On that Sunday, Val still wore her groin guard, and her awkward movements showed to her folks that she wasn’t completely healed, and her folks would insist that she stay in her wheelchair. Which was kind of fun when she learned she could range up and down the suburb streets around their house with the electric wheelchair. This was short-lived, though, because the batteries were quickly run down.

When Val went to school the following Monday, as Penny and Maia promised, her gender change was announced in her homeroom as well as in all her classes, where her supposed intersex condition as well as the operations needed to transition her fully as a female was openly discussed.

It was a very small school after all (there were only eight classes in total; two per year, and only twenty-five students per class), so as predicted, the news spread very quickly. The bullying started in earnest but owing to the small size of the student body, and the vigilance of all the teachers and staff, no overt violence ever erupted, although bullying took all forms.

Val was prepared and took this head-on: she made sure not to keep anything in her locker anymore and her father took her to school every morning. That way, she avoided her car getting targeted for vandalism et cetera. Going home, she relied on Uber and other ride-sharing apps and, though her friends Carla and Michael offered to give her rides, she preferred ride-share. Carla and Michael were offended that she seemed to avoid them, but she explained over a long Viber call that it was more to protect them from any fallout from her announcement. From then on, though they didn’t visibly hang out much anymore, Mrs. Goodchilde insisted on study dates and that they would have Saturday family lunches at home together. From time to time, though, Carla and Michael couldn’t help but stick up for Val, especially when the bullying was fairly bad, but the three weren’t really seen hanging out together.

Through that last month of their third year, Val still wore her “Val Edward” clothes (it turned out her parents didn’t throw her clothes away but just put them away in boxes in the attic, and some in the unused guest room, and waited if Val would want to get rid of them). She did, however, seem to pick ensembles that were best described as androgynous. Throughout her third year, she looked like a very cute boy, becoming cuter and cuter as the end of term neared. And it was perhaps this that made the other kids not pick on her as often, and in fact, the last couple of weeks of term was mostly normal. In fact, it was sort of the reverse of the mild bullying that she got before the “aura” that Dr. Maia alluded to before seemed to become stronger and stronger, and instead of enemies, Val had started acquiring admirers. But a month wasn’t all that long, and Val was soon separated from her bullies and admirers during the summer break.

Carla and Michael became Val’s closest companions, more so than ever, and after the end of term, her dad got Carla and Val summer jobs at his small law firm as filing clerks-slash-assistants while Michael found a job at a department store near Val’s dad’s office as a kind of “gofer.” It wasn’t exactly a menial job, but it was a job that Michael would sooner resign from rather than keep, save for the fact that he wouldn’t see his friends as often as he’d like.

The three earned enough to keep them in pocket money for the summer and, on the weekends, Carla and Val would often take advantage of Michael’s employee discount to buy clothes. Val took full advantage of these opportunities since she was still building up her wardrobe, and soon she found she had used up most of the space in her cabinets and closets.

By then, she had sold almost all of her “Val Edward” clothes to Goodwill, telling her folks and friends she wouldn’t be caught wearing them anymore.

And in those three months of that first summer, Faye Valentine had blossomed. Dr. Maia, or rather Dr. Griffin, told Val’s folks that the work of the hormones she was taking would kick in very quickly (the doctor gave Val a supply of placebo pills that she was instructed to take in full visibility of people at least six times a day), and indeed, by August, she had grown into a very pretty young lady. Also a very statuesque lady – by then she was about six feet tall, towering over Carla and the other ladies in her dad’s office. Her dad was one proud father, and her mom doted on her like she was making up for lost time or something.

As for Carla and Michael, the three were inseparable, and Val learned a lot about how and what it was to be a girl from them, especially from Carla. Val has had to learn quickly as the “aura” Dr. Maia talked about continued to gain strength: when they were in Michael’s department store as they shopped for clothes, or when they were out having lunch or something, they’d be accosted by friendly strangers seemingly taken by Val’s “charm” or whatever it was.

Val, of course, wasn’t averse to taking advantage of this when she could, such as when she was snaking someone out of a parking spot, getting freebies or discounts, or getting out of arguments or sweet-talking her and Carla’s bosses for less work and overtime. Everyone, including Val’s friends, was susceptible to this “aura” and were grateful Val didn’t use it on them… so far as they knew, that is – they were doubtful that they’d know if she did. Her folks, though, seemed immune to it – Val had tried several times, like weaseling out of being grounded for staying out too late, or some such. But her folks loved her so much that she got her way in most things anyway, as she did when she was still Val Edward.

Carla and Michael had talked about this mysterious whatever. All throughout, Val had derided her looks, saying that how could anyone be attracted to a girl that looked like a boy, but what was obvious to everyone except herself was that she was… evolving into a very pretty girl (to Carla’s and Michael’s eyes, a very beautiful one). But it wasn’t just her looks – it was more than that. She just did things right. Both admitted to each other that they had fallen under her spell, irrevocably and forever. They won’t admit it to Val because that might change things. At least they had each other and cried on each other’s shoulders about their unrequited love.

Carla and Michael were told that Val would be transferring to Troy House for her senior year, the story being Val wanted a fresh start and to leave all the gender and intersex issues behind. On that Thursday that Val was to leave, the two dutifully woke up early to see her off, and it was a tearful goodbye when she left for Saint John, the three promising to be friends forever.

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