Playing her way 2 - Chapter 2

© D.L.

Emily sat on the bulging suitcase as Anna carefully zipped it closed. The suitcase was only moderately sized and contained most of Anna's clothes for the fortnight that she would be staying with the Bridges.

Emily's suitcase was only half full, and she had offered to carry some extra sets of shoes for Anna. Each girl also had a rucksack carrying small gifts to put under the family Christmas tree.

Anna was also taking her Violin, so that she could practice, and more importantly play at a private gig that she had been invited to via Emily.

Emily had not brought her guitars to school, as she couldn't carry them on her journey. Instead, she had been using one of the school instruments initially, before treating herself to a second-hand guitar from a local shop.

Emily was travelling lighter due to having a full wardrobe, and two other guitars, at home.

Not that she was particularly thrilled to be wearing what her wardrobe contained. Her parents had yet to fully accept her need to live her life as female. She had therefore reluctantly agreed to use a male presentation while at home. The predominantly male clothing would be put to use for most of the trip. Only a couple of dresses and skirts and an odd blouse were being taken home. Most of the luggage being underwear and nightwear. Items that would not be on public view and could, therefore, be of a more feminine persuasion.

After one last check through their dorm room, the girls picked out their bags and headed downstairs towards the bus.

Due to the mass exodus for the Christmas holidays, the school was busy. Soon they were in the designated position with a number of other girls as the sixteen seat minibus pulled up to the kerb. This would be the third trip this morning into the train station.

Mrs Jackson rounded up her charges and ushered them onto the bus. After checking everything was in order, they proceeded out of the school grounds. Twenty minutes later they were dropped off at Norwich station for the journey south to the capital. Ironically they would actually be passing through a station less than two miles from the school, but the express they were taking wouldn't be stopping, and it was quicker to drive to the main terminus rather than catch a local train and wait for a connection.

They were just in time to wave at Svetlana, Anna's half sister, as she passed through the gates for the westward bound train to Peterborough and then Ely, where she would be meeting her mother and travelling Northwards towards Sheffield.

Half an hour later, Mrs Jackson led the small group of students through the gates and onto the southward bound train. They had booked seats around two tables in one of the middle carriages.

Anna and Jane sat facing backwards on the right side of the gangway, while Emily and Jessica sat opposite. Mrs Jackson had grabbed one of the forward facing seats along with Abby. Francine and Janette sat across the table.

Due to still being relatively early in the day for delays to accumulate, the train left promptly at 10 am for the two-hour trip to London, Liverpool Street.

There was a group of people waiting for the arrival of the St. Mary's students as they exited the platform into the main concourse.

Jane bounced across to hug her father, a middle-aged man in a smart business suit. He had left his place of employment in Whitehall at lunch time to collect his daughter. He would then take her home, having booked the afternoon off. Abby strolled across to meet her older brother and her mother.

Mrs Jackson obtained the signatures of the adults before everyone said their goodbyes to the girls. Jane following her father towards the tube station to take the Circle line clockwise to Victoria station and onwards into Kent. Abby and her family heading to the nearby taxi rank for a trip across the city to Kensington.

"Alright girls," the teacher stated, "I trust you all to behave. Janette, as the eldest, you are in charge until its time to split up. I'll see you all in the new year."

Mrs Jackson saw them as far as she could, before splitting off in the maze of subterranean tunnels below. She was quite happy to escort the girls to London and get a free trip to the capital. She would be heading via the Bakerloo line to Oxford street for a couple of hours shopping before returning home.

The remaining four girls headed to the platform for the counter-clockwise Circle line towards Paddington and the trains heading west. While a taxi was an option, the train tickets already included tube travel, so it wasn't worthwhile incurring the extra expense.

Once at Paddington station, Janette was the first to leave the group, shortly after they arrived, boarding a train for Swansea. While the school preferred their students to be accompanied, as she was in her final year, the school and her parents had agreed that she could travel alone part of the way. It was deemed safe to be alone on the train as long as she was accompanied at either end of the journey. It was the trip across the capital that held the greatest risk.

The three remaining girls, Francine, Anna and Emily, headed to find something to eat, having an hour and a half wait before their train. Anna and Emily could have opted for an earlier train but were waiting for the train Francine needed to be on. They departed London shortly after three in the afternoon.

Marilyn swore silently to herself as for the third time she was met with voicemail. Having already left one message, she hung up the phone.

She realised too late that she shouldn't have mentioned on which train Jason would be arriving home.

It had been the previous night at her fitness club. Marilyn had mentioned in passing to one of her friends, Astrid, that Jason would be home the following day. This had led to the discussion of how he was getting home. One simple sentence was all it took, "Oh, he'll be travelling by train, I think he gets in about half four."

Nothing further had been said on the subject until half an hour before. It was lunch time and Astrid had called into Marilyn's office during her lunch break. Her friend had decided that as Marilyn was working, she would meet Jason and make sure he got home okay. Astrid was older and recently retired with too much free time on her hands.

"Trouble?" Anna asked her roommate, the frustrated look not going unnoticed.

"That voicemail was from my mother," Emily replied. "We are going to be met at the station by a friend of hers, Astrid."

"I take it they are not expecting your current appearance?" Anna asked quietly, being careful to word the question in case other passengers were listening.

Emily nodded, "This is going to be a complete farce and end in an argument. Astrid hasn't been informed and my mother doesn't want her to find out."

"Can you change out of you school uniform before we get there?" Francine asked. She was one of the few students who knew of Emily's status.

Emily shook her head whispering, "I can't even manage a tomboy look, not that it would do any good."

"Overcompensating. Everything she has at school is ultra-girly-girl. The only thing she has with legs in are shorts, and we didn't pack any as it's too cold," Anna added. "Nothing of mine will fit her either."

"I have the pair of trousers I left home in to come to school in the first place," Emily corrected, "but I didn't bother to pack those."

Francine wasn't carrying luggage in the traditional sense. The only bags she carried contained Christmas presents. The only clothes being what she was wearing, the same type of skirt, blouse and blazer as the other two. Another one of the school rules was that they were to travel at least part of the way in the School uniform. This was mainly for the first part of the trip where one teacher had to keep track of a number of students, and it was easier to spot the kids in uniform.

"Astrid is expecting a single person, most likely a scruffy youth dressed in jeans and a hoodie. Not two posh immaculately dressed school girls. Chances are we can walk straight past her," Emily explained. "The platforms are surrounded by railway lines. The only way on or off the station is via a single tunnel under the tracks. Therefore, there are likely only two places she will be waiting. Either at the stairs off the platform or at the main entrance."

"So we will have to walk right past her," Anna surmised, "I'm not sure if this will work."

Emily thought for a moment before saying, "You saw how many school kids got on at Reading. There will be at least a dozen getting off at our stop. As we are right at the front in first class, we will be at the opposite end of the platform from the stairs. Between us and the exit will be a building containing a waiting room, cafe and toilets. We get off onto platform 2. Instead of walking down the right side of the building on platform 2, we cross the island and walk down the other side of the building on platform 3. If Astrid is paying attention to platform 2 then we may be able to slip past in the crowd."

"What if she isn't on the platform?" Francine asked.

"Then we wait until she comes looking. If she heads into the waiting room, then we slip around back and out. Anna can stay in view, as long as I have the building between me and her."

"I don't understand your parents," Francine stated. "They must know you will be travelling in uniform, surely your neighbours are going to see you return home."

"Look at how dark it is getting already. It will be half an hour after sunset by the time we get to the station. Nobody is going to be able to get a good look at us when we get home. Most of our street will either be out at work or have their curtains closed by then anyway."

The train pulled into the station a few minutes late at just past half past four. The two girls had said goodbye to their travelling companion and made their way to the door, bags in hand.

Anna stepped off first, followed by Emily. The later keeping further up the platform using the former as a shield. It only took a few seconds for Emily to identify Astrid and step out of view putting the station buildings between the two.

"Grey haired women, blue coat, black skirt, holding the hand of a small boy in a red coat."

Anna assessed the situation. Emily had been almost correct. She counted another nine people stepping off the train, of which at least six were definitely teenaged or below. Of the others, two looked to be in their twenties, with one being an older man with greying hair.

A glance at the information screen revealed that another train would arrive on platform 3 within 5 minutes. The train they had left was not due to leave immediately, and wouldn't depart until after the next train had arrived, allowing for passengers to interchange if required. There were a number of people milling around on the platforms waiting for trains.

Anna got her mobile phone out and held it to her ear, pretending to make a call. In reality, she had activated the camera in the back and was pointing it down the station. Emily had her own phone out and was watching the video feed over a private wifi link between the two devices.

Emily carefully moved down platform 3 keeping the other side of the waiting room from Astrid and her grandson, monitoring the woman on the wifi link. Once at the end of the wall nearest the exit stairs she turned to face the edge of the platform, her back now being towards Astrid, and edged slightly to her right so her back was slightly visible around the corner.

With a few quick flicks of her fingers, she pinged a message to Anna, who on hearing her phone beep, started to follow the path her friend had taken.

Emily had switched on the front facing camera on her phone and pulled out a lipstick. Using the phone as a mirror, she started to touch up her lips while keeping a sly eye on her target.

Astrid double checked the arrivals board, as she had been since she arrived fifteen minutes before the train was due to arrive. She had picked her young grandson up from his primary school then had taken a scenic route to the station, calling at a local shop to pick up some magazines for herself and some comics for the young boy. They had an hour to wait after leaving the school before the train would arrive.

Not wanting to spend too long parked at the station, incurring parking fees, Astrid had waited a while on the road near the shops before proceeding to the station.

Astrid kept a close eye on the train as it pulled into the station. Marilyn couldn't tell her what her son was likely to be wearing. The answer of "whatever is currently in fashion," didn't help much, other than possibly to eliminate the people in obvious school uniforms.

It had been over six months since she last saw the boy, but she hoped that even if she failed to spot him, the message had reached him and he would come to her.

A number of people had gotten off the train. The two girls in matching skirts and blazers, along with the older man, were immediately dismissed as she focused on the other passengers. One pair in jeans and hoodies had disappeared directly into the waiting room. One she had presumed to be female, given the loopy earring, but it was tricky to see body shape under the thick clothing. The gender of the companion couldn't be seen at first glance, not helped by not being able to get a clear view of the person's face.

Switching focus, Astrid looked at the other people as they walked past her position at the top of the exit stairs.

Not seeing Jason among those leaving, she started to wonder what was going on. After a few minutes, a second train pulled in on the other platform. However, only people who were obviously adults got off that train.

Switching back to the first train, she scanned the windows for anybody else looking like they were getting off, but the was nobody moving down the train that she could see. Just to make sure, she waited until the train was starting to move before considering moving.

As far as Astrid could tell, the were only four people left who had gotten off the train Jason should have been on. The two girls had moved to the other platform and appeared to be waiting for a connection. That left the two who had gone into the waiting room.

Briefly stepping to the other platform to look down that side of the building, to check that she hadn't missed anybody, Astrid noted that the only entrance to the building between the platforms was on platform 2. Realising that the pair from the train would have to leave the same way they entered, Astrid began to walk to the door.

Only a few people were inside. The girl with the looped earring and hoodie wasn't visible, but that wasn't totally unexpected as the ladies toilets were accessed from inside the waiting room. The door into the gents being on the outside of the building.

The other person, who Astrid had hoped to be Jason was at a counter buying a couple of bottles of cola. Astrid waited for the person to turn round, only to be disappointed to find out it wasn't who she was looking for. Jason didn't have a face covered in freckles.

Having made their break to the exit, the two girls descended the stairs and went through the tunnel to emerge out of the station. Emily led Anna to the taxi rank when she spotted that the were a couple of cabs waiting for fairs.

Normally she would have walked home from the station, but given the amount of luggage the two were carrying, and that it was dark, Emily figured a taxi was the best option. It wouldn't have been an issue if presenting as Jason, but a girl is potentially more vulnerable. The other reason was that she didn't want to be on the streets if Astrid drove by looking for Jason.

A few minutes later they pulled up outside the Bridge's house. As Emily got out of the car, she heard there phone starting to ring indoors. With key already in hand, she dashed to the front door, swiftly unlocking it and entering.

Realising that her friend was occupied, Anna paid the driver and helped him unload the bags from the boot. The driver, seeing that the other girl was on the phone just inside the house, picked what the remaining passenger couldn't carry and took it to the door. Once both girls were safely to the door, he turned and departed, heading back to the taxi rank at the station.

"It didn't take as long to get across London as I thought, so I ended up catching an earlier connection," Emily explained.

"Oh, I thought perhaps you had missed the train," Astrid replied, "but I thought I better double check that I hadn't missed you."

"Did you also ring a couple of minutes ago?" Emily slyly asked, just in case this wasn't Astrid's first attempt, "Only I was in the bathroom and couldn't get to it."

"No, it wasn't me," Astrid replied, "I tried you mother's mobile first, to see if she had heard anything, but she isn't answering."

"Yeah, I couldn't get through either. Sorry that you had a wasted trip. If I had known you were going to the station, I would have phoned you earlier. I'm sure your mobile number is in our address book."

"Didn't you get the message from your mother?"

"No, I need to get a new battery for my phone. It was claiming 75% charge when I left this morning, but it had gone flat in the space of about an hour, and I wasn't even using it."

While Emily was lying to Astrid, Anna went into the kitchen at the back of the property and phoned the school on her mobile to say they had arrived safely. The office would be maintaining a list of those travelling without supervision and ticking off progress. A call had already been made earlier to inform the school that they had boarded their final train.

Anna had just hung up when Emily came into the room. After switching the kettle on, Emily shew Anna up to her old room where they would be sleeping, pointing out the location of the bathroom as they passed.