“I hope everyone has their passports to hand,” Frau Whistler called out to the assembled masses in the airport departure terminal.

It was five-thirty in the morning and I was severely lacking in sleep. You need to understand that I’m really not a morning person at the best of times, but now… now I’m basically a zombie. I’ve not even had coffee since we left home at three; my tank is so empty that Mike Pence’s soul is jealous.

There were around forty of us gathered here, a combination of girls and boys from both classes and all of us appeared to be struggling with the earliness of the hour. This is the one thing I’ve always hated about airports; they’re time prisons. You have to arrive three hours before your flight only to do very little for the entirety of it and feel like it vanished.

One fun fact about this trip was it was a joint venture between both the Boys and Girls Divisions of our school. This was normal for many of the bigger trips as it saved on resources. This meant that Frau Whistler and her cohort were joined by Herr Norton and his merry Mädchen.

It was already going to be bad enough for me, trying to keep Holly under wraps while around twenty guys in close proximity for a whole week. But a co-ed jury of my peers? Yeah, this was going to be interesting. My saving grace was that after this, I have one quiet week left and then it’s bye-bye Alex for good. Personally, I cannot wait.

I pulled my passport out of my backpack and waved it in Frau Whistler’s direction. “Here, Miss.”

“At least one of you remembered,” she smiled, looking as tired as I felt. “Perkins, show me where your passport is before the TSA searches you so hard that your Grandchildren feel their gloved pinkies.”

While Frau Whistler corralled our number, I gazed longingly toward the security area. Believe me, I wasn’t looking forward to going through it, but I was quite excited to reach the departures lounge beyond. Why? That’s where the coffee shops lived. The sooner I let the TSA have their wicked way with me, the sooner I’d be in the warm embrace of a double-shot macchiato; I’m a simple girl with simple needs.

So what has happened since Thanksgiving? Honestly, not a great deal. The week after the warm, fuzzy, family holiday was about as bland as bland could possibly be. I could waste your lives with another chapter where I talk about my feelings, make out with Boy Wonder, and deal with teenage angst, but it would be superfluous to proceedings and just serve to make you all melt like a good trans-fiction. In reality, it was spent shopping for my present international adventure, avoiding being beaten to a pulp, and keeping Holly Winters a big fat secret. Yeah, that lasted all of zero minutes in typical me fashion.

“Erm, Holly?”

Whadafuck… why is someone… oh shit.

“Huh?”

I turn around and come face-to-face with a particular pint-sized blonde that I know very well indeed; Tina. Yes, that Tina, no not Turner, the one from the Gym.

I grinned nervously and scratched my head, “Uh, Hey Tina. I uh, didn’t know you took German?”

She pointedly looks me up and down and raises a delicate eyebrow, “I didn’t know you were a boy either.”

I swear to god, I don’t know how I managed to get into these situations.

“It’s…ah, kinda complicated,” I sigh, my shoulders dropping.

Tina jerks her thumb towards a bench along one wall of garish advertising displays, “I think you and I need a lil chat, missy.”

We walk away slightly to one side and sit while the teachers begin checking everyone has their required travel documents. You know kids; cannot be trusted to walk and chew gum.

“So what’s the deal?” she begins without fanfare. “I’ve seen you at the gym and ain’t no boys with them titties, yet somehow, you’re here with the boys’ German class. How the hell are you managing that?”

I mentally shrug and decide to run the quick highlights version of my sob story so she catches the relevant parts.

“That’s because I am actually in the boys' German class.” I sigh. “I’m transgender; I should have been born a girl but wasn’t. I’ve always felt that way; like something was cosmically wrong. I’ve been taking steps to correct things and… well, as of January, I’ll be transferring to the Girls’ Division and this whole charade will be over. I didn’t want to lie to anyone, I just… this wasn’t ever the plan…”

“Woah, top ten anime plot twists.”

I shoot Tina a look and she grins. It’s not the sort of grin like she’s laughing at me, it’s more as if she’s laughing at her own joke. I shake my head and ignore her, at least she’s not flipped out and screamed yet.

“Outside of school, I’m just Holly; you can ask Meg and Kara. Here, for now, I still gotta be…” I swallow and regret telling her the next word. “Alex.”

“You’re a really shit boy, you know,” she offers casually. “I can see why you’d wanna change teams.”

I make a face. “It’s a little more nuanced than that.”

Tina shrugs. “Yeah, but I like life to be simpler; it’s far less depressing that way. So these dipshits have no idea that they’re in class with a chick, do they?”

“Somehow,” I agree with a whopper of an eye roll.

“Well,” she grins. “Finally there is something to make this trip a bit more interesting. I thought it was all going to be culture and boring lectures. I can’t wait to watch this trainwreck unfold.”

“I’m not a zoo exhibit,” I complain.

“Monkey says what?”

“Shut up.”

This is going to be a very, very long trip. How was I meant to know that Tina goddamn Booth was in the Girls’ Division German class? I’ll be having a strongly worded text exchange with the Byrne sisters later for omitting this critical information. I swear, if I survive this with my Alex disguise intact, It’s going to be a miracle.

Once everyone’s crap is verified our educators lead us through to the security area. The first hurdle of the trip is here and it’s going to be a fun one for yours truly. While the photograph matches me and looks far more teen girl than teen boy, my passport very much says Alexander Winters, and Male. My current problem is I look like neither, but you know that already.

My new blonde shadow is sticking close to my shoulder, which is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I‘ve grown quite fond of her annoying ass. On the other, my hanging around with a girl is going to send mixed signals to outside viewers that stack the deck against my purported masculinity.

“Empty your pockets in the tray and walk through the metal detector please.”

I didn’t have much on me that was metal, so I deposited my stuff in the plastic bin and wandered through for my dose of electromagnetism.

“Miss, step to the side please.”

Great.

“It’s Sir,” I mutter, as much as I don’t want to, ‘tis what my ID proclaims and the last thing I need is a confusion holdup alerting people to my situation.

“Sorry, uh, kid. I gotta give you a pat down, it’s the rules,” The security weenie offers.

I hold my arms out while the man pats me down in a business-like manner. Somehow managing to avoid my boobs.

“All done, thank you.”

Wow, I made it through entirely unscathed; perhaps miracles do happen. Eh, this cannot last.

You have to remember that this is 2004, so it’s just before the era of full-body scanners that would have made my life utterly hell. Thankfully the TSA was still in its infancy and as yet, had not quite gained all its tools of harassment. Being a white kid with a school party we were left mostly unmolested. Yes, I use that phrase deliberately.

I collect my belongings and wait for the rest of our horde to be through before we’re allowed to proceed on to the part I’ve been looking forward to the most; the departures hall.

“I want you all at Gate Thirty-Four in one hour exactly!” Whistler yells over our chatter. “One hour, or you get left behind and can explain to your parents why they’re making a trip out here at this time of day.”

“Come on,” Tina urges, dragging me by the arm. “We’re getting coffee and talking about your weird-ass self.”

“I’m not weird.”

“Sure you’re not, girl.”

I groan. “Stop calling me that.”

All I get in response is a raised eyebrow and a giggle. I get the feeling that this is going to get very old, very fast.

We set up camp in a coffee shop with an overpriced cup of caffeine and a bagel each. We’re tucked into a booth in a secluded corner so we can talk relatively freely at this early hour.

Tina takes an almighty bite of her bagel and chews happily. I use her full mouth as an opportunity to take back control of the conversation. “Look, no matter what you think of me, you really need to call me Alex and male this week. I’m serious Tina, this could get me in real trouble if you mess up.”

“I’ll be good… in public.” she grins around her bagel. “So like, outside of school, what are you?”

“Holly,” I admit. “Outside school, I’m just Holly. Best friend to Kara and Megan, sister to my siblings, and daughter to my parents. It’s relatively new; maybe a month or so since I started living as myself properly. From what I’m told both Frau Whistler and Herr Norton know about me for safety’s sake.”

“That’s so cool.” she enthuses. “Like, go you.”

I make a face. “You’re weirdly positive about all of this, why?”

Tina shrugs. “I have two moms; queer shit doesn’t phase me. I’ve met transsexuals before but never one my own age, so it’s kinda neat.”

“You have?”

“Sure,” she shrugs. “Like, my mom Sarah runs a GLBT outreach center. A bunch of them go to a support meeting there, they’re pretty cool.”

“I’ve never met anyone else like me in real life,” I admit. “Maybe I’d like to try it sometime, but for now I’m still working on keeping this under wraps until the end of the semester.”

“So you gotta do boy drag till the holidays?”

I nod. “Yeah, they wanted me to finish up the semester so it’s less disruptive to transfer. I’ve been doing OK until this trip… I didn’t expect to run into you.”

Tina grinned. “I saw you and I was so confused. I knew you were probably coming to our school from what you had said at the gym, but I was like… didn’t she say January? And why does she dress like my Mom Emma?”

“Your Mom Emma?”

“I can’t just call them both Mom, there’s two of them… Mom Emma is chapstick.”

“What’s that?”

“A type of lesbian; like, not butch, but not femme. Basically somewhere in the middle, kinda a tomboy.”

I just look at her wide-eyed. “I have no idea what all this stuff means.”

“Am I interrupting anything good?”

I jump a little as I spot Frau Whistler standing next to our booth. “Oh, uh no, just talking.”

“Holly was just telling me about her whole ‘hiding as a boy’ deal.”

“TINA!”

Tinker-dumbass shrugs, “What? You said she knows?”

“I mean, not the point,” I muttered, blushing.

“Ah,” my teacher sighs, slipping into the booth beside me. “Whilst that is true – I do know about it – it’s not really something you should be discussing without someone’s express permission, Fraulein Booth. As far as I know, they are trying to keep this under wraps till the end of the semester.”

“I’d prefer if you tried to hide this, even a little” I mutter, glaring at Tina. “Just because someone knows doesn’t make it cool to just blurt it out.”

“Ho…Alex is right. S…” ” Frau Whistler sighs. “You know, now that I know, I really do struggle to call you a boy.”

“Not you too,” I groan, actually headdesking the table. “Try and pretend for my sake, please?”

“You’re far too pretty to be a boy, honey,” Tina grins. “I might not be as gay as my moms, but you’re hot as shit and it shows.”

Frau Whistler betrays me and chuckles. “I think what Fraulein Booth is saying is that you struggle to put forward a particularly masculine presentation when out of uniform.”

“Two more weeks and I won’t have to ever again,” I groan. “Just got to survive two weeks.”

“Jokes aside, I will cover your secret, Alex.” Tina smiles more kindly. “But I reserve the right to call you Holly when in private.”

“Only if she wants you to,” my teacher interjects. “It’s her choice at the end of the day.”

My god, neither one of them can keep a straight pronoun. I’m so freaking dead.

 

 

Flying from the United States to Germany is an extremely long journey indeed. We’re expecting to be in the air for a little over fourteen hours, which will see us landing at around seven in the evening, local time. We essentially spend our entire day in a big metal tube, forty thousand feet over the Atlantic Ocean and France, but who really cares about France though?

I’m sat in a window seat next to two guys with whom I don’t really socialize with in class, so I spend most of my flight watching movies or reading. Honestly, for a loner like me who’s only just worked out the whole friendship deal, it’s not a bad way to kill a day.

“Here you are Miss,” a flight attendant beams mechanically as she offers me a meal tray.

Grrr

I accept my lunch and pretend like I didn’t hear her. It’s far easier to just not react and draw attention to the pronoun tennis that my life has become. At the start of the term, I was a little better at portraying Alex when out of uniform. At least people that I didn’t know only assumed I was female most of the time. I think the biggest part is that now I’m now living as Holly almost full-time, so more feminine behaviors are my more overt default. If you add to that the effect of a few more months of hormones, basically everyone who doesn’t know me would put money on my being born female.

Am I pleased with that outcome? Yes, ordinarily, I would be totally fine with it. The only problem currently is that for this week, I am stuck with people from school. The chances of this all coming out are dangerously high, but hey, I do love to live a dangerous life, don’t I?

How matters will go now that I have another on the trip that knows about me? I have no idea. I like Tina and she has been fun when I only knew her as Holly. Now she knows Alex is Holly, who knows what will happen? She seems so utterly casual about the whole thing, which certainly concerns me more than a little bit. Time will tell if that goes bad or not.

I finish up my meal and our attendants collect our trays. Considering this would be, I believe, lunch, it was rather filling indeed. Having chosen the chicken, I was served a rather delicious tagliatelli in a mushroom sauce that really managed to hit the spot. The salad and dessert managed to leave me rather stuffed and sleepy.

A glance at the screen on the back of my seat told me that we had a good five hours remaining before we made Deutschland, so I figured a little nap would serve me well. First, though, the bathroom was calling.

Window seats are fantastic, until you need to use the toilet. After managing to squeeze past my classmates, I made my way back towards the facilities in the middle of the economy cabin. What? You thought they flew us first class? Pft, not that kind of school.

Heading back, I spotted various members of our party spread out throughout the huge cabin of the Jumbo jet. Frau Whistler and Herr Norton were having what looked like a comfortable conversation on the far side and I spotted Gary chuckling with his little friends somewhere a few rows behind them.

Gary was still a large unknown; he hadn’t said anything as far as I knew, but he could still stick a knife in at an inopportune moment so I had to keep my eye on him. I’m pretty positive that his sisters threatened physical violence if he messed me around, but I wasn’t sure how stupid he was feeling.

I pass Tina, who is seated in the central block of seats a couple of rows in front of the bathrooms. She’s blasting away on a Gamekid and chatting to a dark-haired girl beside her. As I pass, she spots me and wiggles her eyebrows. Yup, it’s going to be a long trip. How I’d love to be sat beside her like any other girl.

I arrive at the bathrooms and find myself waiting behind an elderly lady with a cane. Not one of those people comfortable to ignore others, I give her a polite smile.

“Hallo, junge Frau, gehst du nach Hause?”

It took me a second to realize she had spoken to me in German. She was asking if I was going home. I shook my head, “Nein, ich bin Amerikanerin; ich mache Urlaub."

She nodded knowingly when I told her I was on vacation. “Ah, it is good to visit the world. I wish I could travel when I was your age.”

“It’s a school trip,” I offer, “We’re visiting the markets.”

“Ach so, they are beautiful.” She smiles happily. “You will have a lovely time.”

“I hope so,” I grin. “You’ve been on holiday?”

“Visiting my son and his family in San Francisco,” the old lady admits. “They have two lovely children, girls. But now I go home and get to rest!”

“Sounds nice.”

She nods, “It is not so much work, but they are young and they wear me out quickly.”

The current occupant of the bathroom exits and vanishes off towards the tail of the plane and my companion smiles before stepping inside. “Have a nice trip, young lady.”

I smile to myself. Did you notice what I did? No, you probably didn’t, did you? I used the feminine form of American; hell, she started it. Look, just because I have to be a boy around my classmates, doesn’t mean I have to all the time. I’m not likely to see the kindly old Oma again.

Another bathroom frees up and I do my business and return to my seat. After a little twister with my rowmates, I return to my spot next to the window. Outside, the sky is bright blue and the clouds scud past beneath us. I pull down my blind and curl up in a ball in what little comfort I can manage. Within minutes, I’m away in the land of nod.

 

 

Setting foot on foreign soil feels very different each and every time you do it. Traveling between English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom is fairly benign, but when one enters a country where English is not the primary language, it makes itself immediately obvious. Our first steps off the plane at Frankfurt International Airport had our entire hoard reduced to wide-eyed children. Honestly, for all the German I had learned, I was quite lost as the tannoy blasted out garbled incoherent announcements that probably made little sense to the Germans as well.

Frau Whistler raised her voice and waved to the group to get our attention. “Everyone! Listen up! We’ll head through German Immigration now and then collect your bags. Please stick together, do not wander off and please have your documents ready.”

She glanced over at one group of boys who had been talking the entire time and paying zero attention. “Paul, If you left your passport on the plane I will abandon you here and apologize to your parents later.”

The boys shut up almost immediately.

I pulled my passport out of my backpack and said a silent prayer that this entire enterprise didn’t blow up. (Figuratively, not literally, this is an airport after all.) This, of all places in the trip, carried the greatest potential for being called out. All I needed was a German Immigration officer wondering loudly why a teen girl was trying to travel on a boy’s passport and my Schnitzel was cooked.

“You look like you’re trying to sneak three bricks of cocaine into the country up your butt.”

“Tina, what the fuck kind of shit is that?” I gasp.

The tiny blonde flashes me a dastardly smirk. “I don’t know, it just seemed to match the painful, terrified expression on your face. It’s that or you need to take a massive…”

“No,” I cut her off with an exasperated sigh. “I’m not exactly looking forward to immigration if you must know. It has nothing to do with my butt.”

Tina giggled unhelpfully. “I’m guessing your passport still says Alex, right?”

I nod and she giggles, “Oh yeah, they’re going to love you.”

“I liked you before this trip,” I complained bitterly as we joined the rest of our classmates in the immigration line.

My timing is perfect and we join the queue close to the rear. Sure, it will take ages but it also means that nobody will overhear potential problems. Herr Norton is at the very back while Frau Whistler leads our people through. This way, nobody can escape or cause too many problems. It’s almost like they think we’re a bunch of useless sheep!

Tina and I are the last two to reach the desks and I step forward and smile as pleasantly as I can manage.

“Reisepass, bitte.”

I hand over my passport and smile again, hoping I look casual rather than constipated. The German official examines my passport, glancing back and forth between me and it for a second or two before turning to his colleague.

“Erik, schau mal” he calls, waving the passport. I feel a rock drop in the pit of my stomach as ‘Erik’ wanders over and glances at the passport too.

“Ist das dein?”

He’s asking if it’s mine, I know what he’s implying. “Ja, das ist mein.”

“In deinem Reisepass steht, dass du ein Junge bist?"

I sigh. I’m still following the German here, they just asked why my passport says that I’m a boy. Time to clarify matters. “Ja, ich bin ein Junge, kein Mädchen.”

Two pairs of Germanic eyebrows raised. “Amerikanerin?”

“Ja, wie mein Reisepass steht.”

The man picks up a phone and jabbers away in rapid German.

“Problem?” Herr Norton asks, stepping up next to me.

“Bitte, Herr, warten Sie,” The man waves towards the teacher asking him to wait his turn.

“Nein, ich bin sein Lehrer… I’m his teacher, guardian?“

The man shakes his head and continues on the phone.

“Passport troubles, Winters?”

I nod and sigh with exasperation “Exactly what you might expect.”

Herr Norton smiles and waves me behind him as he approaches the desk. He waves the chap Erik over and begins explaining the matter in rapid German. The man seems surprised and then starts nodding before turning to his colleague and jabbering away. A few minutes later the original officer waves me forward and hands me my passport. “Deine Reisepass. Alles in Ordnung, Fräulein. Willkommen in Deutschland.”

For fucks sake.

By the time Herr Norton and I catch up to the others, they are waiting in the arrivals hall, having already cleared customs and collected their baggage. As expected, our late arrival hasn’t been missed by the others.

“What was all that about?” one guy asks, “you took ages in there.”

Before I can answer, Herr Norton steps in with the save. “The number was glitched on Alex’s passport with it being a newly issued one. They needed to sort it out manually so it took forever.” Herr Norton sighs dramatically. “What can you do with computers, eh?”

Nice cover teacher. He just went up higher in my estimations.

People seem satisfied for the moment. Gary glances my way and frowns. I’m pretty sure he knows why I was delayed but he’s keeping his trap shut. He’s a tricky one; that slippery bastard is going to be alert to shenanigans this trip, so I’ll need to be on my best behavior. The problem is that without his sisters he might be harder to control. I wonder if I can set Tina on him? There is, however, every chance that this might be considered a war crime.

Once everyone is ready, Frau Whistler escorts us out into the pickup area where a large intercity style busis waiting for us. In no short order, we were herded aboard our transport and we set off into Germany proper.

I managed to snag myself a seat to myself on the bus and curled up to watch the weird and wonderful scenery pass by. We landed in Frankfurt, so it’s a fair drive to our hotel somewhere north of Bonn. Once we get out of the Frankfurt suburbs and industrial areas, it's actually an incredibly scenic drive as we pass Mainz and turn north towards Koblenz. It feels weird to actually be here, but it’s exciting all the same.

After a couple of hours of Autobahn travel, we roll up at our accommodation for the week. Our hotel is not some glitzy four-star city center spot for trendy folk with cash to burn. We might be on a private school trip but it doesn’t mean we’re loaded either. No, we’re staying out in the sticks in what roughly equates to a business hotel. It’s clean and tidy but it’s not particularly interesting or snazzy.

The Hotel Am Rhein is located in a town called Wesseling. It’s slap bang between Köln (What the Germans call Cologne) and Bonn, the two major cities we’ll be visiting during our visit. It’s right on the bank of the mighty Rhein in quite possibly the most industrial little town I’ve ever seen. It’s like Detroit, but less dead and far more Lederhosen.

We arrived at the hotel around six in the evening. By this point, most of us are pretty exhausted. We’ve been traveling for most of the day and I for one could do with a whole lot of sleep. The problem is that if we want to actually beat the jet lag we need to stay up for a few hours yet.

“Your room is three fifteen Fraulein, danke.”

I take the key offered by the receptionist and hold my tongue. Tina chuckles quietly beside me and gets an elbow in the ribs for her trouble. It turns out that we’re going to be neighbors for the week as she’s in three fourteen with a girl called Sarah.

We haul our bags into the elevator and ride up to the third floor.

“Who are you sharing with?” Sarah asks as we traipse down the corridor in search of our rooms.

“I’m on my own I think.” I offer, not wanting to really go into the why.

“Cool,” she enthuses. “We doing anything after we get settled? They said we were free until like ten.”

“We could always head into the town and take a look around?” Tina offers. “I saw some cafes and stuff on the drive-in.”

“Sure,” I shrug, “I am kinda hungry.”

We agree to meet in fifteen minutes so I drag my bags into my room and take a look around. For a small hotel, it’s actually a rather nice single room. There is plenty of space, a decent bed, and a very clean and tidy ensuite bathroom all to myself.

I toss my bag on the bed and begin unpacking. Before you ask, I didn’t bring any girly stuff with me. Ok sure, most of the stuff is from the girls section now, but it’s all really androgynous and not designed to enhance my figure. Naturally, I have my bras and panties, but those are just a necessity at this point. Obviously I’ve not brought anything uplifting, but rather my compression sports bras, what do you take me for?

Fifteen minutes and a quick wash and tidy later, I’m waiting outside my room to meet the others. It’s pretty cold over here, so I toss a leather jacket on over my hoodie and stuff a beanie on my head. Coupled with my cargos, I look about as macho as I can manage these days. Maybe Tina is right, I think I might be sending out potent lesbian vibes. I hope Germany doesn’t have any of those or I might be in serious trouble.

A few moments later, Tina and Sarah come spilling out of their room, having changed completely out of their comfy travel clothes and into warmer winter outfits befitting the current cold climate.

“You been waiting long?”

“Nah,” I shrug, falling in alongside them as we head back towards the lobby. “I got my stuff unpacked and grabbed a jacket. Not really much to do.”

Did I agonize over the mirror trying to make myself look more boyish then suffer an existential crisis of dysphoria at the very act then shrug it off and accept my lesbian vibes? maybe.

“So you’re… Alex right?” Sarah asks, giving me a once-over. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too,” I smile carefully. She seems like a nice girl from our brief interactions, but I’m reluctant to get too relaxed around her at the moment. The last thing I need to do is slip and reveal something too girly and I start unraveling this entire mess.

Sarah is taller than both Tina and I, standing around five foot eight or so in her winter boots. She has long black hair and is currently wrapped up in a furry hooded coat and a pretty woolen hat and glove set that I’d far rather be wearing.

We set off from the hotel and headed south into the town itself. It wasn’t that big, but somehow they’ve managed to fit a ton of stuff into a tiny space here. Unlike the States, the roads are super narrow and nothing much reached past three stories.

We walk for about fifteen minutes before finding ourselves in the center of the little town. There are a lot of pedestrian streets here, all of them filled with various bars and restaurants serving a bustling clientele in the winter evening. We were hungry kids, so our first port of call was fast food.

“Was kann ich euch bringen, Mädchen?" the rosy-faced chap in the burger joint asks as we traipse in out of the cold.

Again, sigh.

“Einen Moment, bitte,” I ask, giving the guy a friendly smile.

I peruse the menu of the place, it’s a typical takeaway selling burgers, sausages and the like. Nothing remotely healthy, but delicious all the same. I glance over at Sarah and Tina, “What do you guys fancy?”

“Some fries maybe? Oh, one of those currywurst things?” Tina asks, almost salivating at the prospect.

I turn back to the waiting Wurstmeister. “Drei Currywurst mit Pommes bitte.”

(Italics are in German, I won’t waste your time translating more)

“No problem girls,” the guy replies, “Three currywurst and fries coming up. Are you visiting? You don’t sound local.”

“Yes, school trip.” I offer, “We are from America.”

“Wow, that’s a long journey. I hope you enjoy Germany.” he grinned. “That will be twelve Euros please.”

I fork over the cash and receive three polystyrene trays of paprika-sauced goodness in return. We thank our server and head back out into the cold to enjoy our bounty.

“That guy thought you were a girl.” Sarah points out. “He kept saying Mädchen; that means girls.”

Grr.

“It happens sometimes,” I shrug. “I just ignore it.”

“Alex is just a bit too pretty for a boy,” Tina mumbles past a mouthful of potato sticks.

“That must be a bit weird,” Sarah opines. “So how do you know Tina then?”

“We play Badminton together at the Skyline with Meg and Kara Byrne.”

“Ah cool,” Sarah grins, sticking a slice of wurst in her mouth. “I just stuck to volleyball.”

We walk through the town eating our food. Most of the normal shops are closed at this hour of the day, but the bars and restaurants are keeping the nighttime consumer happy. It’s quite unlike anything I’ve experienced in America, although being sixteen, that’s not exactly a great deal.

I deposit my empty food tray in a nearby trashcan and lick the last of the curry sauce off my lips. For takeout, it was absolutely worth the money and it has left me feeling in a particularly good mood. Even the exhaustion from a day of travel, passport shenanigans and Tina’s buffoonery can’t manage to kick the smile off my face.

My phone rings while we’re walking back along the road to the hotel and I drop back while I answer it. I don’t recognize the caller ID, but it’s got a US country code.

“Hello?”

“Holly?

My heart warms as I recognize the voice. “Rick? What are you doing calling me? You know I’m in Germany right now, don’t you?”

The voice on the other end of the line chuckles softly, “I know; I’m calling on Dad’s phone, he has international minutes.”

“It’s really good to hear your voice, I miss you.” Yes, I’m this soppy, deal with it, dear reader.

“I miss you too,” he murmurs affectionately. “Was the flight ok? How is it there?”

“Yeah, just in Wesseling now; the town where we’re staying. We’re heading back to the hotel after grabbing a snack. The flight was chaos and boredom and I’m super sore but I’ll survive,” I sigh happily.

“I’m going to miss kissing you while you’re away. I can’t wait until you’re back.”

You know, I’m almost ready to hail a cab back to the airport just so I can speed that reunion up.

“There’ll be plenty of time for that when I’m home. How was the game?”

“We won, but it wasn’t the same without you there though.”

I glance up and realize we’re almost back at the hotel. “Rick, I gotta go, we’re back now. I’ll talk to you soon, ok? I love you.”

“Love you too Holly, send me a postcard, ok?”

“With bells on, cowboy,” I murmur before I hang up the line.

I catch up to the girls as we arrive back at the riverside.

“Who was that?” Sarah asks. “Parents?”

“Just a friend,” I reply quickly. “Seeing how the trip was.”

“Some friend to call you all the way over in Europe,” Tina observed dryly. The expression on her face said there was more to that remark, but she thankfully kept to her word and remained schtum.

Maybe she does possess a modicum of tact after all.

 

 

There’s a knock on my door a little after ten thirty that evening. I’m already in my jammies and ready for bed. What jammies say you? A sexy nightie? Something silky and just a little frilly? You should know better by now; plain old shorts and an oversized T-shirt. Try to remember I’m attempting to do boy still so I have to behave myself.

I squint through the peephole and spot a certain irritating pixie.

Opening the door, I raise an eyebrow at Tina. “Sup?”

“Can I come in?” she beams sweetly.

I hold the door open and step aside to allow her entry. “What do you want?”

“Talk?” she offers, parking herself on the bed. “I know I’ve been a bit of an ass today but I don’t travel great. I tend to get a bit annoying.”

“Just a little,” I reply with a slight smile, plopping down on a spot at the top end of the bed. “Look, I didn’t mean to lie to you about who I am all those times at the gym. I would understand if you felt like I had betrayed your confidence.”

“What do you mean?” Tina frowned.

“Changing rooms and stuff…”

Tina scoffed and waved her hand dismissively, “I don’t give a fuck about that. You never once acted weird and you aren’t into chicks, not that I’d care. Anyway, you’ve got more than enough of your own that I’ve seen.”

“How do you know I’m not into girls?”

“I’ve been around plenty of lesbians,” she shrugged. You’ve never looked at another girl the way I’ve seen you glance at boys. Plus, I heard you on the phone to Loverboy earlier, whoever that was. There’s no hiding a boyfriend call.”

Hmm, operational security must be tightened.

“Fair enough, yes,” I admit, blushing slightly. “He called and I couldn’t well do that in front of Sarah.”

“Oh, she thinks you’re super gay by the way.”

“Gay?”

Tina nods, “Somehow she’s missed the chick part that keeps slapping her in the face, but she’s convinced you’re a total flamer gayboy.”

I shrug, “I’ve had worse. As long as she thinks I'm a guy that will do, I suppose.”

“So who is he? Loverboy?”

“Do you know Rick Taylor? He plays wide receiver on the football team?”

Tina looks thoughtful for a second and then it clicks. “The tall dark handsome? Wait, how the fuck are you doing better in the dating world than half of the Girls’ Division when you’re not even here yet? That’s just not fair!”

“I didn’t exactly plan it,” I admit, remembering just how hard I fought that particular attraction. “I wasn’t planning to get into any romantic entanglements yet.”

“He is not a bad catch at all.” she nods approvingly. “You’re gonna break a lot of hearts when that comes to light.”

“Great, just what I need,” I roll my eyes. “Start out as the new girl in January and have most of them hate me for being trans AND taking the guy they wanted.”

“I’m sure more than most will be fine with the trans bit… especially as you’re into boys. The team guy bit? More of a problem,” she giggles.

I know she’s playing with me, but it’s not an unreasonable concern. Jealousy do be a vibe sometimes.

“So how do we keep Sarah and the others off my trail?”

“I got her taken care of,” Tina considers. “The others? That’s on you girly. Your bro train is coming off the rails all on its own. If you can manage to keep them fooled this week in a country with an entirely gendered language, then you’re the Queen of Egypt.”

“Shit.”

“Shit indeed,” she grins. “I’ll help where I can, but it’s going to be a big task.”

“I’m glad that I have someone on my side,” I admit. “Thank you, Tina, I really mean it.”

She shakes her head and smiles. “You know, it always seemed so weird that Meg and Kara were such close friends with you but I’d never heard about you before. You didn’t go to our school but you knew so much about it and came to the same Gym on a school day… Even still, I honestly had no idea you were hiding out in boy town until I spotted your ass back in the terminal.”

“Such luck, eh?”

She looks at me and shakes her head, a sly smile spreading across her lips. “I’m sticking around you, Holly Winters; you make shit real interesting.”

God, I was afraid of that.

 

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