Boys of Summer

By Melanie Ezell

For the Big Closet Transgender Archives Summer Romance Contest 2008

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I can see you,
Your brown skin shining in the sun,
You got your hair combed back,
And your sunglasses on, baby,
I can tell you,
My love for you will still be strong,
After the boys of summer have gone.

Don Henley- Boys of Summer

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Notes: This story was partially inspired by an Altered Fates story I read on Fictionmania recently called 'My Best Friend's Girl'. While this story is completely different from 'My Best Friend's Girl' in almost every way, it was the sweetness of that story that made me contemplate what might just happen on a summer camping trip where a bit of experimentation results in an outcome that maybe- just maybe- improves the lives of all involved in unexpected ways.

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1.

Caleb, or Cassie as he supposed he should call himself for now, drifted in and out of consciousness as he watched the trees pass by, his long, dark hair blowing in the warm breeze as his mom’s old beaten up convertible cruised down the old park roads towards the last paved parking area for a good fifteen miles. Without thinking about it much he reached up one hand to push the loose strands away from where they were tickling his nose as they flew about, catching a glimpse of the baby blue nails on his fingers as he did so. This was going to take some getting used to.

“Hey, come on lil’ bro- er, sis, it’s the CANOE TRIP! You know the rules- no feeling down for yourself while we’re out on the water.” He gave his older sister a sneer and flipped her off, but he knew she was right, and that he had better give it a better effort or he’d be in major trouble.

“Hey, none of that now you two. We’re almost there, and when we park your Uncle Robert is waiting for us with the camping supplies and canoes already set, all we have to do is call down and he’ll send your cousin up to get us.” Ruby gave her two ‘daughters’ a glance that said ‘obey me’ before turning back to watch for potholes in the ancient pavement.

‘Cassie’ did his best to show some enthusiasm, but was having a hard time knowing he’d be spending the entire trip this year as a girl. It was his own fault, he knew. He’d been tormenting Kayla mercilessly about how useless she would be out on the river this year now that he’d started to grow up. When asked why he thought she’d be so much dead weight, he’d casually dropped that it was obvious, since she was a girl and he was a boy he’d be stronger than her. This had, of course, led them into another round of one of their old and oft repeated battles; he would lead in with the old ‘male’ arguments, him being man of the house, all that, while she’d insist that being the eldest meant she knew better, and if he wanted to argue about someone’s capabilities based on sex to take it up with Mom. As usual, he’d declined when push came to shove, but she wasn’t letting him get away with it this time. So, after three weeks of Kayla and his mom planning behind his back and another week at the beginning of vacation taking a crash course in girl lessons to try and prepare him for the journey ahead, he now found himself setting out on his family’s annual canoe trip sans masculinity, and was most definitely not looking forward to the reaction from his Uncle Robert and their cousin Jobe.

Not that it took much to make him look passably like a girl. His mom was a beautiful woman, and even at thirty five was often the target of wolf whistles whenever she went out, even from his own friends. Unfortunately her beauty tended a bit more towards the cute end of the spectrum than the glamorous, and topping out at only five foot two and a hundred and five pounds she wasn’t doing him any favors in the size department, and from the stories she’d told him and pictures he’d seen his father hadn’t been much bigger. He still felt bad for his mom whenever he thought about what had happened with his dad; pregnant with Kayla at eighteen she’d quit school and married Henry Wessler. Shortly after having Kayla she managed to get pregnant again, and with how tight things were for her and her nineteen year old husband they could hardly afford a second child on what he was making doing various odd jobs around town. Despite his small size and in a last ditch effort to make things as easy as possible for his wife Henry had signed up for the army in hopes that Grandma Celia, who had kicked her out when she’d first gotten pregnant with Kayla, would let her move in again and help with the children. He never even got to see his own son before he was killed just a few weeks later in a firing range accident, never seeing active duty either. Uncle Richard and his then- wife Louise had let her and Kayla move in with them, and that’s how Caleb had spent the first twelve years of his life, tagging along behind his cousin Jobe as often as possible until Ruby earned her GED and an associates degree from the local community college and moved them three hours away to find a job. One thing they had made sure to keep up with was the annual canoe trip, though- they’d been doing it for as long as he could remember, and he knew there was no way anyone would break the tradition any time soon. So every summer they make the trek down to the Cherokee River camp site for the three week vacation, three days out on canoe followed by two weeks out at the old secluded cabin Richard has managed to find for next to nothing back when Caleb was still in diapers. An old gas generator and a well with a pump provided all the comforts needed, and they were at least a five hour walk through dense woods from their nearest neighbors, with the only access to the old cabin being either from the river or over the old dirt logging roads all over the mountains. In years past they had sometimes drove up to the cabin when the weather looked like it might not hold well, but everyone, even the usually girly Kayla, preferred the more gritty canoeing trip to get in the spirit of things.

He looked over at Kayla one more time to catch her looking at him, and quickly stuck his tongue out at her before turning back around. He had been disgusted to find that he looked almost exactly like her when they’d first decided on his punishment. They had the same tanned complexion, dark hair and dark eyes, even the same nose. So maybe he’d let his hair grow just a little longer than was good for him, but his girlfriends usually liked it that way, said it was sexy to run their fingers through. It was disturbing to find that all he had to do was put on a bit of eyeliner and a padded bra and voila! There stood a copy of his sister. Not that he was ever picked on at school for being girly or anything- he was just kind of, well, small, like his mom and his sister. ‘Compact’ as his mom called it. It didn’t really bother him, and he’d used it to his advantage a few times to get dates with girls who were too intimidated by the larger guys or had been abused. He knew they viewed him as ‘safe’, one of the ones who wouldn’t hurt them, but he liked it that way and worked hard not to do anything that might hurt that image, and more often than not had friends asking him how he did it when they’d walk into the lunch room to find him sitting at a table surrounded by girls. Of course, he’d also been in his share of scuffles after someone or other called him a derogatory word or otherwise questioned his sexuality, but he’d normally come out on top, and when he hadn’t he’d play up his small stature to shift the blame. After all, would someone who was barely over five foot pick a fight with the six three behemoth in the chair beside them if they knew what was good for them? And it would usually work.

The vehicle slowed as it pulled into the large open lot at the entrance to the park, and his mom Ruby turned around and smiled at the two before announcing, “We’re here!” to a chorus of whoops and hollers from the teenagers. Caleb/Cassie looked down at his outfit and shuddered a moment, but determined he’d not let it get to him. After all, who would see him besides family? The gaff thing was uncomfortable, and the fake boobs his mom had insisted on despite having to break into the ‘new car fund’ to get them felt weird glued to his chest, filling out the bikini she’d insisted on all too well for his tastes, the thin blue and white piece of swimwear showing clearly through the thin summer dress she’d allowed him to wear over it. What sixteen year old boy would be caught dead wearing something like this? And on a canoe trip too? They pulled to a stop in the nearest available space to the on site restrooms, the last they would see for the next three days until they arrived at the cabin. Oh, joy.

“You two best go now or forever hold your peace.”

“Race you there sis!” Kayla was out of the car in a flash, hopping over the side in her short shorts and tank top and making a mad dash for the doors, but as Cassie tried to do the same his mother put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Now, be a bit more careful sweetie!”

“But Mom, Kayla just-“

“Kayla wasn’t wearing a skirt! Now, remember?” He grumped as he instead carefully raised himself out of the seat and sat on the upper edge of the back before swinging his legs together over the edge and sliding down, trying to keep his skirt down in the process. His mom gave him a nod of approval. “Good! Go on.” She waved her hands towards the weather worn building where his sister had already disappeared and locked the door, meaning he had to wait until she was out before he could go. He could have just used the boy’s side, as his mom and sister had done on previous trips when the other was already using the girl’s, but he knew his mom wouldn’t allow him that luxury.

Hopefully, he thought as he waited, this wouldn’t be how the entire trip would be.

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2.

Cassie had almost caught Kayla when the sound of rustling bushes drew his attention away from the chase and towards the closest of the myriad paths leading from the parking lot and into the woods in time to see a tall man with closely cropped sandy hair and a pair of faded cutoffs making his way out of the forest and in the direction of their car. Kayla was quicker to react than he and with an exclamation of “Jobe!” tackled their cousin, bringing him to the ground with a low ‘Oof’ and a fit of teenage giggles. Cassie laughed at the tangle of limbs on the ground and strolled over at a more leisurely pace to say hi to his older cousin.

“Hi Jobe!”

“Hi you two! Kayla, Ca...leb…” Jobe gave him an odd sideways look as he lifted Kayla to her feet and stood up, and it took Caleb/Cassie a moment before he understood the older boy’s confusion.

“Eep! Kayla! Give me my dress back!” The chase was on again as his sister took off with a squeal of pretend fear and he dashed after her while trying to hide his blush. He was more than amply aware of the bouncing of the false breasts on his chest as he tried to catch his sibling, along with the tight fit of the bikini bottoms as they tried to crawl their way upwards and show his cousin a lack of things he would rather not think about. When he caught her-

“Hey!” The strong arm caught him unawares and nearly caused him to fall to the ground before he was spun about to find himself face to face with someone’s abs. He looked up… and up… and up… what must have been six feet of solid flesh to see a pair of bright green eyes staring down at him under an unruly mop of black hair. He tried to pull away, but the boy’s hands held firmly onto his biceps as he caught his cousin approaching from the corner of his eye.

“Ah, guys, this is my friend David Monroe. Him, his sister, and their little brother Eric came down with us since their parents are going to Europe or something this summer. David, these are my cousins. The older one over there is Kayla and this is, uh…”

“Cassie!” Kayla called happily as she approached and eyed the youth holding her little brother with an appreciative look.

“Yeah, yeah, Cassie. Uh, David, if you don’t mind letting go of Cal-er, Cassie for a bit, I need to talk to- her.” Jobe shot Cassie a look that told him that yes, they would talk, and if he didn’t like the answers he received that Cassie might not enjoy this trip after all, though that seemed less and less likely as the day went on anyhow.

“Sure,” David replied, and with a final glance downwards- not towards his face, Cassie noted with more than a little disgust- let Cassie go. Jobe started walking towards Ruby, indicating that Cassie should follow, and with more than a little trepidation he did so, snagging his dress from his sister on his way by and throwing it on as quickly as possible.

As soon as he reached the car he was yet again directed by a jerk of a thumb to follow Jobe behind the restrooms. He followed most of the way, but paused for a moment in fear before rounding the corner to the back of the rickety old building. The moment he rounded the corner he was grabbed roughly and slammed into the wall, shaking the entire structure with the impact.

“Just what do you think you’re doing showing up dressed like, like, THAT! Dammit Caleb!”

“It wasn’t my idea! Mom and Kayla, they-“

“What, MADE you dress like that?” Cassie nodded as best he could and tried not to cry as his cousin drove his thumbs deep into his shoulders. “Really?” He nodded again. “Shit!” Jobe pushed himself away and Cassie dropped to the ground from being held nearly a foot and a half up by his cousin. He lost his balance and fell forward into the older boy, who barely caught him before he landed face first in the dirt. “Whoa! Sorry! Jeezus, what happened?”

“It’s kind of complicated.” He rubbed the painful marks on his shoulders, already starting to bruise, while he did his best to explain exactly what happened that brought him on the family trip as a girl, and by the time he finished not only was Jobe no longer angry, but he seemed to be smiling a bit too. From the best of Cassie’s recollection, this was never a good thing. “All right, what harebrained scheme are you cooking up now?”

“I’m not!” Cassie, knowing better, crossed his arms beneath his chest and tapped his foot like he’d seen his mom and sister do when they knew he was lying about something, which caused Jobe’s smile to stretch and contort into a wide grin. “All right, seriously? I was just thinking about how perfect this is for the numbers.”

“Numbers?”

“Sure! There was gonna be four guys and two girls, a bit of a bad balance but I figured we could have made do. Now, since you’re spending the next month like THAT,” he swept his hands over Cassie’s dress to show what exactly ‘that’ meant, “things’ll be a bit more even, ya know?” Cassie could see his point, but-

“Waiddaminute, you’re gonna set me up with one of your friends for the next month? How could you do that to a friend? How could you do that to ME? Come on, Jobe, I might be in a dress, but I’m still a guy!” Jobe gave him a firm stab with a finger in the side of the left breast, and he yelped and jumped back. “Hey! That hurts, you ass!”

“Exactly. You may be a guy under all that, but from where I’m looking,” Jobe made a point of staring down his cleavage, “you can’t tell. Hell, you’re wearing a bikini and I still can’t tell ‘cept that I know you!”

“That’s not the POINT, Jobe!”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to make out with him or anything!”

“Jobe, that’s NOT the POINT!!!”

“No, THOSE are!” Jobe pointed to the breast forms again. “Hey, do it, don’t do it, I don’t care. But if you’re gonna be dressed like that, one of ‘em’s bound to hit on you sooner or later. Geez, you look just like your sister, and even though she’s my cousin I still think she’s hot, so what does that make you?”

“It makes me NOTHING. I’m. Not. Doing it.” Cassie turned around on one foot and stomped back around the building and made his way towards where his mom was still trying futilely to get the top up on the convertible without help. The motor in the electric top had died before she had ever bought the car, and they had never seen the point of paying to get it fixed when the money could be spent on something important or put towards a brand new vehicle. As it was, they usually left the top down unless it was raining, and even in cold weather preferred to wrap up warm before resulting to using the top, which since the heater refused to work never make a lot of difference. He went around to the other side and began working at the stubborn rusted hinge, and in a few seconds they had the plastic top swinging into place.

“So, does your cousin understand why you’re dressed like that?”

“I think so. Dang it, Mom, didn’t you let Uncle Richard know what you were doing to me?”

“Yes, I did, when I called last week. He didn’t say anything about your cousin having guests, and I’m assuming from Jobe’s reaction he never said anything to him about what I was doing either. Rich always was a bit absent minded.”

“Absent minded? Absent minded! Mom, Jobe’s decided that since I’m supposed to be a girl for the trip he wants to set me up with one of his friends!” The frantic whispering back and forth across the car was giving him a sore throat, but the last thing Cassie wanted was for their unexpected guest to hear that he was a boy dressed like a girl. His mom’s calm manner and measured words only served to upset him- did she not even care? Or was she so out of it she couldn’t see the problem?

“Well, sweetie, it does make sense. Your sister told me while you two were back there about his three friends, and it sounds to me like he’s trying to accept that you’re for all intents and purposes a girl at the moment and trying to treat you like it. Now if we can just get it through YOUR head that you’re a girl-“

“But I’m not-“

“FOR THE TIME BEING, I think this trip can be a lot of fun. I’m sorry this happened, sweetie, I really am, and if I had known about Jobe bringing along friends I would never have had you do this, but I didn’t, and now we ALL have to live with the consequences of it.” She gave him a look that said she really did understand why he was upset as she circled around the rear of the car and stretched out her arms for a hug, which the pretty young man gladly accepted. “And I promise you,” she continued, “when I see your uncle, I’m going to tear him a new one.” Cassie smiled at that. They were still hugging when Jobe made his way back around from the back of the restrooms, and when he saw the two of them he smiled.

“So, are you two done talking or do we need to wait even longer?” Kayla grabbed Jobe in a hug again and started dragging him towards the car where Ruby now had the trunk open and their bags already set out and ready to go. David walked up on his other side and casually slugged his arm before heading towards the car himself, with a small leer towards Cassie.

“You two were gone quite a while. What were you doing back there, or is it all sordid things I should ask about when the mom’s not around?”

“Eww!”

“Dammit, David, h-she’s my cousin!”

“How disgusting!” Ruby stepped forward swiftly and slapped the rude youth across the face sharply, causing him to lose his sneer in exchange for a look of shock.

“Geez, lady, I was only joking!”

“Don’t you EVER talk about my daughters like that again! Jobe, if I hear that he tried anything inappropriate with either Kayla or Cassie I’ll-“

“Don’t worry, Aunt Ruby, I’ll take care of it myself.” Jobe favored David with a look that promised lots of pain in the future, and Cassie almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Cassie was surprised when Kayla walked up beside him and put her arm around his shoulders before she leaned down towards his ear. “Cute, but a bit of an asshole. I can handle him for the summer and maybe teach him a lesson or two. Hopefully you’ll have better luck with his little brother!” She gave him a quick swat on the butt where neither of the boys could see before she headed over to the pile of bags to grab something light herself as the two boys loaded themselves down with camping gear and the luggage necessary for three weeks ‘roughing it’. “Come on, lil’ sis, time’s a wastin’!”

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3.

The canoes, or more correctly three canoes and the aluminum flat-bottomed fishing boat they used for carrying their equipment, were all pulled up and anchored firmly on the sandy shoal they had always used as a starting point for their trip. While Cassie was loathe to admit it, he had greatly enjoyed the leisurely stroll down to their departure point this year, a big difference from the previous summer when he had ended up carrying a good portion of their goods himself and nearly collapsed from exhaustion when they finally reached the canoes. Instead, this year all he had was a single rucksack that contained the few personal items he had deigned to bring; his MP3 player, a sketch pad, a few pencils with other bits necessary to do his drawings, and a copy of ‘Storm Watch’ he had been meaning to read but not gotten around to yet. It also had another bikini, a pair of shorts, a pair of sneakers, and sunscreen with bug repellent, because you never know what will happen, and despite all his begging his mom had refused to allow any of his boy clothes even as emergency wear. For the moment, though, he could forget all the things he would have to deal with over the next three weeks and just enjoy the sun on his skin and the smell of the trees, with the birds singing as they danced above him, his sundress dancing around his legs-

He wished he had not thought about the dress. It was cool to be sure; he had been surprised that despite covering a good deal more of his body it somehow felt less sweaty than his cutoffs normally would have by this time. But he did not like it anyways. Nope. Not one little bit.

“Ouch!”

“WHOA, watch it!”

“Dude, you ran into ME!”

Cassie smiled again as he watched the two older boys still trying to make it down the path laden down with more than either one should really have been carrying. For a moment he felt a twinge of guilt at not carrying more, but when he thought about what both of them had done so far on the trip already, figured it was the least they were due in the way of preemptive punishment. “Come on boys, we’re waitin’ on you two!” He could not resist a perfectly good chance to rib them when he knew they could not get him. Jobe’s mouth started to move in the beginnings of a return insult, but he was cut short when a long root came out of nowhere to trip him up, sending him sprawling in a spray of pots, pans, and other pieces of camping gear. Cassie started giggling even as another young man made his way up the path from the beach and towards the fallen boy, collecting what he could on the way.

“Thanks Eric.”

“No problem Jobe.”

Jobe managed to make it down the rest of the path in one piece before dropping the now worse for wear goods roughly in the flat bottom boat with a loud metallic clang. “Kayla, Ca-ssie, Aunt Ruby, this is Eric, David’s little brother, and their big sister Emily. Eric and Emily, these are my cousins and my aunt.” Eric looked like a slightly less bulky version of his big brother David, his brown hair buzzed almost completely away and a pair of glasses giving him a very clean, intelligent appearance, which Cassie hoped proved to be true after meeting his brother. Emily on the other hand was a small girl, almost as small as he and his sister were, with honey blonde hair and a cute ‘cheerleader’ build that was only slightly less attractive for her less than enthused attitude. It was obvious from the looks that Jobe was giving her he was completely infatuated, while the looks she returned to him said quite clearly ‘not on your life mister’. He was not sure why, but Cassie felt an almost immediate dislike for the girl before him.

“She’s a stuck up bitch I’ll bet- looks like you’re the only one with any luck.”

“Kayla!” He slapped her on the arm as she backed away giggling, but was too stricken by her words to really give any chase. Instead he turned back around towards the two unknowns to find himself face to face with Eric.

“Um, hi,” said the tall boy, holding out his hand nervously towards Cassie while staring at the ground. Cassie took it carefully, giving it a light grip like his mom and sister had taught him to. Not ‘dead fish’, but gentle and disarming as opposed to a test of strength. Eric seemed to stare even more solidly at the ground for a moment before lifting his own hand away and backing away quickly. Cassie could not help but giggle at the boy’s nervousness, though he could not fathom what the young man might have to be embarrassed about.

Kayla had a smarmy grin on her face as she stepped towards him and started to speak, but was cut off by the girl Emily. “Ugh, I hate stuff like this. Can we get going to the cabin now?” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot- a gesture Cassie recognized as the same one he had used on Jobe earlier- as she eyed the others in their group with another look, this one saying ‘and if I’m not treated like a princess, there WILL be hell to pay.’ Cassie found himself laughing again, which drew a scowl from the girl. He would have to keep an eye on her and the older brother, he decided, though the younger brother seemed like a good guy.

“Allie-OOP! That’s everything!” Uncle Richard looped around from the flat bottomed boat, where he had been loading and lashing down the last of the supplies, and made his way over towards the cluster of kids surrounding his sister. Richard was a man of average size, with brownish red hair that seemed to defy the seeming rule that any man over the age of forty should be going bald, instead bushing out thickly from his head in an unruly mass. He had the same dark complexion as the rest of his family, but while his sister had taken after their half-Hispanic mother in her looks, he took almost completely after their father’s Irish side of the family in almost every other way, making for a very odd mishmash of features that nevertheless combined to make him quite a striking man. He gave his sister Ruby a mighty bear hug, lifting her off the ground, before turning and doing the same to his niece Kayla, causing her to squeal when he did so. When he finally turned to Cassie, his face took on a surprised quirk. “Ah,-“

“Cassie.”

“I know that!” He reached down without a second’s more hesitation and lifted Cassie into the same kind of bear hug he had given both the young man’s mother and sister. Cassie was embarrassed when without meaning to he let out a squeal that matched his sister’s almost perfectly. “Good to see you young ‘un! How’s the big city treating the three of you?”

“Not bad, big brother.” Ruby stepped up on her toes and gave him another hug along with a kiss on the cheek.

“Doing okay on money? I can lend you some if you need-“

“No.”

“All right then.” That was the only thing his mother always seemed to regret about these trips, Cassie mused. His Uncle Richard owned a small but successful construction company back in their hometown of Brighton, and was always trying to get Ruby to accept money to help out, but she always refused. He would still send extravagant Christmas and birthday presents, and found every opportunity to give to them in any way that Ruby could not return or reject, but she remained adamant that she wanted to raise her family on her own merit, not her brother’s money. The check from the government every month still helped pay part of the bills, and whatever they might not manage to cover out of what she made as a clerk at the bank they simply did without. She would not let Cassie or Kayla have a job because she did not want them taking time away from their studying, making the same kind of mistakes she had made at their age.

“So, how’re we gonna split up for the canoes?” Jobe clapped his hands together as he started eyeing the crowd around him, and his gaze settled on Emily.

“Let’s do it in pairs, a guy and a girl,” David recommended, himself eyeing Kayla.

Cassie looked over towards Eric, who was looking oddly interested in the patch of dirt directly before him, and gave a defeated sigh.

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4.

Jobe’s idea seemed to have stuck in the heads of the other members of the party, and Cassie shortly found himself floating down the river paired off with Eric, the two older couples taking the other canoes while the adults occupied the fishing boat, all floating along at a leisurely pace. He had taken the opportunity to change from his dress to the cotton short shorts his sister had leant him for the trip prior to disembarking, and for the only time he could remember since he had first seen them felt grateful that his mother had insisted on quality breast forms and the ugly fleshy gaff-thing over his arguments on cost and only being seen by family. From the wolf whistles he was receiving not only from David but his own cousin as well combined with his own feeling of nakedness, the bikini top just barely covering his fake breasts, he was sure that anything less would have meant disaster in the presence of their guests. A noise from the back of the canoe drew his attention, and he turned to see what had been said.

“What?”

“Oh, uh, nothing.”

“No, seriously, what?”

The young man blushed and sputtered for a moment before responding coherently. “Ah, I was just saying you seem nice is all.”

Now it was Cassie’s turn to blush as he turned around quickly. “Oh. Thanks.”

A few seconds passed, Cassie lazily paddling while listening to Jared laugh as David told him some undoubtedly dirty joke across the space between the two canoes a few yards further down the river, before Eric spoke to him again. “I mean, not like my sister. I mean, not that she’s mean or anything, but she’s kind of prissy and a drama queen like all the other girls she always brings around, and you’re not. Prissy I mean, I mean you didn’t seem like it, all full of yourself and stuff. I mean, you look cool, no, I- dammit!- I…” His voice faltered and faded off, but Cassie could tell from their sudden shot forwards accompanied by furious splashing from behind that he had instead decided to take his frustrations out on the water.

Cassie felt the urge to laugh, but fought viciously with himself to keep it in check, and after a moment finally managed to return a stunted “Thank you.” He was uncomfortable with the idea of some boy tripping over his tongue trying to talk to him, but knowing what it was like on the other side of the fence he tried not to do any of the things that he had always seen hurt his friends. He knew what Eric was trying to say, and could even sympathize with him from a couple of his own early experiences with girls, before they had gotten comfortable around each other. The churning behind the canoe lessened somewhat, and Cassie could imagine he heard a sigh of relief. What the hell, he decided, in for a penny… “You seem nice too.” It was only encouraging the poor boy, he knew, but better to have that than be stuck with a partner who was constantly staring at his toes and afraid to speak, right?

The conversation all around dried up for a long while after as the company concentrated on making headway down the river in the humid summer air. As much as Cassie loved to canoe, the heat was one thing he could always do without, and the sun glaring off the surface of the river made him wish desperately for the sunglasses he had- again- packed in their main bag instead of his knapsack. The only sounds in the air were the soft ‘slap- slap’ of the paddles as they passed through the water and the rustle of wild things hidden in the greenery along the banks to their left and atop the short sandstone cliffs to their right, the gentle whisper of the leaves in the trees above. He gazed around and marveled at the myriad shades of the forest, the greens and browns and yellows with the occasional flash of robin’s egg blue or gentle lavender marking the locations of wildflowers. This was what he loved about these vacations, even more than the chance to relax and spend time with his family, it was the retreat into the natural world that brought a smile to his face whenever he would remember summers past.

“What’re you thinking about?”

“Huh?” Eric’s voice had broke his concentration enough that he faltered in his paddling, but Cassie quickly made to correct the slight err in course that resulted. “Nothing really, just the trees, and the flowers and the water. I love it out here.”

“I can tell.” Eric seemed to have calmed a bit, and Cassie smiled. Maybe he’d be all right to hang around with after all. “This is my first time this far out into the woods, but you look like you’ve been here a lot.”

Cassie sighed contentedly. “Every summer since I was really little. Didn’t Jobe tell you? We come out here every year as a family. Even if we can’t get together twice in the rest of the year, we always make time for the camping trip, it’s our big family tradition.”

“Wow,” Eric responded, impressed. “I hope we aren’t ruining your summer by being here too.”

“Of course not!” Cassie shot him a smile over his shoulder. “The more the merrier. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything, once we get to the cabin, that could ever make me sad.” He mused on the thought of the cabin, thinking about how much fun things would be when they got there. A small frown creased his forehead when he considered what the sleeping arrangements would possibly be like, but he decided that could wait until later to sort out. A thought occurred to him to get the other boy to open up a bit more. “What does your family usually do over the summer?”

There was a pause before Eric started to answer, in a slightly bored voice that Cassie could tell was nothing more than an act. “Nothing much. Mom and Dad usually go off somewhere and leave us with either our grandparents or one of our aunts for a month or so. Last year David and Emily were counselors at a youth camp down the road from our Aunt Lucy’s place, but I mostly just sit around and read.” His voice perked up, and the smile on his face was virtually audible. “But I’ve never got to do something like this. It’s… nice.”

“Yeah, it is.” Cassie thought for a moment. This was obviously something special to Eric. The more they talked, the more he hoped they could be friends for the summer, or at least get along, if for no other reason than that the trips were supposed to be fun for everyone. What would be the point of going if you didn’t try and enjoy it? “So, what kinds of books do you normally read?”

“I’m reading this really good book right now,” Eric said with excitement over a subject he knew, “have you seen that show on SciFi, ‘The Dresden Files’?”

“No.”

“Well, it’s based on this guy’s books about a modern day wizard and all these things he does. I saw the show and it looked cool, so I went looking for the series-“

“That makes me think of the book I brought to read, ‘Storm Watch’ or something like-“

“That’s it! You’re reading it too?”

“Well, I haven’t started it yet,” Cassie confessed, amazed that the two of them were actually reading the same book at the same time, “is it any good?”

“Oh, it’s great! There’s- well, you’ve just gotta read it.”

They passed the next two hours discussing various books they had read, both pleasantly surprised to find that they shared similar tastes in literature. It was refreshing to Cassie to have someone around who could talk to him about literature, since his sister hated Sci-Fi and Fantasy and his mom never had the time to read except during vacation. At last they came to the sand bar that marked the half way point for the day, and under Cassie’s direction slid the canoe up beside the equipment boat to join the others for a picnic lunch, still chattering excitedly away.

---

5.

“Well, it seems you two have really hit it off.” Eric’s eyes turned almost instantly at the sound of his brother’s voice from looking at Cassie’s face to yet again staring at his feet, almost as though a switch had been flipped, shutting him up. The sudden change in the youth’s demeanor worried Cassie, but before he could say something Kayla had already grabbed him from behind and dragged him away.

“Come on, you’re gonna help me make some daisy chains.”

“What? Why?”

“Because, every girl should know how to make a daisy chain, and I know that you don’t, that’s why.” She pulled the young boy in girl’s clothing away from the gathering swiftly and towards a small grassy mound where the wild flowers had made refuge on the water’s edge. After making sure they were out of hearing distance enough to talk, she bent down to begin collecting flowers. “Help me out with this, I wanna talk to you a bit away from everyone else.”

“Oh.” Cassie lowered himself to the ground near where his sister stood and settled onto a long flat stone before searching for appropriate flowers, watching her carefully to see what flowers she chose and which she left to see what kind she needed. “What did you want to talk about?”

“You!” She giggled. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your flirting with him, ‘sis’.”

“Who?”

“Eric, that’s who! The coy little looks, the giggling, the excitement you’re showing when you talk to him, you are SO flirting!”

“Am not! We’re discussing books!” He watched his sister begin stringing the flowers she had gathered together, slitting the stem of one and sliding the stem of the next through it so that the blooms would lay side by side and connected, until he thought he could do it, and began construction of his own chain. “You know you and mom don’t like the same stuff I do. I’m just having fun talking about something I like.”

“And?”

“And what?” He looked up to see her giving him a wide eyed grin. “Kayla, I’m sure I don’t know whatever it is you’re trying to hint I know, so can you please enlighten me?”

Kayla flumped down next to him on the rock. “You can’t tell? He likes you, and you’re just making it worse. You’re wrapping him around your little finger and he’s already too far gone to notice.” Moving her hands quickly, she tied off her chain in such a way that Cassie could not see any line or seam before settling the finished flowery halo upon her brother’s head. “You’re just too cute, you know that?”

“No way, Kayla. Please, stop tormenting me will ya?” He attempted to tie his own chain off, but was so clumsy about it she took the chain from his hands gently and finished it herself, placing it on her own head.

“Perfect. And I’m not tormenting you, I promise. Honest? I’ve always thought it would be great to have a little sister, and now that I have one even temporarily I’m not gonna waste the opportunity to do all the things I’ve always wanted to with her.” She gave him a warm, sisterly hug. “You make a pretty good brother, and even though we argue a lot you’re not bad considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard from my friends. But even with that I think you can learn a lot being a girl for a while. I’ve really liked teaching you the girl stuff this past week getting ready for the trip, and now that you’re doing it straight through for the next three weeks we’ll have so much fun!”

“Sure, I bet.” Cassie opined, but he smiled and returned the embrace for a moment. “What about Jobe’s great and daring plan to pair us off so he has a chance with Miss Princess?” The two glanced over towards the site where the adults were still trying to dig the necessary food out of the packs from where Jobe had carelessly thrown it into the boat while he and the two elder Monroe siblings lay sprawled at the pebbly edge of the water talking. Eric was reading his book further back from the river while from the looks of things occasionally making sure there was nothing he could do to help.

“I think he’s in for a long fruitless battle on that one, but I’m not gonna try and stop him if it keeps her out of my hair. God, did you see her in that canoe?” Cassie nodded that he had. One reason he had made sure to fall behind the other two had been to get away from Emily’s constant complaining about the heat and bugs. She never even set her paddle to water, instead relying on Jobe to do all the work to move their vessel while she did nothing. “I’m glad he’s after her, ‘cause if I had been riding with her we’d be one camper short by now.” The two laughed together as they spent some time concocting various means of ridding the party of the sour girl, each new method trumping the last in terms of silliness.

“But, but…” Cassie tried to stifle his giggles long enough to change the subject. “But what about David?”

Kayla’s smile quickly turned to a frown as she turned to her little brother. “Oh, he’s a bit of a piece of work, one of those ‘god’s gift’ types if you know what I mean. I guess he’s okay company if you're a guy, but let’s just say I’m not expecting to exchange emails with him when this is all done.” Her smile returned, and she poked him in the side playfully. “Now, you and-“

“Don’t say it Kayla-“

“ERIC, though,” and she set off running and making kiss faces as Cassie chased her back towards the encampment. He drew close enough to take a lunge at her fleeing form, but missed her arm and instead caught the waistband of her shorts, dragging them down as she staggered forwards.

“Girls, stop that! Kayla, I know you’re wearing a bikini but please pull your shorts up! The food’s almost ready, we were just about to call you two back in any case.” Ruby cast a disapproving glare towards the two girls, whose grins refused to waver under the onslaught, though they discontinued their horseplay and settled down to eat.

Richard retrieved Jobe and the others from the beach, while Eric cautiously approached the picnic blanket that both Kayla and Cassie had settled upon and, without looking directly at Cassie, asked, “would it be okay if I sat here?” Cassie scooted over closer to his sister in answer, and still blushing the other boy lowered himself to the stretch of open blanket at the same time the rest of the youths claimed and occupied the opposite side of the blanket, leaving the ends open for the two adults.

It did not take long for the food to disappear with all the campers being hungry from a long day of paddling down the river, and with little to no extra conversation the group packed their camp away and prepared to set off again.

David stopped before climbing into his canoe, and turned around to face the other teenagers who were still behind him. "Hey, I've got an idea! Let's switch partners around for the next leg 'til we stop for camp. I'll take Cassie, Eric can take Emily and Jobe, you can take your cousin Kayla."

Cassie took a good look at David, who, noticing his stare, did obscene things with his tongue. "Uh, no." Cassie stated firmly, before grabbing Eric by the arm and physically dragging him towards the canoe furthest from his older brother.

"Oh, come on, it'd be fun!" David tried to follow the two and grabbed Cassie's arm, but Jobe, to Cassie's surprise, came forwards and picked David up by the shoulders, breaking his grip in the process.

"No, David. That's twice you've messed with Cassie. Come on, man, leave my cousin alone before I regret inviting you on this trip and have to hurt you."

Kayla approached Jobe and with a pouty look asked, "What about me?"

Jobe glanced towards Emily, who was again stamping her foot impatiently, then towards David, who looked like he could not decide whether to be angry or piss himself. With an exasperated sigh, he signalled Kayla towards the middle canoe. "Come on, you're with me."

---

6.

The rest of the day's boat travel went smoothly, the water being high enough thanks to recent rain that several of the usually rougher stretches of the river were much calmer than normal, though Cassie knew that the really fun- and challenging- parts were still ahead. The second day would be rougher than the first, and by the end of the third day they would all be feeling beaten, bruised, and quite ready for a nice clean shower once they had the well primed at the cabin. Then the real fun could begin.

"I'm sorry about my brother."

Cassie turned his attention from the marshmallow he was roasting on his stick across the fire to see Eric preparing a hot dog for the flames. "That's okay, I have to deal with guys like him sometimes at school."

Eric settled on the half-rotted log they had drug up to use as a seat as he let his link of processed meat product char in the flames. "With your looks I bet you have to deal with a lot of jerks like him."

"Oh, you have no idea." Cassie let a small smile cross his face as he considered just how little idea the other boy had. Usually guys like David were a problem because they thought they could get by with hassling him about his height, at least until they would somehow 'accidentally' end up with a black eye or similar injury that they mysteriously could not explain to the school. Sometimes he would even take care of an unwanted guy who just would not leave one of his girl friends alone, some of them- a lot of them- much worse than David. "I can deal with him if I have to, but I've always kinda thought it was better to just avoid guys like that if I can."

His hot dog thoroughly black and crunchy, Eric pulled back to enjoy his piece of charcoal. "I mean, he used to not be like this, even around girls, but the last few months he hasn't been the same, since..."

"Since what?"

"Since Lisa broke up with him." Cassie thought he would be sick when he heard the distinct 'crunch, crunch' of the other boy chewing through the overdone hot dog, but tried to block it out as he blew on his own flaming, dripping ball of gooey goodness.

"Why, what did she do?"

"She was the head cheerleader, back at school. Don't get me wrong, he's always been an ass. But, like, okay, the girls had this new super awesome cheerleader on the team, right?" Cassie nodded. "Well, uh, come to find out she's actually a guy, Dane Phoenix, this really small kid who was in my grade. I kinda knew him, we'd gone to a couple of LAN parties and things together. A lot of people thought he was a girl for a long time. Uh, anyways, David made a nasty comment about 'fags wearing skirts' where Lisa could hear it-"

"That's awful!" Cassie said out loud, thinking of his own situation.

"Yeah, I thought so too, and so did Lisa. She slapped him good, and dumped him on the spot. Now none of the girls on the cheer team will even speak to him, and none of the other girls will go out with him since Dana's always been real good to them."

"Dana? Oh, Dane."

"Yeah. So, now David's kind of fed up with the girls at school and I guess figures if he can't have them he should try to torment them as much as possible. I think his mind just hasn't processed that you two aren't automatically against him- at least, weren't until he started treating you like he does the girls at school now." Eric shifted a bit uncomfortably, as though talking so much and in such great detail had left him out of words for the rest of the night. Cassie, however, had remembered something he wanted to ask.

"SO, like, why did you get all quiet when we got around your brother earlier today?"

"I dunno what you're talking about?"

"At lunch? We landed and were talking, but when we got near your brother you got all quiet again." Figuring his marshmallow was cool enough to start eating, Cassie gingerly reached out his unoccupied hand to free the sticky mass from the stick he had been using to roast it. Popping the entire molten orb in his mouth at once, he could not resist the small 'mmm' sound that escaped as he enjoyed the first marshmallow of the trip.

"He doesn't like to see me talking to girls so much any more." Eric shrugged. "I think he's just kind of jealous that they didn't extend the punishment to me? Like since I'm his little brother I should have to suffer just 'cause he did something monumentally stupid?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Cassie responded curiously before returning part of his attention to the bits of marshmallow still stuck to his fingers and placing a new one on the end of his pronged stick.

"I know." Eric prepared himself a second hot dog, and Cassie had second thoughts about attempting another marshmallow if he had to see another lump of charcoal consumed before deciding the risk was worth it. "But I also think it makes him uncomfortable that I'll still talk to Dane- er, Dana too."

"Does it really bother him that badly?" Eric nodded, and Cassie made a mental note to be extra careful when around David. Then a new thought occurred to him. "What about your sister?"

"Oh, Emily? She's a bit flaky, and a bit of a brat, but the only bad thing I've ever heard her say about Dana was that she thought she should have had the spot on the cheer team over some freshman." Eric grinned. "The only problem there is that she's not any good at cheerleading." The two of them laughed at that while they ate their second treats.

At last, the fire began to die down, and rather than rebuild it from the small stockpile of wood beside his stone seat, Cassie said goodnight to Eric, stood up, and made his way through the darkness to the small pup-tent he was sharing with his older sister.

He was changing out of the shorts and bikini he had been wearing all day and into the boxer shorts and tank top his mom had allowed him for sleepwear until they reached the cabin when he heard his sister grumbling and waking up behind him.

"You finally coming to bed?"

"Yeah, but don't look, I'm changing."

"Not like you have anything I haven't seen before," she giggled as she shined her flashlight directly on him.

"Hey, stop that!"

"Oh, come on, Honey, give me a strip tease! Hey, ouch!" She rubbed vigorously at the spot where he had popped her knuckles even as Cassie picked up the flashlight and turned it off, hiding it under his side of the open sleeping bag they were sharing as a mattress. "You're no fun."

"No, I'm not. Go back to sleep." Kayla muttered something under her breath about 'stupid little sisters' as she rolled over and pulled the second open sleeping bag up around her shoulders, but Cassie did his best to ignore her as he curled up on his side of the 'bed' and tried not to think of anything.

Instead, his thoughts turned to three weeks ago, right at the beginning of summer, when he had first heard about his situation.

~~~

"WHAT! Mom, you can't be serious! Cum'mon!"

"No, I've had about enough of you two bickering, and this time you started it, so you're getting the harsher side of the punishment."

"But moooomm!"

"Don't 'But mom' me!"

"But-"

"AAAaatt! Don't forget, I'm punishing your sister too, not just you. If you keep this up you might find her not receiving any punishment at all!"

Caleb sighed as he admitted defeat. Besides, if Kayla was doing all the outside chores for the rest of the summer that meant he would not have to go out in the middle of the day and get all hot and sweaty. No mowing... no weed-eating... no taking out the trash even. Instead he would be inside, under the nice cool air conditioner helping out with the housework and doing all the 'girl stuff' he had picked on Kayla about so much, which didn't sound so bad.

Until he had learned that he would be dressing as a girl all summer to do it. He looked down in disgust at the frilly lacey concoction in his hand as he pondered just why he now owned a bra. No, not just a bra- BRAS. Plural. And panties, too, though anything else he would be borrowing from Kayla. According to his mom, 'every girl should have her own underwear as sharing is unsanitary.' But how did this apply to him, Caleb, a boy?

"All right, Cassie, it's time to change."

"Cassie?"

"Well you can't be Caleb if you're a girl can you?" Ruby had given him a purely evil look when she said that, and he had felt the first twinges of fear at the gleam in her eyes as she continued, "From now until the end of summer, whenever we are home you will be Cassandra Deanne Wessler, or Cassie for short. You're lucky I'm not making you do this for the canoe trip too!"

Of course, that had changed when he tried defying her a few days later by coming downstairs dressed in his normal clothes and refusing to change. "I'm old enough to make my own decisions," he said. "You can't make me do it if I don't want to," he said. "I'm practically an adult now," he said.

Since then not only had he not been allowed a single stitch of boy's clothing unless it was deemed absolutely necessary by his mom, but she had also guilt tripped him with the cost of the breast forms and weird fleshy gaff thing, both of which he would be paying for with his meager weekly allowance for- well, a lot longer than he cared to think about.

---

7.

"Wake up sleepy head!"

"Gngh... go away."

"Waaaaaake uuuuuuup...." Something tickled Cassie's nose, but moved quickly out of the way when he went to swat it before returning to tickle him again.

"Nooooo... 'mashleep..."

"If you're not out of bed in- oof!" Cassie returned his pillow to its rightful place beneath his head before dozing off again for a few seconds. "Well, if you're gonna be that way about it."

"YEEEE!!!" The foghorn did the trick, and if it had not been for her rapid exit Cassie was sure he would have ripped his sister limb from limb. "Kayla, you bi-"

"Language!" Ruby warned from outside the tent.

"-ig ugly witch," Cassie finished, correcting himself quickly when he realized the adults were already up and about. He crawled out of the tent and made his way barefoot over to the campfire where the smell of bacon and eggs had not only him but all the other campers drooling. "Sorry mom."

Ruby gave her youngest a hug before going back to preparing their breakfast on the large flat rock she was using as a hotplate. "Food's almost ready. You're always a grump in the mornings, I know."

"That's why I brought the fog horn this year," Jobe made the mistake of adding, and before he could so much as move a flying tackle from Cassie sent both him and his cousin rolling down the embankment and into the river.

"Is she always so violent?" Emily pushed Kayla ahead of her out of her tent, where the other girl had run to hide from the wrath of her supposed sister. "Eww, is that bacon? I only eat fresh fruit for breakfast." Emily turned up her nose at the smell assaulting her, but her watering mouth belied her interest.

"Well you'll just have to change your ways today, 'cause you'll be needing the energy," Richard answered her, while grinning like a maniac and happily biting into the first crunchy strip as Ruby placed more to sizzle and pop while the grease ran down the dip in the stone to flavor the eggs. "We're setting out in about an hour and a half, as soon as we're packed up."

"You two need to change before you eat," Ruby admonished both Jobe and Cassie as they climbed back up the short embankment, thoroughly soaked from the short wrestling match. "Especially you, young lady."

"Me?" Cassie gestured at himself before looking down. Noticing the nipples of the breast forms sticking out prominently through the soaked tank top, the areolas being obvious through the thin white material, he let out an embarrassed "Eep!" before running off towards the tent where Kayla was already busy changing.

"Hey, what are you- HEY!"

"Kayla, I need clothes!"

"Those are MINE!"

"Kayla!"

"CHILDREN!" Ruby's voice cut through the bickering like a hot iron through butter, not only silencing Cassie and Kayla but the burgeoning conversations of the other teens around the fire as well. Richard just continued humming to himself as he munched another piece of bacon and started on his third egg.

"Sorry mom." The two teens responded in unison. Shortly after, both emerged in fresh bathing suits and shorts with their hair pulled back, looking a good deal more prepared to face the day as well as chastised, if not completely at peace with each other.

"We need to separate you two. Eric, come sit between my girls." The young man just rising from his own tent looked on confused, roused by the promise of greasy, delicious bacon only to find himself being pulled into the middle of a sibling argument. Eventually the bacon won out, and he dropped himself unceremoniously between the two apparent girls, one of whom was eyeing him enviously as he sat in nothing but boxers.

"Careful you don't burn a hole in his underwear staring at them like that lil' sis."

"Kayla!"

"GIRLS!!! If I have to warn you one more time..."

"We'll make you sit with David," Jobe said, drawing a punch in the side from his friend and a small scream from both Cassie and Kayla as they both promised not to fight any more.

---

8.

Uncle Richard had declared the partnering arrangements for the day, and as they set off that morning the various watercraft were split Richard and Cassie, Eric and Kayla, Jobe and David, and finally Ruby and Emily in the flat bottomed boat, where the teenage girl was learning first hand that while she might be able to get the boys to paddle for her, Ruby was having none of that, resulting in more than a few grumbling complaints as she was forced to take up her share of the rowing.

They had not been on the river long when a word from Uncle Richard had him and Cassie falling back behind the rest of the group to talk.

"So, kiddo, how're ya holding up?"

"With the whole girl thing, or the paddling?"

"I dunno. Both. Neither. Just tryin' to make some small talk is all."

"I'm doing fine, Uncle Richard. At least, I guess I'm doing as fine as I can."

A few seconds of silent paddling passed in which Cassie was vaguely distracted by a passing mother duck with her young in tow. Uncle Richard did not seem in any hurry to catch up to the rest of the group, though, and Cassie knew that he would eventually want to talk more.

It did not take much longer for the tension to break. "That was a bit, uh, interesting when you came out of the water this morning."

"How?"

"Well, you looked pretty, ah, convincing."

"You mean my tits right?" Cassie could feel the heat from his uncle's blush even across the distance between them in the canoe. "Mom insisted I be as realistic as possible once she decided to go whole hog."

"She certainly did that. But really, are you doing okay? I can let you spend the rest of the summer at my place if you need to..."

"No Uncle Richard." Cassie spun around on the canoe seat, so he was face to face with his uncle, but kept up with his paddling in reverse. "Thanks for the offer, but I guess I did get myself in this situation."

Richard laughed. "Yup, you did at that. From how you've already been using it, though, I think you've already learned your lesson."

"What's that?"

"That a man can never argue with a woman and hope to win."

Cassie started to laugh along with his uncle until what Richard had actually said came through. "Hold on, what do you mean 'the way I've been using it'?"

Richard gave him a serious look for a moment, even stopping paddling to hold his chin in his palm, before letting his face break into another grin. "You're tellin' me you can ask that question and not know exactly what I'm talkin' about?"

Cassie thought about the question for a moment before he realized what his uncle was saying. "Oh, so you're not going to answer me because you can't without losing the argument?"

Richard leaned forwards and gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder. "There now, see? You're thinking like a girl already."

Fighting hard against the urge to smack his uncle with his oar, Cassie instead chose to spin back around to face forwards, attempting to beam the words 'I ignore you' straight into his uncle's brain.

His plan was even successful for about a half a second, when his uncle just had to say, "Damn, even turn on the ice just like a girl."

"You JERK!" For that, Cassie decided, his uncle must pay. "Who's your current girlfriend?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm gonna call her and let her know just how much of a mean, vile old man you are, picking on your 'niece' like that!"

"You know, I bet the boys would love it if I untied your bikini top right now."

"PERVERT!" He almost spun around in his seat again, but the raucous laughter of his uncle was making it hard to keep a smile off his own face. Their canoe raced forwards to join the rest of the throng to Cassie's repeated calls of "PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT!" and his uncle's continuing laughter.

Soon they found themselves at the front of the group, with the others lagging slightly behind. Richard leaned forwards conspiratorially and asked Cassie in a stage whisper, "you wanna start a race?" Cassie nodded and set himself ready, paddling furiously the moment his uncle announced, "Aaannnd they're OFF!" It did not take but a few strokes for the other two canoe teams to pick up what was happening and set chase, the two younger men catching up quickly while Kayla and Eric pulled into a close third. They kept the pace up for another quarter of a mile before Richard called a halt.

"Why'd we stop?" Eric asked in between gasps.

"The rapids section is just a little bit further on. Hear that roaring sound?" The teenagers all nodded before Richard continued. "Okay, up until now I've let ya'll get by without life jackets since you can all swim and we haven't been anywhere really rough, but that changes now. Life jackets- ON!" As one the entire group, including Ruby and a disgusted looking Emily, pulled the dirty yellow life vests out from under their seats and buckled them on, pulling the straps taught as they did so. "If there's any second thoughts about this now, too late, last chance out was yesterday morning." The roar was growing louder as the current continued to pull their craft toward the rocky whitewater even without their paddling.

Even having prior warning and experience, the majesty of those first rapids always took Cassie's breath away. Looming up in the distance like a second, misty horizon, the short drop down to the next stage of the river was a scary unknown the first time you went down it. Cassie suddenly saw the reason behind his uncle's splitting of the teams, guaranteeing that one of the more experienced campers was with each of the newcomers and had control of their respective canoes. Cassie nervously wiped the sweat from his eyes and forehead before gripping his paddle tightly, knowing that the first test of the trip was right ahead, drawing steadily closer.

"On the right!" His uncle called with a gleeful note in his voice, and Cassie quickly threw his paddle to that side, rowing furiously to turn the craft away from the jutting stones threatening to take them under.

"More right, Uncle!" Using his paddle like a pole he pushed away from a second series of rocks before screaming, "Left!" Using all his strength to propel the slim and craft away from the looming bed of sharp stones and sand bars that had suddenly appeared. Just ahead was the fall- just another fifteen feet, and then down about a foot and a half and they would be clear of the first obstacle, though there would be no more wide open spaces to the river for the next two hours at least. The cool spray as the water splashed up through the narrow passages between the rocks and down onto his face felt good, but he knew that after they got through canoeing today he would have to check on the contents of his backpack.

"Eeeek!" Cassie turned slightly to see Emily lose her paddle to a root sticking out into the water as the flat bottomed boat made its way down the least treacherous part of the rapids and towards the barely submerged sand bank that would let them get out and drag the boat around the edge of the waterfall. He fully expected more screams when Emily found that there was a nest of crayfish in the bank, but did his best not to let his thoughts leave the tricky bit of steering ahead of him.

"You ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Three, two, one, over!" With a final desperate attempt to keep the canoe away from the more dangerous rocks both above and below the fall, they went over the edge, just for a moment balanced precariously between the upper and lower river before, with a mighty splash, they landed complete and more than a little damp at the foot of the fall. "Whoo-eee!"

"Hahah!" Cassie reached back and gave his uncle a quick high five before navigating down to the first rest stop of the day, a small beach just downstream from the waterfall that gave a perfect view of the turbulent waters, which also happened to be the last easily accessible rest area before that night's camping stop.

Richard hopped from the canoe and stretched before grabbing Cassie up in a powerful bear hug. "I NEVER get tired of that! Ah, the first thrill of the trip, not to be the last!" He spun Cassie around a couple of times before setting him back down, slightly dizzy but none the worse for wear, on the sand to wait for the rest of their crew.

Jobe and David were the next two down, bumping repeatedly into rocks and turning sideways as they fought each other for control of the craft, working against one another rather than together and ending up sideways as they went over the fall, nearly toppling over and spilling themselves in the river. They barely were out of the way before Kayla and Eric came down behind them going a good deal faster than Cassie and Richard had been and managing a half second's air time before themselves falling to the river below, slapping smoothly into the water and turning to slide up the beach beside Cassie and Richard ahead of the older boys, who were stuck trying to paddle in opposite directions around a rock caught on the nose of their canoe.

"Hey, you two, hurry up and get over here!"

"As soon as this idiot stops fighting me," Jobe freed a hand from his paddle long enough to smack David upside the back of his head, which coincidentally freed their canoe from its stalemate and let it slip in the direction David was still paddling.

"I know how to use a stupid canoe, okay?"

"I'm senior camper here, you need to listen to me on this river!"

The brewing fight was cut short when a high pitched scream followed by a metallic 'clump' and a repeated "Get it off get it off get it OFF!" signaled that Emily had found the crayfish.

---

9.

"That was AWESOME!" Eric was hyped up on the experience of whitewater canoeing, bouncing around with the adrenaline rush from fighting his way down the river and ready to go again, a feeling that Cassie could relate to. Full of nervous energy himself, Cassie was pumped for a different reason.

"Uncle, are we doing it again this year?"

"What? Oh, I don't know." Richard looked from Cassie to each of the other members of their troupe, sizing them up. "Mmm, not on the trip out, but I'll take you out some time this week or next if you want to."

"Yesss!" Cassie pumped his fist in the air and jumped up and down a couple of times before rushing forwards and giving his uncle a huge hug and, on impulse, a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Uncle Richard." Spinning away from the slightly shocked man, he laughed a bit as he skipped back a couple of paces, happy enough to willingly embrace a little bit of girlishness for once. "Who's coming with me?"

"What are you going to do?" Eric stepped forwards bravely, after having conquered the waterfall feeling he could do anything.

Cassie and Kayla replied in unison, "The Cliff of Death!" Kayla was as excited as Cassie, and embraced her younger sibling while giggling excitedly.

Eric gulped a little nervously, no longer feeling so brave as a moment before. "The, The Cliff of Death?"

"Sure!" Cassie grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him over to a better vantage point to see a large, nasty looking outcropping of rock jutting up from the woods a few miles away. "That's it over there, we call it The Cliff of Death 'cause the first year we found it there was this like totally old human skeleton down at the foot of it!"

"No we didn't! Cassie!" Kayla came forward and grabbed the youth's other arm. "She's lying to you. There were two human skeletons, one of them was still wearing a pair of cowboy boots and the other was-"

"Hey hey hey you two, stop trying to scare the poor boy!" Ruby came up from behind and pushed the two 'girls' away from Eric, who now looked thoroughly green. "Don't listen to them, honey. It's just a big rock the girls and their cousin and uncle like to go repelling from. They've got several crampons set permanently in the stone and Richard double checks them every year before letting the girls go climbing, so it's perfectly safe as long as you're careful." She glared at her two children who stood back pouting like she had broken their favorite toy. "And just for THAT, you two are taking the flat bottom tomorrow."

"No!"

"Mom!"

"Ruby, I don't think-" Richard started, but his sister cut him off with a sharp look she normally reserved for her children, the distraction in her attention giving Kayla a chance to whisper something in Cassie's ear, causing his face to light up.

"But mom," Kayla started in a pathetic whine, "we're just girls, you can't expect US to do that!"

"Yeah, why can't the boys do it, they're stronger than we are!" Cassie followed his sister's lead, even going so far as to give Jobe a pathetic look asking for help.

"They'd have no trouble doing it!" Kayla said, and out of the corner of her eye caught both Jobe and David puffing up at the praise of their masculinity.

Then David stepped right into it. "We don't mind, Miss Wessler, really!" Jobe caught on to what was happening, but David continued on before he could stop him. "We'll do it, you don't have to make the girls!"

Ruby sighed. "Alright," she cast a look at her two 'daughters' that told them in no uncertain terms that they had won the battle but the war was far from over. Then she smiled an evil smile. "If you two really want to carry the flat bottom through the woods and let the girls have your canoe, I can't stop you."

"Wait, what?" Jobe smacked David upside the back of his head for at least the third time that day, making Cassie wonder if the two really were friends or not.

"You just volunteered to carry the boat. It can't make it over some of the rougher water ahead very easily, at least not loaded down like it is without losing a lot of our things, so it has to be hauled down the trails to the end of the rapids. Usually either me or Jobe and Richard do it, but since you were so kind..."

The look of horror growing across David's face was, Cassie later decided, even better than the one on Eric's face when she had told him the story about the dead body. The big difference was that what her mom was saying was true.

"That's enough rest. Back to the boats!" Cassie climbed in front while Richard shoved their canoe in the water, and soon they were off again for the last leg of the day.

---

10.

"Whoo, I'm bushed." Cassie stretched as far as he could before standing up from the camp fire. "I'll see everybody again in the morning."

"Good night, sweetie."

"'Night Cassie."

"Yeah." He yawned noisily before shuffling sorely the few feet back from the fire to his tent, where Kayla was already laying down reading. "Do you always go to bed early when we're on these trips?"

"I learned a couple of years back that I feel better in the mornings if I go to bed a bit early. Since there isn't much to do after sundown when we're out in the woods until we get to the cabin except talk, and that's mostly what we do when we're at the cabin too, I just figure I might as well make the canoeing part as easy on myself as I can." She marked her place in her book before turning back to watch Cassie finish changing. "Though there is one thing I'd like to talk to you about tonight, if that's okay."

He was tired, but knew what she probably wanted to talk about. Oh well, he thought, might as well get it over with. "Sure." He crawled under the covers himself, rolling over to face his sister. "Shoot."

"How do you feel about being a girl?"

He sighed. "I'm not really a girl, Kayla. You know that."

"Might as well be. You know Mom isn't treating you any different than she does me."

"I know. I dunno, it's weird. I'm a boy, but here I am with tits and a, uh- looking like a girl. Since Mom told me that I'd be spending the entire trip as a girl with this stuff stuck on me I'd been really nervous, but it's actually been kinda anticlimactic. Like, it's actually easier to deal with NOT being able to take the boobs off, you know?"

"Yup. I've never been able to take mine off."

"Oh, har de har har." He slapped her playfully on the shoulder. "Seriously. You try being a boy who has to pretend to be a girl for the summer."

She seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Maybe that's your problem."

"And how do you figure that?" He was curious about what she might have in mind, while also being nervous that he would not like what she might have to say.

"You're pretending to be a girl. Maybe, instead of thinking 'I'm a boy pretending to be a girl for the summer', you should just be thinking 'I'm a girl for the summer.' You know?"

He pondered what she had said. "I think so. Like, don't be a boy dressed as a girl, just, like, be a girl? I dunno, does it work that way? I think therefore I am?"

"Sounds good to me." Kayla yawned sleepily, her eyes drooping. "I think, therefore I'm a yam." She giggled. "Good night, sis."

"Good night Kayla." He gave his sister a hug, but instead of going right to sleep decided he needed to think through what she had said a bit more.

'I think, therefore I am. A girl? Hi, I'm Caleb Wessler, I'm sixteen years old, and I'm a boy." He breathed a heavy sigh, and braced himself for discomfort. 'Hi. I'm Cassandra Deanne Wessler. I'm sixteen years old, and I'm a girl. You can call me Cassie.' Not too bad, he thought, just a little more work and it might just work. 'Hi, I'm Cassie Wessler, I'm sixteen years old, and I'm a girl.'

'Hi, I'm Cassie Wessler.'

'I'm a girl.'

'I'm sixteen years old.'

'I'm a girl.'

'Cassie is a girl.'

'I'm Cassie.'

'I'm a girl.'

'I'm a girl.'

'I'm a girl.'

'I think I can handle this,' he thought as he- no, 'she,' fell asleep, repeating her mantra over and over, trying to believe it.

---

Notes: Unedited, unproofed, untested. This is the first ten 'chapters' of the massive story I began for the Summer Romance contest. Thoughts? Editing ideas? Fleas? All are welcome. *scratch scratch scratch*