Zach grabbed me roughly by the shoulders. He brought his face close to mine and hissed, “Why did you tell Tamara that I had sex with you, bitch!?” He shook my shoulders before hissing a bit louder, “Why?!”

“Zach, please! Let go! You’re hurting me.” I tried to wriggle free from his grasp but couldn’t. Zach always had had a good physique.

“Oh, it’s going to get a lot worse, bitch!” growled Zach.

I tried pushing him away, but that did no good. In a loud voice, I said, “I didn’t tell Tamara I had sex with you! I never once said, ‘I had sex with Zach!’”

Zach looked quickly around. “Will you pipe down! I warned you about saying anything.”

Zach’s grip tightened on my arms. “Zach, you’re hurting me! Honest, I didn’t tell her. She must have…inferred it.”

Zach yelled, “Inferred it!? How the fuck could you infer that?” He let go with one hand and started to draw it back to strike me. I raised my now free arm up to try to block.

“Hey dick-weed!” called a voice from an upstairs window. I looked up and saw Ashley. “I called the campus police five minutes ago. They should be here in…oh…thirty seconds.”

Zach looked up and under his breath said, “Shit!” He let go of my arm and said, “We’re not done with this, twink-boy.” He turned and ran off into the darkness, leaving me standing there, shaking like a leaf.

A few moments later, the door to the dorm flew open and Ashley ran out. She threw her arms around me in a big comforting hug. “Are you all right Alex?” She looked around before continuing, “I can’t believe the nerve of that bastard!”

I was crying now and holding onto Ashley. I muttered some incoherent words into her shoulder. Other heads were now popping out of the dorm windows, some holding up their camera phones.

A few moments later, I could see several figures approaching in the darkness. Several had flashlights and one was struggling. I heard a familiar voice saying, “Let me go! You can’t do this. I ain’t done nothin’ wrong!”

Four uniformed campus police officers approached Ashley and me. Two had Zach restrained. One of the officers said, “Which one of you called for the police?”

“I did.” Ashley said. “That…thing…” she pointed at Zach, “over there was yelling at her” points to me, “and looked like he was about to hit her when I said something to him. He’s not even supposed to be here!”

The officer calmly said to me, “Is that true, miss? Was this gentleman about to assault you?”

Still clinging to Ashley, all I could manage to do was nod. Zach had stopped struggling and now actually looked scared.

“Miss, we’ll need you to come with us to the campus headquarters and sign some papers,” said the officer.

Pointing and still snuffling, I said, “What happens to Zach?”

Scribbling in a pad and not bothering to look up, the officer said, “This gentleman has bought himself a ride downtown. Assault is a serious charge and he’ll be handed over to the police for processing and to be formally charged.” Waving his pen to include Ashley and me, he continued, “I’ll need a statement from both of you.”

I hesitated a moment and said, “May I talk to Zach for a minute? Privately?”

The officer gave me an odd look but said, “If you want. He’s cuffed and …” he shot Zach a glance, “I doubt he’s so stupid as to try to run. Just stand in the light over there.”

Ashley said, “Alex! Whatever the crap you’re thinking, stop now. Let the police do their job…”

I waved her off saying, “Just a minute.”

I walked over to Zach, now standing alone, his hands in handcuffs behind his back. He didn’t look so tough now. In fact, he looked downright miserable. As well he should.

Zach looked at me with stony silence. I had him by the balls and he knew it.

“Zach, I just want to talk for a minute.” I said, not getting too close to him. “I don’t know what your plan was, Zach. Were you going to hurt me? Kill me? Everyone and their dog would know it was you who did it. There’d be no getting away.”

“I just wanted to scare you. Make you shut up. Tamara doesn’t know if she can trust me any more or not.” He spat something on the ground.

I looked at him incredulously. “Make me shut up? Seriously?” Trying not to get too loud, through clenched teeth I continued, “Why don’t you try shutting the fuck up? How many times have you told our friends…my friends and total strangers that I was some helpless little faggot that needed constant rescuing? Huh? How many Zach? And people believe you! People who should know better think you’re this big hero who’s bravery and quick thinking saved us from a horrible death. The reality of course is that you’d have starved to death…on an island loaded with food, you would have starved to death if I hadn’t fed you. And yes Zach…we fucked like bunnies. And I have no shame in that. Because stupid me, I loved you.”

Zach just looked at me with dull eyes and said, “I would applaud your stirring speech, but I’m tied up at the moment.” He jiggled his handcuffs.

I jabbed my finger into his chest and said, “Here’s the deal you worthless sack of protoplasm. I don’t want you to go to jail. It’d be a scandal for your parents. Ashley would be dragged in. My boyfriend would be dragged in, my transition would probably be dragged into it. I don’t think you want to go to jail. So look, stop trying to hurt me. Stop lying about what happened. You don’t have to say we had sex, but be honest about my contribution to our survival. In other words, stoop being just a fucking asshole! And stop trying to hurt me.” Did I just say “boyfriend”?

Zach just stared at me for a moment. “Are you saying you’ll not press charges if I stop calling you a gay little butt monkey?” He laughed and said, “Well that’s easy enough.”

“I want this to be over, Zach. O-V-E-R over. No more lies, no more threats to hurt me and try to set the record straight.” I pointed at Ashley. “See that girl with the pink hair and body piercings? If you’re thinking of going back on the deal? Well, let’s just say that she’s been arrested for man slaughter once and I’m sure she can make you look like an accident too.” Of course I was lying. Ashley just looks like she could kill someone.

He glanced over at Ashley to size her up. He looked back at me and said, “Okay. Deal. I’d shake on it, but…”

“What the hell were you thinking, girlfriend?” Ashley almost shouted after everyone had left. She pointed a finger at me and said, “You are going to regret that Alex-girl. Trust me, you are going to regret it.”

I just sat on my bed and cried. “I just know it’d turn into a zoo. My parents would have been there at the court, Zach’s parents too. I’m sure we’d have to go over details about our stay on the island because his assault was triggered by blowing the cover over our activities, and there’d be questions about why I’m now a girl. Brad would leave me because I lied to him about me and Zach.” I started crying hard again and blew my nose.

Ashley sat next to me on the bed and put her around me in a sisterly fashion. We sat there in silence, hugging each other for several minutes.

Sniffling, I softly said, “I just want my life to be normal.”

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, warm with just a touch of coolness to the air. I was sitting on the steps to the dorm entrance when I looked up to see Brad coming down the walkway towards me. I grinned at him and stood up to hurry over to meet him.

When we meet up, Brad bent down a little to give me a kiss. “You look radiant today!”

I grinned and said, “Thank you! I’m happy to see you, but I wasn’t expecting you today.”

He smiled back at me and said, “It was such a great day I thought I’d take a ride up the mountain to the observatory.”

“A ride?” I asked.

“On my bike! Wanna see it?”

“Sure!” We started walking towards the parking lot. “I didn’t know you had a bike.”

He laughed and said, “There’re lots of things you don’t know about me!” Great. I hoped one of things wasn’t that he was an axe murderer.

His bike was gorgeous. A sleek black crotch rocket. On the side of the gas tank, it said it was a Ducati. My dad was strictly a Harley man. No other bike measured up but he never commented on the ever present pool of oil under his vintage Electra-glide.

I saw Brad cringe a little as I slid my fingers down the glossy finish of the gas tank. I said, “Wow, nice bike! My dad would kill me if he saw me getting on it!”

Nodding with a knowing expression, Brad said, “Dad doesn’t approve of his daughter riding motorcycles?”

Grinning, I said, “No. Dad doesn’t approve of his daughter riding anything other than a Harley.”

Brad laughed. He said, “How did your dad take the news, anyway?”

I looked at him funny and said, “He doesn’t know I’m about to get on your bike.”

Chuckling, Brad said, “No, no. I mean the whole girl thing.”

I was annoyed that he’d bring this up again, but I guess I expect it. I said, “You won’t believe this, but he really just didn’t care. Much. Mom cried for days I think. She still calls me Alex.”

“Um…everyone calls you Alex, Alex.” Brad said looking confused.

“The boy Alex. You can hear it in the tone of her voice.” I laughed, but Dad just accepted it in his own way.” I hunched my shoulders and lowered the pitch of my voice to try to imitate Dad and said, “I had you pegged for a twinky from the get-go, boy. You wouldn’t play football or watch it with me, you dressed your G.I. Joe in doll dresses you stole from the neighbor’s daughter. Yep, I ain’t surprised one little bit. Now that you’re a girl, go bring your daddy a beer, okay?”

Laughing Brad said, “How did you turn out right?” Brad handed me a helmet and started to put his on.

I pulled the helmet halfway down my head and then stopped to say, “Dad always used to say that Mom was artificially inseminated by space aliens. I tend to believe him.” I slid the helmet down all the way and threaded the strap through the D rings.

Before I climbed on, Brad started up the Ducati and rapped the throttle a few times. I got on, wrapped my arms around his waist, and he snicked the transmission into gear. So he wouldn’t scare me, he gently let out the clutch and the bike was set into motion.

It had been a few years since the last time I’d been on the back of a motorcycle. I had had a dirt bike, but Dad sold it to help pay some bills one month. I’d forgotten just how much I enjoyed it. The stop and go inside the city wasn’t very exciting, but once we hit the highway, twisting our way through the mountains on our way to the observatory, I felt quite a thrill. Brad turned out to be a quite skillful rider, and I could tell he normally took the curves at a much higher speed. It was clear there’d be no “canyon bombing” with me on the back.

The road up to the observatory was just simply gorgeous. Not only the twisty, up and down road, but all the trees lining the roadway. Many trees were starting to change colors, and leaves drifted through the air, catching sunlight as they floated across our path.

Brad eased the bike into a parking spot and we dismounted. There was a flower lined path up to the observatory and a scenic overlook. The dome dominated the top of the mountain as we made our way to the scenic overlook. When we got there, it was quite breezy and a little too cold for my light jacket. Being the gentleman, Brad removed his jacket and insisted I wear it.

“Oh, this is just so beautiful, Brad!” I gasped as I looked down at the mountain valley below. On this side of the mountain was almost a sheer drop for several hundred feet. Brad put his arms around me, partly to block the wind and partly to snuggle.

“I know! I love it up here. I never get tired of this view.” Brad said, his cheek touching mine. “This is one of my favorite places to ride to, when I need to be alone and think.” There were only a handful of people milling around.

“Thanks for bringing me along this time.” I said, settling into his arms. “I think this is my new favorite getaway.”

We sat there, Brad and I, for over an hour, just listening to the birds and wind sweeping through the branches of the trees below us. This was the perfect antidote for the previous night. It was like some how he knew just what I needed, but there was no way he could know. I bent over and kissed him.

Darkness had fallen and the air was quite chilly as we rode into town. It probably wasn’t the best part of town that the road brought us to, but it wasn’t the worst. We hadn’t had any lunch as Brad pulled into the first place he saw that looked presentable. It was one of a local franchise called Taco Bueno. There was one near the university.

After we dismounted the Ducati, Brad asked, “Is this okay?”

I laughed and said, “Sure! I could use a mystery-meat taco about now.”

It was Saturday night and the place was actually pretty full of people. Date night crowd, I guess. Brad paid for our order and we managed to find a booth and sat down. I’m sure my hair was a disaster having been inside a helmet most of the day. Both our cheeks were reddened from the wind and cool air.

“Oh crap!” I squealed.

“What’s wrong?”

I said, “I was so surprised by you coming by, I didn’t get my purse! I was going to check my make-up and now I can’t. I must look a mess!”

Brad chuckled and said, “You’re gorgeous. Don’t worry about it.” About then they called our order number and Brad got up to retrieve it.

All during dinner, we talked about our day’s ride. We also planned some other rides before the weather got too cold and the roads too slick to take a bike. We also managed to hold each other’s hands and get some kissing in.

Brad checked the time on his phone and gave a low whistle. “It’s later than I thought. I should probably get you back to your dorm. It’s funny though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any campus police around.” I didn’t comment.

As we exited Taco Bueno, Brad suddenly stiffened and said, “Oh God. Why them, why now?”

I looked at where we had parked the bike. There were three other bikes parked next to it and three guys standing around. “What’s wrong, honey?” I asked.

“It’s Ed McLaughlin and his two in-bred toadies. Dammit! Look, stay close to me, but be ready to run, okay babe?”

“You got me scared now, Brad.” I said seriously.

I walked behind Brad as we approached the three guys. I was in near panic mode.

As we got near the bike, the one Brad said was Ed, made a couple of sloppy gang-like gestures and said, “Well, well, well. If it ain’t Bradford T. Wellington the third, esquire. Imagine my surprise when I stumble out of that little bar over there, I find your bike parked way too close to mine. In fact, I think you scratched my bike!”

“You’re not old enough to get in that bar. Now Ed, just let us go in peace, ok? I’m not really in any mood…”

“Mood!?” interrupted Ed. “I don’t give two shits in Hell about your…” Ed waves his hands around his head as he leans forward a little, and draws the word out, “…moooooood! You owe me, Bradford. You owe me big time!” Every time he said Bradford he practically spit the word out.

Sighing, Brad said, “I’ve told you, that was an accident. I don’t owe you anything. So do you mind? I need to take her home. We can discuss this tomorrow over a cappuccino.”

Ed grinned an ugly grin and said, “I don’t drink sissy coffees, so it looks like she’s going to be a bit late getting home. Chica, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to pound your boyfriend’s face into the asphalt.”

Before I could say anything, one of Ed’s charming henchmen said, “Hey Eddie! Guess what?” He points at me and says, “That chick is a dude, man! She’s a dude. She’s the one that was on that island with my bud Zach. She…he…was in my Math class in high school.”

Ed laughed and said, “Oh, this just gets better! Twinkle-Dee and Twinkle-Dum! Well, this explains a lot! Bradford here, the fudge-packing prep boy who’s too chicken-shit to man up to his actions and a cock-loving shemale! Don’t you two make a really cute couple! I almost feel bad because cracking you two’s skulls is just going to be too easy!”

All three took a step towards us. Ed said, “Now step back non-dude dude. I’m going to mess up your boyfriend first. Now, you might not want him any more after we’re done with him. Well, after the three of us have our way with you, he might not want you any more either.” He shrugs. “Sorry!”

Brad started to brace himself in a defensive posture. I was scared shitless.

I stepped in front of Brad and screamed, “Just leave us alone, dirtbag! We did nothing to you. Just let us go home!”

Ed took a step back, looking shocked at my outburst. He said, “She’s got spunk. I hate spunk.”

I didn’t want to damage Brad’s bike so while they were distracted laughing with Ed, I threw my helmet as hard as I could at the jerk that had fingered me. The helmet caught right on the bridge of his nose and blood started spurting from it. He yelled in pain and took a few steps backward holding his face.

I looked back over at Taco Bueno for a second. I laughed and yelled, “You are so stupid, Ed! If you’re going to attack someone, maybe you shouldn’t do it front of a plate glass window!” I pointed and Ed turned to see everyone in the small restaurant pressing their face to the glass. Many were holding up cell phone cameras. In the distance came the sound of sirens.

The one who wasn’t Ed and didn’t have his nose bleeding said, “Shit Eddie! Let’s get out of here. Someone’s called the cops!”

Ed pointed at Brad and yelled, “This isn’t over, asshole!” He turned to his henchmen and said, “Let’s get out of here!” Just before he rode off, he kicked the Ducati over onto its side.

As their taillights shrank into the distance I almost crumpled to the ground, being caught by Brad. I was shaking and crying. Several people from the restaurant walked up to us, a couple helped right Brad’s bike. Many had recorded the whole thing, at least the video, and offered to hand it over to the police. One thing that was funny, is that the siren that chased Ed away, wasn’t the police. It was an ambulance heading to the hospital.

“Stop apologizing, Brad. It’s not your fault.”

We had just gotten back from the police station and we were standing in the parking lot near the girls dorm. I had my arms around Brad so tight, I’m sure he was having trouble breathing.

“As soon as I saw them, we should have just turned around. My God Alex, what if they had hurt you? I could never live with that.”

I smiled at him and said through sobs, “Well, they didn’t. The police are looking for them. Sooo…we’re good. I feel bad about your bike.”

Brad looked down at me and said, “Don’t worry about it. Just a few scratches.” He bent down and gave me a long, long kiss. “I am just so sorry about everything. I should have protected you better.”

“Shush!”

“Oh my God, girl! You are trouble with a capital T. I was worried that I was going to have dull roommate.”

I fell back on my bed. “I wish you did have a boring roommate. I don’t think I could handle any more excitement!”

I laid there for I don’t know how long. I don’t even remember Ashley turning the light off in the room. I was tired. The past twenty-four hours was more than I could deal with. I was about to drift off to sleep when I felt Ashley get into my bed and slide under the covers. She kissed me on the cheek, slid in close behind me, and draped an arm over my waist. Feeling oddly safe, I fell quickly to sleep.