Things quietened down quite a bit after dad pulled that stupid stunt in the Skate Park and was beaten so easily by Melissa.

I found it hard to believe she had once been a boy, but she had no reason to lie to me, I suppose. Damn, she is one fine woman!

Only time would tell if she remembered the emails I had given her. It would be nice to talk with someone who understands.

Well, that isn't to say that people here don't understand, but there are people like our idiotic father that decide they know better and no one has a right to disagree with them, even when whatever tripe they're spouting can be disproved or refuted with hardly an eyeblink's effort!

On the Friday after I was attacked in the Skate Park, Tanisha informed us after school we would have to be in court on Tuesday. See, the attack by my dad apparently pissed off the judge, who sent dad for an assessment at the county medical center's locked psych ward.

As the 72 hours assessment would not be finished until some time on the weekend, he was remanded until Tuesday. Dad's lawyer, some guy I've seen at our old house before everything went weird on us, wasn't able to get a time on Monday because the judge's day was filled.

When James, Sherry and I were questioned by the police, James and I mentioned that dad had been lurking near us on several occasions since the court order was made for him to stay away from us. We gave the police times and dates, and names of witnesses who saw him.

The weekend passed fairly quietly with us getting lots of girl 101 lessons from Tanisha, but we spent some time just having fun, too.

Monday was all right, I suppose, except that someone was spreading BS about what happened last Wednesday. It took me most of the day to learn where the crap was coming from, then I ran into Daniel Gunther, a nephew of the Gunther woman who used to be a nurse or aide or something in the hospital until she showed her bigotry over one or both of the Wilson twins years ago. The Gunther woman used Thomas Wexler to get back at the Wilson twins, yeah, the idiot who is still in prison for attempted murder using a dangerous weapon.

Heck, just about everyone in town knows about that whole ruckus, the Gunther woman also ended up doing hard time for her stupidity.

So there was Daniel, standing out by the front gates spouting his mouth off again when I overheard him and ripped into him.

The stupid shit was saying that the only reason Melissa had intervened with my dad there was that I would lick her pussy afterward. Ugh!

I gave the shit a mostly accurate rundown of what had happened at the park, then went inside and told the principal what he'd been saying.

Heh, yeah, Mrs. Duquesne is still the principal there. When I told her what Danny had been saying, she was seriously displeased. Actually, calling the look on her face at that point displeased would be like calling an erupting volcano 'a warm spot', a huge understatement.

Daniel was even more pissed at me as I passed by him when school let out that afternoon, but I made it clear I wouldn't take his crap at all.

I found out later he received a two week suspension for harassment and making inappropriate sexual comments on school property.

Since we had to be in court for dad's appearance at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, we had obtained excuse slips from school in advance.

Tanisha had taken the day off this time, so she drive us to the county courthouse and we made our way up to courtroom 103 again.

We'd been in there for almost fifteen minutes when a pair of guards brought dad into the room, then had him set at the defence table.

I shook my head, my father was not smart thinking he could outfox a court judge on legal issues with no help. Yep, he was alone again.

The usual rituals were done as the Judge entered. I actually caught his name, Thomas Valburn, as we were allowed to be seated.

The first thing that happened was the assessment results folder was passed up to the judge, who scanned the information.

"Well, Mr. Brently, the psychiatric ward at the county hospital assessed you and deemed you fit to stand trial. On that note, after what happened in the Skate Park in Constitution last Wednesday, you are being charged with first degree assault and battery with a first degree hate crime attachment to that charge, in that you did wilfully and maliciously seek out your son Paul and assault him at that time and place.

"Furthermore, it has been brought to my attention that you have violated the restraining order I put in place several times.

"I also quite clearly remember your belligerent attitude that you displayed when you were in this court the last time.

"It has also been brought to my attention that you have refused to use the attorney appointed by the court to defend you. Mr. Brently, as it stands right now, you are looking at up to a year in prison for the assault and battery and up to ten years as a hate crime offence.

"Mr. Brently, you are being given one last chance to have an attorney appointed for your case. If you refuse, you will still stand trial. I would think that you might be aware of the adage about 'a man who represents himself has a fool for a client.' I sincerely doubt that you have the knowledge needed to act as your own counsel in a court of law on a serious matter like this. I will not give you this option again.

"I'm remanding this case for two weeks to allow you to find a lawyer and to examine the evidence. Trial will start on March 7th at 9:30 AM."

I snuck a glance over at dad after hearing all of this, he looked a bit green as if he might be sick because of Judge Valburn's comments.

Judge Valburn had paused for a moment, now he nodded to the bailiff and said, "This court is now adjourned."

The bailiff nodded in turn, and the guards who had brought dad into the courtroom now led him out of it, back to a cell, I suppose.

We were back at school just in time for lunch. That afternoon, I saw Daniel Gunther skulking just off school property and giving me dirty looks.

Except for the dirty looks that I kept getting from that idiot Daniel as I entered or left the school each day, the next two weeks were quiet.

There was a history project assigned the day after we were in court, due a week from that Friday, and I ended up being paired with Lindsey Rockman, a rather nice girl. The project had to be about American history between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. We decided that we would do our project on George Washington, showing the various things he did just before and during the Revolutionary War.

I'm not sure how she figured it out, but the day before it was due to be handed in, Lindsey told me that she knew that I was a transsexual.

As soon as she said that, I turned as white as a sheet. I'm told I wobbled in the seat for a moment and then toppled to the floor.

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls, I used Heather and the Skate Park from that story in this one. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.

I made references to other characters in the Sk8r Grrls series, namely Nancy Gunther, Thomas Wexler and the Wilson twins.