Daisy Isabella Bell and Jamie Sarah Potter
A Sequel to “Daisy Isabella Crack's Her Egg”
Act III
A Friendship Breaks

The Hot Chocolate was thick, rich, and very creamy, it was a perfect drinkable treat on this cool, crisp, autumn afternoon. A peaceful since had fallen over Jamie and I as we both sipped on our drinks. Jamie seemed to be deep in thought and I was wondering how long this little meeting was going to last. I hoped this meeting would soon end, so I could retreat back to the warmth and comfort of my bedroom.

“I want you to know, you turned my life upside down.” Jamie said at long last. “After you stepped up to defend Cerridwen, I was ordered to cane you. That was the only time I've ever been ordered to cane a fellow student. Normally a school appointed prefect won't have that authority to give a caning. But I had no choice in the whole thing. I was ordered too. And let me tell you, it shook me, and made me reconsider everything I ever wanted to be.”

I blinked.

“At that moment in my life I was still living in the long shadow my older sister had cast over me. I want you to understand and I want to be perfectly clear here. Lily's four years in Benton Academy had left a lasting impression. She had turned the gutted cheerleading program around. She was named an honor roll student for four years straight. She'd been elected Homecoming Princess her Freshman year and also her Sophomore Year. And finally she was elected Homecoming Queen her Junior and Senior year. She had also been voted Prom Princess her Junior year and finally the moment all little girls dream of she was crowned Prom Queen for her Senior Year. I felt as her younger sister I had to at least try to measure up to her success.”

I nodded my head and gently sipped my drink. I was more than happy to let Jamie ramble one. 

“Anyway, around the time I was transferred from St. Katherine's Academy to Benton Academy, a strange and almost tragic thing seemed to happen in Benton. For some reason the Transgender Population of the town seemed to almost triple overnight. Up till then, it had been just Madeline, Cerridwen, that Lauren Girl over at Benton High and I. So four in total. Then out of the blue, a girl named Heather joined our ranks and Miss. Dawn became our new school nurse, and she is one of us. And I think there are one, two or maybe even three at the local community college. At this point I lost count.” Jamie rambled on.

“Right.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“So the question that has been bothering me for ages is this. Are you really transgender? Are you really a girl trapped inside a boy's body? Are you claiming you are because it seems cool, trendy and almost the most popular thing to do?”

At that very moment I wanted to stand up and walk off. I felt like Jamie had slapped me right across the face with the palm of her hand. And for good measure she had punched me right in the gut. I felt like I wanted to reach across the table and slap her till her cheeks blistered. I wanted to kick her, to make her feel a small measure of pain and hurt that was pulsing through my body.

“And then there was that girl who just appeared on the scene. I think her name is Rebecca Anna Coleman.” Jamie said. “She is writing a light novel about a transgender girl called Emily, who lives in a town called Manchester and to be honest we all know that Manchester is really an enlarged version of Yazoo City. So clearly she is either from here or from Yazoo City. And she publishes some of the chapters in the local paper. She even ran a full edition of a short, stand alone story. And I know you're a huge fan of her writing. But I don't know if Miss. Coleman is one of us or not. But maybe she is. If so, I feel maybe there way to many of us living in this town.”

I felt tears starting to form in the corner of my eyes.

“I'm afraid I don't follow you Miss. Potter.” I said as I reached down and picked up my cup of hot chocolate. I quickly drained the cup. The hot liquid burned my throat going down and the pain for a moment took my mind off the rage I was feeling toward Jamie. 

“What I'm saying or trying to say is this.” Jamie said as she looked down at her cup. “Is that right now it's a very bad time for one of us here in Benton. Much less be Transgender in America as a whole. The new self appointed preacher at the Southern Baptist Church wants all of us to be locked away, a bunch of hillbillies want to be tarred and feather and run out of town.”

“It's not all doom and gloom Miss. Potter.” I said as I cleared my throat. “For the first time in its two hundred and ten year history. Benton has elected its first woman mayor.” I said. I was of course referring to the landslide election of Kayla Cat Brewer as Benton's first female mayor. “And she also happens to be a lesbian with the popular talk show hostess Heather Ford as her wife. Both of whom are mothers to your best friend Madeline Brewer.”

Jamie's Jaw dropped a little.

“My uncle, who also happens to the town's Episcopal Priest, has also been very vocal about this. He's even gotten several other pastors of other churches to stand behind us. Including First United Methodist and several other smaller Methodist churches in the hills. Fletcher's Chapel being one of them.” I paused. And then decided to add. “Mind you, on the larger scale of things. The Episcopal Church of Mississippi has done something that forty years ago would have been unheard o. They elected a woman as Bishop of Mississippi and furthermore she is a person of color.” I said a little too loudly.

Jamie shifted her weight slightly.

“And look your own success. Benton Academy, a mostly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Segregation Academy. Founded by the leading White Anglo-Saxon Protestant families of Benton, most if not all belonged to the White Citizens Council and also Ku Klux Klan. Who only founded Benton Academy because they could not stand the thought of sending their children to school with children that were the same as them.” I paused. “That very same school has gone on not only to accept you and Cerridwen is who is a pagan mind you and a poster girl for Hot Topic. But has enough trust in you to appoint you first as one of the first prefects and now they decided to make you the first head girl. That would have been unheard of twenty four years ago.” I had to stand up at this point.

Jamie looked away from me at this point.

“Miss. Potter need I remind you it was you who first took up the battle cry. It was you who first scaled the walls! You need to get that old fire back! We are out of the closet! We are not going back into the closet! And to answer your question the best I can. No, I'm not sure if I'm transgender or not. But that does not matter, because I'm going to stand with my sisters, I'm going to fight for my sisters, and if I need to, I'm going to bleed for my sisters! And if I'm called to do it, I'm more than willing to die for my sisters! And I hope I can count on you to stand side by side with me.”

Jamie at this point returned her focus toward me and violently she shook her head from left to right.

“Daisy Isabella Bell, if that is you real name. Let me be the first to say I'm both touched and impressed. I'm touched because you think so highly of me, I'm impressed because you gave me a lot to think about. But again I'm always worried that you're asking for a major bruising. That one fine day, one day soon I dread, that your high mindedness is going to end  up with you getting tied to a fence post in some cow pasture. Naked, with your penis, if you still have it, cut off and stuffed and sewn into your mouth, and all that pretty blonde hair shaved off your head. Covered from head to toe in fire ant bites, mosquito bites, and horse fly bites. Burned like bacon in a hot frying pan from the sun.”

I felt the color draining from my face.

“Yes, I think about that happening to me on a daily basis, I mean it could be me, it could be my best friend Madeline, it could be my adopted little sister Cerridwen, could be her friend Lauren. It could be Dawn, could that odd girl named Persephone why? Because why not?”

I was honestly lost for words at this point.

“Now do you understand me a little better? I'm worried, and from what I've seen of you, I think I might be totally wrong, and if I'm proven wrong I will apologize and try my best to make up for it. But I think you're treating this whole thing as one big joke! I think you're only doing this to give you a reason to appear in public in drag! And to be honest, like I'm going to be honest with you, that gives honest girls like Madeline, Cerridwen, Lauren, Heather, Dawn, Persephone, and I a bad name. You're making us look bad. So stop it, please just stop it. Stop what you're doing right now and either get a proper haircut, like a boy's haircut and start acting like a man. Or just go back to Vicksburg and play pretend there” Jamie paused and drained her cup of hot chocolate.

I was stunned.

“I believe the only reason you volunteered to play 'Dotty' was because Cerridwen wanted you too. And it also gave you a reason to wear a dress. Hell, even when you were in the bloody, fucking hospital, you wanted to dress up and play pretend because according to you, you wanted to lure some evil nurse out of hiding. Nothing about those two screams transgender to me. Or heck you even being in the egg. Heck, the only reason you dressed up for the pie toss and volunteered in the first place was because I was twisting your arm. So yes, that's it, I'm done. Like I said until proven otherwise, I'm going to say you just have a crossdressing fetish.” Jamie then stood up, reached into her purse and pulled out a handful of dollars and silver coins, then tossed the bills and silver coins down upon the table.

Silence

“Lily might have weaseled your way onto the squad. But I'm still captioning it. I still call the shots, I'm still in command. And as far as I'm concerned you're not on the squad. As far as I'm concerned 'Daisy Isabella Bell' or whatever name you go by, does not appear on the roaster of girls. I will not be calling out 'Daisy Isabella Bell' when I take roll call at each practice.” Jamie added.

“Lily can waste her time and train you and teach you how to cheer and act like a girl. Her friends can sink as much time, money and talent as they want into teaching you all the cheers, chants, and steps. And the other girls out of pity can try their best to teach you how to cheer. But know this, when it comes time to cheer at baseball games soon and at soccer games next spring and football games next autumn. You will not be allowed to dress out. When we have squad photos taken, you will not be allowed to have your photo taken with the other girls, and you won't be attending training camps with us. I will personally see to that, even if I have to refund all the money we collected from the pie toss and cancel the winter and spring training camp sessions.”

And with that being said Jamie stormed off. As she stomped off she even leaned over and pumped my shoulder as she walked past me. A few seconds after bumping my shoulder she paused and gave me a scowl. “Excuse you, watch where you're going! God, the sooner you pack your bags and head off to Vicksburg where you belong the better off all of us would be. You're nothing but trouble James Donald Bell! That's all you've been since the day you stepped off that late night train in a pouring rain storm. You've been nothing but a thorn in my side, no scratch that,  you've been nothing but a pain in my ass since day one. And frankly I'm tired of dealing with you.”

And with that she huffed off. 

“Bitch.” I muttered under my breath. “Cunt.” I added for good measure.

I sat there for a few moments. Doing my best to collect myself, once I was sure I'd collected myself I stood up and started to walk away. But it was then at that moment that Lily appeared once more. She had a small, sad look on her face. She looked me dead in the eye and for a moment I thought she was going to go off on me. Instead she moved in a little closer and before I could catch myself I found her folding her arms around my back and I found myself being pulled toward her.

“I want to apologize for the way my little sister talked to you. I understand you're hurting right now. But I hope you will follow me into the office so we can talk. You and I. And yes, my offer still stands. Jamie it seems must be reminded that she is yet a full maid. A gentle reminder must be given. A few weeks scrubbing the floors and doing the dishes might just remind who is the mistress and who is still an apprentice.”

I said the only thing I could think of.

“Will there be more hot chocolate?” I asked.

“Yes and maybe some Turkish delight as well.”

So ends another chapter.