It started like any other day, winter had its grip on the northern half of the world and the school semester would end in less than three weeks. Paul stood by the window in the room he shared with his younger brother James, looking out at the rare bright sunlight of midwinter.

He was thinking about what he had found on the computer the two boys shared after James had gone to bed the night before. It seems James had found a place that offered to help people in the LGBTQI community that needed support. James had apparently come out to several people in a chat there as being transgendered or transsexual, saying he had been feeling like he was in the wrong body for almost ten years.

Paul stood there for several minutes, shaking his head. Until last night, he had had no idea of his little brother's desire to be female. What made it truly strange was that Paul had been going through the same feelings for about the same length of time.

Paul shrugged, figuring if they could help James, maybe they could help him as well. He created an account for the site James had been chatting on, set up a password, then entered the same chat James had the night before and watched for a while as people talked.

Finally, he decided that he needed to say something, so he typed, "Hello, everyone, I'm new here, I'm Paul."

He received several hellos in return, then got down to business. "I don't know whether any of you were on last evening when my brother James was chatting here, he identified himself as Jamie02. I'm his older brother, and to be blunt, I'm like James/Jamie."

Well, perhaps Paul's luck was in, as two of the people in the chat sent him personal messages, both offering to help in any way they could. One, LaShaun, said that she had come out two years before and had been lucky to have a family that supported her. The other, Vicky, had not been so lucky; she said that she was 22, had come out to her family when she was 17 and had been disowned immediately by most of her family. She had supported herself for the last five years by waitressing and taking online GED courses, then online college courses.

Paul opened up to the two girls while keeping an eye on the main chat now and then. He told them that he had not known about James/Jamie until the night before when he found that James had been chatting on this site, in this specific chat. He said he was worried about what would happen if his father ever found out, as his father was a rude, obnoxious, bullying bigot, and that was being nice to the man.

Vicky replied that Paul's father sounded a lot like her own, Vicky's mother had been just as nasty in her case, and when her parents informed their brothers and sisters about Vicky, they reacted in much the same manner, except for one aunt and uncle living outside the city. When Vicky realized that there were people who would respect her, she fired off a text to the aunt in question, whose answer was a simple "Yes." Two days later, Vicky had packed up everything she wanted, then drove over to the aunt's house and was welcomed with open arms.

Vicky continued, telling Paul that yes, she had had to work for the last five years, yes, she had been working on continuing her education, but she had not had to pay rent, just help with food, so she had been able to save money. She still lived with them, driving to and from work.

LaShaun was still living at home, her brother had pretty much ignored her since she came out, but her parents and sister supported her. She had sent in applications to several colleges that had LGBTQI support in place, and would pick one of them over the summer.

Paul chatted with the two women, adding them to his friends on the site, then logged out, saying he needed some fresh air. Paul decided to play it safe and hid the history for that site, then headed for the Skate Park about half a mile away from the house.

**********

It took Paul about fifteen minutes to walk to the Skate Park. It wasn't something he wanted to do, he'd never really had any interest in skateboards, but he liked to watch the kids that did do it as they used the various pieces to do tricks and stunts.

From the looks of it, Heather, known as Heathen to many of the locals, kept the skate area clear year round, a few kids were using it.

It seemed James also liked to watch them, as Paul spotted him to one side of the Skate Park, talking with a girl. Paul recognized the girl, Sherry, as a cheerleader at school and also as one of the few girls in school to have publicly come out as lesbian.

Paul walked up beside them, quietly sat down a couple of feet away from Sherry and watched the skateboarders for a few minutes.

James and Sherry noticed him arrive, but kept chatting for a moment, then Sherry looked over at Paul, "Keeping an eye on James?"

"I'm only seventeen months older than James, Sherry, we do like a lot of the same things, ya know?" Paul growled.

"Hey, calm down, James has been talking to me for a bit about something rather personal, having you here isn't going to help."

Paul shook his head and whispered, "Don't be too sure of that, Sherry, especially if James told you he's transgendered or transsexual."

Sherry's jaw dropped, she sat there in shock for a moment before she whispered back, "How do you know about that?"

Still talking quietly, Paul replied, "James didn't clear the computer's history when he went to bed last night, I saw the site he was on."

Sherry nodded, thought for a moment, then answered, "I'm on that site myself to help support people, I have been for three years."

"That's cool," Paul laughed, still keeping his voice down, "but what if James wasn't the only one?"

Shelly looked at him, confused for a moment, then it was like a light came on in her head. She smiled, quietly asking, "You?"

Paul nodded, "It started for me just before I turned 6, I think; I've dreamed of being a girl so often since then, it hurts to still be male."

James had listened to the conversation between Paul and Sherry, now he heard Paul saying that he was like James. James giggled, then spoke, "It takes a lot of guts to say that to someone else, doesn't it, Paul? It's been about ten years for me, too, and yes, it hurts."

Sherry looked at the two boys, one on either side of her, and suggested, "Why don't we go get something from the snack shop and find somewhere to be able to talk more privately about this? Would that be okay with both of you?"

Once both had replied in the affirmative, the three got up and walked over to the snack shop where each of them placed an order.

**********

After getting their purchases, they wandered over to a picnic table under a large maple tree; the boys sat on one side, Sherry on the other.

Sherry spent the next half hour asking both boys lots of rather personal questions, which they answered honestly, if a bit nervously. She took a few minutes to look closely at both of them, Paul was 5'7", maybe 135 pounds, James 5'5" and about 120 pounds.

Sherry smiled, "With a little work, both of you could be quite good looking as girls, I think. I might know a couple of girls who would help."

Both boys nodded, then Paul sighed, saying, "I think I started puberty about four months ago, how will that affect things?"

Sherry thought for a moment, then said that she wasn't sure, but she knew a doctor that could be asked about it if the boys agreed.

Both said they would be glad to get whatever help they could, then Paul turned to James, "James, like I said earlier, I saw the site you were on last night, I even saw some of the chat from the room you were in there; I joined the site this morning, and talked to some people."

"You joined it? Cool! I just hope dad doesn't find out, we'd both be in deep trouble if he did."

"Yeah, I know. James, you need to be more careful, like erasing your history for sites like that, so he doesn't find out."

"So who did you end up talking to on the site, Paul?"

"Two girls, LaShaun and Vicky. Vicky's been through rough times, disowned by all but one aunt and uncle, LaShaun has lots of support."

James nodded, "I've talked with both of them now and then, they're both decent folks."

**********

The next two weeks passed fairly quietly, both boys had exams to take, so a lot of studying was done.

There were only three days left before school would end for the semester, both boys had passed their exams, getting decent grades. They were relaxing in their shared room when the front door slammed open, then less than a minute later, the door to their bedroom.

It was quite obvious that their father had been drinking; even from several feet away, Paul could smell the alcohol. Their father glared at both of the boys for a few minutes, shifting back and forth between them, before he half-slurred, "So which one of you is the tranny faggot?"

Paul looked up in shock, "What are you talking about?" James curled up on the bed behind Paul, a few tears sliding down his cheeks.

The man who had sired them both stood there for a moment, gathering himself. "We had to shutdown early at work today, some kind of testing for something or other that was expected to take a few hours. I got home just after 2 PM, wandered in here and checked the history on the computer. I saw the site name, lost it for a bit, then figured I needed a few drinks to deal with this shit. So who's the tranny faggot?"

"If I said I was?" Paul asked.

"Then I'd have to beat it out of you, boy! I won't have any tranny or faggot abominations like that under my roof!"

"Then I guess I will no longer be living here," Paul stated, glaring at his father, "as I'm the tranny faggot."

James couldn't let Paul take a beating from their drunken, furious father. "He's lying, I'm the tranny faggot!" he squeaked out.

The big man shrugged. "It makes no difference to me if I beat one or both of you. Get off your ass, Paul, and take it like a man!"

Paul stood up as their father stepped forward, not watching where he was going, and the throw rug slid across the floor as he stepped on it. He staggered as Paul ducked out of the way; their father fell forward, hitting the outside wall with a loud "THUNK!", then slumped to the floor.

Paul quickly knelt next to their father, checking for a pulse; when he found it, and noticed it was still strong and steady, he breathed a sigh of relief, then spotted the goose egg that was beginning to show just in front of his father's left ear. "He's out cold, we're okay for now."

Paul stood there thinking for a couple of minutes, then spoke, "The problem is, we can't be sure he won't try to hit us again if we stay here. If he does, we don't stand a chance of beating him, even though he is half drunk, he's a heck of a lot bigger than we are."

James looked down at their father slumped against the wall. "Mom won't be any help, she just does whatever he wants her to do. We both know that he uses his size to keep her in line, and as you said, we wouldn't be able to stop him. So what do we do now?"

Paul stared at the wall for a moment, then giggled, "I'm going to call Sherry, maybe she can help us." Having said that, he opened a cheap cell phone, pulled up Sherry's number that he had gotten from her that day at the Skate Park, then called and waited as it rang three times.

"Hello, this is Sherry McAllister, hiya, Paul, what's up?"

Paul spent the next few minutes explaining what had happened, then listened as she responded. "Thanks, Sherry, see you in a bit."

"Sherry said that we should each pack a suitcase, plus odds and ends that we can stuff in our backpacks. We'll meet her at the Skate Park."

Both boys got busy, stuffing as much clothing as they could into a suitcase, making sure to have socks and underwear as well, then tossed a few extra pieces of clothing into their backpacks, along with toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and a few odds and ends.

"That must have been a pretty solid hit, he's still out cold, but his pulse is good. I'm going to call 911 before we leave," Paul announced. He hit 911 on the phone, then let the operator know his father needed help after hitting his head on the wall before he ended the call.

Paul and James left the house as quietly as they could, passing by their mother, drunk herself and snoring on the sofa already.

**********

It took the two boys almost thirty minutes to lug the suitcases to the seats by the Skate Park. Sherry was waiting there, two older people behind her, whom she introduced as her parents; the boys acknowledged the greetings, then asked what was happening.

Sherry grinned and said that she had an older friend who lived on the other side of town who had two spare bedrooms and would take them. "Paul, James, she's like me, so she understands a bit, just be honest with her and she'll respect you a lot more, okay?"

Both boys looked worried, then Paul said that being lesbian wasn't the same as their own issue.

After a quick whispered word with her parents, Sherry drew the two boys aside. "Look, my friend Tanisha is friends with a few people who are trans, as far as I know, she has no problem with it. My parents will drive you over there whenever you're ready."

"You're sure that this woman will help us?" Paul asked. "Remember, Sherry, our lives are at stake, not yours."

"Yes, I'm sure, but you're going to have to trust me on this."

"All right, let's hope this works out," Paul muttered. "Let's get moving, it's 9:30 and our father might already be conscious."

When the adults realized that the boys were ready, Mr. McAllister grabbed both suitcases and started walking toward an SUV in the parking lot next to the Skate Park. He opened the back, placed the suitcases in the vehicle, then closed it as they all climbed into the SUV.

Mr. McAllister started the vehicle and they were on their way to this woman Tanisha's house.

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls, I used Heather and the Skate Park from that story in this one. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.

Tanisha turned out to be a pretty young light skinned black woman, 5'6", 130 pounds, perhaps 22 or 23 years old. She lived in a fairly decent sized three bedroom house about four blocks away from the Skate Park, the house had belonged to her parents. They had passed it on to her when her father retired last year, having just turned 55, and he and his wife moved down to a small house in southern Florida.

The boys quickly picked the bedroom they wanted, then set their suitcase and backpack on the floor against the wall in each room.

They sat in the living room for about half an hour, talking to Tanisha, telling her about recent events before both of them started yawning.

**********

The next morning, Wednesday, February 1, the boys were awake just after 7 AM; the semester wasn't quite finished just yet, some tests would take place over the next few days; the new semester would start the following week and run until the third week of June.

As both of them had already done all of their tests, they could chill for a few days, there was no requirement to actually be in the school.

Tanisha knocked on their doors just after 7:30 AM, saying that she would be getting ready to go to work. When they informed her that they didn't have to be in school, she shook her head, then made them promise to stay in the house and not get into any trouble.

Tanisha left the house just before 8:30 AM, the boys had had a quick breakfast of cereal and toast before they decided to see what was on the TV, dropping on the couch with no thought of what might happen. Luckily, the couch was quite sturdy, not likely to break easily.

They flipped through the channels Tanisha's cable system provided, not seeing anything interesting, then Paul saw the game system lying partially hidden under a three day old newspaper on the coffee table. It turned out to be a Playstation 4, with four games lying beside it. Upon closer inspection, the four games were found to be Battlefield 1, Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4 and Final Fantasy XV.

They were so wrapped up in the games they were still playing when Tanisha returned just after 5:30 PM. When Tanisha saw later on how they were sitting down on the couch, she ripped them a good one, "That couch is a one of a kind, worth almost $10k. Treat it with some respect!"

Tanisha had called a friend that day who worked in the court system, the boys would be seeing a judge on Friday afternoon.

**********

Tanisha started preparing the meal, having decided to cook mac and cheese, with sides of sausage and broccoli. She figured that it would be good for them to learn how to cook, so she called them into the kitchen and had them watch as she made the meal.

They made short work of the food; Tanisha shook her head, they obviously needed to learn how to act as girls. She told them to wash and dry the dishes; once they finished that, she would start their lessons in Girl 101, perhaps they might even learn some manners.

They blushed and nodded, then turned back to the dishes; ten minutes later, they joined her in the living room.

She drilled them for over two hours on basic female gestures, how to sit, how to stand, and discussed how to eat properly.

As the clock on the mantel struck 9 PM, she stopped and told them they could relax for half an hour before going to bed.

**********

The next day was a repeat of the day before. Tanisha watched as they ate breakfast, they weren't eating like total slobs now at least. She was on her way out the door when she realized they had been paying attention, some of the mannerisms were being used by them.

The boys played the games as they had the day before, although they were a fair bit quieter this time, correcting each other constantly.

When she returned home, she had them help as she prepared a casserole from scratch, nodding in approval when they acted appropriately.

Once again, she drilled them on the items she had taught them the night before, correcting gently and giving praise where it was due.

Before they headed to their rooms, she told them that they would need to be on their best behaviour in the courtroom the next day. She also said that they should wear their best slacks, a clean white shirt and a tie, presenting a decent image was important.

**********

Early on the 3rd of February, Tanisha noticed that the boys' gestures and manners were slowly shifting to female ones, she smiled. She told them that they needed to be in the courthouse by 1:15 PM, their case would be called at or around 2 PM, maybe sooner.

The boys fooled around until about 10:30 AM, then they went in and showered, Paul first, then James; once they were out, they pulled on robes and made a quick lunch of roast beef sandwiches with sliced pickles. After eating, they brushed their teeth and dressed as ordered.

**********

Tanisha had given them some money to use to go to Henderson, the county seat; the courthouse was located on the main square. They paid the cab once they reached the courthouse, then stepped out of the car, not realizing they were doing so in a feminine manner.

After talking to a woman in a room just off the front lobby, they walked to courtroom 103, entered and sat in the seats provided.

At 1:26 PM, they noticed Tanisha as she entered the courtroom; she saw them and soon was sitting next to them.

They sat there quietly as the case currently underway was remanded for three weeks, then they were called up. Tanisha led them to the table where a dapper looking older man was just opening a briefcase. At that point, their father ran into the court, looking rather disheveled.

It quickly became obvious that their father had no lawyer, it seemed he would be arguing his own case. This could be interesting.

The lawyer Tanisha had convinced to help them made his initial statement, giving a brief rundown of recent events in the boys' lives. When he finished, their father muttered a rather foul curse word, then blathered on for five minutes about a father's rights with his children. It didn't help him at all that he was dropping curse words fairly regularly, eventually the Judge became tired of it all.

"Mr. Brently, that 's enough. If I hear one more curse word from you, I'll hold you in contempt. This is a courtroom, not a brothel. Now, this appearance has nothing to do with what you feel your parental rights may be. I have an affidavit in front of me, signed by Miss Tanisha Blaine, that states you intended to beat your two boys here when they both implied a desire to transition to become female.

"I don't care where you come from, sir, such things are NOT just cause to beat or terrify children in your care. As you have a history of minor assaults stretching back over the last ten years, I feel that leaving these boys in your custody would result in substantial harm to them.

"Because of that, and you and your wife's frequent drunkenness, I'm awarding temporary custody to Miss Tanisha Blaine. Furthermore, you and your wife will not come within 1000 feet of anywhere the boys might normally go and the same distance around Miss Blaine's house."

"Miss Blaine, this temporary custody order will last for three months. If the boys want it extended, they'll need to inform the court."

"That is all. This court is now adjourned."

The boys' father said several swear words, at which point the Judge snapped, "You are in contempt, Mr. Brently. At the moment, based on your income history, I'm fining you $1000. One more comment like that, and you'll be doing 30 days and have a $5000 fine to pay."

Their father shook his head, exiting the courtroom as fast as possible.

**********

Tanisha and the boys had a fun weekend for the most part; they spent most of Saturday down at the Skate Park. Several more hours of instruction regarding feminine gestures, manners, sitting, standing, eating, etc., began to have an obvious and positive effect.

**********

Monday morning, February 6th, the boys were back in school, they had to consciously dampen their desire to act in a feminine manner. They managed to get through the day without too much hassle, although Paul did end up being shoved into a locker by a football player. Truth to tell, though, that had happened to both boys several times in the past, so things seemed to be pretty much normal for them.

Girl lessons were held for about two hours each evening, the forced repetition was bringing the appropriate responses more often now.

The rest of the week was pretty much the same, although they did manage to avoid any further physical embarrassments.

The weekend was like the one before, they were at the Skate Park most of Saturday, and learning female things the rest of the weekend.

Monday and Tuesday, February 13th and 14th, were okay. Things took a whole different turn on the 15th, however.

**********

It was just hitting 4 PM that day when Paul noticed their father entering the Skate Park; he looked around, saw his boys and started moving around the skate area. It didn't take long before he reached them; he grabbed Paul, hauled him to his feet, then pulled his hand back.

It was all too obvious what their father intended to do to him, Paul saw the big woman moving in, but couldn't do anything about the first punch. Paul sagged in his father's arms, then his father turned partway around as someone tapped on his shoulder from behind him.

'Sweet Mother of Mary', he breathed as he saw the woman, who promptly said, "Perhaps you might prefer to pick on someone your own size?"

Paul heard people talking on phones nearby, at least two clearly said "Police, please," as he waited for the next blow to fall, only it didn't.

His father let him go, Paul backed away, one hand up to his face which was already beginning to show signs of a bruise. His father laughed, "You're a woman! Even as big as you are, you're just a nuisance I need to shove out of my way," as he threw a right cross at her face.

The woman grinned as she grabbed the big man's hand, then squeezed it hard. "I'm no weakling, buster. I won state in California for wrestling in my 2nd, 5th and 6th years of university, I also took judo and karate in my 4th, 5th and 6th years. I have a blue belt in judo, and a green belt in karate. I may not be an expert in either one, but I can handle an arsewipe like you easily enough," as she tightened her grip again.

Their father winced, this girl was strong. He backed up a half-step, then tried to kick her behind the knees; she sidestepped it, barely even looking down, then she turned and flipped their father over her shoulder, dropping him flat on the cold, hard ground.

He grunted as he slowly stood up, then threw a combination of a right cross and a left hook, which she avoided by ducking low. When she was low to the ground, she dropped into a sideways roll, coming up standing about five feet away from the now seriously pissed off male.

She was turned so that she wasn't quite facing him. He lunged, throwing a punch at her kidneys which glanced off her left side. Now she was starting to get annoyed, she laughed at him, "This is how you throw a rabbit punch, jerkoff," as she nailed him hard in the left kidney.

He dropped instantly, rolling back and forth on the ground, shrieking in pain.

Paul watched from about ten feet away as the first cop reached down and grabbed his father, rolled him over and snapped on the cuffs. His father was still screaming even as the cops lifted him up, Mirandized him and half-dragged him to the nearest police car. The nicest things that could be understood were screams about "filthy tranny faggots", "perverted scum", and "goddamn interfering faggot loving bitch".

**********

Paramedics and another pair of police officers were on the scene within two or three minutes of the fight ending.

One of the paramedics gave Paul a quick examination. "Okay, Paul, right? It looks like you were lucky, you were hit pretty hard, but your jaw isn't cracked or broken, the most you'll have is a big bruise. Use ordinary painkillers if you need them; if the pain gets really bad, you should go into the hospital and get it checked out more thoroughly, okay?"

Paul nodded and turned away from the paramedic, only to find himself looking up at the woman standing a few feet away from him.

Melissa smiled, "Hi, Paul, I'm Melissa, this girl said you wanted to talk with me about something."

Paul blushed, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink as he quietly replied, "I wanted to say thank you for saving me. That guy was my father, he'd been threatening for several days to lay a beating on me and/or my brother. You heard his comments as they dragged him off?"

"I did hear them, yes; I can't say that there was much to be said for them, what with all the swearing he was doing."

"Well," Paul lowered his voice until he was almost whispering, "The tranny faggot comments were aimed at my brother and myself. My father recently found out that either James or myself was identifying as transsexual, and was angry enough that he intended to deal with us. Here Paul related the events that had happened in their lives recently, https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/66358/step-step-chapt...

"So you and your brother have been living with this Tanisha for the last two weeks or so?"

"Yeah, she had us go into court on the 3rd, we told the judge what had happened and a restraining order was placed on our father. Obviously, he didn't care about obeying the order, or he wouldn't have attacked me here. I've seen him near Tanisha's house a few times, too."

"What's done is done, you can't change it. Your father, though, will likely be looking at a prison sentence for assault, and that doesn't even take into consideration the repeated violations of the restraining order you mentioned."

"Well, thanks again for stepping in when you did. I thought I was going to get the crap beaten out of me," he replied, rubbing his cheek.

The woman smiled, he was a nice kid, then she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "I'm a post-operative transsexual myself, girl."

He looked up at her with a stunned expression, this tall, strong, yet utterly feminine woman was like him? It threw him for a loop.

She laughed, then grinned at him. "I'm Melissa. Perhaps you could give me a phone number or email, so I can contact you. I'd give you a phone number, but the only one I had was disconnected today, I won't have a new one until after I start my new job up north."

He spoke briefly to Sherry, who had brought Melissa over, she handed him a small notepad and a pen. He quickly wrote down the phone number for Tanisha's house, then added two emails, one for himself and a second for his brother, tore the sheet out and handed it to Melissa.

Melissa smiled, slipped the piece of paper into the back pocket of her men's cut jeans and started walking toward her car.

Paul and the girl watched the tall, confident woman as she walked away. Paul whispered in the girl's ear, she looked absolutely stunned.

As Melissa was walking away, Sherry squeaked, "She's like you and Jamie, but post? Holy shit! That's some woman!"

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls, I used Heather and the Skate Park from that story in this one. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.

Things quietened down quite a bit after dad pulled that stupid stunt in the Skate Park and was beaten so easily by Melissa.

I found it hard to believe she had once been a boy, but she had no reason to lie to me, I suppose. Damn, she is one fine woman!

Only time would tell if she remembered the emails I had given her. It would be nice to talk with someone who understands.

Well, that isn't to say that people here don't understand, but there are people like our idiotic father that decide they know better and no one has a right to disagree with them, even when whatever tripe they're spouting can be disproved or refuted with hardly an eyeblink's effort!

On the Friday after I was attacked in the Skate Park, Tanisha informed us after school we would have to be in court on Tuesday. See, the attack by my dad apparently pissed off the judge, who sent dad for an assessment at the county medical center's locked psych ward.

As the 72 hours assessment would not be finished until some time on the weekend, he was remanded until Tuesday. Dad's lawyer, some guy I've seen at our old house before everything went weird on us, wasn't able to get a time on Monday because the judge's day was filled.

When James, Sherry and I were questioned by the police, James and I mentioned that dad had been lurking near us on several occasions since the court order was made for him to stay away from us. We gave the police times and dates, and names of witnesses who saw him.

The weekend passed fairly quietly with us getting lots of girl 101 lessons from Tanisha, but we spent some time just having fun, too.

Monday was all right, I suppose, except that someone was spreading BS about what happened last Wednesday. It took me most of the day to learn where the crap was coming from, then I ran into Daniel Gunther, a nephew of the Gunther woman who used to be a nurse or aide or something in the hospital until she showed her bigotry over one or both of the Wilson twins years ago. The Gunther woman used Thomas Wexler to get back at the Wilson twins, yeah, the idiot who is still in prison for attempted murder using a dangerous weapon.

Heck, just about everyone in town knows about that whole ruckus, the Gunther woman also ended up doing hard time for her stupidity.

So there was Daniel, standing out by the front gates spouting his mouth off again when I overheard him and ripped into him.

The stupid shit was saying that the only reason Melissa had intervened with my dad there was that I would lick her pussy afterward. Ugh!

I gave the shit a mostly accurate rundown of what had happened at the park, then went inside and told the principal what he'd been saying.

Heh, yeah, Mrs. Duquesne is still the principal there. When I told her what Danny had been saying, she was seriously displeased. Actually, calling the look on her face at that point displeased would be like calling an erupting volcano 'a warm spot', a huge understatement.

Daniel was even more pissed at me as I passed by him when school let out that afternoon, but I made it clear I wouldn't take his crap at all.

I found out later he received a two week suspension for harassment and making inappropriate sexual comments on school property.

Since we had to be in court for dad's appearance at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, we had obtained excuse slips from school in advance.

Tanisha had taken the day off this time, so she drive us to the county courthouse and we made our way up to courtroom 103 again.

We'd been in there for almost fifteen minutes when a pair of guards brought dad into the room, then had him set at the defence table.

I shook my head, my father was not smart thinking he could outfox a court judge on legal issues with no help. Yep, he was alone again.

The usual rituals were done as the Judge entered. I actually caught his name, Thomas Valburn, as we were allowed to be seated.

The first thing that happened was the assessment results folder was passed up to the judge, who scanned the information.

"Well, Mr. Brently, the psychiatric ward at the county hospital assessed you and deemed you fit to stand trial. On that note, after what happened in the Skate Park in Constitution last Wednesday, you are being charged with first degree assault and battery with a first degree hate crime attachment to that charge, in that you did wilfully and maliciously seek out your son Paul and assault him at that time and place.

"Furthermore, it has been brought to my attention that you have violated the restraining order I put in place several times.

"I also quite clearly remember your belligerent attitude that you displayed when you were in this court the last time.

"It has also been brought to my attention that you have refused to use the attorney appointed by the court to defend you. Mr. Brently, as it stands right now, you are looking at up to a year in prison for the assault and battery and up to ten years as a hate crime offence.

"Mr. Brently, you are being given one last chance to have an attorney appointed for your case. If you refuse, you will still stand trial. I would think that you might be aware of the adage about 'a man who represents himself has a fool for a client.' I sincerely doubt that you have the knowledge needed to act as your own counsel in a court of law on a serious matter like this. I will not give you this option again.

"I'm remanding this case for two weeks to allow you to find a lawyer and to examine the evidence. Trial will start on March 7th at 9:30 AM."

I snuck a glance over at dad after hearing all of this, he looked a bit green as if he might be sick because of Judge Valburn's comments.

Judge Valburn had paused for a moment, now he nodded to the bailiff and said, "This court is now adjourned."

The bailiff nodded in turn, and the guards who had brought dad into the courtroom now led him out of it, back to a cell, I suppose.

We were back at school just in time for lunch. That afternoon, I saw Daniel Gunther skulking just off school property and giving me dirty looks.

Except for the dirty looks that I kept getting from that idiot Daniel as I entered or left the school each day, the next two weeks were quiet.

There was a history project assigned the day after we were in court, due a week from that Friday, and I ended up being paired with Lindsey Rockman, a rather nice girl. The project had to be about American history between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. We decided that we would do our project on George Washington, showing the various things he did just before and during the Revolutionary War.

I'm not sure how she figured it out, but the day before it was due to be handed in, Lindsey told me that she knew that I was a transsexual.

As soon as she said that, I turned as white as a sheet. I'm told I wobbled in the seat for a moment and then toppled to the floor.

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls, I used Heather and the Skate Park from that story in this one. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.

I made references to other characters in the Sk8r Grrls series, namely Nancy Gunther, Thomas Wexler and the Wilson twins.

I awoke and found myself lying on one of the two gurneys in the nurse's office in school. It took a moment before I remembered what had happened that caused me to be here. Let's just say that my face was fire engine red and that is when the nurse entered!

She smiled at me, then asked me to lie down again, saying, "You hit your head when you fell from your seat. You've only been here for a few minutes, child. I had to call your foster parent to inform them of your injury, she'll be here in about twenty minutes."

I groaned, if there was one thing I didn't need right now, it was Tanisha fussing over me after a little bump on my head.

I didn't have a choice in the matter, though, the nurse kept a sharp eye on me to ensure that I stayed there until Tanisha arrived.

Tanisha wasn't alone when I finally saw her about half an hour later. There was a tall Latina standing beside her.

Tanisha asked how I was feeling, I said I'd be fine, then she introduced her friend. "Estella, this is Paul, one of the two children in my care thanks to the actions of their father over the last few weeks. Paul here is like you, Estella, except just starting the journey to being a girl."

I think my jaw hit the floor, the shock from Tanisha's announcement was that strong. This was a t-girl? I wolf whistled, then turned bright red!

Estella giggled at my reaction to her, and once Tanisha was assured that I could be released into her care, we left the nurse's office.

The school day was ending, the final bell rang a few minutes later. We waited for James by the side entrance near the parking lots.

James came out right beside Sherry. Sherry said something to him, then waved and joined three of her friends next to an old Dodge Charger. I'm not a serious car buff like James, but it wasn't hard to recognize a late '60s Dodge Charger after seeing the Dukes of Hazzard show a lot.

That's one heck of a car, then I recognized the girl who was sliding into the driver's seat; Patricia Brandt-Burnett, hot damn!

So what makes Patti so special? Well, let's just say that there's only one family around this area with more money and influence than hers. That explains how she could be the possible owner of a serious muscle car like that at just seventeen years of age.

Tanisha took us back to her house where we spent a good part of the evening talking and listening to Estella telling of her experiences.

Estella lives just outside of a town several miles away from here. Tanisha drove her home just after 9 PM that evening.

James and I sat on the bed in my room at Tanisha's house. We were talking about Estella, amazed by the fact that she was like us!

"Estella is seriously hot," I mumbled at one point, James responding with a brief giggle to show his opinion of my embarrassment.

He was still giggling a moment later, but managed to stop and agree with me, then added, "We can be as beautiful and nice as she is if we try hard enough. It might take a long time to get there, and there will obviously be plenty of lessons along the way for us to learn."

I nodded, grinning at him as I replied, "Sherry and a few others from school might be willing to help us learn about girl stuff, too."

James sat up on the bed, leaning against the wall for a moment. "Have you thought of a girl name for yourself yet?"

I sat there for a few minutes, thinking, then inspiration struck and I answered, "Yeah, just now, Penelope Jasmine, what about you?"

James blushed, his face turning a fiery red as he looked across at me, "Yeah, I want my name to be Jenevieve Jacqueline, Penny."

Penny? It took a few seconds for my brain to kick into gear, Penny as in short for Penelope, duh! I laughed, "That would make you Jenny."

James snorted, holding a pillow, saying, "You think Penny and Jenny will be bad, think about us being known everywhere as PJ and JJ!"

Both of us burst into laughter at that point, loud enough that Tanisha knocked, then opened the door asking us if anything was wrong.

I giggled again as I looked up at her, then replied to her question, "Nothing wrong at all, we just decided what our femme names should be."

That had Jenny rolling on the bed, trying to stifle the giggles for a minute or two, before she squealed out, "I'm Jenny, she's Penny!"

That led to us explaining our new names. Tanisha smiled and said that she would see what she could do about updating our records and such.

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls. This story is based off that series and the town of Constitution which she created. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.