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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 12, the plot thickens. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and DC Comics for their wonderful characters.

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Chapter Twelve:

The alarm woke me again. I swung out angrily, hearing the crunch of fist on metal. Son of a bitch. I snapped my eyes and sat up, looking over at the remains of my clock. I cursed. I guess I forgot how strong I really was. I usually hit the alarm in the morning, allowing myself a few seconds more sleep. But that was back when I was Charlie without the superhuman strength. I groaned, hoping that it wasn’t anything expensive. I sat there for a few minutes, wondering what this glorious day was going to bring me. Yesterday wasn’t too bad I guess, but I could have done without all the attention. At least I made a potential friend in Cissie and possible friends with Artemis and her teammates.

I swung out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. I did my morning routine as quickly as possible. In the shower, I fingered the gold bracelets. They seemed bigger somehow, at least bigger than they were yesterday. It was hard to forget that they were there, seeing that they didn’t want to come off. I tried my hardest to ignore them but when you have water pouring all over your naked body it’s hard not to notice. They weren’t uncomfortable but they were a nuisance. I still hadn’t told anyone about them either. When I was telling my grandma the story about what happened, I left out the bracelets. I think she thought they were some fashion accessory.

If only that were true. After my shower and brushing my teeth, I went back to my room to change. Once again, it was a jeans and t-shirt day. But unlike yesterday, I had a small duffle to bring with me. Today was a Gym day---my first one as a girl. In the duffel was a sports bra, a workout t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants. Donna picked the ensemble out for me. She said when it came to Gym you wanted to be as comfortable as possible. I was ok with the shirt but I’m still not a big fan of the pants.
When I got downstairs, I smelled the welcoming aroma of bacon.

“Your alarm clock cut off kinda suddenly” said grandma as she plated some bacon and eggs for me.

I smiled sheepishly at her. “I’m not used to my own strength.”

She smiled. “I’ll put it on today’s list.”

“List?” I asked, crunching on a piece of bacon.

She smiled mysteriously. “You never mind that.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. What was she up to now? I tried to get her to confess her secret but trying to get a secret of her is like trying to steal from Fort Knox. So I dropped it and continued my breakfast. About ten minutes into it, Connor showed up again. I never set up any plans with him, but apparently, he got it into his head that he was my official driver. I suppose getting a ride to school every morning was better than the bus. Grandma fixed him some breakfast too and together the three of us ate in silence. I didn’t really know what to say to him. Even though he was my best friend in the whole wide world---well actually Charlie’s. I guess that’s where the problem lied. He was Charlie’s friend, as far as he was concerned I was a completely new person he met two days ago.
After breakfast, he drove me to school. It was a quiet ride.

I went to home room and my first period class, which happened to be World History. I love history but can anyone imagine having it at like nine in the morning. I think I was the only one in class who was even halfway awake. Looking around the room, the only one I knew was Eddie. He wasn’t wearing his JV jacket today but he didn’t look as grumpy. He looked around the room too and when our eyes met, he frowned. I guess he didn’t hold a grudge. I knew if some girl tried to castrate me with her hand I’d be pissed for weeks.

History was probably the longest forty minutes of my life. When the bell finally rang, I made my way to the door like the rest of them. Outside in the hall, Eddie caught up with me. I groaned; this was all I needed.

“Hey I’m sorry about being an ass yesterday,” he said, sounding sincere.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing too,” I said as he followed me to Math class.

“I already apologized to Cissie too,” he said, sighing. “I’m not sure what came over me yesterday. I’m not that kinda guy. Ok, I’ll admit I’m kinda a dick but not that bad. I’ve been having these problems lately.”

I turned to face him. Like I said before, I was about five or six inches taller. So when he was standing there, his head was almost in direct line of sight with my chest. He stared there for a few seconds until I cleared my throat. He looked up at me apologetically. He was right, though. There was something off about him today. Yesterday he looked really healthy but today he was kinda pale. There were dark circles under his eyes and his lips were kinda chapped. There was something else too, something about his forehead. There were two red spots there; it looked like someone hit him twice in the head, on either side of it.

“Looking kinda pale,” I finally said and he nodded.

“I think I’m coming down with something,” he said and I nodded. “I just wanted to make sure that you and I were cool.”

I sighed. This guy wanted to be friends with the girl who embarrassed the hell out of him in front of everyone. “We’re good,” I finally said and he smiled. He followed close behind me for a bit, then disappeared into a classroom.

Math class was just as boring as ever. Heck, the rest of my classes were no different. In English class, Eddie wasn’t present. I asked Connor where he went and apparently, the nurse sent him home. I think the whole class was kinda glad to see him go and I think half of them thought it was my fault. In lunch, the track team sat one table over from Cissie and me. It would have been except for the fact that Artemis kept smiling at me. It was really creepy. I think she probably thought it was a done deal and all, me going to their practice. I only agreed to it so they’d leave me alone.

“Those are cute,” said Cissie as I raised a French fry to my mouth.

I looked around to see what she meant then I realized she meant my bracelets. I smiled. “I’d let you borrow them but they’re kinda attached.”

She smiled. “I couldn’t pull something like that off anyway.”

“Don’t sell yourself short Cissie. A little more confidence and you can be as pretty as me.”

She snorted. Me, I wanted to gag. Where in the hell did that come from? The worst part, I kinda half believed it. Cissie was a pretty girl, if only a little plain. She dressed a little too conservatively, too. What sixteen year old girl dresses like a librarian anyway? In fact, I didn’t even know it was possible to get sweater vests in a junior size.

Ok, so it turns out that Study Hall and Gym on rotating schedules. They call them A and B days. I have Study Hall on B days and Gym on A days. Yesterday was a B day believe it or not. Today was an A day. So after lunch I made my way to the Gym. Unfortunately, Cissie had Gym the period after so I didn’t even have her there to give me moral support. Ok, so she wouldn’t actually know she was giving me support but it would be there in spirit. Why am I so nervous you ask? Well only, a week ago, I was a sixteen year old boy and now I’m well, you know. So I was about to go where every sixteen year old boy wishes to go and it scared the hell out of me.

I was surprised when I finally took my first step into No Man’s Land and realized it wasn’t all that different than the boys. Ok so maybe it was a little cleaner and it smelled a lot better but the lockers were still in rows and there were still benches. Mind you, the lockers in here were an off shade of pink and the benches didn’t look so grubby. I found an empty locker next to a girl that was about an inch or two shorter than me. When she saw me, she sighed.

“Thank God” she said, pulling off her shirt. “Here I thought I was the only freak around here.”

I smiled, trying not to look at her bra. Not that it did much for me.

“They stare at you too?” she asked, referring to our shared giantness.

I smirked. “I think I’m starting to get used to it.”

She nodded. “You any good at basketball?”

I shrugged. Charlie sucked at basketball but who knew about me. As far as I knew, I could be a fricken basketball goddess now.
We talked a few more minutes about our height---she was actually six one. Then she introduced herself as Amy Allen. Besides matching my height, she looked like she could take me on in a fight. Not that I’m saying she could beat me but she looked like she could last a lot longer than most. The two of us dressed and talked. She was a sophomore like me but unlike me, she wasn’t afraid to show off her athletic talent. She was on the girls’ basketball team and just like Artemis; she tried to talk me into joining.

We joined the rest of the girls as the teacher---Miss Jones---ushered us all out of the locker room and into the Gym. I was wondering why she was asking me all these basketball questions and now I knew. Apparently, that’s what we were up to today. Miss Jones divided us evenly into teams, making sure that I was on one and Amy on the other. Ok I can honestly say that I didn’t play much basketball before; I didn’t have the height for it. Back when I was the old me, whenever we played in Gym I pretended to play. But in truth, I was totally outmatched by most of the guys there. When I still went to school here Connor used to watch out for me.
So I was a little rusty playing at first. But that didn’t last long.

To say that Amy and I dominated the court was an understatement. She was good, real good. Most of the girls who tried to stop her were nothing compared to her speed and grace. It was an art form watching her play. Me, well what can I say. When I got the ball in my hand the first time, it was like nothing I’d ever seen. I’m not sure what Hera did to me when she rewired me to be a super chick but whatever she did it made me a super jock or something. Never before did I have this much game. I owned it. I dribbled, I threw and jumped. Most of the girls on the court---Amy included---actually stopped to watch me play. I think about ten minutes into the game I realized there was no way that I could ever compete.

Way too much unfair advantage. In the end, my team barely won. Hey, I did say Amy was good and she is on the basketball team after all.

“Damn” said Amy, huffing and drenched in sweat as we all made our way back to the locker room. ‘They call me the Bomb but you’re something else.”

I pretended to huff too, to try to make me look normal. But I wasn’t winded at all. In fact, I was invigorated. It wasn’t the same as running but it was sure one hell of a workout.

“They call you the Bomb?” I asked as I sat on the bench.

She shrugged. “The Bombshell actually. Its kinda silly but it helps inflate the ego a bit.”

I smiled. There was something about her that I liked.

“You sure you don’t want to join the team?” she asked after a few minutes.

I laughed and shook my head.

“Get in line,” said another girl a few lockers down. “I hear the Track Team is already after her.”

There was a lot of murmuring after that. I went from being the new girl to being the star. I’m not sure how I liked that. I tried to ignore it but it was kinda hard when all they seemed to want to talk about was how cool I was.

The rest of the day kinda went fast. It turns out that Amy was in my next two classes and after talking only a little bit, the two of us hit it off. She was kinda like me, the tall girl that everyone stared at. I think she was really happy to have me around. Apparently, it’s not easy being the tallest girl in the school.

“Guys don’t like tall girls” she told me which I knew was only partially true. It’s not that we---I mean they---don’t like tall girls, it’s just girls that are taller than them.

“So are you going to let them recruit you?” She asked as she met up with me outside my ninth period class.

She kinda surprised me. I wasn’t expecting her to be there. I looked around, hoping maybe Cissie would be there too. I saw her coming my way but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Amy. That girl seriously needed to learn how to socialize. She backed up a step but I waved her over. Amy looked to who I was waving at and laughed, waving Cissie over, too.

I introduced them. When that was over, Amy hit me with the question again. “Well, are you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think so. Like I said before, I’m not really into competitive sports. They asked me to come see them practice and that’s all I’m going to do.”

Amy nodded. “Well you’re not going alone. I know Artemis aka Alexandria Pope. She’s ruthless when it comes to getting what she wants. If that girl wants you on her team, she’ll stop at nothing to get it.”

“I’m coming, too” piped Cissie, surprising both of us. She flushed red. “I wanna see you run.”

Amy and I laughed. Then Amy put her arm around Cissie’s shoulder. It amazed me how fast that girl could make friends. The two of them followed me to my locker where I dropped off my books then grabbed my bags. We passed Connor in the hall. I told him I’d run home today, which really surprised him. That is until I told him that the Track Team wanted me to go to one of their practices. Initially it was supposed to be at the park but seeing as it was only going to be a small one, I got a note last period telling me they moved it to the outdoor track outside the school. When the three of us got there, the team was doing warm-ups.

The Coach turned when she saw my approach. She was blonde, wearing a blue tracksuit. She was holding a clipboard in one hand, standing next to an orange Gator-aid dispenser. Except instead of the typical sports drink logo on the side this one said NECTAR in big bold blue letters. Must be something new. She shouted orders, telling the team to hit the track then started over to me. She glanced at both Amy and Cissie, paying Cissie little attention. Her eyes lingered a bit on Amy though. I think she liked the prospect.

“Are you girls here to tryout, too?”

“Yeah, right” said Amy, crossing her arms in front of her. Cissie shook her head.

After that, the Coach seemed to ignore them. She turned to me. “I’m Coach Milton; you’re Cassandra Sandsmark, right?” I nodded. “Is that your stuff in the duffel?” I nodded again, “why don’t you go change and show me what you’ve got.”

“I’m not here to try out.”

Coach Milton turned and looked back at the track. Her eyes lingered a bit on Artemis before turning back toward me. “Then you’re just here to waste my time?”

I opened my mouth but Amy beat me to the punch. “Not on your life, lady. My girl could whip all your puny little things. Give her a few minutes and she’ll show you.”

I opened my mouth to argue but the coach smiled. Amy grabbed my arm and started walking me back toward the school. She didn’t say anything. I kept my mouth shut until we were almost at the side door. “What the hell was that?”

Amy looked back at the field. “That woman pisses me off. She thinks she’s hot shit. I just couldn’t stand there and let her think that her girls are better than everyone else.”

I groaned. “She was baiting you. She already knows how fast I can run.” Amy looked at Cissie who nodded. “I can already out run all of them, backwards in fact. She knew I wasn’t here to try out she just wanted to see if she could goad me into doing it.”

Amy smiled sheepishly. “Whoops.”

I nodded and sighed. “I guess I don’t have a choice now.”

I didn’t wait for them to try to talk me out of it. I turned and walked into the school. I half walked, half ran for the locker room. Thankfully, there was no one there to slow me down. I changed quickly, groaning at the predicament I was now in. I promised myself and my grandmother that I wouldn’t try to go out for any sports. We both agreed it would be an unfair advantage even if I tried my hardest not to do my best. I had another problem with Agent Chase. Even though I didn’t see her goons anywhere, I knew they were about. Agent Faraday strictly told me to keep a low profile and that everything would be ok. That’s the reason Chase was here to begin with. Now here I was, dressing in my gym clothes, ready to try out for the damn track team. Yeah, that’s a low profile.

I looked at myself for a few seconds in the tall mirror on the wall. I took a few deep breaths. I think I can do this, I think I can make myself normal. I looked at the bracelets on my arms and frowned. So maybe not normal, but as close to it as I could get. I gave myself the once over and then left the locker room. I jogged back outside. The air was frigid but it didn’t seem to bother me as much as I thought it was going to. It was like the first time I went running with Jay. The air had been really cold then too, but it wasn’t as cold to me as it was to him. I think it was another perk of my new Amazon whatever.

Amy and Cissie were sitting on the bleachers; I could see their breath from where I stood. I waved as I ran out into the field. The Coach blew her whistle, calling the other girls back. I could see their breath too but the cold didn’t seem to bother them much either. Well, if it did they weren’t showing it like my two shivering friends. A few of the girls stopped to get drinks while the rest sorta stood around and waited. Artemis locked eyes with me and smiled. I smiled weakly back. This was all her fault to begin with. She roped me into this and now I was going to have to perform like some circus animal.

“Girls” said the Coach “this is Cassandra. She’s the little miracle who whipped the pants off you at Sunday’s practice in the park.” There were a lot of murmurs. “She’s agreed to come out and run with you again, this time under more of an official capacity. I know tryouts were last year but given the circumstances, I think she has a lot to bring to this team.”

“She has my vote,” said Artemis

“Mine too” said a couple of the other girls, Akila being one of them.

“Ok” said the Coach smiling. “Why don’t you show us what you can really do out there.”

I didn’t have much time to stretch, not that I really needed too. The Coach put the whistle to her mouth and blew. The other girls were off pretty fast. Me, I lagged a bit at first because she surprised me. But I think that was the whole point. Artemis took the lead quickly; Akila was close behind. Me, I paced myself at first. I think everyone knows the story of Secretariat, about the racehorse that won the Triple Crown back in the seventies. He was notorious for lagging behind in most of the races he ran and then bursting ahead at the end. Not that I’m comparing myself to a racehorse but I think the same tactic would work well for me.

I let the other girls lead for a bit then I slowly wove my way through the pack. A lot of the girls I passed were already huffing and puffing. Me, I was doing good. On the first lap, I was sitting a nice fourth but as soon as we started the second, I put on a little speed. I passed the girl in front of me and then came up on Akila. She was fast but she put everything into it too early. I could see that she was already starting to flounder a bit. I came up beside her and smiled. She didn’t notice me at first until I passed her. I heard her curse then laugh.

Now it was just Artemis and me. Again.

“I was wondering when you were going to stop following around back there” she laughed as I ran up next to her.

“I was enjoying the breeze,” I said with a laugh of my own.

“Can you make this as painless as possible I have a reputation you know.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I let her lead a bit up until we finished the second lap and then I made my move. I think she knew it was coming because she slowed down a bit. It didn’t take me much to pass her and when I did, I could hear the cheering from my fans. I waved to Cissie and Amy as I passed. The Coach nodded, smiling. I’m not sure how many laps these girls usually ran so I just decided to go until I heard the whistle. On the last leg of my third lap, I saw some of the girls moving to the sidelines. Me, I kept running. Going onto my fourth, Artemis was the last one on the track with me. She was a lap behind though. When we got to the Coach, she left too.

Now I had the track all to myself. I probably could have gone a couple more laps but I didn’t want to show off. So I feigned exhaustion after my fifth and came in. I pretended to pant and huff. A lot of the girls cheered when I finally stopped. Artemis and Akila came over, laughing.

“You’re a damn machine, you know that?”

I nodded. “Does not compute.”

“Impressive, Sandsmark” said the Coach, walking over with her stopwatch. “That was the school and the course record.”

Great. Way to not show off.

Amy and Cissie came down from the bleachers. Amy was shaking her head. “If you do not accept a slot on this team I’m going to beat you senseless.”

Cissie nodded. “You said you were fast but…”

The coach cut her off. “What do you say, Sandsmark?”

I looked at all the faces around me. All of them were waiting, holding their breath. I bit my lip. Son of a bitch. Cameron and Grandma were going to kill me. “Ok, I’ll do it.”

There were a lot of cheers. After that, we went to the locker rooms. Amy agreed to give Cissie a ride home and the two of them left. I told them I’d see them tomorrow at school. There were a lot of congratulations in the locker room. Inside, Artemis introduced me to the rest of the team. It turns out that only she and her core group of five friends actually went by Greek names. I asked her about it but she said she could do me one better.

“I don’t understand.”

Artemis smiled. “I have someplace I want to show you.”

Artemis took me in her car. She wouldn’t tell me where we were going but it didn’t take long for me to realize that wherever it was, it wasn’t in Schaumburg. We left the city and headed toward Chicago. No matter how many questions I asked, she wouldn’t tell me anything. Akila and another girl, Persephone---real name Megan---were in the backseat. The other three girls---the ones with the Greek names---were in another car. Persephone was a quiet girl with longer blonde hair than mine, which she usually wore in a really long braid. If not for the length of her hair, she and Akila could have been twins.

“Do you two know where we’re going?” I asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror.

Akila smiled. “Relax, it’s no place bad. In fact, I think you’ll love it.”

I sighed. “If this is some kind of new girl hazing let me tell you right now I don’t take to surprises very well.”

“It’s not a hazing.”

I tried to get more out of them but they were pretty tightlipped after that. So instead, I sat there and stewed, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself in to.

After about an hour of driving, we finally got into the city. We went for Lakeshore Drive, heading along at an even pace. I only vaguely knew this area. It was a little on the higher end for me, Mom and I lived on the other side of the city. I thought maybe we were finally coming on our destination until Artemis turned off the street, stopping the car for a second. I was confusing because looking out the window I saw an empty warehouse. Clearly, this wasn’t where she wanted to take me.

“Ok this next part you won’t like” she said with a smile.

“What part?”

“We have to blindfold you,” said Akila as her arms reached around me, putting a bandanna in front of my eyes.

She tied it tight before I could complain. I didn’t like the idea of going into some new place blind but these were teenage girls, it wasn’t like they were leading me to my doom. So I sat back and sighed. I heard the engine start again and then the car started moving. We drove for another ten minutes or so, making a few turns left and then a couple rights. Finally, the car stopped and Artemis shut off the engine. I waited to see if this was another step in the journey but then I heard the back doors open.

My door was opened as I took my seatbelt off. A hand grabbed mine and someone helped me out.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

I was led away from the car, up onto a curb and toward somewhere. I heard the hiss of two glass doors being opened and then heard Persephone’s heeled boots clacking on a hardwood floor. Whoever was holding my arm led me a few more feet and then I was stopped.

“Are you ready?”

I nodded and the bandanna was taken off my eyes. I was surprised at my surroundings. I thought maybe I was being brought to a nightclub or even one of those trendy coffee shops but not here. It had a very Grecian feel to it, complete with fake columns and bronze statues. In the center of the room was a giant bronze statue of a Minotaur. The thing had to be ten feet tall. It looked out of place, especially when I looked at the sign above the reception desk. It was a spa, a health spa. I read the sign and groaned it was one of those bizarre names that meant nothing: Bana-Mighdall. What the hell did that even mean?

“You took me to a spa?” I asked as a couple attendants in fake togas walked by.

I groaned at the tackiness of the place. I looked down at the floor and what I thought to be wood was actually marble. It amazed me that these girls thought this place was cool. It was like someone tried to make a poor replica of something from Ancient Greece. It was ridiculous.

“It’s not only a spa” said Artemis as she took my hand and lead me to the front desk. “It’s a fitness center too.”

“We come here all the time,” said Akila.

The girl at the desk---she couldn’t have been much older than us---smiled at the three girls.

She was raven haired and perky but just as ripped as my new teammates. “Artemis, Akila, Persephone. Who’s the new girl?”

“This is Cassie,” said Akila with another smile. “Cassie this is Charis.”

Great another Greek name. What the hell was up with that?

“We were wondering if Antiope was in. We kinda wanted to see if she’d allow Cassie to join our little group?”

Charis stood up and looked me up and down. She stood an inch or two shorter than me. She stared at me for quite a while then smiled. “I think that shouldn’t be a problem.”

She sat back down and picked up her phone, dialing a number.

“Group?” I asked “what group?”

“We’re Amazons,” said Persephone as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I groaned. You’ve gotta be kidding me.