A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 2

Keith waited until Alice signalled she was ready to continue and then resumed the interview.

“I was quite impressed with your little performance before. It was quite convincing. If I hadn’t known the truth, I probably would have believed that you were really physically a girl and highly offended by any suggestion to the contrary. Have you had to make a scene like that since your first case worker?”

Alice gave a little nod. “My first new school after … after going into the agency. The school head saw that my old school records had an M. I did the whole performance again about the old school making a mistake and showed her my welfare forms which all had F on them. Then you, today.”

“As I asked before, aren’t you worried that one day someone like me might call your bluff and let you strip all the way?”

A shrug and then a sneaky smile. “Not really! We’re in the middle of a crowded school. You’d be in a lot more trouble than I would if someone came in and I was half naked. I know how the system works. You’re an adult and I’m only twelve. All I’d have to do is scream and somebody would come in. You had to stop me or you’d be arrested for being a pervert.”

“Perhaps! But you would still have been outed as a boy.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Alice blurted out. Then she blushed and bit her lip.

“What? Could you explain that please.”

Alice was still blushing. Despite this, she stared back at Keith with a defiant look on her face.

“I asked you to explain that. Why wouldn’t you be outed as a boy?”

“There’s nothing to see.”

She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she opened them again and stared straight at Keith.

“Before I came in here, I pushed everything up inside and glued my skin together over the top. We got hold of that medical glue stuff they use instead of stitches so it works on skin. There's a solvent that melts it all away when I don't need it anymore. Peter and I found some pictures on the internet on a site about puberty. I look about right as far as we can tell — provided nobody looks too closely. We’ve never actually seen — well, you know, that part — of a real girl, so it’s kind of hard to be sure.”

Alice had resumed sitting quite upright and was still staring defiantly at Keith.

“That’s not a very safe thing to do,” said Keith calmly. “Nor does it sound very comfortable.”

Alice shrugged and looked unconcerned. “Being made to act like a boy would be worse.”

Keith nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you do that every day?”

“No, just for times like today when we think I might get challenged. It would be horrible to do that every day. The glue feels disgusting. Most of the time I just push it all in and wear a tight pair of knickers under my ordinary ones.”

“What about doctors?”

“I’ve only been to a doctor once, since … since then. That was for an ear infection. Doctors don’t make you get naked for an ear infection. I was pretty sure I’d be safe. I thought he might make me undress down to my underwear but he didn’t even do that so I was okay. Apart from that I’ve avoided doctors.”

Keith looked at her for a moment and made some notes on his file.

“So now the big question. Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why have you been living as a girl for the last five years? Tell me about how that little Fallow boy turned into Alice.”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. It felt like the right thing to do. And once I started, I couldn’t really stop. I couldn’t exactly walk up to somebody and tell them that I’ve been living as a girl for the last however long and now I want to stop. Besides, I’ve never really wanted to stop.”

“It sounds like you are happy being Alice?”

She shrugged. “I am Alice. Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m sad. But I’m always Alice.”

“Hmm! If we accept you into Hayfield Hall, you and I are going to have some long talks about all of this. You’ll also spend some time with our medical staff working out where this is leading you to.”

“Will you make me …?”

“No, we will not make you stop living as a girl. Hayfield Hall exists to support young people who have the potential to excel but struggle in a normal school environment. Young people like you and your brother. If your gender identity issues are what is holding you back at the moment then we will support you by helping you to learn and grow into a fine young woman."

“Really?”

“Yes! Really!”

“Wow!”

"However, if you do decide you want to stop, we will support that and make it as easy as we can for you to go back to living as a boy.”

Keith nodded and made an note to himself.

“Let’s change the subject slightly. Where did Alice and Peter come from? What happened to Jordan and Jason?”

Alice sat and looked at Keith for a moment while she thought about the question. Then she sighed and nodded.

“Our parents were always really cutsey about having twins. Jordan and Jason always had matching names, matching clothes, matching hairstyles. They loved it, we hated it. Around about our seventh birthday we had a little rebellion and refused to go along with it any more. We told them we were different people and wanted to be treated differently. We had this huge family fight — there was lots of yelling and crying. In the end they gave in and things got better. As a kind of symbol of our new beginning, we got them to choose new names for us and they chose Allan and Peter — then Allan changed into Alice and here I am.”

“The fire was only two weeks after your seventh birthday.”

Alice went pale and nodded. They were both quiet for a moment.

“Let’s change the subject again,” said Keith. “Every time you have a choice, you and Peter choose to be in different classes or even different subjects. Do you have difficulty being in the same class as Peter?”

“No! That’s not a problem at all. We get on really well together. It’s just more interesting if we’re learning different things or have different teachers or whatever.”

“More interesting? How?”

“It gives us more to tell each other when we get home. If we’re both in the same class with the same teacher it’s not nearly so much fun afterwards.”

“You teach each other what you’ve learned in class?”

“Um … yes! I guess so. But it’s more like we tell each other everything that happened, not just what we learned.”

“What about your instruments. You play violin and Peter plays trombone. Do you teach each other those as well.”

Alice shrugged. “Our foster parents don’t let us practise at home so that’s a bit harder to do.”

“When you get to Hayfield, you will both be in the same class for most of the day. How do you think you will cope with that?”

“In the assembly, they said your school used new techniques that challenged the students more than most schools. We kind of guessed that meant we would be getting proper homework and assignments and things like that instead of the time-wasting stuff we get from here that’s supposed to keep us busy without actually teaching us anything. If we’re being challenged, then we’ll be happy being in the same classes more but we’d still like to do some things different if we can.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“Now I’d like you to tell me about Peter. How is Peter different from you? How is he the same?”

Keith leaned back and listened to Alice talk.

Some time later …

“Come in please, Peter, and take a seat.”

Peter slouched over to the chair and slumped into it. His straight hair was tied back in a loose pony-tail that dangled to his shoulders. Despite his apparent relaxed attitude, his eyes were bright and intensely focused on the man sitting opposite him.

“Hello Peter, my name is Keith Thompson and I’m here to discuss the possibility of you attending our school. Before we begin, I’d like to be clear about one thing. Do you understand that Hayfield Hall is a boarding school which you would be attending 365 days per year? If you join us, you would not be leaving until you graduate. No holiday breaks, no trips home, no family visits.”

“Sure,” said Peter, “But no way am I going unless Alice gets in too.”

Keith smiled. “We understand that. After these interviews we will either offer both of you a position or neither of you.”

Peter sniffed. “That’s okay then. As long as we’re clear.”

“So Peter,” Keith’s voice was casual and calm. “What do you think about your brother living as a girl for the last five years?”

Peter jerked upright and stared at Keith in astonishment. “She told you?”

Keith smiled calmly and stared Peter in the eye.

“Peter, the first thing we expect from our students is honesty. It would be difficult for us to go forward if you and Alice couldn’t be honest with us. The second thing we expect from our students is that they look after each other. Much the same way you have been looking after your twin for the last five years. I’m not criticizing you or Alice. I’m merely ensuring that you understand we need you to be honest during this interview.”

Peter’s mouth opened as if he were about to say something and then it closed again.

Now that Keith was certain that he had Peter’s full attention, he smiled and opened the file in front of him.

“We’ll get back to that shortly, but first let’s start with some basics … .”