Whatever Next? Chapter 8 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

“I wonder about Rhod sometimes,” sighed Drew as he returned to Maddy.

“Why, what’s he done?” she asked having no idea as he’d sounded quite normal to her.

“It’s nothing, maybe it’s me.” Drew shook his head and Maddy could almost hear the cogs whirring as he tried to work out what he’d just experienced in perhaps another perspective.

She waited, but all he did was shake his head. Maddy pressed him to tell her what happened, so he did. “Oh,” she said, “Seeing as he seems to get into skirts as quick as you can say, “cheer-leaders,” he’s a fine one to talk.”

“It was also the silly deep voice to begin with, if only you’d told me it was him,” complained Drew.

“He asked me not to; I mean, I didn’t know he was gonna play silly buggers now did I?” Maddy felt a bit irritated by Drew’s apparent attempt to blame her.

“Oh, okay; so what was he playing at?”

“Maybe he’s jealous, like he wants to play at being Pippa,” offered Maddy.

“Could be, but why? Why does any boy want to be a girl? It’s stupid.”

“So we’re back to being a girl is stupid again, are we?” snapped Maddy.

“No, that isn’t what I said.”

“Oh,” said Maddy, “What did you say then?”

“Wanting to be a girl is stupid if you are a boy.”

“Not as dumb as wanting to be a boy if you are a girl,” challenged Maddy.

Drew was about to accept a draw when he suddenly saw a second meaning to what Maddy had said. “Was that last remark aimed at me?”

“What last remark? Oh there’s the doorbell, I’d better go answer it.”

Drew swore under his breath, did she really think he was being stupid because she decided he was really a girl; or was he being hypersensitive? He wasn’t sure; his uncertainty not helped by the enigmatic expression on her face as she went to the door.

The first to arrive was Ally, who was laughing and joking with Maddy when Drew found them on the porch.

“Hiya, Ally,” he said as he approached the open doorway.

“Oh hi, Gabs, you better now?”

“Yeah, pretty much; you okay?”

“Apart from terminal boredom, yeah. Nothing happens up here when you’re away.”

“Nah, it happens wherever she is!” said Maddy.

“How come you’re still in Gaby mode, did you spend the whole holiday like that?”

“It’s a long story Al, can we wait for Bernie to get here and I’ll explain as best I can.” Drew blushed profusely as he answered her query, although he knew someone would ask it.

Moments later Bernie arrived, “Hi Al, Mad, Gabs. Gabs what are you doing here?” She paused to get her breath back, “Oh, Rhod can’t make it.”

“Oh shoot!” said Ally, “He asked me to tell you too, I sorta forgot.”

“Yeah we know, he phoned,” said Drew.

Maddy led them out into the conservatory, and once they had a drink of squash or tea, she invited Drew to talk to their friends.

Drew began, ”It all started with a cup of hot coffee…” for the next ten or fifteen minutes he gave them a potted version of his holiday, with Maddy chipping in at relevant times. The expressions on the two visitors’ faces went through amusement, embarrassment, fright and concern.

“So have you like gotta stay like Gaby until this bloke is caught?” asked Bernie.

“Sort of,” said Drew blushing.

“There somethin’ else?” asked Ally.

“Could be,” Drew blushed furiously and looked for help to Maddy.

“Drew is turning into a girl,” she announced.

The two visitors looked at Drew, then Maddy, then each other.

“What d’ya mean, he’s turning into a girl, like having a sex change?” asked Ally looking half embarrassed and half concerned.

“I’m growing boobs an’ things,” said Drew, blushing even redder than before.

“What, like a girl?” asked Bernie.

He felt like saying, “No like a cow,” but thought better of it.

“Yeah, like you an’ me,” rescued Maddy.

“What, deliberately?” Ally was still taken aback.

“NO! I am not doing this deliberately; it’s just bloody well happening all right?” With that he burst into tears and ran off.

Maddy took a few moments to explain a few things to the girls, then went in search of Drew. He was sat on his bed holding Bunny.

“You okay?” asked Maddy as she sat beside him.

“No,” he sobbed, “I’d have thought they would have understood.”

“They do now,” said Maddy rubbing his back.

“Yyyyou tttold them?” he said with difficulty.

“Yeah, et tu Maddy,”

“What?” gasped Drew completely lost.

“Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.”

Drew still looked blankly at her.

“Never mind, it was a bad quote. Look I needed to bring them up to speed so I told ‘em. I suggest you wipe your eyes and sort your make up out and come back and talk with them.”

“Is there any point?”

“Course there is, they are our friends, they care about you.”

“So why did they ask such dumb questions?”

“They’re trying to understand what is happening Gabs, let’s face it, it’s a bit unusual to say the least.”

“Did you tell ‘em about school?”

“A bit, I didn’t know if you were coming back.”

“ ‘Kay.”

“So, get yourself tidy and come back and talk to them, okay?”

“Yeah, all right.”

Maddy slapped him gently on the back and muttered, “Good girl,” then she went back to her guests.

Drew washed his face but declined from replacing his eye makeup in case he cried again. He walked slowly back towards the conservatory where Maddy was talking.

“Yeah, Gaby’s had a bad start to the morning, Rhod phoned and played silly buggers telling her she was weird for being in skirts. This, the same Rhod who swaps his trousers for skirts at the drop of a hat.”

“I can’t believe he’d do something like that,” said Bernie, “he’s Drew’s best friend, why would he?”

“Dunno, maybe he’s jealous,” offered Maddy.

“How can he be jealous of someone whose house has burnt down, who was nearly murdered and is still possibly at risk from a lunatic, and who was very ill a few weeks ago?” voiced Bernie, trying to decide with whom her loyalties lay.

“I don’t know,” replied Maddy, “I’m only suggesting why he did it. All I know is it upset my Gaby.”

“So is Drew gonna come to school as Gaby?” asked Ally, trying to change the subject.

“Dunno, she wants to go back to Dorset until this Meadows bloke is caught and until she decides what she wants to do.”

“About what?” asked Ally.

“About being Drew or Gaby.”

“Oh, yeah course.”

“It’s not just growing boobs, she’s got broader hips and things too,” said Maddy in a quieter voice.

“Is she seeing a doctor?” asked Bernie.

“Not as far as I know. Her ‘rents want her to decide what she wants first so she is uninfluenced by some shrink or other.”

“She is quite pretty as a girl,” said Bernie, a modicum of envy almost discernible in her tone.

“Quite pretty, she’s downright bloody gorgeous,” said Ally, “Once they get over the shock, the boys will be round her like flies.”

“She’s worried some of them may see her as gay and want to beat her up.” Maddy shook her head as she spoke, “Stupid innit, jus’ ‘cos someone is a bit different they have to beat ‘em up.”

“Pity she couldn’t disappear as Drew, then turn up for school as Gaby,” suggested Ally, “You know pretend he’s gone to Germany or something, with his mum.”

“They thought about that, but it’s only gotta be a matter o’ time before someone twigs. If she goes back to school here, I think it would all have to come out.”

“Why Mad,” asked Bernie. “No one has ever noticed before?”

“Aren’t they gonna think it’s a bit suspicious that Gaby only ever appears when Drew is missing, a bit like Superman and Clark Kent?”

“I’ve never seen Drew go into a telephone kiosk and come out as Gaby,” offered Bernie, her puzzled look demonstrating that she was trying to visualise the scene.

“Talking of Supergirl, where is she?” said Maddy going to look for Drew.

Drew pretended he’d just arrived. “Hi, had to go to the loo,”

“You took your time,” accused Maddy.

“Yeah, big job,” grinned Drew.

“Yuck, sometimes you are gross,” Maddy wrinkled up her mouth in disgust.

“Sorry about that,” apologised Drew.

“’S’okay,” said Ally, “Sorry, we upset you, didn’t mean to.”

“I’m all right, over-reacted a bit. Rhod upset me earlier.”

“Yeah, Maddy said; can’t think what got into him,” Bernie had her puzzled look again.

“He’s been acting a bit strange recently, especially when he goes off to his dad’s in Wales. Dunno why he spoke to you like that though, you wait till I see him next,” said Ally growing red with annoyance.

“Don’t worry, Al,” said Drew, “maybe he is getting strange in his old age, or his dad is having some effect upon him. How does he get on with his step-mum?”

“All right as far as I know, he doesn’t say much about his trips to Wales, never has done, so maybe they aren’t very nice.” There was a general pause after this statement implying everyone was contemplating Rhod’s trips to Wales.

Then Ally broke the silence with, ”So you comin’ back to school as Gaby?”

“Not for the moment, I need to think things through a bit more. If I did come as me and then decided to change back, it could get very bloody.”

“So you haven’t decided then?”

“No Ally, I don’t know what to do. I want to stay as a boy but my body seems to have other ideas.”

“What does the doctor say?” pressed Ally.

“Haven’t seen him yet, not had much chance.”

“Weren’t you in hospital while you were away, didn’t they think it was odd?”

“If they did they didn’t say much to me. One of the nurses talked to me about it but the doctors didn’t say anything to me.”

“Weren’t they curious about your body going all female?”

“I think they were more concerned with keeping her alive,” interrupted Maddy, “She nearly died,”

“Omigod!” exclaimed Bernie.

“What, like in extinct?” clarified Ally looking shocked.

“Absolutely, she nearly drowned they think, then she got pneumonia and it was awful. She was like in a coma for a few days”

“Can we talk about something else?” asked Drew, feeling very embarrassed.

“Wanna go for a walk or somethin’?” asked Bernie.

“Could do I s’pose,” said Drew, “Who else fancies going out?”

“Better put your war-paint back on,” suggested Maddy, “It helps with the disguise.”

Drew looked unconvinced, but as all the others were wearing some eye makeup, he thought he’d better comply with Maddy’s suggestion. Be just my bloody luck to bump into Clive again and for him to guess this time, he mused as he headed back to the bedroom.

“You not doin’ it for him now then?” asked Bernie.

“No, SHE does HER own,” replied Maddy irritated by Bernie’s slip of the tongue.

“Oh yeah, sorry;” she looked shamefaced.

Before anyone had made a move towards the door, Drew returned with eyes painted as before.

“Like the eyes Gabs,” offered Ally.

“Yeah, you’re as quick as Maddy,” gushed Bernie trying to undo her earlier faux pas.

They began walking up the street from the house and walking towards them appeared Josie, Drew’s grandmother.

“Hello kids, where you off to, then?” she enquired.

“Just out for a walk, Auntie Josie,” said Maddy.

“Drew, can you get me a Radio Times, I forgot when I was in the paper shop.”

Four pairs of eyebrows raised as Josie got her grandchild’s name wrong, “It’s Gaby not Drew, Auntie Josie,” said Maddy protective of her cousin.

“That’s what I said didn’t I?” Josie looked puzzled as Maddy shook her head. “Are you sure?”

“Pos’tive Auntie Josie,” said Maddy politely but firmly.

“Oh, in which case I apologise Gaby.”

Drew blushed profusely, “It’s okay Gran, doesn’t worry me.”

Josie gave Drew the money for the journal she wanted, and they parted.

“And she’s coming south with us, she could get you shot if she opens her big gob in front of Harry or William.”

“I’m sure she’ll be all right,” said Drew trying to placate Maddy, but in reality; he was rather worried too.

“I bloody well hope so, that’s all!” Maddy sounded a little peevish.

“Anyone could make the mistake,” said Ally, “I’m sure I have in the past.”

“Me too,” included Bernie.

“Okay, I probably have too,” admitted Maddy.

“I haven’t,” said Drew grinning broadly. At this point Maddy gave him a ‘daggers look’ and chased him down the road.

“Goodness, he runs like a girl too,” remarked Bernie to Ally as they watched the two cousins chasing each other.

“His bum has got bigger,” said Ally.

“Yeah, I noticed although the jeans make it look worse. Where do you reckon he puts his ‘you-know-what’?”

“I’d nearly forgotten he had one, he does have one doesn’t he?” said Ally going into territory she prefer not to enter.

“I don’t know, you don’t think that was why he was in hospital.”

“What having his doodah cut off?”

“Well Dorchester is probably a big place and they’re all cosmopolitic or whatever in southern England.”

“Bern, I think you mean cosmopolitan and is Dorchester that big?”

“Well it’s the county town, so I thought it would be.”

“We’ll ask ‘em when they stop being stupid.”

Eventually two breathless teenagers returned to Ally and Bernie, Drew was wheezing a little.

“I thought you said your chest was better?” Ally asked Drew.

“It is,” he managed to spit out before he wheezed again.

“Bloomin’ hell, it musta been bad then,” she concluded.

“I told you, she nearly died,” said Maddy in frustration, “Don’t you listen?”

“Yeah, sorry I forgot.”

“How big is Dorchester then?” said Bernie changing the subject.

“It’s a market town, has quite a big market actually,” Maddy was able to sound authoritative and that pleased her.

“So it’s quite a big place then?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Is it as big as Nottingham or Sheffield?” asked Bernie trying to offer sizes of places she knew.

“No, it’s much smaller than them.”

“From the centre, it’s probably about two Ks in each direction,” Drew had cycled most directions, so he was pretty sure he was approximately right.

“Oh,” said Bernie not being sure how far two kilometres actually were. “So it’s about four kilometres across then?”

“Approx, yeah,” agreed Drew.

“Lotsa nice shops?” asked Ally, who was nearly as dedicated to the retail art as Maddy.

“Yeah, they got Topshop and Monsoon, and a New Look.”

“Oh great,” said Ally.

“Plus a few other good clothes shops.”

“They’ve got a good bike shop too,” quipped Drew.

“I thought you liked Matt’s shop better,” riposted Maddy.

“I do, but we were talking about Dorchester.”

“Oh no, look who I see,” said Ally quietly.

“Oh hell, that’s all I need,” added Drew.

“Good morning ladies.”

“Mornin’ Mr Wood.”

“Are you better Gaby?”

“Yes thank you sir,”

“It was a nasty knock you got from that car,” said Wood rubbing his chin.

“That’s not all sir, she nearly drowned and died of pneumonia,” squealed Bernie before she saw Drew raising his eyebrows in acceptance of disaster.

“Is that so young Bond?”

“I think they’re exaggerating, a bit sir.” Drew felt as hot as if the fever was returning.

“Is that so, well Madeline, what’s your take on Gaby’s health?”

“She’s better now sir.”

“I can see that Madeline, how sick was she?”

“Very, sir,”

“I’m not going to ask how come you appeared to have spent most if not all of your school holiday as Gaby, but I would like to know if that is how you intend appearing in school next term?”

“Yes…” said Bernie

“No,” said Drew.

“We appear to have a difference of opinion,” said the headmaster rubbing his chin again, “So which is it?”

“I don’t know, sir,” said Drew feeling even hotter and avoiding eye contact with his teacher.

“Perhaps you’d be kind enough to let me know before you attend if you come as a girl. I personally don’t have a problem with it as you well know, but once some of the other pupils work out what’s what, you may need some help. I’d have preferred to have organised something with you and your parents to smooth the way, but that would be very rushed now. I wish you’d let me know young Bond.”

“Her house burned down, they’ve been a bit preoccupied, sir,” said Maddy trying to infer extenuating circumstances.

“Oh, it was your house, sorry to hear that; let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Thank you, sir,”

“When you’ve made your mind up, I look forward to seeing you or your alter ego in school next term.”

“Yes, sir.” Drew still avoided looking at him with anything more than a cursory glance, and his face still glowed hot with embarrassment.

“Well ladies, I’ll bid you adieu,” said Wood walking off towards his car.

The group of teens walked on until they heard him drive off into the distance, whereupon Drew exclaimed, “Shit, shit, shit! That was all I bloody needed, I’d rather have run into Clive than him. Oh geez, what do I do now?”

“Talk of the devil,” said Maddy.

“Oh no, it’s not is it?”

“Nah, only pullin’ yer leg,” she chuckled.