I reached for the Skittles that he was keeping on the seat between his legs. Picking up a Skittle, I “accidentally” dropped it onto his pants. Keeping my eyes on the screen, I reached down and grabbed the Skittle, while “accidentally” brushing up against his package. Gosh that was big! I only had mine to compare it too but it was definitely bigger than that. I glanced up at Kaleb and he still ignored me! In a little bit of a huff that even my desperation play hadn’t garnered any attention, I leaned back and watched the rest of the movie.

“Well did you enjoy the movie Rebecca?”

“Yeah, it was fantastic but kind of sad too.”

“Yes, but we know Thor will be back for the Avengers, I can’t wait for that movie! But anyway, where do you want to eat?”

“Um…well what kind of budget do you have?”

“I have money.” Kaleb smiled at me as he opened the car door for me.

“Tell you what, surprise me. You just drive and I’ll eat whatever you decide.”

“If you say so.” With that he started driving and I started flipping for songs in his iPod. The music gave us something to talk about till he pulled up at a Steak and Shake. Our waiter took our order, after giving me the look over I might add, then Kaleb looked at me with a curious expression.

“What?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing. It’s just that you look a lot like your cousin.”

“Gee thanks!” I said sarcastically.

“No, that’s not what I meant, you’re beautiful! It’s just that some of your ways of speaking are very similar.”

“Well we are related.”

“I guess that’s it.” He looked at me funny then looked down at his shoes before asking me another question.

“Do you mind if I ask you another question?”

“You just did.” I said with a smile

“You know what I mean!”

“OK, shoot!”

“Well…why did you allow me to go to the movies with you?”

“What? What kind of question is that?”

“Well you’re beautiful and popular. You seem smart enough and you can be funny too. Not only that but you’re a cheerleader and you must have tons of people asking you out. So why someone as ordinary and uninteresting as me?”

“Ordinary? Uninteresting? Do you hear yourself?” I grabbed his hand with both of mine. “Listen to me very carefully. I’ve not known you for long but I can tell you right now that you’re special. You’re smart and you have a bright future. You’d make any girl happy to call herself your girlfriend. Why do you think you’re uninteresting?”

“The way I see it there are two types of people. Those who wake up in the morning and can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t love them and those who can’t understand why anyone would love them. You said it yourself, you haven’t known me that long, I’m not that special.”

I couldn’t understand this. Kaleb was a nice guy with plenty to offer. Why the self-esteem issues? “Kaleb, you are special, even if no one else sees it, you’re special to me.”

Kaleb beamed at me, then moved the conversation back to the movie.

Finally the night was over. Kaleb parked his car in the driveway and walked me up to the door of my house. I stopped on the porch. “Kaleb, I had a really fun time tonight!”

“Yeah, me too. We should do it again soon!”

“Yeah we should, let me know when you’re free.”

I wasn’t sure how to say goodbye. I know girls sometimes kiss a date goodbye but I didn’t want to go THAT far! As a guy I would have just dropped Kaleb off at his house and gone home. Kaleb seemed to be thinking the same thoughts. (O.K not the exact same thoughts!) So I just went ahead and gave him a hug goodbye.

I was still happy about my date with Kaleb when I went to school the next morning. I didn’t think anyone knew about it, so I was blindsided when Julie bounced up to me in the hall before my first class.

“So how’d the date go? Kaleb Lane? Really? I mean he’s kind of cute. Tall is good. And he has a nice smile and great hair. But still? Heck half of us girls thought he was gay, the way he avoids us. It’s like he’s scared of us! How’d you pull of getting that guy to talk to you?”

“Julie! Slow down! Yes the date went well. I guess he’s cute; it’s what inside that counts right? And he goes to my church so my aunt introduced us. Now how the heck did you find out?”

“That’s easy, you guys stopped at a Steak ‘N’ Shake. Well the waiter was a friend of Heather’s and he mentioned it to her who mentioned it to Elizabeth who…well you get the idea.”

Great. This is exactly what I need, the entire school discussing my dating habits. Luckily the bell rang and saved me from further embarrassment. I tried to keep my head down and keep quiet through most of the day. That worked till the bell rang and I had to scramble to the restroom to change for my first cheerleading practice.

“C’mon Ladies, let’s go!” Coach Swann was yelling at us as we did laps. I had no idea cheerleaders had such strenuous warm-ups! Not that I was out of shape or anything but I hadn’t expected a 12-minute run.

“Alright, girls bring it in.” That was Julie who motioned for us to make a circle. The three captains took turns leading us in stretches. After that we were shown the different jumps we’d need to now and then we had to practice those. Once we’d finished the jumps, Coach handed us a paper with the cheers on them and the entire squad had to practice those. Finally we ended with another run.

I was heading off the field with the other girls when Luke approached me. Perfect, what does he want? Hopefully he’s not mad that I went on a date after telling him I wasn’t dating.

“Hey Rebecca!”

“Oh hey Luke!” I hoped maybe playing innocent would help ease the situation.

“Can I talk to you alone?”

He led me over to the boys locker room and motioned me inside. Crap! Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. The locker room was completely empty and Luke was between the exits and me. I just had to pray that he really did just want to talk.

“So…what did you want to talk about?”

“What’s this I hear about you dating Kaleb Lane?”

“OK, technically it was one date and…”

“Shut up! You already said you’d go out with me then your aunt called and said she didn’t want you dating!”

“Look Luke, I’m sorry about that. You’re a nice enough guy, but I didn’t really want to go out with you and wasn’t sure how to say no.”

“Oh and that makes it OK you bitch! You made me look like a fool! I swear I’ll get you for this!” He approached me with an angry look in his eyes. I started looking around for some way to escape but didn’t see any. I decided to put up a brave front.

“Do your worst Princess Leia! You’re not going to get me to back down.”

Luke crossed the distance between us in a blink and slapped me across the face. “What did you call me? Only one kid called me that: your cousin Robert!”

Crap! I forgot that I was the only person to use that nickname to make him mad. Maybe cause I was one of the few people stupid enough to make him mad.

“Um...well my cousin told me it’s what people OUCH!

He slapped me again! “Shut up you lying bitch! You faggot! I recognize you now Robert! So you’re a little girl now huh? Got your outsides to match your insides?”

I stood there in shocked silence. Crap, crap, crap! What the heck could I do? This was it, I’d have to move away, probably leave the country just to get away from this! There was that nagging voice that was telling me that Mom had given me an out but I chose this. It wasn’t a comforting thought.

Luke continued, “You know what? I need my rep back! Do me now!”

“I’m sorry…what?”

“You heard me freak! You pleasure me now or I tell this entire school your little secret! No, you know what, check that. If you do a good job then maybe I’ll let you be my girlfriend and we’ll keep things quiet about you.”

“And if I say no?”

He hit me again and forced me to my knees. “There is no saying no here!”

He started to pull his pants down when a voice called out. “That’s far enough!”

Julie! She emerged from the shadows carrying a cell phone. “Luke, I’d get out of here now! And if you breathe a word about Rebecca or try to hurt her again I’ll make sure this video I just shot gets to the Principal and the web! How much of a future you think you’ll have with this out there?”

Luke growled, but stormed out. Julie led me out and as she did I started crying.

“Shhh! It’s ok, Becky. It’ll be ok.”

She stroked my hair as she said it and I eventually calmed down.

“But Robert? I think we need to talk about this.”

Thank you all for reading! Comments, kudos, and constructive criticism is always welcome! I had a lot I wanted to cover in this chapter so it stretched out quite a bit but hopefully you all don't mind that!