CHAPTER 15: Settling In

 

Shower

I sat on my bed and sighed. What a long two days! But I was here now. I wanted to look around, but it was already six. I wondered when the places around town would close. The piece of paper Theo handed me had the information I was looking for: apparently, most commercial places close at around nine, though there were many bars and restaurants open until two AM. That meant I could still look around, but then it’ll get dark soon. Guess I’ll have to talk to Dr. Castellanos about it later.

My dorm room was number W2-49. “W2” meant my room was on the second floor of the women’s dormitory. And room 49 meant I had the very last room at the very end of the roughly rectangular dormitory.

The room itself was fairly large. It was half as big as my room at home. It also had a closet built into the wall beside the door, a dresser with a mirror, a bookshelf, a study table and three folding chairs, which were folded and leaning against the dresser at the moment.

The walls were blank but clean - newly painted as far as I can tell, in a light shade of pastel yellow - except for three diagrams on the back of the door: one was a fire escape map, another was a map of the school, and another was a map of the second floor.

There was also a large window on the left wall farthest from the door. I pulled aside what looked like a set of blackout curtains under sheer curtains. The window looked out into some kind of park and, further on, to the Bay of Fundy. The sun was still out, and my view seemed wonderful. Based on the map, I guess my room and room 50 right across from me would be the only rooms with the same view. The other rooms would have views perpendicular to mine. Wonder what they saw through their windows.

I thought of roaming around the school but that might not be a good idea. So I decided to unpack instead.

I started with the big bag and hung up the dressy outfits that we got a couple of days ago. I got the underwear and stuff from the smaller bag and put them in the top drawer of the dresser, and thought about what other stuff I wanted to unpack: Ma definitely packed too much, so I decided to leave most off my things in the bags and just unpack what I needed: I was just going to be here three or four days. But I did unpack all my shoes.

After that, I decided on a quick shower and then realized there was no bath in my room. I checked the map and there were twelve bathrooms in the second floor of the women’s wing. So I guess I’ll use the nearest one – the one between dorm rooms 44 and 46.

I got some shorts, a pullover tee, my flip-flops, my toiletries bag and a towel.

When I opened my door, I saw a short Asian brunette in a bathrobe rubbing her hair.

She nodded to me in a shy but friendly way – actually, it was more like a tiny bow.

“Kon'nichiwa,” she said. “Momoko desu. Anata wa shinjindesu yo ne?”

“Kon'nichiwa,” I replied, but that was the extent of my knowledge in Japanese. “I’m sorry but I don’t…”

The girl giggled. “Gomen'nasai,” she apologized. “I sometimes do that – speak in Japanese, I mean, without realizing.” She said this with a charming Japanese accent. She was very cute. She sort of reminded me of a young Hikaru Utada, the girl who sang the songs from the anime reboots of “Neon Genesis Evangelion” (Carla was an anime fan and she has a collection of anime shows in her computer, which Michael and I watch when we were at her place).

“I said my name was Momoko – Momoko Sato. You’re new in the school?”

“My name is Val. I’m not actually going to school here. I’m just here to have some tests done in the clinic next door…” (Singsong and lilt!)

“Archimedes Genomics?”

“Yes. We couldn’t find a hotel for me, so Dr. Castellanos arranged for me to stay in the dorm for a while.”

“Doctor Penny?” she said and smiled. “Ahhh! Well, I hope it’s not for anything serious. Anyway, I have to get ready. My friends and I are going out for dinner, and I have to get ready. Sayonara, Vale-chan!”

“Sayonara,” I replied as I watched her go into Room 50.

Noting that she was in her bathrobe, and that she had clearly just finished taking a shower, I went back into my room, took off everything (leaving me in my panties), and put on my new bathrobe.

With my toiletries bag in my hand and my towel over my shoulder, I took a deep breath and walked to WB24 – that’s the bathroom nearest me. I saw some kids further on in the hall, and they turned to look at me. I smiled at them nervously and went into the bathroom.

“Who’s the new hottie?” I heard one of them say before the door closed. I blushed at that, thinking, surely they weren’t referring to me.

When I stepped in, I noticed that one of the three toilet stalls inside was in use (I could see a pair of feet) and there were two girls by the counter fixing their hair. One was a brunette and the other a blonde.

“Hey, what’re you doing here!” the blonde said, looking at me.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m new here. I just needed to take a shower?” (Singsong and lilt!)

“Cool it, Jazz,” the other one said. “Sorry, about that, honey,” the girl said. “We’re pretty sensitive about privacy and all. Bathroom assignments are based on our rooms.”

“I didn’t know. What bathroom should I have used? I’m in B2-49.” I showed them my room key’s tag.

“You are?” the blonde, whose name was apparently “Jazz,” said, a little chagrined. “Well then, you have the right bathroom. Sorry about that. All the girls have to share bathrooms – four to a bathroom, but six of us share this one. That’s why there are three of everything.” She gestured at the three stalls, the three showerheads and the long counter. “But since a lot of the girls only have one of each, they sometimes barge in here to use ours. Which can be annoying. Anyway – so, you’re new?”

“Well, duh! Of course she’s new,” the other one said. “Although you’re transferring in a bit late in the year - there’s just a month left to the semester. I’m Rose, by the way.” We shook hands.

“Momoko actually asked me the same thing,” I said.

“You know Momo-chan?”

“I just met her in the hallway,” I said. I then gave them the same explanation I gave Momoko.

“Ah. Hope everything turns out okay,” Rose said. “So where are you from?”

“I’m from Delos High? In Chicago? I’m a junior there.” (Singsong and lilt!)

“Ahhh! No wonder. One of the ten Endownment schools.”

“When did you get in?” Jazz asked.

“Less than an hour ago. Dr. Castellanos drove us.”

“Dr. Penny?” Rose asked. She sounded taken aback. “You must be someone really important.”

“Nahh… Why do you say that?”

“Dr. Penny? She actually drove you?”

“Well, yes?”

“Dr. Penny’s the most important person around here. She wouldn’t be just driving anyone around. She has people to do that for her. “

“Well, she did. But Dr. Griffin from my school – she was with us. She and Dr. Castellanos traded driving duties.”

“Wait… Dr. Maia was with you, too?”

“Yes?”

“Well, that’s something else, now, isn’t it?”

“Why?”

“Dr. Maia is the second most important person here. She’s here like once or twice a month, but she’s sort of like Dr. Penny’s number two.”

“I didn’t know that…”

“How do you know Dr. Maia?”

“She’s our school doctor back in Delos High.”

Rose and Jazz looked at me.

“You’re kidding,” Jazz said.

I was getting uncomfortable with this line of questioning, so I went to one of the showers. I hung up my bathrobe on one of the hooks, pulled down my panties and put it in the pocket of my robe, and put my toiletries bag on the shelf by the farthest shower. I turned the shower on, adjusting the temperature, and then, with my back turned to them, started my shower.

I guess I turned my back to them because that was just how I heard Carla tell Michael and me how they showered in the gym, but more because I was still shy and a bit embarrassed by my figure, given how these girls looked. Rose, and especially Jazz, were built extremely well, and I guess I just didn’t want them to comment on my figure, or lack thereof.

I started by lightly shampooing my hair and rinsing it off quickly, mindful of Andre’s instructions, and then proceeded to wash myself quickly and thoroughly.

Right then, I heard one of the toilets flush, and a girl came out – yet another blonde, but this one taller than any of us.

“Hi, Arianne,” Jazz said.

“Do not talk to me, Jasmine,” the girl said in a very noticeable French accent. “I am in a very bad mood.” She went to one of the sinks and washed her hands.

“Why are you in a bad mood?” Rose asked.

The new girl then let off a long line of crispy-sounding French swear words.

“Huh?” Jazz said.

“Boys are assholes,” she said, and Rose and Jazz nodded in understanding.

“Ahhh!” Rose and Jazz said in unison.

“Can’t really blame them,” Rose said.

“Yeah,” Jazz agreed. “They all have only one thing on their minds.”

“Oui,” Arianne said. “Deepali.”

“Huh?”

“All the boys are lusting after Deepali Patel – that senior girl in Section G? And all because she has a fifty-nine score…”

“It’s not her score Arianne. It’s her measurements.” Jazz gestured, outlining the hourglass shape of a girl with big boobs, and they laughed.

“I don’t understand it,” Arianne said, “here is cette fille sexy, completely available, tout au moins sexier than that girl, and with a very decent cinquante-huit score!”

“Well, I don’t know about sexier…” I was having a hard time understanding what the new girl was saying (I took a bit of elective French in the ninth and tenth grades), but I think I got a sense of it. But what was that? Her score was fifty-eight. I wonder what that was about. Are the kids here obsessed with their scores? And how do they even know about the scores? And what would they do if they knew mine? Lol.

Arianne playfully slapped Jazz on her butt. “Stop it, you bad girl,” Arianne said, and they all laughed again.

I tried to stop eavesdropping on their conversation, stopped looking at them from the corner of my eye, and just concentrated on my shower.

After a minute of silence, with the water cascading over me, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Eek!” I squeaked involuntarily in surprise and turned around, keeping my arms over my boobs… well, chest, really – I got no boobs yet - and I was face to face with Arianne, or maybe face-to-boob was more appropriate: she was naked with a towel over her shoulder, and she was so tall, her boobs were basically up to my chin.

I felt my face growing warm, realizing that I did a very stereotypically girlish reaction, plus, I was reacting to this girl’s bodaciousness. But then whatever rising reaction I was having was knocked down: seeing how this girl was so well developed, I realized that I probably looked like a boy next to her… But then again, just six days ago, I actually was a boy, after all.

“Alors, qui es-tu, petite fille?” she said.

“Pardon?”

“I asked you who are you?”

“I’m Val? Please to meet you?” I timidly reached out with my hand for a handshake, with my arm still against me.

Arianne looked at my hand and burst out laughing. Instead of shaking my hand, she reached out and hugged me, her boobs squishing against me.

“Je suis desole, ma cherie, je ne voulais pas te faire peur.”

“Pardon?” I said to the side of her face.

“I said I was sorry to scare you. I am Arianne. Anyway, please finis ta douche. I will start my shower as well.”

She suited words to action, turned on the water, and started showering herself.

For me, I finished my own shower in record time. I got my towel and scrubbed myself briskly all over, and then put on my fresh pair of underwear. I then put on my fluffy bathrobe and used my towel to gingerly dry off my hair – not completely, though, per Andre’s instructions.

I went to the mirror, picked out a small round brush from my bag, and teased my hair the way Andre told me. As I was doing so, Arianne came up to me, a towel wrapped around her, and with another, she dried her hair and arms.

“I like what you are doing, ma petite soeur,” she said. “Very nice ‘do.”

“Thank you.”

“How old are you, by the way? If you don’t mind me asking, ma chere.”

“I’m sixteen. I’ll be seventeen Next September.”

Arianne nodded. “Perhaps you are just a late bloomer, then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you have yet to develop, ma chere. I mean, at sixteen, you should have a more developed figure and such.”

“Arianne!” Rose and Jazz exclaimed. “That’s rude!” Jazz said.

Arianne hugged me. “I apologize, ma cherie. I mean no offense. Crude curiosity made me ask, I am afraid. But even so, You need not worry. You do seem to have something about you. You are quite attractive, despite the lack of… maturity,” she said, as a kindness, I suppose.

I blushed again. I was pleased to hear that, to be honest.

“Well… thank you, I guess. I have to go now – I have to get ready. Doctor… Penny and Doctor Maia are coming for me in about an hour or so. We’re going to have dinner.”

“Oooh, Lucky you!” Jazz said.

I smiled at that, and, after teasing my hair a bit more, I said goodbye and left for my room.

Eating Out

It was just dinner with Dr. Castellanos and Dr. Griffin, or “Dr. Penny” as the girls called her, and I suppose “Dr. Maia.” I chuckled. So I decided to pick something casual: a pastel yellow bralette (the white one was in the laundry bag with the used clothes) and I slipped in the medium-sized pads, an ivory-colored, long-sleeved knitted turtleneck sweater, a pair of navy-blue thermal opaque leggings, and a pair of white footies. When I put on the leggings, I ran my hands over my butt and felt the outline of my panties, so I took the leggings and panties off, rummaged around the dresser drawer, and found a pink g-string. I thoughtfully put it on, and then the leggings over it.

I ran my hand over my butt again and didn’t feel anything this time.

The thongs gave me a feeling that someone was giving me a wedgie, but after wearing it for a while, for whatever reason, I started to like the feeling, sort of like they were keeping my cheeks apart, and therefore sort of made me feel sexy somehow. In any case, it definitely made me aware of my butt, and it gave me a tendency to walk sexier.

I then followed Ma’s instructions and did the minimum makeup thing.

At around nine PM, when It was already dark out, someone knocked on the door, and it turned out to be “Dr. Penny” and “Dr. Maia,” and, oh, no – they were in really dressy outfits, and behind them were the four girls I met, including another one – all of them dressed pretty snazzily as well. It looks like there’ll be a lot of us eating out, and probably to a fancy place, too, given everyone’s outfits.

“Hi,” I said. I was feeling extremely underdressed. “Ummm, I’m almost set. Give me a second.”

Another sartorial dilemma… Gotta find a fancier outfit, but no time to change anymore… Wonder if girls have to go through this kind of thing all the time. Anyway, I went to my closet. I was thinking of wearing my boots and new leather jacket again, but given what the girls were wearing, I decided to pick something else. I didn’t have too many to pick from so I ended up with a blazer. According to the label, it was a “moto jacket” in taffy (What the hell was “taffy?” To me, though, I just thought “pink”), and instead of my trusty combat boots, I picked a new pair of thick-soled Chelsea platform ankle boots. Everyone was carrying a purse or something similar, but my Picnic leather backpack was actually a good equivalent. Ma made a good decision with that. The girls would comment on it later, actually, saying it was functional yet feminine.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m all set. Let’s go and eat!” (Singsong and lilt!)

Dr. Penny whistled. “Wow, Val! Great outfit.” That made me blush. “Okay, kids - let’s go.”

There was another girl who joined us, named Ashanti. And she was as gorgeous as all the other girls. Ashanti reminded me of a younger and slimmer Tyra Banks, but with a deeper, smooth chocolate-mocha complexion – super sexy. Although, my favorite among the five was Momoko, (or Momo-chan). Ashanti was second.

Arianne and Jazz linked arms with me.

“You are looking awfully sexy, ma cherie,” Arianne said. “I especially like the ‘I don’t look like I have makeup’ thing.”

“I hope I don’t look too… under-developed?” I giggled.

She kissed me on the cheek. “I apologize, Val. I was being un-generous.”

Taking a risk, I kissed her, too. “Your apology is accepted.”

“I hope you don’t mind, Val,” ‘Dr. Penny’ said, “I invited the girls along. They’re from our junior class, plus they’re some of our best students, so they’re exempted from finals. I therefore assigned them to be your, um, escorts starting tomorrow – I got them excused from afternoon classes for the next three days so they can keep you company and keep you out of our hair while we finish your morning tests, and keep you from being bored out of your gourd, eh?” Dr. Penny pronounced “out” as “oot.” I tried not to be too much of a stereotypical American and forced myself not to react, eh? Lol.

“Doctor Penny,” Jazz said, “where are we going for dinner?”

“I was thinking ‘Italian By Night’ out in Germain Street.”

“Oooh!” the girls reacted.

“Italian By Night?” I asked.

“It might not be as fancy as the restaurants in Chicago,” Rose said, “but around here, it’s a pretty fancy and romantic restaurant.”

“How did you get reservations, Dr. Penny?” Ashanti asked. “ I imagine it would be full up, especially during the festival.”

“What are you saying, Shanti-chan?” Momo said. “It’s Dr. Penny – of course, she got reservations!” Everyone giggled. As we walked down the hall two-by-two, the rest of the kids in the dorm wolf-whistled as we passed.

“Who’s the new kid?” someone called. I was beet-red at all this attention.

We didn’t walk through the boy’s wing, though, which I was actually grateful for – I mean, what if the boys don’t react as positively?

Anyway, we walked out of the school and I saw the same white E-150 van from this afternoon. At the wheel was Theo.

“Good evening, ladies,” Theo said.

“Hi, Theo!” the girls said, and climbed into the van. Momo got in and went to the back. With Arianne on my arm, we followed, and I was sat in the back, in between Momo and Arianne. And then the other three climbed up and sat in the middle seats just in front of us. Dr. Penny and Dr. Maia sat up front with Theo.

“We’re going to Italian By Night on Germain Street, Theo,” Dr. Penny said.

“Right, Doc,” he said.

“But take the long route so we can see some of the sights,” Dr. Maia said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Theo said. “All right ladies,” he called to the back, “everyone buckle up!”

He smoothly pulled out of the parking lot and hung a right. Dr. Maia pointed to the building we passed and said that was Archimedes Genomics. It was a block and a half away from Troy House, with several buildings and a big empty lot in between them.

The Genomics building itself was just twelve floors high and looked like a shorter version of the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building in the comics. For the slightly bucolic setting, the building did have a major impact on the neighborhood.

“Bucolic” might actually be a little un-generous, as Arianne might have said, because Saint John was pretty cosmopolitan in its own right, with just enough of a provincial flavor to make it charmingly picturesque. Of course, it has its own neighborhoods that were pretty seedy or industrial - Rainbow Park, Queens Square and Tin Can Beach to name a few, which were more similar to old, run-down industrial areas of Detroit, the pre-seventies Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, or Orange County’s own Tin Can Beach. But they were not the norm – far from it. And the city government here, according to Theo, was doing its best to revitalize and rejuvenate these parts of the city. For example, Tin Can Beach was slowly being overhauled, and with tree planting programs and something called Food Truck Wednesdays, Tin Can Beach was slowly being turned around and becoming a go-to place.

Later, I asked Theo how it got its name, and he explained that it used to be called Rockaway Beach, and it earned its new name due to the historical presence of discarded tin cans that washed ashore many years ago. Today, the beach has been cleaned and, though it doesn’t look like a beach anymore, that might yet change in the near future (I found out later that Theo was one of a handful of graduates from Troy House who were locals, and as a local, Theo was very protective of his hometown and its reputation).

After a quick circuit of the town, we eventually arrived at Italian By Night. When we came in, with the eight of us, plus Theo, all the people in the restaurant became quiet and stared at us. Now, I sort of know the impact Kodikos kids have on the regular population: not that it happens all the time, but graduates from our ten schools have an “aura,” I guess (humility prevents me from saying “us” lol), that make them more attractive than normal. This “aura” would usually not be too noticeable, but when a group of transformees were together, people noticed. I didn’t know this at the time, of course, and was just bowled over that I was surrounded by such good-looking women.

Later, Dr. Penny would tell me this “aura” thing was more anecdotal than anything, but she had a theory: since transformees had many small inconsequential characteristics that make them better than most, these minute things piled up together into what had the effect of an “aura,” since there was no identifiable characteristic to account for it. It actually was one of her little projects that she said was in the works. In a few more years, she thinks she’ll have definitive data to prove it.

But for now, it just remains that we were getting a lot of attention.

We were too big a group for the restaurant’s regular tables, but Dr. Penny was able to sweet-talk the maître d to put together two tables. We then had a table that was big enough to sit our group together comfortably. Doctor P sat at the head of the table at one end – with Dr. Maia and me on either side of her, and Leo at the other end. Dr. Penny also made sure to set our table a little farther away from the rest of the patrons because she told the maître d that she was anticipating our group to be a noisy one.

It was indeed a boisterous table, but not enough to make the other patrons complain. In fact, several of the other diners would come over to our table, trying to act all suave and sexy, and tried to join us. Dr. Penny and Dr. Maia turned them away politely, but for the very persistent ones, Arianne, Jazz, Rose and, surprisingly, Ashanti, had enough sarcasm and manufactured rudeness to drive them away. For the even more persistent and rude ones who didn’t want to take no for an answer, the maître d and his wait-staff were more than enough to kick them out.

I was the center of most of the talk, and, of course, the main part of the chat was what I was doing in Saint John. So, after dinner and during dessert, Dr. Penny pulled me to the side.

“Val?” Dr. Penny said. “I think this may be a target of opportunity for us.”

“What do you mean, Doc,” I said.

“What I think we should do is to tell the girls our intersex cover story. That way, it would give our story verisimilitude.”

“Veri-what?”

“It will make our story sound more real,” she chuckled.

“Well,” I said, “I don’t really mind one way or another. What I want, really, is just that that no one treats me like a freak, you know? And that people don’t know so they won’t keep me locked up so they can examine and test me like a lab rat, or to hurt me or my folks.”

“I understand, sweetie. The cover story is our best bet to avoid that. So. You want to try it?”

“Okay, Doc. I trust you.”

Dr. Penny hugged me. “Thank you, sweetie. Okay, let’s go back.”

“Hey, Doc,” I said, before starting back for our table, “the girls seem to know about the scores… What’s the story? Do they know about…?”

“Well, no, not really,” she said. “It was all because of a mistake on my part. I was analyzing the academic performance of our students, and trying to see if there was a correlation between that and their Kodikos scores. Which there seems to be, by the way. Near the end of the school year, I left a spreadsheet file in a portable hard drive which had a list of all the students with their GPAs and their Kodikos scores. I mistakenly lent it to a student before wiping it. The student found it, of course, and the file got shared around to the rest of the student body. So there was a clamor among the students and their parents to know what the scores were about. We were able to convince everyone that the scores were from their scholarship evaluation exams. Do you remember the scholarship exam?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It actually felt like an SAT exam. I aced it, actually.” I grinned.

“It actually was an SAT practice exam that we used,” she said. “But the exam was just a cover for us to be able to study the kids more thoroughly. Anyway, we said that the kids’ Kodikos scores were their scholarship scores.”

“And they believed it?”

“Yes, of course,” she grinned. “Why wouldn’t they?

“Anyway, we’re not telling this to the students in the other schools. We’re only going to tell them about it if we must. As it is, almost all of Troy House’s students now put a lot of importance on their Kodikos scores. It’s sort of become a point of pride for them, and now there’s a bit of an unhealthy kind of competition between the kids regarding Kodikos scores. And we don’t want that in the other schools.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I actually saw a bit of that.” That’s why no one in Delos High knew about it. “Hey, Doc?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I just wanted to confirm – you and Theo, and Dr. Maia – you guys are also graduates, right?”

“Yes. As are all of the staff in all of the ten schools.”

“Do you mind if I ask what your Kodikos scores are?”

“I don’t think they’d mind if I told you. After all, you know the real story already. Theo has a score of fifty-nine, I think. Maia has a sixty-five. They have some of the higher scores among in their batches.”

“How about you?”

“I have a score of eighty-five.”

I stopped. “Are you Erin?” I asked. She didn’t look anything like the picture I saw, but…

She shook her head. “No, I’m definitely not Erin.”

“You’re not? But you have a score of eighty-five, and Erin had a score of eighty-five, too…”

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow. I promise. But I think we need to get back to the girls now.”

I nodded, and we walked back to our table.

As we sat down, Dr. Penny. gave a little nod to Dr. Maia. I also looked at Theo, and by his subtle nod to me, I knew he knew the real score already.

“All right, girls,” Dr. Penny said. “I’ve asked Val, and she’s given permission for you guys to know.

“Val has a genetic condition. It’s called an Intersex condition, the specific type being something called 46 XX Intersex. It used to be called Female Pseudohermaphroditis,” and by the name you can probably guess what it is.”

Dr. Maia continued. “What it is, girls,” she said, “is that Val is genetically a female, but her external genitalia actually look somewhat like those of a male. In fact, up until last week, everyone thought she was a boy named Val Edward…”

“Like the actor from Top Gun!” Jazz exclaimed.

“Our tests on her blood samples showed that she was actually XX and not XY. After some more initial tests to confirm, we told her and her folks, and they have decided that she should transition into a girl. All the way. She’s here with us so she can have some more tests at Archimedes, and have whatever operations she needs to have. It’s a delicate situation – one that Val needs to keep confidential. Do you understand? Do we have your word that you won’t let this spread around and that you’ll help her through this?”

After a while, after everyone had had a little time to think about it, and had an opportunity to ask more questions, they agreed.

Jazz reached out to me and held my hand.

“Poor Val,” she said. “Yes, of course, I’ll help, and I’ll keep her secret, too.” I gave her a grateful smile.

Ashanti stood up and went to me. She pulled me up, and she put her hands on my shoulders. “Menya ko ukunzwe kandi ukunzwe,” she said. “Menya ko umutima wanjye ari uwawe, kandi nzakora ibishoboka byose kugirango nkurinde.” She then kissed my right cheek, and then my left, and then hugged me.

I looked at her. “That was beautiful,” I said. “What did it mean?”

She laughed and hugged me even more tightly.

“Know that you are cherished and loved,” she translated. “Know that my heart is yours, and I will do everything I can to protect you.”

I looked at her for a moment, my eyes looking deep into hers, and with tears brimming, I hugged her tight. “Thank you. Ashanti,” I whispered in her ear.

It was like a dam bursting, and everyone was hugging me.

Everyone in the restaurant was looking. Previously, they weren’t paying attention, but when Ashanti hugged me, and then the others did as well, they knew something important just happened, but no one knew what it was: though everyone was now primed to listen in on our conversation, our conversation had shifted into regular talk about school, clothes, makeup, boys, et cetera – totally innocuous girl talk. After everyone had a good cry, and blew their noses first, of course.

After the leisurely dinner (and the restaurant more than lived up to its reputation), Dr. Maia insisted we go back to the dorm – after all, I had some tests scheduled for tomorrow morning, and it was a school day.

Despite all the protests, all of us were back in Troy House before midnight.

All five of the girls hung out in my room for a while until the dorm’s RA came in and chased everyone back into their rooms.

Momoko was the last out the door, but before she stepped out, she turned to me.

“Vale-chan?” she said, “what Shanti-chan said – I feel the same way.” She then bowed. “Good night.”

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read my old Family Girl Blogs, click here to read ALL of my blogs, click here to read my stories here in BCTS, click here to leave me a Private Message, and click here to see my profile & know more about me