Previously...

The scene cut to me sitting on the bench with Hannah and Megan holding my hands. I looked a mess with lipstick smudged and with dark circles under my eyes. Just then the video stopped and I sank back onto the pillow.

‘Can we have it taken down?’ I asked dully.

‘Erm, It’s a bit late for that. It went sort of viral and has been seen by over a hundred thousand people so far.’

I put my head in my hands.

‘Oh no!’

And now the story continues…

‘Look, it might not be too bad. Your name hasn’t been mentioned and you don’t look any different to any other normal girl.’

‘Normal, me? You have to be kidding. After what I’ve been through, normal is not a word that applies to me.’

‘Look, don’t get overly dramatic. You’re only sixteen, so you are sort of protected from having your name given out...’

‘Yeah but anyone might recognise me.’

‘Who are you worried about.’

‘My slimeball parents, for example.’

‘Do you look anything like Chris,’

‘Well, I do look a bit different, I suppose,’

‘Well then, I don’t think you need to worry.’

I sighed. Maybe I was being a bit of a drama queen.

‘We’ll deal with it as and when it happens, I suppose.’

‘There’s a good girl,’ she replied patting my head.

‘Leave off you cretin and watch my hair.’

I started to feel that ache in my tummy again. Was it psychological? Things were beginning to get on top of me and I was getting a bit fed up with all that had happened to me.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Auntie came in.

‘Hi, Emma, how are you feeling?’

‘I was ok until a few minutes ago.’

‘Is it about the thing that happened in the park?’

I turned to Hannah.

‘You told her?’ I whined.

‘I didn’t. How do you know about that, Mum?’

‘Three people have phoned me about it and I had a look on YouTube. You did well Emma.’

‘I told you so Hannah! So, I was recognised?’

‘Yes, I’m afraid so. That’s the way the world is at the moment. There doesn’t seem to be any privacy.’

‘Can we have the video taken down? I know that we’ve been through this before and maybe thousands of people have seen it, but maybe not everyone. I don’t want anyone from my past to find me?’

‘That would mean telling whoever runs the Facebook thing about who you are. They would probably need proof or something. I don’t know but I’ll find out.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Right Emma, change of subject. I have spoken to the doctor. She was about to contact you about the scheduled scan; remember that?’

With all that had been going on, I had forgotten that. How could I possibly forget that?

‘What did she say?’

‘Well, I told her about your aches and pains and mood swings…’

‘What mood swings,’ I snapped.

Hannah giggled for some reason and I gave her the look.

‘See?’ said Auntie.

I smiled ruefully. I wasn’t a happy bunny all the time and I think others may have noticed.

‘Sorry. I don’t know I’m doing it. So,’ I continued, ‘what did she say?’

‘The scan was scheduled for next week, but she will arrange to have it brought forward for 10 am tomorrow but no food or drink beforehand. The wonders of private care. She said, that if you feel any worse, contact her immediately.’

‘Okay, I replied, worrying already about what the result may be.

‘Right,’ said Auntie. ‘you had better come down and have something to eat.’

My belly ache wasn’t bad, just a vague ache and nothing else. I was sort of getting used to it. I was hungry, so it wasn’t affecting my appetite.

‘I’ll get dressed and come down,’ I said, getting up.

‘Hannah, you can help me,’ said Auntie firmly.

‘Oh Mum!’

‘Stop whinging,’ she replied, making her way to the door.

Hannah poked her tongue out to her back.

‘And don’t do that,’ said Auntie, without looking back.

Hannah gave me a quick kiss and followed her mum out. I smiled; it was nice seeing those two sparring like that.

I took a couple of painkillers and then got dressed. I went to the closet and reached for a blue sundress as I didn’t want to wear shorts or a skirt with all the pains I was having.

I was hurting a bit down below and I rubbed the area through my nightie. I felt a slight bulge that was a bit painful. Lifting the hem of my nightie, I pulled down my panties slightly and had a look at it. Yes, there was a definite bulge near my pubic bone. And it was very tender to touch.

I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before.

Rather than getting dressed, I walked out of the bedroom and shouted downstairs.

‘Auntie, can you come up?’

‘OK,’

I went back into the bedroom and waited.

A few seconds later. I could hear her come upstairs.

‘What’s up Emma?’

‘Erm. I have a bit of a lump down below.’

‘What! Let me see, if that’s alright.’

As before I lifted my nightie and showed her the problem.

‘Can I touch it?’ she asked.

I nodded. I had all sorts of fearful thoughts. What with my weird body and the things that I had gone through, I was developing into a grade-one hypochondriac. Was it the dreaded C and was I about to die?

‘Hmm.’

‘Hmm?’

‘Yes.’

She felt around a bit more.

‘Does this hurt?’

‘Ouch!’

‘Sorry honey. Look, you know that I was a nurse, back in the day?’

‘Yes, before Florence Nightingale, wasn’t it?’ I replied innocently.

‘I’ll ignore that young lady. Anyway, I have seen these more than once. Can I try something?’

‘Erm, will it hurt?’

‘For a second. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.’

‘O…OK.’

‘Lie down on the bed.’

I wondered what the hell was going to happen. When I was a kid, I saw an old film called Alien I think, and this man was in a spaceship and was sitting around a dining table with some other people and then this alien burst out of his body. It gave me nightmares for a while…

I lay down as requested, my heart beating away like mad and me sweating like I had run a hundred metres in 5 seconds.

‘Right, relax your belly and take deep breaths.’

‘Easier said than done.’ I murmured.

‘Don’t whine, just do it, there’s a good girl.’

I made efforts to relax and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see the alien…

I felt her cool hands on me and I flinched.

‘I said relax.’

‘Sorry, you’ve got cold hands.’
She rubbed her hands together to warm them and then told me again to relax.

I did as she asked and then she pressed on the lump and there was a bit of pain and then it was gone.

‘There you are,’ remarked Auntie smugly.

‘What?’

I sat up and felt for the lump which wasn’t there anymore.

‘Wow, how did you do that? Some sort of voodoo magic?’

She laughed.

‘No Emma, I believe that you have what is technically termed an inguinal hernia, which is part of your intestine or bowel pokes through your groin. You can, in a lot of cases, push it back in, but you probably need a stitch or two and maybe some synthetic mesh to stop it from happening again.

‘Is that what has caused me all this pain?’

‘Probably, but we’ll get it checked out when you have your scan tomorrow. As it is, no exercise or lifting anything until we get it sorted out. The last thing you want is a strangulated hernia.’

I stood up and hugged her.

‘Thank you Auntie, you’re great!’

‘Try telling that to Hannah!’

We both laughed and she left me to get dressed.

I did feel much better but would heed the warnings about not doing anything strenuous.

A hernia wouldn’t account for the mood swings though. I shrugged, I was doing the “what if” thing and that led nowhere.

After dressing, I went downstairs and had a simple meal of pasty – Cornish, of course – and chips, washed down with an equally healthy Coke.

On instructions from Nurse Auntie, I didn’t do much after that and just rested.

The next morning found me back at the hospital with Auntie. The way things were going, I would have a season ticket for the place!

My intestines or whatever hadn’t flopped out during the night, which was a good thing. I could feel a slight gap where the lump or whatever popped out before and it was a bit tender there, other than that, I was okay.

I was hungry as I hadn’t had breakfast and that hadn’t improved my mood any. I had to bite my tongue when Hannah made a remark that morning that she thought was funny but I didn’t; something about trying to get attention by being ill all the time. At any other time, I would have laughed it off, but my humour chip had a hopefully temporary malfunction.

So there was I on a hospital examination table wearing nothing more than one of those gowns with a draughty opening at the back.

Dr Withers was poking about my groin and belly area and it was, to say the least, a bit uncomfortable.

She had a nurse with her who was taking notes.

I had already had an armful of blood taken from me and various other vitals taken. I had tried to pee into a small specimen bottle but I didn’t want to go. I had to resort to running a tap and then I got wee all over my hand. I wasn’t a very happy Emma.

Anyway, back to the exanimation.

I was due to have the scan in about 15 minutes.

‘Hmm,’ said the doctor.

‘Hmm?’ I replied.

‘Yes, hmm. Ah.’

‘Ah?’

‘Yes, stop being a parrot Emma.’

‘Sorry.’

She poked about a few more areas asking me if this that or the other hurt, some did some didn’t.

It was all old stuff to me. I was getting very used to hospitals and examinations and the fact that getting information out of the medical profession was almost like getting blood out of a stone. If and when I became a doctor, I would hope to be a bit more forthcoming.

‘Right Emma, off to the scan, we’ll talk after.’

I was put in a wheelchair and wheeled out. Why I couldn’t walk, I didn’t know. After all, I had walked in. Mind you, walking in a hospital gown showing all of your rear wasn’t exactly elegant!

Auntie had gone off to do some shopping as she would have only hung about for ages and I didn’t feel like I needed my hand holding this time. I was to call her as and when she was needed, i.e. when Doctor Withers called me in for the dreaded chat.

The MRI scan was a weird experience and somewhat claustrophobic. I had headphones on with what was supposed to be soothing classical music. But I didn’t appreciate it. There were some whirring and humming noises going on at times and although I tried to relax, as requested, it wasn’t in a relaxing mood.

Eventually after about an hour but what seemed to be several, it was finally all over. I wasn’t too worried as the aches and pains I had been getting were obviously to do with the hernia, but at least it was another tick-in-the-box in my gender journey.

Although I wasn’t aware that an MRI scan was the normal thing to have for girls like me. I fully intended to go all the way as soon as I was legally able. I didn’t hate my body, but I wasn’t happy with certain parts of it and I wanted those parts to be changed, as much as possible, to reflect who I really was, a girl.

After getting dressed in my normal clothes, I was asked to sit in the plush, carpeted waiting room with ever-so-comfy chairs. The room had hot and cold drinks dispensers (free) and I had a Coke as my mouth was dry. Evidently, the good doctor was to see me in about half an hour. I texted Auntie to tell her that I had finished being tortured and she replied that I should stop being a diva and that she would be with me shortly.

No sympathy there, I thought smiling.

I had a text from Hannah.

So what’s up?

Just out of the MRI room. Bored, waiting for your Mum.

R U OK?

‘Yes, we have to see the doctor shortly.

‘You’ll be OK. You’re a tough nut.

I am not a nut!

Yes U R, you’re my nut.

Aww xxx

Same to you, xxx got to go. Next boring lecture in a minute (yawn).

Bye xxx

Bye snookums, xxx

Snookums?

My new name for you.

I prefer Emma, sweetheart or darling.

OK, honeybunch, bye, got to go xxx

I put my phone down, smiling. She did cheer me up sometimes!

Just then the door opened and Auntie came in.

‘Hi Emma, how did it go?’

So I told her.

‘Well, at least it's over. I had a scan a while back. It’s not much fun.’

She had a few bags with her and she said that she had done a bit of shopping. – jeans and a top.

I was going to ask to have a look, but a nurse came in and asked us to follow her.

A few moments later, we were back in the doctor’s office sitting opposite Dr Withers, who was looking through some papers and looking at her computer.

‘Won’t be a sec,’ she said, absent-mindedly.

I looked at Auntie and she smiled reassuringly.

‘Right, let’s get down to it. Firstly, yes you have a small hernia that needs sorting straight away and I’ll make arrangements to have the minor keyhole surgery to sort that out in a few days. Nothing to worry about, but that was probably the cause of your niggling pains. Now the results of the MRI show that there isn’t anything to worry about down below.’

‘So I have male bits only?’

‘That’s right. Mind you, it’s good that you had to have your testicles removed. As we have spoken about before, due to your taking those pills for a long length of time, they were atrophied and could have turned cancerous if left in for much longer. You look a bit sad, why?’

I sighed.

‘I was kind of hoping that the pains I was having were maybe period pains and that I had a nice set of female parts hidden in there, just ready to be revealed and after a minor op, I would then be a fully functioning, maybe even a childbearing woman. I have read many stories about that happening, you know, a caterpillar chrysalis turning into a beautiful butterfly…’

‘Fiction?’

I nodded and sighed.

‘Sorry about that,’ said the doctor smiling, ‘you will just have to make do with what you’ve got and when the time comes and you decide if you actually want to go the full way, you will be the best girl you can be.’

‘That’s right Emma,’ interjected Auntie, in my opinion, not very helpfully, ‘be happy that you are relatively healthy and that those pills didn’t cause you any more problems than they could have.’

‘What about my mood swings?’

‘So you noticed that?’ said Auntie.

‘Erm, sort of. Sometimes I’m up and other times I’m really down and I snap at people. I never used to do that. A lot of the time I’m angry and I don’t know why. I’m worried that Hannah might go off me.’

‘No danger of that,’ said Auntie, ‘she thinks that the sun shines out of your…’

‘Yes, right, ’ interrupted Doctor Withers, ‘the feelings that you have and your ups and downs are to do with your hormones. For a lengthy time you were taking pills that caused problems and your body, now that you are off of them, is in a period of adjustment. In addition to this, you have the added complication of androgen insensitivity syndrome, which also messes with your hormone levels. You have got to expect periods where you feel a bit off, not unlike most teenagers, male and female. Things should settle down a bit eventually but don’t blame yourself. It’s something that you have very little control over.’

‘Try to count to ten before you boil over,’ said Auntie, ‘my mum taught me that when was going through a stage where I thought that the whole world was against me and it helped a bit.’

Basically, that was the end of the consultation. I was going to have the apparently minor op in a few days and it would be an outpatient thing and I would be able to go home shortly after. If I had waited for the NHS to do the op, I might have been a pensioner before the work was carried out, but as I was under private care for everything else, it was just part of the overall treatment that I was getting.

A win-win for me and no chance of the bulge getting nasty and turning into a strangulated hernia.

I was a bit disappointed with the results of the MRI, although it was great that there were no signs of cancer and that things down below were fairly normal but only normal for the male of the species. I shouldn’t have read so many stories online about magical transformations. Real life wasn’t that amazing unless you were incredibly lucky.

After leaving the hospital, we went to Starbucks for drinks and a yummy cake. I had a latte for once as I wanted a change from my usual hot chocolate. I got the drinks and cakes as a treat for Auntie for being so nice and helpful over the last few days. She found a quietish table by the window.

The boy who served me looked only slightly older than me.

‘Two latte’s please and two of those lovely cakes.’

I pointed at the ones I wanted. They should have carried a government health warning as they undoubtedly had an obscene number of calories in them.

‘Not seen you here before, I would have noticed someone as pretty as you.’

He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows for some reason and then ran his fingers through his hair. Not very hygienic but there you are.

As a chat-up line it wasn’t very original, but I was flattered, sort of, that he thought that I was pretty.

‘Thanks, I have been here before with my girlfriend.’

He turned his smile off as if with a switch and then completed the order without another word.

I mentally shrugged, glad that he wasn’t my type. Were all boys of a certain age like that, thinking that they were God’s gift to women? Maybe I was overthinking things and he was just being a normal boy. I wouldn’t know. I was never a normal boy!

I paid him and smiled as I took the tray from the counter. He wouldn’t look at me for some reason.

I arrived at the table and soon I was demolishing the cake with some relish.

‘Slow down Emma. You’re like Charlie the lab, bolting it down and not touching the sides!’

‘Sorry,’ I replied, spraying the table with a few crumbs.

Auntie shook her head.

‘You’re worse than that flaming daughter of mine. When I was young, I never did that. I was the perfect daughter.’

I looked at her incredulously and we both laughed.

I was facing the counter and that boy was looking at me. He didn’t look happy. He was talking to a girl, one of the other servers. He then pointed at me and laughed.

I frowned.

‘What?’ asked Auntie.

‘That boy who served me was hitting on me, I’m sure. He called me pretty and now he’s saying things about me to another server.’

‘Why worry? You are pretty. Girls like compliments.’

‘I told him that I had been in here with my girlfriend before and he turned off his smile and now he’s talking about me with that girl.’

I was getting upset. Here we go again. I thought.

‘Emma.’

‘What?’ I said distractedly. I wanted to go over there and wipe that smirk off his face…

‘Emma, look at me.’

She held my hand across the table.

I tore my eyes away from the boy and girl and looked at Auntie.

‘Count to ten.’

‘What?’

‘Remember what I said. Count to ten and maybe think of fluffy baby bunny rabbits.’

I did as she asked and it did help a bit, and I calmed down. Those imaginary bunnies are so cute!

‘Now listen to me. You are going to get comments from boys. It’s a thing that they do. Not all boys are nasty. Some, most actually, are just normal teenagers. They are frightened of rejection or they are shy or they have their own hormone imbalances. You telling him about a girlfriend probably bruised his pride a bit and he’s reacting to that. Also, he might be prejudiced against gays, it happens. Don’t overthink it and let it go.’

I smiled and without thinking said, ‘I wish that you had been my mum when I was born… Oh sorry, I shouldn’t have said that!’

I looked down, not wanting to look at her. Why had I said that? What had gotten into me? She would hate me and not want to know me and think that I was just trying…trying…I don’t know what…

‘Emma, look at me.’

I looked up. She was smiling. Maybe I hadn’t hurt her feelings?

‘Don’t be sorry, that’s a nice compliment.’

She had a slight frown on her face and started to say something but stopped. Then she nodded to herself and continued.

‘John and I have spoken about this already. As far as we are concerned, you haven’t had a proper family, except for your nan, since you were born. It’s about time that you have a real family that can love and support you. I know that we haven’t known you for long, but we do love you, almost as much as our Hannah. You have added to our family and you are a joy to be around.

‘If you are agreeable, we would love and be honoured to be your surrogate or foster parents you like. Even though you don’t really need this as you are over sixteen. Would you like that?’

I nodded. I had a lump in my throat and my eyes felt watery for some reason.

‘OK, if you’re sure.’

That set me off and I burst into tears. Not a good thing when you are in the middle of a busy coffee shop. I was sure that everybody was looking at me and it took a few minutes to get myself together again.

Suddenly the boy who had served and flirted with me came over carrying a couple of drinks on a tray. This was all I needed. I knew I looked like a wreck and I was sure that he was going to have a go at me!

He looked at me.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Erm, yes,’ I sniffed.

Was my nose running?

‘Sorry if I upset you earlier. I’m not like that really. My mouth didn’t ask my brain what to say and I just blurted out rubbish.’

‘Erm, that’s alright,’ I said.

‘Here’s some drinks on the house. Have a nice day.’

He put the drinks down and just walked off.

I, of course, burst out in tears again.

Bloody hormones!

We arrived home a short time later. Hannah was still in college and Uncle, or was that Dad now, was at work catching criminals or giving out parking fines. What did he do? I didn’t know too much but doubted, on reflection, that he had much to do with parking! Sometimes he was in uniform and sometimes not. I would have to grill and interview him about it sometime.

Mum (I am going to call her that now, whether you like it or not) was doing mysterious things in the kitchen and I went upstairs to repair my ravaged face. Crying is not good for the complexion and I nearly screamed when I looked at my blotched tear-stained face in the mirror. It was a good job that I wore no makeup when I went into Penzance as it wasn’t allowed for some reason when you have a scan.

I decided to have a quick shower, as I felt a bit grubby after all that had happened and after stripping down to the nuddy, I enjoyed the nice warm water as it cascaded over my body. As the water hit my nipples I shivered. That was a nice feeling. My small breasts were growing larger and I was definitely getting more girly-looking, body-wise.

I began to wonder if my bottom was getting rather large. Well, large compared to what it had been before. Maybe it was my imagination. I would have to ask Hannah and she, no doubt, would like to have a look and a feel to check for herself and I would have no problem with that.

As I showered, I reflected on my day so far and the momentous decision, as far as I was concerned, that I would have Auntie and Uncle as foster parents. It was nothing legal as it would be a private arrangement, but it was nice to feel belonged and gave it me a warm glow in my belly thinking of them as Mum and Dad. In future, I decided that I would call my original parents Father and Mother to avoid any confusion. I would like to call them something else, but I’m a polite girl and that wouldn’t do!

After my shower, I put on my bra, tucking the girls nicely in their padded cups, pulled up my panties and then after a few moments of deliberation, I chose a white silky top and black pleated skirt. I then put on some light subtle makeup, as I wasn’t going clubbing after all.

After that, I tried to get down to some serious studying, although it was hard to concentrate after all that had happened recently. What with saving that man in the park and the subsequent YouTube video, together with the threats and intimidation I had experienced recently, I had a bit of a dark cloud hanging over me.

Eventually, I pulled myself together and soon I was deep into bowels (don’t ask), thoroughly into the learning zone. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

‘Hi Emma, what yer doin’’

‘Hannah, you nearly gave me a heart attack!’

‘That’s alright, you can give yourself resus. Ha, ha, ha.’

‘Very funny.’

I stood up and we had a bit of a kiss and cuddle which helped my blood pressure no end. I couldn’t concentrate after that and so we went downstairs and into the garden armed with ice-cold drinks. I had mineral water with ice cubes as I didn’t want to rot my teeth and Hannah had a Coke, both from the fridge.

Mum (I loved thinking of her as that) smiled as we went outside. She was doing some baking and had managed to get some flour on her face and in her hair. She was a bit of a messy cook, but she had a talent for producing lovely food.

We sat down in the sun with Charlie lying down beside us, panting in the heat. With a fur coat like his, I wondered why he didn’t go inside or somewhere in the shade. Daft dog!

‘So, how did it go?’ asked Hannah.

So I told her.

‘So you aren’t at death's door then?’

‘No, you will still have to put up with me for a while longer.’

‘Pity, I look nice in black and I like to have a good cry at funerals.’

‘Hannah!’

‘What?’

‘We need to have a sensible chip put in your brain. The things you come out with. I’ll tell Mum if you don’t stop being silly.’

She looked puzzled.

‘Mum? I thought that you didn’t want to have anything to do with her.’

I think I went red in the face, it certainly felt it.

‘Erm, I mean your Mum.’

‘My Mum? She’s your Auntie, sort of. What are you calling her Mum for?’

‘We erm, had a little chat in Starbucks. I was upset after a boy hit on me.’

‘Hit you?’

‘No hit on me, open your ears, will you? She saw that I was upset and we got talking and…and she said that if I wanted, they would love to be my alternative mum and dad. Sort of surrogates or foster parents if you like… She said that it was obvious that I thought my own parents stunk to high heaven or words to that effect, then they…they, that is your parents, would like to be my foster parents and I could call them Mum and Dad I…if I wanted to, I mean, them to be sort of Mum and Dad and I said…I did…’

I tailed off. I was burbling and not making sense to my ears. She looked annoyed upset and not very happy. My face felt hot and I was feeling a bit faint. This was going so badly. Maybe I should have thought about it a bit longer, maybe or spoken to Hannah before I…

‘And you have only just decided to tell me?’ she said through gritted teeth.

She was frowning. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.

‘Oh God, you don’t like it. I’m sorry, I’ll tell her that we can’t…’

I made to get up, feeling terrible. The last thing I wanted to do was to upset Hannah.

She grabbed my hand, sighed and smiled and then giggled.

‘Sit down silly. Sorry, I’m pulling your chain. Mum and Dad asked if I would mind when I spoke to them yesterday. I said it was cool, I would have a sister and lover all rolled into one, sort of a two-for-one deal. Isn’t that cool?’

I looked at her.

‘Are you sure? I don’t want to upset you.’

‘Nah, you couldn’t upset me. I like, think that it’s really neat that you’re like, even more part of the family now.’

She had that smug look that she sometimes displayed which was slightly annoying at times.

I stood up.

‘I have to go next door to my cottage to grab some textbooks. See you in a minute.’

‘No problem.’

She still had that annoying almost superior look on her smug face.

With my glass in hand, I turned to go.

‘Oh Hannah?’

‘Hmmm?’

‘You look a bit hot. Let me cool you down.’

I tipped my glass of water, complete with a few ice cubes down her back and ran for it.

I was sure that you could hear her screams in Penzance…

I went through the kitchen, Mum looked up.

‘What’s up with Hannah?’

‘She erm spilt a drink. Just popping next door. Mum, you do know that you have chocolate sauce on your ear?’

‘Oh, have I? I had better clean up. John will be home soon and I want to clear up the mess before he gets here. He’s not keen on mess. Whenever he cooks, everything stays a lot cleaner and tidier, damn him!’

I laughed and left her to it.

I picked up my keys from the hook and went next door. I had a good look around first. I didn’t want any nasty surprises like those people who had threatened me.

I let myself in and was pleased that there were no unwelcome notes on the doormat.

Smiling, I went upstairs and picked up the textbooks I needed for the next day. I wasn’t spending much time in my cottage and Hannah and I thought that it might be a nice idea to use it as an alternative to Shell Cottage in the evenings. We could do things that might not be approved of and watch our things on the TV rather than Mum and Dad’s boring choices.

I smiled again about the Mum and Dad thing. It was so lovely to be able to call them that and it was so important to me that they felt enough love for me to allow me to be more of a part of their family.

I went downstairs and looked in the fridge and saw a bar of chocolate that cried out to be eaten. As I didn’t wasn’t keen on sharing it with that gannet called Hannah, I swiftly ate half of it and put the remainder back in the fridge. I then washed the chocolate down with a glass of water and then I was ready to go.

I checked that my lipstick was okay in the hall mirror. I hadn’t smudged it and the rest of my makeup still looked nice and fresh. I still hadn’t gotten used to my now long hair and remembered that I would have to go back to the salon for a check-up. The last I wanted was for the extensions to fall out. I twisted my earrings as the holes were still relatively new. I fingered the gold necklace with a small cross. It belong to my nan and it reminded me of her.

I missed her so much; I could almost taste it. I wondered how she would react to me looking like this. I think in my heart that she would definitely approve.

I noticed a spec of chocolate on a silky top and removed it carefully. The last thing I wanted was a brown stain that might be hell to remove on the delicate material.

With the key in hand and books cradled in my chest, I opened the door and gasped.

There, in front of me was Anne, my sister!

‘Sorry, I must have the wrong…erm, Christopher, is that you?’

To be continued...

Please leave comments and let me know if you want this to continue. Oh, and if you can, please do the kudo-thingie... thanks! ~Sue