“What was that shit you were saying, calling me a bitch?” I demanded.

The shower took about ten minutes longer than it would have, and thirty minutes longer than his normal showering routine, because he broke down halfway through and huddled in the floor of the shower, unable to look at Dakota’s body or touch it, turning the temperature and pressure up as high as he could stand it as though it would wash off this soft feminine shell and leave the real him.

The party was sprawling down the lawn towards the harbor, splashes of bright colors against blue skies, scudding white clouds and a crystal clear view of the Boston skyline. It reminded me of the dream I had taken across the threshold into morning. It had been years since I had seen that dreamscape, but there it was, whole and healed and perfect: me, making a graceful dive from a wooden pier into a deep, pristine lake, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, pine forests and the clearest air in the world. Wearing a lime-green one-piece and curves that were, finally, all my own.

While the boys went to the opposite side of the cafeteria to get their food, I went with my friends to our usual counter and glared at the cat woman. “Let's try this. Give me anything you have.”

“I'm not a mind reader kid, give me something a bit more specific,” she replied.

“Oh for the love of!” I screamed. “Give me a piece of bread!”

“All out.”

-24-
Blood on the Plaza

According to the sun it was around the middle of the day when Oliver, as tired as he was, followed me into the center of town. I had set a blistering pace after the bandits had ambushed us, and Oliver, though he struggled, had managed to keep up with me. Oliver was covered in blood, not his blood, but blood from the bandits that had tried to ambush us. The boy's long brown hair was matted with sweat and his feet were blistered and bleeding.

Chapter 5

Outside, I could see that Sammy was itching to look at the list.

“Not here, Sammy, when we speak to Inspector Mason and I have the proposal you’re offering, in writing. I’m still part of Jocks’ defense team, remember.”

We went to the police station where Mason was poring over a heap of paperwork.

The birth of the Umbra Knight part 2

“I should be able to make up my mind by now, I’ve tried out like ten different girl names either online or in person.”

“She already knows, Cami. I talked to her.”

I must have looked as astonished as I felt. Though he was uncomfortable, he didn’t look away.

“It was a couple days ago. Before we made love. I knew what I wanted, but I was so afraid that I would hurt you, somehow. Especially because of your issues with PTSD. So I talked to Fiona. She’s your dragon. I figured if she thought there was any likelihood of a problem, she would wave me off. She . . . ah . . . well. She didn’t.” He was blushing, bless the man. “She also wasn’t surprised.”

I made my way through the dining hall, through the rows of tables bustling with the excited and idle conversations of servant that I both knew and didn’t know. One girl dark skin and curly blonde hair smiled and waved to me as I passed; I waved back, though I had no idea who she was. She turned to her friends and giggled as I continued onward, past the main grouping of tables and toward the front where Sheena, Kayla, and Elric sat with their food trays pushed off to the side while they stared at stacks of paper atop brown folders.

[At the State Trooper HQ in Spokane, WA]
The Lieutenant turned the laptop around and showed me the screen. On it was the front page of that day's Washington Post. The headline got my attention in a flash.

1 Year, 8 Months Earlier

Elise could not believe what she was hearing.

“What!?” She exclaimed. “Are you serious?”

“Could you try to keep it down?” Corey said, slightly annoyed. “I don’t want to attract any attention.”

Elise looked around the cafeteria and saw that quite a few people had turned their heads to see what the commotion was.

“Okay.” Elise said. “But only because I don’t want to attract any attention either. I don’t give a damn what you think.”

“Yeah.” Corey said quickly, not believing her.

Boy in a girls school

by Jennifer Reed

Chapter 1

Ethan is a boy whose has to deal with the issues of also being regarded as another girl attending an all girls school

Allen and Jodie both stepped foot into the Transformation Salon. They went up to the reception desk and checked themselves in. They had an appointment, but they were a little early, so they went into the waiting area and sat down. While they waited, Jodie scrolled on her phone, casually talking about what they might do later. But Allen wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. No, he was thinking about how he got here. How any of this was even happening to him. He reflected back on how it all started…

Marcy’s epilogue

It had taken Marcy a while after John was finally permanently gone from her life to truly relax. She had felt his eyes and control on her for so very long that even now after weeks she still felt like she was being watched at times. It was always slightly unsettling, but in the end she managed to tell herself that it was just her imagination, after all if John hadn’t been gone he would have certainly reared his ugly head by now.

The ball popped out like a 5-cent sour cherry gumball.