Jason's Story

by Kristine Roland

Chapters 19 - 21. The continuing story of Jason, a young boy that is coming to terms with his transgender nature, and his mostly supportive family.

Chapter 19

Jason managed to avoid Brad that afternoon, though he was not sure whether that was because of the way he had faced Brad down, or if Brad was simply biding his time.

The next day at lunch, as Julie and her friends came out of the lunch line, Kathy and Sue looked at each other and said, “I suppose you want to sit with Jason and his friends again.”

Julie replied, “Do you really mind?”

“No, not really, we’re just teasing you. Yesterday was certainly entertaining. I thought John and Steve were going to pass out when Kathy and I asked them to take a walk in response to Brad.” Sue said.

“I know, but really they seem nice enough. When Jason and I found you, you both looked to be having an alright time with them.” Julie answered.

“Yeah, they were kind of funny. To be honest, we did apologize once we got outside for using them that way, and they said it was ok, and that they understood. I was glad, because they are nice and they don’t deserve to be used.” Kathy said, and then added “But that doesn’t mean we want to date them.”

Julie just smiled and said, “Fine, I never asked you to date them. I just want you to be nice.”

They walked over and sat down with Jason, John and Steve.

Kathy said, “Hi boys. It is ok if we sit here isn’t it?”

John quickly said, “Hi, no problem at all.” Jason and Steve quickly agreed.

Sue asked, “So, do you think we will get through lunch today without any dramatics?”

Jason just shrugged. “I don’t know. There is only so much we can do about Brad.”

Kathy said, “You know it was all around school yesterday afternoon how you stood up to him. You even challenged him. It really surprised a lot of people. That was very brave of you.”

Steve added, “Brave, it seems more like suicidal to me. Brad can beat the crap out of Jason, and everybody knows it.”

Jason said, “Look, I wasn’t trying to be brave, and I’m certainly not looking to get beaten up, but it’s either stand up to him, or knuckle under. I’m not going to do that. If it comes to it, he will probably beat me up, but he is going to know he was in a fight. Hopefully he will decide it isn’t worth it. I’m more worried about him getting his buddies to help him. I was expecting him to be waiting for me last night though, and I did not see him. But I really don’t think it is over.”

John said, “Not damn likely. You just wait, he is just waiting. He is not as stupid as he acts sometimes; he knows if you get beaten up right now, everyone, including the teachers will know it was him after yesterday.”

Jason replied, “That’s kind of what I was thinking too.”

Julie answered, “Well, you be careful. I’m just sorry that this is happening because of me.”

Jason said, “Julie, this is not happening because of you. Are you the only girl that Brad has tried to get to go out with him that has said no?”

Kathy and Sue both said, “Hell no! He has hit on a lot of the girls.”

“So if he had seen me with either of you at the mall, do you think it would have been any different?”

“No, it probably would have been exactly the same.” Kathy said, and Sue shook her head in agreement.

“There you go. So it is because he saw me with a girl. He thinks that because he is bigger and stronger than me, that I should not have a girlfriend if he doesn’t have one. It is an affront to his manhood, don’t you know.”

Julie said, “Gee, that’s nice Jason, what you are really saying is that ‘Julie you aren’t anything special, it could have been any girl, I’m the one he was upset over.’ I’m glad you think so highly of me.”

“Julie, you know that I think you are special. The fact is I would not have been there with anyone but you.” Jason replied.

Julie laughed, “I know, Jason. I had to tease though.”

Meanwhile, their friends shared a look, and rolled their eyes, and Kathy said, “Ok you two, that’s enough of that, you will send me into diabetic shock.”

From there conversation turned to more mundane topics, and when they were finished eating, they all cleaned up, and headed out onto the field together. Lunch time came to an end quickly, and they all parted to head off to their respective afternoon classes.

At the end of the day, Jason, and his friends John and Steve walked home together.

John said to Jason, “So you and Julie seem to be getting along pretty good. That was quite sudden. What happened?”

“Well, I was out with my Mom the other night at the mall, and Julie, Kathy and Sue ran into us while I was waiting for my Mom to pay for some things she had picked up. We just started chatting. Then as you saw she and I talked some more at lunch last week, and found we had a number of things in common, so I asked her to come over Friday night. She did, and we had a good time.”

“Wow, you are so damn lucky. Why can’t something like that happen to me?” Steve asked.

“Maybe it will. You and Sue seemed to be getting along ok yesterday when Julie and I found you.” Jason replied.

“Well… I like her, and I would like that, but you know darn well that was only because they wanted to piss off Brad, because they did not like what he said. They even apologized to us when we got outside for using us like that.” Steve said.

“Just be yourself. Let her get to know you, and you never know.”

“Look at that, he has been dating for three days, and now he is the expert.” John gave Jason a light shove.

Jason laughed and pushed him back.

“So, I’m on the Mets, what teams are you on? With all that nonsense with Brad yesterday, you never told me.” Jason asked.

“I’m on the Cards” John said.

“and I’m on the Dodgers.” Steve said.

“Too bad, we are all on different teams this year. Oh well, may the best team win.” Jason offered his hand, and the others shook on it.

They came to Steve’s house and Steve told them he would see them the next day, as he went into his house. John and Jason continued on and soon came to John’s house and John went on in. Jason took a deep breath and continued on toward his own house. He kept alert, and was careful as he passed blind areas where Brad and his friends might be waiting for him. Fortunately, he came to his own house without a problem, and went on in. He let out his breath, and thought to himself. “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

He got changed, and felt himself relax as he did so. He worked on his homework, until it was time to help his mother get dinner ready.

“Everything ok honey,” she asked?

“I’m fine, Mom.”

“Are you and Julie getting along ok?”

“Yes, she’s great. I still can’t believe everything that has happened in the last week, but that part is wonderful.”

“So what is bothering you? Come on you know I can tell that something is.”

“It’s Brad. He came after me again at lunch yesterday. Nothing really happened, but I don’t think it’s the end of it.”

“You want me to call the school. You know they don’t tolerate bullying.”

“Mom, they can’t be everywhere. I have to handle this on my own.”

“Jason, damn, I’m sorry. Kelly. You don’t have to face these things on your own. Something can be done about this guy.”

“Mom, it’s ok, I’m still Jason, no matter what I’m wearing. I like the name Kelly, and when you call me that it makes me feel accepted, but don’t worry about it if you forget. Ok. Anyway, if you go to the school, what can they do? He hasn’t touched me yet, except for a small push and that was at the mall. All it will do is make him more determined. Please, let me deal with it. If it gets out of hand I will let you know.”

“Ok… but be sure you do.”

“I promise.”

Chapter 20

“So Jason how was your week?” Dr. Daniels asked Jason.

“It was pretty incredible.” Jason replied. Jason went ahead and told him all about going shopping, meeting Julie and her friends at the mall. Then about Julie confronting him with having overheard his mother and himself at the shoe store, and how she had become his girlfriend as a result. He also mentioned the run-in with Brad.

“Well, seems like you had a very busy week. You got pretty lucky with Julie. She seems like a very, very nice young lady.”

“Oh, she is, Dr. Daniels. She is fantastic.” Jason said.

“So how did you feel when your Mom told you that you were going to go shopping, and what you were going to pick up.”

“It was like a dream come true. I kept expecting someone to jump out and tell me April Fools or something.”

“I can imagine. How much of your time have you been spending dressed?”

“Most of the time when I’m home. Mostly evenings. And of course I have the nightgown for bed as well.”

“When you are dressed, are you finding yourself aroused?”

“No, not really. I’m just relaxed, mostly. It was great on Friday night, with Julie over. She was helping with my makeup, and it was just comfortable.”

“How about Julie, I know you think she is nice, and she is acting as a female friend, but also as your girlfriend.”

“Well that is a bit confusing. On the one hand, she is beautiful and I look at her and I just want to be with her. On the other hand, I am jealous of her because she looks so good, and I would love to look like that. And then there is the part that is just enjoying having her as a friend, and knowing she is helping me to look as good as I can, and to learn as much as I can about what being a girl is all about. It is so confusing.”

“Well that is going to take some time for you to work through. Julie presents a challenge for you because she is complex, she wants to be your girlfriend, but she also wants to be your female friend. You two seem to make a good pair, if you can continue to work through all of this.”

“As for Brad, you need to be very careful, people that act like that are frequently quite violent when they are embarrassed. And it sounds like you embarrassed him publicly yesterday. I suspect he will be trying to find a way to get at you, without risk to himself. If it escalates at all you need to let your mother and the school authorities know.”

“I will.”

Dr. Daniels continued to delve into Jason’s feelings about the last week. Towards the end of the hour, he asked Jason to step out and to send his mom in.

“Hello Mrs. Anderson, how are you and Mr. Anderson handling things? Jason had a busy week.” Dr. Daniels asked Kristine after they had sat down with the door closed.

“It’s been a little tough. Thursday we went to the mall and got Jason some clothes and Richard got to see him for the first time dressed. He really was wonderful with Jason, made sure that Jason knew that he was accepted. We talked that night, and he admitted to me that it had really been hard. Seeing Jason in a skirt, with small breasts. Jason does not really look like a girl even then so that makes it hard.”

“How about you, what did you feel, you went with him to the store, picked out the clothes etc.”

“I just kind of tried to imagine we were buying for a girl that Jason knew. But I have to say that night when we got home and he was trying on his clothes, and he put the add-a-cup pads in, the look on his face… Doctor, Jason is never giving this up. I just knew it right then. I’m going to have to accept that fact, because I love him, and I won’t lose him to this. Richard is the same.”

“Jason is very lucky to have you both as parents.”

“Well, he is a great son, and I guess he will also be a great daughter as well. We will get used to it, and if that is what it takes, we will work to help him with his appearance. Puberty is not helping, he is going to have hair problems, it’s already starting. But I know there are ways to deal with that. My sister-in-law Sally has some friends that can help with that.”

“Good. How about Julie?”

“Oh… God, did we get lucky with her. I can’t believe I was that careless! We got caught the first time we went out. That could have been disaster. But she really is something, and she is not only not put off by his dressing, she is actually turned on by it. I’m going to have to watch those two closely, because they are walking hormones. And then her mother doesn’t know anything about the Kelly aspect, or that Julie is not interested in boys per se. I feel guilty not telling her mom, but I just can’t do it and put Jason at further risk.”

“I understand, but I would not beat yourself up over it. You would have handled it, even if you had been caught by someone not as discrete as Julie, you are such a strong family. As for Julie’s parents, you barely know them. Trust Julie for now, maybe she is underestimating her parents, maybe not, but you have to trust her on this for now.”

“I know. And she has earned that trust at this point.”

“Yes, she has.”

Chapter 21

Jason again got through the day on Thursday without running into Brad. He, Julie and their friends had settled down to eating together as routine. Jason noticed that her friends were relaxing more around his friends, and he wondered where that would lead. He knew from Julie that they had initially not been interested in John and Steve, but neither of them was sure that would continue. Jason did not know whether to encourage his friends or not. He decided that discretion was the better part of valor and to let things take their course naturally.

He had baseball practice on Thursday night, so he could not get dressed when he got home. Instead he got on his baseball pants, and a t-shirt, and worked on his homework until it was time for practice.

When the team had all arrived, He was relieved to see that Brad was not on his team. Jason did quite well in the drills. He wasn’t the best player on the team, but he was not the worst by far. He had played second base the last year, and was most likely going to play there again this year.

Jason enjoyed the practice, and looked forward to playing games once the season started. Because of the wet winter, the league had started practices a little late, so they would only have about two weeks of practices, games would start a week from Saturday. Jason’s team had practices on Saturday, and then another on Tuesday night. They were going to try and get another one, but the coach did not think they would be able to get a field, so he was not going to know until next week.

He got his schedule from his coach and brought it home with him.

His mother looked over the schedule and saw that some of the games were on Wednesday nights.

She said, “We need to make a copy of this and bring it with us to Dr. Daniels next week. You are going to have to miss a few appointments; I don’t want to pull you from games, that is not fair to your team.”

“Thanks Mom, I was wondering about that.”

Jason had gotten changed out of his baseball clothes and was now dressed in his Capri’s and a Tee. “Mom, can I invite Julie for movie night again tomorrow?”

“I don’t see why not. Have you given any further thought about Emily?”

“I really want to say yes, but I don’t know what to do. What if she says something to Grandma or Grandpa, or worse in front of Aunt Jessica?”

“That is the concern. We will ask her not too, but she is only seven. It is a risk.”

“What do you think I should do?” he asked his mother.

“I don’t know honey. It’s a tough decision. I don’t want to deal with Jessica finding out. But Emily does not spend much time with them, so I don’t know how much of a risk that is. She does see your grandparents more often though. But I really think that they will keep come to accept you as well, and even before that I can’t see them telling Jessica. I think it’s a small risk, but a risk.

“Well if you and Dad are ok with it, then it’s ok with me. I’ll take my chances.”

“Well, I’ll talk to your father tonight, and assuming it’s ok, we can invite them over for Saturday night dinner. Sunday we have the Sanders coming, and we can’t do it then.”

“Sounds good to me. Thanks mom.”

They were just finishing up with making dinner, when Jason’s father got home. “Hello ladies, how was your day?”

“Pretty good, hon.”

“Me too, Dad.”

“How was baseball practice, Kelly?”

“It was good. I got Coach Osborn again, will probably play mostly second base.”

“Good, I liked him. He was good about remembering that this is a rec league. Not one of these guys that is all about winning, and not about having some fun. Of course, winning helps make it fun. Your team did well last year.”

“Yeah, second place, not too bad. We have most of the same kids, a few of the older kids moved up a league, and a few new younger kids, but the core is basically the same. John is on a different team this year, for some reason.”

“That’s a shame; it was fun having him on your team last year.”

“Honey, dinner is ready, why don’t you go get cleaned up, and Kelly and I will put it on the table.”

“Ok, be out in a minute.”

They sat down a few minutes later to dinner. Jason’s father quickly agreed that it would be nice to invite Julie over again for movie night. “I really like her,” he said.

They discussed the pros and cons of telling Emily, and decided that they would go ahead and invite Sally and Emily over for Saturday night. That decided, they cleaned up dinner, watched some TV and then it was time for bed.