When Lanie saw Mr. Ryan's orphanage, she knew things were about to get a whole lot better.

It was three stories high, and it was in much better shape than the homeless shelter. The walls were painted bright orange, the windows were nice and shiny, and it was all very neat and well-kept. It was just like the Pretty And Pink foster home, except without a heart of darkness under the surface (probably).

Mr. Ryan took Lanie, Rachel, and Jenny into the orphanage's registration room. There, they found a lady at the desk waiting for them. "Well hello!" she said when she saw the three girls Mr. Ryan had brought. "Welcome to the Orphanage For All Ages."

"Orphanage For All Ages?" Lanie asked.

"Yes, that's the name of my orphanage," said Mr. Ryan.

"And what's your name?" Lanie asked the lady at the desk.

"I'm Fiona Sierra," the lady answered. "And I see you've already met Bryan Ryan."

Mr. Ryan's full name was Bryan Ryan? No wonder he went by Mr. Ryan. "Who's the boss? You or him?"

"I am," said Mr. Ryan. "Now, about that registration..."

The registration didn't take as long as Lanie expected. All she, Rachel, and Jenny had to do was provide their names, ages, clothing sizes, and the reasons for them not having parents. Of course, Lanie left out the detail about her killing her own father. She'd been okay with confiding that to Rachel, but not to Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Sierra. At least, not yet.

"Right then," Mr. Ryan said when they'd filled out the paperwork. "Now, Lanie and Rachel, you're both fifteen, and Jenny, you're twelve. Is that right?"

"Yes," said Lanie.

"Uh-huh," said Jenny.

"Jenny, I think we should find someone who's your age for you to bunk with."

"What do you mean?"

"Each of the rooms at our orphanage houses two people," Mrs. Sierra explained. "And we assign roommates based on ages. When we first started, we tried pairing kids up with no regards to their age gaps. But it proved pretty awkward when we had five-year-olds bunking with high school Juniors."

"Oh," said Jenny.

Mrs. Sierra looked at her computer and said "Lucky for you, we do have a vacancy on the girls' floor. There's a girl your age named Samantha whose roommate got adopted last month."

"Is Samantha nice?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, she's pretty nice," Mrs. Sierra answered. "And she's been asking us for a new roommate ever since Paige left, so I'm sure she'll be happy to meet you."

"Okay," said Jenny. "I'll do it."

"And as for you two," Mr. Ryan said to Lanie and Rachel.

"We'll bunk together," Lanie said quickly, to which Rachel nodded agreement. Even before they'd met Mr. Ryan, they'd known it was a given that they'd end up bunking with one another. They'd been bunkmates at Pretty And Pink, and they'd developed a somewhat sisterly bond. Both of them knew they'd be more than happy to share a room at the Orphanage For All Ages.

"Excellent," said Mr. Ryan. "Now, if you'll come with me, I'll show you around the place. And I'll show you to your rooms."

***

Mr. Ryan's tour took them all throughout the ground floor of the orphanage. Just like at Pretty And Pink, there was a mess hall and a game room-except said game room was much bigger. There were two tables full of boards games and a TV with a couple game consoles and a whole cabinet of games to play on those consoles. In addition, there was a bookcase full of books next to a couple of armchairs where you could sit and read.

The two topmost floors were the dorm room floors. The second floor was for the boys, and the third floor was for the girls. Mr. Ryan took Lanie, Rachel, and Jenny to Jenny's new room first. Mr. Ryan opened the door to find a 12-year-old girl in the room folding her laundry. "Hey Samantha," said Mr. Ryan. "Look who's come to live with you."

Jenny forced a smile. "Hi," she said. "I'm Jenny."

"My name's Samantha," said Samantha. She had short brown hair and a pair of thick glasses.

"Jenny's gonna be your new roommate," said Mr. Ryan.

Samantha's face lit up. "Finally!" she said. "I've been asking for a new roommate for ages!"

"Which is why I found one for you," said Mr. Ryan. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to show our other two new additions to their room."

"We'll talk to you later," Rachel said to Jenny. Jenny nodded.

Mr. Ryan took Lanie and Rachel to another dorm room-one that was empty. This one was a bit smaller than the one they'd shared at the last foster home, but it was still reasonably spacious for two people. There was a dresser, a TV, and two beds. The dorm also had a bathroom with a shower.

"So this is your room," said Mr. Ryan. "We have cleaners come in once a week to tidy things up, but you can decorate it however you want."

"When are we gonna get our new clothes?" Lanie asked. "You said you'd get us some new clothes."

"We'll get them to you by the end of the day," Mr. Ryan answered. "But feel free to wash up in the meantime."

"We could also use some new cell phones," said Rachel. "If you can get us some."

"I'll look into that," said Mr. Ryan.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Ryan," said Lanie. "We really appreciate it."

"No problem," said Mr. Ryan. "I'll just leave you young ladies to yourselves for now."

When Mr. Ryan had gone, Lanie and Rachel looked at one another. "So...should we shower?" Lanie asked.

"Yeah, probably," Rachel answered.

So the two of them went into the bathroom and found there was only one sink, one toilet, and one shower. "Oh..." said Lanie.

"Want to shower first?" Rachel asked.

"No, you can do it," Lanie answered. "I'll wait."

So Lanie sat and waited on her bed while Rachel took a shower. When Rachel finished and started to dry off, Lanie got into the shower herself. She spent ten minutes washing all the caked-on dirt and sweat from her body and her hair. But when she'd finished, she realized she didn't have any clean clothes to change into. So she ended up just taking a towel and wrapping it around her naked body for the time being.

Lanie came out into the main dorm room and saw that Rachel was wearing nothing but a towel herself. "Hey," said Rachel. "Feeling cleaner?"

"Yep," Lanie replied.

"Still suspicious of Mr. Ryan?"

"Eh...not really."

"It doesn't seem like he's turning any boys into girls. Or girls into boys."

"I know," said Lanie. "And it doesn't seem like he has any connections to Angelina, so that's good."

Rachel nodded. "I think we should stay here for now."

"What do you mean?"

"We probably shouldn't leave this building," said Rachel. "Just in case Angelina comes to Atlanta looking for us."

"So you think we should quarantine? Like when the pandemic first started, and everyone had to shelter in place?"

Rachel shuddered. "I don't like it when you put it like that," she said, "But yeah. For now."

Lanie nodded. Suddenly, another thought occurred to her. "What about school?" she asked. "Mr. Ryan's probably gonna sign us up to go to school, so..."

"I think we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it," said Rachel.

***

For the rest of the week, Lanie and Rachel opted to stay within the walls of the Orphanage For All Ages. Jenny didn't seem happy about complying with the regime, but she did so too. The girls spent their time reading the books in the rec room and playing games with the other orphanage kids. In the process, they got to meet some of the other kids at the orphanage-Aaron, Emilio, Trevor, Brianna, and a few others. All the names blended together in Lanie's head, but she figured she'd get to know everybody eventually.

During this time, Jenny spent a lot of time playing video games in the rec room. Apparently when she was Jimmy, she'd loved video games, and that hobby had carried over with her. She quickly grew so addicted to playing Rocket League, Mr. Ryan had to come in one day to tear her away from the screen.

It all came to a head on Friday evening after dinner. Lanie and Rachel had gone back to their room when someone came knocking on the door. Lanie answered the door to find Mrs. Sierra there. "Hi Lanie!" said Mrs. Sierra.

"Hi Mrs. Sierra. What's going on?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we're having an opening social tomorrow."

"Opening social?"

"Yes. We're holding it to commemorate the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. We're all gonna go to the lake and go swimming. There's gonna be a bunch of food there, too. If you want to come, all you have to do is show up tomorrow morning with your swimsuits."

"We'll think about it," said Lanie.

When Mrs. Sierra had left, Lanie turned to Rachel. "Think we should do it?"

"What-I thought we agreed not to leave this building."

"I know. But it does sound kind of fun, going to the lake for a little 'beach day.'"

Rachel shrugged. "I mean...if Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Sierra will be there, then it might be okay," she said. "Plus, I am getting a little tired of sitting around the orphanage all day."

"Me too," said Lanie. "I think I'm gonna go."

***

The next morning, Lanie and Rachel donned their bikinis and put on shirts and shorts over them. They went out to the front of the orphanage where Mr. Ryan, Mrs. Sierra, and a few other chaperones were waiting with the rest of the kids that were going. Lanie looked for Jenny among the kids, but she was nowhere to be seen. Guess she'd rather do a few more rounds of Rocket League.

Mr. Ryan had rented a big bus to carry everyone to the lake. The bus ride was about half an hour, with a rather bumpy second half when they got to the dirt road. But when they got to the lake, it was a rather pretty sight. There was the lake with its smooth surface, a range of mountains in the distance, and a beach made of rough sand. At the edge of the lake was a large rock that the kids could jump off into the lake.

"Well, here we are," Mr. Ryan said when everyone had unloaded from the bus. "You guys can all start swimming while we set up the food tables!"

"I call first dive!" the boy named Aaron declared. He took off his shirt, threw it aside, and went up to the big "diving board" rock. He climbed to the top and stood at the edge of the rock. "Here we go," he said. He crouched down and dove into the lake.

"Dude," said Trevor, another boy Lanie had met at the orphanage. "Let me do a cannonball." He climbed onto the rock and did a cannonball into the lake.

"How about this one?" said a boy called TJ. He jumped off the rock and did a somersault in midair before splashing into the lake.

Rachel looked at Lanie. "Wanna jump together?" she asked.

"Sure," said Lanie.

Lanie and Rachel both climbed onto the rock and went up to the edge. Lanie and Rachel took each other's hands and jumped off the rock together. They landed in the water with a big splash, prompting a cheer from the onlookers.

"Whoo-ee!" Lanie said when she and Rachel had surfaced. "The water's so cold!"

"I know," said Rachel. "That's what makes it feel so good!"

Aaron was treading water nearby, and he heard what Lanie said. "Until you make it a little warmer," he said with a smirk.

"Uh..." Lanie stammered. From Aaron's tone of voice, and the look on his face, it was pretty obvious he was peeing in the lake. "I think I'm gonna get out of the water now."

Lanie swam back to shore and grabbed a towel. As she was drying off, she noticed that Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Sierra had set up a table full of hot dogs, chips, potato salad, and chocolate chip cookies. She decided to go and get herself a plate of food. Lanie filler her plate with a hot dog, a handful of Barbeque Lay's chips, and a scoop of potato salad. She decided to wait on getting a cookie for a little while.

When Lanie turned away from the food table, she ran smack into a boy she didn't recognize. "Oh-I'm sorry!" said Lanie.

"No, it's okay," the boy replied. He looked to be Lanie's age, with windblown brown hair, a clean shaven face, and pretty brown eyes. He was wearing only his black swim trunks, exposing his...rather nice chest. Wait. Did Lanie just have that thought? Did she think a boy's chest was...sexy?

"Who are you?" Lanie asked. "I don't think I've seen you at the orphanage."

"My name's Conner," the boy answered. "And I don't live at the orphanage."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Ryan knows my family," Conner answered. "He invited me to come today, so I decided to come."

Lanie smiled. "Nice," she said.

"Are you going to Eastside High?"

"Eastside High?"

"It's the school where Mr. Ryan sends his high-school-aged kids," said Conner. "I go to that school too. I'm gonna be going into my Sophomore year."

"Really? I'm gonna be a Sophomore too!"

Conner smiled, which for some reason moved something inside Lanie. "Nice," he said. "Maybe we'll see each other then."

"Probably," said Lanie.

Conner nodded. "Well, it was nice meeting you..."

"Oh!" Lanie felt embarrassed that she hadn't introduced herself. "My name's Lanie!"

"Nice to meet you, Lanie," said Conner. "I'll see you around."

"You too!"

***

The rest of the lake day was pretty fun. Lanie and Rachel jumped off the diving rock a few more times, and they got to swim in the lake some more. Throughout the day, Lanie did see Conner a few more times, but she didn't get to talk to him again. All the same, that weird feeling he gave her...it was different. She'd never felt that way about a boy before. When Lanie had been Landon, he'd definitely had crushes on girls-but he'd never gotten any farther than a simple "Hi, my name's Landon, what's up?" But now...was Lanie feeling attraction to a boy? And the fact that she'd had an actual conversation with said boy...more than he'd ever had with a girl...it should've felt really weird. But for some reason, it didn't. Lanie kind of liked this weird attraction she was feeling toward Conner.

Even when the lake day was over, and they were all riding back to the orphanage in the bus, Lanie kept her feelings bottled up inside her. She wasn't ready to tell anyone-not even Rachel. Some dreams and ideas are just too absurd to share.

When Lanie and Rachel got back to their dorm, they both looked at each other. "Well," said Rachel, "I think that was worth it."

"Me too," said Lanie. "Do you want to go change first?" Since they'd moved into the Orphanage For All Ages, they'd started going into the bathroom to change clothes in privacy-unlike at Pretty And Pink, where everyone essentially showered and changed together.

"You know, we can just change out here," said Rachel. "It's not like we haven't seen each other naked before."

"I guess not," said Lanie. She reached back and undid her bikini top. She took it off and put it on her bed. She then slid off her bikini bottom and laid it next to her top. She got a clean pair of panties out of her dresser drawer and slid it on. She was just getting out a bra when she felt it: a wet spot forming on her panties. Looking down, she saw a small patch of red at the bottom of her crotch.

"Oh!" Lanie gasped.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel," Lanie half said, half laughed, "I think I just got my period!"

"You what?" Rachel looked at Lanie's panties, saw the red spot, and started to laugh herself. "No way!"

"I know, right?"

"No, it's not just that," said Rachel. "I started my period just this morning!"

"You did?"

"Yeah! I guess you and I were somehow synced up!"

"No way."

"Yes way," said Rachel. "Come on, I'll help you out."

Lanie went into the bathroom, pulled down her panties, and saw on the toilet. She waited while Rachel dug around in the bathroom drawer and got a maxi pad out. "You may want to use a pad first," said Rachel. "It's a little tricky to use a tampon."

"Right," said Lanie. With a little help from Rachel, she aligned the pad with the bottom of her panties and used its "wings" to fasten it in place. As a result, when Lanie pulled her panties back up, she didn't have to worry about them becoming a bloody mess.

Lanie couldn't believe it. She'd been doing her hair and wearing girls' clothes for some time now, but getting her period was taking it to a whole nother level. It felt different. Almost like she was a certified woman.

And you know what? She actually kind of liked it.

To be continued...