Stuck in a Rut.
By Rosalie Redd

Casey Church is a normal 13 year old boy, full of hopes and dreams and fears and anxieties. But in a world where there hasn’t been a girl born in over a century, what is normal?

Chapter 3.

Fifth period came none too soon, recalling the horror that was biology class. Baseball and picturing the president in a bikini had gotten me through the hallways with nothing embarrassing at full mast. Then again that, goofy hair and strange orange complexion.. eww.. and it was blatantly obvious that ‘those’ were fake. Still eww.

I looked around and sat down and looked around. The study hall was an elective, and as such there were more girls than my other classes, since there were students from all grades. I heard a throat clear, and looked to my left. Janie was there. Alright! A friendly face. Roll was taken and it was obvious that for the teacher, this was a ‘whatever’ class. Hidden behind the newspaper, he seemed oblivious to the make-up sessions, sports talk, and general lack of homework being done.

Janie leaned over. “I had the worst class last hour. When I got to biology, I was told to report to the auditorium for a special lecture. Turned out to be a ‘your body and you’ talk. What a nightmare!”

I nodded. “I think we are in the same class. Miss Petri? You lucked out. Having her describe sex and stuff was an hour of blue balls.”

Janie giggled sheepishly, “Won’t miss those, at least.”

We settled in and helped each other with our homework. I had liked James before, but I had never really been one for close friends. I wasn’t unpopular, and I had plenty of acquaintances, but I never really made close friends.

I think Janie caught on to that. “Casey, would you be my friend?”, she asked. “I mean we kinda always were, sort of. But I mean more than before.” She looked down, nervous.

“I don’t really have any friends, not any more. My male friends… I can’t really relate to them anymore. I don’t feel comfortable when they all sit around looking at girls, for obvious reasons. And none of my old friends have changed. I don’t fit in with the older girls, I still kind of feel like an impostor”.

I smiled and looked her in the eyes, and gave her my cheesiest smile. “Sure, but I reserve the right to oggle you from time to time, and act like a pig occasionally, and maybe even ask to touch your boobs!”

I laughed as loud as was safely possible.

She blushed and smiled. “Who knows? I might even let you”, she said.

When I choked and started coughing, she looked over at me and stuck out her tongue. No fair, girls have weapons that we can’t resist.

I felt really good after class. That is, until I ran into...him. Paul Bettany. Dumb jackass was standing out in front of the freshman lockers. I looked at him and was furious. He had hurt Janie badly. Of course by legal standards it couldn’t be proven as rape, because of the infamous ‘Rut defense’, there were legal precedents where partners had forced the other person into becoming the one to become female. But these were hard cases to prove, due to the temporary insanity defense. Lawyers successfully had argued that due intense hormonal states, the would-be aggressors lacked the state of mind to control their actions. Janie hadn’t reported Paul, nor had she told anyone else, but she had told me. He raped her. He had forced her into the change, against her will.

I snuck over, Paul was unaware of my presence. I tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned, he turned right into my fist. I had gotten in the first shot, and a good shot it was.

“You sick bastard”, I screamed at him. “I know what you did! You raped James. You forced yourself on him, and now because of that, your smug-ass has forced him… her to be something that she didn’t want … for the rest of her life!”

Paul stood up, blood dripping from his nose a little. “Yeah, I did it. So what? I’m a real man, and now I’ll always be a real man. No becoming a sissy fag like that. And you know what? It could have just as easily been you, Spacey Casey.”

I let out an involuntary shiver. He was a sociopath. I looked him square in the eye and taunted him. “If you think that all women are ‘sissy fags’, then you better get really comfy with your hand, because that’s all that’s out there.”

He took a swing at me, and I ducked. Satisfaction beamed on my face as his fist connected with the metal frame of the locker I had been standing in front of. Watching him buckle and fall to the floor in obvious pain was one of the best feelings I had ever had.

The bell had rang for next period, and we were all late, but it was worth it. When the Hall monitor came over, I was pleased that it was one of the female teachers.

“What’s going on here?”, she asked. The crowd that had been hanging around and watching our argument had swiftly dispersed.

“I saw the whole thing, it was terrible.”, I said. “Paul slipped on a wet spot and landed awkwardly. I think he should go see the nurse, he might have a broken wrist”.

He looked over at me, glaring. He knew I had won this round. The teacher helped him up carefully, and they were both on their way to the Nurse’s office, when I turned and walked to my class, presenting the late pass she had given me, a reward for “assisting” Paul.

The rest of the day went by, I didn’t see Paul again, and nothing of note went on. I spotted Janie as we were getting ready to go home.

“I heard that Paul had an accident in the hallway after 5th period. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”, She inquired.

I gave her my best innocent face. “Who me?”, I deadpanned.

“Guess not”, she said, and then with a devilish twinkle in her eye. “Shame, if you had been defending my honor, you might just have gotten to touch my boobs after all”.

She laughed and gave me a hug, before heading off to her bus. I didn’t live that far from the school, so I ended up walking home.

When I entered the door, I was hit by the smell of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies. Mom was home.

“I’m home!”, I called out. I headed over to the couch and sat down. I had finished most of my homework with Janie, so I didn’t have much to do. Just some reading, and I could do that before bed.

Mom walked into the room and sat down beside me. I smiled, but mostly I stared into space. Mom was good at reading my moods. She picked up a cookie and waved it in front of my eyes. “For your thoughts?”, she inquired.

“It’s supposed to be a penny”, I said. Though I would much rather have one of Mom’s cookies.

I sighed. “Remember my friend James?”, I asked.

Mom got that far-away thinking look that she always got when concentrating. “Oh! Paul and Debbie’s boy? How is he?”

I gave a half-hearted smile. “Her name is Janie now”, I said with a noticeable sigh.

Mom picked up on that, but said nothing. She had always been very perceptive.

“He ended up with a total creep that practically raped her. She’s trying, but I know she’s having issues.”

My mother nodded. “It can be difficult. I never told you how your Dad and I got together. I had wanted to wait for the right time. It seems that right now is just as good as any.”

Stopping to take a cookie, she bit into it and ate it before continuing. “I was lucky, your father and I had grown up as neighbors and best friends ever since we were really little. When I turned 13, we had a long talk about things. I was already 6’2” tall, and your father was about the same height as he is now.
I knew that he was scared. So when the time came, and we found out that we were meant to be together, I told him that I wanted him to stay the same. I knew that because he’s short, as a girl he might become smaller yet. And with me as tall as I was, it would be too awkward having a boyfriend that was possibly over a foot taller… or more.”

I looked at my mom in a new light. “Weren’t you scared? I mean you gave up so much to please him”.

Mom smiled. “I don’t think I gave anything up, and I think I gained more than I ever could have imagined.”

Mom gave me a hug, and took the plate of cookies and headed back to the kitchen.

I had always thought Mom was incredible. She was tall, at 5’10”, and beautiful. She wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail that reached the small of her back. She was fit, and her blue eyes always seemed to have a sparkle in them. Her athletic prowess hadn’t passed to me, certainly. Having led the U.S. in an upset win in the Olympics in volleyball, I had heard that she had received offers for endorsements, modeling jobs, acting cameos, and more. Instead she quietly retired, married Dad and had me. She now works as a personal fitness trainer and occasional substitute gym teacher.

Now I realized Mom was even more incredible than I gave her credit for.

I sat on the couch and flipped through my English book, reading the assigned chapter, but not really taking it in. Dad came home a couple hours later. He came over and tussled my hair playfully.

“How was the first day of school?”, he asked. I shrugged it off. Mom would no doubt tell him later.

“It was okay, I guess”, I responded.

Dad ran upstairs and came down a few minutes later. He had changed out of his suit and tie, and had on a t-shirt and some shorts. “Wanna have a catch?”, he asked.

I loved Dad, he wasn’t the most athletic guy, but he tried. I was already a couple inches taller than he was. He stayed in shape, or more likely Mom made sure of it. We ate fairly healthy and got in plenty of exercise. I had inherited most of my looks from him. Same brown eyes and hair, same small frame, at least Mom’s height had given me those 2 inches on him.

Mom brought dinner out and we all sat on the patio, enjoying the September sun. We had Watermelon and lemonade after finishing her delicious baked chicken caesar salads. Mom went and got her glove and we played catch and hotbox and pickle in the middle and had an awesome evening. After it got dark, I sat in my room looking out at the stars and thinking of Janie. I was lucky, and I hoped that I would continue to have good luck.

I got changed and went to bed, a smile on my face. The day had gone better than I had hoed for, there were no disasters, no crisis had befallen me. I had strengthened a friendship, and everything was right in the world. Tomorrow would be another day, surely nothing could go wrong.

I love your replies, and if you want to play in the Rut Universe, please drop me a message with any questions you might have.