I would like to thank all those who have bought Positively Patsy on kindle. ALL proceeds go to BCTS so your donations to the cause are much appreciated. It broke into the Top 50 today, which is a real buzz. How long it stays there is up to all you readers. Marianne Gregory

Chapter 7

That night he had the first erotic dream of his life. He had dreams where others were part of it but never where he was being truly kissed, mostly by Monica but, as he woke with his loins pumping, by a feminine Janice. For the first time he discovered that sperm gets sticky and gets everywhere if you leave it too long. It was also the first time he smelt it and was faintly disturbed by the aroma.

After he had been to the bathroom and cleaned himself up he went back to sleep very quickly, to be joined by Rosalie. “Well, you’ve done it now” she said “next year you may have a girlfriend, you may even have two girls who you are friends with. Stay friendly with Geoff and Jackie as they will need a friend around at the grammar.” They sat together on the beach and the ship was suddenly very close with Monica leaning on the railings, smiling and waving.

His mother had got together with Monicas’ mother so that, on the day of the birthday party, he was smartly dressed and carrying a gift for Monica that his mother had told him was correct. He had a card for her that he had signed with a bunch of crosses and wondered if he may collect a couple back. He need not have worried as it was not a big party. It was just Monica and her two older sisters with their boyfriends and him. The parents went out and left them all to it and Timothy was rewarded for his present by Monica with a long kiss. They ate the food that was left for them and Timothy chatted with the two, older boys, and then one sister turned on the record player and they danced to an extraordinary number of slow songs. The sisters were smooching with their boys and Timothy was learning how to smooch, big time! The evening passed too quickly for Timothy and, by the end of it, he had found love.

The last two terms of the school year saw Timothy and Monica as a couple and part of the larger group that now had gained Norman, the other boy that was going to the grammar. The other four girls were a group of their own. The lessons were now a lot more interesting as the teachers tried to get them ready for the higher level of learning. As they all turned twelve there were many chances to give and receive gifts and having parties. When the summer holidays came around they were all well over primary school and very ready to start in secondary. They did not see much of Jason over the summer as Sharon had told his mother that they would be going to Paris for some weeks with Harold and Geoff. Geoff and Jackie were not happy at this but could not say anything as it would expose their secret.

When they came back all of the friends helped in the uniform section of the store, making up parcels of uniforms for the first years as well as being fitted out for their own outfits. It was, however, a different looking group that had a fashion show before taking their outfits home. Geoff had filled out and was now looking like a rugby player, John had kept much the same height as he was last year and was now a noticeably short boy. Both Timothy and Monica had experienced growth spurts and we a good looking tall couple. Norman was not far behind and Jason had come home from France with a new look and a whole new wardrobe. It would be Janice who would be going to the new school and was very excited about it. Monica and the other group of girls had promised to look out for her and guide her in the ways of femininity.

On the last day they were helping out in the shop Janice took hold of Timothys’ hand and pulled him into an empty store-room. She shut the door and said “This is for giving me Rosalie, she was such a help in giving me the strength to be able to do this” and she held him close and kissed him. When they separated she said “I know that it is Monica you love and I do have to tell you that I love you too, but as a brother who is my rock. I have given Rosalie to John to see if she can help him as I think he doesn’t know if he wants to be John or Jackie. I know that him and Geoff have been an item for a while but I don’t think it will come to anything unless Jackie becomes real.” She gave him another kiss and left the room.

Timothy quickly wiped his lips and looked like he was looking for something as he knew Monica would not be long in seeing what they had been up to. Sure enough, the door opened and she walked in, catching him up a ladder looking for sports clothes. He pulled a box of soccer team tops down that was, luckily, in his size and when he saw her he said “Oh, hi. I was looking for these to see what they looked like; I may just take up soccer again when we start school.” Monica closed the door with a wicked grin on her face and said “I suppose Janice was helping you, then?” and he said “No, we were talking about John, who seems a bit at a loose end with what he wants out of life.” Monica said “That’s all right, then” and pulled him into a kiss.

Their first day at the new school was both a joy and a trial. The ten were just a small number of new first years and most of the morning was spent, after waving all of the parents off, with being inducted, getting their class locations and being issued with the class lists for the subjects they would be studying. All of them took English, Maths and Science in the first two years, plus Geography, History and R.I. as well as selecting a language from a good list Timothy, Geoff and Norman did take the soccer practice and Janice and Monica started playing hockey. John took on gymnastics. The school year passed so quickly they hardly had time to think. All of them were getting immersed in their studies and all were doing well except John.

John was not fitting in. Timothy sometimes thought that he should have gone to the comprehensive with his attitude. John was bright but had become lazy. The other thing was that he sometimes came to school with remnants of eye shadow on. During the first summer break he got his ears pierced as well as a ring in his nose that he had to remove on the first day of the second year. On weekends he was greeting them with a short skirt and heels but really did not pass very well. He took to having Rosalie hanging from his bag on a pink ribbon but that had to stop at the school. In fact, he had now been called in to see the headmaster so many times it was evident he would not be with them very long. Halfway through the third week he turned up in very short shorts under his school blazer but it was the fishnet stockings that were the final straw. His mother was called to take him away for the last time.

The second year of study ramped it up a notch. They would all sit another exam before moving into third year and more selective streams. They did get out to the pictures at times and it was on one of these trips when Timothy thought he saw Tommy. He mentioned it to the others and Norman said that his mother had spoken to Bruces’ mother in the supermarket and had been told that the two boys had come home. Not to go back to school but to make a living in any way they could. Both were big lads and could pass for seventeen or eighteen and would have been able to get casual work where no questions were asked.

John was now Jackie most of the time when they saw her about. She had not moved beyond the tramp look and was slowly adding to her piercings and had started getting tattoos. It was just after they had taken their second year exams when Jackies’ body was discovered just off a pathway by the river. She had been raped and beaten to death. Her bag was found a few yards away with just a length of pink ribbon hanging from it. The whole group attended her funeral and Timothy was once again standing by as the coffin was lowered, this time with Janice on one side and Monica on the other, all sobbing. Geoff was not as shattered as had been expected as he had been secretly seeing a girl in their class called Stephanie and was trying to put his activities with Jackie behind him.

All of them helped out in the shop during the summer holidays, Geoff now working front of house and learning how to act with customers. That summer Sharon and Harold married with Monica and Janice as bridesmaids. When the happy couple took a week for their honeymoon Janice came to live at Timothys’ house in his old bedroom while Johns’ parents took in Geoff, who said that Johns’ old bedroom was like sleeping in a harem on the first few nights and he had spent a lot of time helping Johns’ father clean it out and spruce it up.

When they started third year they all had some idea of their future. Norman was dead set on being a vet while Janice was just happy to become Normans’ wife as soon as she could get into the transition system. Geoff was adamant that he would go to University to do Business Studies so that he could take over the shop. Timothy had decided to take the Science stream and try to do teaching while Monica was moving into languages with her goal to be an English and languages teacher. Geoff, Timothy and Norman were all in the school soccer team and Timothys’ father would come and see every game, sometimes making Timothy a bit embarrassed with his praise after the games he had scored in.

Six months after Johns’ murder the police picked up Bruce and Tommy in a blitz on undocumented casual workers and discovered that they still had outstanding warrants on them over the shoplifting from years before. When they were processed their DNA was found to match that taken from poor Jackie and they were both charged with murder.

Some months after that, and on the day that Timothy and Monica decided that they would marry in the summer before they went to University, a five year old girl was playing by the Severn, some fifty miles downstream. She came rushing out of the long grass on the river bank, shouting “Mummy, mummy, lookie wit me find!” In her hands was a very bedraggled pink Unicorn but the blue eyes still shone in the sunlight.

Marianne G 2021