Saturday morning after yoga Hailey pulled Kelli aside.

"Jennifer Malone left her purse here last night. Why don't you jog over there to return it instead of running with the group today? They are a few blocks from the park on Elm Street, It shouldn't be hard to find."

"Oh yeah? Watch me get lost. I would be happy to take it to her though. She seemed nice."

"It's okay to ask directions, you are a girl after all," Hailie smirked. "Why don't you invite her and a friend or two to the dance tonight? I'd like to develop closer ties with the town. This is an excellent opportunity to start making friends."

"Okay I'll do that. It'll be fun."

***

Later Kelli found herself on the front porch of a well kept brick home. Mr. Malone opened the door

"Oh, hello. Kelli, right? Come in. What can we do for you?" Mr. Malone turned and called into the family room. "Lisa, the girl that helped Jen is here. Can you find her please?"

A sleepy looking Jennifer and her mother entered the living room within a minute. After thanking Kelli once more and making her promise to call them Ben and Lisa, Jen's Mom and Dad went back to whatever they were doing before.

"How did you know where I live?" Jen asked.

"You left your purse at the school last night. We found the address inside. Since I was going to be out running around Hailey asked me to drop it by."

"Thanks. I would have been looking for that soon. Last night was such chaos, it's a wonder I got home at all. My dad and mom took me to get my car after we left the school. Apparently Dylan, Zach and Andrew, the guys who were bothering me, smashed my car windows and keyed the paint on my car after we ran off. We had to file another report and didn't get home until late. The cops brought them in while we were at the station. Those guys are in a lot of trouble. Idiots. They were drunk. I don't know what I saw in Dylan."

"Well he is probably pretty cute when he isn't being a jerk."

"Yeah," Jen smiled. "He is really built too. But damn, does he have a temper!"

"Anyway, you seem really cool and I was wondering if you and a couple of girl friends might like to come to the school tonight. We are having a dance slash karaoke slash battle of the bands night. Except for the bands we do this every week. I promise you will have fun."

"Dance? Are you asking me out to a dance. Look, I'm not into girls..."

"No, I am not asking as a date. I like guys. Well mostly, but that is not important right now. Having a dance gives us a chance to dress up. It would be better if we had guys to dance with but you will be the first person ever invited over, so until we meet some nice guys it is just us," Kelli said in a rush.

"I would love to. Let me call a couple of friends. Come on back to my room." Kelli followed Jen through the house. As they passed an open door in the hall to Jen's room Kelli noticed a young man sitting at a desk painting something.

"Was that your brother?" Kelli asked.

"Yeah, that was my super nerd big brother. All he ever does is play computer games and paint miniatures for his stupid Dungeons & Dragons games."

"Is he a big D&D player?"

"He was until some of his buddies went off to college this fall."

"Interesting."

"Um, do you play? Sorry about the nerd crack."

"No I don't, but one of my friends used to and has been trying to get a group together. If you come over you'll meet her."

"Hang on let me make a couple of calls." In the end Jen's friends Sydney and Lauren agreed to come with her. They would arrive just after six. Kelli had told them to get there early so she could introduce them to her core group of friends.

***

After Kelli returned to the school she spent a little time letting some of the others know that they would be having guests that evening and asking them to spread the word so that nobody would be surprised by the new faces. This took much longer than she had anticipated because people kept stopping her to hear her story about the scuffle. Truth be told, it made her feel good to talk about it. It was hard to do anything really notable among her peers. They all had the same conditioning. No one was better off economically. Nobody was at all bad looking, average was about as bad as any of them could be described. There were several girls that Kelli thought were stunning and she secretly thought the plain girls would be considered at least cute in any other group. Grades had not come out yet but they all seemed to be working diligently at their studies so she figured a B would be a bad grade. It felt good to stand out a little bit even if it was due to an accident of circumstances. Others had done less violent things to assert their individuality. The band girls had their different musical styles. The car club girls had their projects. The sewing circle expressed themselves with fashion. Other groups were starting to form around shared interests and she was part of several of them. Still, it was hard to rise above the crowd and the attention felt good.

Perhaps she was over thinking it. After all, in a couple of years she would be off to college and the only thing she would have left of this place would be the friends she made and her education. Kelli was sure that in college she would begin to shine. Having lived in her new body for a few months she had decided that she was pretty enough now in a baby faced, girl next door way but she suspected that she would approach the beauty her friend Nicole had as she matured. Some girls just took longer to grow into their beauty. It was a first world problem.

After spreading the word about the visitors Kelli went to help set up for the evening's entertainment. Her work crew had setup today and she wanted to be done quickly so that she could be ready when the girls from town arrived. It was not to be, one problem after another cropped up as they were dealing with all of the extra equipment and electrical needs for the bands that would be playing that evening.

The intercom sounded. "Kelli Bellamy to the front desk. You have visitors. Kelli Bellamy to the front desk."

When she got to the front, Kelli saw that her guests were surrounded by curious students. They were chatting amiably but the two girls with Jen seemed a little overwhelmed. "Make a hole," she yelled as she made her way to Jen and her friends Sydney and Lauren. When she got there she made a brief informal introduction. "Hey all. These are our guests for the evening, so be nice. This is Jennifer and these are her friends." Having no idea which girl was which Kelli continued. "Sydney, wave to the girls. Now Lauren. Sydney and Lauren these are some random girls who you will have a chance to meet later. Now all of you run along and give me some peace to talk to our new friends please."

The three visitors seemed to have no idea how to respond to being mobbed by so many people who were interested in them. They seemed a little relieved as the well meaning girls began to go back to the things that they had been doing before their arrival.

Kelli smiled at the three girls. "I hope that you will pardon us for being like this. You are our first real non-adult visitors. We really need to get out more, I know. Come on up to my room and I will introduce you to my best friends. Then we can show you around before the fun starts."

Jennifer, Sydney and Lauren followed her as she led the way to the stairs. "I am up a couple of flights. There is a freight elevator but no one gets to use it without permission. My roommate and I have not really done much decorating yet but I really like my room. We have a cool setup here where we each get our own room and share a little sitting room and the bath. This floor is mostly seniors. Next is my floor. The poor freshmen are at the top."

Sydney said. "I expected this place to look like a school inside. Not freaking Hogwarts."

"Oh, yeah, the wood paneling is great. The old school part still looks like a regular school. The dorm wing looks very Ivy League I think. It is part of the experiment they are doing on us. You must have heard. Take a bunch of poor little orphans and put them in a fancy prep school, give them a great education and see what happens."

"Yeah, it was in the paper when they did the big remodel. We see y'all running before school, too. What is that all about?" Sydney asked,

"There is a lot that we had to agree to in order to be here. They want us in good shape so there are a minimum of four hours of exercise every day. We also have to eat what they tell us most of the time.

"Here we are. This is my place," Kelli said as she stopped in front of her door and used her key to open the lock. "Come on in and have a seat."

The three other girls entered and found themselves in Kelli and Leanne's sitting room. The bedroom doors were open to let some natural light into the windowless room. They saw the rather plain and obviously sturdy love seat and chair provided by the school and a couple of generic inspirational posters on the wall. The floor was regular gray institutional tile not the nicer faux stone tile of the halls. The bedrooms were surprisingly neat.

"So, yeah, Kelli continued, "We have this whole clean living thing going on but I think it will be worth the effort."

"Why?" Sydney asked.

"I am in the best shape ever. Believe me I was pretty pathetic before all of this exercise. And I love, love, love doing yoga. I never would have thought something so simple could make me feel so good."

"You do yoga?"

"Every morning."

"Can you show us something?" Lauren asked. "I have always wanted to try but I have no idea where to start."

"We started out really easy and worked our way to more advanced positions. I am so much more flexible than I ever expected to be," Kelli said.

"So show us. What can you do?"

Kelli thought for a second. "I am not really warmed up and these jeans are not great. I have to change soon any way. Give me a sec and I will throw on a pair of shorts." Kelli walked into her bedroom not bothering to close the door. After the last few months of communal living and weekly exams the body shyness she had as a man was long gone. She quickly peeled off her jeans and slipped on a pair of shorts. She walked back into the sitting room and sat on the floor where she could see everyone and began to stretch out.

"They are really big on being properly warmed up around here. Just give me a minute and I will see if I can do the standing splits."

The girls chatted about how much nicer the school was on the inside than what they had expected. All of the locals had been inside the old school before and were amazed at the changes to the dorm wing. In the old days, the half that wasn't new construction, had all been classroom space.

"Okay, here goes," Kelli said getting to her feet. Slowly she pivoted her left foot out and raised her right leg up. She grabbed her ankle with her right hand and slowly raised her leg toward the ceiling. At the same time she brought her left arm over her head to grab and support her right leg as it pointed to the roof. Then she let go with her right hand and brought her arm through to the front and extended it to the side to help hold her leg in place. She held the position for a five count then let go while bending her torso sideways and down so that she ended with her head next to her left ankle and her right leg still vertical. She knew that she was being a showoff but consoled herself with the thought that they had asked first.

"How long did it take to be able to do that? Jennifer asked.

"We have been doing yoga every day since the beginning of the summer but I also like to stretch out in the evening before bed. I was pretty flexible before we started though. Your mileage may vary. Make yourselves comfortable while I ask someone to show you around. I was helping with the setup for tonight and things took way longer than I expected. I need to shower and get ready. "

"That's okay. We don't mind hanging out here if that isn't going to bother you," Jennifer said.

"Whatever suits you works for me." Kelli replied.

Without thinking about it Kelli went to her room and stripped to her underwear slipped on her robe and headed for the shower.

After she had closed the door Sydney looked at her friends and said, "How do we get into this place? Did you see her body when she put on her robe? And that vertical split thing she did. If I could do that Mitch would faint as all of the blood rushed into his giant boner."

"That is not how boners work dumbass." Jen said.

"How do you know? Can you do that? No? That's what I thought."

Lauren said. "Enough. I want to talk about the school. This place is not at all what I expected. It is really nice. And the girls we talked to down stairs aren't what I thought they would be either."

"What were you expecting? A reform school?" Jen said.

"I don't know. Maybe. I think I expected them to have poor grammar and everything to be all run down," Lauren said.

"Well, whatever they are, just don't piss off our host by bad mouthing her friends," Sydney said. "From what Jen said she could kick all of our asses without breaking a sweat. It is hard to believe that that little thing beat up Dillon, Zach and Andrew."

"I didn't say anything bad!"

"Technically she only beat up two of them. I kicked Andrew in the nuts," Jennifer said proudly.

Soon the shower stopped and the unmistakable sound of a blow dryer took its place. The girls continued to chat among themselves until the door to the bathroom opened. Kelli walked out in her robe running a brush through her hair.

"I have to lotion up. This time of year my skin gets so dry and itchy it is crazy," she said walking into her room and shut the door. "I will be done as soon as I can."

A minute later Kelli interrupted their conversation again. "Can I please get one of you to do me a favor? I can't get the lotion all over my back."

The three looked at each other silently trying to figure out who should go. After a few seconds Sydney spoke up. "Sure, Kelli I'll give you a hand."

"Thanks so much."

Sydney looked at the bottle Kelli handed her and said "My sister uses this one. I didn't think that you girls would shop at specialty places."

"We have some money to spend on ourselves. The trick is knowing what to buy. For everyday I use the unscented stuff from Walmart. When I get to dress up I like something nicer. For example my outfit for tonight is thrift store gold and my boots are borrowed. We all try to share our nice things when we aren't using them. It is kind of like having 239 sisters who will lend you their stuff. Our IT club even built a sharing database to make borrowing easier."

Sydney rubbed the lotion into Kelli's back. Her skin was smooth and she didn't have any visible acne. Her muscles were firm to the touch. There was very little fat on the girl, however Kelli was not thin or underweight like she imagined a model would be. When she finished Kelli pulled on her robe.

"I'll just let you finish getting ready," Sydney said.

"Don't leave. Ask Jennifer and Lauren to come in too. We can talk while I put on makeup for this evening. "

The others sat on the bed while Kelli sat at the built in desk and began to apply her makeup for the evening. Looking about the room the three could tell a little more of the personality of their host. There were a dozen black and white photos in inexpensive black frames on her walls. The subjects were obviously other girls from the school. They were quite striking. Each photo seemed to tell the viewer something about the girls in the picture.

"Do you like the photos?" Kelli asked when she noticed them looking. "They were shot by my friend Olivia. She is awesome. They are done in the style of some famous photographer that she practically worships. She says that eventually she will photograph all of us but that may take a while."

"Has she taken your photo yet?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, but I thought it would be weird to hang a picture of myself."

"Can I see it? She seems like she is trying to show your personalities in these shots. It would be cool to see what she thinks you are like."

"Sure. If you look in my closet on the shelf beside the plastic storage tub is a photo album."

Lauren took the album down and sat between her friends so that they could all see. She opened the album and on the first page was the portrait. The picture showed a closely cropped view of Kelli with her head thrown back laughing. The light caught her eyes so that they sparkled. To her new friends, she seemed filled with joy just to be alive. The shot made Lauren want to be friends with this girl. She wondered if that was the true representation of Kelli. She turned the page and there was nothing else in the album to see. No other photos.

"What were you laughing at in the photo?"

"I can't recall. We had been messing around in the photo studio that they set up in the old student newspaper room. We were just bullshitting about the teachers. I didn't even know I was being photographed until the lights flashed. "

"Why aren't there any other pictures?"

"That is going to be my school album. We haven't really been here long enough to have done a lot. Besides none of us have phones and I've not bought a camera yet."

"No way!" Sydney said. "No phone is like a cruel and unusual punishment."

"It is not so bad. Everyone that I know except for you three live right here." None of us have any family or friends outside so there is nobody to call. If you want to reach me call the front desk and leave a number and I'll return the call. After what happened the other night Kaitlin has been trying to make the case that phones are needed for safety. I hope the school decides to spring for phones for everyone but if I need one I can always buy a prepaid."

"Do you have any photos from... when you were a kid?" Jennifer asked.

"I have a few but I don't look at them. Bad memories," Kelli said hoping to keep things vague. She hated the back story she had been given. The last thing she wanted when starting a new friendship was pity.

Soon enough Kelli finished her makeup. She walked over to her closet and slipped off her robe. Quickly but without rushing she pulled her dress over her head. After she finished she turned to her guests.

"So, what do you think?" Kelli said. She had on a standard little black dress With some interesting crochet detailing at the waist paired with black nylon thigh highs. Over it she had slipped on a short jacket with metallic threads to catch the light and a chunky necklace. She had borrowed some nice zip up ankle boots with three inch heels from Olivia to complete the look. "This dress and jacket are my best thrift store find ever."

Her three guests looked at each other obviously wondering if they were too under dressed. Kelli had gone from girl next door to teen club hottie in about a half an hour. She seemed confident and even powerful. The kind of girl you see at parties in teen movies, the one that all the guys are trying to impress.

"Don't worry about what you are wearing. You will fit right in. I just love skirts and dresses and never pass up the chance to wear them. One of our floor mentors helped me with this look. There will be a lot of people in jeans and a top though. Some girls might even show up in flannel pajamas. The dress code is pretty wide open. If you want to change we can try the database to see what we can put together."

Lauren laughed. "I don't think any of you are my size. What are you a size two?" she gave a self deprication laugh, "It's okay. I know I could stand to lose a few pounds."

"If you are sure that we won't look like idiots I think we will pass on the offer," Jennifer said.

"I think you are all beautiful. You'll look fine as you are, you'll see," Kelli said. "We have some time before they open the doors. I want you guys to meet some people before we start. I have a feeling you are all going to be very popular. We don't get to meet many other people. Most of the people from town don't seem to want to talk to outsiders.

"What can we say? It is a small town and it is tough to meet anyone if you weren't born here." Sydney said. "Believe me though. Everybody has been talking about you all. Especially the guys."

"None of them has really spoken to us, unless you count catcalls. Hailey, our Dean of Students told us not to respond to provocations like that," Kelli said.

"It was probably for the best. The talk around town is you are all either kind of stuck up or trailer trash," Jennifer said hesitantly. "That is partly why we accepted your invitation. We were curious. You seemed really nice last night, not stuck up at all and I cannot imagine any of you that I've met so far as trashy."

"Thanks."

Nicole burst into the room before Kelli could say anything else. She was holding a sparkly turquoise dress and looking frazzled. "Is Leanne in here? I can't find her anywhere. I need her help."

"No, I think she is in the auto shop helping sand down the Chevelle. She should be back to get ready any minute though."

The stitching on the zipper of my dress is coming lose and if it breaks during the show I will be showing everyone, including Mr. Dawkins, my boobs. I would die of embarrassment."

"She should be back soon. Let me see it. It might be something I can fix. I still have the stuff from helping sew the extra sequins on."

Kelli examined the Zipper and thought that she could secure the zipper with no problems. "Chill. I can fix this but I need you to relax. You are getting too wound up. Did you even notice that I have guests? Nicole, these are my new friends Jennifer, Lauren and Sydney."

"Ohmygawd, I am sorry to be so rude'" Nicole said to the three girls from town. " I'm Nicole. You must think I am a total bitch."

The girls talked over each other assuring the beautiful blond girl in the doorway that they didn't think anything of the kind.

"Tell you what," Kelli said "If it is alright with our guests, I will fix the zipper and you can take them around the floor and introduce them. This will take about ten minutes."

"If it's cool with them, it is fine with me. I've been wanting to meet some new people."

The three girls readily agreed and left to meet some of Kelli and Nicole's friends. Kelli grabbed her sewing kit and got to work on the zipper. She hadn't sewn a stitch before she met Leanne. It was nice to have a roommate that wanted to teach her. Apparently Leanne had grown up poor in a time when that meant making most of her own clothes. She was very good at sewing and made it fun. The two of them had been looking for a decent machine that they could afford together. The school had made a couple machines available to the students but there was usually a long wait time. Marissa had them hooked on thrift stores but the best finds usually needed to be altered.

***

When Nicole and the girls returned they brought Samantha, Alana and Grace, the other members of Nicole's band. The band members were anxious to get Nicole back so that they could get one last rehearsal in before they were to perform. This would count as a test grade for them and they wanted to ace it. Nicole was in such a hurry that she changed in Kelli's room. When she emerged, no longer dressed in comfy sweats even her close friends were stunned by the change. She had taken the time to tease her hair out and changed her part in an approximation of Debbie Harry the lead singer for Blondie. With the sparkly dress and heals she looked like a Hollywood starlet.

"I'm going leave my stuff here. Is that okay?" She asked Kelli. "We really need to run."

"Sure, no problem," Kelli replied.

"You're the best," Nicole said. Then she gave Kelli a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "Let's go. I want to run through 'Call Me' a couple more times. I think we are still rushing through the beginning."

"Wow, she cleans up well too," Lauren said. "Are they any good?"

"No clue. Mr. Dawkins hasn't let anyone not in music hear any of the bands. I suspect that they will be good for first timers. The bands are only doing a few songs each. Nicole's group are doing all disco songs. I think stuff from Blondie, Donna Summer and Amii Stewart."

"Who?" Jennifer asked.

"They are oldies. Never mind. You'll see soon enough. Come on. Let's get to the gym. The doors open in a few minutes and I want to get a good table."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"This is our big event for the week. There can be some competition for prime spots and I want to be able to see the stage and the dance floor."