Playing her way 2 - Chapter 9

© D.L.

Liz peered out of the bus window as it drove into the city. It was Saturday morning. She had driven to the park and ride and was now heading into Norwich to meet her nephew, Jason.

Having checked the bus route, and confirming the meeting point with Jason by phone the previous evening, she was looking out for the unmistakable landmark of the castle.

When the bus pulled up on the road below the castle, she got off and walked back up the street she had just ridden along, back to the entrance of the Castle Mall, built underground in the side of the hill below the castle.

Liz was looking out for Jason, and possibly one or two friends. He had told her that school rules allowed students to go out in the city, but not alone. They had agreed to meet outside the mall, as it was the easiest place to describe.

The bus station was the other option. However, the multiple entrances and crowds of people ran the risk of them missing each other. Also, while Emily had hinted at arriving by bus, which she would have had to do if coming from Langley school in Loddon, the actual method of arrival was via train. The chosen meeting place was a shorter walk from the train station than walking to the bus station.

As Liz approached the entrance to the mall, she spotted the figure stood to one side. From a distance, getting glimpses through the other pedestrians walking the street, Liz hadn't recognised the person. The style of the knee-length navy trench coat was more feminine than masculine, but Liz didn't consciously realise the reason was the way the front crossed and buttoned. She couldn't see what was worn under the coat, as it was buttoned all the way to the top, with a pale blue scarf wrapped around the neck. Slate grey trousers and a pair of white trainers completed what was visible.

Jason waved to Liz as she approached and recognised him.

"Hi, Aunty Liz," Jason stated as he hugged her.

"Hello Jason, I didn't think you would be alone," Liz responded.

"The others are waiting inside in the warm," Jason smiled before turning serious. "Before we go meet them, I want to apologise for all the secrecy about my location. The reasons why will become apparent very soon. All I ask is that you don't get angry and make a scene."

Jason led them into the mall and over to the escalators leading down. Anna was waiting at the top of the escalator. Jason introduced Anna before they stepped onto the escalator.

"I have promised my parents not to say anything about why I'm here, or about the school I attend," Jason explained, "and as Anna is going to be staying with us over Christmas, she isn't going to say anything either."

"I don't want to risk upsetting Mr and Mrs Bridges," Anna added.

"However," Jason continued, "while Anna and I are limited in what we can say, we have brought along someone who has absolutely no restrictions on what they can say, so I just hope she isn't going to make any wild stories up because we can't actually contradict her."

Stepping off the escalator, Anna led the way away to a nearby shop entrance. Wendy, having been hiding from view, stepped out to greet the trio.

"Hi Mrs Roberts, how did you enjoy the tour of our school yesterday?" Wendy stated. Putting her arm round Jason she continued, "Emily here was hiding in the music department half the morning, only a handful girls know she is male, and we didn't want you accidently outing her to the whole school."

Liz couldn't respond. The full shock and implications of the revelation hit her. Jason was attending a girl's boarding school, apparently as a girl. The three girls in front of her smiled politely as she processed the information.

Liz then realised she was regarding all three individuals as girls. The slightly odd appearance of Jason that had been bugging her for the last few minutes suddenly made sense. The trench-coat was buttoned the same direction as her own and the other girls. Emily's ponytail was lowish for a girl but higher than most boy's would ever wear.

"I think we need to sit down," Anna stated, "How about we head over to the tea shop for a drink, my treat."

Anna went to the counter to buy the beverages which the other three found a table away from other customers. As it was still relatively early, the tables were half empty.

"I can understand why Arnold might not want to say anything," Liz said after sitting down. "Molly's warning now makes sense, she said to be prepared for surprises."

"Aunt Molly said I could trust you," Emily replied, "I don't think she likes my parent's decision to keep things secret, but she respects it. Given her shift-work patterns at the care home, she relies on Susan being able to stay with my parents when needed, rather than being home alone."

"She has been staying with us every third weekend," Liz stated, "However, we live a little too far away for weekdays."

"Yeah, she can walk to school from our's in the morning," Emily replied.

"I take it I'll be using her bed when I stay?" Anna asked.

"I'm surprised my parents went for that," Emily answered. "We only have a two bedroom house, so when Susan stays, she is on a cot bed in my room. It wasn't a problem when we were little kids. We were both five when her father left. As we grew older, the intention was always to find a better arrangement, but we never got around to switching.

"Of course in recent years, Susan has stayed at home alone more often, so it's usually only one night a week instead of the three originally."

"She was staying with me over the summer as well," Wendy supplemented, "That is why we became such close friends. Unfortunately, my mother doesn't know about Emily, so she couldn't come stay as well."

"I hadn't come out properly to my parents either," Emily added, "They knew I had issues, but refused to acknowledge them, so went into hiding."

"So who will be turning up on Christmas day?" Liz asked.

"Jason," Emily answered with a sigh, "My parents are insisting I have to be my old self so neighbours and family don't find out. Aunt Helen and Uncle Dean don't know, and I'm not sure I fully trust Eddie. He wasn't exactly sympathetic when the rumours of me being gay went round after I dressed up in a St Trinians outfit for Comic Relief last year."

"I heard about that," Liz stated, "I'm not sure what Jack said to him when they next met, but he quickly shut up on the subject afterwards. I don't think you have to worry about Jack finding out."

Haven't recently learned her youngest son was cross-dressing, she realised that certain tendencies might run in the family.

"That is good to know," Emily was relieved. "Susan and I have been trying to find out what the other cousins responses would be. The only one we confirmed was probably safe was Tom. We anonymously baited him in chat on one of his live streams, using the subject of the transexual gamer, Generation2K, to find out his attitude."

"What was his response?" Liz asked, realising the information would be important with how she handled his brother.

"He didn't really seem to have an opinion. The only thing we could get out of him was, 'whatever floats your boat'. He didn't seem to care either way."

They finished off their drinks before starting to head round the shops, starting off with the stores in the mall, before heading out on the lower of the two floors towards through the tunnel under the road heading in the direction of the marketplace.

They headed into Debenhams, where Wendy wanted to stop at the lingerie department for a new bra, as some of her current ones were getting tight.

"So who is coming to dinner tomorrow?" Liz asked as they were waiting for Wendy to come out of the fitting room. "Emily or Jason?"

"Whoever will cause the least amount of trouble," Emily answered.

"For you, or your parents?" Liz questioned.

"I'm not allowed to let you know my gender. The more people who know, the more likelihood the secret gets out. How will Uncle Bill react?"

Liz thought for a moment, "Bill isn't always the most discrete of people when it comes to secrets. I usually end up buying all the Christmas presents so he doesn't have to remember to forget what has been bought. I realise you probably don't like portraying a boy, but I think it may be safer to appear as Jason for the moment. That will give me more time to work on him before Christmas."

"I'll definitely be Jason for Christmas," Emily said with a slight hint of disappointment in her answer.

"What do you want for Christmas?" Liz asked. "I was going to take you clothes shopping, but that would be awkward now. I can't get you girls clothes if you are pretending to be a boy, and I suspect you wouldn't appreciate boy's clothes."

As Emily thought about it Anna cut in, "You can still get her clothes, just be crafty about it. Boy cut jeans for example."

"Not much point," Wendy stated, having come back to the others, "This is the first time she's been in trousers since she arrived at school, in fact, I think that is the only pair of trousers she has with her. Overcompensating much?"

Emily scowled, "The only reason I have these is because I had to leave home wearing them. I just don't like things that make me look masculine. I shouldn't have had that drink earlier, I'm going to have to go to the little boy's room before lunch."

"You will get less funny looks going into the Ladies with us," Liz stated, "If this is the best you can do at looking boyish, you are not going to have problems when you come home."

"If you don't mind, I will," Emily replied. "Although, if we stop in Chappelfield, they have unisex disabled cubicles I can go in."

After checking Topshop, they headed across to Marks and Spencer. Liz spotted some nice Christmas dresses and made a note to look in her local branch or order online. While going round, she made sure to note what sizes Emily was trying on. They browsed both the men's and women's departments. Emily was at the point were the children's clothes no longer fitted, but she was still small for some of the adult sizes.

They found a nice red cashmere sweater in the girl's department that was relatively unisex in style, that would act as a present to Emily from Tom. As it was getting near noon, they stopped in a cafe in the top of Marks and Spencers to have sandwiches and cake.

The girls quickly snapping shots of their meals on their phones. Keeping records of what they ate was school policy but optional when outside of the school. They had gotten into the habit of doing it anyway.

Emily was thankful that the closet toilets turned out to be a pair of unisex disabled bathrooms, which neutralised the gender specific issues, as in her current mode of dress she wasn't confident entering either the gents or ladies without people looking.

Having found Mark's to be expensive for smaller gifts, they headed across to Primark. A packet of unisex polo shirts were ideal for a gift from Jack.

Heading back past Marks and Spencers, they walked up into the Chappelfield mall. Anna wanted to hit the House of Fraiser. While being a more upmarket and expensive store, unlike the others, she wasn't on a limited budget. She soon found what she was looking for, some quality shirts for her father.

Leaving the store, they then browsed River Island, where Emily spotted a cute top and skirt combo that really suited her. Liz decided that would be a perfect gift, and despite the issues decided to buy it for Emily.

"You can take that back to the school with you," Liz decided, "I'll tell Bill we bought you some school trousers and left them with you so that you don't need to cart them back across country after Christmas."

"Thank you," Emily stated as they left the store after making the purchase, "I want to speak to you about my presents to your family. I know Becky is a big Alicia Morgan fan. She is going to be doing a concert at St. Mary's during the February half-term. I would like to invite Becky to stay at the school for the week, not only so that she could see the show, but also because I know you are interested in her attending. It will be an opportunity for her to get to know some of the students and find out what it is like being away from home, to bring her round on the idea of going away to school.

"The question is travel arrangements. You can, of course, opt to drive her here, but it's a long drive, which you would either have to do twice or find somewhere to stay here, assuming you would want to. Instead, I would like to pay for Becky to come here by train. I realise you won't agree to letting her travel alone, and the school wouldn't allow it either, but if she was travelling with Susan, would that be acceptable?

"If you are worried about connections and getting across London, then you could take turns with Aunt Molly and accompany them until they get on the train to Norwich. We would meet them here."

Liz thought about it. She wouldn't mind a trip to the capital. She still had a number of friends in the city from when she worked in the financial district. She had met Bill while working at a stockbrokers. Molly couldn't normally afford such luxuries, but Liz could pay for the trip as a treat for her sister.

"That's fine in principle," Liz reasoned, "I'll give you a provisional yes. Let me speak to Molly and get Back to you regarding the details."

"That's fine," Emily answered. "I don't need to buy the train tickets yet, but I will do before Christmas to get early booking discount. Also, can I ask that you to make sure that Uncle Bill and the boys don't have any plans for Saturday 7th of January? I think I can get tickets to an event they will enjoy, but it would have to be that date."

"I think that can be arranged," Liz stated. "I usually end up having to keep track of where everybody is, and I can always put a family meal in the Calendar."

"Arrange to go out with Uncle Dean and his family if you can," Emily added, "Uncle Dean and Eddie might end up with the same gift. I think I can get access to a corporate box for an FA Cup game. They might not support the team in question, but it will be an experience non-the-less."

The final stop was to go into the Sainsburys supermarket opposite the bus station. Emily needed to have an adult with her in order to buy Whisky for her father. Liz had agreed to take the drinks home and wrap them for her.

Liz offered the girls a ride to the school, but they declined. Liz only had a short drive to the Hotel from the park and ride, so it would be out of her way. Also, they would need to buy bus fair and they already had return tickets on the train.

Having seen Liz onto the bus, the girls began a casual slow walk back to the train station. They had plenty of time until the next train.

Bill followed Liz's directions as he headed out of the hotel and northward towards Norwich. Turning left onto the southern bypass he was instructed to exit at the second junction they came to. He was familiar with the A11 junction, as that was the route he had taken to get to Dunston. The easiest route being to come up the A11, take a short trip on the A47 southern bypass around the bottom of Norwich, and then down the A140 a short distance to the Hall.

He spotted the sign for Wymondham. Liz had pointed out the town as they passed on their trip up as it was where they were thinking of sending Becky. They continued to the next Junction, sign posted for the University and for Watton. Instead of turning right towards the city and the University, he turned left to head south-west.

Bill didn't know where Jason went to school. Liz had mentioned a second boarding school in the area, but he didn't know where it was located. In order to get to Loddon, he would have had to head in the opposite direction on the dual-carriageway they had just left, being to the East of Dunston instead of the west.

Anna had made the arrangements and had insisted on paying for the meal as a thank you for being invited on Christmas day. She had picked a village pub that was far enough away as to hopefully not be connected to the school, but also close enough to get to by themselves.

After off the A47 Bill took the first turning on the left to take them to the Village of Little Melton, and The Village Inn pub and carvery.

Anna and Emily had borrowed bikes from the school and headed to the same location, after arriving back from the church service at the abbey. They could cycle to the location via the back roads, avoiding all the major roads and therefore traffic. As per school rules, they were wearing helmets and high visibility jackets.

Emily was once again portraying Jason, having been careful to slip out of the dormitory when she thought people weren't looking. She had kept her ponytail high on her head until she had to put her helmet on. The same pair of trousers and trainers from the day before was joined by a plain white blouse, and a green fleece jacket, the coat from the day before being too long to use while riding. A clear plastic cape was in her pocket, should it start to rain. So far the weather was still mild and dry.

Anna had opted for black leggings, white blouse and a pink cardigan. Normally she would have dressed smarter, but the need to cycle prohibited that. She could have paid for a taxi, but she thought the exercise would be beneficial. It was also an excuse not to have a lift back to the school, as two bikes would not fit in the car. If bill insisted on giving them a ride instead of paying for a taxi, then their cover would be blown.

Bill and Liz were the first to arrive, and they entered and ordered themselves some drinks while they waited for the girls to Turn up. Bill opted for a pint of local ale, while Liz chose to have a sherry.

They only had to wait a few minutes for the girls to turn up. After chaining their bikes up, they entered the inn, Emily having spotted her aunt and uncles' car.

After introductions between Anna and Bill, lemonades were bought for the teens. It was soon time to have lunch.

Bill had been instructed not to ask anything about where they went to school, so the conversation was kept to other subjects. Emily kept quiet for the most part, letting Anna do the talking. It was always interesting watching Anna speak to businessmen. She had a definite knack for getting people to talk, and it wasn't long until she had manipulated Bill into giving anecdotes about the stock exchange, and tips on what he thought were good investments.

Liz watched in amusement as both Emily and Anna skillfully diverted the conversation when the subject matter got too close to anything to do with their personal lives.

The meal went smoothly and they returned to the bar area afterwards. Emily and Anna made their excuses mid-afternoon, stating they needed to make sure they got back before it started to get dark. In truth, it was only a half hour ride, rather than the longer ride they had hinted at.

"That explains a lot," Bill stated after Liz had finished reminiscing about their trip to Norwich earlier in the month. "I wondered why he rode off on an obviously girl's bike."

"He was telling the truth," Liz replied,"when he said it was the only loaner available. All the bicycles owned by the school are designed for girls. Their school uniform includes skirts, so they have to have bikes that have low crossbars so that they can ride them."

"I'm guessing that the owners of the pub recognised the bikes," Bill stated. "The did seem to be some odd glances going round."

"I found out afterwards that Anna has been there before. When Mr Gurevich visits his daughter, Svetlana, they often go there. Anna is at the school as a personal assistant to Svetlana and sometimes goes along with them to the meals," Liz replied. She had joined in on one of the teleconferences between Emily and Susan while visiting Molly.

"Why does a school kid need a PA?" Bill asked.

"I don't think she actually does," Liz replied. "Technically Anna is more of a maid than anything else. She was originally sharing a room with Svetlana until she got fed up and moved in with Emily instead. I get the impression that the school goes along with the arrangement, as it is an excuse for sending Anna there, but they make sure that Svetlana doesn't take advantage."

Bill finished his whisky and placed the glass on the coffee table. After thinking for a while he declared, "I have nothing against Jason becoming Emily if that is what is required. Good luck to her, she hasn't chosen an easy life."

"What about Jack?" Liz asked.

"He can dress up as a girl if he likes," Bill answered, "but he needs to understand there could be consequences if other people find out. Also, if he does leave the house as a girl, then he must be chaperoned by an adult who is aware of the situation. You can be taken into a women's bathroom if needed, but we need to make sure he doesn't use his passability as a way to spy on girls. I could totally see him sneaking into the girls changing rooms if he gets daring enough."

"Sounds fair," Liz replied. "I don't think he would do that, but unless he decides to transition fully, then those places are off limits, and may even be off limits afterwards. One of the reasons Emily chose St. Marys is that she could change in her room for P.E. Lessons. In a normal school, she would have to be separated from the rest of the girls to get changed, and that would have highlighted her as being different."

Liz hit the remote to turn the TV off, and they headed upstairs to bed. It had been a long and eventful Christmas day.