"You know, this stuff is pretty good!" I said as I fumbled through using chopsticks.

"I thought you would," Marie said. "I'm glad your mom let you come with me to this place. I used to come here with some friends when I was in college."

It was a small Chinese restaurant where Marie said we would get the full effect.

"You know, you're nothing like what mom used to let us think you were like," I said. "You're really cool."

"Thanks," Marie said. "I can understand how your mom feels. But I'm really glad she's letting us get to know each other better."

Marie wasn't "the other woman." She was the woman after the woman who, along with dad, broke up my parents' marriage.

But mom was jealous of her. She was young, beautiful and hip, as mom says. And now that she and dad had kids, mom felt like we were being neglected, although that wasn't really true.

"So, are you excited about the meet tomorrow?" Marie asked. "I know I was really nervous at my first state meet."

"I'm a little nervous, too," I said. "I don't want to mess up and let my teammates down."

"You won't," she said. "I've got faith in you. You'll do fine. Just relax and have fun. Most girls...I mean kids...never get a chance to even compete at state. It's something you'll cherish the rest of your life."

"Excuse me, ma'am," a woman said as she walked by our table. "My daughter thinks your daughter looks just like Selena Gomez. We think she's very pretty."

I rolled my eyes.

"Why thank you," Marie said. "I think she's very beautiful, too."

"That doesn't bother you?" Marie said as the woman walked away.

"A little sometimes," I said. "I get that a lot now that my hair's long, and people don't know me."

"Well, why don't you get it cut?" Marie said.

"Because I don't want to," I said defiantly. "Boys can have long hair, too. Haven't you heard of Rocker Hair?"

Marie giggled.

"I never said I didn't like it," she said. "I love it on you. But it doesn't really look like Rocker Hair. It's too wavy, got more curl to it. But I think it makes you look very beautiful."

I blushed.

"It does," Marie said. "I am curious what is going on inside of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's one thing to be a boy playing a girl's sport," she said, "and you compete in two. But you seem to take it to another level at times, the homecoming dance, dressing as a girl at the ballet and at my banquet and joining a sorority."

"Is it bad I'm more comfortable around girls?" I asked. "Or that I like doing some of the things they do?"

Marie smiled.

"No honey," she said. "I think it makes you unique. I think it makes you special. You're going to make one extraordinary young man these days...or young woman..."

Again I blushed and then decided to change the subject.

"Marie, can I show you something?" I said.

"What is it kiddo?" Marie said.

"There's this shop where Beth and I went to look at tuxes and dresses for the winter formal," I said. "Can we go there? There's something I want to show you."

"Sure!" Marie said. "Is it very far from here?"

*****

I showed Marie the tuxes I tried on. I showed her the dresses that Beth tried on.

"They all look nice," Marie said. "You'll both look good in anyone that you choose. But I have the feeling there is another reason you wanted us to come here."

There was in deed. Hanging in the corner was the dress, the lavender dress.

"I wanted to show you this," I said, pulling it off the rack.

She smiled.

"Why do I have the feeling you're not thinking about Beth wearing it?" she asked.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked.

"I really can't give you an opinion until I see you in it," Marie said.

I took it and went to the dressing room. It wasn't too hard to put on. Maybe I was getting the hang of it.

"What do you think?" I said as I modeled it for Marie.

"It's gorgeous," she said. "And you look gorgeous in it."

"What do you think mom will think?" I asked.

"She is a little uneasy about it," Marie said. "I can't blame her. But I think it's more of how you'll be treated than anything else."

"I think just about every one there expects me to be wearing something like this," I said. "They'd probably be shocked if I were the one wearing the tux by now. They're cool with it."

"Is this something you really want to do?" Marie said.

"Yes! Yes it is!" I said.

"I'll smooth things with your mom," she said. "And I'll pay for the dress. We're not leaving the store without it."

I smiled and skipped my way back to the dressing room.

"I feel a little unglamorous now," I said when I returned.

"Oh, you'll always be glamorous to me," Marie said. "Oh by the way, your dad is going to be in Alaska on business when you come to the lake to visit for two weeks. But I still want you to come. You're not disappointed I hope."

"No," I said.

Actually, I felt a little relieved.

"I think I'm going to mark boy's swimsuit off my list when you come," she said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"I saw some cute bikinis and tankinis at the boutique the other day," Marie said. "I think they'll suit you better."

*****

You could hear a pin drop in our lockerroom at the state meet.

"This is it," Coach Mills said before we took the floor for warmups. "We've been working toward this day all year. Go out and give it all you have. Go out and have fun. You'll remember this the rest of your lives."

We gathered in a circle.

"Ok ladies," Shelley said. "Carpe..."

"Diem!" we shouted.

It didn't take long for me to face my biggest challenge.

We were on beam first.

"It's just a simple routine," Coach Mills told me before I mounted the beam. "I know you can do it."

I did my best to zone the crowd out. That was something Aunt Paige told me to do.

"Come on Lu," my teammates shouted as I stood looking down the beam.

A wobble here, a wobble there, but I stayed on through the first trip down the beam.

I did a couple of tougher required elements on my turn-around. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it down the beam without falling.

Only one more trip, and you're home free, I thought.

I made it through the routine without falling. The only thing left was the dismount. I wanted to stick the dismount.

"Yo! Adrian, he did it," Dominique shouted when I stuck the landing.

My teammates mobbed me.

My score...8.1.

Nothing fancy.

"But we can use that, if need be," Coach Mills said. "Great job!"

Jessi followed with an 8.5. It was her best score of the season.

Dominique scored a 9.3. Kylie had a season best 9.8.

The whole place erupted when Shelley, our senior, finished with a 9.9.

My score wasn't going to count. But Coach Mills felt it set the tone.

"They fed off you, Lu!" she said as we carted our stuff to the uneven bars.

We were third behind Reid Prep and Abingdon. But beam was our worst event.

"They have to know this meet is gonna be ours," Dominique said with her usual confidence.

I started to put my warmups on since this was the only event I wasn't competing in. But then I saw Beth in the stands.

I stuffed them back in my bag, wiggled my butt at her and blew her a kiss.

She whistled.

I just smiled and took a seat by my teammates and pulled for the ones on bar.

We posted a good enough score to overtake Abingdon. Reid Prep still led, but we closed the gap.

Next up was the vault–my event.

Jessi, as the lowest seed, led off.

She posted a 9.0, a season best.

"Okay Lu! The pressure is off," Coach Mills shouted before I went running toward the vault. I did a handspring and stuck the landing.

I grinned a mile wide when a season-best 9.2 was posted.

"That's good!" Coach Mills said. "But you can do better. Be explosive!"

I raced down to the vault again, hitting my hand stand and soaring a little higher. Again, I stuck the landing.

Our fans erupted. A 9.4 was posted.

Dominique matched my 9.4. Shelley scored a 9.6. Kylie led us with a 9.7.

She and Shelley had done better, but we trimmed Reid Prep's lead a down to one-hundredths of a point heading down to our final event, the floor.

"Remember Lu, a little hippage," Dominique said when I took the floor.

My heart raced when they turned on the music. It was Don't Stop Believing, the Glee version.

I heard the crowd roar when I did my tumbling passes. I threw in a tour jete no one was expecting, and a couple of pique turns during the dance part.

It was the most fun I've ever had.

"Oh my God! That was great!" Jessi said as I came off the floor.

"Way to go kiddo!" I heard from the stands.

It was Marie.

There was even more applause when my score was announced: a 9.6!

Jessi did well. She scored a 9.3. Kylie scored a 9.7, Shelley a 9.8.

"We've got this if Dominique doesn't fall apart," Coach Mills said. "Lu's 9.6 already puts us over the top, I think."

Dominique doesn't fall apart on the floor. It's showtime for her and she brought down the house.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in state history, a perfect 10 on the floor!" the P.A. announcer said when he announced her score.

One on the state championship by a landslide.

Shelley was in tears. It was her moment as our only senior, our leader.

We crowded around her on the podium to accept our trophy.

"Good job Lu, I'm really proud of you, especially with how you did on the beam," she whispered to me.

*****

The country club was all lit up for winter formal.

Marie sprung for a limo to pick me and Beth up. And yes, she looked really handsome in her tux.

"Okay Mel, fork it over," Gina Lenetti said when she saw Beth escort me into the room.

She and Melanie Piper had a bet. Gina bet her $10 that I would show up as the girl.

"I should have known," Melanie said.

"Thanks for not letting me down, little sister!" Gina whispered to me.

"Would I ever let you down?" I asked.

"You never do," Gina said.

We went through the ceremony where the pledges were officially inducted into the Les Amies.

We posed for our picture and sang the sorority song.

Then we danced the night away.

Beth and I walked out to a lit up gazebo for some fresh air.

"You look lovely tonight," Beth said.

"You look good, too," I said. "But don't you think it's a little weird for us to do this."

Beth smiled and gave me a kiss.

"It's who we are," she said. "I football pads, basketball shorts and tuxedos. You're field hockey skirts, leotards and ball gowns. Who cares what everyone else thinks?"

She was right.

In other places, people might have a problem with it.

In our world, things were just right.

I kissed her back. Put my head on her shoulder and cried.

I wished this moment could last forever.

The End