Chapter 11

“Much more than I wanted to, I’m afraid…” Jessica somberly replied as she sat down and set the wine bottle on the coffee table between them.

“That bad, huh? Fran cautiously joked upon seeing another full bottle of wine. “Ummm … exactly what did you mean … ‘more than you wanted to’?”

“First, I have to explain something that I need you to keep to yourself. Only a very few people in Grottoes know about this and as you’ve seen the bigotry in this county firsthand, you’ll understand why it is important to keep it that way.”

“Of course, Jessica.”

“I know you will, Fran … but I just had to say it,” Jessica quietly admitted.

“I’m listening,” Fran prompted.

“Okay … there is a pre-op transsexual living here in town. In fact, she was the one who helped Em by arranging for her prosthetics.”

“How did she learn about Em?” Fran wondered.

“In this case, I think it would’ve been impossible for her not to find out. Em’s staying with her.”

“Sandy? I never would have guessed!”

“Now you know why it has to be kept secret. I suspect there’s more than a few folks around here that wouldn’t be too happy with Sandy or Mary if it became common knowledge. I can only guess Sandy recognized a kindred spirit when she met Em and they naturally bonded.”

“Easy to understand why she did it, Jess. I think if I was in her position and came across someone else who needed my help I’d do the same thing,” Fran firmly stated.

”Sandy says that Maddy was with them when she took Em to get fitted. She also said that neither of them told her about Gaby. What I find it interesting, is that all this happened before Gaby started to be put into all of these ‘uncomfortable situations’. From the timing, one can only presume that they had an agenda.”

“It would seem that’s the case.”

“I know Fran,” Jessica quietly lamented. “I just can’t see how friends could intentionally put another friend in the kind of situation where they could get killed.

Right now, I think we need to pass this information on to Gaby’s doctors. After all, we were asked for any relevant information we happened to come across, and I think that this certainly qualifies. I think it also means that Em maybe needs to have a chat with Maggie to explain her role in all of this.”

“I’m like you, Jess. I simply don’t understand how two of my students could act that way. I think we should get this cleared up as soon as possible and see Em tonight. I’ll have to inform Michael, sometime tonight, as well. This could well have the two of them on their way home to Warsop within the next 48 hours.”

“I think we need to find out more before you phone Mr. Woods.” Jessica cautioned.

“You’re right of course, Jess. I guess phoning him would be a bit premature at this point.” Fran thought about their next move while slowly put her wineglass down and then stood up.

“Well, no use putting this off any longer. We might as well go see Em right now and pass whatever information we get onto the doctors and then they can decide what to discuss with Gaby and her family. We’ll just have to deal with any fallout as best we can.”

“C’mon, let’s get our coats and get going, then. I agree that we really need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible and I really want to find out who, if any, AHS students were a party to all of this,” Jessica commented as she took the wine glasses out to the kitchen.

While the two teachers went to put on their coats, in another home in Grottoes a rather intense conversation was just about to begin.

Sandy was completely stunned by what Jessica told her. When she put the phone back on its cradle, she turned and quietly sat, blankly staring at the wall. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

“Gaby was actually male, and both Em and Maddy knew that, yet they didn’t say anything about it to me when they both knew I would’ve happily helped Gaby out. They’d also apparently had been playing some sort of games with Gaby, that in this town could have gotten her killed. If not killed, then certainly beaten very badly.”

What bothered Sandy the most is the fact that they didn’t seem to care. Equally troubling was that this Em, this side of Em, was so unlike the girl she knew and had grown to love like a sister. The more she tried to come to grips with things, the more betrayed she felt and it wasn’t long before she felt the first tears rolling down her cheek.

“I know that Jessica didn’t want me to talk to Em about it right now, or even let her know that I know what’s happening, but I have to.

I’ve got to find out why she wouldn’t want me to help out another person and I really have to know why she felt it was okay for her and Maddy to torment Gaby like they did. If some of those high school boys had found Gaby out, the results could’ve been tragic.”

After Sandy wiped the tears from her face, she got up from her chair and headed back down the basement stairs to talk with Em. When she entered the large rec-room, Em was sitting on the floor leaning back against the couch, playing her video game, completely unaware of what was to come.

Em looked up from her game and smiled at Sandy.

“So, was it a boy looking for a date?”

“No Em, actually it was Jessica Bell.”

“About the dance decorations?”

“Nope, nothing about the dance. She was calling about Drew,” Sandy quietly replied while exercising more than some restraint.

Em visibly tensed. She knew that no one had ever told Sandy that Gaby’s real name was Drew. Panic and a guilty conscience started to set in as Em couldn’t help wondering what else Sandy knew.

“Oh?” Em weakly replied while trying to appear as if nothing was wrong.

“So Em, why didn’t you tell me there was someone else that could have used my help?”

“I … ummm…” Sandy quickly cut her off with more rapid-fire questions.

“Why didn’t either you or Maddy bother to tell me that Gaby was actually male and why in God’s name have the two of you been putting her in potentially dangerous situations? Do you have any frikking clue as to what could have happened if she’d been found out?!”

“Well…”

Sandy again, angrily cut her off before she could respond.

“Let me tell you what could have happened! She could have been killed! As in dead!

Christ, Em … right this minute I’m wondering if I even know you at all. Up until now I’ve looked at you like a little sister. A little sister I have come to love. But this?!”

“But, but…Sandy…we were just playing a few pranks on Drew. You know, just for a few laughs.”

“PRANKS?!! You call deliberately putting another human being in harm’s way a prank?! Did either of you give any thought at all to the consequences of what you were doing? Obviously not if you damned well kept doing it!

Do you have any idea how many trans women are beaten, raped or killed each year just because they’re trans and the wrong person finds that out?! Do you?!”

After she heard herself shout at Em, Sandy knew she had to calm down before she completely lost it. She stood in silence, glaring down at ‘her sister’. After several minutes of coldly staring at her prey, a calmer Sandy decided to speak again.

“Your ‘just a few laughs’ has managed to put a friend of yours in the hospital … in a coma. You feel like laughing now? You can be damned sure that Gaby and her family, aren’t laughing! I can’t imagine what they’re going through, in England, while Gaby’s lying in a hospital bed over here.

Did you think about that, Em? Did you think about having to face Gaby’s family after all of this or was it just too big of a damned laugh to even consider that?!

What if all the ‘pranking’ you, Maddy and Brit did, causes her to stay that way and not ever wake up? What then? What if these so-called friendly pranks that you and Maddy played, permanently messed her up?”

“Sandy, I admit I went along with the pranks, but we all used to play jokes on each other, and Drew and I have been best mates for a long time.

“Went along with them?!! I know darned well you instigated a few of them, so DON’T try to skate around your responsibility in all this by telling me that you were merely going along with the others!

…And furthermore, there really aren’t that many others are there? There’s really only you, Maddy and Brit, right?”

“Ummm… errrrr … yes.” squeaked Em.

Em could see that Sandy was virtually incandescent with anger, but as she saw it, it was only a few friendly pranks on a chum. What was the harm in that after all?

Granted, it did seem to have gone way wrong, given that Drew was in the hospital, but that was an accident. No one really wanted to hurt Drew. It’s not like they set out to put him there.

“We didn’t do this on purpose, Sandy … honest! Do you really think that we’d do that to a friend?”

“Right now, I’m really beginning to wonder, Em! I helped you pass more convincingly and Maddy knew that, yet neither one of you bothered to share that with your friend and that really makes me wonder what you intended. It was okay for you, but it wasn’t okay for Drew? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Sandy’s voice was taking on a somewhat ominous tone at this point, and Em was getting a bit frightened.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all!”

“Then why didn’t you tell Drew? You knew I’d have helped him, just like I did with you…” Sandy pleaded, desperately seeking to understand the young girl seated in front of her.

“…Or were there other reasons?” Sandy’s dark implications were quite clear, even to Em.

Just then the doorbell rang.

“You’re lucky Em! Literally saved by the bell, but don’t think for one second that this conversation is finished, because it’s not!”

Sandy ran back upstairs to answer the door leaving Em to ponder her future.

“Shite. She’s right. We could have told Drew and helped him out. Why didn’t I tell him about this? Why was I such a cow to Drew? What if he never wakes up?

Oh my god, WHAT IF SHE NEVER WAKES UP?”

As Sandy went to answer the door, she was still white hot with rage.

“How could they?!! How twisted do you have to be to allow someone you call your best mate to potentially get killed for a practical joke?

Oh God, poor Drew. I can only imagine what he’s gone through, poor kid. I know I could’ve helped, if only to ease his mind … if I knew. WHY DIDN’T THEY TELL ME?!”

Sandy opened the door to find Jessica and Fran standing there.

“Hi Sandy, may Fran and I come in?”

“Absolutely!” replied Sandy with a bitter tone to her voice. “Sorry if I sound less than happy, but the way I feel right now, I think you should take Em with you when you leave.”

“Sandy … please,” Jessica quietly pleaded.

“I’m sorry Jessica, I know you asked me not to talk to Em about this, but after I hung up the phone I just lost it. She and Maddy could have easily have gotten Drew killed. At the very least, beaten to within an inch of his life.”

“Not if I have any say in the matter!” Jessica firmly declared. “Quite frankly, I would’ve been a little surprised if you didn’t talk to her.”

“I’ve heard the stories about other ‘girls’ who’ve been killed or beaten up merely for being themselves and I’ll not just stand by and watch, while someone puts the boots to another one only because they don’t like us.” Sandy’s usual calm demeanour was now a thing of the past.

Just then Mary quickly walked into the room and stood facing her daughter.

“Sandy! What’re you yelling about?! You’ll wake Kevin … and why is Em downstairs crying? What happened? Did you two have a fight?”

“No fight, Mom. Jessica and Fran will be taking Em with them when they leave. I told her that as far as I’m concerned, she’s no longer welcome here,” Sandy coolly stated.

“Excuse me?! Are you talking about the girl you’ve been calling your little sister for the past few weeks?”

“I was wrong! I could never have a sister like her. Did you know Gaby is actually ‘Andrew’ and has been forced to pass as Gaby for the past five weeks and they’ve been putting her in situations where she could possibly get outed?”

“Who are ‘they’?” Mary calmly demanded.

“Em and Maddy, “Sandy angrily shot back.

“Sandy … calm down. Your mother only asked a sim….” Jessica only got part of her thought verbalized before she was interrupted.

“You know as well as I do what would have happened if the Neanderthals in this town had discovered her. She’d have been lucky to escape with her life!” Sandy was showing no signs of cooling down.

“I don’t know for sure if Gaby is trans or not, but that isn’t the point here. The point here is the inexcusable behavior of both Em and Maddy and because of that, I no longer want Em in this house, Mom.”

Fran and Jessica remained silent as they watched the scene unfold between Sandy and her mother.

Mary was dumbstruck. She too had taken a real shine to Em and this hit her like a bolt out of the blue. However, she was able to keep her emotions in check and speak to Fran and Jessica in a normal tone of voice.

“Fran, Jessica … is this true?”

Jessica sighed heavily. “As far as we know at this point Mary, yes it’s true.”

“Gaby’s name is actually Drew and he has been passing as Gaby for the past five weeks. Jocelyn Walters took him into the hospital yesterday morning in a catatonic state according to the doctor. Apparently the stress of having to pass as Gaby for a very prolonged period and everything she had been put through, had been too much for him and he had a breakdown of sorts.

Juliette, his sister, told me she found him sitting on the bed rocking back and forth repeating over and over ‘Who is Gaby? Who is Drew Who am I’?

I’m afraid we all have some culpability in this sorry affair. But we, that being the Warsop and AHS teachers, had no idea as to some of what was going on, and how this trip had turned into a complete nightmare for Drew.

The reason we’re over here tonight is because of that phone call to Sandy earlier tonight. It had occurred to Fran and I a little earlier this evening that Em had no problems passing, even in a change room with the other girls, while Drew had still needed to change away from everyone else. That could only mean one thing … that Em had help to enable her to effortlessly pass.”

“What are you trying to say, Jessica?”

“I’m sorry Mary,” Jessica softly apologized. “What I’m trying to say is that Em is transgendered, quite probably transsexual and that Sandy not only knew this, but helped her out. Which by the way, we applaud her for.”

“Sandy, is this true?...”

“Yes, mother.”

“…And she knew about you?”

“Yes. We talked the first day she got here.”

Fran then picked up the tale.

“Now Mary, what you, and even you Sandy, don’t know is that at home in Warsop, Maddy is Drew’s girlfriend and Rhod or Em as you know her, is Drew’s best mate … er … friend. Right now we’re trying to figure out why neither of them told Sandy about Drew in light of what she did for Em or why nobody told Drew that there was a way to make his stay here in Grottoes easier.”

“We’d also like to find out why the two of them intentionally put Drew in situations where he could be discovered.” Jessica added.

“You say that Maddy and Em are Drew’s friends? That’s a strange example of friendship,” Mary voiced with disgust.

“Now you know why I’m so angry, Mom. You remember what happened to Tina when she was outed in Richmond. I told you then I wouldn’t let that ever happen again if there was something I could do to prevent it.”

“I can’t fault you, Sandy. You only did what was right,” Mary quietly mentioned while she nodded slowly.

Jessica and Fran looked at Sandy quizzically.

“Jess, Fran … Tina’s another girl I met when I was first figuring myself out. She’s an older transwoman who became kind of a mentor to me. She was outed at a Richmond club she had been going to for years, although she didn’t know it at the time. At the end of the evening when she was leaving to go home, she was confronted by a bunch of bigots in the parking lot. According to the police, there were at least 6 of them and they used clubs and knives on her.”

Sandy was looking down now, and was choking on a sob as she continued.

“Not that they investigated it very hard, anyways!...” Sandy continued bitterly. “…’Cause it was just a beating of “one of them freaks” by a bunch of good ol’ boys. When she was taken to the hospital, she’d have probably died if it hadn’t been for one doctor who actually had some training and understood.”

And in a very small voice, she continued “To this day I know that Tina often wishes they had let her die.”

Looking back at Fran and Jessica, and drawing some sort of hidden strength from her memories she went on.

“They broke almost half the bones in her body, carved up her face with a knife and then took that knife to her genitals. All for the crime of being different. Tina has never been the same.

So for me to find out about something like this just about sends me over the edge. I damned well know what happens if those type of people catch one of ‘us’ and then to find out one of ‘us’ put someone else in jeopardy absolutely sickens me.”

Mary stepped forward and motioned to the other three.

“Come, let’s all go into the kitchen. I’ll start a pot of coffee and we’ll discuss what we need to do. I understand Sandy’s reasoning, but I think we also have to consider everything before we decide what to do about Em.”

Em heard none of their conversation. She was still downstairs and feeling very nervous about her fate and her relationship with Sandy. Even if she had heard what was said, it was doubtful she would have understood it. Not because she was stupid, but because what was being discussed what so far outside her experience and worldview, that she could simply not comprehend anything like that. In her mind this had simply been a few pranks amongst friends.

Elsewhere, Gaby and her family were having a nice, quiet family dinner despite the restaurant being quite busy. Gaby had pronounced herself to be “absolutely famished” when the subject of a meal was brought up; so after an enquiry at the hotel front desk they had made their way to a local buffet restaurant.

The family had chit-chatted about inconsequential things on their way to dinner, having kind of an unspoken agreement to leave the weightier discussions until later. Gaby was happy to simply be surrounded by those that truly loved her and looked out for her. She did still want to talk to Jules about the times she helped in dressing up Drew, but for the moment that could wait. After all, it was her big sister that got her to the hospital and had stayed until mum and dad had shown up.

The others were focused more on Gaby’s physical health and what the other kids had put her through, with the actions of Maddy and Em being foremost in their thoughts.

Gaby was now on her third plate from the buffet, and was eyeing up the dessert station.

“Geeze, Gabs. You got a hollow leg or something?”

Gaby blushed at her sister`s comment.

“You know I haven`t eaten much in the last couple of days, Jules. Besides, after some of Mrs. W`s experiments early on, I kinda lost my appetite for a while.”

Jules winced and laughed at the same time, thinking back on some of the foods Mrs. W had served. Foods that were absolutely foreign to the two British girls,

“Yeah, okay Gabs, you have me there. The grits with orange juice and that sausage gravy with biscuits…” Jules shuddered with the memory.

Dave and Jenny were silently observing the interaction between the two girls. Their relationship was so natural and unforced, like they had been sisters forever.

“Well, you two … why don`t we have some dessert and then head back to the hotel? We’ve things we need to talk about tonight and your mum and I want to make it an early night since we all have to be back at the hospital early tomorrow.”

Jules and Gaby headed for the dessert station as their parents sat back drinking a cup of coffee. On a previous American tour with Team Apollinaris, Jenny learned that the concept of good cup of tea was pretty much unknown here, at least to most Brits.

“Jen, I know we don`t want to be too late tonight, but I think we need to talk about a number of topics, so that Gaby knows she has our full support.”

“Like what, luv?”

“Remember in the sessions with Karen and Maggie that we watched? Gaby was very upset at how Jules seemed to go along with dressing up Drew and then there were all the times we did the same thing. We need to talk to her about those and why they happened.

We also need to talk about where we go from here. We may have an idea, but I don’t think Gaby understands quite yet, that she is going to need to have surgery very soon ... then there are the implications of where we go from there.

Will we be able to continue living in Warsop and we have to consider all that’s happened to Gaby here. How will Maddy and Rhod actions here affect her ability to have a normal life in Warsop?

I think we owe it to the kids to try and give them as normal a life as possible and at the moment I’m not sure that will be possible in Warsop.

I think we’d also have to consider if there’d be any ramifications that would affect your cycling, because of Gaby.

“My, you have certainly been giving this a great deal of thought, haven’t you?”

“One more thing … Jules! We have to think about what’s best for her when we consider everything else,” Dave thoughtfully added.

Jenny thought about what Dave said, for a few moments before speaking.

“But this isn’t just about the three of us Dave. It’s also about you and what’s best for you. How would you feel about leaving your job at home, uprooting and starting all over again somewhere else if we had to move?”

“I realize it’s about all of us, darling. I guess I have never really clearly said this, but what makes me happiest is being with the three of you and seeing you happy and doing those things in life that fulfill you.

I can always find another job Jen. What I can never find again is another you and another family like we have.”

Dave’s simple statement and declaration of love brought tears to Jenny’s eyes. The all encompassing love her husband had for her and the girls was nothing short of amazing to her, given the events of the past few months.

“And to think I was ready to throw this all away just a short time ago. Damn, what a fool I was not to see what I had, and to try and deal with the cancer on my own. Maybe some of this heartache could have been avoided if I had just trusted this wonderful man that I married.”

Jenny leaned over and gave Dave a very tender kiss.

“Eeuwww! Gross! Get a room!” came the sounds from two voices behind them.

Dave waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and hugged his wife a little bit closer to him.

“We have one, remember?”

“Since you two have checked out the entire dessert selection, what do they have that your dad and I might like?” Jenny playfully wondered.

Gaby held up her plate, showing a bowl of rice pudding and some gooey chocolate thing. Jules had a piece of very dark chocolate cake and a couple of cookies on her plate.

“Well, that rice pud does look awful tempting…” said Dave “…and I know you love a chocolate cake, Jen. Shall I get us some?”

“Sure dear, you go ahead. Pick up something for the both of us.”

As Dave went to the dessert station, Jen just sat and looked fondly upon her two girls despite the fact that they were busily scarfing down dessert like they hadn’t seen food in a year or two.

“They are so alike, in so many ways. I wonder if that’s genetics or if Gaby has unconsciously been imitating her sister and we’ve just never noticed. Either way, they are both lovely girls. I’m really glad that she was allowed to make her decision before she was given the results. At least we know that the decision was all hers.

The question is how soon she has to have the surgery to correct everything. If she starts her period, we could be in serious trouble.”

Just then Dave came back with their dessert. Like Gaby, Dave had a big bowl of rice pudding for himself and a very rich-looking, piece of chocolate cake for Jenny.

As everyone tucked into their desserts, their thoughts were mostly running along the same lines. Except for Gaby, everyone was wondering what the next few weeks would bring. Like the cyclist she was, Gaby was thinking about the race she was supposed to ride in, on the weekend.