Summerswitch Part 02
by Maeryn Lamonte

Shelley’s Gran was a wise old bird. She left me to cry things out for half an hour before she came up with a cup of camomile tea. I sat up on the bed and accepted the cup gratefully.

OK so it turns out there are some tastes even my new taste buds didn’t care for too much. Camomile was definitely one of them but it did have a noticeable calming effect.

She handed me a tissue and I dabbed at my eyes until I could see reasonably well.

“I must look a mess,” I said almost setting off the waterworks again — I mean girly much?

“That’s not important right now dear.” She patted me knee and waited.

I sat for a few minutes tearing the tissue into little shreds. I’d more or less figured out how to tackle this now and wanted to get it just right. The trick was that I didn’t want to be the bad guy after we’d sorted this out, so I had to make it seem like I had a legitimate reason for being upset without portraying myself — Jerry that is — as the villain.

“He said there was another girl at home and that it wouldn’t be fair to lead me on. I mean things were going so well and then he tells me that!” It was amazing how easily the tears came.

“It sounds like he was just trying to be honest with you dear.”

“I know, but couldn’t he have done it before I started liking him so much?”

Gran put her arms around me and rocked me. She was soft and comforting and smelled of lavender. After a while I stopped crying.

“What did he want just now?”

“He asked if we could be just friends.”

“And is that such a bad thing dear?”

“I don’t know Gran, I’m not sure we could.”

“Oh,” she replied. I’m not sure what she thought I had revealed, but she seemed to be quite definite about it.

She stayed with me a while longer not saying anything and just holding me, then she pushed me gently away from her.

“Never mind dear, why don’t you come down and help me put some lunch together, then afterwards you can come out for a walk with Grandpa and me. I’m afraid there’s nothing much more we can do today, but how do you fancy a trip into Harrogate tomorrow? Your mother sent me some money so we could buy you some clothes, and this feels like just the right occasion for… what is it you young people call it now? Retail therapy?”

I managed a weak smile. This may be just the thing for an upset Shelley, but shopping? For clothes?? Women’s clothes at that! What was I stuck with now?

I let Gran lead me down the stairs and we chatted quietly as she chopped some fresh vegetables from the garden and I fetched plates and cutlery and set the table.

-oOo-

After lunch we all pulled on our shoes. Grandpa frowned at my jeans, but he picked up on Gran’s warning glance and didn’t say anything.

The walk was pleasant enough; not particularly fast or far, but then Shelley’s grandparents had reached an age where everything was done at a slower rate. After a while we found ourselves walking down the road past Aunt Carol’s house. I’m not sure if this was planned, but there aren’t a lot of roads to choose in Ferrensby and it’s quite possible that this was the Hamilton’s usual route.

As we approached I could hear the sounds of someone fighting with unfamiliar tools in the front garden then Shelley stood up. She — actually who am I kidding, he — was stripped to the waist and sweating as he pulled a rather large stone out of the ground and set it to one side. He noticed us looking and rapidly turned away from us, trying to cover his chest before realising that he didn’t need to.

“Why don’t you go and have a chat with him dear,” Gran smiled at me — so this was as setup after all.

I did as I was told. “Hi Jerry.”

He smiled his handsome smile and I felt a blush rising as I realised that my lean little frame looked pretty good.

He walked towards me patting the sweat off his body with his tee-shirt.

“Hi,” he said. “I never got a chance to say this morning, that’s a really pretty top. It looks good on you.”

“Thanks I think,” I couldn’t completely hide my smile at his complement. Gran and Grandpa had walked on out of earshot. “I mean it is your body and you bought the blouse.”

“I don’t think I ever tried it with those jeans though. I really like it.” He was smiling again and I felt so confused.

“What’s this about?” I asked nodding at the hole in the ground and the pile of rocks.

“I think it’s Aunt Carol’s way of showing her disapproval with how a young man treats a pretty girl on their first date. I can’t say I wholeheartedly disapprove.” The smile took any sting out of the words. “I was wondering if maybe we could go for a walk together later. I mean being a guy isn’t all that complicated and I’ve managed to work most of it out, but I am aware that there are some things about being a girl that might be causing you some trouble.”

“Oh, I think I’m managing quite well thank-you. Your gran and grandpa have been giving me a bit of space today with me being upset and everything. And Gran’s taking me shopping in Harrogate tomorrow so I probably won’t have time.”

His smile faded a little but he gave a shrug. “OK no big deal, some other time maybe?”

“Maybe.” I felt awful. I remembered what it felt like to be turned down by a pretty girl and he hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

Except maybe turn me into the pretty girl. OK that worked; I was just angry enough not to feel too sorry for him.

“Anyway, I’d better catch up with Gran and Grandpa and I think Aunt Carol’s expecting you do get back to your digging.”

He looked over his shoulder at Aunt Carol standing with her arms crossed at the front door. He groaned and turned back to his hole in the ground.

I waved at Aunt Carol and she returned it as I walked off down the road.

As expected, the evening wasn’t amazingly exiting. After helping Gran to make the tea and wash the dishes after we’d eaten it, I followed them into the front room where Gran and Grandpa settled into their chairs and turned on their very small television to watch the news and some nature documentary afterwards. I wasn’t all that interested so curled up on a window seat with a book Shelley had been reading. I made sure I marked her place before starting over and despite the total lack of action or excitement, I found myself getting quite into it. It was still light at nine o’clock, but the stress of the day had been wearing so I excused myself and headed for my room.

I picked out a new pair of knickers and my nightie and slipped into the bathroom to undress. I was going to have to wash my hair before going into town in the morning which would mean an early morning, but I was too tired to be bothered with it now. Taking the bra off was a blessed relief and the same with the rather tight jeans.

The shower was as much a pleasure as it had been in the morning and I felt myself going all moist inside as my thoughts drifted to the sight of Shelley in my body sweating over Aunt Carol’s front garden. I snapped out of it and pulled my fingers away from the part of my anatomy where they had been straying. I deliberately turned the shower to cold and almost shrieked at the sudden shock.

I dried myself off and pulled the night dress over my head. The cool cotton brushed against my skin and I felt my nipples harden at the touch of the soft fabric. I brushed my teeth and hurried to my room with confused thoughts and feelings flooding my mind and body.

I lifted the duvet and settled into the soft embrace of the bed. The pillow smelled of Shelley’s perfume and I let out a gentle sigh as I drifted into Morpheus’ welcoming arms.

-oOo-

The night was filled with erotic dreams of Shelley and me. Her lips kissing mine, nibbling my ears, caressing my throat. Her hands cupping my breasts, stroking my navel, reaching between my thighs. My own hand reaching out to take hold of his…!

I was suddenly very wide awake. My body was covered in perspiration and waves of pleasure coursed through me in a receding tide, each one just a little less than the last. My own hands were between my legs and my knickers were…in need of a change.

I climbed out of bed and retrieved a fresh pair of knickers. The next drawer down revealed fresh night clothes. I grabbed a peach tee-shirt style nightie and headed as quietly as I could for the bathroom. The underwear went into the sink and I sat on the toilet waiting for the last surges of feeling to subside.

A few moments later there was a gentle tap on the door. “Shelley dear, are you alright?”

Never try to out-stealth the elderly. “Yes Gran I’m fine, it was just a dream.”

“Well if you’re sure…”

“I’m sure Gran”

“You’re not starting your…?”

“Gran I’m fine, please go back to bed.” Though it did give me one question I needed to raise with Shelley the next time I saw her.

It took me a few minutes to clean up and get changed. My old nightdress was wringing with perspiration — ladies don’t sweat remember — so it went in the laundry hamper. The rest I dealt with and you really don’t want to know the details.

I could feel Shelley’s gran straining to hear as I tiptoed back to bed. I lay staring at the wall for a long time before I drifted off again.

-oOo-

Somehow I managed to rouse myself early the next morning. Gran, as with the previous day, was up and moving around in the kitchen so I took the opportunity to dive into the bathroom. I checked to make sure that I hadn’t left anything lying around the previous night before stepping into the shower.

Washing this much hair proved to be quite challenge and it took far longer than I was used to before I was done. With a little bit of trial and error I finally managed to get a towel to hold up around my body and a second one to wrap up my hair and sit on my head.

I headed back to my room and towelled my hair dry as best I could before setting about searching for a hair drier. It turned up a couple of minutes later in the drawer at the bottom of the wardrobe and I sat down in front of the dressing table mirror to start working on it.

“Oh no!”

“What is it dear?” Granma appeared with impeccable timing carrying a mug of tea.

“I have a zit,” I said presenting the side of my nose with the offending spot to the mirror. Somehow it seemed like the worst disaster in the world.

“I didn’t think you cleansed last night.” Gran set the mug of tea down on the bedside table. “Now let’s have a look.” She took my face in her hands and peered down her nose at my face. “Well not much we can do about it now. I suggest you give you face a good steaming to open up the pores and then give it a good cleansing. We’ll put some antiseptic on it and who knows, it may just clear. I’ll go and run some hot water into the sink, you come along in a minute and bring that towel.”

I did as I was told and stooped over the sink of steaming water with a towel draped over my head for about 10 minutes, then headed back to my room. Gran had put out the bunch of skin care bottles and cleansing pads I remembered seeing in one of the draws the previous day. I spent a few minutes reading the instructions on the bottle then, none the wiser, grabbed the biggest of the bottles, labelled skin cleanser, and used it with a few of the pads to give my face a good going over.

Maybe Shelley had been right, this girl thing was a bit more complicated than I’d first thought.

I remembered to drink my tea while it still had some heat to it, then over the next half hour did battle with my hair; combing knots out of it, drying it and trying to give it some shape. Even after thirty minutes of continuous work it still felt slightly damp, but I couldn’t be bothered to fight it any more.

I grabbed a fresh pair of undies and a tangle of straps that eventually unravelled into a bra and started dressing. I settled my two smallish breasts into the cups and a memory of Dad’s voice calling it an ‘over the shoulder boulder holder’ jumped out from the back of my mind and made me smile. What would he think if he could see his only son now?

I opened the wardrobe and started going through the hangers. There were other pairs of trousers in here but, conscious of what Gran had said the previous day and Grandpa’s disapproving looks, I decided it wouldn’t do any harm to show willing since they had been so kind to me. Eventually I settled on a pink summer dress with short sleeves, a respectable neckline that nonetheless showed enough cleavage to be interesting and a hemline that was just above the knee. The material was light and swirled delightfully about my legs and I actually found myself enjoying the look and feel of the clothes.

I found a dark blue hair band and managed to settle it into place, then a pair of white sandals with a half inch heel that seemed to go quite well. I checked myself in the mirror; the red around the spot had subsided quite a bit. Feeling pleased with myself I headed downstairs for breakfast.

-oOo-

The smiles I received from Gran and Grandpa were enough to make the effort worthwhile. I ate half a slice of toast with marmalade and no butter — yet another question for Shelley, how much should I be eating if I wanted to maintain this figure? — and downed the obligatory glass of OJ.

By eight o’clock Gran and I were ready for our jaunt into town. Gran looked at me a little oddly.

“Aren’t you bringing a handbag?” She asked.

I made an oops face and ran upstairs. There had been two in the bottom of the wardrobe; one white and one black. I grabbed the white one and, finding it empty, transferred the contents of the black one across to it. Two minutes later Gran and I were waiting at the bus stop.

As we boarded the bus and settled into our seats it dawned on me that I was now on a bus, in public, wearing a dress, and quite a short one at that. We were also heading into town where, if Gran had her way, I would try everything that Harrogate had to offer in the way of skirts, tops, dresses and shoes. I started to get very nervous. Gran noticed and smiled.

“Don’t get your hopes up too much dear.” She said, totally misreading me. “Harrogate does have one or two good shops but I doubt you’ll find the kind of variety you’re used to.”

I managed a smile back but couldn’t think of anything to say in return.

Gran kept a running commentary on village life going through most of the journey into Harrogate. She seemed to think I should know some of the people she mentioned, but all I could contribute was the occasional nod or shake of the head. This didn’t seem to faze her and she carried on regardless, putting my reticence down to the previous day’s upset.

The shops were just beginning to open as we headed into the centre of town from the terminus. Gran led me into the first clothing store we came across and a new aspect of life opened up for me.

As a boy I’d never been that interested in clothes. They were a necessary part of life; a way of covering the bits you didn’t want to display to the world and of keeping warm during the winter. OK sure I did pick out a few tee-shirts and sweatshirts I liked, but they usually had clever slogans or famous movie scenes on them. Apart from that there wasn’t that much in the guys’ line that was particularly interesting and, let’s face it even if there were, no self-respecting bloke would go to too much trouble to buy really attractive clothes; I mean that would be trying too hard.

But here I was in what I had to admit was a fairly spectacularly girl’s body and part of the deal was to make it look as good as I could.

I was a little reluctant to start with, especially when I saw some of the prices, but Gran had the bit between her teeth and started pulling out dresses from the rack and holding them up against me with a critical look. There was an awkward moment when I realised I didn’t know my size, but after we sorted that out with the help of a tape measure form Grans bag I started getting into the swing of things. I found colours that went well with my hair colour and complexion and others that decidedly didn’t. I started picking out designs that I liked and thought would look good, and spent a ridiculous amount of time in changing rooms primping and preening in front of full length mirrors.

I showed Gran everything I put on, sharing the downright awful — for the laugh — as much as the good and the indifferent. I picked out a few things that I thought would look good on Gran and in the end she agreed to a new scarf, but only if she was allowed to buy me a rather stunning black dress that had caught my eye.

Clothes bought, we headed for the shoe shops since I apparently didn’t have anything to match some of the new outfits. Gran seemed to delight in spending money on me and I started to worry over the amounts being paid. I confronted her after the second pair of shoes and she told me not to worry, that the size of the allowance my parents had given her reflected the guilt they felt at not spending more time with me. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, but let it go.

By lunchtime my feet were killing me, but I felt more energised and animated than I had ever done on after a shopping expedition. We found a coffee shop that was not quite overflowing and managed to squeeze onto an empty table. I left Gran with the truly obscene number of bags that we had been carrying and joined the queue for drinks and sandwiches.

I noticed Aunt Carol before I saw Shelley — probably because I was still not that used to seeing my own body from the outside. Gran saw them too and waved them over to the table she was guarding. I was pointed out and Shelley headed over with a couple of additional orders. He settled into the queue beside me, ignoring the barbed looks from the people behind us in the queue, and gave me a sheepish grin.

“It was Aunt Carol’s idea. She said your mum and dad had given her a bit of money to spend on me and she figured I’d want to spend those book tokens sometime. I hope you don’t mind me spending your money.”

It was my turn to look sheepish. “Not if you don’t mind me spending yours.”

I nodded at the pile of bags and he whistled. “Well you do seem to have had an interesting morning.”

“Not the way I would have chosen to spend it, and I hope we’re still within budget, but I must say it was a lot more fun than I expected.”

I gave him a sunny smile and noted the odd look in his eyes. It reminded me of the way I felt when Alex was about, and it gave me a warm feeling inside to think I was affecting him in that way.

We paid for the food and drink and headed back to the table. Aunt Carol and Gran were chatting away like a couple of old friends and it dawned on me that, living in the same village, they might just be that.

I felt a little awkward as I picked my way through a chicken salad. Shelley was at a loss for words too, and we didn’t exchange more than a couple of sentences the whole time we were sitting together. Towards the end Aunt Carol asked Shelley’s gran how nearly finished we were and if she could offer us a lift home. Looking at the sheer bulk of our spoils and imagining the struggle on a busy bus, Gran was only too pleased to accept on our behalf. Shelley’s eyes brightened at the prospect of sharing the trip home with me, and I have to admit to feeling a gentle buzz at the thought too.

Shelley helped carry the bags, picking up the large majority of them and making a sarcastic comment about how empty the shops must be now. I gave him a har-har-very-funny smile and poked my tongue out at him as we followed Carol to the car park.

Gran sat up front with Carol, leaving me sitting in an awkward silence with Shelley on the back seat while the two older women prattled away the journey home. We arrived back in Ferrensby and Carol pulled up outside the Hamilton’s small terrace, Shelley seemed to reach a decision.

“Can we meet up later for a walk or something?”

Aunt Carol and Gran became conspicuously still and quiet in the front of the car and I had to suppress a smile. I still wasn’t sure I was done being mad with Shelley, but I needed a few lessons in being a girl and I had a growing list of questions that needed answering.

“OK, but just a walk.”

Gran’s and Carol’s attempts to hide a smile were quite comical and again I found myself biting the inside of my cheek as Shelley gave me a far more sincere, grateful smile.

“I’ll come round about seven-thirty if that’s ok?”

I looked at Gran who nodded and shrugged. “We should have eaten by then. Thanks for the lift Carol, I don’t think we would have been too popular on the bus with all this stuff.”

We unloaded the back of the car and waved as Carol and Shelley pulled away.

The bags just about made it up the stairs in one trip with Gran and Grandpa helping. There didn’t seem to be a lot of room in my small bedroom, but by the time everything was out of bags and boxes and squeezed into the wardrobe, it seemed like I would be able to breath in there after all.

“It’s a bit like the Tardis that wardrobe.” It was about the only time Grandpa had opened his mouth since I’d woken up in Shelley’s bed and I grinned at his attempt at a joke. “I’d never have thought you could get all that clobber in there.”

“Why don’t you have a shower and get changed dear?” Gran asked. “I imagine you’re feeling a bit grubby after a day in town. You could try on that blue dress.”

There was a twinkle of mischief about her eyes, but it did seem like a good idea and that blue dress was rather special.

Half an hour later, feeling refreshed and clean, I twirled in front of the small mirror in my room and luxuriated in the look and feel of the new material on my body. The dress was a subtle blue grey that contrasted well with my light skin and hair. It was a one shoulder design that couldn’t be worn with any of the bras I had, but fortunately had sufficient support sewn into it that I didn’t need one. It was made of an inner satin sheath with tiers of floating chiffon reaching down to mid-thigh. It would go well with my white sandals, but right now it needed something new so I pulled out a new pair of white court shoes. They had a two inch heel on them which was probably going to make walking something of a challenge, but the overall effect was perfect and I felt like a million dollars as I made my way downstairs.

Both Gran and Grandpa gave me approving smiles as I walked into the kitchen. I asked what I could do to help and was told that I could sit to one side and make sure I didn’t ruin my new outfit.

Gran gave me a sideways look. “You know, I’m not much for makeup and that sort of thing, but I think we could probably improve on perfection this time, what do you think Geoff?”

“Oh I think it would be gilding the lily, but have too if you think it worthwhile,” Grandpa replied.

Gran wiped her hands on her apron and ushered me back upstairs. In my bedroom she sat me in front of the dressing table and looked in the mirror over my shoulder. She produced a shopping bag I hadn’t seen earlier and pulled out a rather impressively large makeup kit with ‘Summer Girl’ emblazoned on the front and opened it for my inspection.

I stared in panic at the vast and unfamiliar array of goodies in front of me. Gran must have thought I was overwhelmed, because she smiled at me and patted me shoulder.

“Just promise me you’ll clean it off properly before bed.” She withdrew leaving me with no idea on what to do next.

I remembered girls at school doing their makeup, and I tried to dredge up memories of what they had actually been doing with some of this stuff.

Foundation first I guessed and picked up a small compact with a pad and some flesh coloured powder in it. My first attempt was decidedly heavy handed and I wiped it off immediately and started over. On about my third try I managed to put on a light enough dusting that it seemed to give me a smoother complexion while seeming like there was hardly any makeup there at all.

Encouraged I looked at my eyes. I didn’t want to risk eyeliner or mascara on a first try, and instead tried applying a small amount of silvery blue eye shadow. I probably didn’t put on enough, but the final effect was quite subtle and worked well enough for me.

Lastly for a first attempt, I chose a darkish pink lip gloss. It took a while to follow the line of my lips, but the final effect was worth all the time and effort. I’d looked gorgeous before, but this was definitely a step up.

I dropped the compact and lip gloss into my white handbag along with the other odds and end that were in there and headed back downstairs once more. This time Grandpa actually whistled as I walked into the kitchen and Gran gave me a quick once over close up before nodding her head in approval.

“Just right,” she said with smile.

By the smell, tea was nearly ready so I set about laying out plates and cutlery. Glasses of water followed and we sat down as Gran lifted a casserole out of the oven and placed it in the centre of the table.

“I feel quite underdressed,” Grandpa smiled at me as he ladled a healthy portion of stew onto my plate. It seemed that now I was smiling again, he felt a bit more comfortable joining in the conversation.

We chatted over the meal about all sorts of nothing. Gran and I regaled Grandpa with tales of our shopping exploits, something I’m sure he could have quite happily lived without, although he made a show of nodding and smiling in all the right places, then he told us all the pieces of news he’d picked up from his newspaper. It felt great to have that human contact and it really didn’t matter that the topics of conversation weren’t all that stimulating.

We’d about finished when Gran glanced up at the clock.

“Ooh, you’d better go check yourself dear, that young man of yours will be here in a few minutes.”

The clock read twenty-five minutes past and I stood up and started to gather the plates.

“Oh don’t worry about that love, Grandpa and I will sort it out. You just go and make sure you’re ready for when he calls.”

I dashed upstairs and checked my face. The lip gloss needed a little touching up, after which I took out my brush and started going through my hair. I was still brushing and enjoying the feeling when the door knocker rapped loudly starling me back to full awareness.

I heard murmured voices downstairs and recognised my own among them. I kept on brushing and waited to be called.

“Shelley dear, your young man’s here,” Gran called up the stairs.

“I’ll be right down,” I called back, gave myself a last approving once over and on impulse picked up the perfume bottle. Having watched my Mum in the past I did as she always had, upending the bottle onto its glass stopper then dabbing the stopper onto my wrists and either side of my neck.

I grabbed my handbag and forced myself to walk slowly and sedately down the stairs.

The sight of Shelley looking up at me with his mouth hanging open was a delight. It did me good to see how much my appearance had knocked the wind out of his sails.

He had made an effort as well; wearing what I knew full well was his one pair of good jeans and a new polo shirt. His hair was combed and he held in his hand a small bunch of flowers from Aunt Carol’s garden. When he had recovered from his temporary trance, he reached forward and offered them to me.

“These are for you.” He seemed oddly flustered which I thought was kind of cute.

“They’re lovely,” I said accepting them and taking a deep breath of their perfume. It was oddly sweet, and I felt a bit of ice melt from my frosty opinion of him.

“Let me take them from you and put them in some water,” said Gran and I handed them over.

Jerry offered his arm and after moment’s hesitation I slid my own into the crook of his elbow.

“Have fun kids, don’t be too late.”

The door closed behind us and Shelley stopped to look at me.

“You look incredible. Is that one of your purchases from this morning?” I nodded and he smiled. “I think I’m going to have to get you to go shopping for me another time.”

And that broke the spell. Suddenly I was once more aware that I was really a boy in a girl’s body, and no matter how natural, how much fun, it had felt to go shopping this morning, to dress up and even to put on make-up, I was still Jerry Newington. I should actually be inhabiting the body of the person whose arm I was holding and she should be in this one. I pulled my arm away and took a step away.

“Shelley…” He started.

“My name is Jerry, or have you forgotten who you really are already?”

“No it’s not that, it just…” He lifted his arms in a what-can-you-do shrug. “It just seems easier to think of you as Shelley and me as Jerry while we’re like this. But OK, Jerry if you prefer.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just that I’m not coping as well as I thought I might. I mean I’m a guy right. OK not much of a guy, I’m not all that big and strong, but I’m still a boy. I shouldn’t be enjoying shopping trips and putting on hundreds and hundreds of outfits. I shouldn’t be so thrilled at how I look when I put on a dress, I shouldn’t be so focused on putting on make-up that I spend a whole hour in front of the mirror in my room making sure it looks just right. This isn’t me and I’m so scared that I’m losing myself in what I’ve become.”

The tears were flowing and I was glad I’d chosen not to try the mascara.

Shelley put his arm around me and I felt myself stiffening. He withdrew uncertain of what to do. After a moment he decided to try talking.

“I know what you mean. Yesterday digging in the front garden was actually quite fun and today as I was walking around town with your Aunt I saw a dress that I knew would look good on me… well you… whatever. It was gorgeous, but I really couldn’t get that excited about it.

“When I was looking for a book or two to buy with those tokens of yours, I looked through all the romance stuff I usually like and nothing grabbed me at all.”

I sniffed. “What did you get in the end?”

“Some new science fiction book that looked kind of exciting. It’s like I’m becoming you somehow.”

“Part of the spell?” I queried.

“I suppose it must be, but it seems like a step too far to me.”

“What and swapping bodies wasn’t?”

“Shelley — Jerry — I’m sorry, you have to believe me I didn’t plan for this to happen. I miss being me as much as you miss being you. Please let’s work this out and we can both get back to our lives.”

“It’s not that easy you know? I mean I can’t get past how angry I am that you would do this to me.”

“Even though I didn’t mean to?”

“I think that makes it worse. I mean to mess with something as powerful as this without know what it would do is reckless.”

“You’re right, but I had no idea it was this powerful. If I’d had even the slightest inkling that it could go this far I would never have tried it.”

“And your greatly great grandmother being one of the most powerful witches in Kent wasn’t an inkling?”

He looked at the ground. “Who believes in magic anymore?”

I stared at him. “That sounds like something I’d say.”

“Yeah. I mean I knew it was magic — you don’t get a glowing pattern thing appear on your hand without some pretty good special effects — that’s why I believed it would work when I offered you the gift, but glowing patterns and swapping bodies; not exactly the same thing.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’m doing all I can. I’m trying to be as charming as I know you can be, but I keep hitting this brick wall. As soon as you remember that you’re meant to be a boy and that I did something to put you into my body, you clam up and get all snarky with me.”

“Do you blame me?”

“No actually I’m pretty annoyed with myself as well right now. I can’t believe I got us into this mess.”

I put my arm on his and leaned my head against his shoulder. “OK so what do I have to do?”

He pulled me around and looked into my eyes. “Just give me a chance. Try and put what actually happened behind you and see me as this guy who really rather likes you. Maybe see if you can like me back.”

He was so earnest it was hard not to smile.

“I mean what can I do to make things easier for you?”

I did smile at that and mentally prepared my list.

“OK, first you can tell me about what I’m supposed to do to my face before I go to bed at night. I had a zit this morning and Gran said I hadn’t cleansed and moisturised my skin.”

The earlier seriousness faded and we walked around the village for over an hour talking about make-up and clothing and a lot of little things I would never have thought to ask. I actually felt a lot better by the time we found ourselves approaching Shelley’s grandparent’s house and I was hanging on to his arm again.

“So will you go out with me to the cinema tomorrow night? We can take the bus in and grab a burger or something before the early show. I’d offer to pay, but that just means you’ll have less money when we change back.”

I laughed and asked what was showing. He listed a bunch of titles and we settled on something which came halfway between chick flick and action movie. In our present state a halfway choice seemed best for both of us.

We arranged to meet at the bus-stop at five the next afternoon and slowed our walking as we approached the end of our walk.

“There is one more thing I need to tell you.” He was very hesitant as he said it. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like it.”

I pulled away from him. What could make this worse?

“Erm… I’m, that is you are about due.” He couldn’t meet my eyes.

For a moment I couldn’t’ figure out what he meant, then Gran’s question from the previous night came back to me. “Shit no!”

I stared at him unbelievingly and he just nodded.

“You may feel a bit bloated tomorrow or the next day. When it happens you’ll need to be ready.”

He reached for my handbag and pulled something that looked a bit like a white cigar with a fuse attached. He spent a few minutes explaining what to do with it, when and how often to change it. To be honest it was just a bit more information than I felt I would ever want to know about that particular part of a woman’s life, but if I was going to have to deal with this it was best to be forewarned.

“You really know how to leave the best for last don’t you?” I said feeling sick to the stomach.

“I’m sorry, it just seemed that it would bring another evening to an early disaster if I’d brought it up too soon, and I did have a great evening.”

He looked at me expectantly; hopefully.

“Yeah, right up until this moment.” I couldn’t get past this latest hiccup in my current existence. Eventually I did find a smile from somewhere and offered it to him. “It was a lovely walk Shelley, thank-you. And for the flowers, they were a lovely thought.”

He offered me a weak smile. “See you tomorrow at five then?”

I nodded then opened the door and stepped in without looking back. The new shoes had been pinching my feet for that last fifteen minutes and I was glad to step out of them.

Gran’s expectant face appeared in the hallway. I smiled, “He’s asked me to go to the cinema tomorrow. If it’s ok with you we’ll catch the five o’clock bus into Harrogate and get something to eat in town.”

“Oh that’s wonderful.” Gran was a whole lot more enthusiastic about it than I was. She pulled back from the hug as soon as she realised I wasn’t really returning it. “What’s the matter dear?”

“Oh nothing much, I think it might just be that time of the month.” I’d heard Mum using a similar term; never in a million years expected it to apply to me though.

“Well that’s life for you dear. Why don’t you go and have a nice hot bath and I’ll bring you up some hot chocolate in a bit.”

The hot bath seemed like an odd idea, but with a few relaxing bath oils added I felt the queasiness subside. Whether it was the genuine article or a just some sympathetic reaction to the news I don’t know, I was just pleased to have it go.

I towelled off and slipped on the previous night’s pink nightie before sitting in front of the mirror. My hair had managed to get a little damp so I dried that first before setting to with the makeup remover. I then went through the skin cleaning regime that Shelley had explained to me earlier, pleased to see that the zit had subsided and was almost invisible.

Gran turned up with the hot chocolate just as I was finishing.

“I thought we might go fruit picking tomorrow. There’s a farm just down the road that looks like it has some magnificent strawberries and raspberries.”

“Sounds like fun,” I smiled sipping on the chocolate — wow that was a better buzz than I usually got from the stuff. “Would you mind if I wore trousers? I’d hate to get one of my dresses snagged.”

“No of course not! You wear what you like dear. We should be back in good time for you to get ready for your date.”

I sensed a pause after that and some girlish instinct must have picked up on it.

“What do you think I should wear?”

Gran’s smile told me I was right and we spent half an hour going through my new purchases discussing the pros and cons of each outfit before settling on what suddenly seemed to be just the right one. Gran gave me a hug and wished me goodnight taking the empty mug from my hands.

I brushed my teeth and settled into bed with the book I had started the previous day. After a while my eyes began to droop and I switched out the light. I only hoped I was too tired for the sort of dreams I’d experienced the previous night.

-oOo-