I looked down at my dress and brushed off the imaginary dust.

Gulping twice, I knocked on the door. Hearing the muffled ‘Come in,’ I opened the door and entered.

In front of me, seated around the desk, was the Matron, Mr Jameson and Miss Mole lady…I mean Phipps.

‘Sit down, dear,’ said Matron.

I remembered to adjust the skirt of my dress as I sat down and saw that Matron was pleased with that. I was somewhat surprised that she was there but assumed that she was present to try to cover any bloopers that I got myself into.

Mr Jameson coughed, looked at some papers on the desk, looked up and smiled at me.

‘Now Stephanie, there’s nothing to worry about. We just want to ask you a few questions. Is that OK?’

I nodded.

‘Right, how do you like it here?’

‘It… it’s very nice.’

‘And are you treated well?’

‘Yes, everyone has been good to me.’

Miss Phipps then asked me a question.

‘Do you fit in with the other girls?’

‘Sorry?’

‘I mean do you play with them and have you made any friends yet?’

I stared at her mole as if I expected something to burst out of it. Dragging my eyes away, I looked at her hair and tried to answer her.

‘Erm…yes, I have made some friends,’

She smiled, ‘that’s good. It can be lonely without friends.’

Then it was Mr Jameson’s turn again.

‘Do you like the food?’

‘Sometimes.’

‘What don’t you like?’

‘ Well I like it that everything is with chips and baked beans, but semolina and prunes…I mean I don’t mind semolina but I hate prunes, it’s like when they put a prune in the semolina, it reminds me of a big mol…I mean a big erm crinkly lumpy thing that isn’t very nice.’

I am sure that I went red in the face and stared closely at my bare knees.

‘Stephanie?’

I looked up at Matron who was trying desperately not to smile.

‘Have you any questions to ask the governors?’

‘No thank you.’

‘Well I’m glad that you are happy here,’ said Miss Phipps, ‘Matron, has anyone enquired if Stephanie could be up for adoption yet?’

Matron looked a bit confused and then said, ‘No…not yet, she hasn’t been here long enough.’

‘Well a lovely sweet girl like this will be snapped up, I should think. Would you like to be adopted, Stephanie?’

‘I…I don’t know, I’ve just lost me parents and I don’t think…’

‘Yes, but if you had parents again, you would be happy again wouldn’t…’

‘I miss my Mum and Dad’ I said on the point of snivelling.

‘Quite right.’ Interrupted Mr Jameson, looking at Miss Phipps in a strange way, ‘time enough for that in a few months, eh?’

I nodded, sniffing, not knowing what to say.

‘We like to think that all the girls are happy here. If you have any problems, you should talk to Matron here. If she cannot help, we are always available to assist in any way we can.’

He looked through his papers again.

‘One thing Matron, I can’t find any details of Stephanie here?

‘Well. You know the council and paperwork, probably on it’s way shortly.’

‘Of course; well Stephanie, ‘said Mr Jameson, ‘thanks for the little chat. I suppose that you will be starting at the school on Monday?’

I looked enquiringly at Matron, who frowned and then said, ‘Of course, she should start then,’

‘Have you spoken to the Head Mistress yet?’

‘No, not yet; she wasn’t available earlier. I will phone her after you have gone.’

‘That’s good. OK Stephanie, run along and we’ll see what we can do about the prunes.’

They all smiled as I got up and left the room. I shut the door behind me, gave a big sigh and leaned against the door.

‘That was hard work,’ I thought, ‘don’t like the idea if school, though; what if I’m caught and what about PE and stuff? I can’t be seen undressing in front of everyone and what about me seeing girls undressing. I don’t like the idea of new parents either. Why do I want new parents anyway?’

I went upstairs to the dorm and sat on the bed. The room was empty and I wanted to think.

I picked up Teddy and looked into his eyes. I was jealous of him. He didn’t have to pretend to be something or someone different. He didn’t have to wear clothes that made him think he was a girl teddy…he didn’t wear any clothes, lucky thing. Hang on; does that mean Teddy could be a she? I looked closely between the legs. Nope, no sign of a willy. Then I went all red thinking about what I had just thought and put him or perhaps even her back on the pillow, made sure that his/her legs were straight and was comfy and then I got up and looked out of the window.

‘What name could I call a girl teddy,’ I pondered, ‘Tedina perhaps?’

I was distracted from my thoughts as I could see that the governors were leaving and Matron was shaking their hands, They went over to where the cars were parked and I was more than a bit surprised to see Mr Jameson getting into the Mini and Miss Phipps the flashy Cortina!

Mr Jameson drove off first, rather slowly and carefully I thought and Miss Phipps followed, her wheels spinning on the gravel of the drive as she shot off like a girl racer…fancy that!

I heard footsteps running up the stairs. Tracy burst in and ran over to my bed.

‘Well. How did it go? Was you caught out, did they find out that you are a boy? Are you in trouble, tell me then, don’t stay quiet.’

I turned away from the window.

‘They were very nice.’

‘But did they know about…you know…your erm situation?’

‘No, they just asked me a few questions about if I like it here and then they let me go…Oh they did mention that I would have to start school on Monday.’

‘Ooh, that’s heavy. Mind you it’s not a bad school, they only cane you every other day and you do get bread and water for lunch if you’ve done all your homework.’

‘WHAT!’

She giggled.

‘Got you!’

‘Tracy, don’t do that, I’m all of a quiver now.’

‘Sorry Steph; nah it’s not a bad place and once you get over wearing the hideous uniform, you should like it.’

‘What about changing in front of other girls for games…PE and stuff.’

‘Oh no need to worry about that. They have individual changing rooms and they don’t approve of public nudity for the gells.’

I sighed with relief. I was doing a lot of that. I didn’t know of my nerves could take much more and once again, I envied Teddy for his or her laidback lifestyle.

‘They did ask if I was going to be put up for adoption.’

‘Oh, they always do that, they can’t wait to be shot of you really so that they can fill up your space with a new kid. They’ve tried it on me a couple of times, but no ones nuts enough to have me. Anyway, enough of that rubbish, fancy a Pepsi and KitKat?’

My mouth started watering at the thought and I just nodded and we went downstairs to the kitchen.

In no time, I was sitting at a Formica table, sucking on a straw and watching Rachel and Phillipa knocking the hell out of a ping-pong ball whilst playing a game of table tennis on a shaky and well-worn table.

Looking at the girls laughing and talking around me, I was pleased that I was accepted by them. I just hoped that things would settle down now. Then I remembered that I had to go to school on Monday, as a girl, wearing that weird uniform and my heart sunk like a stone. Would I get away with it and what would happen if anyone found out?

To be continued...

This is written in free form so there are probably tons of mistakes...never mind no one's perfect!

Puuleaaase leave comments, ta very muchlie....