See the thing to know about me, the one and only Eddie Russo is that I don't back down from a fight. I've never cared about picking fights I can win. 5 versus 1? Bring it. No one makes Eddie their bitch. Certainly not some hormone fueled teenager.

"Relax Murphy, I come in peace" Noah said as he approached our table. Turning to me, he added "You got me in a lot of shit yesterday"

"You only have yourself to blame" I replied snarkly.

"You're real mouthy knowing you boyfriend is going to protect you" he laughed at his statement which infuriated me.

"I'm not afraid of you, Noah" I told him menacingly making sure not to break eye contact. Bullies in high school only go after the weak. They're cowards when it all comes down to it. I had to show him and everyone else that Laura Hill wasn't an easy target.

"Alright, some spunk. I actually like that" Noah had a carefree expression on his face very unlike the one of anger yesterday. This is why I wasn't worried when he closed what was left of the gap between us.

Whispering in my ear, he simply said "Watch yourself, little lady ".

When he turned to leave, I stayed wondering what he meant by that. An actual threat or an attempt to save face after being defied time and time again.

I watched him take a nugget from one of the boys' trays at the table and walk off.

"I told you she's fucking crazy" Dean said as soon as Noah was back at his own table.

Murphy didn't say anything but looked at me with a very concerned expression. What must it have been like to see his friend change so drastically in a matter of days.

Still, I had no choice. Laura's weak and naive personality had gotten her into this mess. In our world, the strong eats the weak. This concept typified the high school experience. To get her out of this mess, I had to be someone else.

When I relaxed, I realized my heart had been beating heavily. But not because of fear, it was excitement. I realized I hadn't had this much fun since I died or possibly even before that.

=^..^=

We had Science right after lunch. This was a class I had actually enjoyed back in my day. For once I tried to pay attention. There had been no updates yet from Willie and Gino hadn't said anything to me either. So I used this opportunity to relax a bit.

When it was over, it was time for PE. Something I used to be really good at. Now probably not so much.

I took my bag and headed for the locker rooms along with other students. The girls took a different hallway and so I followed. Weirdly this didn't even upset me in the slightest. I thought back to when I was forced to use the boy's restroom for many years and that misplacement had made me miserable. Made her miserable.

So when I turned a corner and the girls locker room sign came into view, it felt right. That rightness though was very shortlived as I was stopped at the door by a woman I recognized to be the girls coach.

"Sorry Laura, you know the rules"

Ah yes, the rules. The compromise for using the girls locker room was that Laura would wait for everyone else to be done changing before she went in. Treated like a fucking second class citizen.

I kind of understood. But also not. It felt like my mind was splitting in two. I as Eddie understood why Laura would be separated from the rest of the girls no matter how convincing she was. But it still felt unfair, invalidating and unnecessary.

One after the other, the girls left the room in their PE gear, I got some apologetic ones and others not so much. When the last of the girls had finished, I was then allowed to go in.

It didn't take long for me to strip out of my clothes and wear the shorts. Only then did it dawn on me how short and tight they actually were. They only came up to my upper thigh and were very restricting. I remembered I had to tuck and thankfully, I knew how. I inspected to make sure everything was in order and it looked good. Flat. Right.

I started to wear the PE top but heared the door to the locker room open. I should have been alone in here.

"Sorry, I forgot something" I heard a voice which sounded like Lilian, another girl from my grade.

"It's okay" I replied shyly turning to look at her. I had only managed to get my head through the neck hole of the very tight top so the rest of me was bare with just the bra I'd chosen to wear this morning.

"You're not wearing that are you? That bra"

"Umm I am"

She walked closer "Don't you have a sports bra or something?"

I shook my head "Forgot it". Which was true. Laura's memories told me she did usually bring a sports bra for PE but my thoughts had been such a jumble this morning that I had missed it.

She smiled, "here, I always carry a spare of everything" reaching into her bag to pull out a white bra out of her bag.

Handing it to me, she said "You can keep it. Go on, put it on. It'd be a shame for you to ruin such a beautiful bra" she touched the side section of my bra and traced the edges with her finger. Weird.

I thanked her and took it. When it was clear she wasn't leaving or even turning around, I did.

I took off the top and reached behind to unclasp the bra but I struggled. I knew what to do and I think my body did too so I couldn't figure out why I kept fumbling.

Suddenly, I felt her soft hands touch my back slightly, felt the tension on the strap and the sweet release of the pressure from the bra straps.

"Thanks" I said shyly.

"You're welcome" her voice was soft and caring.

I slipped the sports bra over my head and again she helped me pull the tight fitting garment down.

I thanked her again.

"You're pretty" she said simply.

I blushed. I picked up the PE top again and put it on in an attempt to escape all I was feeling and snap back to reality.

I was attracted to her as wrong as that was and felt. Laura's feelings though weren't of attraction. Far from it. I think she just wanted a friend.

I inspected myself. The PE outfit fit snugly on my slim frame.

"We should go before coach gets upset" She told me. I nodded.

=^..^=

The girls were stretching when Lillian and I joined them in the back of the line. Lillian looked at me and laughed, I did too. After stretching, coach explained that we'd be playing volleyball today and asked us to form teams. I stuck with Lillian who picked 4 other girls.

I glanced over to the boys'side of the gym where the coach had them running suicides. I certainly didn't envy them. I found myself watching Murphy who was already sweating. I watched him as he completed each lap even as other boys gave up.

I wonder why he didn't play any sports. I searched Laura's memories for an answer but no dice there either.

"He's a hunk, even I'll admit that" I heard Lillian say. We were still waiting for our team's turn so we sat together on a bench.

When I didn't respond, she continued, "are you dating?"

"No" I told her.

"Everyone thinks you are anyway, you might as well"

I glanced briefly at her then returned my gaze to him.

She liked him. I liked him. And I thought he liked me too so why weren't we dating? Neither of them had confessed it but it was easy to tell.

"Well I can tell you like him" she said smiling. "You should tell him. He would be lucky to have you".

I thanked her.

Eventually our team got our turn and that went smoothly. So did the rest of PE even though I had to wait again for the girls to finish showering. Lillian had given me a very apologetic look but I made sure to let her know that it was alright.

=^..^=

I zoned out during my last class of the day thinking about my plans to fix all of Laura's issues.

Biggest one was Gino. I had to get him off her back. The plan was to get home and sift through all the information Willie had given me. Find something useful and force him to stop. Two can play his game.

If Willie was able to take the video down, that would solve that problem. There'd still be some people who had the videos downloaded but they wouldn't know Laura anyway... except Gino and the Fox of course.

Laura hadn't seen his face. He had the fox mask on from the moment she'd arrived. For the life of me, I can't figure out why she wouldn't have just left at that point. Did she like the danger? Was she just so starved for attention?

I wondered if he was a problem that needed fixing. Probably yeah but was he an immediate danger? Could I ignore him and still move on from Laura's body?

Another problem was the bullying. I'd already managed to reduce it but that wasn't going to last. Many kids here still saw her as a freak. A boy pretending to be a girl regardless of how pretty she was. Currently she's still stuck in No Man's Land dressing like a boy. If she wants to be a girl, she had to embrace it.

I picked up her phone and found her mother's contact and sent a text.

"Mother daughter day? I need some new clothes".

I had to stop playing it safe or I'd be Laura forever.

=^..^=

Murphy came up to me at the school's entrance doors. It was hard to hear over the roar of happy students who were now looking forward to the weekend.

"We need to talk about everything. Wanna come over?" He asked with a raised voice to compensate for the noise.

"Actually I'm going to the mall with my mum" I told him. "Later?" I asked. Truth be told, I wanted to talk and spend some time with him.

"I can meet you at the mall later, what time are you done?"

I shrugged. "I'll call you, I gotta go, mum's picking me up" I told him.

"Okay later"

I smiled at him and left skipping through the crowd while looking for my mum's car.

=^..^=

We'd stopped by the house for a change of clothes and to drop Lucas off at his friend's house.

I used the chance to examine Laura's wardrobe. Some skirts and dresses sure but not many. And their lack of use was painfully obvious. Most of her clothes were unisex and leaning male. T-shirts, pants, sneakers, sweaters. It's like she was doing everything to hide her body.

No, that simply wouldn't do. I was going to swallow my own male pride and turn her into the kind of girl they couldn't bully.

"What made you change your mind?" Mum asked me on our way to the mall.

I shrugged "I just thought we should hang out more".

She smiled warmly. Bonus points if I can improve her relationship with her family.

=^..^=

We found a parking spot and made our way into the mega structure. There were a lot of people which is to be expected for a Friday evening.

Mum led me into a salon which she had decided would be our first stop. She'd been planning to get her hair done and suggested I get a treatment as well.

Beatrice our hairdresser quickly got into an animated discussion with my mother as soon as we walked in the door.

Mum introduced me as her daughter and asked for 'the works' whatever that meant. As Beatrice, who insisted I call her Bea got to work snipping and styling, I checked my phone and noticed I'd missed a message from Willie.

"DONE, FOUND 7 INSTANCES OF YOUR SEXY SHORT FILM ONLINE. LUCKY THAT IT WAS ONLY UPLOADED TO THIRD RATE COPYCAT PORN SITES WITH SHITTY SECURITY. THE VIDEO WOULD HAVE BEEN INDEXED AND THUMBNAILS MIGHT EXIST ON SEARCH ENGINES BUT UNLIKELY AND NOT SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT"

"thanks" I typed. This was good. That was one less thing on my mind. I was getting closer.

Beatrice had covered the mirror in front of me "to give me the full effect" so I just left my mind drift.

I felt my phone vibrate.

"ONE MORE THING. HERE'S THE ADDRESS WHERE THE FIRST INSTANCE OF THE VIDEO WAS UPLOADED FROM"

-- Map Link Received --

"A FINAL FAVOR TO MY GOOD FRIEND EDDIE"

"Thank you, Net Knight"

"DEBT IS PAID. DON'T CONTACT ME AGAIN, LITTLE LADY. HAPPY HUNTING".

Before I could type any response, I had gotten a pop up saying "You have been blocked by this user".

Bea snapped me back to reality.

"Now for you makeup dear" she said with a huge smile.

I thought that might have been going overboard but it served my goal of making her the perfect girl so I didn't object. Neither Laura nor I knew how to apply makeup so this was a good opportunity to see her at her most alluring. So I sat back and let Bea do her magic.

It surprised me how her mother seemed to totally accept her new daughter. Mine would have raised all hell if I had even suggested something as crazy as this.

Eyebrows, eye lashes, lips, every last section of my face was deliberately and expertly cared for. When the mirror cover came of, I couldn't recognise the girl looking back at me. She was incredibly beautiful and exuded a youthful elegance.

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful" Mum exclaimed. She closed the distance between us and took my hands "My beautiful daughter, let's go get you some clothes to match".

I had to admit my face and body were currently a juxtaposition. Out of this world beauty on top, plain tomboy on the bottom.

'I might give away all her sweaters to a shelter to help nudge her in the right direction' I thought to myself.

The shitty clothes though did little to stop the stares I got however. I had been in my fair share of the spotlight in my time but this was different. I was turning heads and it made me feel self conscious.

Mum looked proud atleast.

By the end, mum had bought me an entirely new wardrobe of dresses, skirts, tops, shoes and more. She kept buying outfits and when I didn't put up any resistance she bought even more. Laura had resisted a lot so I think she was overcompensating for lost time.

She only stopped when we couldn't carry any more. She convinced me to leave on the final dress I had tried and ditch the old clothes.

"Should we get some food?" she asked me with a big smile on her face. I felt guilty keeping my dad's affair a secret from her. She didn't deserve that. But I also didn't want Laura to wake up and her family was getting a divorce either.

"Murphy's coming. I'll eat when he gets here"

She gave a knowing smile. "oh he will adore you when he sees you. Help me take the bags to the car and I'll get out of your hair okay?"

=^..^=

It had been an quite a day. I had a plan, I'd made lots of progress and even made a new friend. Things were a little off and uncertain with Murphy so I hoped I could clear some of that tonight.

"Laura?"

I turned to see Valerie who was standing with Nicole and Fanny beside her.

"I thought that was you, you look different..."

"Nice outfit" Fanny said. I couldn't tell if she meant that or not.

I smoothed the skirt of my dress unconsciously. "Thanks" I told her regardless.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Valerie asked still eyeing me up and down.

"Umm just waiting for Murphy. He should be here any moment"

"Right..."

Why did she care I wondered. Yesterday she was pulling my hair and now here she is talking all nice.

I forced a smile, "I'll see you on Monday". I turned to face the mall entrance where I expected to see Murphy any second.

"Girl, chill" Valerie said as she walked around me to face me again. "Can you cheer?"

What?

"What?" I asked.

"Have you ever cheered before, do you want to?"

"What are you doing?" Fanny asked from behind me.

"I mean... she's pretty enough. Hot even. Slim" Valerie inspected me like a piece of meat.

"Thanks but..." I began

"Trials are on Tuesday..." she said matter of factly "If you change your mind. Come on girls, this place blows".

As the three girls walked off, I said under my breath 'Oh boy'.

=^..^=

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Enjoying Laura/Eddie's story so far? There's a lot more to come so stay tuned. Leave a comment :)