Cassie cut in with a question to me. "I was thinking about what you said before. You came here to Tierson without any clothes? Without any at all?"

"Were you naked?" Nina giggled.

"No," I said, blushing yet again. "I had some clothes, and I did bring a big box, but it was all boy clothes."

"WHAT!?" Cassie cried. "Boy clothes?"

---

 
12. The Third Degree
 

I guess I imagined that we could just pick up the stroller and leave... I didn't think about having to meet Jerry's family, but of course, that's what happened.

We came in the back door, into the kitchen, where Jerry's big sister Cassie was munching on an apple. The family resemblance was pretty strong, although Cassie is a little taller, and her hair is a reddish blonde. She's beautiful, like a model, and when she smiled, her smile was perfectly symmetrical.

"Hi, Jerry!," she called. "Starting a family?"

Jerry ignored the remark and introduced us. Cassie shook my hand, which struck me a bit odd. As she did, she looked at me in a funny way, as if she was trying to remember something. Then she got it.

"Oh! Jerry, is this the girl with the legs?"

Jerry opened his mouth to say something, then shut it.

"Is everyone in your family a merciless tease?" I asked.

"Pretty much," he shrugged.

"Come on, now, Marcie," Cassie prodded. "You're practically a celebrity. Everybody knows about the two of strutting down the hall, arm in arm, you in a miniskirt... I need to hear your side of the story."

"We're here on a mission," Jerry interrupted. "Where's Nina?"

"What's with the doll?" Cassie asked me.

"It's homework," I said.

"And you want Nina's help?" she asked, grinning. "She does know a lot about dolls."

Jerry's mother entered the kitchen at that point. "What's all the ruckus out here?" she asked, and stopped dead when she saw the "baby" in my arms.

"It's just a doll," I said. "It's an infant simulator."

Cassie chuckled. "Years from now, Marcie will be saying, 'I remember the first time I met my mother-in-law...'"

"Cassie, that's enough," her mother cautioned. She had thought it was a real baby, my baby, and just for an instant was afraid her son had brought home an underage, unwed mother. Thank goodness I was able to nip that misconception in the bud.

After the introductions and explanations, Jerry's mother offered me a snack and then went upstairs to look for Nina. Jerry and I sat at the kitchen table with some iced tea (neither of us wanted food), while Cassie studied us from behind a counter, smirking. Nina, a wiry, likeable little girl with dark hair, zoomed in, pronounced the doll "cool!" and zoomed off to get her stroller. While Jerry and I took a sip of our drinks, Cassie resumed the attack.

"Marcie, I heard that your clothes were stolen. Is that true? How did it happen?"

I was ready for this. Alice and I (with some help from Denise) had worked out the kinks in my story, and here was my first chance to tell it. My new and improved story was mostly the truth, with a couple of fixes.

Here's how it went: I began with Aunt Jane making me miss the first two days of school. Early on Thursday I ran into Mr. Bruce. I explained that he was a family friend (through Aunt Jane and Alice). Since I didn't have a gym outfit, he lent me the tennis dress. (That part was important, because older students like Cassie might have seen a boy in that same outfit.) I changed in the bathroom, and when I realized I didn't have a lock for my locker, he let me leave my clothes in his office.

"Why didn't he just lend you a lock?" Cassie asked.

"He didn't have one," I replied. "Anyway, after class he was in the hospital, and my clothes were gone."

"Where did you get the ones you were wearing later?" Jerry asked.

"Ms. Price got them from lost and found."

Looked like the story worked pretty well!

"But you got in trouble, right?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, I have to wear skirts for two weeks, and recite the dress code every morning for Mr. Bryant — and Mrs. Zeff, if she sees me. It's not so bad. Still, if Mrs. Zeff hadn't been seen me, I don't think I would have gotten in trouble at all."

Cassie grunted at Mrs. Zeff's name. "She can be a bear, but she's great once you get on her good side."

"Good to know," I commented.

"Why do you have to wear skirts?" Cassie asked.

"To show that I know how long a skirt has to be to meet the dress code."

"How come you have to go shopping tomorrow?" Jerry asked. "Didn't you do that before school began? Isn't that a rule for girls?"

"Oh, yeah," Cassie sneered at her brother, "It's on page ten of the How-To-Be-A-Girl rule book."

"You went crazy, shopping before school started!" he told her.

"Of course I did!" she retorted. "I had to be ready!"

"My point exactly!" he cried, and turning to me asked, "So why weren't you ready, Marcie?"

Alice had seen that one coming, too. "We didn't know we were moving until August. That threw everything out of whack. What with the packing and everything, we didn't have a chance. Plus, until my parents find a house, all of our stuff is in storage, including a big box with most of my clothes. The movers took it by mistake."

"Too bad," Cassie sympathized. "That's a nice dress, though."

"Thanks," I said. "Alice lent it to me."

"Lucky you," she said.

Nina came in during that last exchange, carrying a folded-up stroller and a few other items. "Maybe Cassie can lend you some clothes," she offered.

Cassie scoffed. "Nothing of mine would fit her! She's like a two, at most!"

"What size are you?" Nina asked her.

"That's classified information," Cassie retorted.

"Oh!" Nina shouted. "You know what? We could be like those Russian dolls, you know? The ones that stack up inside each other? I could fit inside Marcie, and Marcie could fit inside Cassie!"

"Great," Cassie muttered, and left the room, pushing past her mother as she left.

"She's not that big," I said. "Plus, she has a great... uh, figure."

Jerry's mother nodded. "She is a bit tall for a girl, and she's a little self-conscious about it."

Nina was busy unfolding the stroller. "See?" she said, "It's the perfect size for your doll!" She took it from my arms and strapped it into the stroller. It was a perfect fit, and would be a lot more convenient than carrying the thing in my arms. She tucked a blanket around the baby.

"AND," Nina announced dramatically, "This is a nice bag for diapers and bottles and stuff. There's already some bottles and diapers in here, see? You can hang it on the stroller like this."

"Great!" I replied. "Thanks, Nina!"

"Oh, honey, she doesn't want that bag," Mrs. Auburn said.

"Yes, I do," I countered. "People think this is a real baby, and two old ladies were yelling at me today because I didn't have any food or diapers with me."

"Really?"

"Well, not yelling, but they were pretty mean."

Mrs. Auburn invited me to dinner, and I accepted. My aunt was out tonight anyway; I would have had to cook for myself.

Now that Jerry was at home, he wasn't teasing me at all, which was nice, and Cassie was upstairs, probably sulking.

I sat on the couch with Nina while Jerry set the table. Nina wanted to hold the doll, and she asked me to read to her. She handed me a book called Pish Posh by Ellen Potter. I'd never heard of it, but I think I liked it more than Nina did, and she liked it a lot. After I'd read one chapter, the doll started crying. I held out my arm so Nina could push the key in its back. It cried for a full 15 minutes, but no one seemed to mind. I just kept on reading through the noise.

I felt so at home, sitting in the Auburn's living room. They were a nice family, and — even with all the teasing — I felt comfortable with them, as though I'd known them all my life. It was such a contrast to how I grew up! I mean, not that my home wasn't nice and all that... and of course I had plenty of friends and things to do, but my family is just me, my mom, and my dad, and a lot of the time dad was at work. There wasn't all the warmth that all these... people generate. I mean, knowing that there's someone in the next room, somebody upstairs, someone sitting next to you... that's more "someone's" than I ever had before.

We sat down to dinner when Mr. Auburn got home. One of the first questions he asked me was: "How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"I'm an only child," I said. "I've always wondered what it was like to have brothers and sisters. It seems pretty nice."

"It is nice," Cassie replied, "It's so wonderful that I'd like to give you mine. You can have Nina and Jerry for your brother and sister. Please take them with you when you go home." Cassie smirked. "Oh, wait — that won't work, because if Jerry is your brother, he can't be your boyfriend."

"Is Jerry your boyfriend?" Nina asked me.

"Um," I said, and looked to Jerry for help. He didn't know what to say either.

Mr. Auburn came to the rescue. "This is a family of terrible teases, Marcie. Don't let them scare you."

"I wonder where they get that from," Mrs. Auburn commented.

"Not from me," Mr. Auburn said, feigning innocence.

"When I first met Skip," Mrs. Auburn said to me, gesturing at her husband, "he had me in a state of continual embarrassment. My face was so red, it felt like sunburn."

"I know what you mean," I told her.

Mr. Auburn looked at Jerry and raised his eyebrows. "What are you doing to embarrass this girl, son?"

Jerry shrugged and smiled. "Maybe you should ask Marcie that question."

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Don't answer, hon," Mrs. Auburn told me.

Cassie cut in with a question to me. "I was thinking about what you said before. You came here to Tierson without any clothes? Without any at all?"

"Were you naked?" Nina giggled.

"No," I said, blushing yet again. "I had some clothes, and I did bring a big box, but it was all boy clothes."

"WHAT!?" Cassie cried. "Boy clothes?"

I blushed and looked at my plate. What a stupid mistake! Thinking quickly, I said, "Oh, I, uh, used to be a tomboy..."

"That's hard to believe," Mr. Auburn commented.

"I've changed a lot in the past couple... in the... recently," I faltered.

"How did you change?" Nina asked, frowning.

Mrs. Auburn stepped in: "You'll find out soon enough, hon, but we're not going to discuss it at the dinner table. I think we've grilled poor Marcie quite enough. I mean, really, you're giving her the third degree. No more questions for Marcie!"

"What is Marcie short for, anyway?" Mr. Auburn asked, as if his wife hadn't spoken. "Marcella?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, a little stupidly.

"Marcella Donner," he said. "It's a nice name."

"Do you have a middle name?" Nina asked.

"No."

Cassie smiled. "Ursula or Angela would be good middle names for you."

"Thanks," I said, uncertainly.

"Don't thank her," Jerry cautioned. "She's thinking about your initials: MAD or MUD."

"Oh."

Nina thought for a minute, her lips moving. "If your middle name started with 'O', you could be MOD!" She smiled, proud of herself.

"Thanks, Nina."

"Okay, now," Mrs. Auburn said. "No more picking on Marcie, or I'll pull out your baby pictures." She looked at Cassie. "That means you, too, young lady."

Cassie grunted and looked down for a moment. Then she smiled and looked up. "Are you making any friends at school?" she asked. "I mean, aside from Jerry."

"Yes," I said. "I guess Carla Richio is my best friend there, and I know Pat MacKinney."

"Marcie and I set them up," Jerry boasted. "They're a hot item now."

"Ah," Cassie said to me. "Nobody's going to be picking on you, then."

"Aside from you all," I countered, smiling.

"What do you mean, Cassie?" Nina asked. "How come nobody will pick on her?"

"Carla and Pat are both big bruisers, either one of them could beat up anybody in the school."

"Anybody?" Nina got wide-eyed. "Even you, Cassie?"

Cassie hesitated. She really didn't want to say it! Finally she sighed and said, "Yes, even me."

© 2006, 2007 by Kaleigh Way