Chapters 53 - 55. The continuing story of Jason, a young boy that is coming to terms with his transgender nature, and his mostly supportive family.

Authors Note: Thanks to Joni W for editing this section for me!

Chapter 53

Jason's first class was Algebra. As he walked to his class everyone looked at him and people stopped talking as he came by. He was very much aware that he was the topic of conversation, how could it be otherwise, after the assembly. The whole school knew who he was, so it was so silly when the official communication referred to him as the Transgendered student.

So far he had not seen Brad, for which he was quite grateful, though he suspected it was too good to last. He was going to enjoy it as long as he could, though. He did know that he and Brad would not have any classes together. Brad and his father were on the hate mail list, and none of the students from those families were in any of Jason's classes. Fortunately this was a big enough school, with enough classes, that they could do so fairly easily.

That did not mean that he was not going to face students that did not approve, but at least the ones that had been passionate enough to send particularly nasty messages were not.

Kathy was in his Algebra class, and they sat together. The boys that came in carefully sat as far from Jason as they could, Jason wondered if they thought he was contagious. Some of the girls came over and said hello. Jason and Kathy smiled at them and said "Hello" back.

One girl in particular, Kirsten, looked at Jason and said, "Jason, I've known you since kindergarden, and I would never have thought that you were a girl. But damn, look at you. If I did not know you were not born a girl, I would never guess."

Kathy said firmly, "Kirsten, her name is Kelly now."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jas… I mean Kelly. I had not heard that you had changed your name; though I suppose that makes sense, you really don't look like a Jason anymore. Really, you would think that would have been something Principal Martin should have told us, so we would know."

Jason could see from her expression that Kirsten had not meant to be offensive and in fact, she seemed offended that Principal Martin had pretty much insured such encounters.

"It's ok, Kirsten. I was just thinking about that myself. I felt a bit strange being referred to as 'the transgendered student' instead of as Kelly or even Jason."

"Maybe you should wear a name tag… you know, Hello — I'm Kelly Anderson." Kirsten and several of the other girls including Jason and Kathy chuckled.

"Not a bad idea you know." Kathy said, and then added, "I'd be willing to wear one too, so that you did not feel singled out."

Several of the other girls said, "I'll do it too."

"Great, but where are we going to get hello labels? By tomorrow it won't be necessary."

"They have to have something like that at the office." Kristen said. "Mr. Stokes, can I be excused to see if I can get some labels?"

"Make it quick, class is about to begin." Mr. Stokes said.

Kristen came back a few minutes later, and took a seat near Jason. She had a couple dozen sheets of 3 x 4 inch labels. She wrote on the first one, Hello I am Kirsten Carlin, and peeled it and placed it on her blouse. She passed several sheets to each of the girls that had agreed to help, and told them to spread it out in the rest of their classes.

Mr. Stokes brought them to his attention and began in on day one of Algebra.

The rest of the morning went by quickly, and Jason felt honored every time he came across another girl wearing a nametag. It was by no means all of the girls, but there were quite a few and he felt good knowing that he had some support.

At lunch, Jason and his friends sat down together.

"So, how is it going? Anyone had any real problems?" Sue asked.

John spoke up with a rueful look on his face, "I've had a few of the guys give me a hard time, saying that as Jason's best friend I had to have known about this and maybe I was gay. I pointed out that gay guys don't usually date beautiful women like you. They just said that since Julie is obviously into girls, or at least guys that want to be girls, that maybe Sue and Kathy are really dating, and Steve and I are together. So according to them, we are all just pretending so we can try to hide being gay."

"Ick…" All four of them said.

Jason said, "I'm sorry that you have to deal with this, it's my fault."

"Yes it is…" Steve said with a smile, "and don't think we are going to let you forget it."

"Gee, thanks."

"Don't worry about it, Kelly. The guys will get over it. Now if we did not have these lovely ladies to console us, I would probably have been a bit more likely to punch you in the nose, at least when you were still looking like Jason. Somehow, I can't see you as Jason anymore. After spending most of the summer with you as Kelly, it really is clear how much happier you are, this way. And really, if I had not known you all these years as Jason… I never would’ve suspect." John said.

As they sat and ate their lunches, Brad walked over to the table. "Well, well, lookie here, we have the queer table. Fags, dykes and its. Shit Jason, I always said you were a faggot, and here you are all dressed up in drag. So Julie, now I know why you were never interested in me, you’re a dyke, or maybe even worse, a wanna be dyke. You can't even go for real women; you go for fake women. Jason's not a man, but he ain't no woman either."

Julie looked at him and said, "Brad, you know what, maybe I'm bi, male, female it doesn't matter to me, which Kelly is, but I do insist on human, so I'm sorry you don't qualify. I don't date asses."

Most of the students that overheard the exchange from the surrounding tables laughed at this. Brad turned red and said, "You bitch! ..."

Brad started towards Julie, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

Mr. Stokes said, "Mr. Johnson, I believe you were given a warning about staying away from Kelly and Julie? I suggest that you head back over to your own table before you get yourself suspended from school before we even finish out the first day."

Brad turned and looked at Mr. Stokes, and said, "Fine."

When Brad had gone Julie said, "Thank you, Mr. Stokes."

Mr. Stokes turned and said, "It's going to be a long year. But it will be longer still, if we don't nip this stuff in the bud right now. Let me know if he comes after you again."

Mr. Stokes went over to one of the other teachers, and then headed out of the lunchroom in the direction of the office. Another teacher soon came in to take his place.

When lunch was over, Jason, Julie, Kathy and Sue all had gym as their next class. Jason told them he would meet them after he changed, and he headed to the nurses office.

Mrs. Hammond was the school nurse. When Jason arrived in her office, she looked up and said, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Kelly Anderson; I need to use the bathroom here to get changed for gym." Jason told her.

Mrs. Hammond gave Jason a funny look, and said, "I guess we are going to be seeing a lot of each other this year."

"Yes, I suppose we are." Jason replied, not quite able to read her expression.

"Well, it is right over there. Do what you have to do." Mrs. Hammond said pointing at the bathroom door.

"Thanks." Jason said, and went into the bathroom to get changed.

Meanwhile, Julie, Kathy and Sue walked into the girl's locker room. As they walked in and searched for an open locker, Courtney Myers said, "Look out girls. Cover yourselves, unless you want Julie the dyke to see you naked."

Kathy said, "Courtney, if you are so worried about being seen naked, why do you walk around three quarters exposed all the time anyway? Is there anyone that you haven’t shown your boobs to?"

Kathy, Sue and Julie found three lockers together. Kathy and Sue deliberately made sure to take their time changing their tops and their bras, to their sports bras and gym shirts.

Julie made a point of keeping her focus on her locker while everyone changed.

After they changed they all found their way to the gym. Jason joined them there. Courtney once again determined to cause trouble, said, "Look it's in our class. I thought this was supposed to be girl's gym. Anyone got a hair pin we can use to pop those water balloon tits?"

A girl that neither Jason nor his friends had met before spoke up and said, "Give it a rest. I'm sure she is not the only girl in this class that is using a little bit of help. I think she is doing remarkably well." The new girl came up to Jason held out her hand and said, "Hi. I'm Meghan. I'm new here and I want to tell you I think that you are quite brave to face up to all of this nonsense. I hope that we can be friends."

Jason took her hand and said, "Thank you, Meghan. It's a pleasure to meet you. This is Julie, Kathy and Sue."

As they each acknowledged each other and Courtney watched them with disgust, Coach Evers came out of the locker room. "Ok girls, form a line."

After taking attendance she had them run three laps around the gym. Then she had them grab a field hockey stick and headed them outside to the field.

Jason had not played field hockey before, so it took him a while to get used to the feel of the stick. About half way through the class he started to get the hang of it and was heading up field toward the opposing goal, when Courtney took a huge swing at his legs, tripping him up. Jason fell to the ground and grabbed at his lower leg. Coach Evers blew her whistle and said, "Hey… None of that! Courtney, you know better! Go sit on the sidelines." Coach Evers came over to Jason and asked, "Are you alright? That was a pretty bad hit?"

Jason said, "I'll be fine, though I suspect I'm going to have a pretty good bruise from that soon."

"Let me see." Jason pulled his hands away, and pulled down his socks and it was clearly already bruising and swelling. "Alright, your done for today, head into the nurse and get an ice pack on that."

"Ok, Coach." Jason got up and started to limp off.

"Julie, help Kelly get to the nurse's office, then come on back."

Julie came letting Jason lean on her and together they made their way to the nurse's office. Coach Evers blew her whistle to start the game up again, then headed over to Courtney and spoke to her privately.

Chapter 54

In the nurse's office, Mrs. Hammond looked up and said, "Well that was a short class. What happened?"

Julie said, "Courtney took a hack at her with a field hockey stick. She needs an ice pack."

Mrs. Hammond had Jason sit on the bed, and had her show him his leg. "Yes, that is already swelling quite a bit, and I'm afraid will be quite bruised. Hold on, I'll get an ice pack."

"Kelly, you are not going to want to put your hose on when you get changed." Julie said.

"But I'll look ridiculous with that skirt without hose!" Jason replied.

"Kelly, it won't be that bad, and you will have the ice pack. Are you going to be able to walk to your next class?" Julie asked.

"I don't know."

"I'll come back and help you, just wait here for me, ok?" Julie said.

"Ok."

"I have to get back to class." Julie said.

"Go on, I'll be fine." Jason said. He squeezed Julie's hand lightly, and smiled at her.

Julie squeezed it back and then headed back to the field.

Mrs. Hammond came back from her storeroom with an ice pack and a towel. "Here, put this on the bruise. It will help."

"Thank you." Jason said.

Mrs. Hammond went back over to her desk and made some notes.

"Mrs. Hammond." Jason said.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I make you uncomfortable, don't I?" Jason said.

"To be honest, Kelly, yes you do. As a nurse, I have studied and understand and even can intellectually agree with the path you have chosen. But sometimes it is difficult to reconcile that with my own religious belief of right and wrong. Please don't misunderstand me, I am a professional Kelly, and I am aware enough of my own biases that I won't let them get in the way of treating you properly. I take my responsibility as a nurse very seriously, and my job is to ensure the safety of all of the students in this school. I promise you that I won't be your enemy, Kelly. No matter what my personal bias is, what Courtney did on the field to you was wrong. But I would be lying to you if I did not admit that you make me a little uncomfortable, if for no other reason than that you make me have to face my own biases."

"Thank you."

"For what?" Mrs. Hammond asked, slightly puzzled.

"For being honest with me. I am sorry to cause you discomfort, but I appreciate that you are honest enough with yourself and to me, and that you are a professional. I can't ask for more than that. I am going to be spending a lot of time in this office, getting changed, using the facilities, and I don't want either one of us to dread that time."

Chapter 55

That night Jason and his parents were sitting down to dinner. He had continued to have trouble with walking, and his mother had had to pick him up after school, as there was no way he was going to be able to walk the almost two miles to his home.

She had taken him to the clinic, and an X-ray showed that he had received a hairline fracture. So he now had a cast on his leg, and a set of crutches. Courtney had received a week of detention, and had been given a strong warning about any future incidents.

Jason's parents were of course concerned about the incidents with Brad and with Courtney, but they were heartened by some of the examples of support that Jason had received as well. His mother was very interested in his conversation with Mrs. Hammond, and said, "Give her a chance, it sounds like she is going to try, and it is worth it to give her that chance. But if you start to feel that having to go there every day is getting unbearably uncomfortable, let us know."

As they were finishing dinner and just about to clear the table, a large crash came from the living room. Jason's father raced to the living room and found that a large brick with a note tied around it that had been thrown through the big picture window. "Kristine, call the police. Kelly stay out of the living room!"

Richard raced to the front door and out side to see if he could see who had thrown the brick, but all he saw was a pick up truck racing down the hill. He headed back inside.

"Damn. I think that was Johnson's truck, but I can't swear to it." He said as he came back inside.

"The police are on their way, Richard."

"Good. Don't touch anything, especially that brick. Maybe they can get something off of it." He said.

Within minutes, the first squad car had arrived. Neighbors poked their heads out and came over to see what had happened. The officer asked everyone to please stay back, that the detectives were on their way and would probably have questions, if anyone saw anything.

When the detectives arrived, they came in and looked at the damage. They asked if anyone had been hurt, and then if anyone had touched anything, and Richard told them, "No. We were in the dining room, and we have not even read the note."

The detective put on latex gloves and then picked up the brick with the note. He carefully opened it up and saw that it said, "Faggot, get out of our school." It was made up of letters cut out from various newspapers. "Of course, everyone knows that is how you do it to not be traced, because everyone watches damned TV." He put the note into a plastic evidence bag, and the brick into another.

"Did you see anything?"

"No, unfortunately not. I saw a big pickup flying down the hill, but I can't swear that it was involved."

The detective went out and started questioning the neighbors.

He came back a bit later and said, "We might have gotten lucky. One of your neighbors noticed a big black pickup that doesn't belong in this neighborhood making several passes through here. So they wrote down its license plate number. I called it in, and guess what; it belongs to the Johnson's. We might finally have something to bring them in on."