“Mom! I’m home!” I yelled as I walked into the house.

“Up here!”

I headed up the stairs but stopped when I found my mom inside my room.

“Mom! Why are you going through my stuff?”

“Robert. Would you mind telling me where you got a new iPad from?”

Crap! I knew that I’d really stepped in it this time. Calm down Rob, you’re smart. Think of something.

“It was a gift, from a friend of mine. I didn’t ask him for it, his dad was buying him a new one and he offered to give it to me.”

“Oh and would this be the same friend who gave you the Xbox I found in your closet? Or maybe the one who gave you the laptop under your mattress? I know! It’s the friend who gave you the STACK OF MONEY I FOUND IN YOUR SOCK DRAWER!!!”

Dang! Whenever mom raises her voice you know you’re in trouble. Ok, take a deep breath, let’s tackle the obvious crime first, you’ll work your way through this. Look her in the eyes and relax.

“Mom, it’s not what you think, the money is to start a website. Me and a friend from school are planning on making a website and this is our company pool. The laptop is also his and we’re using it because it’s easier to work on this if we’re using the same machine. The Xbox is a simple explanation, I bought it on eBay.”

“That’s certainly a plausible explanation,” she said somewhat uncertainly.

Whew! Looks like I’m in the clear. “Mom, I’ll be starting my senior year of high school. I’m practically a man. If there’s one thing that Dad has taught me, it’s that a man doesn’t lie and a man takes responsibility for his actions. Besides, I’m the man of the house while Dad’s on business, I think that I’ve earned the right to a little privacy and a little trust. Not that I even have to answer to you, Dad always says the person who wears the pants in the family makes the rules in the family. But since I’m still you’re son, I’ll even give you proof. Here’s my credit card receipt for the eBay purchases and here’s some of the papers me and my friend were working on for the company.” Righteous anger usually has a way of taking the wind out of Mom’s sails. I should be home free.

“I’m glad you’re being so honest about everything. Since you’re being so honest, would you give me your friend’s number? A simple phone call will be enough to put my doubts to rest.”

Dang! I didn’t think she would go that far! Still, smooth and confidant and I’ll be able to get away with this.

“Sure Mom, are you ready?” Ha! She still hadn’t found the cell phone I’d swiped from Jenny Richards the other day. I’d just give her that number. Sometimes my own cleverness amazes me! She dialed the number then smiled at me. That should have tipped me off that something was wrong.

“Robert, I hear a phone ringing somewhere around here, would you mind telling me where that’s coming from?” Mom glared at me as she pulled Jenny’s phone out of her pocket. “After all that talk about being a MAN and taking responsibility like a MAN and you just LIED TO MY FACE! You stay in your room you liar and you will stay here till I come up with a suitable punishment!” With that she stormed out of my room.

It’s one of the reasons I’ve gotten so good at lying, Mom’s always punished lying more severely than any other crimes. I flopped onto my bed as I tried to think of what to do. It killed me but I started crying. Whenever I got in trouble with my mom the tears usually start falling. I love my mom and I know it’s hard for her to deal with raising me and my brother, especially since Dad’s job requires him to travel a lot. Still I was really screwed this time. Lying and stealing means I’m definitely in worse trouble than I’ve ever been. Could I go to jail for this? Oh God, please no. I’m a good student, 3.8 GPA but that won’t matter inside prison. I’ve always been a good thief too, I can pick a lock just as easily as I can con you into opening the lock for me. Again that won’t help me too much in prison. See the problem is that I’m on the skinnier side. I’m 5’8 (and that’s generous) and I only crossed 110 lbs this summer. I’ve always been weaker than the other guys and that’s something that haunts me, I don’t want a repeat of the Call of Duty incident from last summer.

I looked up as Mom walked back into the room. “Get up!”

I stood up, I can’t recall the last time Mom was this mad. My mom doesn’t show her anger by being loud; Mom’s anger is very soft and deadly. There’s a certain gleam in her eyes that you don’t want to mess with. So I quickly stood up.

“Here’s what’s going to happen: 1. You are going to return everything you stole along with an apology. 2. Once everything is returned, you are grounded for the rest of the summer. If I ever catch you stealing again, we’re going straight to the police. Understand?”

Phew! Sure returning the stuff is going to suck and my rep is going to take a serious hit once school starts but at least I’m not going to jail or anything.

Well as the days started to drag on I began to discover just how wrong I was. Don’t get me wrong, I always was more of a stay-at-home guy but this was ridiculous. I was in a restless mood as I checked my Facebook for the billionth time today. Hello, a new message. Looks like a few guys found out about this shady strip club that doesn’t actually ID people. In typical high school fashion, this bit of information spread quickly and a bunch of guys were planning on taking a trip there this evening. Mom usually goes to bed early and I should be able to slip out of the house and be back before she wakes up the next morning. I don’t usually go in for that kind of thing but I was restless and what harm could it do? Besides this will provide business to those sluts in the club and a bit of enjoyment for some fine men who deserve it.

Nighttime couldn’t arrive soon enough. As soon as I heard Mom walk into her room, I quietly got dressed and slipped out of the house. It’s not easy to do because while Mom does go to bed early, she tends to be a light sleeper, especially when Dad’s not home. Still I’d slipped out of the house so often that it came as second nature now. Once I was outside I headed toward this kid Kyle’s house. He lived about 10 minutes from my house and a bunch of the guys were meeting there to carpool over to the club. His parents were out of town, making his house the ideal meeting place.

The car stopped and we all got out and headed for the doors of the club. This was what I wanted: a little excitement, an adrenaline rush, and a chance to bag a bitch! I started to walk over to the club when, all of a sudden, someone grabbed my shoulder. I turned around and, to my horror, it was my mom!

“Get in the car, young man, we’ll talk about it when we get home. As for the rest of you,” she said raising her voice, “Unless you want me to call your parents, you better go home as well.”

I was silent the rest of the way home. I wasn’t sure what Mom was going to do. I had almost made it to the end of summer without getting into too much trouble and now I had been busted twice in one month! If only I hadn’t gone out, I could have waited two weeks and been back in school and punishment free. I can only imagine what would happen to me now.

“Robert I don’t need to tell you how much trouble you’re in. If you don’t go to bed and stay in your room till I call you, you won’t be able to imagine what kind of punishment I’ll give you. If you’re not in that room when I come to get you, you’ll wish I had sent you to prison, you unobedient, sly, CRIMINAL!”

I trudged upstairs, trying to keep my composure but failing pretty badly. I got inside just as the tears were about to fall. I want to say that I fell asleep easily but the truth is that I tossed and turned. I was really scared and really nervous about what my mom would do to me. Don’t get me wrong, mom would never do anything to hurt me, she really loves me. But she takes breaking the rules and disrespecting women very seriously and I’d singlehandedly managed to do both in one action. Somehow I finally fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up and began cleaning up my room. Yes I’m a bit of a slob. Ok, I’m good at organizing everything except my room. There might be stuff everywhere but I can always find what I’m looking for. The cleanliness of my room was one of the things that my mom and I disagreed on and it always annoyed her that my room was so messy. I thought that maybe if I cleaned it up, it’d make a good impression and I’d get off lightly.

“Bob, come here!”

All right here we go. Maybe just maybe I’d be able to talk my way out of this one. I walked into our living room and sat down. My brother had gone to play basketball at the gym so it was just me and my mom.

“Robert, I don’t want you to say anything. I heard you sneak out of the house and followed you and your friends. After we came back I thought long and hard about what to do. I raised you better than this. The person who you’ve become is not who I know you really are. I know that you’re better than this.”

“Mom, I…”

“Don’t say anything Robert, let me finish. At first I was just going to punish you for going to the strip club. But then I realized that your problem runs deeper. You’re disrespectful to women all the time, you steal things without remorse, and it seems that you can’t be in a social setting without causing some kind of trouble. You lie routinely just to get what you want. I struggled to try to come up with a punishment that would punish all of those crimes. So I called your school and arranged a punishment with them. Starting this year, you’ll be attending school as a girl. That means that you’ll carry the responsibilities of an average teenage girl as well. Just remember that if you defy me, you’re secret will get out. If you don’t attend school, you can instead go to prison. You’ve lost my trust Robert. This is your last chance to earn it back.”

I sat there in stunned silence. “But why mom?”

“If you have to go through what a girl goes through then you’ll learn to be respectful of women. If you have to start your social life again, maybe you won’t make the same mistakes. And maybe hanging around girls instead of those chauvinistic males you’ve been hanging around with lately will improve you overall.”

Dang! I really was screwed this time. Whatever happens this promises to be a senior year that I wish I could, but probably never will, forget.

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around.

It took a little while for the magnitude of my punishment to sink in. I’m still not sure when I realized that I’d have to actually be convincing as a girl or face untold amounts of ridicule. High School being the place it is, you don’t want to give people a reason to put you down.
Still, for the next few weeks, I watched in a daze as my life changed around me. It started innocently enough, Mom had me and Josh, my little brother, paint my room. I didn’t mind, my room’s wall changed from a boring white to a light shade of purple with blue flowers along the border.

As far as I knew, Josh didn’t know about my punishment and I intended to keep it that way. I justified the new color scheme as “still pretty macho.” After all, blue is a guy color, flowers aren’t the exclusive property of girls, and purple was considered the color of royalty. I’m not sure if he bought that but at least he stopped asking me about it.

After the room was painted, Mom took the liberty of adjusting the furniture. My old bed was a captain’s bed. Mom said it was too masculine for my new role and replaced it. She also bought me something she called a vanity. I didn’t know what that was, but Mom said that all girls have one.

I was sitting in my room “cleaning” it up a bit. I used to tell my mom that I worked better if I wasn’t interrupted, so cleaning my room became an excuse to lock my door and read certain materials that Mom wouldn’t have approved of.

I really didn’t need anything much to get excited, a little SI Swimsuit issue or even just looking at models in shopping catalogs usually was enough to give me much enjoyment. Anyway, I was sitting in my room when Mom called me to her room.

“Robert, I’ve lain some clothes out on the bed. Put them on then get in the car.”
I glanced at her bed. Lying there was a knee-high jean skirt and a white shirt. I know girls don’t call them shirts, but I never bothered to learn about girl clothes. Something tells me I’ll need to learn all about them before school starts. Also lying there was a red bra and panties.

“Mom, you can’t be serious. There’s no way I’m wearing this stuff to go out! The punishment is that I attend school as a girl. Unless you haven’t noticed, school hasn’t started yet. You can’t just force me to do what you want.”

“Alright son, that’s fine. I thought you might want some experience with what will be your new wardrobe. But, if you’d rather not, that’s fine.”

I could see her point, but I wasn’t going to let it go. Seeing the clothes on the bed woke me up and I was going to fight this if I could, “Besides Mom, you aren’t even in charge of this family, Dad is. I won’t have to do anything if he says so.”

“Your Dad’s been busy in England, but even if he doesn’t know about it, it doesn’t matter. He trusts and supports me. And while he’s gone, I AM in charge here and you WILL obey me. Now get in the car!”

I could tell that questioning her authority was making her mad, so I decided to play along. What harm could a little car ride do? We started driving along in silence. I finally decided to speak, “Mom, where are we going?”

“Hmm? Oh, you need clothes for your new life. And I can’t just go buy everything you need without you trying them on, first.”

“But Mom! I’m a boy! You can’t just make me try on dresses in the middle of a mall! What if someone sees me?”

“Well, I offered you the chance to go as a girl. But as I recall, you refused.”

“No, this is stupid, I’m not doing this. I’m getting out and going home.”

Mom stopped the car and turned to face me, “Young man, I’m trying to offer you redemption and you keep throwing it in my face. Still, I had an idea that you might do something like this. I had your brother bag all your clothes. If you continue with this rebellious little act, those clothes get donated to Goodwill. But if you promise to be good little girl and actually keep that promise, you’ll get your old life back, once school is over.”

She turned the car around and headed for home. Damn. She really had this all planned out. “Alright, Mom, I’ll be good,” A few seconds later, I looked at her. “Mom? Why are we still going home?”

“I never asked you to promise to be good. I’ve heard that promise too many times for me to believe. You’ll just go back to being a horrible teenage boy, and the only difference will be how well you try to cover your tracks.”

I sighed. I was reluctant to say those words cause I knew that was a step I couldn’t come back from. Still, that seemed to be my only way out, “Mom? I promise to be a good little girl and make you proud to have me for a daughter.” I was hoping that going overboard would help make my case.

“Oh sweetheart. I’m so glad to hear that!” Mom stopped the car and gave me a hug. It’d been so long since we’d hugged like this that I never realized how good it felt. Mom turned the car around and headed back to the mall.

“Uh Mom, can we go home? I really don’t want to go to the mall like this. Can I go wear what you picked out for me?”

“Sweetheart, you know actions have consequences. Just because you promised me something doesn’t change the consequence of your earlier actions. You made a choice and you still have to live with it.”

“Mom is there something I can do to get you to change your mind?”

“Well, maybe. If you showed me that this time there’s more to your promises than empty words…”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Well, Sweetie. Even if you were wearing your skirt and blouse, your hair still looks like it belongs on a boy. Plus, your legs are getting hairy and that would be a dead giveaway, as well. “

She didn’t finish her thought, I knew where she was going with this, “Mom, would you please take me to a beauty salon? I want to get my hair and makeup done there. I really want to be the best girl I can be, both inside and out.” Laying it on too thick? Yes. Still I figured the more I overplayed my role as a girl, the better the odds that Mom would relent.

“Sure, Sweetheart!” Mom turned the car around and we headed for home.

We got home and I looked at Mom with a mixture of fear, nervousness, and expectation. She told me to go run a bath, so I walked upstairs, every step the impending sense of doom increased. I got into the tub and ran the water. It was actually surprisingly relaxing. All that tension came flooding back when Mom walked into the restroom.

“MOM! What are you doing?!?”

“I’m here to show you how to shave your body hair.”

“Can’t you just tell me from OUTSIDE the bathroom?”

“Why? We’re all girls in here and I need to make sure you’re doing it, correctly.”

Mom watched me and showed me exactly how a girl shaves her legs. Luckily for me there, wasn’t too much hair there. More hair than a girl should have, but not enough for a 17-year old boy. There’s a reason I usually wore jeans at school. The few times I wear shorts I get teased about shaving my legs. After cutting myself a few times, I wrapped a towel around myself and walked into my mom’s room.

“Roberta! Show some modesty!“

Oh gosh. Roberta? Really? No matter what happens, that’s a name that’s got to go, “Modesty Mom? What do you mean?”

“Berta, Honey. I know you’re flat-chested, but most girls your age have breasts and they need to cover their chest.“

I readjusted the towel then looked at Mom, “Mom, if I’m going to do this, that’s a name that’s got to go. I hate the name and it’s too close to Robert. Someone’ll figure it out.”

“Well, Sweetheart. If you have a name you’d prefer, feel free to tell me.”

“How bout Bobbi? It is a female name, Mockingbird’s real name is Bobbi Morse and even if she’s a fictional comic book character, the name’s still female.”

“I don’t know. It’s a pretty enough name, but I think that when people hear it they’ll still picture a male. How bout Barbara?”

“It’s better, but isn’t Barbara a more common name in your generation, Mom? If I’m going to do this I at least want to be modern. How bout Rebecca, or Becky for short?”

“It’s perfect, Sweetheart. Now put your clothes on, your little tantrum earlier has cost us some time, so we need to hurry. Just come out to the car when you’re done.”

The moment of truth. I walked forward to the bed and pulled the panties up my legs. To my surprise and, to be honest, horror, they actually felt good. The soft delicate fabric was all it took for me to be sold.

But I’m a boy! I’m not supposed to feel this way about panties, right? Anyway, I then started to put on the bra. I knew women did something where they put it on, then strapped it behind their backs. But I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to pull that off, those hooks are tiny!

So, I strapped it in front, then spun it around and put my arms through the straps. Again, I felt another very strange feeling; it was a mix of excitement and pure pleasure. The only feeling I’ve had that was close to this was the feeling I get when I’m in the middle of tricking someone into handing me their valuables.

The blouse and skirt followed suit along with these black flip-flops that Mom had put by the bed. Taking a deep breath, I walked outside and was hit with a gust of wind. I never realized how free and open a skirt is and feeling the wind inside my skirt was definitely a new feeling. I shrugged it off and got into the car.

“Rebecca, you look so pretty!”
Just what every boy wants to hear, how pretty he looks. Still, I played along. “Thanks Mom! You did pick out the combination so I’d expect it to be good.”

We headed towards the mall. Mom had made an appointment at a local beauty salon, so we stopped there, first. Mom had the lady give me a new hairdo and then teach me how to do my makeup. It was a lot to learn, but I am a good student and I picked it up quickly. Of course, the whole time there was a part of me that was screaming that I wasn’t supposed to be doing this, that only girls wear makeup and I’m not a girl!

Still, I would be playing the role of a girl and I told myself that all actors wear makeup. Anyway, after we were done, I looked at myself in the full-length mirror at the salon. I was stunned by what I saw. I saw a cute girl with short black hair that came down to about her jaw. Her makeup was done flawlessly, bringing out her dark brown eyes. She was actually quite good looking. Not the prettiest girl I’d seen, and she definitely was lacking a rack, but I’d definitely go out with her. Oh God, am I actually thinking about going out with myself? The thought disgusted me. I turned to Mom and we headed out to the stores.

I won’t bore you with the details of the shopping trip. Let’s just say that no matter what happens, I will not enjoy shopping. Time seems to slow to a crawl the second anyone enters a mall. I know teenagers, especially teenage girls, hang out in malls, but if anyone ever found me giggling and gushing over clothes like the airheads in the mall, I would thank them if they shot me.

Anyway, replacing a wardrobe is no easy task and Mom wanted me to try on half the mall. We got out of there with enough skirts, blouses, t-shirts, skirts, dresses, pants, shorts, and other stuff to last me a lifetime. I was surprised to find that no one really paid me much attention. In fact, the only place that I was really embarrassed was when Mom dragged me into this store and had me measured for fake boobs. Mom and the saleslady were throwing around a bunch of sizes I didn’t understand, but apparently, I’m now a 34B.

Having some strange lady stick those fake boobs on my chest was probably the most embarrassing thing to happen to me in a while. Don’t ask me how she did it, I didn’t care to know. All I know is that boobs are definitely heavy and all of a sudden I was really thankful for the bra I was wearing.

After a long day shopping, I was exhausted and ready to quit. Mom handed me several bags of clothes and I headed inside. I was stopped dead in my tracks as I walked in. There, sitting on the couch with his mouth wide open, was my little brother Josh. He took one look at me and started laughing. That was more than I could take. I dashed upstairs and threw myself on the bed, the tears streaming down my face.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome! As always I appreciate any comments/feedback that you might have!

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around.

As I lay sobbing on my bed, I could hear Mom talking to Josh. I wasn’t sure what she wasn’t saying and I didn’t care. Even if no one recognized me at the mall, I just knew that as soon as I stepped through the doors of my school, Josh’s reaction would be the reaction of every other student in the building.

I angrily took of my blouse and skirt, wadded them in a ball, and threw them in the corner. I started to take off my bra and panties and stopped. I didn’t have any other underwear and I was kind of reluctant to take them off.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my emotions down. Crying wasn’t going to help. I turned my thoughts to revenge. Usually if someone crossed me, I’d make them pay by stealing something they cherished. It helped move my emotions in a different direction.

I was about to start thinking about what I could do to hurt Josh when I stopped. I knew that if I did something Mom would probably escalate my punishment. Plus there was no way I could get back at an entire school when they started laughing at me. Frustrated by inability to retaliate, I threw myself onto my bed and buried myself under the covers.

“Rebecca? Dinner’s ready. Are you OK, Baby Girl?”

“STOP IT MOM! I’m not a girl! I’ll never be a girl! And when I go to school in a few weeks, everyone will recognize me and I’ll be a laughingstock. I can’t believe you’re making me do this. I’ll probably get beat up everyday after this!” I was angry and I hoped that maybe a guilt trip would get me what I wanted.

“Becky, stop that. Don’t worry about it, you’ll be all right. Just stay away from your macho friends and you’ll be fine!”

“No, Mom. I won’t be fine. Even if no one recognizes me at school, there’s still the problem of my name, my family, where I live. You can’t just make up a new identity. Even if you could, I’m a BOY! You can’t just turn people into something they’re not. It’s not like I like being a girl and you’re giving me what I want. This will never work.”

Mom looked at me with a strange look on her face, “Becky is there something bothering you? I mean besides what’s going on with school? If it’s Josh, I talked to him and he’s sorry if he hurt your feelings.”

“Mom, I don’t want to be a girl. What I’m scared of is that by the end of the year, I won’t have any choice except to be a girl.”

“Well, Honey, I promise not to push you to do something you don’t want to do. You have to attend school as a girl, but anything else you choose to do is up to you. And if at the end of the year, you go back to your old ways, that’s fine.

"I’d have done everything I can think of to change you and I would have failed. Plus you’d be an adult anyway. You’d be free to make your own choices in life.

"But if you somehow want to be a girl at the end of the year, that’s fine too. I don’t want to have a daughter at the end of the year, but if that’s what I have then know that I’ll still love you.”

“Thanks, Mom."

We hugged again. Two hugs in one day? I usually average about a hug every 6 months! Still it felt pretty good and I needed it.

“Still we do need to talk about what I’m supposed to tell people when I go back to school.”

“That’s a good point, Becky. What do you suggest?”

I started to think. The best scenario would be to create someone who never existed. I’d done that once, convincing a girl that I was the third string QB for a rival school. I wasn’t big enough to be a football player and the school didn’t have a third string QB, but I pulled it off and got a date and an iPod out of the deal. Still the key to that ruse is disappearing when you get what you want and that wasn’t going to work here.
So maybe something more grounded in truth. A half-sister? No that raises more questions than it answers. A cousin? That might work! It’d seem unbelievable if you were reading it in a book or watching a movie, but the human mind usually accepts the easy answer no matter how ridiculous it might seem.

I had an uncle and aunt who lived out on a farm somewhere in Kansas or Nebraska or something. The story could be that my “cousin” wanted to experience life outside the farm and Mom wanted me to go to the farm to “shape up.” Yeah, that might actually work. I explained my plan to Mom and we agreed that it would make the most sense.

After Mom left, I decided to get my room in order. I put all “my” clothes in my closet and dressers. It’s so weird to think of them as my clothes! After that, a hot shower and then I decided to get dressed for bed. I selected a dark blue pair of sleep shorts with little hearts printed on them as well as a plain white cami to go with it.
A cami is apparently some kind of girl’s undershirt, this one was comfortable and it held up my rack pretty well. I walked downstairs to go grab whatever was left of dinner.

“Hey Roberta! Your boyfriend’s going to be pretty disappointed to see you covering that much skin! You better entertain him some other way!” Josh started cracking up at his own joke.

“Josh! We talked about this. Her name is Rebecca and you’ll treat her with respect or else! Now apologize to your sister!”

Josh grumbled, looked at me, and mumbled, “Sorry sis.” Then in a whisper, “sorry that you’ll never get a boyfriend, you’re probably crying that you can’t get one.”

That jerk! Although if Josh had walked down wearing what I was and looking like I looked, I would have given him far worse. Hell, I probably would have taken pictures and posted it all over Facebook by now.

After eating a pretty quiet dinner, I decided to go to bed. Three hours later, I was still tossing and turning. With this extra weight on my chest, it made sleeping pretty different to what I was used to. Still, I somehow managed to fall asleep.

The next few weeks passed by in a blur. I asked Mom to teach me how to pass as a girl and she had obliged. How to stand, how to sit, how to walk, how to talk, and on and on it went. I struggled to learn them and after I had mastered them, I’d go up to my room and practice switching back and forth between Rebecca mode and Robert mode. I knew if I let it, I’d probably let those feminine mannerisms take over and the last thing I wanted was to be caught walking or talking like a girl after this punishment was over.
Dad had called a few times to ask how things were going. None of us had told him about the punishment, mostly because he was pretty stressed and very busy. Dad works as a Service Delivery Manager for a major software company. He usually doesn’t go overseas, but apparently this was a pretty tight contract and the company needed its best on the job. When Dad’s in a high-pressure situation he’s usually pretty abrupt and doesn’t pay much attention while on the phone.

I had hoped that he’d come home before the first day of school and he’d put a stop to this ridiculous punishment, but it looked like I’d have to accept my fate. Still, the weeks flew by and before I knew it, it was the first day of school.

Ugh! Where is that stupid alarm? One thing I’d never get used to is waking up earlier to get ready. I loved my sleep and I didn’t want to sacrifice it. Still, I shut off my stupid alarm and trudged into the shower. I checked for any stray hairs on my legs, to my relief I didn’t find any, and then took a quick shower.
I brushed my hair out, another thing I wouldn’t get used to doing, and then changed into my clothes for my first day of my senior year of high school. I know it’s important to make an impression on your first day, so I’d carefully picked out what I’d be wearing. I was wearing a white tank top with a pink flower print, a denim skirt, and some gold strappy sandals.

After hurriedly applying my makeup and wolfing down a quick breakfast (with my mother trying to tell me something about ladylike behavior the whole time I was eating), I grabbed my purse and my backpack and headed out the door. To my shock, my car was gone!

“Mom! What happened to my car?”

“Rebecca, Honey, a black corvette with flames all over it is no vehicle for a young lady to be driving. I traded it in last night for something more appropriate.”

“Mom, I paid for that car myself! You can’t just take it from me.”

“Don’t worry, Honey, at the end of the year I’ll personally buy you another car you want. It’ll be fine.”

I guess she had a point. Still I had put in a lot of work into earning the money for my car. Sure I earned it by stealing most of it off other students, but earning money is earning money. Oh well! There’s nothing I can do about it now. Mom was going to be driving Josh to his school so I had my brand new pink VW bug all to myself. I took a deep breath, started the car, and headed off to school to start a senior year unlike any other.

Thanks for reading! As always comments, criticism, and kudos are appreciated. Hopefully we'll really start getting into the meat of the story in the next chapter. Still I believe that buildup is very important to a story so I'm glad that you've stuck with me this long!

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around. .

I slowly eased my car into the school parking lot. I knew I should get out of the car, but something held me back. It was similar to the jitters I had during my first day of school, except far worse. OK Robert, deep breaths and you’ll be fine, just take it one step at a time. Apparently that wasn’t the best advice in the world.

I stepped out of the car, walked about halfway to the building, then realized that I had forgotten my purse. So I had to run back to my car and grab it. By the time I got inside the building I was out of breath.

Luckily, I had been asked to come to school early, the principal wanted to talk to me. Three guesses as to what he wanted to talk to me about. Anyway, I reported to the office. First thing I had to do was get a new ID card. Then I was sent to the principal’s office for my “big talk.”

“Have a seat Robert. My you are looking pretty today.”

“Cut to the chase, Principal Lewis. What did you want to talk to me about?” As if we both didn’t know.

“Well, son. We have a few things to talk about, so I’ll ‘cut to the chase’ as you so eloquently put it. We need to talk about what you can and can’t do during your time as a member of the fairer sex in our school.

OK."

"You can’t use the women’s restroom or locker rooms. You may use the men’s but I wouldn’t advice it. If I hear any reports of you inside a women’s restroom or locker room, you will be suspended and probably expelled. The school does have an intersex bathroom that you are encouraged to use.”

Blah, blah, blah! Yeah, I really was expecting most of this. Principal Lewis usually keeps a $500 bill sticking out of his back pocket, the jury’s still out on whether it’s real or not, and I was entertaining myself by thinking up ways to swipe it on my way out. Still he kept going on and on!

“Your mother and I have had several talks about your behavior. Let me tell you that I do not appreciate theft in my school. If it were up to me, you would no longer be attending this school. I just want you to know that your mother begged me to allow you to continue attending this school. Don’t throw away her trust, young man.”

I was a bit stunned. I didn’t know that Mom had gone through all that trouble for me. I was so stunned that I didn’t even try to swipe the $500 bill. I walked out of the office in a bit of a daze, but was stopped by one of the ladies working the desk. She had pulled up my academic records and noticed that I needed one more gym credit to graduate.

“Crap! What am I supposed to do about that?”
“Well, Honey, you can either take a gym class or you can find some kind of school approved extra curricular that would count towards a gym credit.”

“And how am I supposed to do either of those when I’m not allowed inside either locker room?”

“Well, I’ll talk to the principal about your problem and we’ll come up with a solution for you. In the meanwhile, go ahead and sign up for something you’d be interested in.”

Yeah, that was helpful. I’d have to think about it. I headed off to class and was met by an explosion of stares. I never realized how many heads turn to look at girls. I tried to shrug it off, but when you know what guys have going on in their heads, it can be rather repulsive. Still, I got to class and made it through the first few hours of school quite safely.

Lunchtime came around and I sat by myself, mostly cause I was unsure of where I belonged. I just sat by myself amongst a multitude of chattering students, trying very hard to stay hidden and unnoticeable.

Usually, I do this because it’s easier to “borrow” other people’s items when they don’t remember who you were or what you looked like. I quickly discovered that people don’t leave a good-looking girl alone. I had quite a few guys walk up to me with cheesy pickup lines and other stupid requests. Most of the girls stayed away, I guess they were still trying to make up their minds about the “new girl.” I was getting tired of all the attention and decided to look at one of the bulletin boards that had the club announcements on it.

I was still making up my mind on how to get my extra gym credit. I thought about gymnastics, I took it during my freshman year, but quickly dismissed the idea. I still knew a lot of the people on the team and I was afraid that I would be recognized there. Suddenly something caught my eye; cheerleading tryouts were in a few days! I thought about it and this could work. The cheerleaders wear their uniforms to school on days when they’ll need them so I wouldn’t have to change in a locker room.

I could always carry my gym stuff in my backpack and quickly change in a restroom for practice. I even had my gymnastics training to help me out. Cheerleading would be a perfect fit. Whoa! Slow down Robert! You a cheerleader? Well, I need the credits and this seemed to be a perfect time.

So I quickly sent off an email to Principal Lewis asking for his permission to tryout as well as to see if this would violate any of the rules he had set down.

“Rebecca! Hey Rebecca wait up!”

I was heading to my car and turned around. I recognized the girl headed towards me, Juliet O’Conner. She was one of the cheerleaders and I’d had the biggest crush on her since sophomore year. She always dressed really well and her makeup brought out her blue eyes and blond hair. I stopped walking and let her catch up.

“Hey you’re Rebecca right? I noticed you looking at the cheerleading tryouts. I just came over to introduce myself. I’m Juliet, but you can call me Julie. Hey good luck at the tryouts! If you need some help, let me know!”

“Thanks Julie! Yeah I’m not sure if I’m gonna join yet, but it’s nice to know that people are so nice here. At my last school most of the cheerleaders were snobs!”

“Yeah, we get that reputation. But here we’re really more of a family than anything else. Hey give me your number, we should totally hang out and go shopping or something sometime!”

“Oh well, I lost my phone, but I’ll let you know as soon as I have one.”

“Alright cool! Catcha later, girl!”

Ha! That was great! Julie wanted my number! Now I just had to get a cell phone. Usually, this meant taking someone else’s, but I wasn’t sure who Julie knew and who she didn’t. So, after school, I swung by the AT&T store and picked up a Go phone. Now I’m all set!

After I got back home, I went upstairs and changed into something a little more comfortable. A pair of sweat pants with my tank tops was perfect for practicing my gymnastics. If I did tryout for the cheerleading squad, I’d need to be at the top of my game! After going though a few floor exercises, I was exhausted, but happy with how much I remembered. I was just about to fire up my computer when Mom called me downstairs.

“Yeah Mom? What’s up?”

“Becky, I need you to help me with dinner. Go wash your hands and then you can cut these carrots and tomatoes for the salad.”

“Help with dinner? Since when do I have to help with dinner?”

“Becky, we talked about this. No child of mine shirks responsibility and as long as you’re my daughter, one of those responsibilities is helping me cook.”

With a long sigh I walked over, washed my hands, and began making the salad. It was actually quite fun. Figuring out what flavors would go together was something that actually had me entertained. Maybe if nothing worked out I could get a career in cooking. I was setting the table when Josh walked in. I could see him visibly gulp, then sneer.

“Well, well, well! Check out my sis! Practicing for the day you have a husband and kids of your own?”

“Yes, Josh. And since we’re on the topic, how bout you practice treating a women correctly for the days you have a wife of your own?”

There was Mom, making a situation better and worse at the same time. I finished eating dinner in relative silence, helped Mom clean up after dinner, did homework, and went to bed.

For the most part, the days flew by. I stayed quiet at school, came home to practice my cheer routine, and then helped Mom with dinner. Principal Lewis approved my plan and Josh seemed to be leaving me alone for the most part, So for now, life was pretty good!

Thursday morning I got up extra early. I had to make sure my makeup was perfect before the cheerleader tryouts. I made sure to put a spare pair of gym clothes in my bag. Nothing much, just a sports bra, some black shorts, and a pink tank top. I wasn’t sure how I’d do, I’d never actually worn any of the items but Mom had said that that was what the other girls would be wearing.

Other girls? Where did that come from? The girls, the girls, not other girls! I’m not a girl! Apparently my subconscious was falling into this role much to easily.

Anyway, school could not go by fast enough. After school, I quickly changed into my gym clothes and rushed to the gym. The shorts still felt waaay to short, I hadn’t worn exercise shorts to school before, and the amount of leg they showed was hard to get used to. The sports bra was nice though. I got to the gym just in time. There were about 9 other, I mean, 9 girls there. I looked around and most of them were pretty hot!

Easy there Robert, can’t get too excited now. Anyway we had to hand in our permission slips then line up in staggered rows of three.

“All right ladies. Welcome to tryouts for this years Wildcat’s cheer squad. This is not going to be easy and only three of you will make the squad. So good luck girls!”

With that Coach Swann walked to the bleachers. The captains of the squad would run us through the tryouts and eventually vote on who got onto the squad. The squad had twelve girls with three captains. The three captains were Juliet O’Conner, Elizabeth Swift, and Rachel Dawn. They had us do a few cheers, then a little free style dancing. Finally it was time for us to demonstrate our floor exercises.

I was the last one up. I walked up to the starting line, took a deep breath, and launched into a few handsprings across the gym. I proceeded to go through the rest of my routine then landed in perfect gymnastic form. That was honestly the hardest part: landing like a girl instead of the way my muscles had memorized the landing. I was greeted by claps and cheers; none of the other girls had any gymnastics training so my showing was definitely the most impressive.

“Nice job girls! The captains and I will discuss the tryouts and results will be posted tomorrow during lunch.”

With that the tryouts were over. The whole way home I could feel myself struggling with my tryout. On the one hand, I had done really well and I was pretty sure I’d get in. On the other hand, I was a boy! What sane 17 year-old male tries out for his school’s cheerleading squad? Still, I needed the credit, that’s the only reason I’m doing this.

The next day at lunch, I joined the huddle of girls anxiously awaiting the posting of the results of the tryout. Elizabeth walked over to the board and pinned up the list and immediately everyone in the group surged forward.

I was almost close enough to see the names when I turned around and heard Heather Riley yell at Elizabeth, “You bitch! I’m your friend and yet you don’t even get me a spot on the squad! And to spit in my face you let some new girl from Kansas onto the squad!”

With that she stormed off. Still I had an idea which girl she was talking about. I wandered off to sit and eat lunch. The enormity of my situation was just dawning on me. For so long, I had tried to stay under the radar. Hoping that if I didn’t attract any attention, I’d be able to avoid being detected. Now I’d not only be performing with a group of girls, but I’d be doing so in front of most of the school! I was sitting there just sitting with my thoughts when Juliet came and sat her tray down next to me.

“Hey girl! I was really impressed with your tryout. Congrats on making the team! Hey listen, I was wondering if you’d like to come shopping with me? Just the two of us, it’ll be great! Do you need a ride? I can drive you to the mall!”

In stunned silence I managed to stammer out answers to her questions. Apparently she wasn’t going to let me get a word in. “Sure, I’d love to go to the mall with you. I have a car, so I’ll just follow you there after school. Is that OK?”

“OK? That’s great! I’ll catch up with you after school. TTYL!”

With that she walked off. I wasn’t sure what shocked me more: Julie wanting to be my friend or the fact that I’d agreed to be one of those airheaded girls who I saw at the mall. Whatever happened, this afternoon was going to be an interesting one.

Thank you all for reading! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, it's been a busy time in my life and I haven't had much time to write. This chapter still seems to be more setup but hopefully we're still moving along well. As always comments, criticism, and kudos are appreciated!
Bethany

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around. .

My stomach was doing flip-flops the entire ride to the mall. Why the hell did I agree to do this? What do girls even do at malls anyway? How on earth was I going to keep my secret? I put on a fake smile when I got to the mall and joined Juliet as we walked in.
“Well? What do you want to do first, Becky?”

“Um…I dunno, what do you usually do?”

“Have you never been shopping before? Girl we gotta get you educated!”

And just like that we were off! We didn’t really buy much, mostly tried on clothes and looked around. In a way, it was a lot like shopping with my mom, except this time, I tried on way more clothes.
I actually had to pretend to enjoy myself. Of course, spending time with Juliet was another huge incentive. I was starting to enjoy myself till Juliet headed towards Victoria’s Secret. There was no way I was going in there! Even if I looked like and was acting like a girl, Victoria’s Secret still felt like forbidden ground.

“Hey Julie? I don’t think we need to go in there. I’ve got enough panties and bras and stuff. Why don’t we hit the food court or something?”

Julie giggled. “Silly! We’re just going to look, and besides, there’s more than just undies in there!”

With that, she dragged inside that towering fortress of femininity know as Victoria’s Secret. I’d never been in here before and I know most guys would be staring at all the pictures of models and most girls would be looking at the clothes, but I was amazed by how shoddy the security system was.

I bet I could walk out of here with at least 10 panties and a hoodie. Probably more if I wasn’t so scared of being discovered, and if I cared to steal women’s clothes, I probably would have tried my luck.

I was looking around the store, trying to stay somewhat out of sight when Julie grabbed me. “Becky! You gotta try this dress on, it’s so you!”

I sighed, we’d been through this pattern before. I reluctantly took the dress she offered, stepped into a changing room, and slipped off my t-shirt and jean shorts and pulled the dress over my head. As soon as I did, something changed. I don’t know what but I felt so free in that dress.

I looked in the mirror and loved what I saw. The neckline exposed just enough boob to be flirty yet covered enough to make me comfortable. There was a zipper that went from the waist to the top of the dress. The straps felt really comfortable and the red hue looked perfect against my tan skin. I walked out and gave Julie a twirl. The dress only came down to about my mid thigh and the swirling of the fabric around my legs sent a shiver of pleasure up my spine.

Julie started clapping, “I know that look; you don’t want to take that dress off do you?”

“No, no I don’t.”

“Well then let’s go buy it girlfriend! And you said you didn’t want to shop here.” She responded with a wink.

I’d never felt more feminine then when I walked out of Victoria’s Secret wearing my new red dress and a pair of matching t-strap espadrille wedges that Julie had bought me. With a purse on one arm and the iconic pink Victoria’s Secret bag in the other, I felt like the most beautiful teenage girl in the world! The illusion was shattered when I heard Julie call out, “Sam, Luke!”
I turned my head and saw Sam Meyer and Luke Organa headed our way. I never liked either one of them. They were on the football team and while they never went out of their way to be jerks, we’d had enough encounters to get to the point where I hated both of their guts. The two grinned when they heard Julie’s voice and trotted over.

“Hey babe.” Sam grinned and greeted Julie with a kiss. I guess they were dating; their status was always on again off again. “And who’s this?”

“Sam, Luke, this is Rebecca Smart. She’s new at our school and she just made the cheerleading squad. Rebecca this is Sam Meyer and Luke Organa, our star quarterback and running back duo.”

The whole time Luke kept looking at me like a hungry wolf eying a piece of meat. When he heard my name he looked startled. “Smart? You any relation to that douche bag faggot Robert Smart?”

“Yeah, he’s my cousin! Although I take it you two aren’t friends?”

“Naw baby, that gaybo certainly isn’t my friend. Even if he’d like to be.” Luke ended with a wink. God how I’d love to wipe that stupid grin off his face! Still I can’t let my anger show. Just smile and giggle Robert.

Sam looked over, “Hey you two hungry? Luke and I were gonna go grab something to eat and then head over to see that new Transformers movie. You guys want to come? We’ll call it a date and pay for it.”

Julie gave me a wink and said, “Sure handsome, Becky and I would love to join you!”

We headed over to the food court. Sam had his arm around Julie but I definitely didn’t want Luke doing that to me so I kept my distance. The two boys led us to the food court where they ordered food for us. I wanted some pizza or a Subway sandwich but I didn’t want to seem out of place so I just ordered what Julie was having: a salad and a strawberry milkshake from Chik-Fil-A.

Throughout the whole ordeal, I was shocked at how polite Luke was. He waited till he had paid for my food before getting food for himself, he carried my tray to our table, and even pulled out a chair for me to sit.

Maybe I misjudged him, maybe I was the jerk here. He was treating me nice now. I mentally resolved to give him a second chance. We started eating in silence. I was waiting for Julie and Sam to join us at our table, then noticed that they had picked a table for two on the other side of the lunch room.

“I guess you just noticed that the two lovebirds abandoned us.”

“Huh? Oh…yeah.” Smooth Rebecca, real smooth. Think of something, say something! “So, are you getting ready for football?”

Luke rubbed his shaved head and grinned, “Hell yeah girl! Sam and I are going to own the game this year! Hey since you’re on the cheer team, you’ll be there to support us all the way right?”

I smiled, “Yup, I’ll be there!”

He winked at me. “Great, at least that’ll give me something pleasant to look at during the games.”

I laughed. We continued with our small talk. Luke wasn’t such a bad guy one on one. Meeting him as a pretty girl instead of being my usual jerky self helped me see him in a different light.

I was actually enjoying myself, something I hadn’t really done since this whole girl ordeal had started. I looked up startled as Julie and Sam walked up, “Well you two certainly look like you’re having a good time. Ready to go to the movie?”

Luke looked up, “Dang Sam, is it that time already? Right, let’s get going!”

I grabbed my purse and bag and Luke helped me to my feet. He held my hand and the two of us walked over to the theatre. After talking to him it didn’t feel so weird for him to be holding my hand. He held it gently, but it was obvious that there was a lot of power in that arm.

The two boys bought our tickets grabbed popcorn and a few other refreshments and then we settled into our seats at the theater. I settled down to enjoy the movie. This girl thing certainly had its perks, I’d been wanting to see this movie and now I not only got in free, but my popcorn, soda, and candy were all taken care of as well!

I admit I wished I was Sam. As soon as the movie started he and Julie seemed to forget why they were there. I would rather be the muscular blond quarterback making out with the cheerleader than the cute girl with her head resting on the star running back’s shoulder, his arm around her. Still, I played the part to perfection and when the movie was over we all left happy.

As we headed back through the mall, Luke put his arm around me. I was about to protest but he started rubbing my back and it felt oh so good! We walked in silence for a while, then Luke turned towards me, “I’ve had a really good time today. I know it’s not an actual date but it sure felt like one. Would you mind if we did it again tomorrow? Just the two of us on a real date?”
I was stunned. I hadn’t spent a month as a girl and I was already being asked on a date, by Luke Organa no less. I wanted to say no, but he’d been so nice that day that I just smiled and whispered a 'yes'.

Luke grinned, his black eyes twinkling. “Thanks Rebecca! I’ll let you know when I’ll pick you up!”

I was walking along, enjoying the feeling of Luke rubbing my back when I noticed that his hand was creeping lower and lower. I jumped a little when his hand grabbed my cheek and squeezed! I spun towards him, speechless that he would try something like that but I don’t think he noticed.

I glanced at Julie to see how she would react but she was too busy talking to Sam to glance back. I was seething inside but I didn’t want to make a fuss so I kept walking. What does a girl do in this situation? I had no idea but if I was going out on a date with Mr. Touchy here I better be prepared.

We finally got to the mall exit where Julie and I had parked our cars. Julie gave Sam a goodbye kiss then headed for the exit. I wasn’t sure how to say goodbye to Luke. I felt like a simple goodbye would be too abrupt and I didn’t want both of my identities to be on his bad side. So, I decided to do what many girls had done to me, I gave him a hug.

Luke’s hands grabbed both cheeks as we embraced and gave them both a squeeze. I ignored it; I had noticed that Luke never put his change back into his wallet so while he was entertaining himself with my not so ample backside; I was helping myself to about $20 from his pocket. Call it payback for him invading my space! I broke off the hug when I started to feel a finger wander where it didn’t need to go. God how did girls put up with this kind of junk! I turned to go and let out a little yelp as Luke slapped my butt.

“See ya gorgeous!” he called out.

I joined Julie and we headed out to our cars.

“Well someone’s a little flirt! I take it you and Luke hit it off well!”

“Me? A flirt? I was just being friendly!”

“Sweetie, being friendly is all a guy like Luke needs! So when’s the date?”

“Huh? How’d you now about that?”

“Oh c’mon, it was obvious he was going to ask you out! Have fun, Luke’s a pretty funny guy! See ya Monday Becky!”

I sat in my car taking deep breath. Why on earth did I agree to go on a date? Why did I say yes to Luke! I mean he’s the guy who caused that stupid Call of Duty incident, the one that had people laughing at me for months afterwards! I sighed. Mom and Josh were going to have a field day with this.

Thank you all for reading! I'm sorry this one took so long to come out. Because I'd been away this chapter is really me rediscovering the characters while still moving forward in the story I want to tell. Hope you all enjoy it. Look for the next part to come out next week, I've started writing it and it's a bit of a departure from my usual fare but hopefully you all will enjoy it. As always comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are not only appreciated, they are wanted.
Thanks for reading!
Bethany

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around. .

I was hoping to sneak into the house and gather my thoughts, but of course, no such luck. Mom cornered me the second I walked in the door.
“Becky! You look gorgeous! I take it your mall trip went well?”

“Yeah, fine Mom.” I wasn’t really in the mood to talk about what I was feeling. I started to head up to my room, and then stopped.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Sweetheart?”

“I need your…advice on something.”

“Alright, let me make us some tea and we can talk.”

Mom made some tea and I told her about my day at the mall. When I finished, Mom smiled. “Becky, are you sure you want to go on this date?”

“Well yeah! I mean no. I mean…I don’t know Mom. I mean Luke seemed fine and I don’t want him to be mad at both of my identities.”

“But is that worth putting yourself in danger?”

“Danger?”

“Sweetie, you couldn’t even say no to him when he asked for a date, what happens when he asks to get into your panties?”

“Who’s getting into her panties? Wow sis, not even one week as a girl and you’re already anxious to prove yourself a woman.” Josh walked into the room with his typical timing.

“Buzz off Josh! It’s none of your business, you stupid idiot!”

“Rebecca, that’s no way to talk to your brother. Josh, we’re still a family and that means you need to support your sister’s problems. Luke Organa asked her out and she isn’t sure what she wants to do.”

“Luke Organa! Bro-I mean sis! You hate his guts! Why would you even think about this? You remember that Call of Duty incident last summer! There’s no way you should go on a date with this guy! Even if he doesn’t beat the crap out of you it’s a bad idea!”

I was touched. Even if he wouldn’t stop tormenting and teasing me, underneath Josh still cared about my safety.

Mom interrupted, “What Call of Duty incident? I don’t remember hearing about this?”

“That’s cause I never told you.”

Knowing that Mom wanted to hear this story, I sighed, settled on the couch, and told the tale: Last summer I was invited over to my friend Alex’s house. I got there and found Luke, Alex, and another friend named Chris already there. We were going to play with Airsoft guns in Alex’s neighborhood, so we split up the guns and split up into teams. We were having fun, ducking for cover, surprise attacks and the rest.
We had decided that the winning team was the team that could capture the other and bring them to Alex’s house. I was charging around a house when I was surprised from the behind by Luke and Alex. I put up a fight, but it was my first Airsoft game and those things sting! So I put my hands in the air and dropped the gun. Alex collected the gun and he and Luke started to move me towards the house. I was walking along dutifully when Luke all of a sudden started shooting at me! He was about five feet away and it hurt! I dropped to the ground and started rolling in pain, all while he continued to shoot me.

“Luke! I surrendered, quit it!”

“Luke I surrendered quit it!” Luke mocked me, raising his voice a few octaves. “Luke, I’m whining like a little girl, show me pity. Luke I’m just a little girl, protect me.”

I was on the verge of tears when Chris came bursting in, forcing Luke to cease his torment of me and defend himself. While that battle was raging, I snuck back to the house to try to regain my composure. The rest of the guys soon joined me at the house.

Luke seemed to of forgotten all about his little torture of me. Settling down we decided to play a little Call of Duty on Alex’s Xbox. We were playing again, when Luke achieved a 5 kill streak, all 5 on me.

“Gosh, Robert. You play Call of Duty like a girl!”

OK, I admit it: I was mad, really mad. Letting out a roar I jumped at him! I grabbed him a headlock and proceeded to choke him. Most people back off, but not Luke. He managed to cough out, “Gosh Robert, what would your boyfriend think about you giving me a hug like this?”

With that, he managed to wrap both his hands around me and pulled me off his back. I wasn’t going to let it go and threw myself at him again. Luke grabbed me and pinned me on my stomach. “Don’t worry boys, we’re just enjoying a non-gay encounter with each other. Even if Robert would love it the other way.”

The other boys nervously laughed. Luke, egged on by their laughter, twisted one of my arms behind my back and started to apply pressure. I tried to struggle but he was a football player and he wrestled in middle school so I had no chance. He whispered in my ear, “Are you enjoying being dominated by a real man Robert? This hold I have you in will break your arm. If you want it to stop just yell that you’re my little sissy bitch.”

I was horrified, he wanted me to do what? Still my arm felt like it was about to snap in half so I mumbled the words he wanted to hear.

“What was that Robbie?”

I yelled, “I’M YOUR SISSY BITCH!”

“Wow Robbie! I never knew you felt that way. We better satisfy your sissy urges.” He pulled my pants down and started to stick his fingers into my butt. “Does this feel good?” He leaned forward and whispered, “If you know what’s good for you you’ll go along with this.”

He continued to force his fingers in so I yelled out, “YES IT FEELS SO GOOD!”

He was laughing but the other two boys came to their senses, “Luke that’s enough, let him go.”

Laughing, Luke let me go. Just then Alex’s mom yelled up that my mom was there to pick me up. I ran to the car in relief and went home. That night I cried in the shower as I tried to wash away all thoughts of that night.

“The only person I told about that night was Josh.” I said to Mom finishing my story.

Mom and Josh both wrapped my in a hug. Telling that story was so draining and I was crying.
“Sweetheart, knowing that, why on earth would you even spend anytime with Luke today?”

“He seemed so nice, I thought maybe he’d matured. I thought maybe Rebecca could be the popular kid that Robert never was and dating Luke would have cemented that.”

“Rebecca, you leave it to me. I’ll call Luke and tell him that I’m not sure that I want you dating anyone yet.”

I sniffed. “Thanks, Mom.”

I was grateful that for once Josh didn’t say anything as I went upstairs to try to calm down.

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early. Robert may have slept in, but Rebecca sure as hell didn’t. First up was to check my body for hair. It was a tedious process and really annoying, but no girl wants to go around with body hair. Next up, I decided to repaint my nails. I chose a bright pink color and went to work. I hate to admit it, but I kind of like the fact that there was color on my nails. It gave them a pop and flair.
Honestly, that was something I wouldn’t mind adopting once I went back to guy mode. Not only that, but painting my nails was a quiet and relaxing job. Next up was makeup, then picking out clothes for the day. I figured I’d stay at home all day, so I just threw on a bright yellow sundress with a blue flower pattern along the bottom. I like it because it was very comfortable and free. I tied my hair up in a ponytail, then glanced at the mirror. I had to admit that I liked what I saw, the dress came down to just above my knee and revealed a little bit of my boob, but not too much. Happy with my appearance I bounced downstairs.

“Hey sexy, I thought you weren’t going on that date. Changed your mind or did you just pick up another guy?”

Realizing that Josh wasn’t trying to be mean, I just stuck my tongue out at him and proceeded to grab breakfast. I spent most of Saturday just doing chores. Mopping the kitchen, vacuuming the house, cleaning my room, you know simple stuff like that. My old chores used to be work like mowing the lawn, trimming, weeding, and other outdoor work. I even used to get paid to do it, but Mom says that those jobs are now Josh’s and that I need to start training to be more of a lady. Anyway, it was a pretty relaxing day, the only high point came about when I got a phone call from Dad.

“Hey Dad.”

“Hey Bob. Are you OK? You’re sounding different.”

Shoot. I’d been subtly raising my voice and it sounded feminine even on the phone. “No I’m OK, Dad. When are you coming back?”

“I’ll be back soon. This implementation is taking longer than I thought, but I’ll be back in a month, at the most.”

“That’s great Dad.” Yeah, I have a month to figure out how to tell my Dad about the new me.

“So how’s the new school year going? Did you join any teams or clubs yet?”

“Um…kind of.”

“That’s good son. Anyway I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

“Bye Dad.”

“Love you son. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and let out a sigh. I was not looking forward to that talk with Dad.
Sunday morning, I woke up at 8 o’clock and headed downstairs.

“Morning Mom! Mmmm! Is that waffles I smell?”

“Good morning Rebecca! Good grief girl! Go put some clothes on!”

I giggled, which to be honest came out much more girly than I intended. “Why mother, I’m embracing my feminine charms.” I had gone to bed last night wearing nothing but a bra and panties and the look on my mom’s face when I walked down with those on was priceless. Hey, they were actually quite comfortable! Ignoring my mom’s protests, I grabbed a waffle and started eating.

“Eat up Becky, we do have church today. And I’d sooner bury your dead body in the backyard then let you go to church in your underwear!”

“Church! Mom why?” I hadn’t gone to church since the punishment started. Mom and Josh went and I had stayed home.

“Sweetie your walk with God is still important and now that your so adjusted it’s time for you to come back to church. Don’t worry about it, I’ve been telling people about my niece from Kansas so they all know about you.”

I sighed, typical of Mom to spring something like this on me at the last minute. I wolfed down my waffle then ran upstairs to get changed. Yes, Mom and I had that talk about ladylike eating every morning. I don’t care if it’s not unladylike, that’s one habit that I’ll never change!
I looked at my closet, trying to decide what would be appropriate for church. As Robert I would have gone to church in jeans and a polo shirt. I was tempted to go with jeans again, but there’s one thing I’ve learned from playing other characters, don’t use behaviors that are can be easily brought back to your real identity.

I learned that the hard way when I was playing as a Goth kid. There was this rich girl at another school that was into Goths and she was pretty careless with her stuff. I was lucky to get out of that mess without getting arrested.

Anyway, I picked out a long denim skirt and paired it with loose fitting white blouse. It had a crotchet trim around the neckline, was tight in the top, with a loose bottom and sleeves. It was comfortable and stylish. Grabbing a pair of black flats, I got into the car and we headed for church.

Our church is not that big, there are only about 400 people total. Bigger than some churches, but small enough so that everyone pretty much knew everybody else. As I walked into the building I could hear people hush and then start whispering about me. Ignoring most of the talk, I headed for our usual row then stopped. If I thought school was tough, this was worse. Everyone was busy talking and while I knew people, I had to pretend like I didn’t. Mom saw my dilemma and called me over.
“Rebecca, there’s someone I want you to meet. This is Kaleb Lane. He was one of Robert’s friends. He’s about your age, and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to show you around.”

I smiled. Kaleb and I had been friends since kindergarten. We’d grown apart over the years, but he was still a good guy. “It’s nice to meet you Kaleb.”

He shook my hand but it was kind of limp, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Kaleb was always a little scared of girls, he has six sisters, but a pretty girl has always rattled him. He’s never sure what to say and he was always afraid that too much body contact would send the wrong idea.

“So, what do you do? Do you have a job?” It felt weird asking questions I already knew the answer to, but I wanted to establish a connection. Out of all the kids at church, Kaleb was one of the few I got along with. The others were either snobs or just too much like Luke.

“Um…yeah. I work at the library.”

“A library, that’s cool! I’ll have to stop by sometime! So who are your favorite authors?”

He warmed up at this. Once Kaleb got going he became hard to stop and I figured if I kept the conversation in his comfort zone it would help eliminate the awkwardness of the situation. He started with C.S Lewis, moved to Douglas Adams, then started talking about Neil Gaiman.

“Neil Gaiman?” I interrupted him, “I haven’t read much of his work, but I liked his story ‘Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader?’”

He smiled big. “You read comics?”

“Yeah, whatever I can get my hands on.”

“Have you been to the comic shop here yet?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Robert and I used to go all the time.”

He sounded sad, so I tried to cheer him up. “Have you seen the Thor movie yet?”

He shook his head, “Not yet. It’s at the dollar theatre, but I like to go with someone when I see a movie.”

I grinned, “Perfect! I haven’t seen it yet either! Why don’t we go see it together? Give me a call and we can decide on a day.”

He stammered a bit, but then just mumbled out, “Sure, that sounds good.”

“Great! It’s a date then.” Damn, damn, damn! Stupid Rebecca, why’d I say that? Hopefully he doesn’t read to much into it or he might call the whole thing off.

“OK, I’ll see you later Rebecca!”

“See you Kaleb.”

Josh walked up behind me as I headed into church. “It’s a date? God you really are a flirt aren’t you Rebecca?”

I smacked him but inside I knew he was right. The last thing I wanted was to date a guy and now I’d accidentally said yes to two of them. Oh well, what’s the worst that could happen?

Thank you all for reading! This chapter was very hard to write for two reasons. It's much darker than what I usually write and it's not an area of story that I like venturing into often. It was also hard to write because the flashback scene was autobiographical. Obviously the names of been changed to fit the story but attempting to chronicle that account was a very draining emotional experience. Still I knew from the beginning of this story that this was the direction the story would go. Thanks again for putting up with all of this! As always comments, criticism, and kudos are appreciated!
Bethany

Synopsis:When Robert's lying, habitual stealing, and attitude about women gets to be too much for his mother, she comes up with a Plan to help her delinquent son turn around. .

When we got back from church, I rushed up to my room to change. I didn’t really need too. What I was wearing would have worked for a relaxing Sunday afternoon, but it was a habit from my Robert days.
I changed into tan athletic shorts and a maroon t-shirt, slipped a turquoise headband into my hair, and skipped downstairs for lunch. Mom had fixed spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, after lunch I helped Mom clean up and was about to head upstairs when Mom called me back down.

“Becky? Come to the living room for a second, Princess.”

Princess? Jeez Mom was really digging deep for ways to reinforce my girly state. I slouched in the sofa, “Yeah, Mom?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been thinking about your situation with Luke and today in church I really felt God was speaking to me.”

Perfect! Another round of the God spoke to me game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate God or anything, but it seems like every time God spoke to Mom, I always came out of the situation a little worse for wear. By now all Mom had to do was mention the phrase and it was enough to put me in a bad mood.

“Becky, I had no idea that you’d been…treated that way before in your life. After a lot of thought and prayer, do you want to continue with this?”

"What? Mom are you just offering to let this go? There’s got to be a catch, what’s the catch?"

“Well, not just give up a punishment altogether, I’m just saying that if you feel like the experience would traumatize or otherwise harm you, then maybe it’s my responsibility as a parent to find another punishment for you.”

I was stunned. I really did not see this coming! Was this the end? Was I free?

“Don’t answer me just yet, think about it and let me know. Just make up your mind before school starts tomorrow, OK?”

I headed up to my room in stunned silence. I’d actually done it! I’d broke her! I could go back to being a boy! I laughed to my self. I pulled the headband out of my hair and threw it across the room. I ripped off my t-shirt, rolled it in a ball, and threw it as well. My shorts soon followed.

My God this really was over! I started to tear off my bra, and then stopped. Staring in the mirror I saw a girl. I reached and cupped my fake boobs. I’d ignored them, but this act caused me to get a bit excited. I stopped stroking my fake boobs and plopped onto the bed. I really needed to think now: if I did go back to being a guy, what advantage would I gain and what would I lose? It sounds like a stupid question but every decision has to be carefully weighted, even a seemingly no-brainer like this one.
I always think better when I’m doing something, so I went ahead and pulled down my nail polish kit and got to work. I know I did it yesterday, but I decided to switch to a turquoise color and it painting my nails always seemed to relax me. As I worked, I thought about it.

Obviously, if I just reappeared at school tomorrow there’d be a lot of questions. I could answer them but still, it’d be suspicious. Still it’d be better than being a cheerleader and shaking my ass for the entire school right? But at least as a cheerleader I was popular, respected, and even lusted after.
Is that what I wanted? What about in life? As a boy I was an outsider, I’d always seen myself as some kind of Batman figure, smarter and better than everyone else but always angry, alone, and feared. My family feared me but my brother respected me. As a girl I was the exact opposite, my family loved me but my brother was confused about me. Is that what I wanted?

I finished painting my toes, gathered my clothes from the various corners where they had landed, put them back on, and went downstairs.

I found Mom making tea in the kitchen and surprised her with a big hug. She turned around and returned my affection.
“Well, this is something I could get used to! I take it this means you’ve decided to stick with it?”

“Yeah, we’ll see where this leads. But thanks Mom for considering my feelings here.”

“You’re welcome, Baby Doll.”

Mom handed me a cup of tea and I headed out to the front porch to enjoy it. I was enjoying relaxing on our hammock when I saw Kaleb ride up on his bike.

“Kaleb! What are you doing here?”

He looked at me sheepishly as he walked up the drive, “Well I looked up movie times for Thor and was wondering if you’d like to go tomorrow at 5:40? We could grab dinner or something afterwards?”

“Sure, sounds great! But you didn’t have to bike all the way over here to tell me that, you could have just called, texted, or even just told me at school,” I gave him a knowing look and a smile. I was impressed that Kaleb had already done the research and was practically asking me out on a date. I didn’t think he had it in him!

“Well...I…uh…I like biking and it helps me think so since I felt like biking I thought I may as well come over here.“

“Well would you like to come in?“

“Um, no that’s fine. I’m on my way back home anyway, I’ll pick you up at 5:15, tomorrow, OK?”

“Sure, see you later Kaleb!”

I watched him ride away with a smile on my face. I knew all it would take to get him out of his shell was the right girl to give him attention; I just never thought I would be the right girl. Oh God, I’ve got to stop thinking of myself like that!

I walked inside and was greeted with a chant, “Kaleb and Becky sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Josh, what are you, five?”

“You totally wanted to make out with him!”

“Did not!”

“Oh yeah you did! You were all, ‘Come in! Come to my room smooch smooch smooch!’”

“Shut up! That’s not what I sound like!”

“Are you going to watch that movie at all or will you be too busy smooching with your boyfriend”

“That enough Josh!” I threw a pillow at him and he threw it back. Soon we were laughing and yelling as we threw pillows at each other! It was just like when we were younger, back when we got along all the time. I actually kind of missed times like this.

You know how you have to pay for something you’re looking forward too? I was looking forward to see Thor with Kaleb this evening, I wanted to see the movie, I was not excited about the date, but of course school was incredibly awkward.

For starters Luke and Sam seemed to be sending dirty looks in my direction all day. Secondly Kaleb avoided me, it was like he forgot I existed. That was not a big surprise, he ignored girls in general, but I was hoping that he’d at least acknowledge my presence.

I was so distracted with all of this other drama that I didn’t really pay attention in class, so of course I had several teachers pull me aside after class to lecture me about paying attention. Despite the day crawling along, school finally ended and I raced home!

Rushing upstairs, I glanced at the clock. It was quarter till 4, which meant that I had about an hour to get ready. I took a shower and I made sure that my legs and arms were completely hairless. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my body, and headed pack to my room to pick out something to wear.

What does a girl wear on a date? Do I go with something comfortable or something that would emphasize the fact that I was a girl? Heck, that was probably one of the reasons why I was so excited. Kaleb knew me well and while he was shy around girls, the fact that he had sisters meant that he picked up on details with clothing and mannerisms that most guys missed.

That meant that the risk was still there and I was starting to feel the same adrenaline that I felt when I was breaking into a locker before the bell rings. I decided to go with something girly, so I picked out a white sleeveless dress. Putting the dress on, I admired myself in the mirror.

The dress had a black belt with a blue buckle, red and white flowers along the neckline and about the belt, and a triangle shaped group of flowers that fell along the sides of my legs. I gave a little twirl that came out girlier than I expected. The dress came down to about the middle of my thigh, so I figured that brown gladiator sandals would compliment it perfectly. I looked at my reflection and figured something was still missing. My hair! I hadn’t really learned to do much more with my hair than to put it in a ponytail and I wanted something nicer than that!

“Mom! Can you come up here for a second?”

She came into my room and gasped, “Oh honey! You look gorgeous!”

I grinned, “Thanks Mom!” I still wasn’t used to having those kinds of words used to describe me but at least it meant I was passable. “Mom, I was wondering if you could braid my hair?“

Mom smiled, “Absolutely!”

I sat in a chair at the vanity while Mom went to work. I made a note to ask Mom to show me some different hairstyles then closed my eyes, sat back, and enjoyed the feel of Mom’s fingers running through my hair. It was so relaxing, almost like having a head massage.

Finally Mom stepped back, “Voila!” I looked in the mirror in amazement. Mom had fixed my hair into braided ponytails and had managed to fix a small white flower into my left braid. Walking over to my full-length mirror, I examined the full effect.

Mom came up behind me, “You look beautiful, Sweetheart. But there’s still something missing.” She left the room for a second then came back and slipped a silver necklace around my neck. The necklace was basically a silver flower pendant on a silver chain. The flower was resting just under the neckline of my dress and added a certain sense of glamor to the entire outfit.

“It was a gift from your Dad, actually the first piece of jewelry he ever gave me. I’d like you to keep it. You can wear it as Rebecca and if you ever find a special woman, you can give it to her as Robert. But for now it makes my little girl the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I hugged Mom with tears creeping out of my eyes. “Thanks Mom.”

The sound of the doorbell ringing snapped me back to reality.

“Mom! I’m not ready, I’m not ready! Give me a sec, tell him I’ll be down there!”

Mom chuckled and left my room to head downstairs. I took a deep breath, smoothed down my dress, and then grabbed my purse. Drat this purse wouldn’t go with my outfit at all! I grabbed a more stylish black leather purse from my closet and began transferring everything: wallet, lipstick, compact mirror, phone, keys, some spare change, perfume, tissues, wipes, eyeliner, nail file, and a condom? Where did that come from? Mom must have put it in there. I wanted to yell at her for that but there wasn’t anytime so I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs.

“OK, I’m ready to go!” I smiled to myself as I saw Kaleb’s eyes drink me in.

“Wow! You look fantastic!”

“Thanks Kaleb!”

Mom came out with a camera and took a picture of the two of us together. I headed out to Kaleb’s car while Mom grabbed Kaleb for a second. I was pretty sure she was giving him the same talk by Dad would have given him if Dad were here. Kaleb got in the car, plugged in his iPod, and we were off to the movies!

We spent most of the ride over just chatting about the usual stuff. I talked to him about his family; he had six sisters, one brother and his family was pretty conservative. He wanted to major in accounting, and he loved literature. Robert knew most of this stuff, but I wanted Kaleb to tell Rebecca so that I didn’t accidentally slip and know more about him than I should.
Thankfully, once Kaleb feels comfortable and gets talking, he doesn’t stop, so he didn’t really ask me too many questions. We arrived at the theater and Kaleb quickly opened his door, sprinted to my side, opened my door, and helped me out of the car. I was rather grateful for this as his car sat low to the ground and I’m sure that without his help I would have exposed more leg than I’d care to.

I didn’t let go of his hand after he helped me out of the car so the two of us walked into the theatre holding hands. Kaleb’s hand was smooth but there was a gentleness and affection that came through. God listen to me! Six months ago I would probably be cracking a joke about how feminine his hands were and now I was actually enjoying the feel of my hand in his.

Kaleb paid for two tickets then went ahead and bought a bag of Skittles and some Coke. The whole time I was just hanging back and letting him lead me. It was a little strange since usually I’m a take-charge person and whenever Kaleb and I had gone to the movies before, I was always pushing him along. Now here taking charge while I was just the arm candy.

We made out way to our seats and Kaleb handed me a glass of Coke. The movie started and soon the two of us were whispering and laughing with each other. I had a great time and once again I wondered how I’d let times like this get away from me. Of course, when we hung out before my head was never resting on his shoulder! The more physical contact I had with Kaleb the more alive I felt! That feeling combined with the feel of the dress and the smooth skin on my body meant that I had never felt sexier! Yet Kaleb still seemed to be holding back a little.

I tried to get him to initiate contact during the entire second half of the movie. I laid my head on his shoulder but he still wouldn’t even put his arm around me. I held his hand but that just wasn’t satisfying me because I was holding his hand, not the other way around.

Finally, in desperation I reached for the Skittles that he was keeping on the seat between his legs. Picking up a Skittle, I “accidentally” dropped it onto his pants. Keeping my eyes on the screen, I reached down and grabbed the Skittle, while “accidentally” brushing up against his package. Gosh that was big! I only had mine to compare it too but it was definitely bigger than that. I glanced up at Kaleb and he still ignored me! In a little bit of a huff that even my desperation play hadn’t garnered any attention, I leaned back and watched the rest of the movie.

“Well did you enjoy the movie Rebecca?”

“Yeah, it was fantastic but kind of sad too.”

“Yes, but we know Thor will be back for the Avengers, I can’t wait for that movie! But anyway, where do you want to eat?”

“Um…well what kind of budget do you have?”

“I have money.” Kaleb smiled at me as he opened the car door for me.

“Tell you what, surprise me. You just drive and I’ll eat whatever you decide.”

“If you say so.” With that he started driving and I started flipping for songs in his iPod. The music gave us something to talk about till he pulled up at a Steak and Shake. Our waiter took our order, after giving me the look over I might add, then Kaleb looked at me with a curious expression.

“What?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing. It’s just that you look a lot like your cousin.”

“Gee thanks!” I said sarcastically.

“No, that’s not what I meant, you’re beautiful! It’s just that some of your ways of speaking are very similar.”

“Well we are related.”

“I guess that’s it.” He looked at me funny then looked down at his shoes before asking me another question.

“Do you mind if I ask you another question?”

“You just did.” I said with a smile

“You know what I mean!”

“OK, shoot!”

“Well…why did you allow me to go to the movies with you?”

“What? What kind of question is that?”

“Well you’re beautiful and popular. You seem smart enough and you can be funny too. Not only that but you’re a cheerleader and you must have tons of people asking you out. So why someone as ordinary and uninteresting as me?”

“Ordinary? Uninteresting? Do you hear yourself?” I grabbed his hand with both of mine. “Listen to me very carefully. I’ve not known you for long but I can tell you right now that you’re special. You’re smart and you have a bright future. You’d make any girl happy to call herself your girlfriend. Why do you think you’re uninteresting?”

“The way I see it there are two types of people. Those who wake up in the morning and can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t love them and those who can’t understand why anyone would love them. You said it yourself, you haven’t known me that long, I’m not that special.”

I couldn’t understand this. Kaleb was a nice guy with plenty to offer. Why the self-esteem issues? “Kaleb, you are special, even if no one else sees it, you’re special to me.”

Kaleb beamed at me, then moved the conversation back to the movie.

Finally the night was over. Kaleb parked his car in the driveway and walked me up to the door of my house. I stopped on the porch. “Kaleb, I had a really fun time tonight!”

“Yeah, me too. We should do it again soon!”

“Yeah we should, let me know when you’re free.”

I wasn’t sure how to say goodbye. I know girls sometimes kiss a date goodbye but I didn’t want to go THAT far! As a guy I would have just dropped Kaleb off at his house and gone home. Kaleb seemed to be thinking the same thoughts. (O.K not the exact same thoughts!) So I just went ahead and gave him a hug goodbye.

I was still happy about my date with Kaleb when I went to school the next morning. I didn’t think anyone knew about it, so I was blindsided when Julie bounced up to me in the hall before my first class.

“So how’d the date go? Kaleb Lane? Really? I mean he’s kind of cute. Tall is good. And he has a nice smile and great hair. But still? Heck half of us girls thought he was gay, the way he avoids us. It’s like he’s scared of us! How’d you pull of getting that guy to talk to you?”

“Julie! Slow down! Yes the date went well. I guess he’s cute; it’s what inside that counts right? And he goes to my church so my aunt introduced us. Now how the heck did you find out?”

“That’s easy, you guys stopped at a Steak ‘N’ Shake. Well the waiter was a friend of Heather’s and he mentioned it to her who mentioned it to Elizabeth who…well you get the idea.”

Great. This is exactly what I need, the entire school discussing my dating habits. Luckily the bell rang and saved me from further embarrassment. I tried to keep my head down and keep quiet through most of the day. That worked till the bell rang and I had to scramble to the restroom to change for my first cheerleading practice.

“C’mon Ladies, let’s go!” Coach Swann was yelling at us as we did laps. I had no idea cheerleaders had such strenuous warm-ups! Not that I was out of shape or anything but I hadn’t expected a 12-minute run.

“Alright, girls bring it in.” That was Julie who motioned for us to make a circle. The three captains took turns leading us in stretches. After that we were shown the different jumps we’d need to now and then we had to practice those. Once we’d finished the jumps, Coach handed us a paper with the cheers on them and the entire squad had to practice those. Finally we ended with another run.

I was heading off the field with the other girls when Luke approached me. Perfect, what does he want? Hopefully he’s not mad that I went on a date after telling him I wasn’t dating.

“Hey Rebecca!”

“Oh hey Luke!” I hoped maybe playing innocent would help ease the situation.

“Can I talk to you alone?”

He led me over to the boys locker room and motioned me inside. Crap! Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. The locker room was completely empty and Luke was between the exits and me. I just had to pray that he really did just want to talk.

“So…what did you want to talk about?”

“What’s this I hear about you dating Kaleb Lane?”

“OK, technically it was one date and…”

“Shut up! You already said you’d go out with me then your aunt called and said she didn’t want you dating!”

“Look Luke, I’m sorry about that. You’re a nice enough guy, but I didn’t really want to go out with you and wasn’t sure how to say no.”

“Oh and that makes it OK you bitch! You made me look like a fool! I swear I’ll get you for this!” He approached me with an angry look in his eyes. I started looking around for some way to escape but didn’t see any. I decided to put up a brave front.

“Do your worst Princess Leia! You’re not going to get me to back down.”

Luke crossed the distance between us in a blink and slapped me across the face. “What did you call me? Only one kid called me that: your cousin Robert!”

Crap! I forgot that I was the only person to use that nickname to make him mad. Maybe cause I was one of the few people stupid enough to make him mad.

“Um...well my cousin told me it’s what people OUCH!

He slapped me again! “Shut up you lying bitch! You faggot! I recognize you now Robert! So you’re a little girl now huh? Got your outsides to match your insides?”

I stood there in shocked silence. Crap, crap, crap! What the heck could I do? This was it, I’d have to move away, probably leave the country just to get away from this! There was that nagging voice that was telling me that Mom had given me an out but I chose this. It wasn’t a comforting thought.

Luke continued, “You know what? I need my rep back! Do me now!”

“I’m sorry…what?”

“You heard me freak! You pleasure me now or I tell this entire school your little secret! No, you know what, check that. If you do a good job then maybe I’ll let you be my girlfriend and we’ll keep things quiet about you.”

“And if I say no?”

He hit me again and forced me to my knees. “There is no saying no here!”

He started to pull his pants down when a voice called out. “That’s far enough!”

Julie! She emerged from the shadows carrying a cell phone. “Luke, I’d get out of here now! And if you breathe a word about Rebecca or try to hurt her again I’ll make sure this video I just shot gets to the Principal and the web! How much of a future you think you’ll have with this out there?”

Luke growled, but stormed out. Julie led me out and as she did I started crying.

“Shhh! It’s ok, Becky. It’ll be ok.”

She stroked my hair as she said it and I eventually calmed down.

“But Robert? I think we need to talk about this.”

Thank you all for reading! Comments, kudos, and constructive criticism is always welcome! I had a lot I wanted to cover in this chapter so it stretched out quite a bit but hopefully you all don't mind that!