For the rest of the week, Saige continued to hang out with Tony, Olivia, Bailey, and Stephanie. During that time, Saige got fully acquainted with her new girl body. She could take a shower, change her clothes, and brush her hair without help from her mom or Olivia. She even got rid of all the boy stuff she used to have and bought some new things to satisfy her new, girly interests. Now her room was painted pink with a Justin Bieber poster hanging on the wall. Saige was surprised to find herself liking Justin Bieber now. As a boy, he had HATED Justin Bieber. But the day after Sage became Saige, she had felt a desire to listen to "Baby" again, and she did. She found herself listening to it again, and again, and again. Now she was hooked on Justin Bieber.

"It feels kind of weird," Saige told Olivia in the hallway at school."Like, I like something I hated before."

"It happened to me, too," Olivia said. "Ever since I became a girl, I've been a lot more into doing my makeup."

"Me too," said Saige. "And, uh, something else, too."

"What is it?" Olivia asked.

"You know Tony?"

"Of course I know him."

"I, uh..." Saige hesitated. Was it gay if she had known Tony when she was a boy, and had a crush on him now? No. Saige was a girl. Liking a guy was not gay at all. "I think I have a crush on Tony."

Olivia's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You do? Already?"

"I know, it's weird," said Saige. "But I just...I've known him for years, and now I see something in him I didn't see before."

"I know what you mean," said Olivia. "I've seen boys differently since I left the Y. F. F. H. I've felt more attracted to them."

"I'm wondering if I should ask Tony out," said Saige. "We can, like, go out to dinner, and see a movie or something."

"Yeah. Go for it."

"Not to be sexist, but isn't it usually the guy who asks out the girl?"

"I guess so," said Olivia, "But I don't think there's a rule against girls asking guys out."

"Alright then, I'll do it," said Saige.

Suddenly, Olivia's phone buzzed. She pulled it out, checked her Notifications, and gasped. "Valeria!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Saige asked.

"One of my dormmates from the Y. F. F. H," said Olivia. "She just texted me."

"Really?" Saige asked. "After, what, three weeks?"

"She probably didn't want to risk it, with Miss Johnson on the prowl," Olivia said as she read the text. "Hey Olivia," she read aloud. "Are you okay?"

"Why, yes I am," Olivia said as she sent those words back to Valeria via text message. "How about you?"

A minute later, Valeria texted back saying, "We're fine. Miss Johnson was pretty mad that you guys escaped. But she didn't know that I was behind it."

"They actually kept it a secret?" Saige asked.

"Apparently so," Olivia said as she texted Valeria thanking her for keeping things under wraps.

"You're welcome," was what Valeria's next text message read. "So where are you now?"

Olivia hesitated. "Should I tell her?"

"Sure," said Saige. "She's your friend. She should know."

"I dunno," said Olivia. "What if Miss Johnson's checking their phones?"

"Then she can just erase the texts," said Saige.

Olivia shrugged, then texted back, "Chicago. We were taken in by a new orphanage."

"Is the owner of the orphanage nice?" Valeria asked.

"Yes, he is," Olivia texted back. "He's this nice man named Mr. Hart. He has a coed orphanage. He enrolled us in a school, too."

"That's good," said Valeria's next text. "Well, I gotta go now. Tell Bailey and Stephanie I said hi!"

Olivia texted a smiley emoji to Valeria, then put her phone back in her purse. "Well, I'm glad they're still okay there," she said.

"Wouldn't it be nice if they could come up and visit?" Saige asked.

"Yes, it would be," said Olivia.

***

Miss Johnson smiled smugly as she put Valeria's phone down on the table. She was so lucky that Olivia had not gotten rid of her cell phone, and that she had been able to take Valeria's phone to text her.

"You just helped me out a lot," Miss Johnson said as she walked up to the pod where Valeria was being held. "With both my chromosome source, and by tracking down our little fugitive."

Valeria struggled against the clamps holding her in the pod. "You can't do this, you monster!" she screamed. She had seen the whole text stream between Miss Johnson and Olivia.

"Oh, yes I can," said Miss Johnson. "Really soon, Olivia's gonna be coming home to greet all her old friends."

"What are you gonna do to her?" Valeria asked.

"Something much worse than termination," said Miss Johnson.

To be continued...