Playing her way - Chapter 1

© D.L. 2014

Is that the new issue of PC Gamer,” Tim asked as he sat down next to two of his friends. The three schoolboys had just started their lunch break sat outside in the early May sunshine. The final April showers had appeared to have passed and the temperature was pleasantly warm after finally getting into double figures following a colder spell.

“Yeah,” David replied. “It was delivered in yesterdays post. Do you want to have a read? I've already read most of the articles. I was just showing Jason the exclusive article about Generation2K.”

“Oh, yeah, I was hoping to get a look at that ever since they announced it would be present last issue,” Tim replied.

“It was certainly a big scoop for them,” Jason commented, “It’s not every day a well known but reclusive YouTube celebrity gives an interview. The numbers of comments I have seen online about her have exploded since she came out of the closet during the charity live stream.”

“I thought that was a joke at first,” Tim declared. “I mean, April 1st, everyone was expecting it to be a wind up. Kurt and Jumbo joking about how they didn't have any girls playing on the Moonlight Minecraft server and then Jenny goes and says, 'well technically you do have one girl, me.'”

“It sort of was, and sort of wasn't,” David explained, “It was mentioned in one of the subsequent videos, and again in this article. As you know, the members of the server have private monthly meetings to discuss issues regarding the server, and the videos they are going to be making. Generation2K had told the other Moonlighters that he had a big announcement to make, and he was going to do it at prime time during the live stream. He refused to tell the others exactly what it was, but did tell them that they might be shocked and to treat the matter seriously. Depending on what the public reaction was he had told them that if he got a really bad reception, he would claim it was a joke, and then quietly withdraw from the community if it caused issues.”

“That must have taken an incredible amount of guts.” Tim stated. “He could have simply declared that he was actually a girl, and chances are that a lot of viewers would have accepted that. Instead he,”

“She, technically,” Jason interrupted.

“She,” Tim corrected, “goes on to state she's transgendered.”

“She did have a bit of an advantage, in that she was doing it somewhat anonymously. Nobody knows her real name or where she lives. We know that she is our age, and is based somewhere in the UK, possibly down south, like us, but it isn't like coming out to people you are with on a daily basis,” Jason said.

"She can't be that anonymous. The chances are someone is bound to have recognise her voice at whatever school she goes too, she is popular enough for it to be likely, so it was still a big risk,” David declared, "Assuming of course she wasn't already out of the closet at school to begin with, but she does state that nobody seems to know at school."

“Well it doesn't appear to be our school,” Tim stated, “Mind you, there is only a handful of us that watch that particular group of Let's Players.”

“Given the amount of flack I have been getting over the past couple of months, I'm glad she isn't here, I don't think she would survive,” Jason glumly responded.

“Gary still giving you a hard time over that St. Trinians costume you wore for Comic Relief a couple of months ago?” Tim asked.

“It wouldn't be so bad if Mark hadn't tried to chat me up. Anybody else and I wouldn't have gotten all tongue tied. No matter what I said, I couldn't dissuade Gary and his cronies that I had a crush on Mark.”

“I've told you before, go see Mr Glasscock again if you feel threatened. There is supposed to be zero tolerance to homophobia,” David stated.

“And cause even more trouble, no thanks. We've only got a couple of months to the end of term, and then we will all be changing schools. I'm not going to give them ammunition to use against me. Getting back on topic, can you imagine the uproar if one of the boy's here were to openly declare to be a transsexual. You think I'm getting trouble now, and I'm not even gay.”

“Just because you deny it, doesn't mean anybody believes you,” Tim responded. “But yeah, I get your drift."

"Oo, Jason's blushing again," Zoe stated as she came across to the boys, "What have you been doing to him this time?"

"Is there a reason you are here, or did you simply come to tease us," Tim stated, seeing his friend go even redder.

"Here, Jason, Susan sent me over with your lunch. She had to report to Mr Court for detention."

Jason had decided shortly after the aforementioned incident that it was no longer safe to carry a packed lunch, as he had lost it on several occasions due to bullying. Instead he opted for buying a packed lunch from the canteen. Fearing the extraction of money would be even easier; he felt the safest option was not to carry any cash. Therefore he paid his cousin in advance, and she would either buy the lunch for him, or meet him in the canteen. The situation had gotten better over the past few weeks, but Susan insisted on keeping the arrangement in place despite the teachers saying it wasn't needed, and her friends getting slightly annoyed at the inconvenience. For the most part Jason and his friends got on very well with the girls, and the rumours currently going round was that Susan either fancied one of Jason's friends, or that she was trying to play matchmaker.

"What's my cousin done this time?" Jason asked, taking the carton of sandwiches and packet of crisps from the girl.

"Talking back in class. A little tip, if you ever get Mr Court for a teacher, never try to correct him, even if he's being a complete idiot. Several of the other girls are going to speak to Mr Glasscock about it. I can see his point about rudeness, but really, if it is pointed out that you are contradicting the text book, that at least warrents an explanation, not an immediate detention."

The students sat in silence for a moment. Jason started to eat his lunch, joining David, who had already started. Tim continued to read the magazine. All the boys’ wondering if Zoe was going to disappear back off again.

"What you reading?" Zoe asked.

"Its an interview with Generation2K, Jenny for short. She does Minecraft YouTube videos," Tim replied.

"Does she do it for a living? I was reading an article the other day. Some of these Youtubers are supposed to be millionaires. It must be really cool to be able to make money of doing practically nothing."

"I wouldn't call making video's practically nothing," Jason replied, "A lot of them have to put in a full day’s work every day in order to keep up a daily publishing schedule. It’s not just a case of recording the footage; you have to edit it as well, not to mention the prep work beforehand."

"I imagine it’s like being an actor," David added, "For every major Hollywood film star, there are thousands of people struggling to make it to the big time struggling to make ends meet. I subscribe to several channels where the people have started out doing it as a hobby, and then only later switched over when they realised they were in a position to earn enough to go full time."

"Also, she is our age. In fact it mentions that the interview took place in Weymouth," Tim stated.

"Wow, that’s like an hour and a half away," Zoe exclaimed, "My gran lives there. I tend to spend summer at the beach. I know a few of the local girls; I might have even been sunbathing with her."

"I doubt it," David replied. "Until a few weeks ago she was only known as a boy. Jenny is a male to female transsexual."

"Yeah it would be fairly hard for a boy to get away with a bikini, especially ones as skimpy as my friends and I try to wear, when our mothers don't catch us. Is it even possible for a boy to pass himself off as a girl? Still, it would be cool to earn enough money to pay for university. A girl can never have enough pocket money to go shopping with."

"I've seen you out shopping, I think you could single handedly kick start the economy if someone was foolish enough to give you a blank cheque," Tim Joked.

"Do you really need to ask if a boy can look like a girl?" Jason asked, "Susan and I had you fooled for over ten minutes before you twigged who I was during Comic Relief.

"Okay, I admit, you are a good actor when you want to be," Zoe replied, "Does the article give a physical description? Does this girly-boy look like a girl?"

"It doesn't say," David stated, "Although it does mention that she is going to stop presenting as a boy at the end of this term, and then when she switches schools, she will be going as a girl. She is going full stealth and none of the other students will know her identity. She has shortlisted several state and private schools just over the county border from where she lives that are far enough away as too not run into existing acquaintances."

"If is she's based in Dorset, then that could mean she is looking at schools in Devon, Somerset, or here in Wiltshire. We could end up going to school with her," Jason declared. "I personally wouldn't have a problem with that, I don't know if any of you would."

"Well it wouldn't really matter to you boys," Zoe stated, "You wouldn't be sharing toilet or changing facilities with her."

"Neither would you," Tim suggested, "She would have to be excluded from P.E. or be given a private changing room. I don't see how the toilets are an issue; you don't stand and pee in public like we do."

"That is something the article actually mentions," David explained, "If she can raise the funds she is actually considering boarding school where the students can get changed in their own private rooms."

"Well that settles that question," Jason responded, "My dad would never send me to a boarding school on principle, even if he could afford it. So it’s unlikely I'll be in the same school as her."

"Same here," Tim replied. Zoe and David also nodded.

Zoe, deciding she had spent enough time with the boys, and spotting some of her friends coming out of the building, said her farewells and left the boys to their own devices. Tim finished reading the article the other two had already finished. Once all three had finished eating they put the magazine away and headed over to where a group of students had gathered with a ball for a kick about.

~o~O~o~

“Regarding our potential budget shortfall,” Mrs Rogers, the headmistress of St. Mary's Academy for Girls, addressed the nine other board members, a few of which were in the room and the remainder attending remotely via teleconference, “the next item on the agenda may be relevant as a potential source of income.”

“Equality and diversity policy,” Mr Yates queried, “You aren't thinking of allowing boys to join are you? One of our selling points is that we are a single sex organisation.”

“Not boys in general,” Mrs Rogers answered, “I too want this school to remain a single gender environment, as I believe the students work better without the opposite gender being present as a distraction. What I would like us to consider is allowing male to female transgendered students. People who are female mentally and emotionally, whose bodies do not match their view or societies view, of them.”

“You are saying that you are happy for boys to attend as long as they dress up and pretend to be girls?” Mr Yates asked. “I'm not sure I would be comfortable knowing there are males attending, even if they are going around in bras and skirts. Would the other students, and more importantly, their parents, know of this? I can think of several families who would not like this idea.”

“Do we actually specify anywhere that students have to be female?” Mr Bell asked.

“Other than our name including the words 'for Girls', and all our brochures taking about 'your daughter's future',” Mr Yates sarcastically replied.

“Actually, it depends,” Mrs Rogers remarked. “We certainly imply that our students should be female, but we don't technically specify that. As you rightly point out, Mr Yates, we are a girl's school, but 'girl' can be a description of a person’s gender, and I am suggesting that in certain circumstances, a person’s gender could be different from a person’s physical sex.”

“You are playing with words,” Mr Yates accused, “For the common understanding of the word, girl is synonymous with female. You also haven't addressed my concerns over what other students and parents might think of the matter.”

“Looking at our existing policy documents,” Mr Bell said while skimming through the documents in front of him, “we already state that we do not discriminate of the basis of gender, religion or sexual orientation. I think that probably covers it anyway. I never did understand why we say we don't discriminate on gender when we only allow girls to attend.”

“We say it because we have to due to some stupid EU human rights directive,” Mr Yates countered, “Anyway; it applies more to employment law and who we can hire as staff rather than the students.”

“If a transgendered student is attending, and they are presenting themselves as a girl, what difference would it make to other students anyway?” Mr Bell asked. “I personally don't see a big problem with this issue. Even if we do decide to allow transgender students, I can't see that we would likely to have more than one or two at any one time. We are actually more likely to end up with students who are HIV positive, or have other medical problems like hepatitis, which most definitely would have an impact on how we have to handle them.”

“Mr Bell has a good point,” Mrs Rogers stated, “I was going to suggest that we treat it like any other medical issue, and keep it on a need to know basis.”

“That is all very well, but this is a boarding school. I can't see how you plan to keep such a thing secret. This isn't a large school with hundreds of students. Everybody knows everybody else and someone is bound to notice. Are you going to dream up some other medical excuse as to why a particular student isn't allowed to use the same bathrooms and changing rooms? While not officially a sports academy, we are recognised for encouraging all our girls to undertake physical activities of some description.”

“Unlike a state school, there is no need for any of our students to appear naked in front of each other. All boarders are allowed, and in fact somewhat encouraged, to change in the privacy of their own bedrooms, as it makes life a lot easier. The only exception is the swimming pool, and there are plenty of students who are not permitted to go swimming, usually because of grommets in their ears, but there are other medical reasons as well. We currently have one girl who is allergic to chlorine.”

“I can't see how bathrooms could be a problem,” Mrs Leech stated, joining the argument for the first time. “After all, everything is done in the privacy of a cubicle anyway. I don't have an issue with this in principle. Is there a specific reason as to why this is being raised? Have we had enquiries about taking a transgendered student?”

“Yes, the reason I am bringing this up is because we have been approached by a specific individual who would like to attend this school. Having seen photos of this person dressed both as a boy and a girl, I don't think she would have any problems fitting in appearance wise. The person in question certainly sounds and acts like a girl in the various YouTube videos I have seen,” Mrs Rogers declared.

“It’s not Generation2K is it, by any chance?” Mrs Leech asked.

Several board members immediately enquired as to who this person was. Mrs Leech carried on to explain that the person in question had become somewhat of an online celebrity over the past few months after they publically came out as transgendered.

“I must admit,” Mrs Leech declared, “that I watched her playing the new tycoon game for a couple of hours without realising. My son wants me to buy him the game for his birthday, and to try to convince me to do so we tuned into a live stream of the game being played. I naturally assumed it was a girl playing from the voice and small face cam in the bottom of the screen. As we were watching it full screen, I couldn't see the live chat comments, and it wasn't until someone asked in the comments about her future that she mentioned that she was trying to get into a girl's school. I didn't think this unusual until she started talking about if she would be accepted. It was then that my son explained that she was actually a boy.”

“Yes it is her,” Mrs Rogers confirmed.

“In that case the privacy issue is slightly mute,” Mr Bell reasoned. “I wasn't aware that she had started to show her face online. I suspect she could be recognised easily by voice alone, but now there is a good chance that she would be recognised if she attended here. I know my own daughters watch her regularly, and although my oldest left here at the end of last term, my youngest is still here and I know several of her friends also watch these videos. If she attended it wouldn't be a secret like we were discussing earlier.”

“Actually, she would like to attend anonymously,” Mrs Rogers stated. “I've been watching some of her videos and have seen the same stream as Mrs Leech. I also have photos of how she looks, and I can say it would be very difficult to recognise her from the small webcam she runs in the bottom of the screen.”

“The electric blue wig and large sunglasses do a good job of hiding most of her features,” Mrs Leech agreed. “I don't think I could pick her out of a line up. Also, she seemed to be using a cheap microphone, which may have been distorting her voice to not be recognisable.”

“That and the software she runs to change the pitch of her voice on the fly while recording,” Mrs Rogers added, “Her voice is actually higher pitch in real life. When she first started, she didn't want to sound so childlike only, so lowered the pitch of her voice to sound older. She has turned the effect down, but never removed the software.”

“Wow, I didn't realise that,” Mrs Leech replied, “Her voice must be fairly high for a boy then? I assume she must be on hormones, or don't they prescribe them to children?”

Mrs Rogers shook her head, “As far as I know, she isn't on hormones. However, I do believe she is on medication to prevent male puberty. Her doctors are taking a very cautious approach and don't want to do anything irreversible. She has to live as a girl for a year before they will even think about taking the next step, and she can't have anything done surgically until she is eighteen. From what I have read this seems to be standard practice.”

“I think I've heard of it before. The real life test? How long has she been living as a girl?” Mr Bell enquired.

“She has not yet started,” the headmistress replied. “She is attending her current school as a boy, and fears for her safety if she was to try attending as a girl. She tells me she has already been subjected to bullying for her supposed sexuality and is worried that it would become far worse if people perceived her as a transsexual rather than a gay boy. Currently she can only live as a girl inside her own home, or when she is well away from where she lives, which isn't very much during term time.”

“It’s a pity this meeting wasn't earlier in the week,” Mr Jennings, one of the senior science teachers and representative of the combined union representative of the staff members to the board, stated. “It would have been useful to invite her to one of the open days to see how she reacted to the other students. It would be easier to judge this person in person.”

Mrs Rogers laughed, much to the surprise of the other members.

“You are making the assumption that this person wasn't invited,” Mr Bell intuitively stated, turning to Mrs Rogers he added. “I'm guessing by your amusement that this person did in fact pay us a visit this week?”

The board meeting was happening on the Thursday evening of the half term holiday before the summer break marking the start of the new academic year. While the school maintained a similar holiday structure to the state schools, with a week’s break in the middle of term, unlike other schools, it didn't shut down.

Having a number of foreign students, and indeed students from around the UK, not all of the students opted to make the potentially long journeys home for the week. About a quarter of the students remained on campus year round, only going home during the summer. Even some of the students who lived nearby and chose to go home, had come back to take advantage of the facilities and day trips to local tourist attractions that had been arranged.

The school also opened its doors for tours for potential future attendees and their parents.

“You know we allow existing students to invite guests to stay. Close friends, sisters, cousins, who may be able to attend,” Mrs Rogers stated.

“Yes, my youngest came here several times to stay with her sister before she came to school here,” Mr Bell responded.

“We've gained several students that way, having been invited to stay they like the place so much that they pester their parents to let them come here. Unfortunately some parents simply can't afford it, but we have managed to arrange finance and sponsorship deals in the past,” Mrs Leech added.

“So this boy was here?” Mr Yates gruffly stated. “I assume it must have been earlier in the week, as I haven't seen or heard anything while I have been around here yesterday and today.”

“That I think is probably the point,” Mrs Leech stated, the annoyance with her colleague evident in her voice. “If she was able to blend in unnoticed, then there won't be an issue with her attendance.”

“She is currently a guest of one of our existing students, Wendy Spencer,” Mrs Rogers replied.

“Emily and Susan, they came to watch my demonstration of making lightening,” Mr Jennings recounted. Turning to Mr Yates he added, “You've met them. They were the three girls who were manning the tea stand at the concert last night. You spent a good five minutes moaning at them because they had run out of earl grey.”

“You mean they weren't students. They were all in uniform.” Mr Yates declared.

“We were short staffed, and they volunteered,” Mrs Rogers stated. “The girls originally going to do the job had to go home at short notice due to a family emergency. We thought it best that they wear our uniform while working for the school.”

“I thought something was odd about that blonde in the back. Obviously not his real hair colour as the dark roots were showing through and something seemed off about that pony tail, almost as if it was glued on, as the rest of the hair looked too short in comparison. I remember wondering if it was really a wig; tall, lanky, and not much of a figure. No wonder if it was a boy in a training bra.”

“Can we exclude that comment from the minutes,” Mr Jennings enquired, “I know the students get the opportunity to read them and I know Wendy would be very upset if she knew she had been so badly insulted. She is very sensitive about her height. I've had to talk to several of the girls about their teasing. She tried to do a nice thing by donating her hair to charity, and then she gets in a big argument with her mother due to ending up looking so masculine. She wasn't even allowed to go home this week as her mother was so embarrassed.”

“The less I have to deal with that woman the better,” Mrs Rodgers shuddered, “I'm glad it’s her father that pays the bills. It’s no wonder he divorced her. Wendy's hair isn't quite long enough for extensions, but her mother insisted that she have some fitted anyway. As to the minutes, this whole section will get recorded as a single sentence simply stating we reviewed the policy."

"I still don't see why this is going to be worth the hassle," Mr Yates declared. "I don't see how the fees for a single student could warrant the extra trouble and risk we would have to go through."

"I get the feeling there is more on offer here than simple school fees. Generation2K, Jenny to her fans, is estimated to be worth half a million. Not only is she a successful Youtuber and Streamer with one of the fastest growing channels in the internet, she is also co-author to a hotly anticipated video game that has already sold ten-thousand pre-orders and reached its initial target on kickstarter in only twelve hours. She is predicted to become one of the youngest self made millionaires in the country, if not the world." Mr Bell surmised.

"Correct," the headmistress responded, "The development of Rampaging Squirrels was mostly paid for by the kickstarter. The developers, including our potential student, coded it in their free time. Most of the costs were in licensing for sound and artwork, as well as some distribution and advertising costs. It has already covered its costs, it’s pure profit going forward, assuming it doesn't bomb, which seems unlikely with the amount of interest. If it is a success, then they plan to carry on adding more levels and content. We get 2% of the sales revenue."

Mr Yates quickly looked the game up on his phone, "They are selling it for £5, discounted to £3 for those with early access codes. 2% of that would be a grand at the higher price, about a tenth of the standard term fee."

"That isn't the main part of the deal," Mrs Rogers stated, "Just the bit that may be the easiest to quantify. They are actually aiming to sell ten times that and all indications suggest that they can achieve it. However, it is not unheard of indie games, when successful, to pass the one million copies mark. Both 'Don't starve' and 'Fez' have passed that amount, and Minecraft itself is now past 20 million copies.

"The bulk of the offer is to receive 50% of all earnings Generation2K makes from YouTube and Twitch.tv after her school fees have been deducted, while she is at school here. For reference she first started uploading videos a year ago. In the space of the last six months, her channel has been growing exponentially. In that time she has earned enough to pay for this terms fee, and is currently working towards having enough to pay for next term. Now the bulk of her money was built up outside of term time when she had time to record a vast amount of content. She won't be releasing as much content while here, and we are going to have to help her by allowing her time to record, without the other students finding out.

"Worst case scenario, she doesn't fit in and leaves before the end of term. We get one term’s fees from her and possibly a grand or two extra to offset some potential negative publicity. Best case scenario? Well the is no upper limits, but if the game does become a success and sells over a million copies, we could be receiving up to one hundred grand from that alone. If Mr Bell's information is correct about her earning potential then we may get as much as half a million out of the deal. It’s a big risk, but also a big pay off."

Silence filled the room as the gravity of the proposal sank in.

"You do realise this is bribery," Mr Yates stated, "We would basically be making this kid un-expellable. Are you saying a child is not going to be tempted to get its own way by threatening to pull our purse strings? We already have students who behave that way due to parents who are sponsors of the school."

"If you are referring to my daughter," A strong Russian accent came through the speaker phone, "Then you needn't worry about her any more. She has cried wolf too many times, and I'm no longer going to let her get away with things."

"That is good to hear, Mr Gurevich," Mrs Rogers responded, "As for our new student; she won't be able to exercise any power without revealing her identity, something she isn't willing to do. Also, I can easily delegate any disciplinary matters to staff not aware of her financial situation."

"I suggest we have the contract examined before deciding on if to enter into it," Mrs Leech stated, "However, before we decide on that, I think we should decide if we should allow transgender students in general. I motion we accept transgender individuals presenting as female."

"I agree," Mr Jennings stated.

"So do I," Mr Gurevich added, causing surprise around the table.

Only Mr Yates and one other board member decided to oppose the motion, giving it a majority acceptance. The matter of the contract was put on hold while it was further investigated, and the meeting moved on to the next discussion point.

Playing her way - Chapter 2
© D.L. 2014

Arnold Bridges sipped his coffee, savouring his first hit of caffeine for the day and working week. He had just finished eating his serial when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching down the stairs. He had gotten used to having breakfast alone. His wife, Marilyn was currently in the bathroom, having made his pack lunch while he showered, shaved and dressed. They swapped places, and he would briefly see her again as he left for work.

This particular Monday was the first day of the new school term, so the person walking into the room was his thirteen year old son, Jason. Usually his son didn't come down until after he left for work. Arnold worked in Southampton and commuted to work via train. He had to leave promptly at 7:15 in order to catch the 7:30 train. This would get him into the city about an hour later where he would switch to a bus for the short journey to the factory where he worked as a shop steward. Previously, Jason didn't need to leave for school, a twenty minute walk, until half past eight, so usually got up just has his father left for work. However, with the change of schools, the boy would need to commute by train, a forty minute ride, bringing his total commute to close to an hour, and therefore get up earlier.

Arnold didn't get along very well with his only child. As moody teenagers went, Jason seemed to be one of the worst. Barely seeming to communicate with anybody, the boy was becoming virtually reclusive. His wife assured him that this was only when he was around, and that he opened up a bit more when Arnold wasn't about.

The atmosphere had been considerably frosty over the last few months. His son's behaviour was such a concern the school had recommended taking him to a shrink. That had not gone well. The so called professional that there family doctor had referred him to turned out to be a waste of time. In Arnold’s opinion, the boy needed to grow up and get his head together, not be filled with stupid ideas such as trying to connect with his feminine side.

There had been some argument over where his son should attend school. Boarding school had been one suggestion, and while the experience may have been character building, Arnold didn't like this idea for two reasons. Firstly it didn't sit well with his working class background. He simply did not believe in paying for schooling that the state should be providing. Secondly was simply he couldn't afford it. While his income was enough to live comfortably, it wouldn't stretch to that kind of expense. After initially going along with the idea that changing school would be a good idea, he had second thoughts about allowing it. However, they had reached a compromise over him going to a school in the neighbouring county.

St. Mary's High School was a prestigious school on the outskirts of Taunton. One of his younger colleagues, Geoff, had attended the school until only a few years ago, and he had received nothing but good reviews of the establishment. It would mean his son would also be catching a train; however his would be south-west bound instead of south-east. They lived a short distance from Westbury station, which is where the London to Exeter line crosses the Bristol to Southampton line.

Arnold observed his son enter the room. The boy was dressed in black trousers. The knot of a blue tie and white shirt could be seen peeking through the top of a light grey hooded sweatshirt.

"What are you doing wearing that?" the farther asked. "And why do you insist on having the hood up indoors."

The school uniform called for a dark blue blazer. That was something that had recently been introduced to make the students look more businesslike than the previous relaxed look of polo shirts and fleeces.

"I've put my blazer in my sports bag so it doesn't get crumpled, dirty, or soaked on the way to school. It might rain. Besides, this is warmer. I'll swap once I get to school," Jason replied, grabbing the lunch his mother had prepared. Unzipping his large black rucksack, he slipped the plastic container into the bag.

Putting his empty cup into the sink, Arnold rose and entered the hall. Checking his tie was straight in a mirror; he took his coat off the hook, and put in on.

His day would be slightly different than usual, as he would be meeting with a couple of colleagues and then travelling north to a training course in Birmingham. Arnolds case was packed and waiting for him in the hall. He would be gone for several days.

Jason followed his father into the hall. As the older man picked up the red suitcase waiting for him, Jason picked up the large green sports bag, putting the long wide strap over his shoulder so the bag hung by his hip. The two family members left the house and started walking down the street, waving to the women waving back from an upstairs window.

The younger of the two remained several steps behind the elder. Their postures were almost the opposite of each other. The adult stood straight up while walking briskly and confidently, the youngster was adopting a slouched pose, head down and hidden beneath the hood of his sweater.

They arrived at the station where they parted and headed to separate platforms. They spent the next few minutes looking across at each other until Jason's train arrived. Arnold watched his son take a seat on the train opposite. The boy gave him the thumbs up, but before the father could respond, his own train arrived blocking his view.

~o~O~o~

"Come along Wendy, we don't want to be late", Mrs Spencer called to her daughter as she came round from the passenger side of their car.

"We have over half an hour until the train gets here," Wendy replied. "It isn't until quarter past nine."

They had picked the earliest train available after the price drop, commuter trains being more expensive than trains during the day. Mrs Spencer was escorting her daughter, and one of her friends, to London. There they would meet with a group of other students all going to the same boarding school. In the past she had driven her daughter to school, but it was a long trip, and this new arrangement should be more convenient. Also, she wouldn't be travelling alone, so should be a lot safer. It also gave Mrs Spencer the opportunity to hit the west end shops for the afternoon, possibly even getting last minute tickets for a matinee at one of the shows.

It wasn't hard to spot the other girl that would be travelling with them. Emily was dressed the same way as Wendy. As they would be meeting up with a school teacher and a group of other students, the school had requested that all the student’s travel in uniform, as it would make it easier for the teacher to keep track of her charges.

Emily was sat on one of the benches, her light blue pleated skirt neatly arranged to cover her modesty. The matching blazer was neatly folded and sat on top of a large green sports bag. The weather was still warm when the sun got out, despite summer being at an end.

On seeing Wendy and her mother approach, Emily stopped brushing her short brown hair, styled into an attractive pixie cut, and returned the comb to her rucksack sat at her feet.

After exchanging pleasantries, Mrs Spencer headed to the ticket machines to collect the tickets she had reserved earlier over the internet.

"Everything going to plan?" Wendy asked, after her mother was out of earshot.

"So far so good," Emily replied, "I was able to find a secluded spot in a corner of a field down the road to change. I'm glad I was able to finally ditch the wig. Having to wear that stupid thing over the weekend, pretending my hair is a lot shorter, has been so annoying. I was almost tempted not to put it on this morning, but I knew my Dad would moan at my hood. I actually got away with not pulling it down."

"I'm still amazed that trick worked," Wendy shook her head, "Most people wear wigs to make their hair longer. Winding your hair up and hiding it under a short boy's wig can't be comfortable. I know how hot I get when my mother insists on an up-do."

"Is she still annoyed about you cutting it short?"

Wendy nodded, but didn't answer as her mother returned and sat down beside the two girls.

~o~O~o~

The journey to London was uneventful. The train was only partially full, and the girls were able to relax and play wireless multiplayer games on their tablet computers while Mrs Spencer read eBooks on her Kindle.

Emily grew nervous as she travelled across the capital. Given the number of bags they were carrying, Mrs Spencer had opted for a taxi rather than the underground. Wendy squeezed her friends hand in reassurance when her mother wasn't looking.

Once at Liverpool Street station, the threesome walked into the large main concourse in search of the train heading north out of the city. The wisdom of having all the students all in uniform was of immediate benefit, as the group girls stood together at the east end of the station was easy to find.

A lady with a clipboard approached the newcomers. "Hello, I'm Mrs Jackson, and I assume by the uniforms these two must be headed for St. Mary's."

"Hello, my name is Audrey Spencer. This is my Daughter Wendy, and the other girl is Emily Bridges," Mrs Spencer replied, shaking the other woman’s hand.

Mrs Spencer signed the clipboard, acknowledging that care was being transferred to the school for the girls. After hugging her daughter goodbye, much to Wendy's embarrassment, she headed in the direction of the underground to catch the tube to the west end.

Introductions were quickly made to the other students. Most of the students were returning, but one of the others was also going to be a newcomer to the school, but was a year younger that Emily. It was not unheard of for a girl to start in one of the higher years. Given the financial climate, some families could only afford to send their daughters for the last few years before graduation. In the past year, the school had lost five students midyear, due to families no longer being able to pay the fees.

Wendy made the introductions. Emily started to relax. She had been nervous that her secret might not have been kept, or that she would be outed as male. So far, nobody had seemed to react badly or suspiciously at her presence. She had kept Mrs Spencer unaware of her secret up to this point, and was worried that the teacher might let something slip. Thankfully that had not happened, possibly due to being in open earshot of the other students.

If Mrs Jackson knew, then she was keeping that knowledge to herself.

"This is so boring," Jane, one of the younger students remarked. "I wish I didn't have to be here so early. Nothing exciting ever happens at train stations."

"That isn't true," Mrs Jackson replied. "There was a flash mob filmed here a few years ago."

One of the other girls called the clip up on her mobile. After the third time through the clip, the phone being passed round the girls so that they could all see, one of the girls, Jessica, pulled a flute out of her suitcase.

"Jane, get ready to have some fun," Jessica stated, "If the tweet Anna forwarded me this morning is true, we might just get something similar to what you just saw. Mrs Jackson, please may I go stand in the centre of the station."

Emily grinned widely as a second girl, Abby, unzipped her bag just enough to pull out a harmonica, "I wouldn’t mind joining you, if you don't mind the competition."

"What is going on here?" Mrs Jackson asked suspiciously. Jessica handed her phone to the teacher. "Very well, but only start playing if other people also do so; it looks like there is a busker standing waiting as well."

The two girls walked over to the centre of the station, where five other musicians had now also gathered.

"What's going on?" Jane asked the teacher.

"It would seem that a certain minor internet celebrity come game developer tweeted they would give away Steam discount codes for their new game to anybody taking part in singing and dancing at exactly one o'clock here. Apparently, they will hand the codes out to musicians first."

Wendy shot a glance at Emily who was deliberately avoiding eye contact from both her and the teacher, by watching the goings on under the main signs.

A small crowd had formed as the musicians started to perform an impromptu performance of YMCA. A number of people had gathered and started dancing to the music.

"Why not?" Mrs Jackson sighed, "If any of you want to join in, go ahead and get dancing, just remain close to the bags, we don't want anybody to nick them while we are distracted."

"I'll stay with the bags if you want to join in," Wendy offered, "I'm a beta tester, so already have the game."

On hearing that, most of the other girls rushed over to join the large group of dancers now performing the Macarena.

Emily pulled her out her compact camera, and joined the large number of people doing the same, taking photos of the group and themselves. While she could have used her phone, she was deliberately keeping it hidden.

A large man with a large Viking helmet walked to the centre of the station pulling a trolley with a large box of what looked like business cards.

Once the music and dancing had stopped, he started to hand out the cards to whoever wanted them. He was soon surrounded, as the hoard of people all wanted one of the cards.

Emily watched as Jessica and Abby both received some of the first cards handed out. After the initial rush had dwindled to a trickle, Emily approached the man. Mrs Jackson had also come across with Jane, who was frightened to go across on her own.

Emily allowed the teacher and other student to go first.

"Are you Mr CrazyVikingMan47?" Jane timidly asked.

"Why I certainly am," the bloke replied, "You know, not many people have worked that out. Are you one of my subscribers?"

Jane nodded, "I'm CutieKitten: you named the cat on your series after me. Can I take a photo with you?"

"Sure, and if you send me a copy with the email address you used to subscribe, I'll send you back an extra special code. Would you mind if I tweet the photo as well? I know some people are sensitive about having their faces online."

"Go ahead, just don't give out my real name," Jane replied, turning and offering her camera to Mrs Jackson she asked, "Would you mind?"

The teacher quickly snapped a few shots of the pair, before handing the phone back to the young girl.

"And who might you be," the man asked Emily.

"You might not remember me, John, my name is Emily Bridges. We met at the March Moonlight Meet up in Weymouth."

A momentary flash of recognition crossed the man's face, to be joined by a huge smile, "I didn't recognise you, Emily. You have certainly changed since we last met. Can I offer you a code, or are already one of the beta testers?"

"Jenny and Tango already emailed me, thanks. I just thought I would pop across and say hello. I won't keep you from your other fans, having already gotten a photo and autograph last time."

"Would you mind if I took a photo before you go?" John asked.

"Not at all, and you can tweet it as well if you like," Emily smiled and posed next to larger man as he took a photo before saying goodbye and stepping aside so he could speak to the next person waiting.

The two students and the teacher walked back to the group. Wendy was looking increasingly nervous, something that didn't go unnoticed.

"Is something wrong?" Mrs Jackson asked.

Wendy briefly glared at Emily, making eye contact just long enough to let Emily know the cause of her agitation, but without anybody else realising. "It’s nothing," she replied.

"You’re worried people might think you're Generation2K," Abby reasoned, "after all she did say she would be here, and like us, she is supposed to be on her way to a girls boarding school. You are letting your mothers comments get to you again. You don't look like a boy, so stop being so self conscious."

"We are the only group of school girls standing around here," Wendy retorted, "does the thought that people might be wondering if you are a boy in drag not bother you? Or are you perhaps thinking that they are more likely to suspect the beanpole in the corner."

"This should put your mind at ease," Jessica said, handing her phone to Wendy, "Generation2K has just tweeted a photo of herself dancing in the crowd. She was the girl with pigtails in the grey pinafore dancing on the balcony up to our left. If you look closely, I think that is you in the lower left of shot; you had your back to her. You obviously didn't turn round at any point to notice her. Being centre stage, as such, I was keeping my eye out to try and spot her."

"Hey, she's just tweeted again, it’s a picture of us jamming," Abby squealed, "She says she wishes her school uniform was as cool as ours, instead of boring grey."

Emily walked over to Wendy to look at the picture she was holding. The photo appeared to be of a young girl in a grey pinafore school dress playing air guitar. From the way her pigtails where flying, she was obviously nodding her head to the beat. The camera had caught her mid-motion, as you could mainly see the top of her head instead of her face. A slight motion blur was further obstructing her features being recognisable.

Wendy handed the phone back to its owner, and the conversation moved on to how cool it would be to be able to earn a living out of playing games and making videos while the group waited for the last few girls to arrive.

~o~O~o~

"Watch out, here comes trouble. Queen Bitch is back," Jessica muttered as she spotted two more students crossing the concourse.

Mrs Jackson shot Jessica a glance in warning. Although she had to issue the non-verbal reprimand, she couldn't help but agree with the girl’s assessment.

Svetlana Gurevich was one of biggest spoilt brats ever to attend the private school. The daughter of an influential Russian businessman who also happens to be the owner of one of the major premier league football teams, and a board member and part owner of St. Mary's Academy. Her father's influence being the only thing keeping her from being expelled, a fact she knew and relied upon.

She radiated superiority as she strode across the station like a catwalk supermodel. In her wake, a smaller Asian girl struggled to keep up, weighed down with several cases and bags. The only bag Svetlana carried being a small designer handbag barely big enough to hold some lipstick and a few credit cards.

It was no secret that the only reason for Anna Kwon, or Kwon Anna if following to Korean naming convention of family name first, being at the school was to act as a servant for Svetlana. Slave would probably be the more appropriate definition if the school didn't intervene. The teachers were instructed to make sure that both girls were treated equally, and to make sure there was no open bullying taking place. However, Anna was always willing to fall into role and would even go as far as defending Svetlana rather than standing up for herself. Anna taking the opinion that having to serve the stuck up brat was a worthwhile price to pay in order to receive a world class education, and all the benefits that would simply not be available to her otherwise.

Svetlana paused briefly, allowing Anna to catch up. Not out of concern for her companion, but instead to pause to look at the overhead display listing the arrivals and departures.

"Is that our train running late?" she said with disdain upon reaching the other students.

"Unfortunately, yes," Mrs Jackson replied. "I just hope it doesn’t run so late it gets cancelled like last time. Its only 7 minutes behind so far, so we should be okay. Are you two travelling alone? I thought your father arranged for someone to travel with you."

"One is usually perfectly safe travelling in first class, it isn't an issue. There are enough people milling about here that I don't think anybody would try anything," Svetlana brushed the teachers concerns off.

"She got in an argument with her bodyguard when he insisted she carry her own bags at the airport, so she sacked him," Anna stated.

"I ought to sack you as well," Svetlana snorted.

"You can't, I answer directly to your father," Anna replied, "Besides, my school fees are already paid and non-returnable, so it would cost him extra to send me home early. You are stuck with me for the whole of the term, so stop trying to make empty threats, unless you want to do your own laundry this term."

"Way to go Anna," Wendy cheered, "It’s about time you stood up for yourself".

This earned Wendy a bitchy stare from the taller Russian girl.

"So, what did I miss? Did you manage to get autographs? I saw the tweets and am totes jelly," Anna excitedly asked Jessica and Abby.

Svetlana remained aloof to the other girls, choosing to file her nails rather than joining in the conversation.

~o~O~o~

It was nearly four in the afternoon when the train finally pulled into Norwich Station.

Svetlana was still refusing to carry more than the smallest and lightest of the bags, in case she broke a nail. The other girls, taking pity on Anna, took her bags while she carried Svetlana's. The school mini-bus was waiting for them when they arrived and they were soon leaving the city for the town that was the home to St. Mary's Academy for Girls.

"I'm afraid we may have some trouble getting through the gates," the bus driver announced as he got close to the school, "we have had a bunch of reporters hanging round all morning."

"Which student are they after?" Mrs Jackson asked worriedly, "Do we need to have any of the girls duck as we enter?"

"Miss Morgan decided to break her restraining order and visit her daughter. Unfortunately she was either drunk or high and managed to crash her beamer into the old stables. We'll find out which in tomorrow’s tabloid headlines."

"Oh no, poor Berry," Abby exclaimed.

"Who's Berry?" Emily asked Wendy softly.

"Gooseberry Dagenham Morgan," Wendy whispered back. "Don't laugh, that is her real name and she hates it. She's the daughter of the singer Alicia Morgan and a good friend of mine."

"Oh, that Miss Morgan," Emily realised, "The one constantly in and out of rehab. I guess her mother couldn't decide whether to name her after the trend of fruit, Like Peaches Geldof, or place names, like Brooklyn Beckham."

"Berry reckons her mother was probably drunk when she came up with those names. You will meet several girls with famous parents here, but we usually just ignore such things wherever possible," Wendy explained, "Also, you may be wondering why I never mentioned that one of my friends is famous. It's not something we ever talk about. Any scandal or gossip regarding students or their families stays on school grounds. No matter how many skeletons you might have in your closet, you can guarantee that they don't go outside these walls."

The bus slowed as it swung through the entrance to the school grounds, pulling up momentarily as the large iron gates rolled back out of the way. A police car had parked on the grass verge opposite, and a news van was then pulling away, but other than that the road was deserted. The bus continued up a tree lined drive until an old manor house came into view.

"Speaking of walls, that one seems to have a rather large hole in it," Emily pointed out as they drove up to the main doors of the school.

"Oh dear," Mrs Jackson stated looking across at Emily, "I'm afraid this could be trouble. We are short on accommodation already. I think we may have just lost some bedrooms."

The bus pulled up, and a tall thin gentleman approached accompanied by one of the older students, climbed on board.

"Good Afternoon ladies," he greeted the new arrivals, "As you can see, we have had a slight accident this morning. Most of you are in the same rooms as last term, but we have had to do some shuffling. There is a list of room numbers posted up in the canteen. Please collect your belongings and find your rooms. Emily, Francine here will take your bags for you as your presence is needed in the office. Don't worry; you're not in any trouble. We just need to get your security pass arranged and there is some paperwork to sort out."

"Ah, the dreaded health and safety lecture doubled with the privacy and respect talk, “Wendy exclaimed as the other girl’s groaned. "Go ahead; I'll make sure Francine picks up the correct bags."

~o~O~o~

Mr Jennings took Emily to one of the side rooms in the school offices, closing the door behind them.

"Mrs Rogers was hoping to speak to you herself, but she has been distracted. I'm sure she'll be along shortly, but in the meantime, I'll make a start," the teacher explained.

"Firstly, I am one of only five people here that know your secret. Six if your friend Wendy is the know. I'm a board member, so was present when your application was discussed. Obviously Mrs Rogers knows. So does her personal secretary, Mrs Milligan, but none of the other office staff. You will meet the school nurse tomorrow; she has had to go with one of the students to the hospital. The other person who knows is Mrs Jackson. She will also be your house mother while you stay here and will be your primary point of contact should any problems arise."

"None of the other teachers know for certain that a transgender student is in attendance. They were asked their opinion on the matter, but the headmistress wouldn't confirm or deny if such a student would be attending, making it clear it would be on a need to know basis."

"Won't they guess?" Emily asked, "Surely you are inferring that there must be a transgendered student, otherwise why ask?"

"Confidentiality is important here. Everybody accepts certain facts are on a need to know basis. We have dealt with other issues in the past, such as teen pregnancies and HIV. Such information can have a detrimental effect on students, so is sometimes kept secret. The staff respect this, and we teach the students to do the same. Those lessons Wendy mentioned are real and would normally be given in the first few weeks. Given the events of this morning, we are actually speaking to all new students individually as they arrive. I won't bore you with the talk, as given your circumstance, I think you already realise the importance of confidentially. I'll just leave you the notes to read at your own leisure."

Emily took the offered sheet.

"The reason I took you aside," Mr Jennings continued, "is that we have a slight issue. This school is overcrowded. We are cramming in as many students as possible to make the budget stretch. This means that very few students have the luxury of their own rooms. Unfortunately we have had to close down part of the building and it is going to be several weeks, possibly months, before repairs can be made. Therefore the number of students with single rooms has to be reduced."

"I need to share with another student?" Emily asked. "Wendy may be willing to do that. I don't have an issue with her seeing me in a state of undress, but I've never been in a position where she would need to undress with me around to know if she would be comfortable with me."

"Does Mrs Spencer know your secret?"

"No, and I don't think it would be a good idea for her to find out," Emily replied. "I guess she would have to be consulted."

"We would be running a big risk if we didn't. However, as it stands, you still have a room to yourself."

"So what is the problem?"

"You will be the only student with a room to herself. That makes you unique and could start rumours. For the moment, it looks like Miss Jones may have to spend a few nights in hospital, so she is nominally your roommate. However, that excuse is only going to last a few days. It is likely we will have her stay in the infirmary when she gets back so she doesn't need to climb the stairs with her leg in plaster, so we may be able to extend that a short while, but we will need to come up with another solution fast. We just wanted to warn you. We will be playing this by ear, so we will see how this goes."

"I see," Emily replied thoughtfully, "I may have to arrange a second diversionary tactic."

"Would the first be the stunt at the station earlier" Mrs Rogers asked entering the room, "That was quite a risk you took, potentially drawing attention to yourself and making the other girls think about Generation2K."

"I knew David, John's nephew, would be there pretending to be me. By appearing at the same time in the same place, means that all the girls on the station with me now think that I can't be Generation2K. Also, I knew there were at least a couple of Moonlight fans here, and I now know who they are, and who I may need to avoid so that they don't recognise my voice."

"That was a photo of a boy?" Mr Jennings asked.

"Why do you find that surprising? If I, as an average looking boy, can manage to pass myself off as a girl, then I suspect a lot of boys can. Especially as David’s a couple of years younger than me, and is therefore further away from puberty."

"Dare I ask what you might be planning for your next tactic?" Mrs Rogers enquired.

"By using some ice packs and some super glue, it’s possible that my genitalia can be manipulated into a state where I could pass as female while naked," Emily replied softly while blushing, "I was seriously considering doing that before I came here, but it requires two pairs of hands, one to manipulate and the other to glue. I'm too embarrassed to ask any of my friends or relatives for help. I figure the school nurse may be an option. I assume she is a trained medical professional."

"You can speak with the nurse tomorrow," Mrs Rogers stated. "I don't know how appropriate the procedure you describe is, but if it helps your self esteem and isn't detrimental to your health, then I'm sure the nurse will consider helping you. For the record, we are not banning you from entering any of the changing rooms or bathrooms here on campus. However, we do ask that you refrain from entering if at all possible. I do understand how peer pressure could mean that you may need to enter there if you don't want to be singled out. Mrs Jackson is the head Gym teacher, so will keep an eye on what is happening regarding you entering the changing rooms. Everyone is being encouraged to change for P.E. In their own rooms, so the only people using the changing rooms will be day students and those too lazy to walk back to the dorms. The only exception is the swimming pool. You will never be asked to go swimming. If anybody asks, then you are allergic to chlorine."

Mrs Rogers then asked if the security badge had been issued, to which Mr Jennings replied that he was then going to arrange it. A photograph of Emily was then taken and printed on a special label for sticking to a security pass. Mr Jennings left to make the pass up while Mrs Rogers took Emily through the various school rules, including the health and safety introduction.

"Keep this on you at all times," Mrs Rogers told Emily as she handed over the plastic pass. The white plastic rectangle was about the size of a credit card except for being around three times thicker. "We use these for attendance recording, and for unlocking doors. It’s a proximity pass. Hold it against any of the sensors to unlock a door. None of the doors here have conventional locks. We find it easier to use this system. Staff members can unlock any door if needed. Also, in the case of a fire all the doors unlock."

~o~O~o~

The northwest corner of the canteen was occupied by a swarm of girls inspecting the large notice board to find their room assignments. Most had the same rooms as before. However, a few of the girls who had previously been assigned to the rooms near the crash site had been moved until the structural integrity of the building could be guaranteed.

Svetlana regarded the notice board with disdain. As, in her own opinion, the most important student at the school, she felt the need to make sure she still had the best accommodation available. Having first established which room she would be in, Svetlana then visualised all the larger bedrooms and noted how many girls would be in each. It was apparent that while there were larger rooms than hers, they all contained more than two students.

However, one of the rooms looked to be preferential to her own. Although the same size, it was closer to the baths. Each room had its own on suite toilet and shower cubicle, but if any of the girls wanted to soak in a proper bath, then they had to book and use one of the shared bathrooms. Also, the names of the occupants stood out: Emily Bridges and Julia Jones. According to the rumours, Julia had to dive out of the way of the out of control car and didn't quite make it, getting hit in the legs. At the very least this would mean plaster casts; although, if the rumours were in any way accurate, then a wheelchair might be a more likely. If this was the case then she would end up boarding with Teresa, a girl paralysed from the waist down and staying in a specially converted room next to the infirmary on the ground floor. This meant that Emily would be alone. Given some of the paperwork she had seen come across her father’s desk, there was another possibility for the identity of the individual in question.

On spotting Emily entering the room, Svetlana immediately turned and asked loudly, "How come she gets to have a room on her own, while the rest of us have to share?"

"You didn't want a room to yourself," Anna immediately responded, "as you wanted me here to do your laundry and make your bed so you don't have to do it."

"Being in a different room wouldn't stop you doing that anyway," Svetlana brushed off Anna's response, "She still gets a room to herself, what makes her so special that she gets her own room? Unless she isn't really —"

"Ostanovit! Pomnite, chto otets skazal vam!" Anna shouted forcefully, interrupting Svetlana mid sentence.

"Fine, I won't say it. If it’s true it will become apparent to everyone else anyway," Svetlana angrily turned to face Anna. "I don't like you attitude. You don't want sleep in my room, fine. You can sleep in Julia's bed until she is well enough to return. I may even talk to father to make it permanent."

Svetlana turned and stormed out of the room in the direction of the dormitories, leaving a shocked audience in her wake.

"What was that all about, Miss Kwon?" Mrs Rogers asked the young Asian.

Looking around and the group of girls gathered, Anna replied, "May we speak in private?"

"Very well, please come with me."

Anna followed the headmistress out of the room. Emily also slipped out of the room, circling back to the office in case she was needed.

Playing her way - Chapter 3

© D.L. 2014

"Care to explain what is going on?" Mrs Rogers asked Anna once back in her office. The headmistress had shoved the door almost closed, deliberately leaving it ajar.

"My half-sister has seen some of the confidential files from the last board meeting. That is my fault. I usually lock the door to our father's study when I'm doing secretary work alone, mainly to keep Svetlana from bugging me. She came in and snatched away some of the filing work I was doing. Specifically, the contract between the school and G2K Limited outlining the profit sharing agreement if she becomes a student here. Luckily the only name on the paperwork was the company secretary, a John Larking. Dad came back from the bathroom before she could see anything too sensitive."

"So Svetlana thinks Emily is this person?"

"She's clutching at straws and doesn't like not being top of the ladder. Emily effectively has a room to herself for the moment, so that makes her different, and it’s unlikely the school would allow a transsexual male student to co-habit with a female student. What I shouted at her basically translates as 'stop and remember what father told you'. Having had to defend one lawsuit already due to Svetlana's carelessness, he isn't keen on getting sued by Generation2K for breaching confidentiality. Especially considering the negative headlines at the football club about one of the ex-players claiming he was forced out due to being gay. It might be best if I do swap room with Julia, at least for the time being. That way Svetlana won't have any excuse to cause even more trouble, and the rumours won't stick."

"I can speak to Emily and see if she minds you swapping rooms, or if she is actually bothered by the rumours," Mrs Rogers declared. "Do you believe Emily is actually male?"

Anna thought for a few minutes before replying. "Father works from home a lot, often unusual hours due to the time zones. There have been several high profile information leaks in his company and he needs somebody who he can trust to act as a secretary. While he does have a personal assistant, he sometimes requires assistance while she isn't available. His wife doesn't speak English well enough and Svetlana is useless. I therefore help when not at school. It’s one way he can justify sending money my direction without Svetlana or her mother complaining. I therefore know things that technically I shouldn't. Including the full details of what was discussed at the board meetings. I was with my father taking notes for him during the teleconference where Emily's attendance was discussed. I was a Generation2K fan when she was still presenting as a boy. I was one of the people who suggested she come here in the first place. I found out her identity ages ago, and wouldn't dream of sharing that information with anybody."

"I don't doubt that. You have kept your relationship to Svetlana secret for three years. The only reason I know is because Svetlana told me when I threatened to expel her over behaviour towards you. It took a lot of persuasion from you, your half-sister, and your father for me not to get the police involved over child slavery. Given what you know, you are basically saying you are perfectly happy to share a room with a male student?"

"I don't see why that would cause any problems," Anna shrugged.

"Unfortunately, I can," the headmistress replied.

"If you are worried that we might spend every night fucking like bunnies, then don't be."

"Do you have to be so crude, young lady?" Mrs Rogers sighed. "We shall discuss your choice of vocabulary another time. Are you saying that you would never be tempted to experiment? You are at the age when your hormones take control."

"I didn't say that. While I may not have enough self control to resist temptation, I can keep the noise down to make sure no one finds out. Also, my father isn't likely to press charges for underage sex. I have already spoken to him about it. As long as I don't fall pregnant, there isn't a problem. Both Svetlana and I were put on the pill ages ago, mainly because he doesn't trust my half-sister. It’s one reason why she's at an all girl school in the middle of nowhere."

"I still need to ask Emily her thoughts on this, and there is the issue of her parents," Mrs Rogers stated. Calling out loudly she added, "Emily, please come in."

Anna turned round in shock and embarrassment as Emily walked in the door, from where she had been waiting outside.

Closing the door behind her Emily stated, "I'm not entirely happy that yet another student knows my secret. It’s worrying enough that Wendy knows. I have serious doubts about how long I'm going to survive here."

"If it’s any consolation, I would never have suspected if I didn't already know," Anna replied, "You actually had me doubting myself after the stunt earlier. Your online identity is the talking point amongst the geekier girls, but there is no suggestion that you are boarding here. Actually some of them wish you were and are disappointed that you're not, if that makes sense."

"Thanks," Emily replied. "Logically, from the point of view of maintaining my secret, then I can see the benefit of sharing a room like everybody else has too. My connection to Wendy is already known, so sharing with her may not help, and her mother wouldn't approve if she found out about me. So sharing with someone I've just met would make sense. I'm not comfortable seeing myself naked, let alone letting others see me, but given time I can overcome that. In the mean time I can simply change in the bathroom. I've done that before."

Turning to Mrs Rogers, Emily added, "As for parental permission, you should already have a letter on file stating that any decisions regarding my transition and integration as a girl are down to me. It is normal for girls to share rooms; therefore I see no reason for not sharing a room with Anna."

Mrs Rogers pulled her keyboard closer and moved her mouse to wake up her computer. After unlocking the device, she spent several minutes examining documents before making some changes to the security system.

"Anna, your father just emailed. Svetlana phoned him as soon as she stormed out the room. He is happy for you to swap with Julia and explicitly states he is happy for you to board with Miss Bridges. Your pass now unlocks Emily's door. I'll leave you with access to your sister’s room. Emily, the letter you mention is on file, although it is a bit vague. I know contacting your parents is difficult, so I will allow this swap to take place, but we won't make it official until I have confirmation. I'll inform the other teachers. They are used to Anna taking time out away from Svetlana. Anna, we all know you spent half of last term camping in other girl’s rooms. Given that they know your place here is dependent on acting as Svetlana's servant, they are not going to question the lack of official documentation. I will leave it up to you to make sure the other students are aware. I'm sure you are capable of arranging that."

"I think a nice public argument with Svetlana in the canteen should do the trick," Anna winked.

"Okay, you now have three quarters of an hour before supper is served; I suggest you get settled in. You are both dismissed."

The two girls left the room and headed for the dormitories.

~o~O~o~

After checking that both their security passes unlocked the door, Emily and Anna entered the room they would be sharing for the foreseeable future.

Immediately inside the door was a short corridor past the on suite toilet and shower to the right. On the other wall were a couple of built in wardrobes. Once past this into the room were two beds, one on each side wall. The far end wall between the two headboards, contained a window, below which was a desk just wide enough to seat the two girls. Storage was built in under the beds. Emily's bags stood in the middle of the room.

Anna immediately offered to take the bed on the left, as this one was in view of the door. The other was round the corner and offered more privacy from anybody glancing in should the door be opened.

"Okay," Emily agreed, "However, I'll change in the toilet anyway. That way if you come in with anybody unexpectedly, they won't see anything."

"That is actually normal behaviour," Anna replied as, Emily picked up her toiletries bag and took it into the bathroom, placing it on the toilet cistern next to the sink. "The other girls tend to take pity on me, and I have spent nights in most of the other rooms over the last few years. I would say three quarters of the girls dress in the toilet, although that may be because of my presence rather than the norm with their roommates."

"I can understand if you are not comfortable being seen," Anna stated followed Emily into the bathroom. "Does the thought of seeing me naked cause you any problems? Do you need me to do the same? I won't get offended if your body reacts in a typically male fashion, so don't be embarrassed."

"No, do as you like. Given you seem to expect us to be fucking our brains out before long, I kind of assumed you wouldn't have any issues with nakedness or sexual arousal, unless you were expecting us to only do that in the dark?"

"Good," Anna answered as she swiftly dropped her underwear to the floor, lifted her skirt and sat on the toilet, "because I really need to pee."

Emily, slightly shocked, immediately looked the other direction, the sound of splashing liquid causing her some discomfort. Anna, seeing her roommate's reaction, continued, "Sorry. If you're desperate, then I won't complain if you use the sink. You have the equipment to do it without making a mess."

"Just because I can doesn't mean I like being reminded of it," Emily stated. After a short pause she decided to go ahead anyway, adding, "Well this is one way to break the ice I suppose."

"Well, I guess that proves your physical gender," Anna declared, deliberately looking the other way. "I did wonder if some of the rumours online were true and that you were physically female to start with."

After both girls had finished and left the bathroom, Anna continued, "Look, about the fucking like bunnies comment. I didn't intend for you to hear that. I was mainly doing it to wind Rogers up and address the big elephant in the room.

"I'm not that large, and I've never done that impression," Emily replied.

"What Impression?"

"The one where a boy pulls his trouser pockets inside out and opens his fly to let his truck out. And no, I'm not going to demonstrate now, especially as I'm wearing a skirt anyway."

Both girls giggled for a short while before Anna said, "I don't intend having any form of sexual relationship for quite a while, and I don't have any bisexual or lesbian tendencies that I'm aware of. I know you are male, but frankly, even with you peeing into the sink, I still regard you as a girl and that doesn't do anything for me. Sorry to disappoint if that is what you were hoping when you agreed to be my roommate. I can still swap back if things are too awkward. Svetlana will most likely demand it after a few days cleaning her own room, and nobody would be surprised if I bowed in to her pressure."

"I sort of assumed you were joking," Emily replied, "although I honestly don't mind either way. I'm not particularly fond of my male equipment, but I'm also confused about my sexuality, so I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of that type of relationship anyway. I would rather put such issues on a back burner. I've spent too long living as a boy, and would like to spend at least a little time as a young innocent girl before getting to the boy, or girl, crazy stage."

"Little girl?" Anna pretended to stroke her chin in an evil fashion, "That could be arranged. Pig tails and frilly panties or possibly some pull ups, pretty dresses with lots of bows and as many ribbons as can fit in your hair. I'm not sure if anybody will have any Barbie’s here, or a tea set for a tea party, but it might be possible to arrange."

"Stop right there," Emily stated firmly, "While I may have missed out on most of those things, I don't think this is a suitable place to be exploring that kind of activity."

"Most of those things?" Anna enquired, "What exactly have you been up to?"

"I happen to be very close to my cousin, Susan, and I've had opportunity through the years to play with her."

Seeing Anna start to snigger at the double entendre, Emily picked up her pillow and threw it at the other girl. This resulted in a short pillow fight and a fit of giggles from both girls.

~o~O~o~

Further discussion was interrupted by the sound of the Tetris theme tune emanating from the mobile phone in Emily's luggage.

The sound indicated that the call was coming through on Emily's number, rather than Jason’s, the phone supporting two sim cards, although one of the sim cards was removed earlier in the day, so that her whereabouts could not be tracked.

Looking at the display, Emily answered, "Hi Susan."

"Hi Emily, are you free to talk?"

The short reply from Susan, although sounding innocent to anybody who might overhear, had a deeper meaning. By using saying "Emily", Susan was indicating that she was alone her end and could say whatever she wanted without issue. Emily had three responses she could use. The first of which was that she was busy and can she call back. This would be used if it wasn't safe to talk. The other extreme would to be explicitly state that she was alone. Instead she opted for the third option, indicating that there were people within earshot, so answers may have to be kept to simple yes no responses," Yes, I have a few moments."

"Have you tried to phone home yet?" Susan asked.

"No, I've only just arrived, and I've been busy sorting out room arrangements and unpacking."

"Well, don't bother. You are a very lucky girl. Your mother called mine, asking if you could stay with us for a couple of nights until your father gets home. She has had to go look after Great Aunt Ethel. She fell again and sprained her ankle. Anyway, I was the one who answered the call, and I pretended that Mum was in the shower. I put her on hold for a minute while I walked to the empty bathroom and back, then told her that there was no problem. Not that there would have been anyway. The net result is that your mother thinks you will be here, while my mother has no idea that you are expected to turn up."

"So what happens when they next meet?" Emily enquired.

"I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. While I'll be trouble, it won't be quite as big a mess as you'll be in. I'm sure I can ride the storm. You have enough to worry about without the added pressure of worrying what your parents are doing. I'll take responsibility for telling them where you are. Don't worry; I will make sure that they won't suddenly turn up there out of the blue. If I do have to disclose your whereabouts, you will be the first to know. Anyway, as arranged, your old number has redirected the voicemails and texts to me. You have three missed calls and two texts from your mother asking you to contact her."

"Okay, I'll do that," Emily replied.

"So, what's been happening your end?" Susan asked.

Emily then started to relay the events of the day to her cousin, including the situation with her new roommate, who had temporarily left the room after the phone call started to retrieve her own belongings from her half-sisters room.

After talking for nearly a quarter of an hour, Emily had to cut the conversation short, due to it being time to head down to the canteen for the evening meal. Before she departed, she went online and sent a text message via the website of her old phone provider. That way she didn't have to switch the old sim card on, and have it located via the mobile phone network. "Got message. Spoke to Susan. Give Great Aunt Ethel my regards. Luv.J."

~o~O~o~

Susan sat with bated breath to find out who had just rung the door bell. She had a good idea who it might be, having seen the messages sent to Jason's phone. She was monitoring the old number on her cousin’s behalf.

It had been three days since Susan had decided to help her cousin by incepting the message between their mothers. She knew that her Uncle Arnold was back from his meeting, having arrived late the night before. He had texted his son's mobile to say he was back and Jason could return home after school the following day. Her Aunt Marilyn had also texted, saying she would be back earlier in the day. It was now early Thursday evening, and well past the time when Jason should have made an appearance. Three missed calls and several text messages had arrived in the past hour.

"Susan Elizabeth Bishop, come down here at once," Susan's mother, Molly Bishop, called up the stairs. The full name whammy known by children everywhere as a definite sign that they are in trouble, confirmed her suspicion.

Susan casually walked into the sitting room where her mother, aunt and uncle where waiting. Before anybody could ask her anything, Susan stated, "Yes, I know. No, I'm not. Yes He is, and No, I don't care, are probably the answers you are looking for, although they may not be to your liking."

"I don't believe 'Where's Jason?' is a yes/no type question," Molly stated.

"Okay, it was a fifty-fifty as to if that would the first question, or if you were going to ask if I knew where Jason was. The yes is for knowing where Jason is. If you had followed that up with 'Are you going to tell us where he is?' then my answer is no."

"The other yes and No?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes, he's perfectly safe, and No, I don't care how much trouble I'm putting myself in. I presume you are now going to try to make me elaborate on those answers."

"Stop messing around, Susan. Jason was supposed to come here for the past few nights and didn't. You obviously arranged cover for him by only pretending to pass on my request. He hasn't been home as far as we can tell, so where has he been staying?" Her aunt asked. "Has he even been going to school?"

"In answer to both questions, yes he's gone to school."

"At least that is something," Arnold stated, "So, where is he now."

"At school."

"School finished three hours ago," Susan’s Aunt shouted.

"Wait, are you saying he's still there?" Arnold realised what Susan was inferring. "Has he been camping on the school grounds?"

"Yes and no. He is at school, but no tents are involved. I didn't ask about sleeping bags, although I assume not. If you meant camp as in behaviour, then I don't know."

"So he's been hiding somewhere in the school?"

"No."

"So he's sleeping outside? That doesn't make sense. What would be the point?"

"No, he is sleeping inside like everybody else."

"But presumably not on the school grounds then?"

"No, he is sleeping on school grounds."

"You are contradicting yourself, he is either there or he isn't"

"He has not left the school grounds since he arrived."

"But he's not hiding inside, and he's not camping outside. So where is he?"

"I specifically said he is inside."

"So he is hiding somewhere in the school?"

"No," Susan said with a giggle, actually enjoying winding her family in knots.

"Enough fooling around and explain yourself," her mother demanded.

"Okay, Jason is at school, and has been since arriving. He is sleeping on school grounds inside one of the buildings, the east wing to be precise. However, there is no hiding involved as everybody is fully aware of which bedroom he is in."

"Bedroom?"

"Yes, you know, a room with a bed in that people sleep in. Although in an academic setting they are often referred to as dormitories or halls of residence instead."

"Since when do schools have bedrooms," Marilyn foolishly asked.

"Since around 1400 years ago," her sister laughed. "If I remember my history correctly isn't there a boarding school in Canterbury that was founded sometime in the sixth century."

"Boarding school? We sent him to school in Taunton," Marilyn declared.

"To the Taunton School? My brother-in-law and his wife act as guardians for a couple of the international students boarding there," Molly replied. "That's quite an expensive school; I didn't think you approved of private schooling Arnold."

Susan kept quiet as she listened to the adults discuss the schools. Nobody had yet asked which school he was at, and she would not be volunteering any information if she could avoid it.

"I don't," Arnold replied, "and we aren't paying for his board. I'm not made of money. If he’s somehow managed to sneak into a boarding school, then he's done so without paying. I hope this isn't going to cost us a lot of money. I better check our bank accounts online to make sure he hasn't managed to charge anything through."

"Jason is many things, but certainly not a thief," Susan defended her cousin. "The fees have been paid legitimately from his own savings."

"Does Jason have that sort of money?" Molly asked. "Aren't you looking at thirty thousand a year? That's more than I earn."

Arnold became visibly whiter and Marilyn looked shocked at the figure.

"Unless he's robbed a bank, there is no way that Jason has access to that sort of money. He has about five thousand at most. Any withdrawal from his savings account we have to authorise anyway," Marilyn stated.

"He told me about that account," Susan said, "that's his emergency reserve fund, and it hasn't been touched. Also, you are thinking in terms of the fees for a whole year. So far only the first term has been paid for, so the cost was less than ten grand. It may be that he won't be able to afford to stay longer than a term, but he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it."

"That's still a lot of money that he doesn't have," Arnold replied. "Where did he get it?"

"Were you not aware of the effort he has been putting in to his summer jobs? I know you didn't talk much, but I assumed you knew he was working. He specifically told me you found him the first job delivering newspapers and magazines."

"Yes, but that was minimum wage, and didn't last more than a few weeks," Marilyn stated, "He didn't even bother to stick it out for a month before quitting."

"That's because he got a better offer," Susan answered.

"Operating a photocopier all day doesn't pay that much better," Arnold stated referring to the job Jason had told him about. Knowing his parents wouldn't believe he could earn money through online videos, and worried that they would ban him from uploading if they actually knew what they contained; Jason had lied about being employed at a local copy shop to operate the photocopiers for customers. Technically he did work there, one hour a day to help cover the lunch period. In fact his parents had seen him there on several occasions. They thought that he was spending fifteen hours a week, rather than five.

Jason was already making far more from his YouTube videos, but since coming out, his advertising revenue had doubled and was growing exponentially after a couple of his videos went viral.

"There is also Great Grannies trust fund," Susan added with a sigh.

The octogenarian on her mother’s side of the family had died a year and a half before. Half of her assets had been set aside for her great grandchildren’s education.

"That money is reserved for university expenses," Molly stated, knowing how much had been set aside for Susan’s use once she reached that age.

"It’s paying for Cousin Eddie to have extra tuition to get him through his exams," Susan replied.

"That's because he's so thick, he would never get into university anyway, so he might as well have the benefit now," Arnold said.

"And you've made it clear that university is a waste of time and won't support Jason if he wants to go, so he might as well have the benefit now as well," Susan shot back, "Hence why you authorised its use to pay for his school supplies."

Molly felt the need to chastise her daughter for her rudeness to her uncle. However, she let the comment slide. Susan was right. Molly knew Arnolds thoughts on the matter, and while she agreed there were far too many useless degree subjects being offered, she believed that there were plenty of worth-while subjects available for a sensible student. Being a trustee of the fund, Molly was the one to countersign the expense claims that Arnold had submitted.

Thinking back over what had been claimed, there hadn't been much. She was initially expecting uniform costs, but the only items of clothing were two school blazers. The other expenses were basically a whole load of stationary, a quality rucksack, and a sports bag.

Emily and Susan had been trying to work out how to slip expenses past their parents. Luckily, Generation2K's fund raising live stream was a bigger success than they hoped, so they didn't need to dip into the trust fund very much. Even getting the right blazer was a challenge. The original order was for a dark blue boy's blazer. Once Molly had placed the order online, Susan had to phone up pretending to be her mother and get it changed to a light blue girl’s blazer.

"I hadn't even realised it was a boarding school," Arnold stated, going back to the original subject, "I know I didn't look very closely at the literature, as I relied on Geoff's description. I didn't realise he was public schooled."

"He wasn't," Marilyn replied, "There is more than one school in Taunton. St. Mary's isn't the boarding school."

Susan looked at her mother to see if the name triggered any form of recognition. Emily, Susan and Wendy had spent a lot of time together over the holidays. Wendy had been their next door neighbour for several months. Wendy had never mentioned the name of her school to Molly, and as far as Susan knew, her mother believed that Wendy went to live with her father during term time. Molly didn't get on very well with Audrey Spencer, so they hardly talked, but Susan wasn't sure if Wendy's mother might have mentioned her daughter’s school at some point.

Much to Susan's relief her mother didn't react.

"I think it’s time to pay this school a visit. We do have the right one?" Arnold stated, looking at Susan.

Susan remained quiet leaving an awkward silence in the room. She had already decided to avoid outright lying if possible, so chose not to respond.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Arnold stated, walking out the room, leaving no choice for Marilyn other than to say a quick farewell to her sister before dashing out the door after her husband.

"You, young lady, can spend the rest of this evening sat on the stairs," Molly stated after her sister and brother-in-law had left.

"You're sending me to the naughty step?" Susan asked in surprise at a punishment she hadn't received for many years.

"Until I can work out what to do with you, yes."

"Could I sit quietly and do my homework at the kitchen table instead. I do have an essay to finish."

Molly considered her daughters request. It seemed reasonable, so she allowed it, on the proviso that no electronic gadgets are brought to the table and she had to do her homework in silence.

~o~O~o~

Susan knew this wasn't over. They would soon realise that he wasn't a pupil at any of the schools in Taunton. In fact, given the name change, even if they phone round every school in the country, chances are they wouldn't be able to find him.

Susan could only hope they didn't phone St Mary's in Norfolk. If they did, then it would depend on who answered the phone. Only some of the staff knew, so it may be hit and miss as to if they get dismissed out of hand.

When they had originally planned this, Emily and Susan knew that they would have exactly one day head start. The plan was to phone home at the end of the day, and tell his mother that he wouldn't be home that night, or any night in the near future. They figured it would take several days at least for him to be found, and in the end it would probably need the involvement of the police and a national hunt to track him down. That is why so many precautions had been set up regarding communication. All calls to his mobile phone had been rerouted through to Susan and the sim card removed. The phone itself was a cheap Chinese clone of a Samsung S3. Costing about the third of the cost of the original device, it had one advantage over the original in that it had two sim card slots. The second slot now had a new sim card in, registered to Generation2K Limited, a private limited company that John Larking, the founder of the Moonlight server community, had set up on Emily's behalf.

John was an accountant by trade, now specialising in filing tax returns for self employed YouTube artists. He had set up the company, and set up a back account for Emily, into which all her earnings were being placed. He had also arranged payment of the school fees and the profit sharing offer that had been made to incentivise the placement. Some people might consider it a bribe. For John, it was a simple business deal. As long as he got a cut of the profits, he wasn't going to bother two much. He had made a deal with Emily that he would receive a small percentage cut of any video output involving his server. The more she was able to record, the more potential profit.

He had also helped arrange the new venture that he and Emily had partaken in, along with a couple of the other members of the server. One of the other members was a professional programmer, and Emily was a gifted amateur herself. With a little coaching, and the use of some free open source gaming libraries, the two of them had managed to produce the back end code for their own game. With the help of the other server members and their online community of fans and followers, they had managed to collect enough artwork, sounds, story ideas and supporting material to come up with a playable game.

Rampaging Squirrels was a simple puzzle platformer with just enough uniqueness in design to appeal to general audiences. If would never reach the popularity of Angry Birds of Flappy Birds, but like many also-rans, it had the potential to match their revenue. Released on all the major phone platforms as well as for the PC, it already had a huge following of potential gamers simply based on who was writing it. The publicity stunt in London was one of several John was arranging.

While John was aware that Emily's relationship with her parents was strained, he didn't know just how far she was talking her independence. Whenever John needed an official document signed, he posted it through and it always came back signed. He didn't ever question the signatures on the documents as not being genuine. John had met Arnold several times through work. John's previous employer had the contract for auditing Arnold's employer’s books. For many years he had spent several days at the factory going over the books. As Arnold Bridges had some budget responsibility, he had to sign off on many items, so his distinctive scrawl was well known to the accountant. Invariably when a mistake was found, the root cause had been an error made by Arnold. Luckily they were never serious enough for disciplinary action, but they always caused amusement to John in what was otherwise potentially boring repetitive work.

If the police became involved, or if the national media became involved - which was not unheard of in the case of missing children - then it was expected John would come forward and give the location to the police. Emily had planned to phone daily, giving just enough contact to hopefully persuade her parents to leave her alone.

The fact that it had now been four days with no communication, with Susan taking over as the sole point of contact was unplanned. Emily was not entirely happy with Susan taking so much responsibility, but being isolated at school, she had to rely on her cousin to make suitable decisions on her behalf.

Playing her way - Chapter 4

© 2014 D.L.

It was with some trepidation that Emily followed Anna down the corridor. It was Thursday and they had just finished supper. They now had a club or activity slot before the evening prep period.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked, "I don't like surprises."

"Don't worry; we are simply going to Mr Connors classroom to watch some videos. It’s a small club and you have already met all the girls who are going to be there. He supervises what we watch while marking coursework. You'll enjoy it, it will be both entertaining and educational."

Emily was busy imagining some awful edutainment as she entered the room.

What she was not expecting was the normal chairs and tables to have been moved back to allow room for a collection of bean bags to be scattered around. She immediately recognised the two bean bags from her room. Her own was rather plain in appearance, while Anna's had been embroidered with several large daffodils. It appeared that each girl had their own personalised bean bag. She had see several girls walking around with them over the past couple of days and wondered what was going on. She knew that the girls often grouped together in their rooms and had assumed that some took their bean bags with them so they had something to sit on. Wendy had popped by earlier asking to borrow the two bean bags from her room.

Emily had suspected a set up.

The final clue as to what they would be watching was provided by a very excited Jane bouncing up and down in an electric blue wig and a black t-shirt with a full moon across the chest.

"I thought you would be in pigtails today," Jessica said to Jane as she walked in behind Emily and Anna, “After all that is what Jenny was sporting in London."

"I was going to, but Mrs Appleby wouldn't let me dye my hair the right colour, so I decided to stick to this," Jane replied.

Emily took a seat on her bean bag between Wendy and Anna, as the familiar rendition Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement played on electric guitar filled the room.

"Good evening, Moonlighters, Generation2K here again," Emily heard her own slightly distorted voice ring out around the room as she watched the other girls stare intently at the screen.

"Welcome to another episode on the Moonlight server. I know most of you were expecting another pre-recorded episode of Theme Hospital. That will now be tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I would even be able to record at school, so this is mainly a test video to see how well things are working. I must thank the Head and my House mistress for arranging for me to have a place to record. Only a couple of the students here know my identity, and I would like to keep it that way if possible. If you suspect I'm going to your school, please keep it to yourself. I don't want to be the cause of discomfort for anybody wrongly accused of being me. You all know my views on bullying, so I won't talk about that again."

"This is mostly going to be a caving episode. I need to restock my redstone supply after using it up helping The Viking Man set up the automatic sugar cane and cactus farm. I know we will probably have an infinite supply once the witch farm is operational, but Tango is still sorting out the item elevators and sorting mechanism."

Speaking of Mr Viking, I must thank him for what happened yesterday. At least its yesterday for me, you might not see this for another day or two, depending on if I can get the video rendered and uploaded. The server ping isn't too bad. It’s not as fast as at home. It’s enough for playing online, but I don't think the connection will cope with uploading, at least during the week. I don't plan on doing any streaming anyway as that is not an issue. While I can disappear for an hour, my fellow students might become suspicious if I vanish for several hours coinciding with a live stream.

Anyway, if I have bandwidth issues I can pop the video on a DVD and post it to my cousin for her to upload. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a Royal Mail van.

Those of you who follow my tweets will know I made an appearance at Liverpool Street station. I'm sorry I couldn't talk too many of you; I was a bit worried about homophobic reactions so was a bit cautious. Thankfully my worries turned out to be unfounded, so next time I might actually stop to chat. I'll have to check the dates, but I might be able to attend the Minecraft convention this year in London. I did attend last time it was here, but that was before I joined the Moonlighters and I was just another anonymous face in the crowd. As my regulars will know, I won a competition to be a guest of honour at a pre-panel dinner with the other Moonlighters, and it was there that I hit it off with the others and they decided to risk letting me on their server. If it not being for them already knowing they were going to be starting again with a new world a few weeks afterwards, they wouldn't have let me on. Luckily for me they decided to let me stay beyond the reset, and the rest is history.

"So, anyway, back to yesterday. I want to thank the musicians. In no particular order we have, Jonathan, Edward, PD496, Abby, Xylophone girl, Chioma, I hope I said that right, Jessica, Mandy, Tom, Rocker449 and Smithy. Viking man was also there and spoke with some of the fans on my behalf. Special shout outs go to Buzzbee, MQc567, Shiran, DocZee, MissQ, CutieKitten, EmilyB, and Panther."

Emily silently giggled to herself as Jane squealed and bounced at the mention of her name. The other girls had also reacted, but not as much.

"I also want to apologise to the group of school girls in light blue uniforms; especially the tall one with the short hair who looked particularly embarrassed. Everybody was on the lookout for boys dressed as school girls, so if I made any of you uncomfortable I'm sorry, and I hope my tweets cleared up any confusion. Two of those girls I've already mentioned, as they were playing instruments, and because of that I know which school they are from. If anybody is watching from that institution, I arranged it so that my website will issue vouchers to anybody using a student or teacher email address from there."

The conversation on screen was interrupted by a large green shape falling into shot on the far left of the screen. Jenny barely had time to block before the creature exploded sending her flying into a lava pool, sending her health bar tumbling. The player on screen acted out of instinct and instantly selected the splash potion of fire resistance on the hot bar, smashing it on the ground as she climbed out of the deadly liquid.

A slow motion instant replay followed.

"Wow, half a heart. That was close. I'm going to pause for a moment to catch my breath and recover some HP. I'll be back after a commercial break. Good luck with the random number generator; hopefully it isn't one you've seen a thousand times before."

Most of the eyes in the room had fallen on a very embarrassed Wendy.

"Wait; was the tall embarrassed one you?" Anna asked.

"Who else do you know who was at the station that fits that description," Wendy replied, "I had no idea that was going to happen, the first I heard was when Jessica pulled her phone out and showed the tweet."

"Well, Svetlana is also tall and often looks embarrassed to be with us, although I don't think we arrived until after Jenny had gone," Anna replied.

"Svetlana looks more disgusted than embarrassed," Wendy countered.

"Disgusting more like," Abby added.

"No name calling please, even if it is for the Ice Queen" Mr Connor interrupted, having paused the video at the end of the advert seeing Wendy's distress.

Emily couldn't help but laugh, drawing the attention of the other girls, "isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black? How come you get to call her names and we don't?"

"Because she gave permission for the name to be used," Anna replied, "being compared to royalty sits well with her vanity."

Mr Connor gave a brief reminder on the bullying policy, mainly for Emily's benefit. He felt the need to make sure the new student was aware of the rules, something of which he shouldn't need to remind the existing students.

The video resumed to a short montage of sped up footage of Jenny running back to base, depositing the collected resources into chests, and repairing her tools, weapons and armour, that had taken damage. The montage ended with the run back to the cave currently being explored.

"Welcome back, I decided to take the time to run back to base to clear my inventory, and my armour was almost on the point of breaking, especially the legs, as they have fire resistance, so took the brunt of the lava damage. Now I said previously that I didn't know how well I could record at school, and this is a test of the setup I now have. I have reviewed the footage, especially the sound, and everything seems fine. I was worried about the possibilities of echo's or picking up background sounds. One worry I had, was if I could be overheard by other students, but I had a friend stand outside the door listening to me talk, and as long as I don't shout, you can't hear me.

The next few minutes of narration continued to describe the new bedroom. While a lot of the details were true, many things had been changed to prevent Emily being found out. The most significant was stating that as a male student, she had a room to herself for obvious reasons. This was no longer the case for Emily. Also, she led her audience to believe she was recording in her room. She had actually been assigned to one of the soundproof solo practice booths in the music department. Her cover was that she was learning to play the guitar, which was true. However, she was more proficient than what was being let on, and didn't need as much practice time as allotted.

"Now I know from the comments on previous videos that a lot of you are wondering how I would be able to record without others finding out. The answer is simple; there is a slot on the timetable for personal activities. Each student gets time during the day for pursuing personal interests. It generally has to be something educational or worthwhile. Foreign students can have extra English lessons, while the native English speakers can learn languages not on the main schedule. A lot of girls have music lessons, either as part of an orchestra, or individual music tuition. Some go in for acting or additional sports. I've signed up for elocution lessons, so if I start talking with a posh accent, that will be why. I think one of the teachers is even offering lessons in Klingon if enough girls are interested.

"Some of my activity slots have been designated as recording sessions for YouTube, although they are listed as organ practice on my timetable.

"That is something I will need to get used to. I've always had the flexibility to record when I feel like it, although in reality I often used to time my recording sessions to when my parents were out of the house and couldn’t hear me. My time now is much more controlled than before. Last term I used to try and get all my homework done during school time, spending as little time as possible on it. I would then do recording as soon as I got home, as I would have about an hour and a half before my parents got in from work. I would then spend the evenings doing my editing and off-camera work, and then finish off any leftover homework.

"My day is now a lot more structured. There are dedicated slots in the evening reserved for doing homework. There is very little time to go off and be by yourself. Even during the few hours of free time, you are encouraged to be engaging in group activities. I knew this before I came here, but it is still a culture shock to be here.

"In many respects this is a good thing. The reason I wanted to go to an all-girls school was to see if I fitted in as a girl. I have always felt more feminine than masculine, but the whole gender issue is always something that bothered me. Am I genuinely transgendered, or am I just imagining it? This is the acid test. If I can cope here, and actually fit in with my peers without appearing strange or out of place, then I can confidently say I'm a girl. That is why I don't want the other girls to know about me. I want to be accepted at face value, not have the nagging doubt that they are only humouring my presence.

"Some of the girls have been coming here for years, but already I seem to fit in, and honestly, I think for the first time in my life I'm making friends without having to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing. I can be as tomboyish as I like and get away with it, and I can let myself be as girly as I like and nobody is going to think it odd.

"Anyway, I need to head back to base and bring this video to an end. I'm due back in class in ten minutes so need to get a move on. I'll have to see how well this new schedule works out, as I have very little time for recording. I certainly don't have hours I can spend playing off camera getting ready to record like I normally do, so I may end up doing a lot of videos like this where I'm just pottering about talking. I'm probably not going to be able to do any collabs either, as scheduling will be a nightmare. I did get to participate in the new series of Ultra Hard Core. It was filmed in one session last Saturday and episodes of that will be released over the next three weeks, I think the first one is due out on Friday. I also have a challenge map recorded with Tango and Viking that we will upload after UHC has finished airing. I have plenty of pre-recorded episodes to keep my channel going for the next month or two, so you will have plenty to watch.

"So, from the Moonlight server, this is Jenny wishing you all a good night, and don't let the bed bugs bite!"

~o~O~o~

Susan was suspicious. It was nearly lunch time on Friday and she had yet to hear anything from her Aunt and Uncle. When they had stormed out the night before with the impression that their son was in Taunton, she expected them to come back either that evening, or first thing in the morning.

With her phone confiscated, she couldn't contact Emily to warn her of the situation. She had rectified that first thing this morning by sending an email using the school computers. She had warned Emily that her parents were back and on the warpath, but not to worry as the situation was under control. Susan didn't feel in control. In fact she was concerned that something may be happening.

Half an hour before, Tim had been called to the office. She had also seen David walk past her classroom door a few minutes later. She didn't think it coincidence that the two people Jason regarded as friends were called to the office in such a short time span.

It was no surprise when the school secretary came to the classroom door, and requested that Susan accompany her to the office. Collecting her things, she packed her bag and started to follow the older women to the front of the school.

Entering the headmaster’s office as instructed she found four people waiting for her. Sat round a small coffee table were a female police officer and her uncle. The headmaster was sat at his desk and her mother was sat off to one side, presumably to act as witness but not taking part in the conversation.

"Susan, I'm PC Clarkson," the police officer introduced herself. "I'm sure you know why you have been called here."

"Yes, my aunt and uncle have forgotten to which school they have sent my cousin, and I'm guessing they haven't remembered yet. I'm surprised Aunt Marilyn isn't here actually."

"Your aunt is waiting at home manning the phone in case Jason calls home," her uncle answered.

"Why would you be expecting a phone call during school hours? It is technically possible to phone at morning break or lunch, but it’s not really practical for holding a long conversation as there isn't time," Susan asked.

Arnold was about to speak, but the officer signalled him to remain quiet.

"Susan, Jason is now classified as a missing person. I am trying to ascertain what has happened to him, and you seem to be the only person to know his whereabouts. If you know where he is, now is the time to start explaining what is going on. If you refuse to co-operate then I may have to charge you for obstruction of justice. Where is he?"

Susan checked her watch, it was nearly noon, "At this precise moment I believe he is in Mr Jennings' Science class."

"Which school?"

"The one he," Susan pointed to her uncle," signed the paperwork for."

"I have the supposed confirmation letter from the school here," the officer stated, "I have reason to believe it is fake. The logo appears to have been altered, and the return address is missing. Also, this is not the logo for St. Mary's."

Susan looked at the paperwork. Being familiar with the logos of both the schools in question, she could easily see how the letter had been changed.

"Actually, I've seen the original. That is the correct logo, but some parts of it have been redacted, along with the address, as you mentioned. You will note that this is a general circular letter that all parents and guardians receive, reminding them of the term dates. There is actually another letter that would have addressed acceptance in more detail."

"We have spoken to your previous school and the Local Education Authority. According to them, Jason is being home schooled," the officer stated.

"Did Uncle Arnold not explain that? When it was originally decided that the situation at his previous school had become unreasonable, they signed the paperwork to remove him from school while they worked out where they transfer him too. My uncle wasn't keen on the idea of having to find a new school, so left it up to Jason to do the leg work researching his own schooling. However, Jason's preferred option was rejected, and instead it was decided to send him to St. Mary's. The application was made and accepted. I guess there has been a delay in getting the paperwork up to date with the L.E.A."

"This is where we have a problem with what you are telling us. Jason is not at St. Mary's."

"You think I'm lying? How do you know he is not at St. Mary's? Have you considered that he might not be registered under the same name? Simply asking the school might not be enough to find him."

"Do I take it from that he is using another name? After speaking to your previous school, we travelled to St. Mary's and spoke to them. We took photos with us, to make sure. None of the students or teachers had seen him. We also did the same at the Taunton International School."

Susan chuckled. "Now it is my turn to have a problem with what I'm being told. It is not physically possible for you have to been to all three schools this morning. The earliest you could have spoken to anybody in Westbury is eight o'clock this morning when the school first opened its doors. Assuming you were only there for a few minutes, even if your squad car is a Bugatti Veyron, I don't think you can make a four hundred mile round trip in the space of a little over three and three quarter hours. The journey takes at least four hours by car, one way, and I happen to know that there is major road works en-route. That doesn't even take into account taking a detour to Taunton for the school you mentioned there, which would be in the opposite direction and add at least another two hours."

Silence filled the room as Susan's declaration sank in.

"Looking at Google," the headmaster stated, having called the site up on his computer, "There are quite a lot St Mary's around the country. Ignoring schools that obviously cater for the lower ages only, I'm seeing possible candidates in Cambridge, Ascot, Hampstead, Chesthunt in Hertfordshire, one in North East Derbyshire, Colchester in Essex, Wymondham in Norfolk, Croydon, Maidenhead, Hull, somewhere in Lancashire and the list goes on. There are plenty more. We can obviously ignore the Girl's schools and concentrate on the co-ed and Boy's schools, but even then, there are a lot to choose from. Mary is probably the most popular saint to name things after."

"It is a bit confusing, isn't it," Susan declared, "With so many schools with similar names; I can see how easy it is to get them in a muddle. Especially if the brochures and forms get mixed up and you don't read the paperwork properly before signing it, something Uncle Arnold has done on many occasions. Really, you should have learned to read things properly by now. Is the deed poll changing your name to Mickey Mouse still up on the wall at work?"

Susan grinned at her uncle before adding, "Jason filled the forms in and placed them on Uncle Arnold’s desk to be signed, which he did. Jason didn't need to forge any signatures; he simply put the form alongside the brochure for the St Mary's in Taunton, with the form opened to the right place to be signed. As far as the school is concerned, Jason is attending with full parental permission. It might take you a while, but you now have enough information to find him without further help from me. However, I would be perfectly happy to tell you exactly which school, but before I do that I want to know what you plan on doing with the information."

"Our primary concern is Jason's safe return home. It may be he can continue at this school, if it can be ascertained that his placement is genuine and his parents agree," the constable declared.

"It can't be genuine, Jason can't afford to pay the school fees for a start," Arnold stated.

"That is complete bullshit," Susan replied, her swearing shocking the adults. "Look, I'm not going to deny it was a struggle to raise the funds, and it’s not one hundred percent certain if the fees for next term can be met, but Jason isn't as poor as being made out. He is independently wealthy and not financially dependent on his parents. Unfortunately he isn't old enough for legal emancipation by the courts; otherwise the application would have already been made. Also, I have serious concerns of Jason's safety. I don't think his parents would directly attempt to harm him, but he is already exhibiting all the signs of clinical depression, and if that buffoon storms into the place causing a scene, then we could easily have a suicide on our hands. At least at the moment Jason is never alone, and while not an official suicide watch, it’s unlikely he would be able to make an attempt without being noticed. Uncle Arnold, have you told the police why Jason has reason to run away? If you know anything about your only child, it would be easy to work out which school in the correct one."

"That is no way to talk about your uncle," Molly called over to her daughter. She could see her brother-in-law getting annoyed, and although Susan was in some ways correct, it was still rude on her part.

"I simply want my son back, safely, and hopefully without massive debts from whatever stunt he's pulling."

PC Clarkson then suggested, "Susan, you obviously know how to contact Jason. Can we at least establish he is safe and well be getting him to contact us. Perhaps, if we can speak to him, then we can persuade him to come home."

Susan looked at her watch again, "Jason's timetable is slightly different to this school. His lunch period will start at 12:40. If I email him now, it might be possible for him to phone, of even video conference, before he heads to the canteen. The boarders usually dump their books back in their lodgings before heading for lunch, and Jason is in the habit of checking for messages. I'll need an internet connection to access my web mail."

The headmaster offered the use of his computer. Susan went to his desk and called up her Gmail account. She quickly penned a note to Jason, including the phone number the head gave her.

Subject: Proof of life required.
Hi Jason,
I'm in my headmaster’s office with a police constable and your father. They would like proof that you are safe and well. If you get this before lunch, can you phone us immediately on the number below? It is direct dial through to us.
Thanks.
Love Susan.

The police officer noted down the email addresses in use, and then stepped out of the office to make a call to the station while they waited for the message to be received. Susan asked to be excused, and was told she could use the disabled bathroom opposite the office, usually reserved for specific students. The adults suspected she may try to contact Jason by other means, so made her leave her schoolbag behind, in case she had a second phone.

Susan did have a backup pay as you go phone in her locker, but didn't bother to sneak away to use it. She knew she didn't need too. Simply by using the name Jason, she was indicating that the communication wasn't secure. The fact the adults had let her explain the situation in her note was an added bonus.

The five people reconvened in the office to wait to see if there would be a call. All eyes were on the clock. Susan explained that it may take a couple of minutes for Jason to get back to the room and respond to the message. If they didn't get a call before ten to one, then chances are he would have gone straight to lunch and may not pick up the message for another half an hour.

At exactly 12:42, the phone started to ring. The head had a special phone designed for sitting in the middle of a table for use at teleconferences. The device didn't have a handset, and instead was a large circular device with a speaker in the top and several direction microphones.

Susan pressed the button to answer the call, and said, "Hello".

"Hello, please may I speak to Susan Bishop, this is her cousin, I had a message to call her on this number," came a familiar voice from the other end. Susan noted that he didn't say his name. She realised that might mean he was worried about being overheard at his end.

"Hi Jason, this is Susan. I'm here with a PC Clarkson and your father. They want to speak to you."

"Hi, I've only got a few minutes before I need to be in the canteen, so I probably can't answer many questions."

"Hi Jason," Arnold stated.

"Hi Dad, I guess you haven't completely disowned me yet, so I might be able to come home for half term. Has Susan told you where I am yet?"

"Jason, this is Constable Clarkson with the Wiltshire Police. Susan tells us you are a four hour drive away at one of the many schools called, St. Mary's. Are you willing to tell us which one?"

"I'm willing to tell you where I am. Dad, I'll tell you if you promise not to go ballistic, and more importantly, not jump in your car and insist you drive straight over here to collect me. If not, then I'm not saying anything further until Susan confirms that you are out of the room. The national newspapers are already camping outside the school gates due to one of the other students. If you cause a scene, it will be on the front of the tabloid newspapers come the morning. I suggest you take my request seriously. I know how much Mum hates making a fuss."

"Ok, I promise to discuss things before doing anything rash. Besides which I don't fancy an eight hour round trip. I didn't get much sleep last night, wondering where you were."

There was a pause while everyone waited for the response from the other end of the line.

"I'm at St. Mary's Academy in Windham. Please don't try to contact the school, as I'm here under a different name, and they don't know about my deception. I'll phone home tonight at nine to talk further, but I have to go now. Susan, full disclosure if needed."

~o~O~o~

Emily hung up the phone and was then laying it down on her desk when the door to her room swung open, catching her by surprise.

"I apologise for failing to knock," Mrs Jackson stated as she entered the room, closing the door behind her, "I was just on my way to see you and the door was ajar. I couldn't help but overhear the end of your conversation; specifically school and deception."

"Oh, shit," Emily quietly swore to herself before taking a deep breath. "Well, I guess the gig is up anyway now the police have become involved. I tricked my parents into signing the applications forms for me coming here. For the past week they think I've been staying with my Aunt and attending St. Mary's in Taunton. My father has been away on business, and coincidentally, my mother has been away looking after a sick relative. She arranged for me to stay with my Aunt; however my cousin intercepted the message, so my Aunt didn't know I should have been staying there. They only worked out I was missing yesterday evening when I didn't come home from school. I was talking to my father and a police officer after my cousin emailed asking me to phone."

Mrs Jackson stood in shock, "You are here without your parents knowing? How in hell did you manage that?"

"Easy," Emily replied, "I wrote to Mrs Rogers and asked if I could be a student here. When it looked likely that I would be allowed to come here, I filled the application forms in myself and then left them for my father to sign. He never reads things properly. I think he may be slight dyslexic, but he would never accept that as he doesn't think the condition exists. He believes it’s just a label given to thick people to make them feel better. Once I had the paperwork in place, the rest was easy. I'm paying for my place here out of my YouTube earnings. My parents are vaguely aware I post clips on the internet, but they have no Idea I'm making money from it. They watched some of my original videos before my channel took off, decided it was fairly harmless and haven't bothered since."

"I think we need to speak with Mrs Rogers," the teacher stated.

"Sure, but could I go have lunch first? I suspect this will take a while, and I'm starving."

"Um sure," Mr Jackson stated, slightly dazed by the weight of the situation. Emily walked past the teacher and out the door, apparently unfazed by the encounter. It wasn't until she was alone in the corridor that the adrenaline spike subsided and she had to lean against the wall for a moment as her knees went weak.

"Are you ok," Wendy asked, as she came out of her own room further down the corridor and spotted her friend.

"Armageddon has begun, both ends," was the coded reply.

Wendy nodded, "So what happens now?"

"We go eat," Emily replied, grabbing her friends arm and pulling her in the direction of the canteen.

~o~O~o~

Anna was already sat at a table by herself when her roommate and Wendy joined her. She had watched the two girls enter and had seen the worried glances as Mrs Jackson had followed them into the canteen and whispered something into Mrs Rogers’s ear. The headmistress had immediately left the room with the teacher. Both of the adults had returned shortly afterwards, Mrs Rogers returning to her lunch, and Mrs Jackson heading for the back of the serving queue.

"What's going on?" Anna whispered to the other two, "Has somebody stumbled onto information they shouldn't?"

"Sort of, but not the secret you are thinking of," Emily whispered back. "Mrs Jackson has just found out I lied on my application to come here. I may be about to be expelled. I'll explain later."

Any further discussion on the subject was cut short as Jessica and Abby joined the table.

~o~O~o~

As soon as Emily hung up, the phone started ringing a second time. PC Clarkson pressed the answer button, stating her name.

"Was that the call you were after?" The caller asked.

"Yes"

"Okay, the trace back on the number indicates it came from a call centre owned my Microsoft."

"Skype to landline," Susan stated.

"Okay, thanks for trying," PC Clarkson stated, "We think we have the location we need anyway."

After the police officer hung up the call, the headmaster interjected, "I've just been trying to find Windham on Bing maps, the only place I can find is somewhere in America."

"You had the school website in the list you read out earlier," Susan declared. "Windham isn't spelt as you might imagine. Its w-y-m-o-n-d-h-a-m and its south of Norwich on the A11. The boarding school isn't in the town itself, but slightly to the North."

"That can't be the right school," the police officer stated looking over the headmasters shoulder at the screen having walked round behind him.

"What is the problem?" Arnold asked, unable to see the screen from his seat.

"What did you actually bother to tell the police? You obviously didn't mention Jason's gender issues," Susan asked her uncle before turning to the people looking at the computer. "Yes, that is definitely the school where she has been for the past week. St. Mary's Academy for Girls, Barnham Broom Road, Wymondham, Norfolk."

"Jason is at a Girls' school?" Arnold asked in surprise, a slight edge of anger creeping into his voice.

"Yes, and if you hadn't banned her from talking about her feminine side, after the shrink suggested it; and also banned her from further discussion on where she was going to school after you rejected her initial suggestions out of hand and told her she was going to other St Mary's, she might have talked to you about it. Well, she's done what you told her to do, she's gone to St. Mary's, just not the one you wanted her to go to," Susan let rip into her uncle.

"Let's calm down," PC Clarkson intervened, "now, Mr Bridges, exactly what is the medical status of your child. Are we dealing with an individual who is transgender, or intersexed?"

"Neither," he replied through gritted teeth. "There is no medical issue with my son. I don't know what ridiculous flight of fancy he has decided to go on this time."

"Oh get real," Molly interrupted. "Just because you won't accept Jason has issues, doesn't mean that they don't exist. He's always been on the effeminate side. The reason you had to swap his school in the first place was due to bullying related to his sexuality. It became apparent to the other students that Jason had a crush on another male, and this unfortunately led to some harassment."

"My son is not gay; he's simply shy and get's tongue tied at inopportune moments. The whole thing was blown out of proportion. If he's gay, how come he’s been dating your next door neighbour’s daughter for the past few months?"

"Wendy Spencer?" Molly asked in surprise. "I didn't think Audrey allowed her daughter to date. She seems to keep her on a tight leash. I'm guessing they probably didn't go out much and spent most of the time at my place."

Susan started laughing, attracting the attention of the others, "Mrs Spencer has never met Jason as such, at least never as a boy. She thinks Jason, or more accurately, Emily, is a girl, and therefore there is no problem with her being around Wendy. The three of us have hung out together both at our house and theirs without it ever being an issue. In fact Mum, you’ve almost seen Jason en femme on several occasions. Emily tends to dress neutrally when there is a chance you are around, usually just covering her wig with a baseball cap. Although since letting her hair grow out, she hasn't needed to use the wigs as often."

"I thought you said you provided us with an up to date picture," PC Clarkson stated.

"It was taken last week," Arnold replied.

Susan glanced at the photo on top of the officers file. It showed Jason sat on a garden swing reading a book on a tablet. "Oh, that is such a cute shot of Emily. I assume she didn't know you were there. It’s a pity she's wearing her wig, she looks much better when she lets her hair down."

"Wig?" Arnold asked.

"She's been growing her hair out in anticipating going back to school, have you not noticed she has been hiding her head whenever possible. Silly question, of course you didn't," Susan stated. "I can call some photo's up on the internet taken Monday lunch time if you want to see a comparison."

Having been offered the control of the computer, Susan called up her email and opened the private gallery link she had been sent from John's wife. Susan had looked over the photos and chosen which ones to tweet on Emily's behalf. Scrolling through the gallery, she came to the shot showing John Larking and Emily on Liverpool Street station, clicking on it to make it full screen.

"Well, if it wasn’t for the spot on the left cheek, and small scar above the right eyebrow, I would think these are shots of two different people," the police officer remarked, "I assume this was taken on the way to school as she is wearing the same uniform as the students on the St. Mary's website. That looks like Liverpool Street station in the background."

Susan nodded.

"Wait, I know that man," Arnold stated, "He's the auditor we have visit us at work."

"I doubt he will be back doing much auditing this year. He went full time as a YouTuber six months ago," Susan stated. "He was there doing a promotional stunt for Rampaging Squirrels. The game went live on Steam on Wednesday."

"Isn't that the game I keep having to drag you away from," Molly asked her daughter. "If it’s only just gone live, how come you've been playing it for weeks?"

"Jason’s been glued to it as well," Arnold stated. "He explained the concept to me last week. Can't see the appeal myself, but then I can't see why Angry Birds was a success either."

"I have early access due to being a beta tester," Susan admitted, "Wendy is as well. It’s one of the perks of being related to one of the developers. If this thing sells as well as everyone predicts, then Emily won't have to worry about the rest of her school fees, and can possibly take herself through university as well."

Having heard about the game, and who was producing it, the headmaster made the missing connection. He immediately called up YouTube and went to his subscriptions. Hitting the last posted video the sound of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement played on electric guitar filled the room followed by a voice saying, "Good evening, Moonlighters, Generation2K here again. Welcome to another episode on the Moonlight server. I know most of you were expecting another pre-recorded episode of Theme Hospital. That will now be tomorrow."

"Is that who I think it is?" PC Clarkson asked. "I somehow doubt there is more than one transsexual boarding school student starting at a new school this week. Does this mean the school is fully aware of her being male? I was going to ask earlier, but got sidetracked."

"Yes and yes," Susan replied.

"That can't be Jason, it sounds nothing like him," Arnold stated with annoyance. "You all heard him on the phone earlier. That is not the same person."

Susan quickly explained the voice modulation software used for the recordings to disguise the voice.

"I think I have enough information here," the police officer declared, "Mr Bridges, I will drop you back off at home, where you can discuss this turn of events with your wife. I suggest you might want to watch some more of these videos, they may prove insightful. Afterwards I will return to station and phone the school to verify that your child is present."

"Only speak with the Headmistress, Mrs Rogers, or Mrs Milligan, her secretary," Susan instructed, "None of the other office staff know about Emily's dual Identity. It’s being kept on a very strict need to know basis."

After thanking the headmaster for his time, and the use of his office, PC Clarkson led Arnold out of the school. Molly informed her daughter that she would deal with her after school, allowing Emily to catch the tail end of her lunch break before having to return to afternoon lessons.

Playing her way - Chapter 5

© D.L.

Emily, Anna and Wendy had found a shady spot under a tree away from other students. They had a short time before they had to split up to go to various lunch time clubs and activities. Wendy was part of the debating society and Anna was due for a private Violin lesson. Emily would also be heading to the music department, but for a recording session. After explaining her deception to Anna, and filling Wendy in on the latest developments she wasn't sure she was in the mood for recording any videos.

Emily often used recording as stress relief, venting her frustrations out to whoever was willing to listen. She decided she wasn't ready to talk about her feelings this time.

After locking the door and firing up her laptop, she logged into the Moonlight server twice, once with her normal account, and secondly with her camera account. She checked to see if anybody else was online, but she was the only person present on the server. She went to her storage room and geared up while waiting for the virtual sunset.

"Good evening, Moonlighters, Generation2K here again with another episode from the Moonlight server," Emily spoke clearly and calmly into her microphone as the moon rose behind her digital representation. "I'm feeling a bit worn down today, and I'm not in a talkative mood, especially since what is bothering me isn't something I can share with you as it involves school. Normally, I wouldn't bother recording when I'm feeling like this, but as I have limited time, it would seem a waste not to record when I have the opportunity.

"So I was wondering what I could do, and then I remembered the obscene amount of TNT I had in storage. I wanted to make a moat around my castle, and now seems a good time. I have the basic foundations in place, and a few buildings, so I now know how much room I need. As my outer walls are only partially complete, I figure I can blow stuff up without needing to worry about stray blasts. I'll place some water down to protect key areas first, and then I'll start blasting away.

"I should stress, this isn't going to be a small moat. I'm thinking all the way down to bedrock and just as wide, so at least 60 meters deep, and possibly as wide as 100 meters. All the stone I blow up will come in handy for the walls, and I don't need to worry how much gets destroyed, because the will be plenty left over."

After quickly running round to blast proof certain parts of the area, she put her camera account in the sky to catch the view and started to record a montage of stuff blowing up on a large scale. She didn't dare do too much in one go, as the server may crash; she was pushing it to the limit with lag spikes. After each blast she ran round collecting all the stone and mineral drops before they reached the five minute counter and despawned, to be lost forever.

She did one final sweep round the base for dropped items before finishing recording. She still had more work to do, and would need to record an outro, but that would have to wait until the next day. She could potentially film some more silent montage footage in her room later if she wanted.

Shutting down her laptop and placing it in her bag, she switched the do not disturb light off, and exited the room.

Mrs Rogers was sat opposite the door waiting for her to emerge. The headmistress was uneasy about the situation, fearing that the girl may try to harm herself. This was one of the few times the student would be alone and have ample opportunity if she was so way inclined. Mrs Rogers was relieved when the light went off and the door opened.

"Emily, a productive session I hope?" the headmistress enquired, to which Emily nodded.

"I've just been having a nice conversation with a PC Clarkson. I'm sure you can guess what it is about. I need you to accompany me to my office; you have been excused from netball practice this afternoon."

"Yes, I have been expecting this since the first day of school. Please may we call at my room first; I would like to pick up some paperwork that may be required."

Emily followed the headmistress out of the room.

~o~O~o~

Mrs Rogers looked at the girl sat opposite her. Even knowing from the start that the person in front of her was male, it was difficult for her to see anything other than a young girl. As much as she wanted to find reason to expel Emily for her behaviour, she had to admit that technically, nothing the girl had ever said had been incorrect. Despite all the deception, the girl had made sure to never actually outright lie.

The headmistress looked over the paperwork spread on her desk. Right from the start Emily had been the primary contact person for the school. She had been in the unfortunate position before where the only contact with the parents was to sign the cheque, the child simply being dumped on the school as a convenience while the parents indulged in a playboy lifestyle. On several occasions, the schools initial contact had been through a nanny or agency, rather than directly with the guardian.

It was therefore not completely surprising when Emily did the initial approach asking for a position. Considering the child was independently wealthy, Mrs Rogers could understand a certain degree of emancipation being present. When the contracts came through from John Larking, she had unwittingly fallen into the trap of believing he was acting on behalf of the parents. Rereading the letters, it was clear his sole concern was with Emily, and not for her family.

The school had not blindly accepted the application. Mrs Milligan had wrote to the psychiatrist who had given the initial diagnoses, and had been able to confirm that Emily had indeed been a patient, and the letter stating an initial diagnosis of gender dysphoria with a recommendation of further study, was in fact genuine. The doctor had pointed out that the family were not satisfied with the diagnosis, so sessions had ceased a couple of months before.

As the school would be entering a legal contract with G2K Limited, they had done due diligence on checking out the company in question. Credit checks had been run, and a copy of the last annual report and accounts were obtained from Companies House. The company registration all checked out. The address matched the official government records, as did the names of the directors. The contract involving a percentage of the new game's revenue, and of the cut of advertising revenue for recordings made during school time, was thoroughly investigated by the schools lawyers. Several of the governors had also independently had the contract examined by their own lawyers.

That left the correspondence between the school and Mr and Mrs Bridges. This is where the authenticity fell to pieces.

Emily had exploited her parents mercilessly, and had video evidence of it being done. For every letter that was sent to the school, she had a video of the document being signed.

Mrs Rogers wasn't sure what equipment Emily had been using, but it must have been high specification. In each case a hi-definition video was available, giving enough detail for it to be clear what was being signed in each case. From the angles involved, it appeared the camera had been hidden on a high shelf in the father’s home office.

The first clip was of the application form being signed.

"I will not listen to anymore of the nonsense," Arnold's voice could be heard off-camera. The anger showing through in the tone of voice, "You will go to St. Mary's, and that is final. I refuse to discuss this anymore."

"Fine," Emily stated abruptly, walking into shot, "In that case sign the application form and send it off. It’s already filled in; it just needs your signature."

Mrs Rogers could barely recognise the child in the video. Gone were the long flowing locks of hair. Instead the child had short hair, several shades darker in colour. The figure was also dressed in jeans and a corduroy shirt. The slumped posture was stereotypical of a teenage boy, although technically Emily was not quite a teenager at the time.

The boy in the video opened a desk draw and pulled it out a folder. He turned it in such a way as to have the cover pass square on to the camera for a brief moment before holding it in the air for the father to see, who could now be seen entering the shot. The folder was clearly for St Mary's of Taunton.

Placing the folder on the desk, the child opened it and thumbed through the paperwork, pulling out the form and a pre-addressed envelope. The front of the form was only in shot for a few frames, but by pausing the video it was clear to see the layout matched that of St. Mary's in Norfolk. The girl's school logo clearly visible in the top left. The form was immediately turned to the page where the large signature box required attention.

The father then signed the document without even giving it more that a cursory glance to make sure the signature was in the right place.

Jason then folded the paperwork, keeping it face down so as not to be identifiable as the wrong form, and placed it into the envelope before sealing it.

Two other clips had been provided. In each case it was documents being signed. Mr Bridges would sit at his desk and then take all the paperwork out from a tray on his desk. Each document would be covered in post-it notes. It was clear that the person wasn't looking at the documents themselves, but merely reading the note on the post-it. After discarding the post it, each document would be flicked through to where a smaller post it note with an arrow on was stuck. A signature would be added at the location where the arrow was pointed, and the post-it removed and discarded.

Most of the documents seemed to be invoices and purchase orders, with a few letters and reports mixed in. In amongst the piles were the letters sent to the school. Again, the letters were signed without being read.

Once signed, the documents all went into a briefcase, presumably for taking into the man's place of work.

Mrs Rogers gathered the page in front of her into a neat pile and looked across at the girl patiently waiting to hear her fate.

"I think it is time to call your parents," the headmistress stated. Using the phone on her desk as a speakerphone, she dialled the number.

"Hello, Marilyn speaking," the voice came from the other end.

"Good afternoon, I'm calling about your missing child, who is sat here with me. My name is Mrs Rogers and I'm the headmistress of St. Mary's Academy in Norfolk."

"Hold on a moment, I will just fetch my husband."

There was a brief pause while Marilyn went to get her husband. A distant voice could be heard saying he would pick up the second phone in the bedroom. A click could be heard and Mr Bridges voice came on the line saying, "Hello. The police said that you were going to call".

"Good afternoon Mr Bridges. We need to discuss what happens next."

"As you are aware, we are quite a distance away. While it would be possible to come and collect Jason this evening if required, I would rather not start an eight hour round trip this late in the afternoon. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to leave that journey to tomorrow."

"Mr Bridges, I have absolutely no problem with your child staying here another night. In fact, I am perfectly happy for your child to remain here to the end of term and beyond if that is your wish. I would have to ask you to sign a fresh set of applications forms if that was the case, as the authenticity of the original set is in question. However, if you could make it to the school, it would certainly be useful to meet in person."

"Looking at the sat-nav, it should take us about four to four and a half hours to drive there. I note there are road works on the A11 where they are dualling a section. I don't know how much that would delay things."

"It may delay you by half an hour or so. I assume you have our address?"

"Barnham Broom Road? We got the address from your website."

"That is correct. I take it you are aware that this is a girl's school and we therefore don't normally allow boys to attend."

"I guess it must have been a shock to discover one of your students was actually a boy disguising himself as a girl," Marilyn stated. "I can understand how awkward that must be for you. Has he behaved himself in that regard, or are we facing further issues."

"Mrs Bridges, one thing that was never lied about was the physical gender of your child. We knew she was male from the very first enquiry. The board discussed the issue, and it was decided that transgender students could attend, as long as they presented themselves as female. Your daughter's presence has already been accounted for, and isn't an issue for us. I deliberately use the feminine pronouns, as your child is attending this school as a girl, and so far, nobody has voiced any suspicion that she isn't anything other than a normal girl."

There was a notable silence from the other end. Mrs Rogers continued, "I would like to ask one favour of you both. When you come here tomorrow, I would like to ask you not to reveal that your child is male. We have been keeping your child's gender on a need to know basis, and while we always knew it was possible the secret would be revealed, we would prefer not to have to deal with that particular issue if possible, especially if you plan on taking the child with you when you leave."

"I think we can manage to call her Jennifer instead of Jason," Arnold stated reluctantly, "it will be difficult, but we can understand how you wouldn't want a public scene."

"Dad, my name is Emily. I assume Susan has pointed you at my YouTube channel. I use a different name online."

"Oh, we assumed that you had adopted Jenny as your name," her mother said. "Are you using your real surname?"

"I take it the deed poll changing your child's name from Jason Edward Bridges to Emily Jennifer Bridges is also fake," the headmistress enquired.

"I think I better look at all the paperwork you have tomorrow," Marilyn stated in an annoyed tone, "my husband seems to have a habit of signing things without reading them first."

Emily smirked to herself. For the most part her father was the head of the household, but on occasion her mother would put her foot down and could be a force to be reckoned with. Her father had indeed signed that as well, although the only people to receive a copy of the documentation was the school, so technically it wasn't an official name change, simply an alias.

"What time do you expect to arrive?" Mrs Rogers asked. "If it is of any help, one of our teachers has offered a guest room that you can use for the night if you wish to stay overnight. That would give us plenty of time to talk and go over what has happened, and how to sort out the mess that Emily has made for herself."

"Yes, that would be handy," Arnold replied, "I guess we will aim to arrive around 2pm."

"In that case I will make the arrangements and look forward to seeing you tomorrow. When you arrive, give your names to the person on the gate, and they will direct you to the right place. Again, please remember to call your child Emily and use feminine pronouns while you are here."

After final farewells, the phone call ended.

"You're not throwing me out of school?" Emily asked.

"No, but you may wish I had," the headmistress answered. "I would only use exclusion as a last resort, especially as there is a financial benefit for the school to have you here. Instead I'm sure I can find a way of punishing you. We have slightly more flexibility than a normal school in when and how we can issue detentions. You may be finding your amount of free time in the evenings and weekends restricted more than normal for a few weeks. Now, your fellow students are already outside playing netball. I don't think it is worth the disruption for you to join them halfway through a match, so I think we should find you an alternative activity for the remainder of the afternoon. The builders have left a large amount of brick dust all over the place. I think you can start by cleaning and polishing the silverware out in reception."

The school had several large display cabinets housing various trophies and award plaques earned by the students. Emily was set to work making them shine. Emily wasn't going to complain. She knew she was going to be in trouble from the start and was therefore willing to pay the price if it meant she could remain at the school. At least Mrs Rogers seemed to be happy to let her stay, if her parents would let her.

~o~O~o~

"In one hundred yards, turn right," the electronic voice called out. "Turn Right."

The silver Ford Focus slowed down to check for oncoming traffic, before crossing and heading down the small country lane heading out of Wymondham. The houses on the edge of town disappearing out of sight as the vehicle proceeded down the field lined road.

"In three hundred yards, you have reached your destination," the sat-nav declared. "You have reached your destination."

Marilyn switched the device off. They had looked at Google street map before leaving, and knew the gates to the school were round the next bend.

The large metal gates were set back from the road. Arnold turned onto the private road and came to a stop. A security guard was sat in the small hut erected at the entrance. Arnold opened the driver’s side window and spoke to the guard, "Mr and Mrs Bridges, Mrs Rogers is expecting us."

The guard glanced at his clipboard, "Certainly, please follow the signs for reception and use the visitor spaces near the entrance. It’s straight ahead."

The guard pressed a button and the large gates rolled to the side. Once out of the way, Arnold put the car back into gear and proceeded to drive up the road leading to the school.

The school grounds were surrounded by a tall brick wall. The school was not visible from the entrance. As the car travelled up the tree lined road, it emerged from the wooded area to reveal what was once a large stately home. The group of buildings was a mixture of old and new. While some where centuries old, others were obviously new. A small section of one of the buildings was currently in the process of being repaired. A small area had been sectioned off with temporary fencing. A group of people in business suits and hard hats were busy discussing things as they passed.

Mr Bridges spotted the visitors spaces near the door. Coming to a halt, he reversed the car into a space. He climbed out of the car and stretched his legs. A tall thin man in a business suit approached them, as Marilyn walked round the car to join her husband.

"Mr and Mrs Bridges?" the man asked, "Good afternoon, I'm Stuart Jennings; I'm your daughters Science teacher. Mrs Rogers sends her apologies, but she has been tied up with insurance Assessors’. You may have passed them on your way up the drive. We had a minor accident here last week, a car managed to hit a wall."

"I saw that in the news while reading up about the school," Marilyn stated after introducing herself and her husband, "it said one of the students had been injured."

"Julia, unfortunately: she was released from hospital a few days ago. The injuries were not as bad as first suspected. Only one leg was broken, the other only being bruised. She is back in lessons, but taking things easy. We have a registered nurse living on site. Can I offer you some refreshments after your journey?"

"That would be nice, thank you" Arnold stated.

Mr Jennings led them through the main entrance and down a corridor and into a large room filled with chairs and tables. A number of the tables were occupied by girls playing chess. They were mainly dressed in jeans and t-shirts, although a couple of the girls were in skirts. None of them were in uniform. The teacher led the pair to a counter where cups, saucers, and glasses were stacked. Boxes of tea and jars of coffee stood alongside an instant hot water tap. A glass doored fridge stood next to the counter containing milk and fruit juice. They had to wait while a number of girls dressed in sports kits helped themselves to bottles of cold water.

"This is the main canteen", Mr Jennings explained. "The girls can come here for snacks and refreshments outside of meal times. At the weekend we don't have a set timetable. The girls who just left are all on the hockey team, so I suspect they are heading off to practice. The group over there are the chess club. I'm not entirely sure where your daughter is at the moment; I think her friends were trying to keep her distracted, I'm sure they will make an appearance eventually."

The bridges helped themselves to tea and joined Mr Jennings at one of the tables.

"I understand this is your first visit to the school. I don't believe you were able to make it when Emily and her cousin Susan visited us last term."

At the puzzled looks, Mr Jennings continued, "We didn't think you knew about that. They came to stay for a couple nights during half term as a guest of an existing student. I don't think Mrs Bishop was aware either. They were brought by Mr Spencer, whose daughter invited them."

"Susan's birthday present," Marilyn stated, "She asked to go to a concert in Thetford forest, not far from here. She asked if Jason could go with her."

Marilyn immediately blushed and looked nervous. Mr Jennings ignored the remark, "If you would like a tour of our facilities while you are here, then that can be arranged."

As they drunk there tea, Mr Jennings gave them an overview of the school. Afterwards they made use of facilities to freshen up. When they emerged from the bathrooms, they found Mr Jennings speaking quietly with a short Asian looking girl, who unlike her fellow students, appeared to be dressed in uniform.

"Miss Kwon informs me that Mrs Rogers is ready to see you know," Mr Jennings explained, "she will take you to her offices."

The young girl curtsied, "Please follow me."

As they rounded a corner, they were stopped by a tall girl with a Russian accent, "Anna, have you - oh," the girl stopped mid sentence realising the girl was in uniform and not alone.

"I'm on official school business; I will come back when once I have finished escorting our visitors."

"My apologies," the taller girl said before retreating to let the others pass."

Anna grinned as she walked down the corridor, she loved it when her sister had to apologise to her.

~o~O~o~

"Go right in," Mrs Milligan called to Anna. The girl nodded and led the visitors into the office. Anna held the door open, as the two adults followed her in. Mrs Rogers stood up and came across to shake hands with her guests.

"One, no impact," Anna called out as she left and closed the door behind her.

After introductions and pleasantries the adults got down to business.

"Firstly, thank you for coming," Mrs Rogers stated, "and for trying not causing a scene."

"Is that what Miss Kwon was referring to," Marilyn blushed.

"There are seven people aware of your daughters physical gender, Mr Jennings is one. Anna, the girl you have just me is one of only two students that know, although there is one other who may be partially aware. Those in the know have been keeping an ear out, and as of yet there doesn't appear to be any rumours circulating. In fact I would go as far as saying that Emily has adapted to life here quicker than most of the other students boarding for the first time. Admittedly about half of the students her age have been here a number of years already.

"Emily has told me that you don't necessarily approve of her living as a girl. All I can say is that she has been here a week in close proximity to a number of girls, and has had no problems blending in. In fact I think I can say she has made at least four close friends since starting here, and seems to get on well with many more. Did Jason have a lot of friends before?"

"He used hang around a bit with David and Tim while at school," Marilyn stated, "but outside school he mainly hung around with his cousin Susan and her friends. We didn't know until speaking with Susan that he has been hanging with her and a neighbouring girl, Wendy, while being cross dressed."

"Wendy is the other girl here who knows about your daughters’ secret. She is a student here. I think it best if we go through all the documents I have one by one and try to figure out exactly what your child has been up to, and how we want to take it from there."

~o~O~o~

Emily was sat at the desk in her room. Her laptop was on, and she was playing on the Moonlight server, gathering more resources. She wasn't recording, but was ready to hit the record button should something unexpected happen. If needed, she would record the footage without her microphone on and add a voiceover later. She daren't record her voice in her room in case she was overheard.

Anna was lead on her bed watching Emily play, fascinated at the behind the scenes activity Emily put into her channel.

It was almost time to head down for supper, so Emily logged out of the server and closed the game down. She was about to close her computer when a school wide message popped up in the bottom of the screen. The school had its own private social media site where the students could message each other.

"Oh, shit," Anna exclaimed as Emily opened the message and clicked on the linked photo, "Svetlana has gone too far this time."

"You best go find her, I'll meet you in the canteen in a few minutes," Emily replied.

Playing her way - Conclusion

© D.L.

Mrs Rogers had just arrived in the canteen with Mr and Mrs Bridges, when Mrs Milligan came running across with an iPad in hand.

"That girl!" the headmistress exclaimed, "excuse me, it seems I have an issue to sort out."

"Where is she, I'll kill her!" shouted a very irate Julia, as she hobbled into the canteen as fast as her crutches could carry her.

"What's the matter Julian? Or should I be calling you Generation2K?" Svetlana answered from across the room, "Annoyed that your secret is out."

"I am NOT a boy," Julia raged as she tried to hop across the room swinging her crutch at the other girl.

"Funny, I don't know many girls who can pee standing up, and as a new student currently staying in the infirmary and excused from games, nobody has had opportunity to verify either way."

Svetlana had gone to the nurses’ office to buy some tampons. The nurse ran a small chemists chop from her office selling personal hygiene products so the girls didn't need to travel into the town. The nurse was out of the room when Svetlana walked in. Julia, unaware that the nurse had left, was making use of the toilet facilities in the infirmary. Given one of her legs was plastered, and the other hurting due to bruising, standing up and sitting down was proving awkward, especially in the confines of a small bathroom. The nurse had suggested that reaming in an upright position aided by a female urinary device may be more comfortable and convenient for urination. Julia was trying out the device, and hadn't shut the door fully. As she had her back to the door, she didn't see Svetlana photograph her with her phone.

"Svetty, darling," Berry interrupted in a condescending tone, "have you never tried peeing standing up, it’s very liberating, and very handy at gigs where the toilet facilities are lacking."

"I do it all the time when in costume," Jane added, who was currently living up to her nickname of CutieKitten by wearing a fake leopard skin skirt with a tail hanging out the back, and a pair of furry ears on her head, "When I'm in a full cat suit, it is often easier than trying to peel off enough clothes. I deliberately build in a suitable access when designing them."

"You should speak to the nurse, she stocks the necessary equipment," Berry added.

"What have you got against Jenny anyway?" Jane asked, "Are you just annoyed that you are no longer the richest girl here?"

"Svetlana isn't the richest anyway, even excluding Jenny if she was here," Anna stated, joining the conversation. Turning to Svetlana she added. "In fact, given that your father’s football club will be issuing a press statement in a few minutes declaring bankruptcy, you will be lucky if you can even afford to stay on beyond this term. He's going to have to sell a lot of assets to cover the debts and live as frugally as possible."

"What?" Svetlana screamed. "Well if I'm out of here, so are you, so you have no room to gloat. In fact, one of his assets is a big share holding in this school, so you may all be in trouble."

"Enough," Mrs Rogers shouted, causing the room to fall silent. "Firstly, Julia is not Generation2K. This is the second time this week you have accused a student of being transsexual. Any further wild accusations from anybody and they will be finding they will be the ones proving their femininity to the rest of the students. You might also want to think before you try and slander anybody else, as your father has enough issues without trying to fight off libel cases, and I know several students who have access to the right people and funds to be able to sue your family.

"Secondly, Mr Gurevich has already sold his stake in this establishment. We may have to tighten our purse strings slightly, as he was going to sponsor several school activities this year, but I already have an alternative revenue source secured, and the new shareholder is interesting in investing more money.

"Thirdly, I think you owe Miss Jones an apology for false accusations and invasion of her privacy."

Svetlana looked between Julia, who had calmed down but was still being restrained by a couple of friends, and the headmistress. She used the silence to weigh her options, as the other students waited for her response.

"This alternative revenue source; it wouldn't by chance be a profit sharing agreement with Generation2K for videos she makes while here? I concede I may have gotten the wrong people, but it is an awful big co-incidence that I found Julia in the bathroom. There is also the issue that several of the girls here are beta testers for Rampant Squirrels, or whatever it’s called, so must have close ties to Generation2K or one of the other server members.

"I have absolutely no problem proving that I'm female. I've tanned myself on nudist beaches many times and am willing to bare all. I challenge Emily and Julia to do the same. The photographic evidence against Julia, and the fact nobody who isn't on the school payroll can vouch for her, would seem rather compelling. Emily is a beta tester and therefore has close person ties to this conspiracy. Her only alibi is Anna, and we all know how easily she can be bought, plus Anna is a huge Generation2K fan and would probably be willing to share a room with him anyway."

"Stop right there," Mrs Rogers stated. "This nonsense has gone far enough!"

"Challenge accepted," Julia shouted.

"Fine, I'll do it as well," Emily stated reluctantly, "but only if it is just the three of us together with an independent witness to report back to everybody else, assuming we can find a person we can all agree on. I'm not willing to parade around naked in front of the whole school."

"This is completely unnecessary, and this school will not tolerate public nudity," Mrs Rogers tried to regain control of the situation. She could guess what Emily was planning to do to herself, if not already done, having discussed the possibility on the first day of school. However, the headmistress was not certain how well the stunt could be pulled off.

"You can't prevent us undressing in the privacy of our own rooms," Svetlana replied, "I like Emily's idea. I nominate Francine. She isn't a gaming fan, and is wealthy enough not to be bribed."

Nobody voiced any objections.

"Alright," Mrs Rogers conceded, "But I get to dictate the where and when. I want to speak to each of you individually first to make absolutely sure you are happy to do this and not being pressured into something you will regret later. Svetlana, Emily, Julia, Francine, please accompany me to my office."

The headmistress called Svetlana into her office first, while the other girls waited outside. She then proceeded to lecture the student for five minutes. Mrs Rogers made it clear that Svetlana was in serious trouble, and that she would be reporting her behaviour to her father, who had already stated that any further incidents would mean a loss of privileges. The only thing keeping her in school being that her father was too busy to collect her, and the likelihood would be that she wouldn't be coming back when term ended.

The headmistress then pulled Julia in to reprimand her for accepting the challenge after she had already told the girls not to take the matter further. She also pointed out to the girl, that her actions had effectively bullied Emily into having to also accept the challenge.

Sending Julia back outside, she then brought Emily into her office.

"What is your plan?" the headmistress asked. "Can you pass naked like you suggested? Do you need time to prepare?"

"I plan to expose myself, in all senses of the word," Emily replied. "I haven't had time to glue myself, and I don't intend too. I saw the look of annoyance on Dad's face when he came in. I won't be staying here anyway, so what does it matter?"

"On the contrary, I don't think that is certain. I have been working on them all afternoon, and I think I may yet persuade them to let you stay. Don't give up just yet."

"Okay, but I don't see a way out of this one. Just make sure I go first, before Julia, so she doesn't have to be embarrassed. I don’t want her suffering because of me."

"I'll have a word with Francine and see how best to approach this," the headmistress replied, "I think it best to pre-warn her. I have a feeling on how this might pan out, and it may be your favour."

Mrs Rogers sent Emily outside to wait, while she called the elder girl in to discuss her role.

~o~O~o~

The four girls where called by the headmistress into the nurses office. The Headmistress had gone in first to have a word with the nurse beforehand.

The two adults stood to one side to observe the proceedings from a distance.

"Right," Francine stated, "It is my understanding that I'm to arbitrate in this matter. Svetlana has questioned the gender of Emily and Julia. I am to examine all three girls, starting with Svetlana, to determine if they are indeed female."

Turning first to Svetlana, "I believe you, as challenger, have to first prove that you are indeed female, so my question is, just how far are you willing to prove yourself, bearing in mind, you can't ask either of the other girls to do something that you are not willing to do yourself. In other words, strip."

Svetlana kicked off her trainers, removed her blouse and jeans, unbuckled and discarded her bra, then removed her panties. She stood in full view of the other girls wearing nothing but a pair of short socks.

"You know, I'm not one hundred percent convinced yet," Francine pondered, "Those breasts look a bit to firm and plump, they may be surgically enhanced."

"These are real, I have not had a boob job," Svetlana replied, placing her hands on her hips, her body language showing her annoyance.

"I think we perhaps should apply the tampon test," Francine added, "How about you get up on the stirrup chair so we can get a better view."

"This is ridiculous," Svetlana grumbled as she climbed into the chair and spread her legs.

"If you are unwilling, or physically unable due to being male, then we can always call this off," Francine smiled, enjoying making the other girl uncomfortable, "Just be thankful I didn't opt for the dildo test instead. Having a twelve-inch purple cock rammed up you could potentially be a lot more uncomfortable than a relatively small tampon, especially if you've never had anything that big inside you. The more you moan, the more I'm going to take that as you being male."

Svetlana took the tampon offered by the nurse, removed the packaging and carefully inserted it into herself while the others watched.

"Satisfied now?" she asked.

"Okay, I'll accept that you are most likely female," Francine conceded, "you can get down from the chair now. Emily, your turn next."

Emily turned her back to the three other girls. She reached round and unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor. With shaky hands she briefly fumbled with the catch on her bra, before it too, fell to the ground. Finally, taking a deep breath, she dropped her panties before spinning round to face the waiting audience.

Julia gasped at the sight of the obviously male genitalia hanging between Emily's legs.

"I was right!" Svetlana exclaimed.

"Hold it!" Francine shouted, "We all agreed that I'm the one who decides who is and isn't female here. Let me examine the evidence. Chair please, Emily."

Emily jumped into the chair and waited, uncertain of what was going to happen next. She couldn't bear looking at herself, so focussed her attention to Francine. She couldn't take looking in Svetlana's direction as her gloating would have been too much, and she didn’t want to risk the sight of her naked body to cause any physical reaction in her own, although having spent a week seeing Anna naked as she changed for bed, Emily was used to the sight of naked girls.

"Starting from the top, facial shape is more oval than square. Jaw line is slightly pointed. Breast development appears normal: average size for her age. Areolas are of a suitable size, and no obvious chest hair. Waist is slightly narrower than the hips. Moving down, the clitoral hood appears to be larger than normal, but not large enough to function as a penis. Labia are above average in size, but could easily be fixed. I'm guessing the hymen is still in place, so the tampon test wouldn’t be appropriate. I can see why you were embarrassed to have to appear naked in front of others. Given all the evidence, I'm happy to declare you as being female."

"What? Are you serious?" Svetlana shouted. "He is obviously male, and those breasts are obviously glued on."

Emily glanced at her chest. The breast forms where not even a B cup and not the best of colour matches having been bought mail order. Not expecting to have to strip, Emily hadn't bothered to hide the edges very well.

"Yes, I am," Francine replied, "You asked me to decide, and I say she is female. It will be my word against yours when we go back out there."

"Actually, it will be three against one," Julia stated, as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and unclipped her bra. "Because I doubt Emily is going to disagree, and I'll quite happily back up Francine."

Emily, realising what Julia was doing immediately looked away. Before anybody could object, Julia had let her underwear fall to the floor.

"Emily, get up, it's my turn in the chair. Could you give me a hand, I'm not sure I can get into it easily with this caste."

"Given your injuries, don't bother with the chair," Francine stated, "I can see enough with you standing to declare you to be female, unlike the other two, I'm not seeing any evidence to suggest you are anything other than a normal girl."

"What's the matter Emily?" Julia asked, "Are you afraid to look at me? I wouldn't have stripped off I didn't feel comfortable in being seen. After all we are all girls here."

Emily turned and looked at Julia, although was having trouble seeing due to the tears forming in her eyes.

"Thanks, that actually means a lot to me," Emily stated, jumping down from the chair and retrieving her clothes.

Feeling uncomfortable, Emily started to dress. The nurse came over and picked up Julia's clothes, and started to help her into them, realising that the girl couldn’t bend down and pick them off the floor very easily by herself.

"So, Svetlana, are you going to drop the matter or cause further trouble?" the headmistress asked.

"Why are you doing this? Don't you care about him being here?" Svetlana asked Francine.

"Honestly, I don't care if one of the students is male, and neither do most of the others. That isn’t just my opinion. While you have extra English lessons, to talk proper like what we do,” Francine said the last part of the sentence in a tongue in cheek thick local accent, “The debating club meets to discuss stuff. One of the things we debated at the end of last term was the scenario of a transsexual student. Jane had suggested the topic after Generation2K had announced that she was seeking a place at a private girl’s school. Not that any of us knew that she would be coming here. We all have private rooms to change in, so it’s not as though we have to worry about voyeurism. In fact I know several girls who would be delighted to know their favourite online celebrity is at school with them. We even debated what we should do on finding out, and the consensus ended up being keeping the issue private."

Francine then added, "What the girls do care about is you swanning around here like lady muck, lording it over everybody else. You're always wondering why Anna is so popular. You've made her so by treating her so badly, everybody feels sorry for her having to put up with your bullshit. I don't think there is a girl out there who won't be pleased to see you go. Perhaps with you gone, Anna can finally focus on her education instead of picking up after you."

"If I go, so does Anna," Svetlana stated.

"Not necessarily," Emily stated, "Anna has told me a lot about her relationship with your family. Your father gives her almost as much money as he gives you. However, unlike you, she doesn't go out and spend it all on designer clothes and salon visits. She can probably pay for her remaining years here out of her savings. Can you do the same?"

"Anna has enough friends here who would probably chip in to keep her here if she does run short," Francine suggested.

"Assuming I can even earn enough to stay here myself, I would certainly help her out," Emily stated, "that is if I don't get forced out before then."

"I will also add that the school fully supports Emily being here," Mrs Rogers declared, "That includes the board of governors, which included your father before he stood down from the position. He also agreed to have Anna swap rooms and share with Emily, despite her being male."

"Also, as a paid employee, Anna's money is perfectly safe," Julia stated. "Yours on the other hand? Let's just say that the Inland Revenue don't take kindly to people trying to get out of debt by gifting large sums to relatives. My Dads a lawyer, and has been involved in quite a few cases of tax invasion."

Svetlana didn't know whether to believe the girl, or if she was just trying to wind her up. Either way, she decided she best check her bank accounts that evening, and if needed, move some cash around.

Everybody except Svetlana was now dressed, and started to leave the room. The Russian girl swiftly started to put her clothes on so that she could follow.

Svetlana was still looking slightly dishevelled as she came into the canteen just in time for her to hear Francine state, "I have examined all three students, and can declare that they are all girls. So unless Miss Gurevich wants to carry on making a fool of herself, this matter is over."

Svetlana decided not to say anything further, instead leading the returning girls over to the hot and cold buffet that the school provided for evening meals, the rest of the school having already started while the girls were out of the room.

Berry, having already finished eating, and still feeling partly responsible for her mother causing the girl's injuries, came over to carry Julia's plate for her. The other girls chose their food, and returned to their respective tables.

~o~O~o~

The canteen slowly emptied as the girls left for the various clubs and activities that were available to them. Emily, having started eating later than everyone else, was one of the last to finish. She sat sipping her apple juice, watching her parents speak to the teachers at the other end of the room.

The constant glances in her direction from her parents were making her uncomfortable. Finally deciding she had enough, she downed the last of her drink, and took her plates and glass back to the collection point.

"I'm going to lie down in my room," Emily told her friends before heading out the door.

"I don't think she should be alone right now," Wendy stated, afraid that Emily might not be in a good state of mind.

"I'll go make sure she is alright," Anna replied, "It's my room as well, so she can't ask me to leave."

~o~O~o~

Emily was sat on her bed propped up against her bean bag, using it as an impromptu back-rest. Her laptop was resting on her knees, and she was blowing some more stuff up on the Moonlight server.

A knock came on the door. Anna, who was half-watching Emily, and half-sketching on an art pad, got up from her own bed and went to the door. Looking through the peep-hole she saw the group of people outside and let them in.

Mrs Rogers led Emily's parents into the room. Emily, seeing who had come in logged out of the server and her game, and put the laptop to sleep.

"This is where your daughter has been staying," Mrs Rogers explained. "She was originally going to have a room to herself, for obvious reasons. However, the accident has meant that part of the building, including several student bedrooms, has had to be evacuated. This has left us slightly short on space, so Anna, who was already aware of your daughter’s physical characteristics, volunteered to room with her. Anna's father has approved of the arrangement, and I have already shown you the letter that suggested you would approve as well."

"While I'm sure Anna is trustworthy, considering the amount of deception going on, do you actually trust our Child to behave?" Arnold enquired.

Anna couldn't help but starting to giggle, "Don't worry Mr Bridges, I'm perfectly safe from Emily. I'm a blue belt in Taekwon-Do, she isn't going to force me into anything I don't want to do. She's the one who has to worry about me. Besides which, I'm not a lesbian and have no intention of becoming pregnant before I'm at least twenty five. However, if her staying here is dependent on having a room to herself, then I'll move out. I can always go back to sharing with my half-sister, even if it means having to effectively be her slave."

Emily didn't say anything. She knew she was breaking her parents trust, but even so, her father’s insinuation still hurt. Especially considering her at times very obvious first crush had been on a boy. Something he was aware of due to the trouble it had caused at her previous school and something which had never been denied, at least to her parents. She had tried to deny it at school for self-protection, but it didn't work. Emily couldn't look at her parents so closed her eyes, which despite her best efforts, were starting to water. A solitary tear rolled down her face to be quickly wiped away.

Marilyn looked at her son. The person in front of her was obviously Jason, but at the same time, it was hard to picture him as a boy. At a quick glance he could almost be mistaken for his cousin Susan. The dress and cardigan didn't look out of place, and the longer hair pulled back into a simple pony tail seemed to suit him. She could tell that her son was nervous by the way he was fiddling with the position of his skirt and rubbing his bare feet together. His toenails sparkled in the early evening light, the dark blue glitter polish reflecting in the sunlight. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen his feet, as he always wore socks at home. Thinking back, she wondered if the polish was a new thing, as it did look slightly worn. Strangely, his fingernails were plain, but then she hadn't seen nail polish on any of the girls, so assumed it might be frowned upon as part of the school dress code.

Mrs Bridges had spent most of the previous afternoon, and half the night, watching videos of her child’s online activities. Susan had emailed a playlist that she had created that highlighted some of the best bits. With her husband, she had used YouTubes' ability to play at double speed to catch up on the activities, mainly focusing on the 'talky' episodes where Jason had vented his feelings. She also thought back to earlier in the day when she had first saw her child.

It was mid afternoon, and the Bridges had been going through the documents that the school had been given. The headmistress decided that a break was in order, and suggested talking a walk in the fresh air. Marilyn could see that the headmistress was trying to sell them the idea of Jason staying at the school, and had already admitted there was a benefit for the school if he were to stay. They had toured some of the outside facilities, calling in on the sports complex, where there was a fully equipped gym, and the swimming pool where a number of girls were practicing laps. One of the places they had visited was the squash courts. Looking down into the playing area from a viewing platform on an upper floor, they had seen a group of girls messing around in an informal practice. It took a couple of minutes to realise the happy excited girl bounding around in a short skirt with her pony tail flapping wildly was their son. The way he was laughing and giggling with the others was so at odds with the sad withdrawn individual they were familiar with. He seemed so relaxed and carefree.

Emily hadn't noticed that she was being watched. The lights in the court were bright in comparison with the relatively dark observation platform, making it difficult to see if anybody was there, even if she had thought to look in that direction, which she hadn't bothered to do.

"Am I even going to be here, or is that question academic?" Emily had asked softly, bringing Marilyn back to the present. "If you are going to drag me off home, then it won't matter what room Anna is in."

"We will let you know in the morning," Emily's mother declared, giving a stern look to her husband, who was probably going to say something else. "We have things we need to discuss. Get a good night’s sleep, and don't worry. Tell me honestly, irrespective of if Anna is your roommate, do you want to stay here?"

"Yes, I like it here. I want to be able to stay," Emily sobbed.

After looking round the room, Marilyn led the visitors out, to give the girls some peace. They headed down to the reception where Mr Jennings was waiting for them to arrive. After collecting the cases from their car, Mr Jennings gave them a lift to his house in the nearby town for the night.

~o~O~o~

Emily felt the warmth of the autumn sun on her face as she exited Wymondham Abbey, having just taken part in the service. She was dressed in her uniform, as were a number of the girls with her. She wasn't overly religious, and wouldn’t normally have considered going, but Wendy had persuaded her to try it.

St Marys, despite the religious name, was not tied to any church. It was not compulsory to attend a service, but left the decision up to the students. They did facilitate any student wishing to worship, and ran a shuttle service for any students wishing to attend any of the various churches in the town. The Abbey, the United Reform Church, the Baptist Church, and the City Church were all within walking distance of the town centre.

Janette, the eldest girl present being in her final year, called the other students to order, and once everyone was accounted for, led her fellow students up the path leading back into the town. When off school grounds, the students were required to stay in groups and be on their best behaviour, or risk being banned from leaving school.

~o~O~o~

Arnold had been surprised to hear that his son wasn't at the school when he arrived back Sunday morning. By the time he and his wife had breakfast, and Mr Jennings had run them back to the school, Emily had already left.

Mr and Mrs Bridges were sat on a bench together, overlooking a neatly cut green. They were watching a group of younger girls learning to play Crocket from Mr Jennings. They turned to see the bus drive up to the main entrance and come to a halt. Marilyn spotted her child exit the vehicle and line up with the other girls to enter the building and swipe their security cards to denote they were back on school grounds.

Spotting her parents, once Emily had completed the task of signing in, she excused herself from the crowd and headed over to the bench. Her parents stood up as she approached, and suggested they should take a walk round the grounds and find somewhere quiet they could talk. Emily nodded, and led the three to a secluded spot in some woodland, away from the other students.

Satisfied that they were far enough away as to not be overheard, Emily asked, "So, what happens next?"

"Jason," her father stated, causing her to wince, "while I don't agree with what you are doing here, I feel you are old enough to start to make your own decisions, and probably mistakes, in life. If you want to stay here, then that is up to you. However, if you do so, you will be doing it without our support. We will not pay a penny to your education here, and won't bail you out should you run out of funds. Although from what I have seen, you seem to have the situation under control financially, for which I'm impressed. You want your independence, you can have it, but don't come crying to us if you get in trouble, or the other students turn on you for being male. You will have to remain here until the end of term, no matter how bad the situation may get. You've made your own bed, so now you have to lie in it."

"You can come home for half-term if you wish," her mother added, "but while at home, you will need to return to being our son. I'm not willing to have to explain to all our neighbours and friends why we suddenly have a daughter and not a son. I assume you can manage that?"

"As long as I don't have to shave my head or anything else stupid," Emily replied, "Although by the time half-term arrives, I may find it difficult to have to hide myself again."

"We realise that may become harder to achieve over time," her mother declared, "Especially if you go down the road of blocking or inverting your puberty."

Emily looked up in surprise. Her doctors had tried to issue blockers before, and while she did have a short course, the prescription hadn't been renewed.

"We have discussed signing over your guardianship over to Mrs Jennings," Arnold told Emily, "Although she is connected to the school through her husband, she is independent of the bureaucracy here, and can therefore make decisions regarding your future that are unbiased by the business relationship you have with the school. That would include full authority for authorising any medical procedures deemed required by your doctors. Mrs Jennings has offered to make arrangements for you seeing a physiatrist and endocrinologist. That is if you agree."

"I've never met her," Emily replied, "but if you are willing to do that, and she seems to support my need for medical intervention, then I don't have a problem."

"You'll like her," Marilyn stated. "She's here this morning, so that you can get acquainted."

"Emily," her father said, causing her to smile, "I think it’s time we headed back and got this paperwork signed."

Emily led the family back to the school offices. Mrs Jennings was sat having coffee with Mrs Rogers in her office when they arrived back. After Emily had been introduced to her new guardian, Marilyn carefully reviewed all the paperwork that Mrs Rogers had prepared for them, and was the first to sign the documents, before overseeing her husband, to make sure he signed in the correct places.

~o~O~o~

It was shortly after two in the afternoon. The Bridges had joined their daughter for lunch, a traditional roast dinner, before setting off for home. Mrs Roger, Wendy and Anna looked on as Emily hugged her mother and then shook hands with her father.

Emily waved as the car drove out of sight as her parent left without her. A tear rolled down her face, more from happiness than sadness. Her parents hadn't exactly welcomed the change, but at least they hadn't completely disowned her. The return home may be awkward, but that was in the future. For the time being she was where she wanted to be, and more important, what she wanted to be: a schoolgirl at a prestigious girls' school, surrounded by close friends that accepted her for who, not what, she was. Anna, her roommate for at least the rest of the term, and money permitted, possibly the rest of her school life, put her arm around Emily in a comforting hug.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 1

© D.L.

Emily casually strolled down the pathway towards the shelter of the large oak tree. A light rain splashed in the puddles she stepped over, not wanting to get her shoes wetter than needed. She had her umbrella in one hand, and her mobile phone in the other, watching the bars of signal strength vary from practically nothing all the way up to half strength.

She knew from experience, that the signal was not good around the school grounds, but she knew of a spot where she could sit in relative dryness and obtain a signal.

Only a few of the girls were venturing out this evening. The sun was about to set, and the weather cool as autumn turned to winter. Emily needed some privacy where she knew she would not be overheard.

Although she often talked to her parents from her bedroom in the boarding school, this time she didn't want to be overheard by her room mate, Anna.

Coming to her destination, the young girl unfolded the black bin liner and spread it on the slightly damp ground beneath the tree. Sitting down on the dry plastic, she hit the speed dial for her parents.

“Hello, Marilyn speaking,” came the answer.

“Hi, mum,” Emily said, trying not to sound nervous. She contacted her parents once a week, and it always made her worried that an argument might start. However, to be fair, her parents were trying to compromise.

“Hi sweetheart, It's nice to hear from you,” her mother replied. “I wasn't expecting your call until tomorrow.”

Emily checked the date her phone, she hadn't phoned a day early as far as she knew. A sound in the background caught her attention. The phone picking up noise that the human ear would normally ignore.

“Do you have company?” Emily asked.

“Your Aunt Liz and Uncle Bill are here with Jack and Becky.”

“Is that Jason,” a male voice, her uncle, could be heard in the background.

This wasn't what Emily wanted to here. The fact that her old male name was in use meant her suspicions were correct. Her parents had yet to admit she was transsexual to the rest of the family.

“Hold on, I'll switch to speakerphone,” Marilyn said with a sigh. “Okay, are you still there, Jason?”

Emily clenched her fist. Her mother had deliberately chosen to use her male name, so it was clear everyone was expecting a boy to answer. She could disobey, but she didn't fancy burning that bridge just yet. It was rare to speak to this part of the family, usually only seeing them a couple of times a year.

Her father, Arnold, didn't like Bill much. Arnold Bridges was a working class person and didn't like the ultra-liberal viewpoints of his brother-in-law. It also didn't help that Bill was snobbish in his attitude.

“Hi everybody, what's the special occasion?”

“Your Aunt Liz's Fortieth Birthday,” Arnold stated.

“Ignore him, I'm only twenty-five.” Her aunt countered.

“Wow, I didn't realise you had Tom when you were eleven,” Emily answered, “Not the youngest gymslip mum I've heard of, but pretty close.”

“Jason was always good at maths,” Jack could be heard above the laughter. “Nice one, you've made her go all red.”

“Have I got the date wrong, I didn't think your birthday was until the twentieth,” Emily asked, realising that she had yet to send a card, Although she had planned on checking with her parents to see if they had included her name on theirs.

"No, we went out a week early, as I'm presenting at a conference next weekend," Bill replied, "Got to traipse all the way into the back of beyond."

"Stop moaning, Dunstan Hall looks to be a good hotel, and from what I can see, Norwich seems a nice city to visit."

"I'm sure you'll have an excellent time shopping, dear," Bill sarcastically added.

"Bill offered to take me as well," Liz explained, "I'll be heading into the city while he talks all day."

"Remember to pack your swimming costume and golf clubs," Emily stated, "I've only seen photo's of the pool, but it does look nice. I have been around the golf course several times. Uncle Bill, I suggest packing some extra golf balls, the water hazard is a pain. I always manage to hit it without fail."

"You've been there?" Bill asked in surprise.

"Yeah, John stayed there when he came to visit me last month. Mr Jennings took me over there, and we had a round of golf while we discussed business. Usually, John wouldn't bother staying the night, as he's only a couple of hours drive away, but he wanted to catch a show at the Norwich theatre, so decided to bring his wife and make a day of it. Dunstan hall is the closest hotel with a golf course. It's a ten to fifteen-minute drive, depending on traffic. There is another one in Sprowston, but that is the other side of the city from where I am."

"You're in Norfolk?" Liz inquired.

Emily's parents were remaining silent, and she decided to do the same. It was obvious that her location hadn't been revealed. She leant her head back against the bark of the tree and pictured the embarrassed faces of her parents. While Emily had initially chosen to hide her location from her parents, since they discovered her whereabouts and allowed her to stay, she was no longer considering it a secret, at least amongst her family. Her professional identity was still to be kept out of public knowledge, as that would cause her difficulties. There were still people at her old school who would love to upset her given the opportunity.

Deciding to probe further Emily was the first to break the silence, "Where did you think I was?"

"We hadn't really considered it," Bill replied. "When we asked if you could come to dinner, Arnold said you were unavailable due to getting a part-time job. Tom almost couldn't make it either for the same reason. He went straight to work after leaving the restaurant. Where do you work?"

Tom had recently got a part-time job washing cars at a local dealership. Emily wasn't sure what type of job they were expecting her to say. The real source of her income would be a shock. Not wanting to reveal that her status as a YouTube celebrity, or a part owner and major contributor to a successful indie games company, she had to think before replying.

"Well, technically I work from home I suppose, if you classify the whole school as home instead of just my dorm room. To save cost, I don't have a room to myself, which limits what I can do, although my room-mate is very accommodating."

Emily smiled to herself thinking about her room-mate, Anna. The lively half-Russian, half-Korean teenager was the reason for making the phone call outside. Emily wanted to give her a pleasant surprise. When Emily originally arranged to attend boarding school, only a few staff members knew that she was actually male, and none of the students were supposed to know. Due to that, she had paid for a single room, rather than the cheaper shared accommodation. Unfortunately due to an accident, one of the dorm buildings had to be temporarily closed due to a car crashing into a supporting wall.

Anna, due to her father being a school governor, actually knew of Emily's status before she started, and volunteered to be her room-mate in order to maintain the secret. Due to students needing to double up, Emily would have otherwise been the only resident with a single room.

"I've actually had a very unusual day today," Emily continued. "I've been helping to record an album for a chart-topping artist, although I suspect this one won't be making the top ten. I'm not allowed to say who, although it will become obvious if the record label actually allows it to be released. The artist in question has recently found god, so has decided to do a series of hymns with our school choir singing gospel over the top of a heavy metal backing. I didn't think it was going to work but having seen the final edit, it actually pulls together well."

"Would this be the same artist who caused the trouble at the start of term, and who has a daughter in attendance?" Marilyn enquired of her daughter.

"Yes, that's the one. To make it up to the school, three-quarters of the proceeds are being given away. Half is directly for the school, and one-quarter is going straight to the students. It's being produced entirely by the student body with virtually no outside help and only minimal guidance from the teachers. Anybody involved in the album is going to get a share. We aren't expecting much, other than perhaps something to brag about on our CV's."

"So what exactly were you doing? Singing or perhaps playing the guitar?" Becky asked excitedly.

"There are fifteen tracks total. I play guitar in six of them and sing in four. We had competitions to select who did what. My voice isn't that strong, unless part of a big group. I turned out to be one of the better guitarists, So got to lead on two, and backing on four others. My main contribution is that I've edited most of the videos, as I'm the most experienced with the software. I'll get you a copy of the album for Christmas, as I think you'll like it."

"Arnold," Bill stated, "I didn't realise you'd sent Jason to boarding school. I knew he hasn't been around much, but I thought he was just commuting to a school in the next county."

"It wasn't my idea," my father replied. "He arranged this himself. I still think it's a waste of money, but I understand the reason, and as long as I'm not having to pay for it, I'm not going to object. I suspect the proceeds to this album will keep him there for another term. My child seems to have a bit of a Midas touch and getting involved with business ventures that turn out to be very profitable."

Emily could tell her father was reluctant to talk about it, especially to Bill, although finally having something to brag about may have been overcoming that embarrassment. Bill likes to brag about his family, and that he has sent his two sons to a top private boy's school, although not as boarders. They have been trying to persuade Becky to go to private school as well, but so far she has put her foot down and refused to be separated from her friends.

"Speaking of Christmas," Emily's mother interrupted, possibly to stop the conversation from going into Emily's whereabouts and source of income, "we were just discussing going over to your aunt and uncles for Christmas day. Bill has suggested a big family get together and suggested we all chip in and hire a chef for the day. He knows someone willing to earn some extra money, and the price quoted isn't as extortionate as I would have imagined. You are of course invited, if you want to be here."

"That is why I phoned," Emily stated. "I'm potentially willing to abide by the rules, as long as I don't have to get a hair cut. I also have another request, and I would like you to hear me out before getting upset, angry, or instantly dismissing the idea."

"Perhaps we should discuss this later," her mother replied.

"I really need an answer straight away, as this is going to affect other people as well. School rules are simple. Students can't travel alone. To come home by myself, you are going to have to collect me. Either from here, or I get the train as far as London Liverpool Street. There are enough students travelling that a teacher will come that far. I travelled to London last time with Wendy and her mother, but Wendy has decided to spend Christmas with her father in Scotland, so won't be heading our direction. I have just learned that one of my close friends won't be able to go home this Christmas. Given the trouble Svetlana had in Russia, the planned trip to Korea has been cancelled. Is there any chance you would consider letting Anna come for Christmas?"

"Which one of you is going to Harry Potter under the stairs?" Arnold asked, causing Tom and Becky to chuckle.

"Arnold!" his wife scolded him.

"Alright," he laughed, "Do you want me to get the camp bed out of the attic, or were you planning on sharing your bed?"

The line went dead quiet. The seemingly out of character statement causing surprise. Bill, Liz, and their children not expecting that Arnold would glibly let his teenage son share a room with a girl and the connotations that implied. Emily smiled to herself, wishing she could have made the call over Skype Video to see the shocked faces. However, the need to do so on a mobile phone with limited bandwidth prevented that.

Emily's argument for sharing a room with Anna while at home was going to be that she had been sharing a room with the girl for the last few months at school. Obviously, her relatives were unaware that this was the case.

"That might depend on the weather," Emily mischievously replied. "If it gets really cold, then yes. Otherwise, it will depend on if you plan on serving sprouts."

It took a few moments to register, then the unmistakable sound of Arnold laughing, followed by the sniggering of Emily's cousins could be heard.

"Fine," Marilyn sighed. "If that's the cost of getting you home for Christmas, so be it. You can bring her along, but you sleep in separate beds, with the door open, and you change alone in the bathroom. How come she isn't staying with her sister?"

"Half-sister," Emily countered, "Svetlana is going to stay with her mother, and Anna doesn't get along with her step-mother. Her father is still stuck in Russia, so Anna isn't keen on staying there."

"Is her sister still treating her like a maid?"

"Occasionally, although she is a lot humbler than she used to be. Uncle Bill, do you have any objections to me bringing an extra person along if we are at your house?"

"The more the merrier," he replied. "Any chance we could meet up next weekend? We should be free on Sunday."

"I'll let you know later this week. If Anna is willing to join me, then we can potentially meet you for lunch in Norwich. School rules, we have to travel in pairs, and it would probably be a good idea for you to meet if you are inviting her to Christmas dinner."

"Okay Jason, looking forward to hearing from you," Bill stated.

Emily knew this was going to be awkward. Doing a switch to male presentation wasn't easy, but potentially doable. Either that, or she would have to introduce them to her true self. She would need to talk with her parents again before making further arrangements, to see if they would lift the ban on anybody in the family knowing that Emily/Jason is transgendered, other than the ones who already knew.

"I'm going to have to go. I need to go find Anna and invite her to stay. She will need permission from her father. I also need to make sure that the school will let us travel, and make arrangements for next weekend. Mum, I'll phone tomorrow. Uncle Bill, I'll phone you mid-week."

After saying goodbye to everyone, Emily hung up. In some respects, she would have preferred to talk to her parents alone, as she could have gone into more detail without having to worry about upsetting them. However, this way, she thought, she may be forcing them to accept the reality that keeping her transition a secret isn't practical.

Emily picked up her makeshift seat and started to walk back to her room. She had an invitation to make.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 2

© D.L.

Emily sat on the bulging suitcase as Anna carefully zipped it closed. The suitcase was only moderately sized and contained most of Anna's clothes for the fortnight that she would be staying with the Bridges.

Emily's suitcase was only half full, and she had offered to carry some extra sets of shoes for Anna. Each girl also had a rucksack carrying small gifts to put under the family Christmas tree.

Anna was also taking her Violin, so that she could practice, and more importantly play at a private gig that she had been invited to via Emily.

Emily had not brought her guitars to school, as she couldn't carry them on her journey. Instead, she had been using one of the school instruments initially, before treating herself to a second-hand guitar from a local shop.

Emily was travelling lighter due to having a full wardrobe, and two other guitars, at home.

Not that she was particularly thrilled to be wearing what her wardrobe contained. Her parents had yet to fully accept her need to live her life as female. She had therefore reluctantly agreed to use a male presentation while at home. The predominantly male clothing would be put to use for most of the trip. Only a couple of dresses and skirts and an odd blouse were being taken home. Most of the luggage being underwear and nightwear. Items that would not be on public view and could, therefore, be of a more feminine persuasion.

After one last check through their dorm room, the girls picked out their bags and headed downstairs towards the bus.

Due to the mass exodus for the Christmas holidays, the school was busy. Soon they were in the designated position with a number of other girls as the sixteen seat minibus pulled up to the kerb. This would be the third trip this morning into the train station.

Mrs Jackson rounded up her charges and ushered them onto the bus. After checking everything was in order, they proceeded out of the school grounds. Twenty minutes later they were dropped off at Norwich station for the journey south to the capital. Ironically they would actually be passing through a station less than two miles from the school, but the express they were taking wouldn't be stopping, and it was quicker to drive to the main terminus rather than catch a local train and wait for a connection.

They were just in time to wave at Svetlana, Anna's half sister, as she passed through the gates for the westward bound train to Peterborough and then Ely, where she would be meeting her mother and travelling Northwards towards Sheffield.

Half an hour later, Mrs Jackson led the small group of students through the gates and onto the southward bound train. They had booked seats around two tables in one of the middle carriages.

Anna and Jane sat facing backwards on the right side of the gangway, while Emily and Jessica sat opposite. Mrs Jackson had grabbed one of the forward facing seats along with Abby. Francine and Janette sat across the table.

Due to still being relatively early in the day for delays to accumulate, the train left promptly at 10 am for the two-hour trip to London, Liverpool Street.

~o~O~o~

There was a group of people waiting for the arrival of the St. Mary's students as they exited the platform into the main concourse.

Jane bounced across to hug her father, a middle-aged man in a smart business suit. He had left his place of employment in Whitehall at lunch time to collect his daughter. He would then take her home, having booked the afternoon off. Abby strolled across to meet her older brother and her mother.

Mrs Jackson obtained the signatures of the adults before everyone said their goodbyes to the girls. Jane following her father towards the tube station to take the Circle line clockwise to Victoria station and onwards into Kent. Abby and her family heading to the nearby taxi rank for a trip across the city to Kensington.

"Alright girls," the teacher stated, "I trust you all to behave. Janette, as the eldest, you are in charge until its time to split up. I'll see you all in the new year."

Mrs Jackson saw them as far as she could, before splitting off in the maze of subterranean tunnels below. She was quite happy to escort the girls to London and get a free trip to the capital. She would be heading via the Bakerloo line to Oxford street for a couple of hours shopping before returning home.

The remaining four girls headed to the platform for the counter-clockwise Circle line towards Paddington and the trains heading west. While a taxi was an option, the train tickets already included tube travel, so it wasn't worthwhile incurring the extra expense.

Once at Paddington station, Janette was the first to leave the group, shortly after they arrived, boarding a train for Swansea. While the school preferred their students to be accompanied, as she was in her final year, the school and her parents had agreed that she could travel alone part of the way. It was deemed safe to be alone on the train as long as she was accompanied at either end of the journey. It was the trip across the capital that held the greatest risk.

The three remaining girls, Francine, Anna and Emily, headed to find something to eat, having an hour and a half wait before their train. Anna and Emily could have opted for an earlier train but were waiting for the train Francine needed to be on. They departed London shortly after three in the afternoon.

~o~O~o~

Marilyn swore silently to herself as for the third time she was met with voicemail. Having already left one message, she hung up the phone.

She realised too late that she shouldn't have mentioned on which train Jason would be arriving home.

It had been the previous night at her fitness club. Marilyn had mentioned in passing to one of her friends, Astrid, that Jason would be home the following day. This had led to the discussion of how he was getting home. One simple sentence was all it took, "Oh, he'll be travelling by train, I think he gets in about half four."

Nothing further had been said on the subject until half an hour before. It was lunch time and Astrid had called into Marilyn's office during her lunch break. Her friend had decided that as Marilyn was working, she would meet Jason and make sure he got home okay. Astrid was older and recently retired with too much free time on her hands.

~o~O~o~

"Trouble?" Anna asked her roommate, the frustrated look not going unnoticed.

"That voicemail was from my mother," Emily replied. "We are going to be met at the station by a friend of hers, Astrid."

"I take it they are not expecting your current appearance?" Anna asked quietly, being careful to word the question in case other passengers were listening.

Emily nodded, "This is going to be a complete farce and end in an argument. Astrid hasn't been informed and my mother doesn't want her to find out."

"Can you change out of you school uniform before we get there?" Francine asked. She was one of the few students who knew of Emily's status.

Emily shook her head whispering, "I can't even manage a tomboy look, not that it would do any good."

"Overcompensating. Everything she has at school is ultra-girly-girl. The only thing she has with legs in are shorts, and we didn't pack any as it's too cold," Anna added. "Nothing of mine will fit her either."

"I have the pair of trousers I left home in to come to school in the first place," Emily corrected, "but I didn't bother to pack those."

Francine wasn't carrying luggage in the traditional sense. The only bags she carried contained Christmas presents. The only clothes being what she was wearing, the same type of skirt, blouse and blazer as the other two. Another one of the school rules was that they were to travel at least part of the way in the School uniform. This was mainly for the first part of the trip where one teacher had to keep track of a number of students, and it was easier to spot the kids in uniform.

"Astrid is expecting a single person, most likely a scruffy youth dressed in jeans and a hoodie. Not two posh immaculately dressed school girls. Chances are we can walk straight past her," Emily explained. "The platforms are surrounded by railway lines. The only way on or off the station is via a single tunnel under the tracks. Therefore, there are likely only two places she will be waiting. Either at the stairs off the platform or at the main entrance."

"So we will have to walk right past her," Anna surmised, "I'm not sure if this will work."

Emily thought for a moment before saying, "You saw how many school kids got on at Reading. There will be at least a dozen getting off at our stop. As we are right at the front in first class, we will be at the opposite end of the platform from the stairs. Between us and the exit will be a building containing a waiting room, cafe and toilets. We get off onto platform 2. Instead of walking down the right side of the building on platform 2, we cross the island and walk down the other side of the building on platform 3. If Astrid is paying attention to platform 2 then we may be able to slip past in the crowd."

"What if she isn't on the platform?" Francine asked.

"Then we wait until she comes looking. If she heads into the waiting room, then we slip around back and out. Anna can stay in view, as long as I have the building between me and her."

"I don't understand your parents," Francine stated. "They must know you will be travelling in uniform, surely your neighbours are going to see you return home."

"Look at how dark it is getting already. It will be half an hour after sunset by the time we get to the station. Nobody is going to be able to get a good look at us when we get home. Most of our street will either be out at work or have their curtains closed by then anyway."

The train pulled into the station a few minutes late at just past half past four. The two girls had said goodbye to their travelling companion and made their way to the door, bags in hand.

Anna stepped off first, followed by Emily. The later keeping further up the platform using the former as a shield. It only took a few seconds for Emily to identify Astrid and step out of view putting the station buildings between the two.

"Grey haired women, blue coat, black skirt, holding the hand of a small boy in a red coat."

Anna assessed the situation. Emily had been almost correct. She counted another nine people stepping off the train, of which at least six were definitely teenaged or below. Of the others, two looked to be in their twenties, with one being an older man with greying hair.

A glance at the information screen revealed that another train would arrive on platform 3 within 5 minutes. The train they had left was not due to leave immediately, and wouldn't depart until after the next train had arrived, allowing for passengers to interchange if required. There were a number of people milling around on the platforms waiting for trains.

Anna got her mobile phone out and held it to her ear, pretending to make a call. In reality, she had activated the camera in the back and was pointing it down the station. Emily had her own phone out and was watching the video feed over a private wifi link between the two devices.

Emily carefully moved down platform 3 keeping the other side of the waiting room from Astrid and her grandson, monitoring the woman on the wifi link. Once at the end of the wall nearest the exit stairs she turned to face the edge of the platform, her back now being towards Astrid, and edged slightly to her right so her back was slightly visible around the corner.

With a few quick flicks of her fingers, she pinged a message to Anna, who on hearing her phone beep, started to follow the path her friend had taken.

Emily had switched on the front facing camera on her phone and pulled out a lipstick. Using the phone as a mirror, she started to touch up her lips while keeping a sly eye on her target.

Astrid double checked the arrivals board, as she had been since she arrived fifteen minutes before the train was due to arrive. She had picked her young grandson up from his primary school then had taken a scenic route to the station, calling at a local shop to pick up some magazines for herself and some comics for the young boy. They had an hour to wait after leaving the school before the train would arrive.

Not wanting to spend too long parked at the station, incurring parking fees, Astrid had waited a while on the road near the shops before proceeding to the station.

Astrid kept a close eye on the train as it pulled into the station. Marilyn couldn't tell her what her son was likely to be wearing. The answer of "whatever is currently in fashion," didn't help much, other than possibly to eliminate the people in obvious school uniforms.

It had been over six months since she last saw the boy, but she hoped that even if she failed to spot him, the message had reached him and he would come to her.

A number of people had gotten off the train. The two girls in matching skirts and blazers, along with the older man, were immediately dismissed as she focused on the other passengers. One pair in jeans and hoodies had disappeared directly into the waiting room. One she had presumed to be female, given the loopy earring, but it was tricky to see body shape under the thick clothing. The gender of the companion couldn't be seen at first glance, not helped by not being able to get a clear view of the person's face.

Switching focus, Astrid looked at the other people as they walked past her position at the top of the exit stairs.

Not seeing Jason among those leaving, she started to wonder what was going on. After a few minutes, a second train pulled in on the other platform. However, only people who were obviously adults got off that train.

Switching back to the first train, she scanned the windows for anybody else looking like they were getting off, but the was nobody moving down the train that she could see. Just to make sure, she waited until the train was starting to move before considering moving.

As far as Astrid could tell, the were only four people left who had gotten off the train Jason should have been on. The two girls had moved to the other platform and appeared to be waiting for a connection. That left the two who had gone into the waiting room.

Briefly stepping to the other platform to look down that side of the building, to check that she hadn't missed anybody, Astrid noted that the only entrance to the building between the platforms was on platform 2. Realising that the pair from the train would have to leave the same way they entered, Astrid began to walk to the door.

Only a few people were inside. The girl with the looped earring and hoodie wasn't visible, but that wasn't totally unexpected as the ladies toilets were accessed from inside the waiting room. The door into the gents being on the outside of the building.

The other person, who Astrid had hoped to be Jason was at a counter buying a couple of bottles of cola. Astrid waited for the person to turn round, only to be disappointed to find out it wasn't who she was looking for. Jason didn't have a face covered in freckles.

Having made their break to the exit, the two girls descended the stairs and went through the tunnel to emerge out of the station. Emily led Anna to the taxi rank when she spotted that the were a couple of cabs waiting for fairs.

Normally she would have walked home from the station, but given the amount of luggage the two were carrying, and that it was dark, Emily figured a taxi was the best option. It wouldn't have been an issue if presenting as Jason, but a girl is potentially more vulnerable. The other reason was that she didn't want to be on the streets if Astrid drove by looking for Jason.

A few minutes later they pulled up outside the Bridge's house. As Emily got out of the car, she heard there phone starting to ring indoors. With key already in hand, she dashed to the front door, swiftly unlocking it and entering.

Realising that her friend was occupied, Anna paid the driver and helped him unload the bags from the boot. The driver, seeing that the other girl was on the phone just inside the house, picked what the remaining passenger couldn't carry and took it to the door. Once both girls were safely to the door, he turned and departed, heading back to the taxi rank at the station.

"It didn't take as long to get across London as I thought, so I ended up catching an earlier connection," Emily explained.

"Oh, I thought perhaps you had missed the train," Astrid replied, "but I thought I better double check that I hadn't missed you."

"Did you also ring a couple of minutes ago?" Emily slyly asked, just in case this wasn't Astrid's first attempt, "Only I was in the bathroom and couldn't get to it."

"No, it wasn't me," Astrid replied, "I tried you mother's mobile first, to see if she had heard anything, but she isn't answering."

"Yeah, I couldn't get through either. Sorry that you had a wasted trip. If I had known you were going to the station, I would have phoned you earlier. I'm sure your mobile number is in our address book."

"Didn't you get the message from your mother?"

"No, I need to get a new battery for my phone. It was claiming 75% charge when I left this morning, but it had gone flat in the space of about an hour, and I wasn't even using it."

While Emily was lying to Astrid, Anna went into the kitchen at the back of the property and phoned the school on her mobile to say they had arrived safely. The office would be maintaining a list of those travelling without supervision and ticking off progress. A call had already been made earlier to inform the school that they had boarded their final train.

Anna had just hung up when Emily came into the room. After switching the kettle on, Emily shew Anna up to her old room where they would be sleeping, pointing out the location of the bathroom as they passed.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 3

© D.L.

Marilyn put the last of the shopping bags into the boot of the car. Shutting the hatchback, she pushed the trolley over to the trolley park before unlocking the car doors and getting into the driver's seat.

Fishing her phone out of her handbag, she checked for messages. There were several missed calls from Astrid. The phone had been on silent and deliberately ignored while in the supermarket. Scrolling through the texts, she saw the one that she was hoping to receive. The message from Emily that she was home safely without incident.

Putting the phone away, she pulled out of the parking space and headed for the exit.

~o~O~o~

It was half five when the silver Ford Focus reversed into the driveway at the front of the house. Marilyn looked towards the property. Several lamps were on timers so that the home was always somewhat lit up in the evenings. However, today the curtains were fully closed and more light was peaking around the edges than what would be provided by the lamps, indicating the main overhead lights were on.

Turning the key in the Yale lock, she opened the door to be greeted by the sound of Christmas music. Turning back to her car, she opened the boot and lifted the shopping bags out and into the hall.

On hearing the door open, a figure emerged from the front room. The smiling face of her only child was standing at the door. The mother examined her offspring. Worried what people might think, and given her husband's reluctance to address the issue, Marilyn had asked her daughter to return to be her son over the Christmas period. Emily had agreed, but only in so far as not to make changes that would prevent presentation as female in the new year, such as cutting her hair short.

The teenager stood in front of her was of indeterminate gender. The baggy boy cut jeans, and Christmas sweater, while masculine would not look out of place on a girl. Anybody who knew the child would easily recognise the face of Jason. No sign of makeup or earrings were present. Only the small holes in the bottom of the earlobes indicating that earnings would normally be worn.

Marilyn had wondered how long her child's hair had grown. Whenever she saw her on screen over Skype, Emily had her hair in a high ponytail, and it was no secret that in that style she added extensions so that it was much bulkier and longer than reality. However, virtually no hair was visible, due to being covered by a Santa hat. Unlike most of the cheap ones on sale, this appeared to be made out of quality fake fur in a dark red, with a white fur ball and trim.

"Hi Mum, need a hand?" Emily asked pointing at the bags.

Marilyn nodded and handed over the bags she was holding.

"Hello Mrs Bridges," Anna stated as she emerged into the hall, having heard Emily greet her mother. She had stayed out of sight initially in case it was Astrid at the door. The two had changed out of their school uniforms as soon as they got in, in case the nosey women had come calling. Even if out of uniform, there was a risk that she might recognise Anna as the girl she had seen at the station, and therefore correctly assume that Jason was the other girl.

Anna was dressed in a similar fashion to Emily, only her jeans were a tighter cut, and her jumper had two distinctly feminine bumps. It was only after seeing Anna that Marilyn realised why she felt something odd looking at Emily. It had taken her a while to get used to seeing her child wearing breast forms, and it hadn't immediately registered that her child's chest was much flatter than she had become accustomed too.

The three took the bags into the kitchen to unpack. Anna taking things out of the bags and mother and daughter putting stuff away.

"I take it you've removed your breast forms," Marilyn stated, glancing at her child.

"Yeah, for the moment. I am wearing a training bra, but I don't think it shows too much."

"Is that because it feels weird without one?"

"Yes, but I find my nipples get sore without protection. Plus it's itchy. I either need to wear a bra or a tight soft camisole."

"You're budding?" Marilyn stopped what she was doing in surprise. "I didn't think you had gone onto hormones."

She and her husband Arnold had signed guardian rights to one of her child's teachers and his wife. While the practice of having a designated guardian close to the school who can take responsibility for the child in boarding is not unusual, it is normally only done for foreign students so that they have somebody to look after them in the country in an emergency. Although they had signed the authorisation for any medical procedures, they were to be kept informed of their child's treatment.

"I haven't. I'm only on blockers. However, according to my endocrinologist, I have slightly above average levels of natural oestrogen for a male. I'm at the upper limit of what would be considered normal. The blockers actually worked too well, I've had to cut back the dosage. Instead of stabilising my testosterone at a low level, it's practically wiped it out. The net result is I now have the start of breast growth, not that I'm going to complain about that unless you count them not growing fast enough as being a valid issue, but that is something I think most girls can relate too."

"Her dosage is being closely monitored," Anna added, just in case there was any suggestion that the dosage was incorrect on purpose, "She has to get the tablets from the nurse after breakfast. We realised something wasn't quite right when she had a massive crying jag after being hit with a squash ball."

"It hurt; I had a bump on my head for three days," Emily countered.

"Only if you looked at it with a microscope, and you had received harder hits without worrying before. I know Svetlana is annoying, but raging that she was trying to kill you was slightly over the top."

"Okay, I had a bad reaction and I apologised," turning to her mother, "The glue for the forms was causing skin irritation, so we, that is the nurse and I, treated it with aloe vera. There is no medical evidence that it has any effect, but it does contain phytoestrogens, which can potentially mimic female hormones. Given that my balance was already out of whack, it may have pushed me slightly further to the feminine side than the doctors intended."

"I can tell from the smile on your face, that that doesn't bother you," Marilyn responded.

After finishing putting the groceries away, and putting a large Cumberland pie in the oven, the three women went into the front room to talk further, Emily explaining what had happened at the train station.

~o~O~o~

It was shortly after six o'clock, an hour earlier than expected, that Arnold unlocked the front door and stepped into the hall.

"Arnold, is that you?" Marilyn called out from the front room.

A sad weary figure stepped into the room to the shock of the onlookers. The left shirt sleeve was torn away at the shoulder, and the front covered in blood.

"It's not mine," Arnold stated, indicating his front. "Put the kettle on, I need a shower."

Not sure what to say, his wife silently went to the kitchen to make tea. The two teens glanced at each other in worry but waited patiently for an explanation.

Ten minutes later, Arnold settled down in his easy chair, now dressed in pyjamas and dressing gown.

"There was an accident at work. Thankfully not a fatal one, but a closer call than should have ever happened. Stanley got thrown across the room by that damn arm. Concussion and three cracked ribs. The blood was from him landing on edge of the conveyor. It took a large chunk out of his arm. I used my shirt to stem the bleeding."

"Not the robotic arm you shut down yesterday?" Marilyn gasped.

"Andy overrode my decision, said I was being paranoid. Claimed I was being obstructive and not acting as a team player. I may not be an engineer, but I can tell when something is malfunctioning. Bill has been moaning for weeks that the software keeps crashing. It is supposed to fail safe, but several times it continued moving after the control application stopped responding. I finally had enough yesterday when instead of placing the motor in the housing, it shoved it down so hard it bent the bench."

"I didn't know the factory was automated," Emily stated, "Is this something new, I know you said they were upgrading the shop floor."

"They were put in about three months ago. Five of them. Never have worked right. They were bought for practically nothing from a bankrupt factory in Scotland. Cobbled together with some cheap controllers from China, and programmed by a bunch of monkeys in India who work for a pittance. The claim was that it would double production speed and pay for itself in six months."

"I take it that estimate was over optimistic?" Anna inquired.

Arnold stroked his chin in thought, "If they worked properly, then they would have helped greatly. Perhaps not as much as double. I would say an increase of 50 percent max. In reality, due to them constantly needing to be rebooted, I would say about twenty percent. The truth of the matter is you don't need to pay a robot wages, and the company is struggling for cash, barely broke even last year, and rumour has it will publish a big loss this year."

"How did they afford to upgrade?" Anna asked.

"They had to take a big loan. They also let go a lot of the temporary workers. Basically, anybody they thought they could do without and who hadn't been there long. They would have to pay longer serving staff too much redundancy to be worth it. Several people have walked since then, we are at least ten people short of what we need. If I thought I could get a job elsewhere, I would be walking as well. I may yet have too. Andy, the current operations' director and my direct boss, is looking for a scapegoat to get him off the hook. I pissed him off by immediately calling the Health and Safety Executive. He tried to lay into me for that. I told him to fuck off. He appointed me a safety officer and any injuries involving broken bones or loss of consciousness from a head injury has to be reported by law."

"You think he is going to get you fired?" The worry evident in Marilyn's voice.

Arnold shook his head, "He can try, but I don't think it'll wash. Frank, the current owner and chief exec, won't let him. Trouble is, I happen to know that the business is being sold. Frank's retiring. He'll put in a good word for me, but I don't know who will take over, or what they may decide. We find out who the new owner is at tomorrow's Christmas party."

"Is that still going ahead?" Emily asked. "I've been asked to play the guitar again this year, and Anna was going to join me on Violin. I understand Tom has left."

To save money, for the past few years, Any staff who were musically inclined, or knew any volunteers who were, would provide music during the annual party. Traditionally, the factory would shut down over Christmas, as it was too expensive to keep it running and pay overtime. The last working day would finish early, and all the staff and their families would gather in one of the warehouses for music, dancing, and the consumption of cheap alcohol. The only time drink was allowed on the premises.

Jason, being a competent guitar player, had joined in for several years. Norman, one of the organisers, had emailed Jason asking if he would be available. Several of the other regulars in the makeshift band had left.

Arnold nodded, "Yeah, Frank didn't want to dampen spirits. A lot of the other senior managers are trying to downplay the seriousness of the incident, in an attempt to impress the new owners, not that it is going to work. It's a foreign company, Kabunsuri Industries, so they perhaps think they might not be familiar with British regulations. I tried googling them, but they don't seem to have much of a web presence. As far as I can tell, they are a holding company."

After taking a drink of his tea, he continued, "Don't mention anything at the party tomorrow, the official announcement of the sale hasn't been made, although most people know Frank is retiring. That is another reason for keeping the party going, as it doubles as his retirement do. I can drive you over tomorrow afternoon. I've sort of been given the day off. I'm to work from home until further notice. Basically, I have to write a report for management and be interviewed by the government inspectors. We don't think the police will get involved, but it's a possibility. What were your plans tomorrow?"

"Well, we were assuming we would need to catch the train, like I did last year," Emily replied. "I was going to spend the morning working. That is recording some more episodes for YouTube. Anna also has some business to attend to."

"I have some reports to read and write," Anna added. "I've been learning business from my father. I have a number of investments to review. While I can't officially control my trust fund or buy and sell shares, I can put my opinions forward and my investment manager usually does what I ask. He safeguards 75% of the portfolio, and lets me play with the other 25%."

"No offence, but is learning how to trade from someone who has just been declared bankrupt a good idea?" Arnold asked.

Anna laughed, "He may be bankrupt, but that wasn't unexpected. In fact, we have known for three years that this may happen and it was planned for. Putting money into a football club was never a good investment, and was mainly done for entertainment. Dad has a lot of skeletons in his closet, it was only a matter of time before some of his past caught up with him. Several women have claimed he fathered their children. So far, I'm the only love-child that has been proven by paternity tests."

Pausing to sip her tea, she continued, "In order to become rich in Russia in the late nineties, you needed to be in a privileged position, to begin with. He's never said, but I get the impression many backhanders were involved in the early days. Both to corrupt government officials, and the mafia. He may not be popular with the current high-ups, hence the recent trouble, but he still has connections. That is how he was able to get Svetlana back to this country."

What was going to be a simple business trip and skiing holiday during half term had turned into a nightmare for the Gurevich family. Some of Mr Gurevich's less reputable associates were not pleased with some of his recent business activities. This had led to his arrest and detainment by certain corrupt government officials, and the seizing of the assets held in Russian banks. His families passports had immediately been confiscated and they were placed under house arrest.

Realising that they may be in danger, he called in favours to have his wife and child smuggled out of the country. It had taken all the skill of some former KGB operatives, and a suitcase of dollar bills, to elude the authorities and drive over the border into Estonia.

Although their Russian passports had been revoked, Svetlana and her mother both had dual nationality. Svetlana being born in the UK held a British passport, and her mother was born in Estonia while it was still part of the Soviet block. Although she had spent most of her life in Russia, she was eligible for Estonian citizenship. This had become useful due to the relaxed border rules inside the European Union, allowing her to relocate to England.

Mr Gurevich, while not a European national, was initially able to live in Britain due to his wife's status. He had subsequently applied and obtained British citizenship after 5 years. Anna had been brought into the country five and a half years ago and had recently applied for citizenship after the required five years residence.

Anna had not gone with them on that trip, opting to stay behind and go on a school arranged trip for the week. While applying for residency, Miss Kwon was keeping time spent outside of the UK to a minimum. She joined twenty other students on a trip to York. Emily had opted to stay at the school and spent the time recording a series to be screened on her YouTube channel over the coming weeks.

Although her relationship was mostly secret, Anna's being a blood relative was known to some of Mr Gurevich's enemies. The plan had been to visit her mother in South Korea over Christmas, but it had been decided to cancel that trip for safety. Anna did not yet have a British passport, only a Korean one. The chances of her being prevented from travelling back were limited. However, it was deemed prudent not to try going over international borders unless absolutely necessary.

"My father had planned to wind up most of his business interests after five years. He has been transferring assets into a retirement fund for the last three years. He predicted the downturn in the markets but didn't quite judge the impact. It hit him harder than expected. Also, being sued for discrimination tipped the balance. He had plenty of money to pay the creditors at the football club but wasn't able to liquidise them quick enough. Hence, he filed bankruptcy for protection while he sorted things out.

"The business in Russia was nasty, but not entirely unexpected. His mistake was underestimating the resentment and resourcefulness of some of his opponents."

"I read in the paper that he was basically under house arrest and virtually penniless," Arnold stated.

"Not quite true," Anna replied, "He is still employed by several holding companies and receives a nice pay cheque to keep him comfortable. Most of which is going in bribes to keep out of prison.

"He is under house arrest, but it is one of the nicest houses in the region. He is quite happy with the arrangement, considering how much worse it could have gotten.

"Specifically, myself, my mother, Svetlana, and Svetlana's mother all own holding companies in our own names which have him as an employee. Svetlana and I are both wealthy in our own rights. Svetlana's only interest in money is spending it, so I actually have the bigger fortune, as I make my investments work for me, which is what I will be doing tomorrow."

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 4

© D.L.

The silver Ford Focus edged its way through the late afternoon traffic. Arnold steered the car into the side street towards his place of employment. His wife sat at his side. Anna and Jason sat in the rear.

Emily, as promised, was using her male persona. She had opted for a pair of black trousers, and an overly large red sweater with a reindeer knitted onto the front. Her hair was hidden under a Santa hat.

Anna, in support of her friend, was dressed in a similar style. However, her black trousers were much more feminine in appearance, and her sweater was blue with white snowflakes.

Pulling into the parking space, the teens got out and went to the boot to retrieve their instruments. Arnold led them through to where three other musicians were setting up.

Norman, a portly chap in his late forties, was tightening the final screws on his drum kit in one of the corners.

Angella, a girl in her late teens, was fiddling with the amplifier, hooking up her electric guitar.

Marc, a tall man in his early twenties, was setting up a large electric keyboard.

"Jason, good to see you mate," Marc stated, shaking hands, "and this must be Anna, nice to meet you."

"There are three more inputs on this amp," Angella stated, "I see you've brought multiple instruments".

"I have my acoustic as a backup," Emily stated holding up one of her two guitars, "in case we have a problem with the electrics, or there weren't enough jacks."

"I only brought my Electric Violin," Anna stated, "It's a lot lighter than my traditional one, less prone to damage, and won't cost a bomb to replace should anything happen."

"Nice kit," Angella admired the instrument as she helped Anna hook it up.

"I assume we're doing the same as last year," Emily enquired, "All of us playing the standards, then taking it in turns to do solo's or duets."

"Pretty much," Marc stated, "Although I don't know how well that will work, considering we've never practised with Anna, and the last time we practised with you was last Christmas."

"Anna and I have been practising based on the recordings we made before last year's do," Emily replied. "I think we can fit it all together, as long as we keep a steady tempo and know how many verses we are going to do of each tune."

By the time they had finished setting up, the room had filled up with people. An older man approached them, with a slightly younger man with greying hair in tow.

"Hi Mr Farcombe," Norman greeted Frank, the retiring business owner. "We are all ready to go. How do you want to proceed?"

"Can you play a couple of classics while everyone filters in? I'll then make some announcements, then we can really get this party started."

"Okay, boss. Let's start with Jingle bells to warm up, followed by Deck the Halls."

While the band played sleigh ride, Frank Farcombe came over and stood to the side of where they were playing. On finishing the song, Angella, who had been singing, handed him the microphone she had been using.

"Good afternoon, everybody," Frank stated. "I'm glad you could all be here today. It is with mixed emotion that I stand before you. This will be my last Christmas party here. As some of you already know, I'm retiring as of the new year. This has caused some speculation as to who exactly is taking over, and what the future may bring. It is no secret that we have been struggling. The interest for our electric motor production has been shrinking as we compete with the Asian markets. I would like to introduce you to my replacement, not only as the chief executive but also as a representative of the new owners, Hans Hertz."

The man who had been following the owner for the past hour stepped forward and took the mic. "Thank you, Frank. As stated, my name is Hans Hertz, and effective immediately, I'm taking over responsibility for this company. Don't panic, I'm not planning on any sweeping changes immediately. I also want to state that anybody who still wants to work here will have a job. I bring with me a contract that will keep everybody more than busy for the next three years."

A small cheer could be heard from the back of the crowd. Some of the managers were trying to get the crowds excited but were not having a lot of success.

"This plant won't be changing its name, but it is now owned by a company none of you will have ever heard of, Kabunsuri Industries. It's an investment company, and as such it doesn't actually do anything, other than own other companies. One of which happens to be one of our suppliers and another is our third biggest customer. It, therefore, made sense for it to buy out the company in the middle."

Hans continued to talk about the companies in question and what the expected turnover would be. He then gave a brief overview of his history. Having gotten a business degree in his native Germany, he had held a series of management positions across Europe, gradually making his way up the corporate ladder. His previous post being the second in command of one of the companies customers. The same company already owned by Kabunsuri for the previous six months.

Finally, after ten minutes, Hans handed over to Frank's personal secretary for her to make a short speech, and present him with a retirement present.

Marc signalled the resumption of the music with his best Noddy Holder impression, bellowing "It's Christmas!"

After three more songs, The band started to take turns at songs. Anna took the opportunity to approach Mr Hertz.

Frank had been circulating the room. Noticing the conversation happening between Anna and Hans, he made his way over to a couple standing quietly in the corner, trying not to attract attention. Arnold and Marilyn were keeping out of the way of other management, given the incident the previous day.

"Marilyn, nice to see you again," Frank greeted, "Arnold, exactly who is that charming girl you have brought with you, other than obviously being a close friend of Jason."

"Her name is Anna Kwon," Arnold stated. "She goes to the same boarding school as Jason. She couldn't travel home to Korea for Christmas, so Jason asked if she could stay with us for the holiday."

"She isn't German then?" Frank asked.

"No, but her father is Russian, hence her mixed looks. Why did you think she was German?"

"She has spent the last ten minutes speaking to Hans in what I assume is fluent German. After she introduced herself, they started to discuss something before disappearing into a side office. I think Andy is getting a bit worried, he was trying to earwig what was being said, although he doesn't speak the language as far as I know. How much does she know about what happened yesterday?"

"Yes, that is a very good question," Andy stated having come over, "You were told to keep your mouth shut, that doesn't mean getting someone else to do your dirty work."

A shrill note interrupted the proceedings. "Sorry," Jason called out, having hit the wrong note in his solo.

~o~O~o~

"I'm impressed. You have found out more in the last twenty-four hours than I've learned in the last week," Hans stated in German. "You are certain Mr Bridges is a reliable source."

"While he may be borderline incompetent at paperwork and bookkeeping, he does seem to know how to keep this place running," Anna replied. "We spent several hours last night, and several more this morning talking about this place. He hasn't put two and two together yet. He knows I'm wealthy, and that I have an interest in business, which is why he was happy to answer my questions about his industry, thinking my interest is only for my own education. I think he is telling the truth about the factory and what happened yesterday."

The high pitched shrill note penetrated the office. "Something is going on, that was the warning signal from Emily," Anna stated.

Hans led the way out of the office, immediately noting Andy and Arnold facing off against each other.

Anna slipped out behind him and headed back to the other musicians. Angella had taken over the lead, allowing Emily to step down and take a drink.

"Is that your father's boss?" Anna whispered.

"Yep, I spotted the smug arsehole immediately. Never have liked him," Emily replied. "Just what have you been up to?"

"Making sure that we can both afford to stay at school," Anna cryptically replied.

~o~O~o~

"We told you what to say, so you better make sure you get the facts straight," Andy was forcefully stating to Arnold, "and anything you have told that young slut over there, better get corrected."

Arnold was boiling with anger, but keeping the outward appearance of calm. He watched as Hans quietly snuck up behind Andy, listening to the ranting.

"Mr Harris," the heavily accented, and therefore unmistakable voice, caused Andy to spin round to face his new employer. "I will be operating a zero tolerance to bullying. Let this be your one and only warning. I would also strongly suggest you kerb your language towards Miss Kwon, she has both the resources and contacts to wipe the floor with you for slander."

"And exactly why might I need to do that," Anna stated, as she and Emily joined the small group of people.

"My apologies," Andy stated. If he left it at that, then the matter may have been over. However, he couldn't resist one last jibe. "I was under the impression you were staying with the Bridges."

"I do not see how that is relevant," Hans declared.

"Mr Bridges lives in a two bedroom house," Anna replied. "He is inferring that I am participating in an underage sexual relationship with my friend here."

"Sorry Dad," Emily stated, "I knew we would have neighbours and family jumping to conclusions. I overlooked your probably soon to be former boss making the connection."

Hans smiled, "do I take it that you wish to invoke article 17. I take your use of the past tense to indicate that you expect Mr Harris will not be employed here much longer."

Emily looked at Anna, "What have you been up to? Exactly what is article 17, and how come I can invoke it? Have you forgotten I know that your mother lives in Bunsu-ri? Kabunsuri being your initials, ordered the traditional Korean way of family name first, and the place your mother is from, is too big a coincidence."

Anna blushed, "Remember a few weeks back I didn't have any change to buy a bottle of coke, so you paid for both of us then refused to let me pay you back."

"It was hardly worth bothering with 50p"

"Well, after I bought the company and wrote off the debts, I sold 49 pence worth of shares to you at cost price. John signed the documents on your behalf and they are now held as part of your trust fund."

Frank was now laughing, "Andy, I take it you didn't read the memo with the new articles of association for the business. The shareholders of the company have always had the power to issue a vote of no confidence in any of the directors. As long as the majority of shareholders agree, then they have the power to fire any of the board of directors. When I was the sole shareholder, it didn't matter because I was also CEO and had the power to hire and fire anyway. I set up that clause knowing I would some day retire, but I wanted a way to keep a controlling interest, even if I stepped down as chief exec."

Turning more sombre, he continued, "I was at the hospital when Stanley's wife arrived. Three minutes, thirty-two seconds. That's how long it took before she was on the phone to a compensation lawyer. The only reason it took that long was because she had to walk outside to use her mobile phone. Luckily our insurance company is likely to foot the bill. They will no doubt settle out of court. We might not be so lucky with the HSE. They could decide that we were negligent."

"That is why we need to keep our facts straight," Andy countered, "Arnold raised a safety concern. We mitigated that concern."

"Putting up some cheap chain-link fence, secured on scaffold poles held up by brackets held on the ground by a couple of six-inch screws can hardly be expected to stop the movement of a half-ton of robotic arm," Arnold countered.

"I agree," Hans stated. "Which is why I'm appointing Mr Bridges as director of Health and Safety. He seems to be the only one around here with an adequate grasp of what is required. I can't stop the shareholders firing you, but I did make a promise just now that anybody who wanted to continue to work here could. Therefore, I am willing to employ you as a junior machine operator. I never said that it would be the same job at the same pay. Until everybody, and by that I mean not only management but everyone who works around the equipment, is satisfied with the operational safety, I am not authorising the unattended use of the arms."

Turning to Arnold, Hans asked, "If we disconnected the current control units, and instead operated the arms manually by remote control, do you think we could do so safely?"

"If we can cap the movement speed and fit extra dead man switches, then we might be able to use them. I would prefer if we could erect a stronger protective cage."

"Okay, first thing in the new year find out what we need to physically restrain these things. I can give you the details of the company who installed our equipment when I was at Bristol. I think their software is compatible with our hardware," Hans stated.

Turning back to Andy, he continued, "You can leave right now. Your presence isn't required at this party, it's souring the mood. I don't want to see you here until the new year. If you decide to return, you will be operating one of the arms. Probably not the one that injured Stanley, as that one is too close to the main walkway through the factory. I suspect we will have to do some remodelling before we can use that one again. But the others are in less problematic positions."

Not trusting himself to say something he might regret, Andy stormed out of the room, towards his car. As he left a cheer could be heard from some of the workers.

The confrontation in the corner had not gone unnoticed, and looking round the room, Hans could see interest was piqued. Marc had come to an end of a song a minute before and hadn't started another. He quickly said something in German to Anna, who nodded and whispered into Emily's ear.

The two teens returned to the makeshift stage. Taking the microphone from Marc, Anna addressed the audience. "As it is probably going to be around the grapevine by the end of the night, I might as well make it official and prevent any Chinese whispers. Kabunsuri Industries was set up as a trust fund to earn me money. If you think it's just some toy for a spoilt little rich kid to play with on a whim, then you're wrong. I'm not allowed to make any decisions on my own. If I want to buy something, then it has to be approved by a committee of experienced financial advisors.

"It's no secret that this company is in trouble. It will be years before I get a return on my investment, but I'm not here to make a quick buck. If I didn't think it could be turned around, I wouldn't be investing.

"I will, however, admit that I'm going to be a bit more lenient in what profit levels I'll accept since I found out one of by best friends had family working here. To stop me screwing up, I've given Jason some of my shares. He's also no slouch when it comes to business. My money comes from family, his is self-earned. He's paying his way through boarding school. I know how much our school fees are, and I've also seen the wage bill, so I know what everyone here is earning, including Mr Bridges. It isn't enough to pay the school fees and eat."

"You can threaten to fire me as much as you want, I'm not letting you get a tattoo," Arnold called out from the crowd, causing a few roars of laughter.

"Be nice," Emily replied, "Remember, I get to choose your nursing home when you get older."

"Did we forget to mention shareholders only get to vote once a year at the annual general meeting?" Hans asked, getting in on the act.

"Does that mean I can't decorate the canteen with pink unicorns?" Anna pouted.

"Only if you want all the men to go on strike," Hans replied.

"Okay, we'll let you run the company, Jason and I will simply provide the entertainment, after all, we have school to go to," Anna stated before switching to a singing voice, "I really can't stay."

Emily, immediately recognising the duet they had practised as a finale took Anna's queue to sing, "Baby, it's cold outside."

As they were singing, Angella took the opportunity to grab some fake mistletoe and had it ready to hold above their heads. Both of them had spotted what was going on. Anna nodded to Emily, so after the last line she took the signal and pulled her friend in close and planted a delicate kiss on her lips.

~o~O~o~

"So how much of the company do I actually own?" Emily asked as they drove home after the party.

"49%, the same as me. I bought the company for £1. Obviously, it cost me a lot more than that, as they had over 200k of debts which I've had to wipe out. I'm not passing any debt onto you," Anna replied. "While on paper, I'm a millionaire, most of that is tied up in investments. I've basically used all my available funds that I'm allowed to access in this deal. My father won't allow me to dip into my personal savings for business deals. He wants to make sure I have enough left for school, university, and a deposit on a house. If I want to spend any more, I'll have to liquidate some of the other stock I own."

"Why give me 49%?"

"Hans has the final 2%, that way any voting can't be deadlocked if we disagree."

"No, that's not what I mean, although I can see how that is a good idea," Emily clarified, "why give me any percentage at all."

"Several reasons. One: you have personal involvement with the company, as you have family employed there. I don't want to screw this up and destroy our friendship because I've done something which causes your father to lose his job."

"Don't worry about me," Arnold interjected from the front passenger seat. "I'm perfectly capable of getting myself fired by myself."

"Two," Anna continued, ignoring the quip, "you need to start diversifying your portfolio, and beginning with something you are familiar with and have an interest in is a good starting point. You may have a successful games company at the moment, but realistically how long is it going to last? Take Mojang for example. They have one big game with Minecraft, but their other games, like Scrolls, are minuscule in comparison."

"Hey, if Microsoft wants to offer me a couple of billion to buy me out, I'll follow Notch's example," Emily countered."
"Don't get your hopes up," Anna stated. "How many games companies collapse after their second or third titles? If they even make it that far? Also, given how fast the internet evolves, how long will it be until Youtube becomes the next GeoCities?

"Three: every business venture you've been involved in so far has turned out to be profitable. I'm hoping some of that luck rubs off on me."

"I hope you're right and haven't just jinxed it," Emily countered.

"You seem confident that you can pull the business around," Arnold stated, "what makes you so sure?"

"A lot of business isn't about what you know, it's about who you know," Anna declared. "That's why freemasonry has been so successful. I have some very good people in place, and I have contacts across various industries that I can call on when I need expertise.

"Also, I now own the end to end production from raw material to shop, and as such, I don't care if individual parts of the process only break even or even run at a loss, as long as the whole gives me a profit at the end of the day.

"The business isn't in as bad a position as it looks. A large chunk of money was being spent on paying interest on debts. I've wiped that out. Frank was originally on a very high salary, although admittedly he's drastically reduced the money he takes home in recent years to help the business. Hans is actually a couple of grand a year cheaper than Frank. Also, sounds like Andy will get a pay cut. If we can manage it, some of the other high paid staff might get reductions. If any decide to walk, they will be replaced with cheaper alternatives.

"Mr Bridges, you are likely to get a pay increase for being made Health and Safety director, but you won't be going up to what Mr Harris was earning. It's not that your work isn't valued, it's that we are paying the other directors too much. I leave that sort of decision to Hans. I suggest general policy, Hans deals with the details. My preference is to focus pay increases on the lowest paid in the workforce, as that seems to have a greater impact overall on morale."

"I can understand that," Arnold replied. "There is very much a 'them and us' attitude in the workforce. I'm in a fairly unique position in that although I'm technically management, I didn't start off that way. I have far more contact with people than some of the other managers, so I'm still regarded by quite a few as being in the 'us' category. There is a joke at work that I've been promoted into a position where I can't do any damage, and there is probably some truth in that."

"Morale is the other thing that needs improving," Anna declared. "We need to stop haemorrhaging good workers. We need everybody to take more pride in their work, to improve quality and increase productivity. Hans was alarmed when he read how many faulty units don't pass QA, or worse, get returned from the customers.

"Hopefully simply being under new ownership might help. While the factory is shut down over Christmas, we've booked some additional maintenance. We are concentrating on areas that affect the most number of people. So instead of painting the executive offices, we will be painting the staff canteen. I was only half joking earlier about the pink unicorns. We actually have some pieces of artwork to put up to brighten the area up a bit, one of which is a print of a painting of a unicorn. We've got some new couches and chairs to replace the threadbare ones.

"The ladies toilets will end up in pink. I think the gents is going to be pale lavender. The worn and battered stall doors and walls are being replaced, and new taps fitted.

"The car park is going to get a fresh coat of tarmac. All those weed-filled cracks and potholes will be gone. Ideally, we want some nice surprises when the bulk of the staff returns to work in the new year. Although with only a few working days between Christmas and new year, there is a limit to what can be achieved. Some things, such as the car park, might not happen until January."

Arnold chuckled, "If you can fix the plumbing you will be very popular. You turn on the tap and half the time you get no water, then ten seconds later you get drenched. Seriously, though, I know a few people will scoff at you wasting money, but I know a lot more will appreciate the gesture."

"Hold on," Emily stated, "isn't one of the products you manufacture an electric water pump? If you are having trouble with water pressure, surely you can fix it?"

"Don't be ridiculous. That's way too logical for our maintenance staff," Arnold replied. "Besides, I think they tried that, and it didn't work as planned. There is only a finite amount of water coming down the pipes. If you try to pump if through faster it seems to only suck it out of other taps in the building. The real answer is thicker pipes. Most of the building only has half inch piping when it probably needs to be three-quarter. When they built the office suite, it was done on the cheap. One of the directors did the plans rather than employing an architect. They extended the plumbing from the factory, so there is now double the number of sinks and toilets, plus a whole load of radiators, all running off the original water supply."

"Part of the due diligence I did before buying the company was having all the buildings and assets assessed. The surveyors picked up on the plumbing problems, which is one of the things on the to-do list. One of the suggestions was to capture rainwater off the roof and use it to flush the toilets. Not only is is environmentally friendly, it will reduce the demand on the plumbing and the water bill.

"One thing that was overlooked was health and safety issues. Depending on what you find is required, some of the funding may have to be diverted. For example, the car park, although some of those pot holes need doing as they are a trip hazard."

Marilyn pulled the car into the driveway. She had offered to drive so that Arnold could have a few drinks, especially as a few of his colleagues wanted to celebrate his promotion. Management provided a few kegs of beer for the staff from a local brewery, but usually, this was supplemented by other wines and spirits brought in by the staff themselves.

The following day was Saturday the 24th, Christmas eve. Anna sent an email to Hans in the morning noting some of the things learnt in the car on the way home regarding things needing to be done. Following breakfast, she accompanied Marilyn to the shops for some last minute grocery shopping.

Emily had convinced her father to spend some of his free time indulging in playing a computer game. It took some persuasion, but Arnold reluctantly agreed to the session being recorded, on the condition he could veto the release if he felt it was too embarrassing.

Over the space of five and a half hours, the pair recorded a ten episode series to be released twice weekly during January entitled "Octodad: Dadliest Catch - with my Dad". The game features as the main character an octopus pretending to be human. The challenge of the game is controlling the creature's limbs. This is made extra hard in multiplayer where one player controls the left arm and left leg, while the other controls the right arm and right leg.

Unlike a lot of her series, Emily didn't include a facecam as her father was participating. She also used her pitch manipulation software to disguise Arnold's voice so the was little chance of the pair of them being recognised by friends or family not in the know.

A text from Hans to Anna suggested they watch the local news. The sale of Farcombe Engineering had made the bulletin. The accident, which had been briefly mentioned on a previous evening, was again referenced as the reporter explained that the company had been bought.

The report included a short clip of Hans stating how happy he was to be taking on the challenge of turning the factory around, and how he hoped the injection of capital and new contracts would have a positive effect.

"What makes this sale unusual, is who owns the parent company," the reporter stated. "We have found out from sources in the company that the two principal owners are a pair of fourteen-year-old girls. Both of which are rumoured to be self-made millionaires.

"They have asked not to be named, as they are both still at school and don't want to be singled out. We understand one of the girls was forced to change schools recently through bullying.

"One of the girls is multi-lingual and started to earn her fortune through providing tuition and translation for footballers at one of the premier league clubs after she stepped in to help one of her family members who worked there.

"The other girl has a regular following on YouTube, and has recently branched out into the music industry with her first single already in the top forty."

Marilyn looked at her daughter in surprise, "I didn't know you had released a single."

"I haven't, exactly," Emily replied, "at least not on my own. I'm lead guitarist on Alicia Morgan's new single. I told you about it a couple of months ago. At least they didn't mention Raging Squirrels. Although, if there are any of my viewers working at the factory, they may put two and two together if they realise the gender switch isn't an accident."

"I'm guessing Hans knows who you are?" Arnold asked.

Emily looked to Anna for an answer, who replied, "Yes, he was involved in the stock transfer to your holding company, so knows who you are. He would have been both the official and unofficial sources for the reports. As well as some posters on bullying in the workplace, there will also be some posters on diversity dotted around the factory. If anybody fails to take the hints, then they can either agree to some extra training, or they will be asked to leave."

"That is a relief," Arnold stated, "I was worried what might happen if your secret got out. I can think of several people who might not like the revelation, and I don't think either Frank or Andy would necessarily have my back."

"You are thinking of letting people know we have a daughter now?" Marilyn asked.

"I think we are kidding ourselves if we think we can keep a lid on this forever," Arnold replied. "I won't be shouting it from the rooftops, but I'm not necessarily going to outright deny it if anybody asks."

"Does that mean I can wear a dress tomorrow?" Emily asked.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Marilyn stated. "Unless you have already let slip to Bill and Liz?"

"I promise neither Anna or myself have said anything about my transition to my aunt or uncle," Emily replied.

"Why do I get the impression that's a suspiciously specific denial?" her mother asked.

"I have no idea what might have been said between your sisters," Emily countered, "Aunt Molly is fully aware of my status."

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 5

© D.L.

The silver Ford Focus turned in through the tall metal gates onto the brick weave drive. Arnold swung the car around and pulled up in front of one of the garage doors, parking next to the white Fiat 500 already parked there.

Emily recognised the other car as the one belonging to her Aunt Molly and cousin Susan.

Arnold opened the rear hatchback and handed the bags to his passengers to carry inside.

Anna took in the building before her. She had heard from Emily and her parents that Bill and Liz were doing well, and liked to show off. The house in front of her was probably four times the size of the Bridge's residence. When not at school, she had been in the company of millionaires, both business associates of her father, and premier level footballers, so had seen plenty of mansions.

In comparison to most, this was quite modest, but still larger than the average home. From conversations with Emily, she knew it contained six bedrooms, all en-suite.

Liz greeted them at the door, directing the two younger guests in the direction of the games room.

Emily, once again dressed as Jason in a pair of black trousers and a red Christmas jumper with a reindeer on the front, led the way.

Anna, on the other hand, had gone all out. It had taken some convincing by Emily that she shouldn't hold back. Emily had insisted that her friend should make her jealous, and to not worry about it.

Therefore, Anna had gone for a classic little black dress, finishing only halfway done to her knees. The low-cut top maintained modestly by having a lace insert going up to the neck. Anna had found some tights on the internet that were black fishnet style with a holly pattern.

Her look was completed by a pearl necklace and earrings.

~o~O~o~

The games room was about the size of a double garage. Becky and Susan were stood at a pool table that took up nearly half the space. A game was in progress, with Susan leaning over the table to take a shot. Both girls were wearing matching red dresses with white fake fur trim. The only difference in their outfit being that Becky had a silk scarf round her neck.

Jack was sitting on a bean bag holding a controller. The x-box was hooked up to a 40-inch flat screen TV. The familiar sight of Rampaging Squirrels filling the screen.

Tom was sat at a desk in the corner. The triple monitor PC setup had BioShock running on the middle screen, with Twitch chat on the right-hand monitor, and recording software on the left. A small web camera was pointing at Tom's face, and the feed could be seen on the left monitor that was being inserted into the top corner of the live stream.

Both Anna and Emily immediately recognised the software. Emily used the same software when doing live streams.

Tom quickly glanced across, "Hi, I'll be with you in a minute, I'm live on the internet at the moment doing a speed run. For those viewing, more of my family has just arrived, so I will be ending this stream in a short while. Time is coming up in about three minutes."

Emily positioned herself so that she could watch while remaining out of sight of the camera, just in case anybody viewing might recognise her. She didn't think it likely, as she always disguised her voice and appearance online, but caution was always prudent.

Becky, Susan and Jack came across to stand with the two newcomers to see the finally.

Tom was the eldest of the younger generation, being fifteen. His younger brother Jack was thirteen. Becky being the youngest sibling at eleven. Their cousins, Susan and Jason, along with Anna, where all fourteen.

"Time," Tom shouted into the microphone on his headset, "47 minutes 28.4 seconds."

The gathered audience politely clapped from off camera.

"Not bad for a casual run," Tom continued, "well, that is all for today, I have to go. Bye."

Tom shut down the transmission, turning to greet the latest arrivals.

"Great time, that must be close to record pace," Emily stated.

"It's about a minute off my personal best," Tom replied, "I'm actually forth on the record table. I was third until KPCzombie put in a 41:20 a fortnight ago. My best is a 43:50 when you exclude the loading times. That's a 46:03 on a live time."

"Respect," Emily stated, "I struggle to get under an hour when I try. I can potentially get sub fifty-five if I match the combination of my best sectors."

"If you manage it, you should try posting it to YouTube, if you have the capability," Tom said, not realising he was speaking to a YouTube celebrity, "you could potentially get yourself on the top 40 leaderboard."

"Congratulations," Anna stated, "I didn't realise Jason had such a talented family."

"Everyone, this is Anna Kwon," Emily introduced her friend, "We met at boarding school. Her trip home had to be cancelled, so I asked if she could join us."

"Nice to finally meet you in person," Susan said, pulling the other girl into a hug, "beats phone and video conferences."

"The tall one here is Tom Roberts," Emily continued, "the other boy is his brother, Jack, and this young lady is Becky, Tom's Sister."

"I see you're a Squirrels fan," Anna addressed Jack, "is that expert mode?"

"Yeah," Jack stated shyly, getting tongue-tied speaking to a girl, "I've completed the game on normal mode, but I'm completely stuck on level 15."

"I've offered to help, but he's refusing to accept help from a girl," Susan countered, "as if only boys can play games."

"I've shown him how to skip the level," Tom offered.

"I want to complete the game properly," Jack replied. "Once I've done a glitchless run, I'll consider the speedrun techniques."

"That level is virtually impossible," Tom stated, "each jump has a fifty-fifty chance of failure, and there must be thirty jumps to make."

"Twenty-eight," Anna corrected. "Fourteen if you have stockpiled enough health packs to rocket jump over two at a time."

The level in question is played from a top-down perspective and involves jumping between floating icebergs while being fired on by a missile launcher. The missiles destroy the iceberg you are currently occupying, plus one of the two icebergs you can jump too. On normal mode, it is possible to see the missiles coming before you jump, so as long as you get the timing right, you can easily jump to the correct iceberg.

On expert mode, you are forced to jump before you can see the second missile, so you can't predict which of the two options is correct using visual clues alone. The speed increases throughout the level.

"Susan, how many attempts did it take you to complete the level?" Emily asked.

"Got it first go on normal. Took ten attempts on expert, until I worked out how to tell which was the right platform. I can now complete it 90% of the time on expert and about 50% of the time on insane mode," Susan replied.

"I haven't managed insane mode yet," Anna stated, "I struggle on expert without the game running at double speed."

"Would you like me to teach you the secret to level 15 on expert?" Emily asked, "Since its obvious neither of you boys have figured it out yet."

"Okay, this I've got to see," Tom stated.

Emily picked up the controller and sat down with her back to the TV.

"Becky, can I borrow your scarf please," Emily asked.

Puzzled, Becky removed the silk scarf from around her neck and handed over the garment to her cousin. Emily rolled the scarf and tied it around her head.

"You are going to attempt expert blindfolded?" Jack asked in amazement.

"No," Emily replied, "I'm going to attempt it on insane. It might take me a couple of tries, I usually only do this with headphones. I'll need the volume up, and for you all to remain quiet."

Susan created a new game in an unused save slot before using the level select to start the game in insane mode at the start of level 15. Once ready, she handed the controller to Emily.

Taking a deep breath, Emily hit start. The sound of the heavy-rock backing track, playing at double tempo, filled the room. Listening closely to the music she waited for the sound of two rockets firing. Immediately after the second rocket sound, the next beat in the dynamically generated background music was a snare drum. With lightning quick reactions, Emily simultaneously hit the jump and left buttons. The thud of the player character landing amid two explosions signalled the manoeuvre was successful.

Less than a half second later the process repeated. This time the beat after the second rocket was a bass drum, indicating the need to jump to the right.

Susan and Anna, having witnessed the feat before, grinned to one another as the other three audience members watched on in astonishment as jump after jump was timed to perfection until the end of the level was reached.

Emily removed the blindfold and handed the scarf back to Becky. Clapping could be heard from the doorway.

"That was mighty impressive," Bill stated as he walked further into the room. "How did you do it?"

"You have to listen for the audio cues. It is possible with visual cues only, but they are all on the extreme edge of the screen and a very easy to miss, especially as each platform has a different hint. You either have to learn the position of 48 single pixel flashes, or learn two sounds."

Turning to Jack, Emily continued, "next time you play, listen to the percussion. If you get a snare drum immediately after the second rocket launches you need to jump left, otherwise jump right. You have three beats to make the jump. You will be in the air for two beats. If you get the timing right, you will be jumping on every eighth beat."

"I wish I recorded that," Tom stated, "that was awesome."

"Once the next patch is released, the whole game will be able to be completed blindfolded," Emily added, "There is currently a section in level 18 lacking audio cues. Once Alan finishes the coding, John will push the release. It was supposed to be done in time for Christmas, but Alan's wife broke her arm, so he's had to spend more time looking after their baby. I'm planning on making a blindfolded run and uploading it to YouTube in the new year."

What Emily didn't say was that she had already done a developers commentary on her channel for the levels she designed, including level 15. It had been her idea to base a level on audio feedback instead of visual feedback. The other developers weren't sure about the idea, but after the level was successful, they decided to make the whole game playable by audio, allowing it to be speed-run blindfolded, joining a select few games that can be run blindfolded, and the only one specifically designed to allow it.

The new patch was going to add a new challenge mode where the visuals are totally replaced by a troll-face over the top of a psychedelic background.

"I came in to say that we are ready to start handing out some presents, as the Phillips have arrived, if you would like to come through," Bill stated, revealing the reason for his presence.

~o~O~o~

The large living room was packed with guests as the younger generation filtered in.

The room was a large square. A large fireplace was on one wall. A flame effect gas fire was alight for decoration, but not putting out a lot of heat. To the left of the fireplace stood a 50-inch flat screen TV. On the other side of the fireplace was a large Christmas tree stretching up to the ceiling.

A coffee table stood in the middle of the room, and around the outside where three three-seater couches.

On the couch next to the tree, Emily's parents, Arnold and Marilyn, sat with Emily's Uncle, Dean Phillips.

Directly opposite, Dean's wife Helen was sat with her sister, Molly Bishop. Susan took the spare place on the couch next to her mother, Molly. Becky smoothed her dress under her as she knelt on the floor in front of Susan.

Tom and Jack took seats on the couch directly opposite to the fireplace. They joined their cousin, Eddie Phillips. Eddie was the youngest of the children at only eight and was the son of the youngest of the four sisters, Helen. Liz was the eldest, followed by Marilyn then Molly.

Emily and Anna decided to sit on the floor in front of Marilyn and Arnold. They could have pulled rank on Jack and Eddie but decided they didn't want to sit with the boys. Emily quickly introduced Anna to the remaining guests.

Bill was at a drinks cabinet, distributing sherry to the adults. Liz went to the tree and knelt down next to the pile of presents that had been gathered underneath.

"So that everybody has at least one present to open," Liz started, "I thought we would do a Secret Santa this year."

Liz began to pass around presents. The anonymous gifts were mainly boxes of chocolates or biscuits. Becky got some costume jewellery, but the fun really started when Susan unwrapped a second-hand book - Fifty shades of grey. This caused her do both blush and laugh. She was soon joined laughing by the boys on the couch.

"I was waiting until someone pulled a prank," Liz stated, "Sorry Susan, it seems you pulled the short straw".

Liz pulled the next present from the pile and read the label and gulped. Bill, seeing his wife hesitate asked, "What's the matter?"

"I think this next one might be a prank as well," Liz replied, "Jason, if you want to skip this, or open it in private, you can do."

Emily took the package. It was slightly larger than some of the others. From the size and shape, and the fact it was soft and bendy, she guessed it may be an item of clothing. Emily examined the label. It was printed off on a computer in a handwriting font, so that the was no way of identifying the originator.

"Jason, since you looked so jealous of the girls last year, we thought you might enjoy joining in this year," Emily read aloud. The room had gone silent, some looking on in puzzlement, others in anticipation.

Carefully, Emily turned the package over and broke the tape. Blue fabric became visible from underneath the paper. Unfolding the garment, she held up a blue dress decorated with white snowflakes.

"Wait, is that..." Susan Started to ask.

"The dress I wore last year," Becky interrupted. Becoming slightly agitated, she continued, "I swear it wasn't me."

By now the boys were roaring with laughter.

"Susan?" Emily enquired, figuring as the only other relative of similar age that knew her secret, she was the prime suspect. She knew it wasn't Anna, as she had to buy a tin of shortbread for Liz. Emily also didn't think it likely to be a stunt pulled by any of the adults in the know.

"Don't look at me," Susan replied. "If it was me, I would make sure it would fit. Besides it would have to be someone living here to have access to it."

"It may be a bit short, but unless Becky has grown considerably in the last year, it will probably fit you," Anna assessed. "No offence intended to Becky, but she is heavier build. Whereas you may be taller than your cousin, I don't think you are any wider. You can fit into skinnier styles."

"I think you should try it on," Anna suggested. Playing on the fact that everybody was assuming she was Jason's girlfriend, she practically purred, "for me? I think you'll look really sexy. I'll make it worth your while."

"I think perhaps the culprit should be made to wear it," Bill stated, "Which one of you boys would like to admit it?"

"You are not getting me wearing it," Tom responded, "It wasn't me, and besides it's less likely to fit me than Jason."

"Oh, I'm sure I can find something in my wardrobe that would fit you, young man," Liz stated, much to Tom's embarrassment.

"We could always make Eddie wear it," Helen stated, causing her son to stop laughing, "he is laughing the hardest, and he's small enough to fit in it. That is, unless you want to make Jack wear it."

"I wouldn't want to deny the opportunity to Jason," Jack responded. "He always looks so longingly at Susan and Becky. The way he's gripping that dress, I doubt you'll manage to tear it away from him anyway."

Attention returned to Emily, who was now breathing deeply near panic. She turned and looked worriedly at her parents.

"It's up to you dear," Marilyn stated softly. Arnold nodded agreement.

Emily slowly got to her feet and hung the dress in front of her to access the size.

"That looks a little tight," Susan stated. "I have a suggestion. I happen to know what is inside one of the other presents. It would be a better fit. I doubt you will wanting anything too tight given we are about to eat one of the biggest meals of the year."

"You didn't," Molly almost shouted.

"Of course I did," Susan replied, "However, I wasn't necessarily going to reveal the presents if she didn't show up by herself. I know the rules, and given the boy's reaction, I can see it's probably justified. Car keys, please?"

"Wait, you were going to pull the same stunt?" Dean asked.

Susan smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at her uncle as she disappeared outside, returning a minute later to present Emily with another package. This time the label simply said, "To Emily, Merry Christmas, love from Susan."

Emily unwrapped the present. I was a dress identical to the ones Susan and Becky were wearing. Red with white fake fur trim.

"I see I'm not getting out of this one," Emily replied. "Since everybody seems to think I would be better off dressing as a girl, I guess I should get changed."

"You can use one of the guest bedrooms," Liz stated.

"Here, take these with you," Susan handed Emily a carrier bag with some more wrapped items, "you may need them."

Emily handed the blue dress to her uncle, as he was stood nearby. Bill took the dress and then turned to the boys. By this time only Eddie was still laughing, finding the thought of his cousin dressing as a girl hilarious.

"As you find this so funny, Eddie, I think you just volunteered to wear this."

Bill looked to Dean and Helen, who both nodded that he could go ahead.

Only Tom, due to his close proximity, noticed the sigh Jack let slip. Suspicious of his brother, he decided he needed to have a quiet word with him.

"I'll see that he gets changed," Tom offered, reaching for the dress. His father handed it to him. "Eddie, come with me. Jack, I need you as well."

~o~O~o~

Gulping with fear, Eddie did as his elder cousin ordered. Tom led them upstairs and ordered Eddie into the bathroom with the dress, under strict instructions not to come back out unless he was wearing it.

"What's going on?" Tom asked, "You looked disappointed, and actually annoyed."

"I was supposed to end up in that dress," Jack admitted, barely above a whisper.

"We had an agreement," Liz stated, appearing next to the boys, with Becky following her. "Jason isn't the only boy in the family who was getting jealous. I found out Jack has been trying on Becky's dresses for months. When I noticed the blue dress was missing, I confronted him."

"I tried to deny it by saying it was for a prank to get Jason in a dress," Jack replied.

"I don't get it, why let the joke go ahead?" Tom asked.

"So Jackie would have an excuse for being in a dress for Christmas," Liz answered. "It was going to be punishment for pulling the prank."

"So it backfired," Tom reasoned, "I'm guessing Dad wasn't in on it. Although you were lucky Susan also had the same idea, as I get the feeling Jason was seriously considering putting that dress on."

"Oh, we planned for that," Liz stated. "Susan beat me to it. The is another one of those dresses in Jason's size hanging in my room. Your cousin is transgendered. I found out when I went to Norfolk. She has been living at a girls boarding school for the past few months."

"So, Jack can wear that one instead," Tom suggested.

"It's too big," Jack answered.

"Come with me," Becky stated, grabbing her younger brother's hand and leading her to her bedroom. "I'll find something for you to wear."

"You don't mind?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Who do you think tipped Mum off? I knew it couldn't be Tom, he is bigger than us so would need to borrow off Mum. I figured it was you ages ago. We kept a close eye on that charity bag of my old clothes to see if you would take the bait."

"So, who's getting the dress intended for Jason?" Tom asked.

"Are you interested?" his mother replied.

"Well," Tom hesitated, "I would never normally even consider this, but if it will make the other boys feel more comfortable, I'm willing to wear it, at least until after dinner."

Liz smiled and led the way to the master bedroom.

~o~O~o~

Meanwhile, in the guest bedroom, Emily unwrapped the other gifts in the bag. Having read the labels, and noting the instructions to open alone, she guessed what might be inside.

The first package was a set of three panties. As she was already tucked and wearing two layers of girls underwear, these weren't immediately needed.

The second package contained a padded training bra. It would be needed for making the dress sit right. It wouldn't have been a problem for the blue dress, as that was designed for a pre-pubescent girl.

Emily took off the jumper and the plain white blouse hidden underneath. Neatly folding the garments she placed them in the carrier bag, followed by her trousers. Plain skin coloured tights already covered her legs. She had chosen to wear a pair under her trousers and socks.

Wrapping the bra around her chest, she fastened the clasps and positioned the cups into a comfortable position.

Lifting the dress over her head she let it flow down over her body before zipping it up the back. Emily grinned at the reflection in the mirror. The dress was a perfect fit. Pulling the elastic out of her hair, she let the low boy style ponytail disappear.

Looking at the final present from Susan, a small makeup kit, a silly idea came to her head, "If Jack wants to make me look like a little girl, then perhaps I should oblige him."

Emily carefully applied some lipstick and blush. Using the wrong end of the makeup brush, she applied some fake freckles to her face.

She then proceeded to mess her hair up, before pulling it into two uneven bunches above her ears. One slightly higher than the other.

Laughing at her reflection, she packed up her stuff and headed down the stairs. The sound of laughter was emanating from the main room.

~o~O~o~

Emily entered the room to find the adults laughing. Eddie was sat on the couch, the dress scrunched where he had dropped down, making no effort to arrange it neatly. His arms were folded across his chest and was not looking amused, a scowl evident on his face.

Helen had her smart phone out, taking photo's of her son, much to his annoyance.

A cough from behind her caused her to look round.

"Excuse me, you're blocking the door," Tom stated.

Emily stepped aside to let the two brothers into the room. Gasps went around the room as Tom entered, now dressed identically to Susan, Emily and Becky.

"I knew that would look cute on you Jackie," Becky exclaimed as Jack followed his older brother into the room. The younger boy was now dressed in a green sleeveless dress. To make it a bit more seasonal, he was wearing a Christmas blouse underneath. It was white with small reindeers printed all over. The collar and end of the sleaves were black satin.

"Jason, come here," Marilyn said sternly, pointing at the floor in front of her. "No daughter of mine is going to go around with wonky pigtails. Sit!"

Taking a hairbrush out of her purse, which was sat next to the couch where she was sitting, Marilyn pulled the elastics out of Emily's hair and started to brush it.

"Oo, good idea, Jackie, come here," Becky instructed. Jack looked at his sister, smiled and sat down in front of her. His hair was shorter, but just long enough to pull into short, inch long, pigtails. Liz briefly left the room and returned, handing her daughter some hair accessories.

Susan grinned at the two other boys. Eddie shook his head and put his arms over his head so that she couldn't mess with his hair. Tom politely declined to participate further, "No thanks, but I think I've gone far enough. Eddie, stop being such a wuss. These clothes might feel odd to us, but they are not that uncomfortable. It's not that you're the only boy in a dress, nobody here under the age of thirty is wearing trousers."

"There, that's better, Emily," Marilyn stated, emphasising her daughter's name as she finished putting in two bunches. This time level, neater, and slightly further back, just behind Emily's ears.

Bill snuck out and retrieved his digital camera. It was a professional quality SLR with screw in lenses.

"Okay, boys, and I use that term loosely, I think we should mark the occasion with a few photos," Bill stated.

"Do we have too?" Eddie moaned, "It's bad enough Mum having pictures of me like this."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of publishing these on the internet," Bill replied.

Emily, Eddie, Jack and Tom posed for individual and group photos. Various photos were shot, of the individual families, and finally of the whole group.

"I lied earlier," Bill stated, "I will put these up on the internet so that you can download them, but it will be a password protected drop box file."

"You're being awful good sports about this boys," Dean observed, "Only Eddie seems bothered about having his photo taken."

"Everybody I know has already seen me in a dress before," Emily replied. "You've seen the photo's of the St. Trinians uniform I wore for charity last year. I'll probably post a selfie when I get home."

"I could probably live it down in the unlikely event that my friends got to see it," Tom added, "and nobody is likely to pick on Jack with me about. I know a few people who would come to our aide should anybody decide to make trouble."

Joe, the chef employed to cook the Christmas meal, appeared at the door and announced that dinner was ready to be served. He had been pre-warned by Bill what was happening, so wasn't shocked by seeing a bunch of boys dressed as girls. The only slight surprise was that he couldn't identify the fourth boy. He had previously met Tom, Jack and Becky when he arrived, so was able to recognise them. The youngest child was obviously not happy with the situation, so he rightly assumed that person to be male. However, he couldn't make out the last boy. The remaining children looked to all be girls.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 6

© D.L.

The group proceeded through to the dining room.

"Watch the girls as they sit," Tom whispered in Eddie's ear. "You don't want to end up with an uncomfortable crease under your bum from the skirt."

The young boy had calmed down a bit after seeing his elder cousin dressed in a similar fashion.

Bill, knowing he would be hosting over a dozen people, had extended their already large dining table with some temporary additions he had built in his workshop. Although he hadn't taken it up as his profession, he did obtain certification in cabinet making while at school.

It was a tight squeeze, and not all of the chairs matched, but the family was able to sit around a single table.

Joe started bringing in the starters. Around half the guests were having prawn cocktail, the others parsnip soup.

~o~O~o~

"I see Farcombe Engineering was in the news," Dean stated, striking up a conversation with his brother in law. "Must be a relief to know the company isn't about to go under."

"At least not immediately," Bill stated, "Although only time will tell if it works out in the long term. Are the stories about it being run by a couple of fourteen year old's true?"

"It's owned by a trust fund," Arnold replied, "The actual day to day operation is in the hands of an experienced manager. Hans Hertz may not be an experienced engineer, but he's worked in similar industries for the last decade."

"Hands hurt?" Becky started to laugh, "Seriously? What were his parents thinking? It's almost as bad as Drew Peacock."

"His parents are German, they may not speak English," Marilyn stated. "Be nice, Rebecca Edna Roberts."

This had the desired effect of silencing the girl. Not only did she prefer the shortened version of her name, she also hated her old-fashioned middle name.

Susan looked on in interest, slyly asking, "These fourteen-year-olds, anybody we know?"

Anna and Emily shared glances but kept silent.

"I very much doubt it will be anybody you go to school with," Helen laughed.

"Any competent financial manager won't be putting their eggs in one basket. If they have money to spend on buying up a failing business, then the total investment portfolio must be an order of magnitude bigger," Bill reasoned. "I managed a couple of portfolios when I still worked the stock markets. The is probably only a handful of kids with parents rich enough for the children to play on the stock market."

Bill Roberts had earned his fortune on the trading floor of the stock market. He was a young rising star but had left the high stress of the city after the last downturn. He now owned his own accountancy firm in Bristol.

"We go to school with some," Anna replied. "It's why we spend a lot of time in uniform, it stops some of the richer brats showing off all the time."

"Anybody famous?" Helen asked.

"Yes, but we have a rule. What happens in school, stays in school," Emily replied. "That includes who we come into contact with. I knew some of the students before I started, but I didn't know any others until I got there, even though some of them are classifiable as celebrities."

"We have the daughter of a football club owning Russian oligarch," Anna continued, referring to both herself and her half-sister. "There is also the daughter of a chart-topping singer. We have three members of royalty, though not British monarchy. I would guess about ten percent of the students are millionaires in their own right. A lot of the younger kids come from rich families."

"The younger years are smaller," Emily explained. "Quite a few families can only afford a couple of years worth of education, especially if there are multiple children. Although the school does offer family discounts for siblings. If I didn't have a scholarship, I wouldn't be there at all."

Emily was lying about the source of her funding. Anna, Molly, Susan, and Emily's parents knew that her source of income was from her YouTube channel and her co-authorship of the computer game, Rampaging Squirrels.

"We've been trying to get Becky into private education," Bill stated, "We are lucky that the boys can go as day students, so we get out of boarding fees. Arnold, you'll have to let me have the details. Of course, we wouldn't qualify for any grants."

"Did anybody watch the X-Factor final this year?" Dean asked, changing the subject. Bill had a tendency to brag when left to his own devices. The fact he could afford to put his sons in private schools was a bone of contention in the family.

Arnold, the most working class of all the husbands, found it the most annoying. However, Dean was also not immune to the odd jibe. Bill, whether intentional or not, had just insinuated that Emily was only attending via hand-outs as Arnold would never have the money to pay for it.

"I tried to get Tom to go in for it this year," Liz stated. "But he refused."

"My pitch-perfect choir boy years are over," Tom responded. "I can hold a tune, but so can thousands of other hopefuls. I may be better than average, but that doesn't mean I can get anywhere. Besides, I don't like being on stage."

"How many viewers watched your live stream this morning?" Bill asked.

"Only a couple of hundred. Considering I don't have a regular schedule, and it being Christmas morning, I was surprised I had that many. It's not the same as being on stage. It's you and a camera. The number watching is almost meaningless, as if you don't look at the figure, you don't know they are there. It's the figures on the YouTube videos that get me. I've gotten over 10k on my last one, and it wasn't even a record attempt. The recording of one of the former fastest runs has double that."

"Are you monetising the footage?" Emily asked.

"Yes, it's going into my car fund. Hopefully, I'll be able to afford something better than an old banger by the time I get to college."

"It's not the car you have to worry about," Dean stated. "My brother's eldest, Darren, has just learnt to drive. The insurance cost twice as much as the car."

"My half-sister keeps dropping hints she wants a Porche 911 convertible for her seventeen birthday," Anna stated, "Not that Dad is stupid enough to buy her one."

Further conversation was brought to a halt by the arrival of the turkey at the table.

~o~O~o~

"That was excellent Joe," Bill stated after dessert was finished.

"Shall we retire back to the other room," Liz stated, "I'm sure the 'girls' would like to open some more gifts."

The present opening was cut short by Dean getting stuck in traffic and the antics over the secret Santa. Rather than delay the meal, they had opted to leave the remaining gifts to later in the afternoon.

"Let's hope the rest of the gifts are gender appropriate," Bill added.

"I'm getting the impression that only boy here who hasn't liked the gifts so far is Eddie," Helen stated. "and technically, that dress wasn't meant for him."

"Can I change out of this thing now?" Eddie asked, "Please. I promise not to laugh at the others again."

"Okay," Dean stated, "but if don't behave, you'll end up in it tomorrow. I'm sure your other cousins, Darren and Damien, will love seeing you in that."

"Come on squirt, let's leave the girls to enjoy their girliness," Tom suggested. "My legs are getting cold, and this fur trim tickles."

"You're not joining the fairer sex then?" Molly asked. "Where, exactly, did that dress come from?"

"I noticed the dress Edward has on was missing," Liz explained. "When I saw the label on Jason's gift I suspected one or both of my boys may be up to something, so came up with a contingency plan."

The two boys disappeared upstairs to change. Jack looked around, not sure if he should change out of his sisters' clothes. A hand on his shoulder stopped him from moving.

"I've seen that look before," Emily whispered in his ear, "in the mirror every time I had to change out of Susan's clothes when Aunt Molly came home from work."

Jack gestured towards a door. Emily followed him into the study his father used as an office when he worked from home.

"I'm not like you," Jack stated. "You are right, I do like dressing like this, but I'm not a girl. I'm not transgendered. I guess the best description of me is that I'm a sissy."

Emily noted how her cousin almost spat out the last word. "Sissy has too many negative connotations. I believe the yanks have coined a better phrase: 'Janegirl'. The male equivalent of 'tomboy'. I never did like the fact girl's can be as boyish as they like but boys can't be girly. How long have you know about me?"

Jack glanced across at the clock, "about an hour and a half. Mum told us when we got changed. I knew something was up when she let me go ahead with the Secret Santa prank. I guess she knew you wouldn't be upset by it."

"My parents haven't gotten used to the idea yet. They may be going along with this, but they haven't actually stated this is permanent. At least they have switched to calling me Emily, but that is only because they know Susan and Anna would refuse to call me Jason when I present as a girl. They haven't confirmed anything yet."

"I'm sorry about the prank," Jack apologised, "it wasn't intended to be hurtful. I watched you last year. I could see something was wrong. Then it dawned on me, I was feeling the same thing. Mum found out about my cross-dressing. I would have ended up in a dress no matter what happened today, it's part of my Christmas present. The only thing that differs is how long I stay like this."

"Which way round is it?" Emily asked. "Is the punishment for upsetting me being forced into dressing like a girl, or being denied the ability to dress as a girl?"

"Definitely the latter, although I'll pretend it's the former," Jackie giggled. "We better get back in there before we're missed."

~o~O~o~

"I thought you had gone to get changed," Bill was surprised to see his son and nephew still in dresses. Tom and Eddie were back in their own clothes.

"What, and miss all the fun of our skirts tickling our legs?" Emily answered. "We were just comparing notes and working out how long we think we can get way with this before we are forced back into being boys."

"How long do you think you are going to stay like that?" Bill foolishly asked.

"Do you think I'm too old for an Easter dress?" Jack winked at Emily.

Arnold burst out laughing at the shocked expression on Bills face. "Welcome to the club, I've been outnumbered by women in my house for a while."

"You've given me an idea," Anna said. "I'm sure Jane could be persuaded to make matching Easter dresses for you two. She loves costume making and has a top of the line sewing machine in her room. She made a maids outfit for Tracy's doll, and that's more fiddly due to the small scale."

"Is she the one who offered to make you a little girl dress?" Susan asked. The offer had come during a session on Emily's fan server. Emily, Anna, Susan, Jane, and several others were playing using their online identities and the discussion had turned to things Emily has missed out on being a boy.

Jane, although going to the same school, didn't know that Emily and Generation2K, Emily's online identity, where the same person. At least, if she had worked it out, she was keeping that knowledge to herself as per Emily's wishes. Emily didn't want the other students to know, as she wanted to be treated at face value. It was important for her to experience being a girl without thinking that the other girls were simply humouring her.

"You can forget that idea," Emily stated. "I've told you two before that I have no intention pretending to be a little girl again."

"Again?" Jack asked.

"You remember that little pink frilly number your sister wore when she was five?" Susan inquired.

"God, I loved that dress," Jack replied. "I wore that whenever I could, despite it being a size or two too small."

"Me too," Emily replied. "I borrowed it numerous times off Susan when she owned it before it got handed down. I guess in that sense I had the advantage, as I've always been roughly the same size as Susan, being the same age. You might have had more opportunity due to living in the same house, but borrowing off someone two years younger couldn't have been that easy."

The room had grown silent at the revelations being made. Liz and Becky had discovered Jacks' cross-dressing, but only a few months previously. Nobody knew he had been at it for at least six years.

Susan had always known about Emily. With Susan covering their activities, Emily had remained undetected. Molly, Susan's mother, had only found out about Susan lending her clothes after Susan had helped Emily run away to boarding school, but had never been told how young it was when they began.

Arnold and Marilyn had been just as clueless. The signs of their child being transgendered were present, but they were oblivious to them. The first indications were noticed by the school, and that had resulted in an evaluation by a medical professional. Arnold had dismissed the findings as a load of psychobabble. Marilyn was slightly more willing to listen but believed it was simply escapism and not a real problem.

As Emily wasn't borrowing clothes from her mother, and nobody twigged that Susan might be helping, the first they knew about their son presenting as a girl was when he went to boarding school. They hadn't considered he might have been dressing up for a lot longer.

"That long," Liz shook her head, "I had no idea."

"I can give you the details of a good doctor," Marilyn offered, "He's been working with us on coming to terms with the fact we have a daughter."

"You don't need to panic," Jack stated. "Unlike Emily, this is just for fun. I'll be back to a boy in time to return to school."

"Pitty, I would love to see the guys faces seeing you turn up in a skirt," Tom laughed.

"March the twenty-fourth," Susan declared, looking at her smartphone. Seeing the puzzlement, she continued, "The date of red nose day next year."

Emily laughed, "The Saint Trinians outfit I wore for Comic Relief last year was a hoot. Just don't make the same mistake I did. This guy I fancied, Mark, didn't realise I was a boy and tried to chat me up. I couldn't help going all tongue tied."

"They thought Jason was gay before that," Susan added, "but that sort of sealed the opinion somewhat."

"I can't help it," Emily blushed, "he's just so cute. Beiber has nothing on him."

"I won't have that issue," Jack replied laughing, "I'm definitely a lesbian."

"I thought the surprises were supposed to come from the presents," Dean declared.

"Right," Liz stated, positioning herself once more at the tree. "We need to get these opened, or we will be here all night."

The Roberts had opened their gifts to each other before everyone else arrived. As people arrived, they added more presents to the pile under the tree. The presents were therefore distributed in reverse order of arrival.

Gifts from Helen, Dean, and Eddie were handed out first. Given the earlier shocks, they were glad they went for something gender neutral for Emily. The large cushion and throw would go nicely on her bed at school.

Emily had done two wish lists on Amazon. One for giving out to those who knew she was a girl, and a Jason list for those who didn't. She still wanted the things she put on the Jason list, but they were all gender neutral. A few big items, like the throw and a rug, or various gadgets, such as a digital radio.

Emily had opened presents from her parents before they came round. Anna and Emily were up at half seven in the morning so that Anna could skype her mother in Korea at eight. The nine-hour time difference meaning it would be early evening for her mother. Emily had gone to shower, giving Anna some privacy in the bedroom.

Emily had given her mother and father some boxes of chocolates and explained that their main gifts were already round at her aunt's, having gone shopping with her when they met up a month earlier in Norwich. She had taken the opportunity to buy some items that she couldn't get on her own, and that wouldn't be possible to bring home on the train.

Liz handed out the presents from Marilyn and Arnold but deliberately skipped the ones from Emily. She knew what at least one of the presents would be, and knew it was worth the wait.

Anna had bought each of the three families a large tin of biscuits.

Susan and Molly's presents were handed out next, as they had been first to arrive. Both the items for 'Jason' were small, as both had opted to buy for Emily, but not bring the gifts in. Susan had already given Emily the dress she was currently wearing. Her Jason gift was shortbread. Molly had bought her niece some slips and a nightie. The fleece jacket for Jason was unisex.

"Okay, in this final bag are the ones from Emily," Liz stated handing a small carrier bag to Emily.

"As I was away at boarding school, I couldn't buy anything too big, except for a few items I was able to get Aunt Liz to bring home with her from her visit."

Emily lifted what were obviously two square bottles out of the bag, and handed them to her father. Arnold carefully unwrapped a bottle of Jack Daniels, followed by a smaller bottle of Winter Jack, a mixture of Jack Daniels and Apple.

"I know you like them, and I had time to get them while Aunt Liz was with me, otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to buy alcohol."

Emily then pulled out two small CD-sized packages and two envelopes. She handed the first to Becky, "You remember when we spoke on the phone last month, I said I participated in making an album, and I said I would get you a copy? Well, here it is."

Becky unwrapped the CD and almost dropped it in surprise. "Alicia Morgan! You got to work with Alicia Morgan?"

"I happen to go to school with her daughter, Berry," Emily stated as she handed the second copy to Susan. Becky was the bigger fan of the two. "If you look inside, you will see both are signed copies."

"I didn't think you were allowed to talk about who you went to school with," Marilyn stated.

"Technically, it's not an enforcible rule. We don't actually sign non-disclosure agreements. It's all mutual consent and trust. The ones you and Dad signed were for my protection and unique to my situation. In this case, I have permission off Berry, as she helped get me the CDs. Which brings me to these."

Emily handed the two envelopes out to Susan and Becky. "Tickets to a private concert to be held during half-term in February. Susan, I know you are probably not that bothered about the music, but as it's being held at the school, I thought you would appreciate paying Wendy a visit. Technically you will be her guest, not mine. Each student can only invite one guest. If you want to reserve more than one, you either have to win one of the spares in a draw or bargain one off another student. Wendy didn't have anybody else to invite, so she agreed to invite you so that I could invite Becky and you could both attend."

"You also get to babysit Becky on the journey," Liz stated. "Emily has spoken to me about it, and I've consulted with Molly. We will let you two travel alone from London to Norwich, as long as you are together. Emily has paid for first class travel on a train that only stops twice with no changes. I'll take you to, and pick you up from, London Liverpool Street."

"I'll meet you at Norwich. The school will be running a shuttle service. You are not the only guests. There are several concerts over the course of the week, The first will be for students only who are not inviting anybody, the other three are for students to bring guests. It's invitation only, for friends and family of current students."

"Becky, you will be sleeping in my room," Anna added, "either in a sleeping bag or in my roommate's bed, depending on if she is in the school or staying with her guardians in Thorpe."

Emily made eye contact with her father. Arnold sighed, "Go on, I don't think one more shock is going to matter after what we have already experienced today."

"The reason why Anna's roommate might not be there is because it's me," Emily stated. "Only a select few students know I'm male. I'm attending the school as a girl. When term started, Miss Morgan crashed her car into one of the buildings, causing an evacuation of some of the dormitories. Hence why she is now doing private concerts, it's part of her making up for the damage she caused.

"I was originally going to be in a room by myself, but that would have left me as the only girl who didn't double, or in some cases triple, up. Anna, with permission from her father, offered to board with me to help keep my cover.

"We never got around to changing the arrangement back. Anna prefers being in with me instead of the girl she was supposed to board with, and I get a discount because I no longer get a room to myself. It's also an insurance policy, as nobody would believe the school would allow co-ed room sharing.

"That is why we allowed Anna to stay with us," Marilyn explained, "We don't have a guest bedroom, and we are not making her sleep on the couch. As these share a room during term time, we allowed Anna to sleep on a camp bed in Emily's room."

"My parents weren't exactly comfortable with my coming out," Emily continued, "So I had to plan for you not knowing my secret. Uncle Bill's assumption earlier today about me attending a co-ed boarding school is wrong. It's an all girls school. If I hadn't come out at all, then we were going to claim close ties to another school nearby, with the claim I would be there, and met Anna and the other girls at an interschool activity.

"I would have only seen you outside of the school. One of the teachers has temporary guardianship during term time, and I stay with them if needed. I often spend the night before my doctor's appointments, as it saves Mrs Jennings time if she doesn't have to come and collect me first.

"I was hoping to convince Dad to at least let you in on the secret, Becky. Not that it's relevant now."

Becky thought for a minute, "I guess now that I know, you will be staying in the school then?"

"That is entirely up to you," Emily replied. "Are you comfortable sleeping in the same room as me for a few nights? We have an on-suite bathroom, so you can change in private. As I admitted earlier, I'm not into girls, and even if I was, I would consider you off-limits due to being a cousin."

"I think I can put up with that, as long as you don't snore," Becky grinned back.

"That brings me to my final two sets of envelopes," Emily declared, handing one each to Bill and Dean, "Tom, Jack and Eddie are included in this as well. Dad, you are welcome as well, but I know you don't like football, so this probably won't interest you. Some of my friends happen to have connections at a premier league football club. I managed to secure you all access to a corporate box for the FA Cup third round on the seventh of January."

"Wait, Anna said something about a Russian oligarch earlier," Bill recalled, "This friend wouldn't be Svetlana Gurevich by any chance? She was in the news earlier this year, something about being placed under house arrest and escaping. Almost caused a diplomatic incident until she was let off to return to her boarding school in this country."

"I thought they went bankrupt and sold all their interests to the club," Dean countered, not believing the connection could be true.

"Sort of," Emily explained. "Yes, I know Svetlana, but we aren't exactly friends. She found out about me and tried to out me to the rest of the school. Originally there was only supposed to be one student aware of my status, Susan's former next door neighbour, Wendy.

"Mr Gurevich was one of our school governors and approved of my attendance. Svetlana accidently found out there would be a transgender student and tried to hunt me down. Sharing a room with Anna put her off the trail a bit, and she accused another student of being transgender. In order to stop it dissolving into a fight in the school canteen, myself and the other girl agreed to strip in front of an independent witness in order to shut her up.

"I was forced to come out to Svetlana, the witness, and the other accused. Svetlana's plan backfired. The girl she agreed on to arbitrate decided to declare that we were all female.

"Her father went ballistic when he found out what she had tried to do. The only reason he let her stay is because I calmed him down by agreeing not to sue him for breach of confidentiality over letting his daughter find out.

"There wouldn't have been any point in suing him anyway, I knew he was about to go bankrupt. It would cost me too much to try, and by the time I got him to court, It would be too late anyway. Instead, he has prepaid my tuition fees until I graduate, which I'm really grateful for, as otherwise, I wouldn't have been going back in January.

"I lied earlier about having a scholarship. Like Tom, I've been taking advantage of YouTube. I had one of my videos go viral. I was contacted by another channel looking for a piece of music to use as an intro to a series. They paid me a couple of hundred for the performance and put a link to my original in their description.

"The proceeds, along with the savings from my summer jobs was enough to buy one term. I know it sounds stupid, only going to boarding school for a few months, but it was worth it to me to prove that I was truly a girl. If I could survive there undetected, then the would be no doubt."

The original video was her performance of the Moonlight Serenade. John Larking had bought a copy for his intro. After becoming friendly, she was invited to join his server. It was only then she started making serious money.

Emily was downplaying her wealth. Mr Gurevich hadn't paid her school fees. Her share of the proceeds from Rampaging Squirrels was now paying the bill. She would still have managed to stay on her YouTube earnings alone, but it would have been very difficult. In order to keep up her income, she would have needed to publish twice as many videos, which would have put too much pressure on her free time.

She had signed up for the school while Rampaging Squirrels was still in early access release. It was starting to become popular, but yet to fulfil its potential. Emily hoped it would subsidise her loss of earnings due to not being able to release as many videos. It had overtaken all predictions by the time term started, and by the end of the month, she had raised enough funds to pay for her second term.

Combined with the expected royalties from the small cut of Alicia Morgan's album sales, even without Mr Gurevich's involvement, she had already earned enough to get through her three-year stay.

Mr Gurevich had instead 'sold' her shares in the football club. After he was forced to go bankrupt, he had to sell all his assets. He could afford to pay the bills but needed breathing space to obtain the necessary funds. Part of his long-term exit plan was to sell to the fans, so when the liquidator, a close friend of his, started to recoup the money, he sold a large chunk to the official fan club. Around a third of the shares were now owned by supporters, with preference being given to season ticket holders.

Several of the former players bought into the club, in addition to some of the current team. However, it was on the proviso that current team members would not be able to leverage control over the management.

Mr Gurevish effectively sold the remaining shares back to himself, or at least to companies owned by his family. Both Svetlana and Anna now had sizable holdings. He couldn't control the board directly anymore but was able to steer things through his daughters.

While transferring ownership to his daughters, he had put a small percentage in Emily's name.

In order to keep Svetlana from causing trouble, her father had made Emily the company secretary for the Svetlana's holding company. Svetlana was the owner and CEO, but couldn't actually spend any money without Emily's counter signature.

"To stop Svetlana bothering me," Emily continued, "her father set it up so that I have to countersign any transfers from her main savings account. All her allowance and any profit from any of her business holdings go into that account, so I effectively control her spending money. Mr Gurevich had already authorised a transfer so she could do Christmas shopping, but she wanted a top up, because like always, she overspent her budget. I only agreed to authorise the transfer if she let me use the corporate box."

"Isn't that blackmail?" Tom asked.

"Yes, and it was her father's idea," Emily replied, "He had emailed me to let me know that Svetlana would end up coming to me and that I should authorise a specific amount extra. His exact words were, 'make sure you get something from her in return'. As her company owns a large share, she gets a small corporate box. While she does use it herself, she normally loans it out for extra pocket money. Several of her friends have taken their families to games."

Mr Gurevich paying her school fees was a cover story for her wealth and suggested by Anna. Emily probably could have sued the Gurevich family, or put pressure on them for a settlement, but had no intention of even considering it. As far as Emily was concerned, it was a simple mistake on Anna's part that Svetlana found out, and she didn't hold a grudge against the girl who was now one of her best friends.

What Emily didn't know was that Mr Gurevich had come up with the cover story originally and that he would have paid her school fees if her business ventures failed. When Anna had approached him with regards to Farcombe Engineering, he jumped at the opportunity to have Emily take part ownership, knowing that he could manipulate the situation to send money her direction, in addition to his own daughter.

Although he didn't officially own the football club anymore and had to sell off a lot of his other assets, he still held a controlling stake in a chain of garden centres with thirty branches throughout the south and east of England.

Seeing that some of the DIY superstores were making a profit with their own brand power tools, he was looking for ways to do the same thing. Considering Farcombe Engineering made the motors for a number of these devices, he was going to have them be the supplier for electric motors for a new range of mowers, strimmers, shredders and garden vacuums he was planning on launching. He hoped to be the first retailer to stock mass market solar powered robotic lawn mowers.

Having been thanked for the tickets by the boys, Emily moved to the final set of envelopes. The previous set had been wrapped in blue paper with white snowflakes. These were red tartan with gold.

"Finally," Emily stated, handing out the envelopes, "I thought while the boys are away, the four sisters might like some time to themselves. I haven't had the opportunity to go there myself, but some of the girls at school highly recommend it, and that isn't just because it's run by a former student and gives discounts to St Mary's residents. Her younger sister is a friend of mine, and I managed to secure you an overnight stay, as it is a bit of a drive. It's up to you how you arrange to get there."

"I've heard of this place," Liz stated, looking shocked. "It's reputed to be one of the leading health and beauty retreats in the entire country."

"Wait, isn't that the one that got named dropped on the TV show, 'Loose women' a few weeks ago?" Helen added.

"Pass," Emily replied, "I don't get to watch daytime television, although it wouldn't surprise me. Stacy took Berry and a few of her other friends there when it first opened. Berry told her mother about it, so she ended up going there. Miss Morgan then recommended it to her celebrity friends, and there is now a waiting list. St Mary's students get to queue jump, especially if the booking is made via Stacy."

Emily had been invited to go along, twice in fact. Stacy had offered to take her, but Emily was worried about her secret getting out. The owner had also offered Generation2K a place, not knowing the connection, hoping to attract more customers from the transgender and cross-dressing audiences.

After watching the Queen's speech, the family sat and rested while the afternoon movie played.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 7

© D.L.

"We need to talk," Bill stated to his wife, who had just curled up against him on the sofa. Their guests had left and the kids had gone to bed.

Jack, much to Becky's amusement, had gone to sleep in one of her spare nightgowns.

"Don't worry about Jack," Liz stated, "I've already had him tested, he isn't transgendered."

"How? When?" Bill replied.

"About a fortnight ago. Becky spotted things moving around in her room a couple of months ago. When I learned that Jason, I mean Emily, is transgendered, I began to wonder if Jack was the same. So I spoke to the school's psychiatrist about it."

"Was that wise?" Bill inquired, "Any rumours about cross-dressing in a boy's school, it could cause trouble for him."

"It was entirely confidential, not even Jack knows the results, although he might suspect." Liz answered, "We do pay the school enough. Not many schools have their own medical team that can be called upon. Anyway, the Doctor arranged for the whole class to have some psychological testing, under the pretence of a science lesson. They got all the boys to do the tests, plotted the results on a graph, then compared it to another set of results from a different school where the were both boys and girls."

"What were the results?"

"Jack is a boy, albeit a rather effeminate boy. He was apparently the lowest score on the masculine scale for the class. An outlier on the bell curve, but not far enough to stand out. I had Becky take the same test, she is only a few percent lower on the masculine scale than her brother. The difference is that Jack only has half the score that Becky does on the feminine scale."

"Which means?"

"Becky's scores are within normal parameters for a girl. Her masculine index is slightly above average, but that isn't unusual for a tomboy raised with two brothers. Jack, on the other hand, is not a typical boy, but that doesn't make him a girl either. He is somewhat androgynous, with a definite sensitive side, and a distinct taste for lacy underwear."

Bill pondered for a moment, "How does his feminine score compare with the other boys, and if they plotted it on the graph, would anyone make the connection?"

"He has a slightly higher than average feminine score, but not much higher than normal, and the were several other close scores amongst the boys. The masculine and feminine scores were plotted on separate graphs, and there was no way of correlating the two scores. Jack did guess he was why they were doing the tests, he came to me afterwards to find out his results."

"I take it you knew about the prank, seeing that you seemed to be well prepared for it?" Bill observed.

"I discovered Jack's use of Becky's clothes some time ago. I have been keeping a careful eye on things. Becky has two sets of underwear now, one set is in her top drawer, where it has always been. She doesn't use those very often. The second is in a locked box beneath her bed, That way Jack can't get at them."

"I take it you know he is, er, using them?" Bill asked hesitantly.

"He hasn't left any stains, if that is what you are implying," Liz replied. "He seems to treat her clothes extremely delicately."

Sipping her gin and tonic, she continued, "I got Becky to put together a charity bag of old clothes, then left it out prominently for the boys to add anything they didn't want. Before taking it away, I looked through and found several items missing.

"While the boys were out at school, I had a good look round. I found the missing items hanging inside a suit bag in Jack's wardrobe. I have been keeping an eye on them since. I was planning on taking things and sneakily washing them when he wasn't looking, to keep them fresh.

"Anyway, a few days ago I noticed the blue dress had gone missing, and that a soft parcel had appeared under the tree, hidden behind other presents. When I read the label, I became suspicious, so carefully opened it. I knew it had to be one of our children, as they were the ones assigned to buy presents for Arnold's family.

"I confronted Jack. He denied it at first until I pointed out it was in his closet. That is when he broke down and confessed, not only about the prank but also about cross-dressing."

"I still don't get why you let him go ahead with it," Bill declared.

"Two reasons," his wife clarified, "To give Jack an excuse to be in a dress for a few days, as punishment. The other was that I knew Jason wouldn't be allowed to be Emily without interference. You now how proud Arnold can be, he couldn't accept he had a daughter. If Jack wasn't in a similar position, then we might never have met Emily."

"I hardly think he could keep it a secret forever. He may be able to control her for the time being, but in another four years, no chance," Bill stated referring to when Emily would be classified as an adult. "When did you find out? You obviously knew before today. If she is attending school as a girl, then I assume it has something to do with the trip we had to Norfolk?"

"I've known something fishy was going on since September," his wife explained. "You remember we had a panicked phone call asking if we had seen or heard from Jason just after school had started?"

"Yes," Bill answered, "He was supposed to be staying with Molly, but neither of them were responding to phone calls. Marilyn phoned us to see if we knew what was going on. She called back later that evening to say everything had been resolved and it was a miscommunication."

"Well, that's when they learnt Jason had run away to boarding school as Emily. Susan was running interference, so neither set of parents knew what was going on."

"Is that why she was grounded for a month for seemingly no reason?"

"Yes," Liz nodded. "I knew something odd was going on. Whenever I tried to get info out of Marilyn, she would change the subject. Molly filled in some of the blanks. Jason was being bullied, so the decision was made for him to switch schools."

Bill interrupted, "We already knew that. Rumours about him being gay causing trouble with some potential homophobes."

"If what Marilyn told me is correct, it may be more serious than that, but I will get to that in a minute," Liz stated. "Jason switched the forms, tricking Arnold into signing up for a different school than intended."

Bill laughed. Arnold's habit of not reading things properly was a running joke.

Liz swatted her husband before continuing, "You know how Arnold gets, that's why they didn't want to say anything. Arnold didn't want to admit he had been tricked. Molly told me about the switch but didn't say exactly where Jason was now going to school. When I pressed her for information, she said that it was being kept a secret so that none of the former bullies could find out where he was."

"Including from his own Aunt and Uncle?" Bill asked.

"You learned today the real reason," Liz responded, "Emily is living in stealth, only a select few people know that Emily and Jason are the same person. The fewer people that know, the less likely the secret gets out. Emily could be subject to bullying and need to change schools again if she's outed at school."

"How much of that is for Emily's sake, and how much is it that Arnold doesn't want to publicly acknowledge he has a daughter?" Bill asked. "You saw how uncomfortable they were when Jason, or more accurately, Emily, phoned while we were there. Guess they were worried she would spill the beans."

"I didn't tell you what Marilyn said on the phone later that evening when she called to confirm Anna was coming," Liz replied. "Marilyn is genuinely concerned about her child's safety. I don't think she is exaggerating. She told me that a fortnight into the new school term, a boy mistaken for being Jason, was beaten up and had to spend a few nights in Hospital. She wouldn't give the details, but I got the impression it was serious. She did tell me that threats had been made, and because of that, Jason was using an alias at school. She wouldn't tell me any more and that it would be up to Jason how much he reveals."

Bill nodded, "That fits with what Arnold told me as we were leaving. He asked me not to mention anything about possibly meeting up with Jason on social media, as Jason had some bullies trying to find him over the internet, and they might know that I'm his uncle."

Liz continued, "Molly filled me in on some of the details after swearing me to secrecy. Emily and Susan are close friends, and regularly video conference over skype. She told me that the reason for all the mystery is that Jason had been diagnosed as being transgendered, and he is somewhere where he can explore living as a girl in a safe environment."

"Is that why arranged to meet him on Saturday while I was busy doing business on the golf course?" Bill asked.

Liz smiled as she started to recount the events of their meeting.

~o~O~o~

The business trip to Norfolk was going to be interesting, Liz thought to herself as she rode in the passenger seat of the Jaguar XF next to her husband, who was driving. It was early evening on a Wednesday. They had left at lunch time.

Her conversation with Molly the day before was both intriguing and informative. She now knew her nephew might actually be a niece, although that had yet to be confirmed by Jason.

Liz wasn't supposed to be in on the secret and didn't know if Molly had told Jason that she had revealed that fact. To be safe, she had arranged to meet Jason first without her husband. Bill would be tied up in meetings all day Thursday and Friday. Saturday morning he had arranged to play golf with some of the other attendees who had opted to stay an extra night rather than travel home Friday evening.

While Bill was on the golf course, Liz would meet up with her niece or nephew. She wasn't sure who would turn up.

That was assuming she didn't run into Jason before then. While Thursday would be spent relaxing at the hotel spa and swimming pool, Friday she was going to look at a potential boarding school for Becky. Liz didn't know where Jason was going to school but did wonder just how many boarding schools were in the area.

~o~O~o~

Liz pulled up at the large metal gates blocking her way. At the press of a button, the window of the Jaguar descended into the door, so that she could speak to the security guard.

"Liz Roberts, I have a 9:30 appointment with the headmistress."

The guard glanced at his clipboard, "Certainly, please follow the signs for reception and use the visitor spaces near the entrance. It's straight ahead."

The guard pressed a button and the large gates rolled to the side. Once out of the way, Liz pulled away and drove up the road leading to the school.

The school grounds were surrounded by a tall brick wall. The school was not visible from the entrance. As the car travelled up the tree-lined road, it emerged from the wooded area to reveal what was once a large stately home. The group of buildings was a mixture of old and new. While some where centuries old, others were obviously new.

As she pulled up into a parking space, a teenage girl came out of the building and came up to the car. She was dressed smartly in a light blue blazer and skirt over the top of a plain white blouse.

"Elizabeth Roberts?" the girl enquired as Liz got out of the vehicle.

"Liz, please."

"I'm Francine. I'll be escorting you today. If you would like to come this way, Mrs Rogers is expecting you."

The girl handed over a security pass, which Liz hung around her neck. The two women entered the building, the younger one leading the way through the reception. A number of people were sat behind the reception desk in an open plan office. The were two adults and three of the elder students sat at desks typing.

Francine lead the way past the office down a short corridor before stopping at an open door and knocking on the frame.

"Come in," Mrs Rogers beckoned.

After excusing herself, Francine left closing the door behind her.

After introductions and the offer of refreshments, Liz opting for coffee, the two ladies sat down in a pair of comfortable chairs to the side of the office.

"I understand you are looking for a place for your daughter, Becky?"

"Yes," Liz replied, "She is currently in Year 7 at her current school. My husband and I feel she would be better in a single sex environment. Both our sons go to a local boys school and both are now obtaining higher grades since switching into private education. We tried to persuade her to go to boarding school when she moved to middle school, but she was very reluctant to be separated from her friends and family, so we let her attend the local school. However, the standard of education there is slightly lacking."

"Yes, I looked the school up in the national league tables," Mrs Rogers replied, "It's in the bottom 5%, so I can see your concern. Our current standings put us in the top quarter of the table. I would like to claim higher, but unfortunately, we have a number of factors that affect our scoring. Given the recent financial troubles, several students have been pulled out of private education due to the costs. Also, due to the relatively small number of students compared to state schools, we are more prone to fluctuations as there aren't as many students to average out test results. Therefore a small number of extremely bright students or a few academically challenged individuals can induce a larger bias than would be seen elsewhere."

"I have no complaints regarding the quality of education you appear to provide," Liz responded. "I'm more interested in finding out what other facilities you have, and what the living accommodation is like. As I said, Becky isn't particularly keen on leaving home. However, unfortunately, some of her reasons for not coming are no longer valid.

"Becky stands out slightly amongst her peers, as one of only a few students with wealthier backgrounds. Over half the students are from families with both parents unemployed, or claiming disability. She, of course, downplays it, to fit in, but it has led to some incidents of bullying. She recently found out that some of her former best friends were only friendly due to her apparent affluence, and ability to pay for snacks and entertainment."

"Ouch, that is never a nice thing to find out," the headmistress commented. "That shouldn't be an issue here. If anything she may have the opposite problem. We have one or two students who are millionaires in their own right, and I have had to deal with a few incidents of petulance and bragging. Peeling potatoes for a week or extra duties cleaning out the toilets or stables usually brings them down to earth with a bump."

"You have horses here?"

"Seven at the moment, four owned by the school and three that belong to students. Although we do have access to additional horses at other locations. We allow students to bring their own horses on the understanding they are made available to other students who want to ride. Is Becky into horses?"

"She was very big on My Little Pony when younger and likes the idea of riding, but hasn't had much opportunity. She has ridden several times, the last being a couple of weeks ago at a village fete where they were selling rides to raise money for the local church. While I'm sure she would love her own horse, we would rather spend our money on our children's education."

Mrs Rogers nodded, "Riding is an option for her here. However, availability is limited. Currently, every girl that is interested, which is about a third of our students, ride at a minimum once a week. We are hoping to get a few extra animals as we are trying to enter the national polo league. There is another boarding school about twenty miles from here, Langley. They have a well-established polo academy. Their riders spend up to 16 hours a week training. We don't have the capacity for that here.

"I'm not sure if you have come across Langley in your research. Its in Loddon, to the east of here. It isn't a single sex establishment, so I'm guessing you probably aren't considering it."

Mrs Rogers wouldn't normally mention the rival school in the area, but she had an alteria motive for mentioning it. She was aware that Emily, as Jason, was due to meet her aunt the following day In Norwich. By naming another boarding school of similar distance from the city, it gave a plausible location for where the child was located.

"Becky isn't unusual in that she is worried about being homesick and among people, she doesn't know," Mrs Rogers continued. "Most of the girls here went through that when they arrived, so are sympathetic to the problem. We try to welcome newcomers as openly as possible.

"Becky has the advantage in that she already met at least one of our students, and knows others through social media. Although she probably doesn't realise that they are students here. Does the name Wendy Spencer mean anything to you?"

Liz thought for a moment, "Its vaguely familiar, but I can't think where from."

"Wendy spends her summers with her mother, who lives next door to, and is close friends with, Susan Bishop. As such I believe she has met Becky on a number of occasions when she has been visiting her aunt and cousin."

Liz suddenly remembered the girl, "Yes, I've met her several times myself, tall with short hair, almost crew cut. I almost mistook her for a boy before she was introduced."

"There are other girls who know Becky here, they will make themselves known when Becky visits," the headmistress vaguely replied, deliberately not mentioning Emily/Jason by name. "I would like Becky to tour the facilities herself before the final decision is made, assuming you like what you see here today."

After an hour of discussing the curriculum, fees, and typical school timetable, the headmistress led Liz out to the reception where Francine was folding a stack of letters and placing them into windowed envelopes. Seeing that the was now needed, Francine came over to meet them.

"Francine will take you on a tour of our facilities and can answer any questions. She is in year eleven and will be leaving this summer. Her room is one of the ones that will become available for new entrants next year. Francine first came here when she was eight," the headmistress explained. Turning to Francine, she asked, "I assume you know whereabouts to take Mrs Roberts?"

"Yes, I have a suitable route planned, I have already spoken to the relevant teachers and found out which lessons we can slip into without causing a disturbance."

Francine was one of the few students who knew Emily's secret. When Svetlana had accused Emily of being Generation2K and challenged her to strip naked, Francine had been chosen as an impartial judge to determine if Emily was female. Much to Svetlana's annoyance, Francine had judged Emily to be female, despite her making no effort to hide her male genitalia.

While the secret would have to be revealed if Becky came to St. Mary's, steps were being taken so that Liz and Emily wouldn't meet, in case Liz accidently blurted out Emily's alternative identity in front of other students. Francine had a copy of Emily's schedule for the day and knew where not to go.

Emily was fully aware that her aunt was visiting, as she was kept informed of all visitors to the school in case anybody who knew Jason turned up.

"Good," Mrs Rogers stated, "Please make sure to include the stables, as Becky may be interested in taking up riding."

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 8

© D.L.

The first stop of the tour was the library, which was close to the reception. A number of girls were quietly working at tables set up in the centre of the room. Along one side of the room, and on a mezzanine level above, stood bookshelves filled with books. A number of computer workstations were down another wall. One side of the double height room was glass. The final wall being the one to the corridor and reception area.

"At any point during the day, there is always some students who are on free study periods," Francine whispered so not to disturb the girls working. "When not in lessons, they can come here, go back to their rooms, or go to the canteen. During summer, they can find a quiet spot outside. The bottom floor is reference, the top floor is fiction. While most research is done online, and most girls read ebooks as well, the are a number of pupils who still prefer dead tree format."

Slipping back out into the corridor where they could talk, Liz asked, "I noticed several girls working in the office, are you on a free period yourself?"

"No, " Francine answered, "Most of the year elevens spend one day a week doing work experience. It depends on how many years we have been here, and therefore how far ahead we are. I actually sat half my GCSE's a year early. I now work Fridays in the office. Some of the girls moan that it's just the school employing slave labour, as they can use us instead of employing extra staff, to keep the costs down. Personally, I think it's a good idea, as it gives us a good feel of a real working environment, and it means the school can spend money on other things instead.

"Other jobs include kitchen duty, grounds maintenance, and being a librarian. Some girls work outside the school in the local town. One of the girls, who would like to go into law, even has a placement at the county courthouse in the city."

Francine pointed out the canteen as they passed, "We will come back here later for lunch so that you can taste what our food is like. Meals are done in two sittings, Years 9 to 11 have breakfast first, at seven a.m., the lower years are half an hour later, so they don't have to get up quite as early. Lessons start promptly at 7:45.

"We have two, one-hour lessons with a five-minute gap in between. While teachers won't stop you going to the toilet if needed, they prefer you wait until the swap over point. Five minutes allows enough time to nip back to your room to change books, visit the on-suite bathroom if needed, and grab a drink. We are allowed to take drinks into classrooms. Drinking plenty of fluids is encouraged, as long as it doesn't result in constant interruptions to go pee.

"We have a longer twenty-minute break between second and third period. There are another two periods before dinner, which is 12:30 until 2:00 pm. The younger years go in first, this is so that they have longer after eating to sleep before the afternoon lessons. Power-napping is encouraged, especially for younger students, due to the length of the day.

"Lessons start again at two, the fifth period usually being some form of physical activity. It depends on how far you are ahead in your studies, and what subjects you are taking. The minimum is three sessions a week, but over half the girls take all five. There are two gymnasia," Francine stated as the pair emerged onto a balcony running down one side of a large sports hall set up with two indoor netball courts side by side. The room was currently empty.

Stepping back out into the corridor they had come from, they crossed over to the other side and entered a similar sized room. This time they were overlooking a room filled with various gymnastics equipment. As well as floor mats, climbing ropes, balance beams, springboards, and a trampoline, the room was half full of exercise machines. A line of rowing machines sat in front of a row of static cycles. Five of machines were in use.

Continuing down the long corridor, three squash courts were on the left-hand side, and three indoor tennis courts sat opposite. The end of the corridor emerged out onto a viewing platform over the full sized swimming pool.

"As you can see, the facilities don't get much use in the mornings. There are a few girls who like to exercise before breakfast, which is allowed. The girls in there at the moment are on a study period. We get study periods instead of homework. I actually do that myself, you can get almost as much reading done on an exercise bike as sat at a desk.

"Some activities, such as horse riding, are done throughout the day in order to fit everybody in. If you do horse riding, then you have to use the fifth period for studying instead of sports.

"I won't bother showing you around the sports fields, as the weather isn't particularly nice, we will drive past them to get to the stables.

"We are expected to show up at our designated activity suitably clothed. Most girls change in their own rooms, except for the day students, who use the changing facilities downstairs. There is a quarter hour break before the next lesson to allow students to go back to their rooms to shower and change. The other exception is the swimming pool, you can walk to the pool in a swimming costume, but you have shower and change in the wet change rooms here. We're not allowed to trail water all the way back to the dorms."

"Understandable," Liz replied. The facilities were certainly impressive.

"We then have two more lessons, 15:15 to 16:15 and 16:20 to 17:20. Followed by tea, which usually consists of sandwiches made with meat left over from dinner, with options for cheese and biscuits, salad, crisps, cakes, ice cream. Pretty much whatever you want."

Leaving the sports building still on the upper floor, they walked across a covered bridge over an access road to another building.

Stopping at the heavy wooden door, Francine stopped to say, "It might be noisy in here. If so, we won't stay. We need to go downstairs to the garage."

Walking in through a double set of doors, they came into the woodworking shop. Five girls of various ages and a teacher were in the room, each working on different activities. The teacher was overseeing one of the eldest using a fierce looking band saw to rip planks down in size.

A second girl was using a lathe to turn a thick chunk of wood. She was copying from a photo pinned up on the wall of a round table with a single central turned leg.

A younger girl was plaining a piece of wood by hand in a vice. Another was applying cane to the seat of a chair, weaving the dampened wood before holding it in place in the holes with golf tees, which would be replaced by thin dowels once complete.

The final girl was at a fume cupboard, using an air gun to apply polish to a decorative box.

Francine led Liz through another door, and down a set of stairs.

"We all get to make a jewellery box at some point. If you take up woodwork for a subject, then you usually get to design and make a piece of furniture. I made a chair three years ago as part of my A-level in cabinet making. Unlike normal schools, that concentrate on core subjects then allow you to specialise in your final few years, our education is tailored to the individual. That way, you can choose to do a subject at a younger age, and if you are good enough, you will get entered for the exam.

"I already have GCSE's in Maths, Geography, General Studies, History, and Home Economics. Mr Jackson thought my work was of a good enough quality, so I ended up doing the exam for the A-level instead of the GCSE, I only found out that I would be taking the higher level test a few minutes before the exam was due to commence.

"This year I just need to pass English Language, English Literature, Science, and Business studies. They are the only subjects I know take."

Reaching the ground floor, they stepped into what appeared to be a mechanics workshop. An old car was hoisted into the air on a lifting platform. The wheels were off. Three girls were busy, one at each wheel. An elder gentleman was stood leaning against a bench, watching.

"Hi, Mr Andrews," Francine declared. "I'm showing Mrs Roberts around, her daughter might be joining year 8 in September."

"Welcome to the workshop, I won't shake hands, as they are a bit oily," the teacher declared. "I teach various disciplines related to mechanics and metal working. I also do driving instruction. These girls are replacing the brakes. I've done the first wheel, now they have to do the others."

"Can I borrow a vehicle?" Francine asked, "I would like to show Mrs Roberts the stables."

"Sure, you can take the Fiesta," Mr Andrews stated, taking a set of car keys from a key safe on the wall. I hope you don't mind being driven by a fifteen-year-old, I can assure you she is perfectly capable and is capable of passing a driving test. It's one of the optional courses we offer. Although none of our students are old enough to obtain a licence, as long as their feet reach the pedals, we allow them to learn."

After watching the girls finish their task, and discussing some of the other vocational courses available, Francine led Liz outside to an older Ford Fiesta.

~o~O~o~

It felt very strange to be driven by somebody so young, but there were no other vehicles on the road as they drove the half mile across the grounds to the stables.

They parked up outside of a very old looking set of buildings. What caught Liz's eye was the miniature railway that terminated opposite where they had parked. A small diesel locomotive was hooked up to ten carriages, each capable of seating four people.

"That's how we normally get over here," Francine explained. "It can seat forty students. Normally we wouldn't have more than a half-dozen students here at any one time, but it also stops at the playing fields. It can take a while to walk down to some of the further fields, and while a lot of girls do walk down during their lunch break, others opt for the train. Its main benefit is at the end of the period when we are all exhausted. We can get back to the main complex quickly unless you make the mistake of missing the train out, in which case you have to grab a bike to get over to where you are going on time, and you then have to cycle back again, as the bikes have to be returned."

Two of the horses were in the stables. After making a fuss of each, they went and stood at the side of the field to watch. A two-on-two game of polo was in progress, with an adult on horseback acting as referee. After spending ten minutes watching, Francine signalled it was time to move on.

"We need to make one more stop before the end of the third period," Francine explained as they drove back.

On arriving, they parked back outside the workshops. Francine then led Liz down to another building. Pausing outside, they looked into one of the classrooms through the window. It was a science lab and the girls were at their desks. Each had a beaker half filled with liquid. Sticking into each was two metal rods with wires coming out.

"Learning about batteries?" Liz inquired.

"No, I don't think so, those things the wires are connected to are power supplies, looks more like copper plating to me," Francine replied.

~o~O~o~

"Looks like we have a visitor today," Abby stated looking out the window of her English class. She was sat at the window of the building opposite the science lab, on the upper of two floors.

Emily looked up from her book and leant over so that she could see the two people stood outside. She smiled as she watched her aunt follow Francine into the building opposite.

"We've potentially got a guest speaker next period, in business studies," Tracy replied.

"Oh, do they know they are a guest speaker?" Abby asked.

"I doubt it. I believe this is a potential student parent, as opposed to a parent of someone here," Tracy answered.

Emily went back to her book. Her next lesson was Music. She would have a ten-minute session with the tutor, then she would be heading into one of the practice rooms. However, instead of continuing to practice, she would be in a recording session for YouTube. She had arranged to stay in the room for the first half of lunch, only going down to the canteen when given the all clear via text message from Wendy.

~o~O~o~

"Welcome to the maths department," Francine stated as they entered the room.

The setup of the room surprised Liz, as it wasn't a typical classroom. The first difference was the furniture. Instead of the typical plastic seating seen in most schools, the students were sitting in quality office chairs around three conference tables, each with eight seats giving a maximum of 24 places. Twelve students were dotted around the room. The was no black or white boards, and no position for a teacher. It wasn't even possible to determine if there was a 'front' of the room.

Instead, there were three side rooms with partial glass walls so the occupants were visible. The largest of which had three desks, each with two chairs arranged in a 'U' shape around a white board. Four students were currently in the side room with a teacher demonstrating solving an equation on the board.

In a second side room, an adult and student were in deep conversation. The third room contained two students who were busy working on computers. Liz noted that the PC's didn't have visible keyboards, but instead the students were using stylus inputs.

The other noticeable thing was that the ages of the people in the room seemed to vary drastically.

"As you have probably noticed," Francine stated, "A lot of the lessons here aren't arranged by the age of the students, in fact, we mix people from different years where we can. Schooling is supposed to prepare you for the workplace, and you don't have people all the same age in most workplaces.

"This is the main working area, where we basically get on with the work we have been set by the teachers. Mr Harris is the main teacher, and he will take up to six students at a time into the side room to teach a concept, Mrs Moore does one on one sessions with whoever needs further explanation. She tries to see everybody at least once a week.

"Everybody has their own work plan and works at their own pace. If you are a fast worker, then you can opt to switch out some of your core subject lessons with alternative courses. Once you have been taught a concept, you have to practice it until you can consistently solve the problems set, then you can do a test, which if you pass, you can then move onto something else. The two in the side room over there are most likely doing tests"

"They are," one of the students stated, "Stacy is doing Stats 4, Mary is doing Trig 5."

Francine nodded before continuing, "Maths is where this style and layout works the best. We also use this layout in other subjects like History, Geography, and to a slightly lesser extent English. Where we use a more traditional approach is in science, as it is more practical to have a larger group doing the same experiment. We also have a large number of potential courses that students can do, so sometimes we have lessons where every student is doing a different unique course. That tends to happen more in the later years, where long term students have already passed GCSE's earlier than normal."

Liz spent the final few minutes of the lesson talking with the students in the room about how they found the style of lessons. The two teachers came out of the side room shortly before the end of the period and joined the discussion. They continued the discussion through the five-minute break until the start of the next period.

When the bell went Francine shew Liz to the now deserted bathroom, before stopping at a hot drink vending machine in the corridor. A short walk later Francine opened the door to a classroom with a very similar layout to the maths department. However, the side rooms were not in use, and instead, all 21 students and two teachers sat chairs in a circle around a mobile whiteboard. The tables had been stacked at one side of the room.

"Welcome, Mrs Roberts, I'm Mr Pyke, and this is the business studies department. I teach the accountancy and book-keeping side, and Mr Wilson, specialises in the subjects of human resources and law," one of the teachers introduced himself as Francine took a seat to the side. "We have a slight tradition here at St. Mary's of putting visitors on the spot. When we have a professional in our midst, we like to take advantage of their expertise in educating our students. I've been informed you're a qualified charted accountant. Would you be willing to discuss some of the work you do, and perhaps give your professional opinion to some of the example exercises we have?"

"I wondered what Mrs Rogers had in mind when she asked me if I minded participating in a lesson," Liz replied. "Very well, my name is Liz Rogers, and I'm a management accountant. My primary role is in the preparation of end of year accounts for small businesses. Basically preparing Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss statements. My particular specialism is in filing tax returns. There are some very complex rules about what costs can be claimed against for tax purposes."

~o~O~o~

"Thank you," Mr Pyke stated, shaking hands with Liz, "that was very informative."

The impromptu lesson seemed to go well, and although unexpected, Liz enjoyed the interaction with the students. After saying goodbye to the students the bell rang for lunch. Francine led Liz back to the canteen.

"If we head straight to the canteen, we should be near the head of the queue," Francine stated," as most students drop their books back in their rooms first."

Entering the canteen that Liz had briefly seen earlier they went over to the serving area.

"It's a carvery day today," Francine stated as they joined the back of the queue, "We have carvery three or four days a week, but the meats on offer vary each time. We always have a carvery on Sundays. Looks like today is either beef, chicken or gammon, or a slice of each if you want. Alternatively, the vegetarian option is Quorn toad in the hole.

"Every other Friday is fish and chips, although there is always at least three options, one of which is vegetarian. We do have what some people considered junk food, like burgers, chips, and pizza, but that is limited to two days a week. Mostly it's meat and veg or things like shepherds pie, cornish pasties, or things like that. Pasta and rice dishes also make appearances. At least once a fortnight we have a foreign cuisine day. So far this term we have had Chinese, Thia, and Italian. I think next week we have Mexican.

"Breakfast is either cereal, toast, croissants or a full English if you want it. I think I mentioned tea is sandwiches, salads, soups and such."

Francine opted for beef, while Liz chose for the gammon, each opting for a Yorkshire pudding. They both took some each of the vegetables on offer. Roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots, french beans, and a spoonful of cauliflower, before collecting some gravy.

After collecting drinks, both opting for tea from the various hot and cold drinks on offer, they proceeded to the last station on the line. Francine placed her tray on a shelf then leant over a tablet mounted above. After taking a credit card size piece of plastic with a QR code printed on it from her blazer pocket, she placed it on the tray next to her meal then tapped the tablet screen. An audible click was heard, and Francine removed her tray.

"You don't need to do that," she indicated for Liz to follow her, "It takes a photo of what we are having. The nurse reviews what we are eating at least once a month. We have regular weight and height checks. If anybody is over or under what they should be, then they have to either eat more or diet. Our health is taken seriously. We have had a few cases of anorexia over the years, which is why food and exercise are closely monitored. It might seem intrusive at first, but you get used to it, and the benefits outway the criticisms."

The pair went over to a table where Mrs Rogers was sitting with a group of three girls. There were two places left. Liz noted that the teachers seemed to be dotted around the room amongst the students and not sitting together by themselves.

"Hi Mrs Roberts, nice to see you again," a tall girl with short hair greeted the visitor.

"Wendy, isn't it," Liz responded. "We met at Susan's birthday party."

Wendy nodded, "To my left is Julia, and this is Svetlana."

The occupants of the table were not a co-incidence. These were the girls who knew Emily's secret, and it allowed them to talk about Wendy, Susan and Becky without Emily getting mentioned. Although few people knew about Becky, Susan had previously visited the school, and her connections to Emily and Wendy was known.

"I'm hoping to see Susan in February," Wendy stated. "I'm staying with my father in Scotland over Christmas, so won't be able to see her then. Hopefully, if her mother agrees, Susan will be paying me a visit at the February half term. Don't mention it to her, though, as the train tickets are part of her Christmas present."

"Quite a few students stay for the half term breaks," Mrs Rogers explained. "We usually arrange some fun activities for those who remain. We also allow students to invite family or friends to stay, while we have some spare beds, although this is limited. Girls who are potential students get priority. Becky would be welcome to visit, it would be good for her to see what she is getting into before a final decision is made."

"I will have to speak with my husband," Liz stated, "It would be a good idea, especially if Susan is here as well. Becky is a bit shy around new people. One of the reasons she has been using against going to boarding school is that she won't know anybody."

"We are working on fixing that," Wendy stated, "if we can raise enough money and can persuade Susan to accept a sponsorship to attend next year. Susan and Becky may even be able to share a room."

Emily's earning were higher than she initially expected, and she had potentially enough income to pay for Susan's tuition fees. Having become friends with several of the other students, there were several other students willing to top of Emily's contribution, including Wendy.

The school usually offered a discount where multiple siblings were in attendance. Mrs Rogers had approval from the board to apply that discount to the three cousins. As the school was getting a cut of the money Emily earnt via YouTube, they had a vested interest in keeping her happy. The deal was part of the discussions allowing her to attend in the first place, and compensation for the special arrangements made so that she could continue to make videos and earn money without the other students finding out.

"Susan has visited here before, and knows a number of the girls," Mrs Rogers explained, "She is in regularly contact with them over skype. Some of the girls have decided to do some fundraising to bring her here. The are also some grants available to help educate children from disadvantaged and low-income backgrounds, which Susan might qualify for."

"She won't be the first," Julia added, "The are a couple of girls here who wouldn't be here without help from their friends."

Svetlana countered, "Although, mostly that has been when they were already students and their parents couldn't afford to keep them here, so we had whip rounds so that they could stay."

"Says the girl who pays for another student to be here so that she doesn't have to make her own bed or do her own laundry," Julia snarked, causing Svetlana to blush.

"The girls are supposed to look after themselves," Mrs Rogers clarified, "They are responsible for keeping their dorms clean, and have to take their clothes to be washed. Each floor has its own laundry room with washing machines and tumble dryers. They are also taught how to use an iron, although younger girls are supervised. The rooms are regularly inspected, as are the girl's presentation. Turning up to lessons in creased or dirty clothes is not allowed.

"However, some girls really hate laundry duty, so have come up with ways around the rules, such as paying someone else to do it for them. I allow it to a certain extent, as I don't want to deny the opportunity for the less well off students to earn extra spending money, but I will intervene if I think they are being taken advantage of, are being bullied into it, it interferes with their schoolwork, or it takes up all their free time."

~o~O~o~

After dessert, Francine led Liz up to the dormitories as Wendy texted Emily that the coast was clear for entering the dining room.

Emily had finished her recording session and had returned to her room to drop off her gear. Francine's room was in the opposite direction from the canteen. The accommodation being split over three separate buildings around the grounds.

Francine pointed out the laundry room, having being reminded of it at lunch. They also toured the small kitchenette that contained an instant hot water tap, fridge and microwave that the girls could use for preparing drinks and snacks, which were allowed but monitored.

A small common room with couches and a TV was also present if the girls didn't want to be in their own rooms in the evenings. Liz was also shown the shared bathroom, the rooms only having on suite toilets and showers. Any girls wanting a bath instead of a shower had to book a slot in the shared facilities.

The next part of the tour was Francine's bedroom, which was one of the single occupancy rooms. After showing off the size of the room, and the school supplied furniture, along with the chair that Francine had made herself in the school workshop, they proceeded down the corridor to another room. Knocking on the door, they were shown in by one of the two year eleven girls currently living in there.

Having been shown the accommodation, Liz was led back to the reception via the music department. The range of instruments and associated facilities could now be demonstrated since Emily was no longer hiding there.

After another discussion with the headmistress, Liz left the grounds thoroughly impressed with the school and wondering if she could convince her daughter to attend and her husband to agree to pay for it.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 9

© D.L.

Liz peered out of the bus window as it drove into the city. It was Saturday morning. She had driven to the park and ride and was now heading into Norwich to meet her nephew, Jason.

Having checked the bus route, and confirming the meeting point with Jason by phone the previous evening, she was looking out for the unmistakable landmark of the castle.

When the bus pulled up on the road below the castle, she got off and walked back up the street she had just ridden along, back to the entrance of the Castle Mall, built underground in the side of the hill below the castle.

Liz was looking out for Jason, and possibly one or two friends. He had told her that school rules allowed students to go out in the city, but not alone. They had agreed to meet outside the mall, as it was the easiest place to describe.

The bus station was the other option. However, the multiple entrances and crowds of people ran the risk of them missing each other. Also, while Emily had hinted at arriving by bus, which she would have had to do if coming from Langley school in Loddon, the actual method of arrival was via train. The chosen meeting place was a shorter walk from the train station than walking to the bus station.

As Liz approached the entrance to the mall, she spotted the figure stood to one side. From a distance, getting glimpses through the other pedestrians walking the street, Liz hadn't recognised the person. The style of the knee-length navy trench coat was more feminine than masculine, but Liz didn't consciously realise the reason was the way the front crossed and buttoned. She couldn't see what was worn under the coat, as it was buttoned all the way to the top, with a pale blue scarf wrapped around the neck. Slate grey trousers and a pair of white trainers completed what was visible.

Jason waved to Liz as she approached and recognised him.

"Hi, Aunty Liz," Jason stated as he hugged her.

"Hello Jason, I didn't think you would be alone," Liz responded.

"The others are waiting inside in the warm," Jason smiled before turning serious. "Before we go meet them, I want to apologise for all the secrecy about my location. The reasons why will become apparent very soon. All I ask is that you don't get angry and make a scene."

Jason led them into the mall and over to the escalators leading down. Anna was waiting at the top of the escalator. Jason introduced Anna before they stepped onto the escalator.

"I have promised my parents not to say anything about why I'm here, or about the school I attend," Jason explained, "and as Anna is going to be staying with us over Christmas, she isn't going to say anything either."

"I don't want to risk upsetting Mr and Mrs Bridges," Anna added.

"However," Jason continued, "while Anna and I are limited in what we can say, we have brought along someone who has absolutely no restrictions on what they can say, so I just hope she isn't going to make any wild stories up because we can't actually contradict her."

Stepping off the escalator, Anna led the way away to a nearby shop entrance. Wendy, having been hiding from view, stepped out to greet the trio.

"Hi Mrs Roberts, how did you enjoy the tour of our school yesterday?" Wendy stated. Putting her arm round Jason she continued, "Emily here was hiding in the music department half the morning, only a handful girls know she is male, and we didn't want you accidently outing her to the whole school."

Liz couldn't respond. The full shock and implications of the revelation hit her. Jason was attending a girl's boarding school, apparently as a girl. The three girls in front of her smiled politely as she processed the information.

Liz then realised she was regarding all three individuals as girls. The slightly odd appearance of Jason that had been bugging her for the last few minutes suddenly made sense. The trench-coat was buttoned the same direction as her own and the other girls. Emily's ponytail was lowish for a girl but higher than most boy's would ever wear.

"I think we need to sit down," Anna stated, "How about we head over to the tea shop for a drink, my treat."

Anna went to the counter to buy the beverages which the other three found a table away from other customers. As it was still relatively early, the tables were half empty.

"I can understand why Arnold might not want to say anything," Liz said after sitting down. "Molly's warning now makes sense, she said to be prepared for surprises."

"Aunt Molly said I could trust you," Emily replied, "I don't think she likes my parent's decision to keep things secret, but she respects it. Given her shift-work patterns at the care home, she relies on Susan being able to stay with my parents when needed, rather than being home alone."

"She has been staying with us every third weekend," Liz stated, "However, we live a little too far away for weekdays."

"Yeah, she can walk to school from our's in the morning," Emily replied.

"I take it I'll be using her bed when I stay?" Anna asked.

"I'm surprised my parents went for that," Emily answered. "We only have a two bedroom house, so when Susan stays, she is on a cot bed in my room. It wasn't a problem when we were little kids. We were both five when her father left. As we grew older, the intention was always to find a better arrangement, but we never got around to switching.

"Of course in recent years, Susan has stayed at home alone more often, so it's usually only one night a week instead of the three originally."

"She was staying with me over the summer as well," Wendy supplemented, "That is why we became such close friends. Unfortunately, my mother doesn't know about Emily, so she couldn't come stay as well."

"I hadn't come out properly to my parents either," Emily added, "They knew I had issues, but refused to acknowledge them, so went into hiding."

"So who will be turning up on Christmas day?" Liz asked.

"Jason," Emily answered with a sigh, "My parents are insisting I have to be my old self so neighbours and family don't find out. Aunt Helen and Uncle Dean don't know, and I'm not sure I fully trust Eddie. He wasn't exactly sympathetic when the rumours of me being gay went round after I dressed up in a St Trinians outfit for Comic Relief last year."

"I heard about that," Liz stated, "I'm not sure what Jack said to him when they next met, but he quickly shut up on the subject afterwards. I don't think you have to worry about Jack finding out."

Haven't recently learned her youngest son was cross-dressing, she realised that certain tendencies might run in the family.

"That is good to know," Emily was relieved. "Susan and I have been trying to find out what the other cousins responses would be. The only one we confirmed was probably safe was Tom. We anonymously baited him in chat on one of his live streams, using the subject of the transexual gamer, Generation2K, to find out his attitude."

"What was his response?" Liz asked, realising the information would be important with how she handled his brother.

"He didn't really seem to have an opinion. The only thing we could get out of him was, 'whatever floats your boat'. He didn't seem to care either way."

They finished off their drinks before starting to head round the shops, starting off with the stores in the mall, before heading out on the lower of the two floors towards through the tunnel under the road heading in the direction of the marketplace.

~o~O~o~

They headed into Debenhams, where Wendy wanted to stop at the lingerie department for a new bra, as some of her current ones were getting tight.

"So who is coming to dinner tomorrow?" Liz asked as they were waiting for Wendy to come out of the fitting room. "Emily or Jason?"

"Whoever will cause the least amount of trouble," Emily answered.

"For you, or your parents?" Liz questioned.

"I'm not allowed to let you know my gender. The more people who know, the more likelihood the secret gets out. How will Uncle Bill react?"

Liz thought for a moment, "Bill isn't always the most discrete of people when it comes to secrets. I usually end up buying all the Christmas presents so he doesn't have to remember to forget what has been bought. I realise you probably don't like portraying a boy, but I think it may be safer to appear as Jason for the moment. That will give me more time to work on him before Christmas."

"I'll definitely be Jason for Christmas," Emily said with a slight hint of disappointment in her answer.

"What do you want for Christmas?" Liz asked. "I was going to take you clothes shopping, but that would be awkward now. I can't get you girls clothes if you are pretending to be a boy, and I suspect you wouldn't appreciate boy's clothes."

As Emily thought about it Anna cut in, "You can still get her clothes, just be crafty about it. Boy cut jeans for example."

"Not much point," Wendy stated, having come back to the others, "This is the first time she's been in trousers since she arrived at school, in fact, I think that is the only pair of trousers she has with her. Overcompensating much?"

Emily scowled, "The only reason I have these is because I had to leave home wearing them. I just don't like things that make me look masculine. I shouldn't have had that drink earlier, I'm going to have to go to the little boy's room before lunch."

"You will get less funny looks going into the Ladies with us," Liz stated, "If this is the best you can do at looking boyish, you are not going to have problems when you come home."

"If you don't mind, I will," Emily replied. "Although, if we stop in Chappelfield, they have unisex disabled cubicles I can go in."

~o~O~o~

After checking Topshop, they headed across to Marks and Spencer. Liz spotted some nice Christmas dresses and made a note to look in her local branch or order online. While going round, she made sure to note what sizes Emily was trying on. They browsed both the men's and women's departments. Emily was at the point were the children's clothes no longer fitted, but she was still small for some of the adult sizes.

They found a nice red cashmere sweater in the girl's department that was relatively unisex in style, that would act as a present to Emily from Tom. As it was getting near noon, they stopped in a cafe in the top of Marks and Spencers to have sandwiches and cake.

The girls quickly snapping shots of their meals on their phones. Keeping records of what they ate was school policy but optional when outside of the school. They had gotten into the habit of doing it anyway.

Emily was thankful that the closet toilets turned out to be a pair of unisex disabled bathrooms, which neutralised the gender specific issues, as in her current mode of dress she wasn't confident entering either the gents or ladies without people looking.

Having found Mark's to be expensive for smaller gifts, they headed across to Primark. A packet of unisex polo shirts were ideal for a gift from Jack.

Heading back past Marks and Spencers, they walked up into the Chappelfield mall. Anna wanted to hit the House of Fraiser. While being a more upmarket and expensive store, unlike the others, she wasn't on a limited budget. She soon found what she was looking for, some quality shirts for her father.

Leaving the store, they then browsed River Island, where Emily spotted a cute top and skirt combo that really suited her. Liz decided that would be a perfect gift, and despite the issues decided to buy it for Emily.

"You can take that back to the school with you," Liz decided, "I'll tell Bill we bought you some school trousers and left them with you so that you don't need to cart them back across country after Christmas."

"Thank you," Emily stated as they left the store after making the purchase, "I want to speak to you about my presents to your family. I know Becky is a big Alicia Morgan fan. She is going to be doing a concert at St. Mary's during the February half-term. I would like to invite Becky to stay at the school for the week, not only so that she could see the show, but also because I know you are interested in her attending. It will be an opportunity for her to get to know some of the students and find out what it is like being away from home, to bring her round on the idea of going away to school.

"The question is travel arrangements. You can, of course, opt to drive her here, but it's a long drive, which you would either have to do twice or find somewhere to stay here, assuming you would want to. Instead, I would like to pay for Becky to come here by train. I realise you won't agree to letting her travel alone, and the school wouldn't allow it either, but if she was travelling with Susan, would that be acceptable?

"If you are worried about connections and getting across London, then you could take turns with Aunt Molly and accompany them until they get on the train to Norwich. We would meet them here."

Liz thought about it. She wouldn't mind a trip to the capital. She still had a number of friends in the city from when she worked in the financial district. She had met Bill while working at a stockbrokers. Molly couldn't normally afford such luxuries, but Liz could pay for the trip as a treat for her sister.

"That's fine in principle," Liz reasoned, "I'll give you a provisional yes. Let me speak to Molly and get Back to you regarding the details."

"That's fine," Emily answered. "I don't need to buy the train tickets yet, but I will do before Christmas to get early booking discount. Also, can I ask that you to make sure that Uncle Bill and the boys don't have any plans for Saturday 7th of January? I think I can get tickets to an event they will enjoy, but it would have to be that date."

"I think that can be arranged," Liz stated. "I usually end up having to keep track of where everybody is, and I can always put a family meal in the Calendar."

"Arrange to go out with Uncle Dean and his family if you can," Emily added, "Uncle Dean and Eddie might end up with the same gift. I think I can get access to a corporate box for an FA Cup game. They might not support the team in question, but it will be an experience non-the-less."

~o~O~o~

The final stop was to go into the Sainsburys supermarket opposite the bus station. Emily needed to have an adult with her in order to buy Whisky for her father. Liz had agreed to take the drinks home and wrap them for her.

Liz offered the girls a ride to the school, but they declined. Liz only had a short drive to the Hotel from the park and ride, so it would be out of her way. Also, they would need to buy bus fair and they already had return tickets on the train.

Having seen Liz onto the bus, the girls began a casual slow walk back to the train station. They had plenty of time until the next train.

~o~O~o~

Bill followed Liz's directions as he headed out of the hotel and northward towards Norwich. Turning left onto the southern bypass he was instructed to exit at the second junction they came to. He was familiar with the A11 junction, as that was the route he had taken to get to Dunston. The easiest route being to come up the A11, take a short trip on the A47 southern bypass around the bottom of Norwich, and then down the A140 a short distance to the Hall.

He spotted the sign for Wymondham. Liz had pointed out the town as they passed on their trip up as it was where they were thinking of sending Becky. They continued to the next Junction, sign posted for the University and for Watton. Instead of turning right towards the city and the University, he turned left to head south-west.

Bill didn't know where Jason went to school. Liz had mentioned a second boarding school in the area, but he didn't know where it was located. In order to get to Loddon, he would have had to head in the opposite direction on the dual-carriageway they had just left, being to the East of Dunston instead of the west.

Anna had made the arrangements and had insisted on paying for the meal as a thank you for being invited on Christmas day. She had picked a village pub that was far enough away as to hopefully not be connected to the school, but also close enough to get to by themselves.

After off the A47 Bill took the first turning on the left to take them to the Village of Little Melton, and The Village Inn pub and carvery.

Anna and Emily had borrowed bikes from the school and headed to the same location, after arriving back from the church service at the abbey. They could cycle to the location via the back roads, avoiding all the major roads and therefore traffic. As per school rules, they were wearing helmets and high visibility jackets.

Emily was once again portraying Jason, having been careful to slip out of the dormitory when she thought people weren't looking. She had kept her ponytail high on her head until she had to put her helmet on. The same pair of trousers and trainers from the day before was joined by a plain white blouse, and a green fleece jacket, the coat from the day before being too long to use while riding. A clear plastic cape was in her pocket, should it start to rain. So far the weather was still mild and dry.

Anna had opted for black leggings, white blouse and a pink cardigan. Normally she would have dressed smarter, but the need to cycle prohibited that. She could have paid for a taxi, but she thought the exercise would be beneficial. It was also an excuse not to have a lift back to the school, as two bikes would not fit in the car. If bill insisted on giving them a ride instead of paying for a taxi, then their cover would be blown.

Bill and Liz were the first to arrive, and they entered and ordered themselves some drinks while they waited for the girls to Turn up. Bill opted for a pint of local ale, while Liz chose to have a sherry.

They only had to wait a few minutes for the girls to turn up. After chaining their bikes up, they entered the inn, Emily having spotted her aunt and uncles' car.

After introductions between Anna and Bill, lemonades were bought for the teens. It was soon time to have lunch.

Bill had been instructed not to ask anything about where they went to school, so the conversation was kept to other subjects. Emily kept quiet for the most part, letting Anna do the talking. It was always interesting watching Anna speak to businessmen. She had a definite knack for getting people to talk, and it wasn't long until she had manipulated Bill into giving anecdotes about the stock exchange, and tips on what he thought were good investments.

Liz watched in amusement as both Emily and Anna skillfully diverted the conversation when the subject matter got too close to anything to do with their personal lives.

The meal went smoothly and they returned to the bar area afterwards. Emily and Anna made their excuses mid-afternoon, stating they needed to make sure they got back before it started to get dark. In truth, it was only a half hour ride, rather than the longer ride they had hinted at.

~o~O~o~

"That explains a lot," Bill stated after Liz had finished reminiscing about their trip to Norwich earlier in the month. "I wondered why he rode off on an obviously girl's bike."

"He was telling the truth," Liz replied,"when he said it was the only loaner available. All the bicycles owned by the school are designed for girls. Their school uniform includes skirts, so they have to have bikes that have low crossbars so that they can ride them."

"I'm guessing that the owners of the pub recognised the bikes," Bill stated. "The did seem to be some odd glances going round."

"I found out afterwards that Anna has been there before. When Mr Gurevich visits his daughter, Svetlana, they often go there. Anna is at the school as a personal assistant to Svetlana and sometimes goes along with them to the meals," Liz replied. She had joined in on one of the teleconferences between Emily and Susan while visiting Molly.

"Why does a school kid need a PA?" Bill asked.

"I don't think she actually does," Liz replied. "Technically Anna is more of a maid than anything else. She was originally sharing a room with Svetlana until she got fed up and moved in with Emily instead. I get the impression that the school goes along with the arrangement, as it is an excuse for sending Anna there, but they make sure that Svetlana doesn't take advantage."

Bill finished his whisky and placed the glass on the coffee table. After thinking for a while he declared, "I have nothing against Jason becoming Emily if that is what is required. Good luck to her, she hasn't chosen an easy life."

"What about Jack?" Liz asked.

"He can dress up as a girl if he likes," Bill answered, "but he needs to understand there could be consequences if other people find out. Also, if he does leave the house as a girl, then he must be chaperoned by an adult who is aware of the situation. You can be taken into a women's bathroom if needed, but we need to make sure he doesn't use his passability as a way to spy on girls. I could totally see him sneaking into the girls changing rooms if he gets daring enough."

"Sounds fair," Liz replied. "I don't think he would do that, but unless he decides to transition fully, then those places are off limits, and may even be off limits afterwards. One of the reasons Emily chose St. Marys is that she could change in her room for P.E. Lessons. In a normal school, she would have to be separated from the rest of the girls to get changed, and that would have highlighted her as being different."

Liz hit the remote to turn the TV off, and they headed upstairs to bed. It had been a long and eventful Christmas day.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 10

© D.L.

Emily stretched and yawned, slowly becoming conscious of the light creeping in around the curtains. Raising her head, she looked across to see that the other bed in her room was empty. Glancing at the clock, she noted it was gone nine in the morning on Boxing day.

Getting up she wrapped her grey furry dressing gown around her shoulders, covering her pink satin pyjamas. Exiting the room, she checked the position of the lock on the bathroom door. Seeing the emergency unlock slot was horizontal instead of vertical, Emily correctly deduced that the bathroom was empty. After using the toilet, she washed her hands and face before descending the stairs.

"Morning sleepy head", Marilyn stated seeing her only child enter the room. Arnold, Marilyn and Anna were sitting around the kitchen table drinking tea, all of them having finished eating breakfast. "There is tea in the pot if you want a cup."

"I think that is the latest I've seen you sleep," Anna added, "I guess you must have been tired after yesterday."

Emily thought for a moment before replying. "I slept well. Better than I have for a while. I don't think I was tired, just more relaxed and less stressed. Yesterday was the first day in a long while, possibly years, where I haven't had to worry about my gender presentation. I'm comfortable when at school, but have to take precautions, and there is always that worry in the back of my mind. Before that, I was constantly worried about coming across as too girly. As a girl, I can always be tomboyish, while it less acceptable for a boy to be girlish."

"Tomboyish?" Anna asked with raised eyebrows, "You've worn skirts and dresses every day except for two days while your aunt visited, and even then you changed into a skirt as soon as you were back on school grounds."

Emily sighed, "Okay, I'm nervous when wearing trousers that a bulge might show. Especially with feminine styles, as they are often cut tighter. I don't like hovering in the middle, I would rather there be no confusion. Yesterday I was able to just be myself without needing to worry about my secret getting out. At least that secret. I didn't reveal my online identity, I got away without having to mention my main source of income."

"I'm surprised that nobody twigged that you're Generation2k," Anna replied.

Emily finished pouring a cup of tea and carried it and a bowl of milk and cereal from the counter to the table. "Susan already knew, obviously. As does Aunt Molly. Tom is more into first person shooters and speedrunning. He's never gotten into Minecraft, and as my channel is around 75% Minecraft, he wouldn't likely be one of my subscribers. I don't think Jack is a Minecraft fan either, although he is into Raging Squirrels, so would know of my online identity. If anybody puts two and two together, then it would be him. Eddie, bless him, isn't the sharpest knife in the draw."

"Although it's now used more as a derogatory term, Eddie is borderline on the medical definition of retarded," Arnold added. "Helen didn't realise she was pregnant until quite late, and in the meantime, she was prescribed a type of antibiotic that isn't regarded as safe for pregnant women. She stopped taking them as soon as she realised, but had been on them for a fortnight before realising the mistake."

Anna nodded, unsure how to respond. Emily continued, breaking the potential awkward silence, "Uncle Bill only does simulation games, usual war related, and his Youtube habits follow similar subjects. Documentaries and aircraft footage I believe. I don't think Aunt Liz plays many games, and wouldn't watch a gaming channel on youtube. The same goes for Uncle Dean and Aunt Helen. They do watch a bit of Youtube as far as I know, but not gaming related content."

Marilyn looked at her daughter as she sat eating her breakfast. It was getting harder to see signs of the former boy, even though the dressing gown was distinctly unisex in appearance. The glimpses of pink around the edges did enforce the overall appearance of a girl, given the hairstyle and mannerisms.

"Is dressing as a boy causing you trouble," Marilyn asked softly. "We thought it would be less stressful than having to explain you change to everybody. You seem a lot less passable as a boy than you used to be. Are you worried that you might be perceived as a sissy at the moment while portraying Jason?"

Emily put her spoon down in the empty bowl and sipped her beverage thinking, "Yes and no. I'm not particularly fond of being seen as a girly boy. I would much rather be seen as a girl with a hidden birth defect. However, I do get your reasoning. In some ways it easier to carry on pretending to be a boy rather than having to explain I'm a girl to people who might have rather negative reactions."

Arnold sighed. "You might want to consider getting some trousers on. Steven said he would pop round later this morning. He's gone out to the sales and will come round afterwards. He did ask If we wanted to go as well, but I figured that you wouldn't want to go."

"You have three women in the house and you figured a shopping trip wasn't going to be a popular choice?" Emily asked.

"While I like shopping, and like a good bargain, I can do without the crowds," Marilyn responded, "besides, I figured you wouldn't want to trail round the shops as Jason. Especially clothes shops, as I doubt you would want to visit a furniture store or buy a TV or washing machine, which is what is usually going cheap in the sales."

"We don't have room for any more furniture at school," Anna added, laughing, "and we already have a nice smart TV. I bought one for us at half term."

"Of course, she had to buy one an inch larger than Svetlana's, just to wind her up," Emily stated.

Anna giggled, explaining, "the price keeps dropping. I actually spent less than what Svetlana's cost. Plus, have you tried to buy a small TV lately? They seem to have stopped making them. The smallest I could find was 22 inches, and they are a rarity. I actually had trouble finding one that wasn't too large for the space available."

Emily stood up and put her cup and bowl in the sink. "I better get dressed before the ape arrives. Is the monkey coming as well?"

Arnold rolled his eyes at the sarcastic references to his cousin and his son. "I don't think Raiden will be coming, but you never know."

~o~O~o~

Emily was coming down the stairs when the doorbell rang. Once again she was dressed in her male persona, this time wearing a pair of jeans along with the Christmas jumper. Arnold reached the door as Emily reached the bottom, so were both present when Steven came inside.

"Arnold, Jason," Steve greeted. Looking at the younger family member he added, "Still not got a haircut then."

Emily humphed and flicked her head as she turned and headed into the front room, causing her ponytail to swing widely. It was mounted low instead of its usual higher location and was less in volume and length due to not containing the extensions she often used.

Steven followed Emily into the lounge with Arnold bringing up the rear. Marilyn and Anna were already in the room, watching TV.

Anna regarded the guest with a critical eye. She could see why Emily called him an ape. The man did seem to have an overabundance of hair on the parts of him visible, the most noticeable being the bushy beard, but also on the back of his hands. He was quite stocky with muscular arms. However, his legs were short in comparison with the length of his torso. Looking at his upper half, you would expect a tall person, but he was relatively short at only five foot seven. The net effect was that his long arms resulted in his hands being lower to the ground, similar to an ape. The sheepskin coat made him look like a wanna-be Del boy, something that may be accurate if Emily's description earlier was accurate. Anna had been warned that Steve was even more left-wing working class than Arnold, and may not be receptive to Emily's transgender status.

"Steve, this is Anna. Anna, Steve," Emily made the brief and to the point introduction as she sat down next to her guest, putting her arm along the back of the couch where Anna was sitting. Anna responded by leaning into Emily, who then lowered her arm round the girl. Although it had felt weird to both of them when Anna had first suggested posing as Jason's girlfriend to maintain the charade, they had both gotten used to being in close proximity.

Steven hadn't expected the other guest, but seeing the behaviour realised that the girl must be Jason's girlfriend. He decided not to make a comment about the boy finding himself a girl, deciding it may be in bad taste. He was actually slightly surprised the boy was in a relationship, as something about his mannerisms always suggested he may be homosexual. He placed a box on the coffee table as he sat down in an available chair.

"I got some things here you might be interested in, Jason. Some computer games I came across cheap. I didn't bother wrapping them, as I wasn't sure if you would want them. You may even have copies already, as I wasn't sure what you might already have."

Emily didn't respond other than a slight raise of eyebrows and a curious glance into the box. She suspected the chances of these games being legitimate were remote. When people refer to dodgy goods as 'fallen off the back of a lorry', the lorry in question was most likely driven by her father's cousin. A long distance driver by trade, he also owned his own truck which he did jobs in on the side, in addition to the hours working for a national company. Some of which were transporting things that reputable transporters wouldn't touch.

Pulling a DVD sized case out of the box, Steven proudly shew off the cover, causing Emily to burst out laughing.

"Whats so funny?" Steve asked. "This is a brand new release, it isn't even out in the shops yet."

Getting herself under control Emily replied, "True, and it won't be for several years yet. Rockstar hasn't even started writing Grand Theft Auto Six yet. They are still milking Grand Theft Auto Five and the online multiplayer. Besides which, they won't be releasing it for the Playstation 2. It went out of production years ago. Playstation 4 is the current generation. Playstation 5 may even be out by the time the next GTA is released."

Taking the box, Emily turned it over to the back. The were two text blocks on the back. The English block had an exceedingly generic description written with virtually no grammar and comically bad word choice. A sign of translation done by someone with only a slight understanding of the language and possibly done using inadequate software. Turning to Anna, she asked, "Can you read this?"

Anna examined the box, "No, it's not one of the languages I'm familiar with. It might be Indonesian. That is probably a heavily modded version of one of the third generation games, probably San Andreas. I've seen some videos online of heavily modded versions with ridiculous lead character replacements, including Wolverine and Dragon Ball Z."

"I think you may have been had," Arnold stated, "even I can see it's a rip-off. Haven't you seen any of the Playstation adverts on TV recently?"

"Damn, I've got two dozen copies to sell," Steve declared.

"You could try selling them as novelty fakes on a car boot, but you still might have trouble, as they are obviously not licenced products by the owners of the copyright," Emily replied.

"Okay, that one might be a loss, but this next one is definitely a winner. I've got a mate who can get me as many copies to sell as I like. I've seen this being advertised, and know a load of people who are playing it. Raiden has actually had a copy of this running on his laptop. How about a boxed version of Raging Squirrels with all three expansion packs included. Or do you already own a copy?"

"Oh, I'm definitely interested in this one," Emily stated. "I do have a copy, but only with the first expansion. Mainly as there is only one expansion written and it's only available as downloadable content. Also, the game can only be downloaded, not bought on disk, so I'm interested in what exactly is on the DVD."

"Here, try it out," Steve said handing the disk to Emily, who reached down the side of the couch where her laptop was sat in its bag. With Anna's temporary bed taking up room in her bedroom, Emily had switched to using her father's study as a recording studio, and she had been editing the footage she recorded with her father on Christmas eve the previous evening on the couch before heading to bed.

Emily fired up the powerful laptop, and then for safety fired up one of the sandboxed virtual machines she used for testing. As soon as she loaded the disk, the virus scanner started to pop up warnings about trojans and spyware. Quarantining the errant files, she fired up the debugger and decompiler she used for looking into the source code of libraries on her system. Within a few minutes of searching, she was able to identify how the copy protection was being bypassed.

The game communicated with a central server to verify user accounts. Unable to figure out how to remove the copy protection, the hacker had instead created a fake proxy server to intercept and replace the communication with the server. Providing the game code with a cached copy of valid credentials.

Emily smiled as she realised that not only would the crack cease to work in a little over a week, due to the encryption key using the month as a salt, meaning the cached credentials would cease to work, but also because the hacker had to use a real account in order to obtain valid credentials from the real server.

Emily immediately logged onto the private management interface of the authentification server and disabled the account in question.

~o~O~o~

While Emily was investigating the pirated copy of her game, Steven struck up a conversation with Arnold.

"I saw Farcombe Engineering in the news," Steven stated, "Looks like you've been having some issues."

"You could say that," Arnold replied. "Do you remember those robotic parts you transported for us?"

"I remember the stop at Brum Vegas on the way up. The lads had a grand old time," Steven replied. "I do remember that equipment, though, it was a bugger to get on the back of the lorry, we had to practically drag it on as the forklift trucks couldn't take the weight."

Arnold nodded, "Yeah, well one of those decided to throw a bloke across the room. Several broken bones and a nasty concussion."

"No wonder Farcombe was forced to sell," Steven deduced, "I bet he was being taken to the cleaners. That's got to be worth half a mil' damages at least."

"His wife was talking about several million, but I doubt they would get that," Arnold replied. "It's in the hands of our insurance company. Stanley is nowhere near as greedy as his wife. He's only a few years off retirement age. I reckon if he's offered what he would have earnt until retirement, plus a little on top, he'd take the deal and walk. Possibly find a job elsewhere part time. A couple of hundred thousand, a quarter million tops."

"Still got to sting a bit," Steven reasoned. "Even if insurance does pay, they're going to get it back in premiums."

After a pause in the conversation, Steven broke the silence, "What's the new boss like? Guess there won't be any more unofficial jobs for a while?"

"The new CEO is German," Arnold stated, "and I think he fits the stereotype. Efficient and by the book. No more cash payments for odd jobs. I made sure you are on the list of preferred suppliers, but it'll have to be properly VAT invoiced."

"Are they going to be bothered about me being your cousin, assuming they make the connection?" Steve asked.

"I don't think the new owners have anything against personal connections, as long as it's done transparently," Arnold answered. "Besides, I have a feeling I'm not going to be involved in the purchasing side as much."

"You screwed up the invoices again?" Steve asked. "How's the stock of toilet rolls?"

"Toilet rolls?" Anna queried.

"I accidentally ordered a thousand instead of a hundred," Arnold replied, "They were so cheap I didn't notice the slip. They were a fraction of the cost of what you buy in the supermarket."

Emily laughed, "It didn't help that Dad also thought he was buying one hundred individual rolls, not packets of a dozen each. I know the factory has a fair amount of employees, but even they would struggle to get through twelve thousand rolls."

"We stored what we could, then sold the rest off at cost," Arnold stated.

"I took a van load round the car boots," Steve added, "made a tidy profit."

Anna listened in interest as Steve related some of his other recent exploits. The guy was definitely dodgy. She made some mental notes, planning to send an email to Hans to keep a close eye on any dealings with Steven Bridges.

"I'm taking on the role of health and safety," Arnold explained. "So unless you know where to get a job lot of safety guard fencing, I doubt I will be sending any work your way for a while."

~o~O~o~

"So this mate of yours," Emily asked, "the one who does the disks? Who is he?"

"Why? You want some extra copies for your mates?" Steve replied.

Emily grinned evilly, "No, I want his name and address for the report I'm submitting to the police via the crime stoppers website."

"What the fuck?" Steven replied angrily, "I'm no fucking snitch."

"Fine, I'll give your name instead," Emily said in a casual manner. "Assuming the police even bother to follow it up. There is no guarantee that they will do anything, although they have been in the news recently showing off how much counterfeit goods they sieved on the run up to Christmas."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?" Emily's grin grew to Cheshire cat proportions, "Who do you think tipped the police off about Raiden's drug stash? How is he enjoying probation by the way?"

"Oh my god," Marilyn exclaimed, "that was you?"

Steven jumped to his feet with the intention of getting into his younger relatives face. However, Anna was too quick and blocked his path.

"Back off," the Russian-Asian girl commanded, "unless you want to end up in the hospital."

"I've seen her toss our gym teacher across the room, so I would do as she says," Emily stated.

"Didn't you say yourself that it was a good thing Raiden got caught," Marilyn interrupted, trying to calm the situation. "If he wasn't in prison, he'd have most likely been involved in that botched bank job that his so called friends tried to stage. It was probably for his own good."

Steven snorted and relaxed a fraction "suppose he was getting a bit out of hand. But there is a slight difference between ratting out someone going off the rails and a simple selling off a few CDs. Not as if anybody's getting harmed. Big faceless companies can get stuffed."

"Except the authors possibly losing out a chunk of money," Emily countered, "This ain't a big budget game retailing at forty quid. I can understand the excuse that some people are not going to pay a lot of money for it anyway, so they aren't necessarily a lost customer. However, this only sells online for a fiver, not much more than you are probably going to flog it for."

"So what if some company losses a couple of Hundred quid?" Steven asked.

"Did you bother to read the text pasted on the back of the case?" Emily queried, "crap print out from the website by the way. Have a look at the credits, the name of the band should ring a bell. I'll give you a hint, they played at Raiden's eighteenth."

Steven snatched up one of the disks from the box he had left on the coffee table and scanned the fuzzy bearly legible writing. The name of the heavy metal band that Jason and his friends had formed, and who had provided music for his son's birthday party, was not quite clearly listed under the heading of 'additional music by'. The main artist being listed as Generation2K.

This time it was Emily being aggressive as she invaded her relatives personal space, "All the contributors get a cut of the profit. It might only be fractions of a pence per copy, but it's a nice bit of pocket money. Might be enough for each of us to buy a half decent car by the time we can learn to drive. So why the fuck shouldn't I be upset about someone trying to rip me off?"

While her cut was much more than she had stated, due to having solo music in addition to being a third of the programming team, Emily was giving the true figure for the other band members. Emily had asked the other band members if they would allow her to submit a copy of one of their recordings, actually taken from a live performance done at Raiden's party, to the project, in return for a small share of the profits.

The other band members agreed. They were distinctly amateur, and we not likely to earn much other than for a few performances to friends and family. They also didn't expect much to come from it. They had already earned over a couple of hundred pounds, and that would likely rise to several thousand over the lifetime of the game.

"I'll deal with it," Steve declared. "I'll point out it's affecting a member of my family. Stealing from family ain't on. Might have to buy him some more blank disks, I don't know how many he's already ripped."

"Doesn't matter," Emily stated. "They will all stop working next week. Whoever broke the copy protection didn't do a very good job and the cached credentials are going to expire. That is assuming any device these disks are used on is still working by then. The amount of crapware and viruses crammed on the disk is enough to cause most computers to self-destruct. I'm going to have to nuke the virtual machine I just used to read it, and thoroughly check my main OS in case anything slipped past the sandboxing."

"Sounds like you're quite the expert in copy protection," Steven replied, "had much experience in breaking DRM? You've never been bothered by genuine articles in the past, you have had plenty of stuff off of me in the past."

"I realised a few years ago that the stuff you were peddling wasn't that genuine," Emily stated. "Admittedly I fell for it for quite a few years, but I'll put that down to being too young to know better. However, that's no longer the case. Being on the receiving end does put a new perspective on things. I'm willing to overlook piracy where software is so expensive, it is unaffordable to a whole section of users. In some cases, developers are greedy and ask for their content to be ripped off. I do try and stay legit as possible."

Arnold chuckled, "Some of your items are pretty obviously rip-offs. Kevin Clien underwear? Reebook shoes? The Beighley bicycle with the 'B' shaped suspiciously to look like an 'R'."

"Hey, they may have been imitations, but the quality was still there," Steven countered. "Jason rode that bike for years."

"Until the pedal shaft corroded and broke, leaving me free-wheeling," Emily replied. "Although I am willing to accept that might also be poor maintenance."

"What about all those music tracks you've shared with Raiden?" Steven asked.

"I now subscribe to a streaming music service, so I can listen to whatever music I like now without licencing issues. The few tracks I have that are not on the service are from bands where you can't even buy the music anyway," Emily stated. "Also, most of the tracks I gave Raiden are off YouTube and can be listened to by anyone, anytime. Technically, listening to them offline is dodgy, but I'm willing to overlook that, especially as there is no way Raiden would have ever paid for the tracks anyway, so it's not like the artists are losing a potential sale."

"How certain are you that the copy protection will kick back in?" Steven asked. "My mate said all traces of the copy protection were removed."

"Your mate is talking B.S," Emily answered. "The software periodically checks the licence against a central server. This copy is using cached credentials that will expire at the end of the month. Even if the checking was removed, which it isn't, you need a valid username and password to swap content online, which is one of the things making the game popular. The fact that you can design and share your own levels is a selling point. You could remove the copy protection, but you would render large chunks of the game useless if you did."

Steven wasn't quite convinced, "You seem awfully sure of yourself."

"I should be, I spent over a fortnight researching security and encryption in order to implement the copy protection," Emily replied. Seeing the surprised look on everyone's faces, she realised what she had just said and blushed.

"Wait, you worked on this game?" Steven asked in surprise.

Seeing his daughter's breathing getting faster, despite the outward appearance of remaining calm, Arnold decided to intervene, asking, "How much do you know about the game you are selling, and more importantly who wrote it?"

"Some games company in conjunction with a bunch of YouTubers," Steven replied. "Paradox studios?"

"Paradox are the distributors," Emily stated, "They helped get the game on Steam and on the console marketplaces. The actual game was written by Moonlighter Studios, which consists primarily of members of the Moonlight Minecraft server, plus a few other individuals, including some fans with programming knowledge who offered to help."

Marilyn studied the CD case, which included the credits printed from the website, "CrazyVikingMan47, TangoFoxtrot, Generation2k, T.Button, Iksaw663, KurtKMint, JumboGiant. Obviously their pseudonyms, not their real names."

"Tom Button uses his real name," Anna countered.

"Hey, isn't Generation2k that tranny kid? Saw an article on it in the newspaper, made a big fuss after some other kid got beat up by mistake," Steve recalled.

"That tranny kid," Anna growled angrily, "is a close friend of mine."

"Hey, I meant no offence," Steven put his hands up in a defensive posture.

"I suggest," Marylin interjected, "that you avoid using what could be regarded as derogatory terms. 'Tranny' is not a good abbreviation for transgendered, and I hope for your sake your reference to 'it' was in relation to the event, not the individual."

"Look," Steve replied, "I'm sure he's a nice lad, even if he's slightly screwed up and thinks he's a girl."

"The only one screwing up around here is you," Emily stated, "It's a recognised medical condition. Scientific research has found differences in male and female brains, and it is possible for brain and body to not match. Therefore, when an individual has been diagnosed and is in the process of transition, it is customary to refer to their gender as being that of the destination, rather than the source. In other words, she is currently putting up with a birth defect, and ignorant baffoons like you."

"Sorry," Steven apologised. "I should have realised you must know this person, given that you did some of the music, and a bit of the coding. Each to their own, I have nothing against the kid, and wish her the best of luck."

"Apology accepted," Emily casually waved her arm. Seeing that her friend didn't seem to be too upset, Anna relaxed back onto the couch.

"Jason's connections to Raging Squirrels are being kept quiet," Arnold explained. "There has been a bit of transphobic backlash against Jenny, and Jason has had enough problems at school already, without giving the troublemakers any more ammo. One kid was already put into hospital because of being mistaken for her."

"How's the new school going," Steve asked. "Haven't seen you about much lately."

"That's because I haven't been about much lately," Jason answered. "Did dad tell you where I'm going to school?"

"Somewhere the other side of Reading," Steve nodded.

"About 200 miles the other side of Reading," Emily clarified, exaggerating slightly by rounding up to the nearest hundred. "The music may only earn me enough for a car, the coding helps pay for a place at boarding school."

"Seriously?" Steven replied. "Wow, you're turning into a proper toff?"

"Hardly," Emily rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to wear a suit to class then," Steven joked.

"Naw," Emily replied. With a mischievous grin, she added, "Just a blazer and a pencil pleat skirt."

"I think Mrs Rogers would have something to say about turning up with no underwear or a blouse," Anna added, "Although Mr Yates might appreciate the view."

"Not from me, though," Emily countered, "I don't have enough up top to pull that look off."

Steve looked on in surprise, realisation slowly dawning on him. There had been something off about Jason since he arrived. The talk of the transexual and the involvement with computer game suddenly suggested a possibility.

Picturing a skirt on the person on the couch, combined with the posture and the long hair, Steve began to see that he may be looking at a girl. Indeed, the more he thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make.

He had read about Generation2k. A male to female transexual of around the same age as Jason, who also had started at a boarding school at a similar time, and was using the money earned from the game, along with YouTube earnings and Patreon support, to pay for a private education.

"You're not joking, are you?" Steven grew serious.

"My daughter is full of surprises," Arnold stated with emphasis. "She is also fed up of pretending to be a boy, and I suspect she will be changing out of those jeans into a skirt at the earliest opportunity."

"I didn't exactly bring a lot of clothes home with me," Emily countered, "considering you were insisting I spend my Christmas holidays as a boy."

"I just happen to have some designer dresses going cheap," Steven stated, recovering from his surprise. "They are in the boot of my car."

Steven was about to say 'Jason' but realised that might not be the best of ideas, "Jenny, I presume?"

"Actually my name is Emily. Jenny is my stage name. Also, if you tell anybody my secret I will kill you."

"My lips are sealed, I won't mention your transition to anybody," Steve promised.

"You can tell people about Emily," Arnold stated. "We are no longer going to keep that a secret. But don't tell anybody that Emily is Generation2k. We don't think any of the death threats are serious, especially as most of the complaints seem to come from bible belt Americans who have no idea where she even is, let alone be able to do anything about it."

"For some reason, I keep getting mistaken for Canadian," Emily answered, "No idea why. I might have said sorry a few times, but I don't think that I otherwise sound Canadian."

"These designer dresses," Anna queried, "are they actually real? I get the impression you mainly deal in imitation goods."

"Want to take a look?" Steven asked, smelling a possible sale.

~o~O~o~

"Got yourself a new car then," Arnold observed as Emily and Anna lifted the large box out of the back of the Volvo estate.

"Had too," Steve replied. "The jag gave up the ghost, blew the head gasket."

"Too costly to repair?" Arnold asked.

"I did buy a new engine off eBay for a couple of hundred," Steven replied. "but my mechanic mate, Arthur, who usually does my car and truck, has slipped a disk in his back and can't work. He's sold his business and has taken early retirement."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Probably sell it, if I can, otherwise scrap it. Pity, it was a good runner, but starting to show it's age."

"I know that look," Emily stated, seeing the grin appear on Anna's face.

"How much are you willing to take?" Anna asked.

"Why? you interested in buying?" Steve laughed, "you seem a bit young to drive."

"Actually, I can drive," Anna replied, "Just not legally on public roads. I also happen to know a bunch of girls who would love to get their hands dirty fitting a new engine to a car."

"The grease monkeys?" Emily realised who Anna was referring too. "Our school has mechanical engineering as a course, including a fully fitted garage workshop."

"As well as training for being a car mechanic, it also acts as a primer for anybody wishing to do any other form of engineering at university," Anna added. "While I'm not looking at that as a career path, I'm into business and languages, I know girls who are, and would like the challenge."

Having carried the box indoors, Emily and Marilyn started to inspect the contents, a number of dresses neatly folded in garment bags.

"So what is this car exactly," Anna asked.

"2008 X-type Jaguar estate. 170,000 miles on the clock. 2 Litre diesel. The replacement engine is also a 2-litre diesel with only 84,000 miles. Pale blue with ivory leather interior. Reckon I can get a grand for the lot on eBay."

Anna stroked her chin, considering her options. "I might be persuaded to pay that much, although that would depend on the condition. I do have the problem of getting it transported 200 miles away. I would have to factor the cost of transport into what I would be willing to pay."

"Let me have a word with my mates," Steven replied. "If I can borrow a low loader for my cab, I can tow it wherever you need it."

"I'm here until new year," Anna replied, "In the meantime, let's have a look at these garments."

"I don't think Gucci is spelt with a 'Y'," Emily queried as they started to look through the various garments on offer.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 11

© D.L.

"Did someone really get beat up because they were mistaken for you?" Steven asked.

Emily sighed, "Yes, David Larking, John Larking's nephew. John being the owner of the Moonlight server, and business manager for the game development."

Emily related how she had met David in Weymouth when the members of the Moonlight server had a meet up there. Emily had gone on a day trip there by train, as it was only a couple of hours travel from home she could get there and back in a day without her parents realising.

David Larking had gone to the meet up with his Uncle, being both a fan of his and the other moonlighters. Emily had attended the event in her male persona, as it was still before she started full time as a girl.

After meeting up with the other members, she as persuaded to change into girl mode for a short time, which she enjoyed as she interacted with the small group of fans that had turned up to meet the members and get photos and autographs.

Emily had worn her bright purple wig to hide her hair, both to hide her identity and to cover that she was still in the process of growing it out. She also kept dark sunglasses on for most of the day, requesting that photos be kept private.

One of the things discussed was her pending enrollment at St. Mary's. This was done at a private meeting of the members. This was usually done over Skype, so it was a rarity for several members to be there in person, the rest attending remotely as usual.

David, as he was there with his uncle, also attended the meeting, but kept to one side.

Several ideas for publicity stunts were discussed, including making public appearances. During the conversation, Emily mentioned that she would love to do a public appearance, but couldn't because of needing to remain anonymous. She also suggested that it would actual be beneficial if someone could impersonate her, as it would prevent rumours if some of the other students were to see both Emily and Generation2k simultaneously.

David, who had been listening in, offered to impersonate Emily. He was two years younger than Emily, and about four inches shorter. However, he had a similar build and facial shape to her.

It was therefore arranged that when Emily passed through Liverpool street station on her way to school, that a flash mob would take place and David would make an appearance, pretending to be Emily.

John purchased a grey pinafore style school dress for his nephew, along with a suitable pair of girls shoes, bought cheaply from a supermarket. A simple white unisex polo shirt was worn under the dress, along with plain white socks. On Emily's recommendation, David had agreed to wear several layers of girls panties under the dress. The reasoning being that while dancing, he may inadvertently flick the skirt and show off his knickers.

David had previously been involved with the amateur dramatics society through his parents and had taken part in a local pantomime playing one of the babes in the wood. He simply regarded it as an acting job, and the girl's clothing was simply a costume to be worn. The thought of dressing and portraying a girl didn't bother him.

All the official photos released of the event by Emily and John via twitter where carefully picked so that David's face was obscured. Also, while the main focus was on the main concourse, David danced about on the upper floor away from the main crowds. His mother took photos of him, and he was only about in amongst the general public for a few minutes before being led back through to a private area of the station to change back out of costume. Arrangements having been made with the station staff.

Liverpool street station was chosen as the venue as the St. Mary's girls would be gathering there on their way to Norwich. It was also the station in London which acted as the arrival point from the Larkings home near Clacton-on-sea.

Despite the precautions, undoctored photos of David as Generation2k were circulated. Several of these photos were picked up by children of far-right families living in the area, and David was recognised.

It started with insults and accusations, which David brushed off and denied. However, things started to escalate. It was a Tuesday afternoon, a little over a fortnight after the school year had started, that David was struck over the back of the head as he stood at a urinal between afternoon classes. The particular bathroom, while convenient being on route to his destination, was out of the way from the bulk of traffic flow through the school, and was less frequented than the other facilities.

Concern was raised when he didn't arrive for class. His friends had told the teacher that he had stopped at the bathroom, so his absence wasn't immediately questioned. However, as the minutes passed, it became apparent there was a problem. Ten minutes into the class, one of his friends was sent to find out what the problem was.

David was found unconscious on the bathroom floor, bleeding from the head where he had been struck. He was curled in a ball, in an attempt to protect his stomach from attack. The blow to the head had almost knocked him out. He hand curled up on the floor as blows rained down and he lost consciousness.

His attackers were swift and vicious and left quickly so not to be late for their own classes.

Once the alarm was raised, he was rushed to the hospital.

~o~O~o~

Emily was sat at one of the tables in the dining room with Wendy, Abby, and Anna eating a piece of cake. It was late afternoon turning to early evening, and it was tea time. Lessons had finished for the day, and the evening clubs and activities would be starting shortly.

"Om my God," Jane almost shouted as she dropped the fork she was holding, causing it to clatter to the ground. She was reading something on her tablet. The distraction grabbed the attention in the room.

"What's up?", Francine asked.

"Generation2K has been beaten up and is in hospital," Jane replied.

Emily looked at Wendy and Anna, who were looking back in equal surprise, not sure what to say. They couldn't easily deny the rumour without revealing Emily's secret identity.

"Don't believe everything you read," Svetlana stated, "It's obviously wrong. Nobody here has been beaten up."

"Shut up Svetlana," Francine interrupted, "We know you think Jenny is here, but we have already discredited that theory."

Mrs Rogers, having turned round from where she was sitting on the next table to Jane to peer over the younger girl's shoulder, added, "Random rumours on Twitter and Reddit do not mean that the story is true. I suggest waiting for an official announcement from Jenny herself. She is bound to make a statement when she hears about it."

Emily took her own tablet out of her book bag, sat on the floor at her feet, and examined her twitter feed. Several tweets had been copied to her regarding the incident. David Larking had been connected to his uncle and outed as Generation2k. A picture was circulating on Imgur showing two photos side by side. The left being a photo of David taken a few days before as he walked out of the school, the right of him on Liverpool Street station in dress, wig and dark glasses. The resemblance was obvious, despite the efforts to disguise his appearance.

Emily took the earliest opportunity she dared to leave the table and head to her room. Anna and Wendy, sensing that she had business to attend to, ran interference so nobody questioned her swift disappearance.

Mrs Rogers followed the girl out of the dining hall, catching her as she headed back to her room. Diverting the teen to her office, she asked, "Is that the first you have heard?"

"Yes," Emily replied, "I need to call John and find out what is going on."

Mrs Rogers agreed and brought up John's number, dialling the speakerphone. It was answered on the third ring.

~o~O~o~

"Fuck," Emily swore as John finished explaining what he knew. He had been called shortly after the incident by his brother, who was currently at the hospital. "Please tell me they have the bastards who did this."

"Not yet," John responded, "The police are currently interviewing David to find out more information."

"What can I do?" Emily asked, "Obviously I'll put a video out ASAP. I need to show that they got the wrong person."

"Perhaps," Mrs Rogers stated, "I should review the video before you upload it. The state you are in you may say something in anger that you regret later."

"Like my real identity," Emily growled. "The thought has crossed my mind that it may be needed in order to prove David isn't me. I may need to appear on camera with David in order to prove we are not the same person."

"I don't think that will be required," Mrs Rogers replied.

"How else do I explain why he was impersonating me?" Emily asked. Thinking further she added, "How long is he likely to be in hospital, and how soon can I possibly visit?"

"I'll find out and get back to you," John responded.

A few minutes later, after further discussion, a series of tweets were composed, circulated and re-tweeted:

@CrazyVikingMan - Nephew in hospital after beating. Not Happy. Seriously Angry Right now.

@Generation2K - I'm not in hospital. F*cktards got the wrong person. Beat up the Vikings Nephew instead of me.

@Generation2K - Seriously want to use those who beat David up as a punching bag. Get well soon buddy.

~o~O~o~

Westfield Acadamy was abuzz. The sound of the sirens could be heard through the school as first the ambulance arrived, followed by three police cars. All the classes on south side of the building witnessed a young boy being wheeled out on a stretcher. Many students were interviewed as they left that afternoon.

It was the following morning, and the rumours about what had happened had spread like wildfire. It was now widely known that David Larking had been attacked after being outed as both Generation2K and as a transexual. There was little surprise that a school-side assembly was being called.

The students filed into the large sports hall. The room doubled as a theatre for school productions, and a stage had been constructed at one end. It was a tight squeeze to fit all the students in, but it was managed.

What had been a surprise was the unusual instruction given to the students as they entered. The girls were to sit on the left side of the room as you faced the stage, the boy's on the right.

Once everybody was seated, mostly on chairs brought with the students from their classrooms, the teachers pulled the curtains on the ceiling-high windows on the side where the girls were sat. The two sets of doors on the other side, near the boys, were also closed.

A single spotlight illuminated the stage, where the headmaster, Mr Nichols, was standing.

"Welcome," he began, "I would normally say good morning. However, this morning is far from good. I'm sure you have heard the rumours after one of our students, David Larking, was taken away by ambulance yesterday. Because of this, we have some guests with us today. However, before I introduce them, there is a matter that needs to be cleared up regarding the motive for the attack. Please pay attention to the following video presentation."

The headmaster walked to the side of the stage, and the spotlight turned off, leaving the room in near darkness. A projector mounted on the ceiling started to project an image onto the large white canvas above the stage.

A picture of a Minecraft scene of a blocky tree on a hill, in front of a star-filled sky and a half-moon, filled the screen. An electric guitar version of Mozart's Moonlight Serenade belted out the speakers mounted on either side of the stage.

The opening of many of Generation2K's videos was instantly recognisable to many of those present. Those not familiar with Emily's usual output were left in no doubt due to the logo in the bottom right corner.

Gasps went around the hall as the image cross-faded to a scene of a child in a hospital bed. The figure was sat propped up on cushions. A bandage was across his forehead and bruising evident on his face. David's hands were resting on his stomach, holding a microphone, and the cannula in his left hand was visible, along with the pipes of clear liquid to which it was attached.

"Morning Moonlighters," David stated. "Despite rumours to the contrary, I'm not Generation2K."

The camera zoomed out to reveal a second person sat in a chair next to the bed. The distinctive purple wig and dark glasses were easily recognisable to those who had previously seen her videos. Emily grinned as she took over mic, using it to partially obscure her face as the camera zoomed in slightly, "David is not me, as you can plainly see. However, he has played me, standing in for me a couple of weeks ago."

The scene changed to show a still portrait of David dressed up as Generation2k. This one was of his head and shoulders and was taken on the day in question. Unlike the other photos that had been circulated, this one was not trying to hide the identity of the individual, and his face could clearly be seen.

The video was paused, leaving the still image on screen. The spotlight was turned back on as a figure emerged from the darkness, dressed in clothing identical to the photo.

"Hello everybody," Emily stated. "I would like to say it's nice to meet you, but I'm not expecting a warm welcome."

The curtains were pulled, allowing natural light to flood into the room as the spotlight dimmed, and the overhead neon lights flashed into life.

"That's better," Emily responded. "I want to be able to see the faces of the fucking cowardly arseholes who think it funny and appropriate to sneak up behind somebody taking a piss and whack them over the head."

Gasps went through the hall at the statement.

"Does my language shock you? Well tough, my level of anger is well past the point where I care about censoring myself. Mr Nicohols and your teachers can't tell me off because I'm not a student here. Just like the little shits yesterday, I'm not pulling any punches. The only difference is I'll be delivering verbal kicks, not physical. That is unless any of you would like to come up here and have a go at me."

Emily paused for a moment, scanning for movement before continuing, "not that I expect anybody to do that, after all, there are two many witnesses. Including the police officers on the doorways waiting to arrest the idiots responsible, and anybody else who may have been protecting or assisting them.

"Yes, we are aware of the culprits, and I hope you are shitting yourselves now, as it is only a matter of time before you get dragged down the police station.

"Some people in this room, despite being born this century, seem to have attitudes that the majority left behind in the last millennium.

"Yes, I'm physically male and I'm wearing a dress. So fucking what. I hear that you have some boy's here that moved from Scotland. Guess you better beat the crap out of them as well, after all, they may have worn a kilt at some point.

"So I happen to like skirts and dresses, not that it's particularly relevant. Half the girls here seem to be in trousers. If cross dressing is such a bug crime, why aren't they being harassed and beaten? In some backwards countries, they would be.

"Do I like being a transexual? Fuck no! I hate the fact my body doesn't match my own internal self-image. I've taken steps to correct that problem. One of those steps is to live as a girl, amongst other girls. Those girls have no idea that I have a birth defect, as it isn't relevant and it doesn't really matter.

"What does matter, at least to me, is that I have the opportunity to live my life like any other girl here in this room. The only way I can be sure that I'm being treated equally is if they don't know about me. That is why I keep my identity secret, and it is why I couldn't appear at Liverpool Street as myself. I was there, but with girls that don't know I'm Generation2K, and more importantly, don't know I'm not the same as they are.

"David volunteered to stand in for me, so I could be in two places at once. Just like a doctor puts on scrubs, or a mechanic puts on overalls, as an actor he put on a costume. That costume just happened to be of a schoolgirl. Because of that, he is now lying in a hospital bed wondering if he can ever safely come back here again.

"I don't know if he will or not, but I can perhaps try and neutralise some of the hatred towards him. Quite frankly I would love to be able to make all the boys here come to school in dresses for a week. I suspect there might be some of you that would actually love that. Alas, I can't do that.

"I can, however, do other things to piss the haters off. Although I suspect I'm doing that by simply being here. You may be wondering why you are split up by gender. That is so when you all hold hands with the person next to you, it will be somebody of the same sex. That won't bother most of you, but the culprits will probably see that as an incredibly gay thing to do, and will therefore automatically hate it."

Mr Nichols stepped alongside Emily and added, "Of course, you could refuse. Just be aware anybody not holding hands within the next twenty seconds will be in detention for a week."

Grumbling and shuffling could be heard as the mass of students complied with the instructions, some less willingly than others.

"I do apologise to those standing next to the miscreants," Emily continued, "they must have really sweaty palms by now, waiting for the police to call them out. Maybe they are wondering if I'm bluffing. After all, they cowardly snuck up behind David thinking they wouldn't be seen. They were wrong. Note I say they, as in multiple attackers. We know there was more than one. David caught a glimpse as he passed out. He has given names and descriptions to the police. I don't know the exact details, of who was involved, but the police do.

"Have any of you ever watch any of the CSI series? Most of what they portray is a load of nonsense, but there are some things that are real. DNA evidence is a thing, as is blood splatter. Also, you really shouldn't wear bling when punching, it leaves marks. The search warrants recovering what was worn yesterday were executed as we entered the room here.

"Of course, the most concrete evidence is that of the hidden CCTV cameras in the hallway."

The projector sprang back into life on cue. David could be seen in the distance disappearing out of view through a door. Two individuals entered behind them and came dashing out shortly afterwards, heading straight down the hall towards the camera.

"You fucking idiot, I told you that it was a bad idea" one of the perpretators shouted at the other as he punched the other culprit as their faces became clear on the screen.

A small scuffle broke out as policemen invaded the hall and restrained those fighting. The two boys were quickly cuffed and led out of the room.

"You can let go of each other's hands now," Emily stated. "Let's lighten the mood a little now that nastiness is over."

Several cheers came from the crowd as the music teacher came onto the stage and handed an electric guitar to Emily.

"This isn't the first time I've faced bullying and physical violence. At my previous school, although I never came out as transgender, I was singled out for being gay. I was lucky in that I had friends stick by me, otherwise, it might have become unbearable. I came across a video on youtube filmed five years ago with a message that puts things into perspective: It gets better. I'm going to perform it now. It isn't one I play often, especially in public, due to the amount of swearing involved, but I figured I've used enough bad language this morning, a bit more won't hurt. It gets better, by Rebecca Drysdale." https://youtu.be/cTQNwMxqM3E

~o~O~o~

"I ended up doing three other songs as well, before signing autographs," Emily explained to Steve.

"You didn't get in trouble for swearing then," Steve asked.

"No, it had been prearranged that morning," Emily replied.

"I'm surprised the police didn't just immediately arrest the individuals," Steve observed.

"That was my idea," Emily explained.

~o~O~o~

As Emily was new to St. Mary's, her individual lesson plan was still under development. That meant she was yet to have a fixed timetable and had already undergone numerous tests to find out her current knowledge level. It was, therefore, easy to hide her absence from the other students. A few questioned why she missed breakfast, but that was covered by an early morning dentist appointment.

Emily actually left school grounds after curfew the night before and stayed overnight at her guardian's house. Mrs Jennings then drove her down to Essex early the next morning, arriving in time for breakfast at the hospital. The children's ward had open visiting hours, and Emily paid David a visit, and helped him with his breakfast, as he was struggling to eat with his hands bandaged.

While there, the police detective in charge of the case arrived with some photos taken from the CCTV footage from the school. The cameras had been installed by the school janitor with the permission of the headmaster, in order to catch whoever had been stealing supplies out of the janitors closet on that particular corridor. None of the other staff knew that the camera was there, as it was suspected it could be a teacher rather than a student.

Neither the Janitor or the Headmaster had been present the previous afternoon, the former taking a day off and the latter being at a meeting at the county hall in Chelmsford, an hours drive from the school. The headmaster found out about the incident the previous evening after arriving home from the meeting. He met the police at the school at seven the next morning to retrieve the footage from the camera.

Emily had offered to do a rebuttal video with David the night before, in conversation with John. David suggested doing a more personal message for his school friends, in addition to the one for general release for her YouTube fans. Emily decided she would like to take it one step further, and with David's father's help, phoned and spoke with Mr Nichols while the police interviewed David.

After recording the intro, Emily was driven to David's school. In the meantime, warrents were sought for the boys identified, and police dispatched. By this time the boys had already left for school. However, they were able to raid one of the two homes, as the parents of the main suspect were unemployed and home.

Emily was with Mr Nichols at the school when the police arrived. It was then that Emily requested that they boy's not be arrested as they arrived, but instead wait until the assembly. Emily pointed out that the evidence was still thin, and that they might do something to incriminate themselves when confronted. The chief detective decided that waiting a few minutes wasn't likely to cause a problem, and it would be interesting to observe, especially as he suspected the may be more people covering for the main attacker, or at least sympathetic to the hate crimes committed.

While not standard police procedure, the opportunity to gather intelligence could not be overlooked, so the plan for the assembly was set into motion.

The police were happy with the outcome, the fight between the two boys being the final evidence they needed for a conviction. Emily was satisfied that she had at least somewhat made amends for causing David an issue, and David, after reviewing the footage taken of the school assembly, was glad that the two boys had been arrested, and that in general, there appeared to be anger at what had been done to him, meaning that there would be plenty of students welcoming him back to school when he was well enough to attend.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 12

© D.L.

Detective Chief Inspector Osborne sipped his coffee as he reviewed the notes of the attending officer. He had been called in off standby due to a sexual assault of a fourteen-year-old girl. A fourteen-year-old male was currently waiting in an interview room with his father.

Constable Wentworth had detained the teenager. However, he had made it clear in his discussions and notes that the reason was for protection, not because he thought the person was guilty. The father of the victim, another possible suspect, was behaving aggressively towards the boy, so had escorted the youth to the station as a means to defuse the situation. The outcome of the interview would determine if an arrest would be necessary.

The DCI entered the interview room. He nodded to the Constable who was stood to the side monitoring the prisoner. The father was in the room, sat on a chair to one side. A lawyer was sat beside the prisoner. The detective didn't recognise the lawyer. He wasn't one of the normal people on roster assigned by the courts and wasn't one of the local representatives from the private practices.

DCI Osborne kept a poker face, hiding his surprise at the appearance of the prisoner. He had seen some strange characters in his career, but not many of them would consider using the interview room for meditation.

Emily opened her eyes hearing the policeman entering the room. She carefully unfolded her legs and repositioned herself on the chair.

"First of all, I would like to confirm your identity," the officer began. "There appears to be some confusion in the reports I have read."

Emily nodded, expecting this question, "I am a male to female transexual under the care of a trained professional in the field of gender dysphoria. Due to the possible negative reactions of certain individuals who I suspected might be present, I was attending the party using my original male identity of Jason Alex Bridges. I have applied for and received a change of name to Emily Jennifer Bridges, which is now my official name. Although I was attending as Jason, when I called the emergency services, I was so focused on Zoe that I used my new identity."

Zoe Sheilds was currently in a private room at the local hospital under protection by female officers. The initial medical reports were not promising. Initial results suggested a cocktail of date rape drugs and alcohol. The exact chemicals used would not be known until further test results were received. A rape kit had already been collected, including possible DNA evidence. The was no semen recovered, but flesh and blood were retrieved from under her fingernails. She hadn't yet regained consciousness, despite the attack happening several hours previously.

Emily had volunteered a DNA sample on arrival at the station, which would be compared to any evidence collected from the victim.

"I can provide a copy of the deed poll of my client, as well as copies of the signed letter her doctors have provided regarding her real life test." The lawyer, Adam Edwards, stated. "I trust that the gender orientation of my client won't effect this investigation."

The DCI ignored the suggestion of possible bias, and continued to ask, "How do you know the victim?"

"We were in the same school up until last summer. I shared several lessons with her including being on the same workbench during science lessons. She is a close friend of my cousin, Susan. Although she can be both abrasive and obnoxious at times, I regard her as a friend."

"Can you explain how you came to be at the party?"

Emily nodded and started to explain the circumstances.

~o~O~o~

The invitation had unexpectedly arrived on the 27th. Nobody saw who put if through the letterbox, but the lack of stamp and postmarks on the envelope meant it was hand delivered.

Jason's name had been put on the outside. Inside was a pre-printed party invitation with hand-written details. Both Jason and Anna were named and asked to attend a party to be held on Friday the 30th. Zoe had signed the invitation with a cursive signature.

On the back was a message stating that all his friends are invited and that everybody would love to catch up with him while he was in town.

"Is this party genuine?" Emily asked Susan over the phone.

"I spoke to Zoe this morning," Susan replied. "Yes, it's genuine, this isn't a prank this time. The party will be happening, assuming people turn up. I don't know how many people will actually attend, given that she has pissed off just about everybody in the last few months."

"I know she can be obnoxious, but I thought she was getting better at controlling herself," Emily replied.

"She has been alienating people left, right, and centre since summer. Virtually nobody at school will have anything to do with her. She has been suspended twice for swearing and ranting at teachers. I've tried to get to the bottom of her problems, but she won't open up to me. When I try to talk to her about the rumours circulating, she accused me of badmouthing her and stormed off."

"Dare I ask what rumours?"

"The rumour is that she has been giving blowjobs to the boys in year eleven."

"Those kinds of rumours always spread, usually originating from other girls. Does she have a boyfriend? There might be some jealously involved?" Emily reasoned.

"No, at least nobody steady. I would normally agree with you on that, but something about Zoe's behaviour gives me the feeling there is some truth to the rumour. I can't work her out. She seems starved for attention, yet incapable of letting people get close. I can totally see her doing something like that to try and get attention. The teachers are also worried. She has had several sessions with the school councillor, and I was interviewed by the headmaster himself over my thoughts on the rumour."

Susan sighed, then continued, "I think this party is a last ditch attempt at becoming popular. She is practically begging people to come along. She asked me last week if you would be in town for Christmas."

"I assume you told her about Anna, as she is included on the invite," Emily interjected.

"Yes, standard cover of you being her boyfriend. Given her current behaviour, I suspect she might have tried to come onto you if she thought you were single. Given some of the messages I received this morning, it looks like she is trying to persuade other to come along because you are invited. Tim and David asked me if you would be there, as they couldn't get any response from you on social media."

Tim Gooding and David Smith were two of Jason's friends from his previous school. When the rumours spread over his sexuality, they were the two boys who defended him the most, despite the risk of being branded similarly. They were also Minecraft fans, although unaware of Jason transitioning to Emily and that Emily is Generation2K.

"I haven't been looking at my old accounts much recently, I should check them more often," Emily replied. "I will give Tim a ring and see if he is going to attend. It might be nice to have a get-together. I have neglected my former friends, and it is time to rectify that."

"I haven't told them about your transition," Susan stated, "Are you going to reveal you new self."

"I'm not turning up in a dress," Emily replied, "But I may take them to one side if the opportunity arises."

~o~O~o~

DCI Osborne regarded the teenager sat opposite. Despite stating that a masculine persona was in use, his initial reaction was that the individual's presentation was anything but male. The skin tight pink flared denim jeans was not something he could picture a boy wearing. The electric blue cord blazer over the top of a thick white cotton shirt glared at him across the brightly lit room.

"When did you arrive at the party?" he asked.

"It must have been around seven when we arrived," Emily replied. "Dad dropped us off."

"It was five to by the clock in my car, but that is several minutes slow," Arnold stated from across the room. He was mainly there as an observer but spoke when the detective looked in his direction for clarification.

~o~O~o~

"Jason!" Zoe had run over to Emily as she entered the marquee in the back garden of the house. Zoe flung her arms round her newly arrived guest wrapping her in a hug. Emily almost staggered backwards in surprise at the unusually friendly greeting.

Releasing Emily from her grasp, Zoe turned to Anna, "You must be Anna, welcome, I'm Zoe. Grab yourself a drink, I was just heading indoors to grab some pizza out of the oven, I'll be back in a minute."

"Is she always that boisterous," Anna asked after Zoe had dashed off in the direction of the house.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," Emily stated leading them both in the direction of her friends.

Tim, David and Susan were stood in a corner of the tent, at the far end away from the obnoxiously loud music. Emily smiled at the look of shock on her friend's faces as she approached. She wasn't sure who was the most surprised, her friends, or her cousin.

"Interesting fashion choice," David stated, "If it wasn't known that you were bringing your girlfriend, I would say that you were definitely stepping out of the closet."

"Considering most people assume I'm gay anyway, I thought there was no harm in playing to stereotype."

"I think that those trousers shout girly rather than gay," Tim added, "Is there anything you wish to tell us?"

Emily smiled and was about to say something when she caught Susan shaking her head, the reason becoming apparent a couple of seconds later.

"Well, the nerds have finally found some girls," Emily recognised the distinct tone of Gary, one of her former bullies, behind her.

"If you ladies get tired of these bores," a second voice, that of Gary's older brother, John, stated, "Then perhaps you would like some real men to keep you company."

Seeing her friend hesitate, and the widening of her eyes, Anna decided to take the initiative. Wrapping her arm around David, she replied using her poshest accent, "Well, if you come across any real men then send them in our direction, until then we will enjoy the company of these charming individuals. In other words, piss off jerk."

David responded to Anna laying her head on his shoulder by putting his arm around her.

Tim quickly evaluated the situation and decided to take a risk. He had grown several inches in the past few months. He had also been working out in an effort to boost his fitness. The combination of the two had increased his confidence, and he was no longer intimidated by Gary's posturing.

Tim stepped towards Emily and pulled her into a tight embrace. Unsure what to do Emily leant in close to Tim's body. She had always been a couple of inches shorter than her friend, but his growth spurt resulted in her being able to rest her head on his shoulder as he peered across the top of her head at the other boys.

"Whatever, catch you losers later," Gary stated, shrugging off the obvious insult. There was plenty of other targets, and it wasn't worth the hassle.

"You can let go now," Emily squeaked.

"I don't know," Tim replied, "I quite like having a beautiful girl draped in my arms."

Emily bit her lip, not sure how to respond.

"This is where you are supposed to deny being a girl," Susan stated, "Although, I'm not sure these guys will believe you if you try. I wasn't expecting the pretty in pink look. I didn't think you liked giving off mixed signals."

"No more denials," Emily stated. "I've been living as a girl for the past three months. If you have a problem with me, then this will be the last time we meet."

"Whatever makes you happy," David stated, letting go of Anna, who removed her arm from around his neck."

Tim responded by hugging Emily even tighter, almost lifting her off the ground.

"I guess you aren't worried about appearances," Anna noted, "If you recognised Emily as Jason, then others will as well. Zoe certainly recognised Jason and has told people that he will be present."

"I'm beyond worrying about the shitstorm that could erupt," Tim replied. "I knew before I hugged her that it was only a matter of time before Gary twigged who she used to be. I was almost tempted to go in for a kiss, and that was before I realised I would be kissing a girl."

"How many people here do you actually recognise," David asked. "This place is filling up, but I only recognise about a fifth of the faces."

Emily looked around the tent. The next closest people were several feet away, but already she could count around fifty people, and that was without considering the number of people who had been indoors as they moved through the house. A lot of the guests appeared older than themselves.

"Given the bouncers checking everybody in at the door, I assume they must all be invited," Tim stated.

"We just got waved through," Anna stated, "Considering I'm a stranger here, they are not checking very hard."

"They are only checking the boys. They must have assumed you both to be girls," Susan added. "Something isn't quite right here. I suggest we keep our eyes open."

"It might be an idea to not drink too much," David stated. "When I passed the drinks table, everything was in two-litre bottles, and they all looked like they had been opened, even the full ones."

"You suspect they may have been spiked," Emily replied.

"Oh shit," Susan swore, "Zoe's comment to me when I arrived suddenly has new meaning. She told me to stay clear of the supermarket cola, as it tasted nasty."

"I was planning on not drinking much anyway," Tim said. "This house only has two toilets and given the number of people here, the queues are going to be ridiculous, even assuming most of the guys will probably disappear round the back of the tent to piss."

"While I have the equipment to achieve that, I would rather not have to resort to that behaviour," Emily stated. "Let's go investigate the buffet, that should be relatively safe, at least if we stick to foodstuff that isn't likely to give us food poisoning if badly prepared."

~o~O~o~

DCI Osborne was not surprised by the teen's suspicions. The police were already on the scene, parked down the street monitoring the noise levels after complaints by neighbours, and were about to go and knock on the door when the emergency call had come in. The police on the scene had been ordered to keep back and await the ambulance, in case their presence spooked the culprits. Instead, they were to escort the paramedics to the victim when they arrived. Backup was immediately dispatched to raid the party and detain anybody from leaving.

There were currently twenty other people in the cells in the custody suite in various degrees of sobriety, half of them under age.

"I recognised the guy dishing out the drinks as a known drug dealer," Emily added, "I don't know his real name, but he often goes by the nickname of Snake-eye. He used to hang out with a relative of mine, Raiden Bridges. I know he got arrested along with Raiden and was charged with possession with intent to supply. Raiden was pissed that he almost got charged as well, but luckily for him, he didn't have any weed on him when he was arrested."

~o~O~o~

"I think we need to get out of here," David stated as he came back around to meet the girls, having gone to relieve himself behind the tent. "I just overheard a couple of guys talking about how well the roofies were starting to work, that the girls were getting easy."

"Shit," Susan stated, "You best go help Tim, he's gone over to talk to Cheryl and Donna. They seem to be unusually giggly and silly, even for those two. If they are intoxicated, then we need to get them out of here."

David nodded and disappeared in the direction of his friend.

"Where is Zoe?" Emily asked, "I haven't seen her for over half an hour, she was walking around playing host and doing a lot of flirting."

"Fuck, we need to find her," Susan swore, "If anybody is at risk she is. She may already be quite willing, and she may leave it too late to try and say no."

"Anna, check the ground floor then head out front and call Dad," Emily instructed. "Susan, check the tent. I'll head upstairs."

Emily figured that if Zoe was in trouble the only logical location would be in one of the bedrooms upstairs unless she had been persuaded to leave her own party. That would be unlikely, and if it was the case then they had no hope of finding her. If Zoe was being attacked, then interrupting the act could be dangerous.

Emily decided that there was no way Susan would be able to handle the situation. While Anna was the more skilled fighter with her martial arts training, Emily theorised that most people at the party knew she was male, and therefore might find her more intimidating than Anna due to men generally being physically stronger than women.

Anna would most likely have to resort to violence. Emily, as Jason, may not have too.

"Is splitting up wise?" Susan asked.

"We should be safe as long as we are in a crowd," Anna replied, "I'm capable of self-defence. Here, take this if you are worried. I have an alarm on my phone."

Anna handed Susan a small canister.

"Pepper spray," Emily stated, "I have one as well. Let's meet out front in five."

~o~O~o~

"You suspected Zoe may have been a willing participant?" DCI Osborne asked.

"The girl I had known previously wouldn't have even considered it, but from what I had been told by Susan, and my observations over the previous two hours, Zoe was certainly more flirty than I had previously experienced," Emily answered, "However, given what I saw, there is no way she consented, not that she is old enough to give consent anyway."

~o~O~o~

Emily pushed her way through the crowds towards the stairs. One of the bouncers was blocking the stairs. He was openly swigging from a bottle of beer.

"VIPs only," he slurred blocking Emily's progress. "Unless you're willing to give head."

He didn't see the fist that connected with the side of his face, forcing it sideways into the stud work wall.

"Fuck that hurts," Gary stated from Emily's side, as he shook his hand after knocking out the larger guy. "This shit is fucked up. Rumour has it that they have girls upstairs giving blow jobs. Trouble is I just saw some thirteen-year-olds being escorted up there."

"Zoe is missing, I was looking for her," Emily stated.

"Shit, head on up and see what is going on, given that half the people here are mistaking you for a girl, you might have better luck than me," Gary replied, "I'll hold 'em off. Shout if you get into trouble. I know we haven't always got on, but this time I've got you back."

Emily dashed up the stairs as two burly blokes headed to intercept them, having seen their colleague being floored. Gary raised his fists and stood his ground.

Emily could hear the sound of vomiting and muffled voices coming from the bathroom. It sounded like there may be several teen girls locked in the room. The sickly smell of weed filled the air.

The door to the master bedroom was open. A young man was stood next to the bed with his trousers around his ankles, he was busy thrusting himself into a girl spread eagle on the side of the bed. She was moaning in pleasure and shouting to be fucked harder. Several other boys were stood watching while masturbating. A second girl was giving a hand job to another male while downing a bottle of vodka in her other hand.

None of them noticed Emily walk past the door. She didn't know who they were, or if they were old enough to be doing what they were doing, but she did know that Zoe wasn't one of them.

The third door burst open, a pair of boys running out, pulling their pants up as they went. One of them with serious scratches on his face. The second boy knocked Emily over and dashed down the stairs without any concern about sending her flying.

Emily picked herself up and looked round, but the assailants had already disappeared from view. Looking around, she noted the door they had jumped out of had a name on it, Zoe.

Fearing the worst, Emily scrambled through the door to be greeted by a sight that made her blood run cold.

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 13

© D.L.

Zoe was led flat on her back on the floor, her legs spread wide apart. Her dress had been pulled up above her waist and the tights on her legs had been torn away from her body. She wasn't wearing any knickers, but a scrap of torn material thrown against a wall may have once been a thong. Bruises were rapidly forming on the inside of her thighs. She was perfectly still, and her lips were turning blue.

Emily slammed the door shut, in case the boys came back. A tall thin drawer unit stood next to the door, with an almighty shove, it toppled to block the entrance. Emily pulled her phone from the breast pocket of her jacket and dialled as she put her cheek in front of Zoe's nose and mouth to check for breathing and attempted to find her pulse in her neck.

"What is your emergency?" the operator stated clearly.

"14-year-old girl, raped and suffocated, not breathing, no pulse, 28 Westwood Road, Westbury" Emily quickly stated before placing the phone on the floor. "No visible blockages, I'm going to start mouth to mouth."

"Paramedics are on route and will be with you shortly," Emily could only just hear the voice of the operator as she took a deep breath and forced air into the girl's mouth. She could taste vodka on the other girl's lips.

After five breaths, Emily stopped and started to position herself ready to start chest compressions, when Zoe started to choke and convulse. Rolling the girl over away from the phone and herself, Emily positioned Zoe so that she could vomit freely.

After the wretching had stopped, Emily pulled them both away from the pile of sick and tried to put Zoe into the recovery position.

"Hello, are you still there," the operator called.

Emily grabbed the phone, "I'm still here. I've got Zoe breathing, but she is still unconscious."

"What is your name?"

"I'm Emily," Emily responded, not even thinking to use her male name.

The sound of a fight and the smashing of furniture replaced the thumping of the music downstairs. Emily repositioned herself so that her feet were against the toppled drawers, and her shoulder was near the dresser. If anybody tried to force their way in, she could hopefully keep the door shut.

"There is a party happening downstairs, and it has gotten out of control," Emily stated, "I found Zoe unconscious on her bedroom floor. I went looking for her as we overheard one of the other guests talking about roofies."

The door rattled and an unknown voice shouted, "Hey who's in there. You better not be snorting my shit."

"I've barricaded us in, but I don't know how long I can keep people out," Emily whispered into the phone.

The sound of sirens cut above the ruckus downstairs. The person on the other side of the door decided his drugs wasn't as important as getting out of the house.

"Police, Emily, please open the door," a new voice shouted through the door.

"Name and number!" Emily shouted.

"6354 Wentworth," came the reply.

"Did you catch that, is it safe?" Emily asked the operator.

"Yes I did, and that is the correct name and number, you can open the door."

Emily stopped pushing the drawers into the door and scrambled to her feet, as the policeman put his weight against the door, Emily grabbed a throw from the bed and chucked it over her friend to preserve her modesty before grabbing the toppled furniture and helping to unblock the door.

Once the door was opened a short way, a Policeman squeezed his head through the gap and looked inside. Before he could speak shouting was heard from the landing.

"What is going on here, where is my daughter and why are you breaking into her room?"

"Calm down sir," a second police officer was outside the door and intercepted the aggressive individual, "What is your name please?"

"Malcolm Sheilds, this is my house!"

"Perhaps he can explain why alcohol is being served to minors, mostly without their knowledge, and the bouncers employed to supervise things while he was nowhere to be found are either drunk, high, or both, and arranging for underage prostitution to happen in the main bedroom," Emily shouted.

"Paramedics, coming through," A male in a green uniform called from behind the homeowner.

"In here," Constable Wentworth stated as he finally got the door open wide enough for access.

Mr Sheilds tried to force his way in behind the ambulanceman but was blocked by the policeman.

"You!" Malcolm shouted on spotting both Emily and Zoe in the room, "You pervert, what have you done to my daughter. I want him arrested immediately!"

"Calm down sir, this young lady phoned for the ambulance and performed emergency aid until we could arrive."

"That's no girl, his name is Jason and he has been stalking my daughter for months. He must have knocked her out trying to assault her and then panicked."

"What? I've been 200 miles away at boarding school since September. This is the first time I've seen her in months."

"Her lipstick is all over his face," Malcolm shouted. Spotting a young girl being helped out of the bathroom by her friends, "Hey you, have you seen someone in Pink jeans and blue jacket, do you know who they are?"

"You mean Jason? He was almost snogging Tim earlier. He hasn't been gay bashed has he?" the girl replied.

"I'm fine Cathy," Emily stated peering round the door frame having recognised the voice. "Zoe wasn't as lucky, I found her passed out. Are you OK? You don't look well?"

"Someone spiked my drink, not sure why I came up here, it seemed a good idea at the time, but when I saw what was going on I felt sick and ran into the bathroom."

"I told you he's lying," Malcolm exclaimed. "He's a pervert preying on young girls."

"I think we had better continue this down at the station," Constable Wentworth stated. "Let's go outside and give the paramedics room."

Constable Wentworth escorted Emily down the stairs while his colleague detained the father, who seemed more interested in pursuing Emily than staying to look after his daughter.

"That's her," the bouncer exclaimed pointing to Emily as she reached the bottom of the stairs, "that's the slut that distracted me while her boyfriend knocked me out."

"That's a boy you drunk prat," someone else who knew Jason from school called out.

Emily ignored the attention and continued outside where the policeman steered her towards on of the dozen police cars parked amongst the mass of vehicles now occupying the road, a third ambulance was pulling up behind one of the two custody van's on scene.

Anna came across as Emily climbed into the back of the car.

"What's happened," Anna asked, "I tried to phone you but couldn't get through."

"Please step away from the vehicle," Constable Wentworth stated, getting between Emily and the approaching girl.

"Out of the way please," a paramedic shouted as he wheeled a stretcher towards the house.

"A young lady has been left unconscious after an assault. Do you know this individual?"

"Yes, I do, is my friend under arrest?" Anna replied, being careful not to state a name or gender not knowing what identity was currently in use.

"Not at the moment. However, he is helping us with our enquiries."

"Jason's father, Arnold Bridges, is on the way here," Anna stated, choosing to use the male name due to the pronoun usage of the policeman, "he should be present for any questioning."

"Please direct him to me when he arrives," the Constable stated. "He will need to accompany us down to the police station."

"Oh my god, Zoe," Susan shouted, causing Anna to turn and watch the unconscious girl being taken to the ambulance. David held her back from getting in the way.

"Did Jason assault whoever attacked Zoe," Anna asked, "or is he being regarded as a suspect?"

"The latter," Emily called out, "I found her after she had been raped."

"Don't say anything else until your father gets here," Anna replied, before turning to the police officer. "Excuse me, I didn't mean to impede your investigations, I will wait with our friends until our parents arrive."

Anna returned to where the other teens were waiting. Tim was keeping guard over Cheryl and Donna, who were starting to feel ill, and shiver from being outside sat on a low garden wall. One of the policemen had provided them with an emergency foil blanket, and the two girls were huddled underneath, waiting for their parents to arrive.

David was hugging Susan, who was starting to suffer from shock, seeing her friend carted away in an ambulance.

Anna pulled out her phone and a small notebook. She flicked through the numbers in her contact list. Stopping at the number for a prestigious London solicitors firm which offered a 24-hour emergency advice line and represented numerous famous footballers, she hit dial and was almost immediately connected to an operator.

"Hello, my account number is 4592634," Anna read from the notebook.

"How can we be of assistance miss Kwon," the lady on the other end asked.

"I need legal representation for both myself and Miss Emily Bridges. Emily has been taken in for questioning regarding a suspected sexual assault. She is a male to female transexual, you did the paperwork for her transition and name change. I am concerned her status may cause issues. I also need representation as I am her primary alibi for any possible charges and will need to be questioned. I may have photographic and audio evidence of relevance, but it was collected without permission, and may result in charges against me of invasion of privacy."

"Which police station are you currently at?"

"We are still at the scene of the crime, I don't know which police station we will be taken too. I'm in Westbury."

"I will make arrangements for representation to meet you at the nearest police station, please exercise your right to remain silent until you have had opportunity to speak to our associate."

~o~O~o~

"I don't know," Emily stated, "I only saw them for a couple of seconds."

She had just finished going over the events of her finding Zoe for the third time. Despite probing by the DCI, the best description of the two assailants leaving Zoe's bedroom was still vague.

"I think my client needs a break," Mr Edwards interrupted before more questions could be asked. "We have gone over events thoroughly. You now have two suspects seen leaving the scene, one with dark hair and scratches on his left cheek, most likely from the victim. The other with bleached blonde hair.

"Very well," The detective replied. He could see further progress was not going to be forthcoming.

Mr Edwards looked to his own notes, "Given the fight going on at the bottom of the stairs between the bouncer and the other boy, Gary, I believe there will be a number of witnesses to whoever might have come down the only set of stairs in the building. I know at least one video was taken of the fight."

This caught the detective by surprise, he wasn't aware of any video evidence on record. None of the officers on scene had reported collecting any video evidence. Several camera phones had been collected for still images. No messages could have been given to the lawyer during the interview.

"I wasn't aware of a video," DCI Osborne stated, "Who took video of the scene?"

"I have a second client waiting to be interviewed. I also represent Miss Anna Kwon, who Miss Bridges has made reference to several times. While Miss Bridges went upstairs, Miss Kwon remained on the ground floor to search for Zoe. She was therefore in proximity to the fight, and may have video evidence of the other suspects leaving."

"She activated her broach," Emily exclaimed, realising what her friend had done. "Oh my god! my watch and phone!"

Emily pulled the sleeve up on her left arm. Her phone was currently in the police evidence room, along with the other contents of her pockets, but they hadn't removed her watch. She pressed one of the buttons on the side of the device, causing it to light up and show the time with a bright blue L.E.D. What caught her attention, and caused her to take a sharp intake of breath was the symbol above the time. A flashing bell symbol was blinking.

"What exactly is going on here?" DCI Osborne asked.

"Miss Kwon comes from a very wealthy family, and is considered to be a high risk for being kidnapped for ransom," Mr Edwards explained. "As such, she never leaves home without wearing multiple tracking and recording devices. They record constantly, but the footage is only retained for five minutes unless she activates permanent storage, in which case any footage in memory is retained, and they keep recording for at least two hours, longer if they can connect to the 4G network to upload the footage to the cloud."

"Like a cyclists helmet-cam, or a car dash-cam?" The officer asked.

"Same principle," Mr Edwards answered, "Do your officers wear body cameras? I don't usually cover this far west, but was the closest on call."

"Not yet, but I believe we will be starting a trial in a few months," the officer replied.

"She was carrying her phone in her hand," Emily recalled, "That means both the front and back facing cameras would be active."

"Correct," Mr Edwards stated. "Combined with the hidden camera in her broach, she has footage of anything happening in front of her, and as long as she angled the phone correctly, everything to her left and right as well. At an absolute minimum, she would have captured the exact time when they parted company. You can compare this to the time of the emergency call. From Miss Bridges' account, I estimate that it should take a couple of minutes for Miss Bridges to reach Miss Shields and place the call. The time difference can corroborate her statement. There would not be enough time for my client to climb the stairs, commit the crime, and then call for assistance."

"My phone has the same system built in," Emily stated, "As does my watch. I completely forgot to activate it. However, if I am in Bluetooth range when Anna activates her's, mine activates as well. The indicator on my watch shows the recording is active."

"Where was your phone while you climbed the stairs," Mr Edwards asked, "Is it possible you recorded footage? You should at least have audio, even if you don't have any video."

"I had it in my breast pocket, Anna is constantly reminding me to have it the right way up with the main camera facing away from me."

Mr Edwards nodded before continuing, "I would like it stated for the record, that my client has not had an opportunity to retrieve or view any footage. Given the previous statements, any footage obtained of possible sex acts by underage individuals in the master bedroom, or indecent images of the victim, were obtained accidentally, and there was no intent by either of my clients to obtain images that could be interpreted as child pornography."

"Duly noted," DCI Osborne replied. "I understand your concern that your clients may have inadvertently committed a criminal act. However, given the circumstances, I won't be seeking to arrest them on this issue. I will need to Interview Ms Kwon, and review any footage collected."

"Miss Kwon is waiting outside with Mrs Bridges," Mr Edwards stated. "I was able to talk to her briefly before coming in here. She told me about the body-cams, but I wasn't aware of the significance until Miss Bridges gave her statement."

Turning to the Constable still stood to one side observing the interview, the DCI instructed, "Please escort Miss Bridges and her father to a holding area. Call one of the techs so that we can download any footage. Make sure that they don't talk with Miss Kwon on the way out, then Bring Miss Kwon here so that she can be interviewed."

The Constable showed the pair out of the room, leaving the detective and lawyer alone while they waited for the others to be shown in.

~o~O~o~

"Is my representation of Miss Kwon going to cause problems?" Mr Edwards asked the detective. "I don't usually represent two clients on the same case, so I am conscience that I may have a conflict of interest. Also, I don't want to impede your investigation of accidentally leading my client with information gained in the previous interview."

The detective thought for a few moments before replying, "I don't have a problem with you being present. Miss Kwon is simply a witness and not under investigation for any crimes, so I am not sure why she feels she needs legal representation. Unless she has something she has to hide?"

"She is concerned that she didn't obtain permission to film on private property, and may have invaded the privacy of other individuals present," Mr Edwards answered.

"As far as I'm concerned, that would be civil matter for the landowner to pursue," the detective replied, "she was invited onto the property, and the owner didn't call us to remove any individuals, therefore I have no interest in what miss Kwon has done, other than to collect any evidence she may have on the matter."

~o~O~o~

"Miss Kwon, please take a seat," The detective instructed. "Mrs Bridges, Mr Edwards informs me that you are acting legal guardian, and as such will be observing the interview. You may take a seat over to the side, but I ask you not to interfere with the questioning."

"Thank you," Marylin answered, "Mr Edwards has briefed me on the process. I have faxes from both Anna's parents if You need to verify my guardianship required."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," DCI Osborne replied.

The detective recorded those present and began the formal interview.

"Miss Kwon, how did you come to be at the party this evening?"

"I am currently a house guest of the Bridges. I Understand that Miss Sheilds is a former classmate to my friend, Emily Bridges, who was invited to attend under her former pre-transition identity of Jason. Zoe had heard I was staying with Emily, and was invited out of courtesy."

"How well do you know the victim?"

"I met her for the first time this evening. She greeted us when we arrived and we spoke briefly several times during the evening. Zoe was busy acting as the hostess so didn't have the chance to hold a long conversation with either myself or the others in our group."

"Who else was in this group?"

"I attended with Emily, so was by her side for the majority of the evening. We both go to the same boarding school. We met Susan Bishop, Emily's cousin, on arrival, and also another two of Emily's friends, David and Tim. I don't know their surnames. I have spoken to Susan on numerous occasions over the last few months, as I am often present when Emily video conferences with her family. I met Tim and David for the first time. We stayed together as a group for most of the evening."

"You state that you were with Miss Bridges for the majority of the evening," the detective repeated the statement back. "At what points were you separated?"

"About two hours after arriving, I separated from the group in order to use the downstairs toilet. I was in the queue for approximately six minutes, before gaining access to the cloakroom. I maintained visual contact until I entered the room. I made use of the facilities as quickly as possible. While I did need to use the toilet, I could have waited another hour, but I wanted to check for any evidence of drug use. Several of the party-goers were showing signs of being high and Emily had pointed out an individual she suspected of dealing in drugs.

"My group was staying clear of the drinks as Tim was suspicious that they had been spiked. I examined the bottles from a distance. The only drinks were in two-litre bottles. No tins or individual bottles were being offered.

"I observed the guys acting as barman selectively switch which bottles they were pouring from depending on who was obtaining the drinks. If they were confident the drinks were to be consumed by female party goers, then they poured from brown capped bottles. If they were unsure, or serving males, they served from black capped bottles, unless they specifically asked for brown capped bottles.

"I wasn't able to track all the consumption. However, I believe those individuals drinking from the brown capped bottles were becoming inebriated. About a third of those seemed to know what was going on, but the was a significant number unaware what was happening.

"There was also a number of people showing signs of being high on drugs on top of the alcohol consumption.

"I've been trained to recognise the signs and potential differences. I have family connections to a premier league football club and have on several occasions, along with my sister, acted as a honey trap at wild parties that potential signings have attended. We started testing all our current and future players after some well-published incidents involving underage girls. If I succeed in seducing a footballer and getting him alone in a room, then the club educates the individual in proper behaviour."

"Isn't that rather dangerous?" the detective asked in surprise.

"It's a calculated risk," Anna acknowledged. "If any of them did actually sexually assault me, then they might have a defence of claiming they didn't know my age. However, I make sure to clearly say no. In such cases, I'm always wearing a wire, and a couple of very large bodyguards are in close proximity. I did get groped once, but we didn't press charges. I had already taken my revenge by delivering a kick to his bollocks after the bodyguards grabbed him. He agreed not to press charges against me for assault if I didn't press charges for the groping. We agreed to an out of court settlement. We passed on employing him. The idiot tested positive for drugs a few weeks later at a different club and is now in jail for the amount of drugs the police found in his apartment."

Mr Edwards interrupted, "I hereby advise my client to stick to the events pertinent to this case."

Anna nodded then continued, "The point I was trying to make is that I have been trained in covert surveillance and the use of concealed recording equipment. As soon as Tim raised suspicions that the drinks were spiked, I activated my recording equipment. Technically it was already recording having set it going before I got out of the car, but I stopped the footage from automatically being erased, and possibly, more importantly, activate the automatic upload facility to a secure cloud server."

Anna pulled a card out of her purse and handed it to the detective.

"This is the details of the security company and my subscription details. They are a recognised government contractor and provide cloud hosting for several police authorities, possibly even your own. They can verify the integrity of the data to a standard that should stand up in court."

DCI Osborne regarded the card. He recognised the name of the company and realised that this young girl may be sitting on a treasure trove of evidence. Refocusing back onto the current case, he asked, "What happened when you exited the bathroom?"

"I was in the toilet about two minutes," Anna replied. "I used the facilities then examined the toilet cistern where I observed marks and traces of a white powder consistent with cocaine usage. I immediately left the room, with the intention of warning my new friends and arranging for us to leave the party.

"David had gone to relieve himself behind the marquee while I was in the queue for the toilet, Tim was heading over to two other girls who were starting to show signs of intoxication. I was about to warn them of the drug usage when Tim came back and informed us that he had overheard a couple of guys referring to Rohypnol usage.

"At this point, Emily and Susan became concerned that Zoe had disappeared. We decided to split up and search. Susan entered the marquee, and I followed Emily into the house. I started to scan the ground floor, while also keeping an eye on Emily. I noticed that her way was being blocked by a large individual I recognised as one of the bouncers present outside when we first arrived.

"I was approaching to provide backup, when another boy, I believe his name is Gary, intervened, punching and knocking out the bouncer. I immediately switched my focus to filming the subsequent brawl. I figured it was more important than the immediate search, and if Zoe was still circulating, that she would be drawn to the commotion as the host.

"I kept filming until your officers started to arrive. I slipped back through the ground floor, meeting Susan at the back of the crowds trying to see what was going on. Numerous people were attempting to flee out the back. Tim texted Susan, asking if we were OK, having seen an ambulance turn up. Realising that we still hadn't found Zoe, that Emily was upstairs, and the police were now blocking access to the upper floor, we went out the back and round the side of the house to the front to where the boys were waiting with the couple of girls they had gone to assist.

"I then phoned Mr Bridges while Susan attempted and failed to contact Emily. After a few minutes, I noticed Emily being escorted to a police car, which is when I approached your officer to ascertain what was going on."

"Thank you," DCI Osborne interrupted. "When filming the incident at the foot of the stairs, do you remember seeing, or filming, anybody coming down the stairs?"

Anna thought for a moment, "Yes, I believe that several people came down the stairs. I was keeping an eye out for Emily, but she didn't return. I can't recall who exactly came down the stairs, or where they went. You would need to review the footage to identify specific individuals."

"Exactly how many cameras did you have operating?" The DCI asked.

"Eight in total, of which three are high def and two have both normal and infrared sensors," Anna grinned. "Plus two microphones."

"Do these include the ones on Miss Bridges?" the detective asked.

"Yes, Emily's phone has a recording facility that either of us can activate. I doubt the front facing camera caught much, as it was in her pocket, but I made sure that she had her main phone camera pointing forward, although the edge of the pocket may have partially obscured any footage. Her watch also has two cameras, one normal, one infrared, assuming it wasn't covered with her sleeve.

"I have two cameras in my broach, one normal, one infrared, the two on my phone, plus one on either wrist," Anna pointed out the devices on her jewellery, including the bracelets she was wearing. "I realise that is probably overkill, but I prefer to take the approach of nuking things from orbit. I've been to wild parties before, but I've always had backup. I was hoping that none of this would be needed, and it would be a quiet night, in which case I would only have my broach camera working, and the footage would have deleted automatically. Do I need to hand over by devices?"

"Yes please," DCI Osborne replied. "Your footage could be key in capturing the individuals responsible for the rape and attempted murder of Miss Sheilds. Miss Bridges witnessed two individuals leaving the scene, which we hope you have on film so we can verify their identities. I must ask you not to attempt to retrieve or copy the footage for yourself. Mr Edwards can explain the reason later."

"Does this mean you are eliminating Miss Bridges from your enquiries?" Mr Edwards asked.

The detective nodded, "I need to have the footage reviewed, and there are still other witness statements to be taken and reviewed. However, at this time I see no reason for detaining Miss Bridges any further. We will contact them if we need to ask further questions."

"We are due to return to boarding school in Norfolk next week," Anna added.

"Please give the details to the Constable before you leave," The DCI instructed, "I need to arrange for your friend's release and I have more people to interview, it is going to be a long night."

Playing her way 2 - Chapter 14

© D.L.

Susan knocked on the partially open door and poked her head through the gap. The female police officer who had just approved her entry looked on ready to intervene if the patient demanded that the visitor leave.

"Hi," Susan smiled and waved at Zoe. "I know the hospital doesn't like flowers or cards cluttering up the place, so I brought chocolate."

Zoe was sat in the chair next to her bed. She was fully dressed in a long skirt, white blouse and blue cardigan, unlike most of the patients who were wearing various types of nightwear.

"Thanks," Zoe replied. "I wasn't sure if you would come visit after what happened."

"Why on earth not?" Susan asked.

"Because it was my fault," Zoe answered.

"You asked a couple of boys to rip your clothes off, sexually assault you, and suffocate you in the process? Funny way to try and commit suicide," the sarcasm evident in her voice, "I know you fought back, so don't start blaming yourself."

"No," Zoe sighed. "I had no intention for things to go that far. I just wanted everybody to have a good time."

"By freely plying them drugs and booze?" Susan softly asked.

"I didn't know about the drugs," Zoe replied. "Or the sex going on upstairs. Well, I suspected that might happen, I did invite a lot of the older students, and their brothers and sisters. The bouncers were supposed to prevent anybody sneaking into the bedrooms. I knew about the booze. My father knew how desperate I was to have friends so when I suggested a party, he agreed to it, and allowed me to have a case of vodka and beer for any special guests I wanted to impress."

"He really did that? We wondered where the booze came from, the drinks were obviously spiked," Susan added.

"Yes, only that is not all he did. He arranged for those bouncers. Apparently, he's been mixed up in the drug trade, and those thugs were happy to have a captive audience to hook. I didn't know who half the guests were. Some of the boys were only there because of the chance of hooking up with drunk underage girls."

"Shit, that's so screwed up," Susan stated.

"That's why I'm still in hospital. I technically don't need to be here. After keeping me in for twenty-four hours for observation, and seeing in the new year in the process, I was declared physically fit, but Dad is still in prison, and my house is still a crime scene."

Susan wasn't sure that Zoe was totally healed. Given the description from Emily, she could see the bruises on her arms and knew she must still be sore elsewhere. "Can't you stay with your mother? I know you don't get on but under the circumstances?"

"I burned that bridge with the restraining order against her new husband. She took his side when I accused him and my step-brother of molesting me. Of course, it was my word against his, and I already had a track record as a troublemaker."

"Oh my god, why didn't you tell me?"

"I was ashamed. Those rumours about me, they were true. I did give two boys blow jobs back in October. They were friends of my step-brothers, he said he would help me against my step-father if he did me a favour. The bastard blackmailed me into it, then used it as leverage to shut me up when I complained about his father."

"Have you spoken to the police?"

"I filed a report. Not enough evidence. Dad got custody and filed the restraining order for me, but he is just as much of a rotten bastard, only in a different way."

"I guess if you don't have any other relatives, you'll have to go into foster care."

Zoe started to sob, "I had a panic attack when my new foster family came to collect me. I hate what those boys have done to me. I get really agitated around strange men. I realise rationally that not every man is out to rape me, but emotionally I can't get over the attack. I can't remember all that happened, but I keep getting vague flashbacks."

"How about trying to meet up with a boy you trust? Tim or David maybe, they are pretty harmless. They helped Donna and Cheryl when they started to get a bit on the tipsy side, didn't take advantage of the situation once."

"Maybe," Zoe squeaked sounding very unsure of herself, "assuming they don't hate me. I'm guessing Donna and Cheryl are going to be pissed at getting pissed."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they will forgive you once the hangover fades from memory," Susan stated. "How about a boy you trust, who doesn't have the slightest interest in girls, and can even be persuaded to turn up in a dress if it would help?"

"You mean Jason? Is he really gay? I saw what he was wearing, but didn't get chance to talk to him about it. I thought the pink trousers was a big 'fuck you' to those who kept joking about his sexuality. I was nearby when Gary realised that it was Jason that Tim was hugging. I had to beg him not to harm either of them. Jason didn't get hurt, did he? I heard the party ended in a fight, he wasn't involved was he?"

"Nobody told you what happened?" Susan asked.

"All I know is that the party got out of control and the police were called."

"I meant about how you ended up here?"

"I don't know, I guess the police found me when they searched the house after they broke up the fight."

Susan sighed, "they weren't called to break up the fight. They were called because you had been raped. David overheard some guys talking about drugging some girls. We realised you were missing so went looking for you. Gary started the fight when Jason was prevented from going upstairs to look for you. It was Jason who found you, called the ambulance, and performed CPR."

"Oh my god, did he see," Zoe gulped.

"Yes, but he refuses to go into details. All he said was that your clothes were ripped and that it was obvious you had been sexually assaulted from your injuries, you need to ask him yourself. If it is any consolation, try not to think of Jason as a boy, she much prefers to be seen as a girl. She officially had her name changed a couple of months ago and has been living full time as a girl since September."

"You're winding me up, you are just saying that to try to make me feel better about being found half naked by a boy."

Susan grinned, "Emily, as she prefers to be called, is outside on the ward as we speak. When we talked to the matron about visiting, she said you were only comfortable with female visitors. Emily is here if you want to meet her, but she realises you may only see Jason and find it uncomfortable. She has actually gone to annoy Gary, as he's down the corridor. Poor guy ended up with two cracked ribs, a broken leg and a broken arm."

Zoe winced at the thought.

"Why don't we go and see them, I'm assuming you are allowed to walk around?" Susan asked.

Zoe immediately started to hyperventilate, barely managing to stutter, "I can't go out there!"

Susan waited for the panic to subside before asking calmly, "Why not?"

"The are boys out there," Zoe softly replied.

"Yes, but most of them are pre-teen and probably don't even know what sex is yet. Half of them are confined to their beds anyway, and those that aren't will be in the play room down the corridor. That leaves Gary, who is in no state to be chasing you around the ward, and Emily, who while is technically male doesn't want to be, and her only interest in what you have in your knickers would be pure jealousy that she doesn't have the same."

"I'll be only a few steps away from you," the policewoman added, "the doctor did say you should try some gentle exercise."

"You can't hide in here forever," Susan stated, "you might as well get this over with now. I'll stay by your side, as will the officer here."

Taking some deep breaths Zoe nervously stood, taking the hand that Susan offered.

~o~O~o~

Gary was led in his hospital bed feeling miserable. His brother had dropped off a load of magazines, but holding them and reading them with one hand wasn't easy, and he wasn't really in the mood for concentrating.

The TV was on down the end of the room, but he didn't have a good view of the screen, not that he was interested in the crappy cartoons they were running.

He considered trying to get back to sleep, but he wasn't really tired, instead, he was looking out the window in boredom, not that the was much to see.

"That was a really cool right hook," Emily's voice startled him, "guess the follow-ups didn't work as well."

It took a couple of seconds for the voice to register and make the connection with the girl standing at the end of the bed. Her hair was loose and draped across her shoulders. Emily was wearing the same dress that she did on Christmas day, red velvet with white fur trim.

"Jason?" Gary stated hesitantly having recognised the face and voice.

"Yes, but I prefer to be called Emily when presenting as a girl," Emily stated as she positioned the blue plastic visitor's chair next to the bed so that she could sit down, "and no laughing about my appearance."

Gary chuckled softly, "rather not, too painful."

Emily continued, "I wanted to thank you for what you did at the party. You made a big contribution to saving Zoe's life. The noise of the fight caused the assailants to panic and abandon trying to suffocate her. It also meant I could get to her in time to restart her breathing."

"You performed mouth to mouth?" Gary asked.

"Yep, Mr Graham's classes last year paid off," Emily replied.

"Glad she made it through, at least physically," Gary sighed.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, "She's regained consciousness, although I heard she was out for several hours."

"She's had night terrors, woke half the ward up screaming," Gary answered, "She's down the corridor if you didn't know."

"I know," Emily stated, "Susan's gone to see her. We were told she isn't ready for male visitors, and while I see myself as a girl, I realise others will still see me as a boy, even if I do turn up in a dress. Susan is going to talk to her and give me a shout if she is willing to let me say hello."

"Sorry, but the view from here is very confusing. I know you're male, but you make an extremely convincing girl."

"Thanks," Emily replied. "Don't think too hard about it, you'll get used to it eventually. Don't worry, I'll be back at boarding school in a couple of days, and you won't have to worry about bumping into me until the Easter holidays."

Gary led is head back down and looked at the ceiling, "I'm worried Zoe might not recover. She screams every time a male walks past her door. Had a fit when a potential foster carer turned up. The guy was in his sixties, hardly what you would call a threat."

Emily shushed Gary and nudged him when she spotted movement at the end of the bay. The open ended room had six beds, three on each side. Gary was the furthest from the entrance on the left. Two beds on the other side contained younger bed bound boys watching the telly. Two of the other beds were empty, their occupants down the corridor in the play room. The final bay, the one next to Gary was empty, the child having been wheeled down to the operating theatre on his bed an hour before.

Zoe was stood at the edge of the doorway, clinging onto Susan for Support. A policewoman was stood behind them.

"Hey Emily," Susan called out, "Would you mind taking the end of Gary's dressing gown belt and tying it around your wrist, that way you can't jump up and make a grab for Zoe without being severely hindered. She's a bit jumpy around boys." Turning to the other boys in the bay she instructed, "You two over there, stay put please."

Gary picked up the end of the cloth belt with his free hand and handed it to Emily, who swiftly did as instructed.

"I swear I'm not going to harm you," Emily stated as Zoe edged closer to the pair.

"Me neither," Gary stated, "I can hardly do much even if I wanted too, which I don't."

"If he misbehaves, I'll plant a slobbery kiss on his forehead," Emily stated. "He'll hate that. While he may tolerate a kiss from a real girl, he's not going to accept it from me."

One of the nurses, spotting what was happening, decided to go and fetch another nurse and move the two younger boys out of the way, suspecting the elder teens needed to talk about things not intended for young ears.

"Susan wasn't lying," Zoe stated as she approached as close as she dared, still several feet from the end of the bed.

"About what?" Emily asked

"That you're here dressed as a girl," Zoe stated. "Are you really going to school as a girl?"

"Yes, I go to an all-girls boarding school in Norfolk. I have to be real careful if I go into any of the dorm rooms, only a few girls know I have a plumbing problem, and I've accidently been flashed a couple of times when girls decided to change clothes with me in the room."

"Wow," Gary stated, "Don't you get in trouble?"

"I always look away, although some of the girls might get very angry if they find out," Emily replied. "The worst ones are those few girls who know I'm male. They do it deliberately sometimes to wind me up."

"Anna?" Susan asked.

"The Asian girl from the other night?" Zoe asked. "She seemed nice."

"She filmed the fight." Gary stated, "Send her my thanks, her footage showed that most of my punches were self-defence."

"Didn't you start the fight?" Susan queried.

"I spoke to my lawyer about it," Emily stated, turning to Gary, "Self defence can also potentially cover protecting another person if you have reason to believe their life is in threat. Although you didn't know Zoe was missing, you did tell me you suspected that three thirteen year girls had been drugged and persuaded to go upstairs. If you need a lawyer, email me and I'll put you in touch with Mr Edwards."

"They didn't get," Zoe couldn't finish her sentence.

"No, they locked themselves in the bathroom and threw up," Emily replied. "They only came out after the police arrived. I don't know what happened to the people in the master bedroom, they were having sex but were gone by the time I left. I'm sure the police have found those present. The police seized all the footage in order to find who came down the stairs after I went up. I saw the two boys leave your bedroom, but couldn't identify them."

"They've been arrested," Zoe stated, "I would rather not think about those bastards."

"I'm sorry," Gary apologised, "I shouldn't have mentioned the party."

"It's okay," Zoe replied. Blushing she asked softly, "I have to know something, what did you see when you found me?"

"I saw someone in desperate need of medical attention," Emily replied. "Yes, I saw more than I should, but I made sure you were covered before others arrived. I could go into more detail, but I suspect you would prefer that Gary didn't hear the details."

"I think he can pretty much guess," Zoe stated, "please, continue. While I don't remember much, I have the bruises to work out what was done to me, but I would like to know how you found me."

Emily took a deep breath, and in a soft voice barely above a whisper, described exactly what happened from the moment she entered the room.

~o~O~o~

"My dad really accused you of stalking and raping me?" Zoe gasped. "You didn't get arrested did you?"

"No, but I did spend a couple of hours down the police station being questioned. I was after all found in your room, over your unconscious body with your lipstick on my face due to performing the kiss of life. I can kind of see how he might have jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"He was muddling you up with Jason Briggs," Zoe responded, "Not that he's stalking me. Jason tried to ask me out a couple of times, but he really isn't my type, too short."

Gary shuffled himself upright having slipped down the bed a fraction, causing Zoe to jump back slightly.

"Sorry," Gary called realising what he had done, "stay calm, I'm not going to go after you."

Zoe stepped forward and leant on the end of the bed and tried to calm down, "I hate that I'm so jumpy, I know full well that you aren't going to do anything. You haven't done anything for the last 14 years, so I doubt you are going to start now."

Zoe hesitated and thought for a moment, "actually, didn't I slap you for pinching my bum a few years ago."

"That was Malcolm," Gary replied, "You hit me as I was closer. I had a hand print on my face for the rest of the day."

Zoe took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Emily, please untie your hand and slowly stand up. Then don't move."

Emily did as instructed. Shaking slightly, and using all her willpower to keep herself under control, Zoe inched closer to where Emily was standing.

When Zoe was within an arms reach of Emily, she took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around the other girl, squeezing her tightly.

"Thank you for saving my life," Zoe stated. After a few seconds, she started to relax slightly and realised that the hug wasn't being returned. Realising it was because of her instructions she added, "Um, you can hug back."

Emily slowly moved her arms, not that she had much freedom above her elbows, as she was pinned by the hug. However, she managed to cross her arms around the other girls back.

"Gary," Zoe asked softly, "I really need to get past this phobia of being near boys and men. I need to confront my fears. I'm sorry for slapping you before. Please pinch my bum and we will call it even."

"Are you sure," Gary asked?

"Not really, but I need it to be done," Zoe replied.

Gary reached out with his good arm and placed his hand on the girl's buttock. She flinched and made an "eek" sound. The boy paused a second while she got her breathing back under control before giving a gentle squeeze and then removing his hand.

"Thank you," Zoe responded, "but please don't do that again."

Zoe had visibly tensed up in anticipation of being touched by the boy and had relaxed again once his hand had been removed. The close body hug was obviously soothing and she visibly relaxed into Emily's arms, feeling safe in her embrace.

"Well done Zoe," stated Dr Felicity Anders, who had been summoned by the nurse and had arrived in time to see Zoe request and receive the pinch. "You are making good progress. The more safe physical contact you can have with boys, the sooner you can get over your trust issues. Although, I would have suggested a handshake to start with."

Stepping closer the doctor asked, "Do you think you could return the touch, that is if this young man wouldn't mind? Can you reach out and touch his arm?"

Hesitantly Zoe reached out and gingerly stroked the fabric of the dressing gown sleeve worn by Gary.

Emily smiled as Susan tried her hardest not to laugh at the situation. Emily subtly nodded to Susan that it was time to point out the obvious.

"Well done, Zoe," the doctor praised her patient, "you are making progress."

"She's making a lot more progress than you realise," Susan laughed, "Zoe, get you brain in gear and explain who exactly, and more importantly, what you are currently hugging the stuffing out of. Seriously, if you were in any tighter embrace, if that is even possible, and it wasn't in such bad taste, I'd be telling you two to get a room!"

Emily released her grip, in case the other girl might panic. Instead, Zoe froze and then slowly released her grip and backed away.

Zoe was at a loss for words, and the doctor confused. Seeing that explanation was needed, Emily clarified, "I'm transgender. I have exactly the same anatomy as Gary here. Either Zoe has fully accepted my transition to female and temporarily overlooked the fact I'm still male, or she simply feels safe as she believes I'm only sexually attracted to males as either a homosexual male or heterosexual female. Whatever labels you want to apply to me doesn't really matter. It doesn't alter the fact that Zoe has just been hugging someone who is physically a boy in a dress."

"He's right," Zoe stated before correcting herself, "Or she's right? I suppose you would prefer 'she'?"

"I don't intend to make any further appearances under my former identity," Emily declared. "I have been keeping my transition secret, mainly for my own protection. However, I have now come out to my remaining family members, and to all the friends I had as Jason. I still need to work out how to tell my new friends without upsetting them, considering I've been omitting certain key details about myself."

Turning to Gary, Emily continued, "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell everybody about me, although I realise that after the other night, the cat may already be out of the bag."

"What you are doing takes guts," Gary replied. "Besides, while you may no longer be about, Susan is, and I'm sure she would do her best to prevent me ever getting a girlfriend at school it I started spreading rumours about you."

"Speaking of which," Susan interjected, "I'm guessing neither of you will be back When school starts tomorrow. Any idea how long you'll be out for?"

Gary answered first, "I may be discharged tomorrow. The docs want to take another x-ray in the morning to make sure things are setting correct. They were concerned some of the swelling was preventing the bones setting right. If I'm mobile enough, then I may be back next week."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to face going back to school yet," Zoe added, "Just because I can cope being here now, doesn't mean I'm ready for the crowds of a school corridor. I also have the stigma of everybody knowing what happened to me. It's up to Dr Anders here and social services finding me somewhere to live where I won't constantly have panic attacks."

"I'm not sure when that will be," The doctor explained. "You are making rapid progress, but you still need to demonstrate that it isn't temporary. You could potentially switch to a different school and get a fresh start, but that would have the added challenge of not having you existing friends around."

"I don't have many of them left," Zoe replied, "Susan is the only person who has given me the time of day for months. Going to an all girls schools like Emily sounds really tempting, although I suppose you would say it's avoiding the issue. You don't happen to know if your school has any free places, Emily?"

Zoe had said the last part jokingly, causing an initial laugh from Emily. However, Emily's expression quickly turned serious as a thought occurred to her.

"I know that look," Susan said sternly, "That's your problem-solving face. You're planning something."

Emily smiled, "Well, I was just thinking Svetlana does have a double room to herself since Anna moved in with me."

"Wait, you share a bedroom with a girl?" Gary asked in surprise.

"Oops," Emily blushed, "forget I said that. I'm supposed to have a room to myself for obvious reasons, but we had to evacuate half the dormitories for a couple of weeks. Everybody had to double up, with some girls actually having to camp out in sleeping bags. In order to stop anybody becoming suspicious as to why I was getting special treatment with a room to my own, I ended up temporarily sharing a room with Anna, and we never reverted back to the original arrangements. It's a private school, they can basically make up their own rules. All our parents have agreed to the arrangement, so nobody is going to complain, plus it stops any rumours about me being a boy."

Zoe sighed, "While a private boarding school would certainly solve the problems of needing somewhere to live, and cutting down on the number of men I come into contact with. I assume you have male teachers? There is one major problem with that fantasy. My family can't afford it, especially as I'll be a ward of state. My father is most likely going to prison, and the is now way I could live with him again after this anyway. I can't see the state paying for it."

"Don't even think about it," Susan pointed at Emily.

Emily ignored Susans insinuation that she was about to offer to pay for Zoe to attend. The thought had crossed her mind, but she was still tight on cash flow. Emily had already offered to pay for Susan, although she had so far refused the offer. Emily asked, "Does your dad own the house?"

Zoe fought for a moment, "Yes, but it's likely heavily mortgaged, as he had to pay mum off when they divorced. He'll probably be forced to sell it or it'll get reprocessed. I supposed I could sue the bastard for whatever money is left. It must be worth half a million on the current market."

"I was thinking the rental market, but the highest I've seen locally is around a grand a month, and you would need nearly triple that for where I attend," Emily replied. "Anna's been looking at the house prices and rental values around here to see if it's worth investing any of her trust fund capital. Her family are ridiculously wealthy."

Susan opted to go for the usual cover story, "Emily got sponsorship due to her high grades, unfortunately, with your poor record I don't think you would qualify for the same."

"I'll have a word with the headmistress," Emily promised, "About a quarter of the students get financial aid. There may be some scholarships or bursaries available that could help with the costs. Seriously, the level of care and support you would receive is likely better than a council run group home."

"It might not be an outlandish idea," Dr Anders agreed, "Foster care doesn't come cheap. Social Services often employ outside agencies, and they may be persuaded to pay a contribution to the school fees instead of whoever they would normally have to pay."

Emily grinned. One way or another, if Zoe did decide to attend St. Mary's, then she would make sure it happened, even if she had to foot some of the bill herself. Emily borrowed a pen and paper off the doctor and provided both her own contact details and that of the school. She did so at the wards main desk, away from Gary so that he couldn't learn exactly where she was and cause her any trouble.

Marilyn came to collect the girls shortly afterwards. She had dropped them off and gone to the supermarket, rather than stay and pay for parking. Anna was with her, opting not to go with Emily and Susan as she only met Zoe once, and didn't want to get in the way, or overwhelm the girl with visitors, another reason Marilyn didn't stay.

Anna and Marilyn briefly said hello to Gary and Zoe. Gary having the opportunity to thank Anna in person.

Zoe once again hugged Emily and thanked her again for saving her life as she said goodbye.

As one final piece of mischief, Emily said farewell to Gary by planting a kiss on his cheek before dashing off while waving, much to his annoyance.

To everyone's surprise, including her own, Zoe didn't retreat to her room after the others had left and stayed to keep Gary company, only leaving when the evening meals arrived.