Something Feels Strange…

My eyes are drooping and I have a contented feeling.  To my surprise, I’ve enjoyed the evening and feel a closeness to these girls that is better than anything that I have ever felt with my male comrades. Don’t get me wrong, I have felt strong bonds of brotherhood with my friends in the past.  But when was the last time we gave each other hugs and words of friendship and encouragement before closing out the evening?

Chapter 24: The Sommers & The Langs

I hear someone rustling next to me as I slowly wakened. Remembering last night and the fact that I don’t have to be anywhere for a while, I just snuggle deeper in my sleeping bag.

“Hey, sleepy head.” Marjorie’s voice pierces my unconsciousness just before she whacks me on the bottom. “You can’t sleep all day.”

“What time is it?” I mumble from my warm cocoon.

“Almost ten o’clock,” comes the reply.

I don’t remember the last time that I’d slept this late. With some reluctance, I stir.  The urge to go to the bathroom gives me another reason to start moving.

I stumble into the bathroom still only half awake. I begin to become more aware of the world around me as I relieve myself.  Looking down at my hands, I see that someone had fun last night after I fell asleep.  My finger nails are painted with a hideous bright neon pink polish that wasn’t there when I fell asleep. I just sigh as I finish up my business and wash my hands.

If I wasn’t fully awake before, I am now. Looking in the mirror this morning is a shocking experience. My relatively short hair has braids sticking out in all directions–reminiscent of Pipi Longstocking.  To complement the hair, my face looks like a clown’s with poorly and heavily applied garish makeup in some really weird colors. I’m a mess since the makeup smeared overnight.

So much for the warm fuzzy feelings from last night.

There is some cold cream on the counter so I take the time to clean the makeup off my face.  While I’m doing this, there is a knock on the bathroom door and Amy asks in a sweet voice, “Is everything alright in there?” Her comment is accompanied by giggles from more than one girl.

“Everything’s fine,” I respond. I’ve found the best way to counter pranks is to act as if nothing happened. It really frustrates a prankster to not get a response. Plus you can get back at them later when they think that you’ve forgotten about it. “I’m just not my best first thing in the morning. It takes me a few minutes to put myself back together again. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Well, let us know if you need anything,” she says with a hint of disappointment in her voice. Good–this might work.

Using a hairbrush I find on the counter I work the braids out of my hair and make myself presentable. Looking through drawers I find nail polish remover which allows me to get rid of the neon pink. I smile sweetly and greet the others cheerfully as I rejoin them for a late breakfast.  They just look at each other wondering what happened and why I’m acting as if nothing happened.  It’s great fun to watch their confusion.

I’ll find a way to return the favor soon...

---< >---

On the way home, Laurie explains to me that it is tradition at slumber parties to prank the first girl to fall asleep. She also told me about some of the things that the other girls wanted to do to me–I guess that I got off lightly last night. I suppose that now I’m just one of the girls, I’ll need to have more stamina next time.

We spend an hour helping Aunt Jen with Saturday house cleaning chores before we head off to our planned activities.

Laurie is going to try and make contact with Andy at the art supply store while I go water skiing with the Sommers family this afternoon.  She may try to join us at the reservoir later after she runs a few errands for her mother.

Caitlin picks me up at one o’clock. The other two members of her gang, Jamie and Ilana, are with her.  These two girls also have reputations as being first class bitches and it doesn’t take long for them to live up to their reputation. They are in the middle of bad mouthing a nice girl that I know–or did know as Chris. This could be long afternoon.

---< >---

We arrived at the reservoir to find that Caitlin’s parents have already commandeered a picnic table under a huge oak tree near the beach. After parking the car the girls and I head over to help unload the portable grill and picnic supplies from Dr. Sommers’ truck. Caitlin’s little brothers and their friends have already disappeared somewhere. The Sommers must be doing pretty well financially judging by the fancy ski boat on a trailer hitched to the truck.  The other three girls only carry one load of supplies to the table before heading off to check out the beach. I feel bad watching Dr. Sommers struggle with the grill so I go back to lend a hand.

“Thanks for the help, Tina,” Dr. Sommers says. “It’s refreshing to have one of Caitlin’s friends lend a hand. Now that we’ve gotten the heavy stuff, you can join Caitlin and the others at the beach. We can get the rest from here.”

“No problem, Dr. Sommers,” I respond. “I’m happy to help. Thanks for letting me come along. I’ll just help move this stuff over to the table before joining the other girls.”

While helping unload the picnic supplies it occurs to me that I had said, ‘the other girls’, and Brain Central thinks nothing of it. It’s only been two weeks since the change and now my self image is that of a teen girl–it’s what I see in the mirror every day, and how I am perceived by everyone around me. It’s all adding up and now I truly feel the part even if I still feel like a fish out of water on the topic of girl culture and not at all comfortable in tight, revealing clothes. I’m now thinking of myself as a girl.  I would think that the realization that I now view myself as a girl inside and out ought to disturb me–or at least Brain Central–but it doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I still look forward to going back to the male team, but at least I’m comfortable being a girl for now. It makes the current situation much more bearable.

“Where ya been, Tina?” Ilana asks as I rejoin them.

“Dr. Sommers looked like he needed a hand with the grill,” I reply. “So what’s happening here?”

“We thought that we’d stake out a bit of beach before it’s too late,” Jamie explains. “We’re already too late for the best spots but I think that this one will do.”

The beach is beginning to get crowded with sun worshipers. There are also a couple of volleyball games in progress.  On the reservoir are watercraft of all kinds.  A couple of teen boys are showing off for the girls on their noisy jet skis just outside the roped off swimming area. The maturity level of their antics is pretty low.

The girls are already laying on towels in their bikinis. Jamie and Ilana are both a little pudgy so the bikinis aren’t doing anything for their looks. I am smart this time–I’m wearing my swimsuit under my shorts and I’m wearing my tankini top as my top.  I decided to stick with the tankini top and left the bikini top home so no one can talk me into wearing it. I lay out my towel and slip off my shorts as I lie down to get some sun on my back. Remembering the days when the sight of a slender girl doing the same thing really caught my attention I feel more than a little uncomfortable with some of the looks that are focused in our direction. Maybe I’m really not quite there as a girl yet.

“Don’t your folks need help with the food and launching the boat?” I ask Caitlin.

“Dad will call the boys when he’s ready to launch the boat,” she responds. “There’s not much to the food and Mom’s got that under control.”

Her lack of concern and assistance is disturbing. In our house everyone pitches in when there is work to be done so that everyone can have time to relax or do whatever it is that they want to do. I guess that this is just another example of Caitlin’s selfishness. I’m worried that if I’m too helpful that I won’t bond with Caitlin sufficiently to fulfill my assignment, but I don’t feel comfortable being waited on by her parents either. What do I do?

For now we smear sunscreen on each other and work on our tans. I really don’t have one so I have to be careful about getting too much sun.

“You’re pretty white,” Jamie observes. “Don’t you get any sun in Alaska?”

“Some,” I respond, “but it’s generally too cool to lie out in a swimsuit.  Not only that, but the mosquitoes can get pretty fierce. It is nice to be out in warm sunshine without the bugs.”

“Ew–bugs.” Caitlin cringes. “How can you stand them?  I really hate bugs.”

Half an hour later–after discussing a variety of girl topics–Caitlin’s mother calls us to the picnic table for a snack.

“Anybody up for water skiing?” Dr. Sommers asks.

The boys are all excited but the girls are lukewarm.  I get the feeling that Caitlin is interested but her buddies aren’t really.  They just want to hang out and sunbathe in the hope that the right guys will come along and notice them. In their case, I figure that their efforts are rather like fishing with rancid bait. They really aren’t very attractive with their mild belly fat hanging over the top of their bikini bottoms. Girls with poor body tone really don’t look very good in bikinis.  Maybe there should be a law against selling them one.

“Sure,” I respond, “I’d really like to try. I’ve only been once. Caitlin, will you show me how to ski?” I figure that I should give her an excuse to get away from the lumps of lard.

She is torn between helping her new friend and hanging out with her old ones. I can tell it’s a struggle.

“Aw, Dad,” whines her fourteen-year-old brother. “Can’t we just leave the girls on the beach?”

The comment raises a competitive spirit from somewhere deep within Caitlin.  She can’t let it go.

“Sure, Tina,” she says with a scornful look at her brother. “Let’s show these boys what we can do.”

“Okay,” says Dr. Sommers, “The boys and I will get the boat launched and meet you just outside the swimming area in half an hour.”

Back on the beach, Caitlin tries to talk Ilana and Jamie into coming with us but they are too comfortable reading gossip and fashion magazines. They can’t understand why we want to do ‘all that work.’

Water skiing is actually a lot of fun.  Most of the time we just ride in the boat as we take turns on the skis. Caitlin is very good–she looks a lot more graceful than any of the rest of us. She is able to pull a few fancy maneuvers that I wouldn’t dare attempt. At one point she takes over the controls of the boat and so that her father can ski.  He’s pretty good too.  The two of them gave me lots of tips and pointers.

After an hour of skiing Caitlin says that she needs to get back to the beach to check on her other friends. I’d like to stay with the boat but decide that I should try to be part of Caitlin’s circle.

Swimming back to the beach from the boat, I become aware of the strangeness of the experience–swimming with breasts is awkward. I nearly lost my top a few times when I wiped out on the skis. I am used to swimming in baggy swim shorts, so the bikini bottom is definitely different–I feel almost naked down below. The fabric of the tankini top adds a lot of drag that threatens to pull the bra off my breasts if I swim too fast, and I discover I have to pull the bra back in place frequently. This–like most other girl experiences–will take some getting used to.

When we get back to the beach, Jamie and Ilana are still reading fashion magazines and working on their tans.  Nothing’s changed from when we left them so it’s not hard to get back into the conversation.

After half an hour of hanging out with the three other girls I am getting bored.  I am also getting rather fed up with the shallow conversation.  It seems that the girls have nothing good to say about anything or anybody. I notice a couple of my old friends–guy friends, including my best running friend Dan–playing volleyball at one of the nets so I tell the girls that I’m going over to watch them and ask if they want to come with me.

“Eeewww!” wails Ilana with distain. “Those guys are all, like, losers.”

“Whatever,” I reply, “It just looks like they’re having fun.”

“Don’t get too close to them,” Jamie adds. “They look pretty sweaty.”

Caitlin is looking indecisive again.  I can tell that she has more going for her than do her two loser friends. Unfortunately she feels some obligation to hang out with them. Maybe it’s that good hostess thing. Anyway, I end up going over to the game by myself.

I watch the boys playing for a few minutes before Dan–who noticed me when I came over–hits the ball out of play in my direction. The ball lands at my feet so I pick it up and hit it back like a volleyball player would.

“Hey, Tina,” Dan calls out. “We could use another player. D’you wanna play?”

“Sure,” I respond eagerly. I guess he remembers me from running practice.

After a quick round of introductions we start playing.  It takes me about fifteen minutes to get acclimatized to playing as a girl to the point where I can be reasonably effective.  What with changes to my center of gravity and the complication of bouncing breasts–it takes a bit of retraining to reduce their motion. Being four inches shorter than I used to be doesn’t help either. I have never been a great player so I don’t take the court by storm. What I find interesting is the change in the guys’ performance–several of them getting distracted by having a female on the court. Once, while I’m playing the net, the guy behind me misses an easy return and his team mates blame it on his watching my ‘backfield in motion.’

My addition to the court has another curious social effect.  Several of these guys have steady girlfriends who were off sunning themselves like Caitlin and her coterie.  After joining the game I become aware of these girls gravitating towards the court to keep a wary eye on their boyfriends. I am getting openly jealous stares from some of them–particularly Dan’s girlfriend. It doesn’t take long for the more athletic of the girls to join the game. Even Caitlin can’t resist the draw and soon joins in too.  She is having fun–in fact, we both are.

She gives me a quick hug when I get a particularly lucky hit, but when one of the guys gives me a friendly pat on the butt I hit him on the shoulder and give him a warning look. By the expression on one girl’s face on the sideline I’m betting that he’ll have bigger problems when the game is over. Somebody is very possessive.

Eventually one of Caitlin’s brothers shows up to tell us that it’s time to eat. I thank the guys and gals for letting me play, before Caitlin and I head off to join the rest of our party stopping for a quick dip in the reservoir to wash off our perspiration. Jamie and Ilana give me a bit of a cold shoulder but otherwise the meal is quite pleasant with steaks grilled to perfection by Dr. Sommers and chips, salads, and drinks provided by Mrs. Sommers.

“Caitlin tells me that you work out at the Lab,” Mrs. Sommers mentions.

“Yes,” I reply. “My aunt got me a job in the temporary office staff pool for the summer. I just started this last week.”

This seems to gain Dr. Sommers interest. “Oh,” he remarks, “I didn’t know that you were out there. Who’s your aunt?”

“Jennifer Mercer,” I respond. “She works for the Lab Director: she’s my mother’s sister.”

“Doesn’t Susan Harrison run the temp pool?” He asks.

“Yes,” I respond, “she’s my supervisor.” ‘In more ways than one,’ I think to myself.

Mrs. Sommers frowns at the mention of her name. Dr. Sommers doesn’t seem too pleased either. That’s interesting.

“So, how do you like working for her?” he asks.

“She seems nice enough,” I respond. “I haven’t seen her that much since I’ve been farmed out to help one of the projects most of the week. Do you know her?”

“Yes,” he responds without explanation or much enthusiasm. “I hope you enjoy working for her.”

The conversation quickly turns to other topics. I get the feeling that I had hit a nerve with the Sommers.

After Caitlin and I help with clean up of both the dinner and the boat, we rejoin the other two girls and hang out on the beach visiting together.  The Lab topic never came up again. I did learn that both of Caitlin’s parents are originally from back east and come from well-to-do families.  I get the impression that–while not exactly rich–both of Caitlin’s parents have never been short on cash. His position as a research scientist at the Lab plus part time work that Mrs. Sommers does as a lawyer seem to keep them well supplied financially, although they seem to live more extravagantly than my family does with a similar income.

Eventually, when we leave for home, I make sure to thank the Sommers for their hospitality. They reply that I am welcome to join them anytime. I think I really like Caitlin’s parents.

Caitlin drops Jamie and Ilana off first and we sit outside the Mercer home in Caitlin’s car for a few minutes.

“Caitlin, I’m sorry if I caused problems with your friends, but I just couldn’t just sit around all day doing nothing when there was so much to do.”

“And when they didn’t have anything good to say,” she adds. “Thanks for coming, Tina. The contrast between you and the other two really got me thinking about where I’m headed in life.  You actually go out and have fun like I used to.  I didn’t realize just how lazy and worthless I was becoming. I think that I’ve been too negative for too long. I also saw how helpful you were to my parents. I felt bad for ignoring them. I think you really impressed them and I’m really glad you could come.”

“I’m not so sure about impressing them,” I say. “Neither of them seemed happy when I brought up Mrs. Harrison.”

“Oh, that’s not your problem ,” she replies. “After all, Dad’s the one who mentioned her name. It’s just that I don’t think that Mrs. Harrison and my dad get along all that well. Apparently they had a run in a few years ago and neither of them have been able to get over it. I don’t know what it was about. All I know is that my Dad questions her ethics. Anyway, it shouldn’t affect you. You’re just summer help.”

Interesting. I wonder what Mrs. Harrison will think when she hears this recording.

---< >---

Laurie and her mom are watching a movie in the living room when I stumble in from my visit with the Sommers.  After stowing my beach bag in my room I join them more tired than I thought I was.

Aunt Jen pauses the movie so that we can talk about each other’s day. 

“Laurie, I was looking for you all afternoon,” I tell her. “What happened?”

“I ran into an old friend,” she replies. “I’ll tell you all about it later.  How did your day with the Sommers go?”

I told them about the wonderful time I had. I also told them about the division that I seem to be causing between Caitlin and her other friends. “I’m sorry,” I add, “but I can’t act like a little bitch even if that’s what the Committee wants. I don’t think that it’s hurting my relationship with Caitlin though. She seems ripe for a change.”

“I guess we need to work on your acting lessons,” laughs Aunt Jen. “I hope this doesn’t hurt your feelings, Tina, but you never could lie or bluff very well–even as a guy, you were always an open book. That was one of your endearing qualities and why your parents and I trust you two together. I don’t think that has changed at all since you became Tina.”

“Maybe I’m not cut out for this spy business after all,” I reply dejectedly.

“You’re doing great, darling,” Aunt Jen says encouragingly while giving me a hug. “Just be yourself, but–for your own safety–be discreet.”

While they watched the rest of the movie I headed off to take a shower and wash out my swimsuit. I notice some very feminine tan lines when I strip the suit off, and hope they will disappear when I change back; they’d be hard to explain away in the guys’ locker room this fall.

Laurie finds me in my room answering emails when the movie’s over. I have a raft of email from the usual suspects.  I sent back images that I took with my cell phone at the reservoir today. I figure that a picture of me and Caitlin in our swimsuits should excite the guys.

Quietly, Laurie beckons to me to join her in the hall. 

“Meet me on the patio in a few minutes,” she whispers in my ear, “and don’t bring your cell phone.”

Now what’s this all about? And why no cell phone? We’ve been told over and over again to keep our phones with us. They are our link to safety.

Their backyard is very private so I figure that I don’t need to change out of my pajamas for this little meeting. After finishing an email to Helen, I head out to meet Laurie.

“What’s the mystery?” I ask her.

“I’m getting some bad vibes about this investigation,” she explains. “I managed to track down Andy today at the art store. I pretended to need some help with learning how to do water colors and he was very helpful.  I asked if he could give me a few pointers to get started and suggested he meet me at the park after he got off work so that he could help me paint the flowers there.”

I get the message. She flirted with and caught him. Chris would not be too happy about that–Tina, however, understands that Laurie is just doing what it takes to get the job done. With a slight ache in my heart I recall that that’s also how Chris and Laurie met.

“Relax, Tina,” she can see me getting jealous. “I’m still hung up on Chris. I just needed to get close enough to Andy to talk to him. D’you know he’s incredibly shy?  It took all my talents just to get him to meet with me.”

“Okay,” I say reluctantly, “So what did he say.”

“He says I have potential,” she grins as I hit her shoulder.

“Actually,” she continues, rubbing her shoulder, “he asked what I was doing this summer so I told him about your visiting and our jobs out at the Lab. When I mentioned Mrs. Harrison he got pretty steamed. It seems that there is really bad blood between his father and our supervisor. Apparently, according to Andy, Mrs. Harrison asked one of his dad’s colleagues to do something shady and when she refused Mrs. Harrison got her fired from the Lab on some trumped up charge.  Dr. Lang felt that she was being very underhanded and is not to be trusted.”

“Did you record this?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I wonder if she’ll say anything after hearing it.”

Then I told her about my conversation with Caitlin concerning the tension between Dr. Sommers and Mrs. Harrison.  There were a number of real parallels between the two stories.

“What do you think that we should do now?” she asks. “I’m confused as to where the problem is. Could Mrs. Harrison and/or the security committee be the problem?”

“ I admit I’m getting worried about our handlers,” I tell her. “You remember the request for us to get more specific information?”

She nods affirmatively.

“I don’t think she needs that kind of detail to verify security,” I say, pondering the situation. “Until we establish who we can trust, I really think that we must be careful about becoming the conduit for acquiring actual classified information. After all, this security group could be using us to get intelligence that they can sell. It also seems strange to me that both the families we have been asked to target seem to have friction with Mrs. Harrison. It’s almost as if she’s out to get them for some reason.”

“Actually, I would’ve thought that the security team ought to be able to just walk in and take anything that they want,” Laurie points out. “Why would they need us to get things for them? On the other hand, according to Mrs. Harrison and my mom, you and I shouldn’t even be having this conversation. It’s like they’re trying to keep us from comparing notes so that we won’t make these connections.”

“Good point,” I remark. “Even though I understand the potential for our safety in compartmentalization, there’s also a potential for abuse in the wrong hands. Something just doesn’t feel right here. We need to form our own ‘compartment’ and keep it secret until we find some way to determine who the real bad guys are. Before we get too far afield, however, I’d really like to compare our recordings from today.  Let’s get our phones and listen to what Caitlin and Andy had to say.”

After retrieving our phones, we review the conversations. I find myself getting jealous as Laurie was obviously flirting with and leading poor Andy on.  She squirms some too as her recording is played back. She gives me apologetic looks throughout the session. Overlooking the social issues, it becomes very apparent that the situations are incredibly similar.  Both Dr. Lang and Dr. Sommers, as reported by their kids, have had problems with Mrs. Harrison and the two scientists may be targets for her aggression.  From their perspectives, Mrs. Harrison has been unethical and mean.

Leaving our phones in our rooms after pretending to go to bed, the two of us leave the house quietly to go for a late night stroll around the neighborhood.

“This is deep,” she says, starting the conversation.

“Sure is,” I reply thoughtfully. “You know, it’s always dangerous to believe single-sided second hand evidence like this.  We need to verify what we’ve heard. There’s probably another side to the story that we don’t know about. Let’s talk about this. There must be a way that we can sort things out.”

“I’d like to think that our parents are good guys,” Laurie says. “We know them very well and I think I’d know if Mom was doing anything shady. She hasn’t been acting weird or anything. There’s been no unexplained increase in money or other benefits so I doubt she’s taking bribes.”

“I love your mom a lot,” I say, “but she did support Mrs. Harrison in the compartmentalization concept that would have kept us from recognizing this issue.”

“Yeah, she did,” Laurie admits, “but I’m pretty sure that it’s for the safety reasons they told us about. If I don’t know everything you know then I can’t tell it to the bad guys if I get snatched by them, hence protecting you.  The same works the vice versa. It’s easier to claim ignorance if you’re actually ignorant. I’m pretty sure Mom was only interested in our safety. What about your parents?  They’re not part of the Lab security team.”

“No, they’re not,” I reply. “They’re outsiders who were only brought in to enlist my assistance, so they ought to be clean.”

“That is unless they’re in cahoots with Mrs. Harrison on the bad guys’ side,” Laurie points out.

We walk on in silence for a few minutes mulling over the situation.

“I’ve got an idea,” Laurie says. “Why not try the bold approach? Suppose I just ask Mom about what she knows about Dr. Lang and Mrs. Harrison–just be up front.  I don’t have to tell her what I know about Dr. Sommers. I can let it out that I just sense that Dr. L and Mrs. H don’t get along and see what she knows about their history.  After all, she works in the Director’s office and knows most of what goes on in the Lab. If she confirms Andy’s story then we might be on to something.”

“Good idea,” I reply. “I could do the same thing with my Dad concerning the Sommers. Maybe we’ll get the other side of the story. You know, if it wasn’t for your Mom and my Dad being our parents, we could play the dumb blonde trick on them that they want us to do on others. We’ll have to try it on other unsuspecting folks to see if there are other similar situations going on out at the Lab. I’d be interested to see what Mrs. Harrison’s relationship is with other members of the suspect list. You know, I’ve gotten profiles of all the major suspects on my computer. Let’s look through it tomorrow and see if we can find someone who we can check out.”

“Great idea.” Laurie exclaims. “Ooh, this is getting scary–and a bit exciting too. We’ll have to be cool about all this and not let anyone know what we’re doing. I have a feeling that we’ll put ourselves in danger if we do more than what Mrs. Harrison has asked for.”

---< >---

Later, after returning to the house, I sit on my bed brooding over these latest developments. It’s almost midnight. What do I do? The easy–and safe–thing to do would be to just do what we’re told. But what if the problem turns out to be the security team and/or Mrs. Harrison? Maybe they’re just using us to gather their data to forward on to the terrorists. Who can we trust? For that matter, can I trust Laurie? How can I tell?

I’ve got to come up with a way to validate who the good guys are.

I’d like to think I can trust my Dad. He’s always had high integrity and he’s always been there for me. I’ve got to trust somebody.

Picking up my cell phone, I text Dr. Quinn: “Going 4 very short jog @ 7a. Want 2 come? - Kris”

The reply comes back within minutes: “C U @ ur tree - Dr Q”

---< >---

 Edited by Gabi who makes everything better.