Silly dress? Look at me now: my first day of high school in a new town, and I was dressed like a girl.

I lifted my hand to knock on Principal Bryant's door, but Ms. Trujillo stopped me. "Don't do it, honey. He has an important phone meeting, and then he's leaving for the day. Whatever it is will have to wait for tomorrow."

"But it's important," I whined.

"Listen," she said. "Unless you're dying or giving birth, you've got to wait until tomorrow."

I struggled inside. I wanted to knock, even if I wasn't supposed to. But of course I didn't. So far I hadn't been able to tell anyone that I wasn't a girl. I didn't tell Ms. Price or Jerry, because I still thought I had a chance of changing back to Mark and letting Marcie disappear. Mrs. Zeff wasn't interested in anything I had to say, and Mr. Bryant — although he was very nice about it — didn't give me a chance. He was so good at guiding the conversation, he didn't leave me any space to say, Excuse me, but I'm not a girl.

I sighed, and realized that I had to tell Ms. Trujillo, the secretary. Yet she was another puzzle. I know Aunt Jane told me that the principal's secretary was her best friend. She was the one who got me into Tierson High in the first place, wasn't she? But Ms. Trujillo was very emphatic that she didn't know my aunt at all.

I'd have to leave that question for later. I'd ask my aunt when I saw her after school. Still, friend of my aunt or not, Ms. Trujillo ought to be able to help me out of my predicament. I walked over to her desk, took a deep breath, and said, "It's been a crazy day." That seemed like a good place to start my story. Then I paused. Should I just say, Listen, I'm really a boy or should I begin at the beginning, with Mr. Bruce in the gym?

"Crazy day?" she repeated with a smile. "Don't worry, hon. At least you don't have detention, right?"

"Uh... I guess," I replied. "But see... I'm a... uh... I mean, I'm not... uh..."

Ms. Trujillo waited for me to finish. We looked at each other for a few moments, but the words just didn't come. At last, she picked up a piece of paper and said, "Don't worry. Today is your first day. It probably seems all crazy and complicated, but trust me, things will get better." She handed me the paper. "Here's your new schedule. I don't know where your old one went. In fact, I couldn't find your records at all, which is weird... so anyway, I filled out some temporary forms, just for today. Miss Truman can work the whole records thing out tomorrow — not that it matters to you."

But it did matter to me. My records would tell her who I really am. So I said, "Yeah, about my records... I want to say—"

"Tell me something," she interrupted. "Where were you the past two days? Just sitting at home, watching TV? Why weren't you here? You live just down the road."

"Where was I? My aunt took me to see Big Sur."

"Oh, how nice for you! Big Sur? It's lovely, but, Marcie, you had all summer to visit Big Sur. Did you think that cutting school would somehow make it a better experience?"

"I didn't mean to cut school. My aunt told me that school started on Thursday, not Tuesday."

Miss Trujillo frowned. "It sounds like your aunt is a little mixed up."

"It was an honest mistake," I said.

Ms. Trujillo gave a look of disapproval. "Well, her 'honest mistake' caused you a lot of trouble. Make sure you tell her that. But that's between the two of you. Now listen: Ms. Price took your 'add' notices to all your teachers. So you won't need to do that. You're lucky: you made a good friend there. You really owe her one." She nodded approvingly at what I was wearing. "Things could have gone a lot worse." She smiled and handed me two more slips of paper. "Now, go. You gotta get out of here. These are for tomorrow: they're excuse notes for the classes you missed this morning. Go have your lunch, finish the day, go home, and talk to your aunt."

Ms. Trujillo stood and came out from behind her desk. She ruffled my hair, and gently pushed me out the door. I stumbled into the empty hall. I was in a state of shock. I hadn't been able to tell her, and now I was back in that awful hallway, where everyone had seen Mrs. Zeff drag me like a rag doll in that silly dress.

Silly dress? Look at me now: my first day of high school in a new town, and I was dressed like a girl.

I set my teeth and made a firm decision: I was going back into the office, and I wasn't leaving until somebody in charge knew I wasn't a girl.

Then the bell rang, and a flood of students filled and flowed through the hall. It was unbelievable how many kids there were. Dozens... could there be hundreds? I pressed my back into the wall. The sheer numbers were overwhelming.

Then someone came and stood right next to me, her shoulder to my shoulder, and over the noise she called me by my name: "Marcie! Marcie! Are you all right? You look like you're going to faint."

It was Carla, the girl from gym class. She had a concerned look, but when I recognized her, she smiled.

"Hey," she said. "You wanna have lunch with me? We can sit together!"

"Yeah, sure," I said, still feeling a little lost and uncertain. "Which way do we go?" It wasn't until we started walking that I realized I needed to go back to the office, but there were too many bodies behind us, all of them going forward. The office would have to wait until after lunch.

As we walked, Carla took my schedule out of my hand and, after a quick look, shoved it into my bag. She guided me into the cafeteria, through the food line, and found a table. We sat down opposite each other.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked again. "I didn't hurt you in gym, did I?"

"No," I smiled. "I'm okay."

"Can I look at your schedule again?" she asked. I nodded, so she pulled the card from my bag, and a notebook from her own. Her schedule was taped inside the notebook's cover, and she compared the two. "Wow, Marcie! We have almost the exact same schedule. A couple things are kinda flipped... and I have Shop instead of Home Ec."

"Oh, that's good," I said. What else could I say?

"So how come you missed Math and English this morning?"

"Huh? Oh... I was in the principal's office."

"For TWO HOURS?"

It did sound extreme. Maybe I'd waited for Mr Bruce longer than I thought. "I guess so," I said.

"Are you in trouble?"

"I dunno. I had to do the add thingy, but somebody took my clothes while we were in gym..."

"OH!" Carla cried. "Were you that girl? I heard you were parading down the hall with your boyfriend. Who is he?"

I blushed. "He's not my boyfriend."

She grinned. "Then why are you blushing? Do you think he might have a friend for me?" Then she glanced over my shoulder and did a double take. "Oh, there's a cute boy coming this way, and he's looking right at you. Is that him?"

I turned, and saw Jerry grinning as he approached me. My blush deepened. When he reached our table, he said, "Hey, Marcie. I almost didn't recognize you with your clothes on. You look nice. Where did you find them?"

I couldn't stop blushing. "They're not mine," I said. "I'm just borrowing them."

"You ought to keep them," he replied. "They look great on you."

I introduced him and Carla. "I know you," Jerry said. "I saw you playing field hockey last summer. You're good. Are you going be on the team here?"

She smiled and nodded. "I hope so!"

"So," he said, turning his attention back to me. "Want to go for a soda or something after school?"

I blushed all over again. "Oooh," he cooed. "You are such a blusher! Does that mean yes?"

"No," I said. "I really have to get home right after."

"How about tomorrow?" he asked.

What the hell? I thought. Tomorrow I'll have short hair; Marcie will have disappeared. If I say I'll go, maybe I can at least get Carla set up.

"Maybe," I said. "Do you have a friend for Carla?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her and said, "Maybe I do. What do you say to Pat MacKinney?"

Carla blushed scarlet and couldn't speak. Jerry chuckled. "So both of you are blushers! Okay, me and Pat, you and Carla, tomorrow, drinks and small talk!" And then he was gone.

Neither of us could speak for a while. Then Carla gushed, "Wow, Marcie! Do you know who Pat MacKinney IS? I've had a crush on him for, like, forever!" She started babbling about Pat this and Pat that. I tried to listen, but my attention flagged pretty quickly. I just kept smiling and nodding my head. At least one good thing was coming out of my situation.

Carla was great. She was in both my afternoon classes, and showed me the way to each. The afternoon went pretty well. In History, even after I told the teacher my name, he was convinced that I was one of the Graylen girls, and turned my last name, Donner, into a first name: Donna Graylin. I didn't bother to correct him since tomorrow Marcie would be gone anyway.

The last class of the day was Computers. The teacher made it pretty interesting, and the time flew.

Near the end of the school day, though, I started to worry that Carla might live in the same direction as me. I didn't want her — or anyone from school — to see where I lived. I didn't want anyone to connect Marcie with Mark.

As soon as class was over, I asked Carla where she lived. She told me, but the address meant nothing, so I asked which direction she was walking. It turned out that she was staying to play some field hockey, so I didn't have to worry about her coming with me.

All the way home, I kept looking over my shoulder, but didn't see anyone from school following me. In fact, I didn't really see anyone on the street until I got home. My aunt was sitting on her front steps, taking sips from a bottle of water.

"Oh!" she called, smiling, nearly laughing. "You must be my lovely niece, Marcie!"

© 2006, 2007 by Kaleigh Way