I took his left hand and placed it on my right breast. He squeezed me gently and gently fingered my nipple. Little waves of pleasure radiated out.

"How does that feel?", I asked a little breathily.

"Totally weird........"

          The Price to Pay - Vol. 3.4

          by Alys

I switched to a lower gear as I approached the climb up to Cwmdu. I had been cycling for an hour and it was still only 8am. The rhythm of my body movement and breathing, the wind on my face, the sights, sounds and smells had created an inner feeling of well being. There was nothing like an endorphin high.

About another 15 minutes and I would be meeting up with Sion. I had sent him a text at 7, when I had got up, to change our meeting arrangements.

I had avoided my parents last night after our argument, making my way back home via narrow lanes. I had slipped out of our house this morning after sending Sion the message.

I took some water from my water bottle as I approached our rendezvous.

A flash of red in a field of maturing yellow oil seed rape caught my attention. It was an ancient rusting tractor, that had obviously been rusting away for a long time, dumped in a boggy corner of the farmer's field. Suddenly a memory of myself and Sion stopping to look at the tractor 2 summers before came to mind. We had been on a similar Sunday morning ride and had been intrigued by the slowly decaying machine. I probably still a few photos that I had taken that day on my PC.

A long and hot summer that I had spent a lot of time cycling the roads and lanes of North Gwent/South Powys with Sion. But there had also been the time in town with the rest of my school mates who lived locally, the Aberllwyd crew, as we had innocently named ourselves, without a thought of the inner city mayhem that some gangs were causing. Recently I had tended to keep away from them outside school time.

Of course there had been no inkling then of the dramatic changes to my life that would be caused by a visit to the doctor a few months later. Then the difficult and painful decisions that had had to be made quickly, even though there had been little real choice. The last 18 months of hiding the surgical and subsequent hormonol changes had been increasingly stressful. Had it been a price worth paying for the general uncertainty and confusion that I felt at the moment? The alternative would have been simpler.

My reverie was disturbed by the sound of Sion shouting to attract my attention from the bench by the village green where he had propped his bike up.

"Hey Celyn! Wow new cycle kit! Very nice but pink?"

I laughed

"This girls' kit is the only kit that really fits me properly, the boys' kits are a size too large to cover things up obviously, no choice in the colour, Mum buys my clothes at the moment", I replied a little out of breath as I brought my bike to a halt.

"So why the change of plans today?", Sion asked.

I described the previous evening's events. Sion raised his eyebrows.

"You said that! Oh my goodness no wonder you want to avoid them. Did you sort of mean it? I mean are you serious about being, you know what?", he asked uncertainly.

"No idea, it was a heat of the moment thing, I've not considered what I might do with whom, we shall have to see, maybe I'll become a nun...", I replied, smiling. "Come on let's get going, last one to Goytre wharf buys breakfast!"

We set off on the 25 mile ride to the canal wharf. We took it in turns to take the lead, swapping every couple of miles. A rest and pleasant breakfast at the cafe followed and a chance to stock up on sandwiches for lunch from the little cafe shop and we were away again. We had decided to turn off the main road at Penperllenni and ride round the countryside near the historic Llanover estate before making our way back via Y Fenni.

By midday it had got pretty hot and we had begun to look for a shady spot to rest and have lunch. Sion spotted a promising little grassy path off the minor road we had been cycling on.

"What about this way?"

We made our way along the path for about half a kilometre until suddenly it opened out into a beautiful forest glade next to a large natural pool fed by a small stream.

We propped our bikes against some large oak trees and lay down on the sweet smelling, soft grass.

"Wow what a place", I remarked, "this was a good find, well spotted"

"It is a hot day today, must be the hottest so far this month", Sion said as he took off his cycle jersey and then with a quick glance at me and a little hesitation removed his T-shirt.

I took my own cycle jersey off but hesitated about my own pastel pink cami top.

"Aren't you hot?", Sion asked.

"Probably hotter than you, girl's bodies have more body fat, which you may remember from our science exam is an insulator", I replied.

"Take your top off then, remember I've already seen you in your bra and panties"

"That's true", I replied as I turned away and took my cami off. I lay there enjoying the cooling breeze from the pool.

"Wow Pink bra, your mother really seems to be going overboard on the girly training", said Sion, chuckling.

"You're telling me, it's as if now that I am going to be a girl full-time she has decided that I need a super girly image to make sure no-one ever makes a mistake about my gender. This is the only normal bra that I have that doesn't enhance my breasts. I really need some plain sports bras".

"What's it like, you know, having them?", he asked tentatively.

"A pain a lot of the time. They get in the way, you can't sleep on your front, you have to wear a bra, which is not the most comfortable of clothing items, and running is painful unless you have good support for them"

That shut Sion up for a little while and we ate our lunch in silence, while around us the birds chirped in the trees and the warm summer breeze rustled the abundant foliage everywhere. Sion walked over to the pool and splashed water onto his face and head.

"You know this water looks very inviting", he called out.

I walked over and splashed water over head and face, it was refreshingly cool.

"We haven't got towels and besides, well you know, things are different now", I said with some hesitation.

"We have our T shirts, we don't need to wear them going back. As to the other thing, you don't have to if you don't want to but I really fancy a nice cool splash. You don't have to look if it would embarass you"

"OK, I'll think about it, you go ahead. I'm not embarrassed to look at you, just embarrassed about you looking at me", I replied.

Sion quickly took his socks, cycling shoes, shorts and underpants off and carefully walked over the stones down into the pool. He winced as he lowered himself into the cold water but soon was swimming slowly round in a circle.

"It's fantastic", he shouted out from the middle of the pool. "You're missing out"

I came to a quick decision and sat down to take off my socks and shoes and then stood to take off my shorts, bra and panties. I stepped gingerly over the rocks into the water acutely aware of the gentle sway and jiggle of my breasts with every movement. I glanced up to see Sion staring at them.

"Stop ogling me, you"

His response was to throw handfuls of water over me. It was cold!

"I'll get you for that", I yelled and threw myself into the water swimming over to him and pushing him under.

We splashed and swam for a good while before we both began to feel the cold of the water getting too much. We dried ourselves as well as possible in our tops and then lay down on the grass to dry out in the sun.

"It's amazing how much your body has changed", he commented after a while turning to look at me, "a couple of years ago we looked almost identical, although I've always been a little bigger"

"Hormones are powerful things, especially for people our age with our bodies still growing", I replied.

Sion said nothing. I turned to see him gazing at me.

"You want to touch them, don't you?", I inquired.

"What?!", he exclaimed.

"You want to touch my boobs don't you?", I asked looking directly at his face.

"What do you mean..I.didn't do..say say anything", he spluttered.

"I would if I were you, that's why", I laughed.

I took his left hand and placed it on my right breast. He squeezed me gently and gently fingered my nipple. Little waves of pleasure radiated out.

"How does that feel?", I asked a little breathily.

"Totally weird........", he said, "I mean, look, less than two days ago, as far as I knew, you were my best MALE friend", he emphasized. "and now I don't know what to think about you, it's nice though. How does it feel for you"

"The same for the same reasons, nice", I replied, moving my fingers in a caress along the forearm of the hand touching me.

At that moment a cloud passed over the afternoon sun and the temperature dropped. I shivered. I looked at my watch.

"Shit it's almost 3, we'd better go it's over 30 miles back, I'll miss the evening meal if we stay longer.

We reluctantly separated and dressed and within a few minutes we were on our way again. The cycling was the same pattern as before, taking in turns to lead and to follow. We were both a bit out of condition so the journey back took longer than we had expected and it was getting near to 6 when we finally pulled into the drive of my house. I put my bike away on the rack and turned to say goodbye.

"I'll see you in two weeks then Sion", I said before I stumbled on a loose bit of gravel, Sion caught me and somehow we ended in a hug.

We held each other and he gently ruffled my hair, it felt so comforting.

"Celyn, are you back, I thought I saw your bike....oh hello Sion", said my Mother with a emphasis on the 'hello Sion'.

We separated as if an electric charge had passed between us.

"Hello Mrs Morus, I was just going. Bye then Celyn, have a good holiday, look after yourself", he turned and got on his bike and began to pedal out of the drive.

"I'll send you a postcard", I shouted after him. He turned round and gave me a smile and a wave and then was gone, back on the main road.

"Well that explains one thing, young lady", said my Mother with a smirk.

"Yes, why I need to wash this", as I took the very bedraggled looking cami out of pocket.

My Mother's look was priceless and I just made it to the bathroom before before the need to laugh overcame me.