Juice dozed off on the bus ride, his head lolling sideways on Jenn’s shoulder. She looked at him sleeping and reached a hand out to brush back a lock of hair but stopped. Touching him might wake him up and her expression showed her feeling that he looked so adorable.

She sighed.

“Juice and Da Beez done danced themselves out,” said Carmine who had Shabeez dozing on her shoulder. The taller girl had her mouth open and buzzed a faint snore.

“Shh,” said Jenn.

Ell chuckled.

At the bus stop, they all split up, Shabeez and Carmine heading one direction, Ell another, and Juice and Jenn heading for Jenn’s house.

“Tomorrow, at lunch,” said Ell.

“Las Rubá­s,” said Carmine.

They all nodded, smiling and Shabeez did the headwag thing again. “We should make it our posse’s signal, huh?” she said.

“You’re a nut,” said Jenn and Juice laughed but wagged his head, too.

They walked toward Jenn’s house, holding hands again. The afternoon had turned into a bright end-of-summer evening and the heat of the day had begun to fade.

“I’ll have to get home,” said Juice.

Jenn nodded.

“Help my dad with dinner, walk the dog,” Juice added.

“You mean let Tom take you for a drag,” said Jenn.

“Yeah,” Juice laughed. “Mom used to say we needed a saddle for Tom. Evie….” Juice started to add that his sister had tried riding the Great Pyrenees a few times but Tom always got too excited and she fell off. Instead, Juice swallowed a lump in his throat and just smiled, remembering.

Jenn squeezed his hand and said nothing until they got to her door. “You going to leave your stuff here?” she asked as they went into the cool living room.

Juice nodded. “Is that okay?”

“’Course. But what if you went home like that?” She indicated what Juice was wearing, shorts over a girl’s one piece swimsuit, a cute pink straw hat and stud earrings. His makeup wasn't fresh but he still had on lip color.

“Dad saw the hat before,” said Juice. “He didn’t like it.”

“He teased you about it,” agreed Jenn. “But he never said he didn’t like it.”

“I don’t want to make him sad,” said Juice.

“When are you going to tell him about…” she gestured at Juice’s chest where the design of the swimsuit made it look like Juice had breasts.

“I don’t know,” said Juice. “He said we might go to the doctor tomorrow.”

“Telling a doctor might be good,” agreed Jenn.

“About me throwing up,” said Juice.

“Huh,” said Jenn. They wandered into the kitchen where Jenn poured each of them some juice drink. “Does that only happen in the morning?”

“So far,” said Juice.

“Sounds like you’re pregnant,” said Jenn. They both giggled.

“Boys can’t get pregnant, everybody says,” said Juice.

“You don’t look much like a boy at the moment,” said Jenn, grinning.

“I know, huh?” Juice admired himself in the shiny black glass of the microwave door. He posed and laughed.

“I can’t believe how easy it is for you to just become Juice, the girl, instead of Justin, the boy,” said Jenn.

Juice shrugged. “I should call my dad, tell him we got here safe.”

“You want to stay for a while?” Jenn asked handing him the phone.

“Just for a short while,” said Juice. He dialed his home number.

Harold answered. “You at Jenn’s?” he asked.

“Yeah, and we ate at the mall just a couple of hours ago. You okay if I don’t come help you make dinner right away? I’m not hungry.”

“Sure,” said Tom. “I’ll just have soup and a sandwich then and you can make yourself something when you get home. How late you going to be?”

“I dunno, school tomorrow, what time is it going to get dark?”

“We’re still on summer time, so probably about seven-thirty,” said Harold.

“Um,” said Juice. “Is it all right if I stay till nine?”

“Can you get a ride home from Mr. Hanks?”

Juice asked Jenn, she shook her head. “He’s in L.A. With his girlfriend seeing a play or something. But Carrie will be home from work at eight.”

Juice told his father. “I can get a ride from Jenn’s sister.”

“Okay, then,” said Harold. “Have fun, and don’t stay too late.”

“Thanks, Dad,” said Juice. He hung up and looked at Jenn. “I can stay until nine if I can get a ride from Carrie.”

Jenn looked thoughtful. “That gives us about three hours, we could watch a movie?”

Juice just looked at her.

Jenn grinned. “You want to come to my room and try stuff on?”

“Could we?”

“Sure, hey, I’ve got some old stuff that would fit you, you could take it home. Didn’t you say your Dad can’t get his chair into your room? Social services came and widened the doors in the house except the one to your room?”

Juice looked disturbed. “I’d… but… well, he could use his crutches….”

“When’s the last time he did that?”

“He hasn’t,” admitted Juice. "Not to get into my room."

Jenn left it at that for the moment, heading down the hallway toward her room at the back of the house. Her father had the big master bedroom with its own bath and she and Carrie each had a smaller room with a shared bath between them. The guest bathroom between the kitchen and laundry room prevented the usual crush of two females and only one bathroom. Carrie was twenty and did not really interact with her little sister much any more.

Juice followed Jenn down the hall, glad that Jenn had stopped pushing on the taking things home bit.

Jenn’s room was typical for a high school girl in Southern California. A long closet covered one wall and another wall was lined with a dresser, a chest of drawers and two bookcases. A window on either side of the bed let in plenty of light, even in the fading evening of September. The fourth wall had posters, a television, more books, and shelves for toys and knick knacks.

The room measured fourteen by twelve, almost twice the size of Juice’s room at home. It had originally been the den but a remodel gave both girls their own bedrooms four years before. Clothing was all neatly put away but Jenn opened one end of the closet and began putting things on the bed.

“Try this stuff one, any of it that fits and you like, it can be yours. Otherwise, I’m just going to have to give it charity.”

“Wow,” said Juice. “None of this fits you anymore?” He stared at the growing pile of jeans, shorts, skirts and tops.

“Doesn’t fit, never fit, or I just don’t want it. I separated this end of the closet for stuff like this last month.”

Juice’s attention was immediately drawn to the dresses. He touched the soft material of one long gown and looked up at Jenn in awe. “Isn’t this what you wore to the Baby Ball?”

Jenn nodded. “Two years ago. I can’t even get it on now, but I bet it would fit you.”

Juice kicked off his shoes, tossed his hat on the bed and stepped out of his shorts, standing there in the bathing suit the girls had bought for him. “I don’t need to take the suit off, do I?” he asked.

“Not for just trying things on,” agreed Jenn. “Let me help you, though, it fastens in the back, ‘course.”

Together they got Juice into the confectionary gown, a soft construction of satin and lace in pale green, pastel yellow and white. It suited Juice’s coloring as well as it had Jenn’s and after fastening the tricky hook and eye closures in the back, Juice stood in front of the mirror. All he needed was a corsage on his wrist and he’d be ready for the next Junior Prom. Except for the pink and purple swimsuit showing through at the bodice that is.

“It’s beautiful,” said Juice looking in the full-length mirror on the back of the bedroom door.

“Looks nice on you,” said Jenn. “You look like you have a real shape in that.”

Juice stared for a moment then burst into tears.

“I said you could have it,” said Jenn, rushing to her friend’s side and trying to comfort him.

“But where could I ever wear it, Jennie,” said Juice. “I couldn’t wear it anywhere!”

Jenn patted him and offered tissue and after a bit kissed him on the forehead. “You are such a girl,” she said fondly.

“I know, huh?” said Juice, wiping his eyes and smiling a bit.

“You have got to tell your dad what is going on with you,” Jenn warned. “He’s going to find out eventually and the sooner he knows, the better things will be.”

“But…” said Juice.

Jenn put a finger to his lips. “No arguing. If you’re going to the doctor tomorrow, tell your dad and the doctor.”

Juice nodded, looking resigned. “I will.”

"It'll be better that way," said Jenn. "I promise it will."

Juice smiled.

"You look great in that gown, you know?"

Juice nodded, still smiling.