A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential to understanding the events in Double Trouble.

Chapter 1

“Come in please, Alice, and take a seat.”

Alice perched on the edge of the seat in the small office and looked nervously at the man sitting opposite her. He gave a gentle smile and the girl forced herself to relax a little. Her hands ran down the seems of her school trousers and checked that her blazer was sitting properly then they folded in her lap. With her spine straight and her chin up, Alice looked back at the man and waited for him to speak.

“Hello Alice, my name is Keith Thompson and I’m here to discuss the possibility of you attending our school.” The man had a calm, confident tone of voice.

“Before we start, I want to be clear about one thing. Do you understand that Hayfield Hall is a boarding school which you would be attending 365 days per year? If you join us, you would not be leaving until you graduate. No holiday breaks, no trips home, no family visits.”

Alice nodded, her curly hair bouncing on her head.

“I get that. It was explained at the assembly. But I’m not going unless Peter’s going too. Either we both go or neither of us do.”

Keith smiled. “We understand that. After these interviews we will either offer both of you a position or neither of you.”

“Oh!” said Alice. “That’s okay!” She shrugged. “If we’re both there, there really wouldn’t be anybody we’d want to visit. I mean, our foster parents are nice but we wouldn’t miss them and they wouldn’t miss us.”

Alice was quiet for a moment, looking down at her knees, then she shrugged and looked back up at Keith. He had been watching her silently. When she returned her attention to him, he quietly cleared his throat and began reading from the file in front of him.

“Let’s start with some basics. Your parents were Henry Arthur Fallow and Melissa Joan Fallow nee Harper, both sadly deceased. The name on your birth certificate is Jordan Brodie Fallow though for the past five years you have been using the name Alice Fallow. You are thirteen years old and your birthday is on the eighteenth of March. You have a twin brother Jason Arthur Fallow who has been using the name Peter Fallow for the same length of time. How am I doing so far?”

Alice had gone slightly pale as Keith talked. She blinked a couple of times, swallowed and then gave a small nod.

Keith then went on to read some other details about Alice’s life, pausing every so often to get a nod from Alice. Finally Keith put his notes down and leaned back in his chair.

“One thing puzzles me, and I would love for you to help me understand this. Here you are, sitting in front of me. You are obviously a very pretty and delightful young girl. Your school, your foster parents, your case worker, the welfare agency, even your current doctor appears to be completely convinced that you are female. Yet, your birth certificate clearly identifies you as a male. Can you explain that to me?”

Keith watched the girl with his calm eyes and a patient expression on his face.

Alice glared at Keith. “The hospital made a mistake filling out their forms. I’m a girl. Do you want me to prove it?”

She jumped out of her chair and stood in front of Keith, her eyes flashing with anger. She undid the button and zip on her trousers and started pushing them down.

Keith held his hands up in surrender and called out “Stop!! That isn’t necessary!”

Alice sniffed in disgust and refastened her trousers. Then she flounced back into her chair, tossed her head to send her curly hair flying and crossed her arms. She sat there glaring at Keith and waited for him to make the next move.

Keith sat back in his chair, quite relaxed, and watched her for a moment. After a moment, Alice uncrossed her arms, sat up straight, checked the seam on her trousers and adjusted her blazer then folded her hands back in her lap.

“I’m guessing you’ve done that a few times before, haven’t you?” said Keith.

Alice shrugged.

“Aren’t you worried that sooner or later someone will call your bluff and let you go all the way?”

“It’s not a bluff.”

“We spoke to a Dr Albert Morlin. He was your G.P. when you were living with your parents. He has very clear memories of treating the Fallow twins. He assured me that both of you were definitely boys. His files support his memory. You were born male.”

Alice went white as a sheet and her mouth gaped open.

“Alice you are not in trouble,” Keith said firmly. “I am not going to out you to your foster parents or your school. This will not prevent you from being accepted into Hayfield Hall. I repeat, you are not in trouble. Do you understand me?”

Alice snapped her mouth closed and managed a nod. She still looked frightened.

“Before we can accept you into Hayfield Hall, we need you to be honest with us — completely honest. So, I’d like to try this again. I’m trying to ease my way into the big questions by asking little ones first, okay?”

Alice gulped and nodded.

“Do you know what the word transgendered means? Or gender dysphoria?”

Alice shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Are you seeing any doctor or counsellor about your gender issues?”

Alice shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Then how did you convince the welfare agency that you are female?”

Alice stared back at Keith with a stubborn expression frozen on her face. Keith sat patiently and waited. Finally, Alice sighed and looked down.

“Jordan Brodie is the kind of name that could be either a boy or a girl. Our first case worker was really busy and frantic. That first day, we were standing right next to her while she was typing our file into the computer. Then she saw the M on my birth certificate and asked me about it. I did the same thing to her that I just did to you. It was a crowded office. I was standing there in a dress. The last thing she wanted was a hysterical seven year old girl stripping off in front of everyone. Like you, she stopped me before anybody saw anything. She just typed the F into the computer and that was it. I told her I preferred to be called Alice so she typed that in, too. From then on, they all thought I was a girl because that’s what their computer said.”

“Didn’t they have copies of your medical files?”

“I was just lucky she didn’t check those. They were sitting right there on her desk but she was too busy to check them. Five minutes later she left us beside her desk while she went off to the loo. I dropped a couple of drips of her coffee onto their copy of my birth certificate so that the M got all smudged in case anybody else checked it. I hid my medical file in my bag and got rid of it later. She just assumed she’d lost it in all of the mess. Since then, all of my case workers and foster parents knew I was a girl because the agency said I was. We told the receptionist for our new doctor that I’d had all the same illnesses and injections and stuff as Peter so she just made a new file and copied the information across.”

Keith sat quietly and watched while Alice kept staring at the floor. A couple of small wet circles appeared on the leg of her trousers, directly under her face.

“I know what I did was wrong. I’m sure it broke a whole bunch of laws. I was desperate! I saw a chance and I took it. I’m sorry.”

She was quiet for a moment longer.

“So what happens now? Are you going to report me? Do I get arrested?”

“No, Alice. I’m not going to report you. I’m pleased that you’ve been honest with me. That helps me a great deal. None of our research could reveal how the change happened. We had to be careful not to ask questions that would cause you problems if we didn’t accept you. That meant we couldn’t ask anyone else the questions we needed to ask so I had to ask you.”

Keith handed over a box of tissues. “Here! Clean your face and let’s get back to the interview.”

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 2

Keith waited until Alice signalled she was ready to continue and then resumed the interview.

“I was quite impressed with your little performance before. It was quite convincing. If I hadn’t known the truth, I probably would have believed that you were really physically a girl and highly offended by any suggestion to the contrary. Have you had to make a scene like that since your first case worker?”

Alice gave a little nod. “My first new school after … after going into the agency. The school head saw that my old school records had an M. I did the whole performance again about the old school making a mistake and showed her my welfare forms which all had F on them. Then you, today.”

“As I asked before, aren’t you worried that one day someone like me might call your bluff and let you strip all the way?”

A shrug and then a sneaky smile. “Not really! We’re in the middle of a crowded school. You’d be in a lot more trouble than I would if someone came in and I was half naked. I know how the system works. You’re an adult and I’m only twelve. All I’d have to do is scream and somebody would come in. You had to stop me or you’d be arrested for being a pervert.”

“Perhaps! But you would still have been outed as a boy.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Alice blurted out. Then she blushed and bit her lip.

“What? Could you explain that please.”

Alice was still blushing. Despite this, she stared back at Keith with a defiant look on her face.

“I asked you to explain that. Why wouldn’t you be outed as a boy?”

“There’s nothing to see.”

She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she opened them again and stared straight at Keith.

“Before I came in here, I pushed everything up inside and glued my skin together over the top. We got hold of that medical glue stuff they use instead of stitches so it works on skin. There's a solvent that melts it all away when I don't need it anymore. Peter and I found some pictures on the internet on a site about puberty. I look about right as far as we can tell — provided nobody looks too closely. We’ve never actually seen — well, you know, that part — of a real girl, so it’s kind of hard to be sure.”

Alice had resumed sitting quite upright and was still staring defiantly at Keith.

“That’s not a very safe thing to do,” said Keith calmly. “Nor does it sound very comfortable.”

Alice shrugged and looked unconcerned. “Being made to act like a boy would be worse.”

Keith nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you do that every day?”

“No, just for times like today when we think I might get challenged. It would be horrible to do that every day. The glue feels disgusting. Most of the time I just push it all in and wear a tight pair of knickers under my ordinary ones.”

“What about doctors?”

“I’ve only been to a doctor once, since … since then. That was for an ear infection. Doctors don’t make you get naked for an ear infection. I was pretty sure I’d be safe. I thought he might make me undress down to my underwear but he didn’t even do that so I was okay. Apart from that I’ve avoided doctors.”

Keith looked at her for a moment and made some notes on his file.

“So now the big question. Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why have you been living as a girl for the last five years? Tell me about how that little Fallow boy turned into Alice.”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. It felt like the right thing to do. And once I started, I couldn’t really stop. I couldn’t exactly walk up to somebody and tell them that I’ve been living as a girl for the last however long and now I want to stop. Besides, I’ve never really wanted to stop.”

“It sounds like you are happy being Alice?”

She shrugged. “I am Alice. Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m sad. But I’m always Alice.”

“Hmm! If we accept you into Hayfield Hall, you and I are going to have some long talks about all of this. You’ll also spend some time with our medical staff working out where this is leading you to.”

“Will you make me …?”

“No, we will not make you stop living as a girl. Hayfield Hall exists to support young people who have the potential to excel but struggle in a normal school environment. Young people like you and your brother. If your gender identity issues are what is holding you back at the moment then we will support you by helping you to learn and grow into a fine young woman."

“Really?”

“Yes! Really!”

“Wow!”

"However, if you do decide you want to stop, we will support that and make it as easy as we can for you to go back to living as a boy.”

Keith nodded and made an note to himself.

“Let’s change the subject slightly. Where did Alice and Peter come from? What happened to Jordan and Jason?”

Alice sat and looked at Keith for a moment while she thought about the question. Then she sighed and nodded.

“Our parents were always really cutsey about having twins. Jordan and Jason always had matching names, matching clothes, matching hairstyles. They loved it, we hated it. Around about our seventh birthday we had a little rebellion and refused to go along with it any more. We told them we were different people and wanted to be treated differently. We had this huge family fight — there was lots of yelling and crying. In the end they gave in and things got better. As a kind of symbol of our new beginning, we got them to choose new names for us and they chose Allan and Peter — then Allan changed into Alice and here I am.”

“The fire was only two weeks after your seventh birthday.”

Alice went pale and nodded. They were both quiet for a moment.

“Let’s change the subject again,” said Keith. “Every time you have a choice, you and Peter choose to be in different classes or even different subjects. Do you have difficulty being in the same class as Peter?”

“No! That’s not a problem at all. We get on really well together. It’s just more interesting if we’re learning different things or have different teachers or whatever.”

“More interesting? How?”

“It gives us more to tell each other when we get home. If we’re both in the same class with the same teacher it’s not nearly so much fun afterwards.”

“You teach each other what you’ve learned in class?”

“Um … yes! I guess so. But it’s more like we tell each other everything that happened, not just what we learned.”

“What about your instruments. You play violin and Peter plays trombone. Do you teach each other those as well.”

Alice shrugged. “Our foster parents don’t let us practise at home so that’s a bit harder to do.”

“When you get to Hayfield, you will both be in the same class for most of the day. How do you think you will cope with that?”

“In the assembly, they said your school used new techniques that challenged the students more than most schools. We kind of guessed that meant we would be getting proper homework and assignments and things like that instead of the time-wasting stuff we get from here that’s supposed to keep us busy without actually teaching us anything. If we’re being challenged, then we’ll be happy being in the same classes more but we’d still like to do some things different if we can.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“Now I’d like you to tell me about Peter. How is Peter different from you? How is he the same?”

Keith leaned back and listened to Alice talk.

Some time later …

“Come in please, Peter, and take a seat.”

Peter slouched over to the chair and slumped into it. His straight hair was tied back in a loose pony-tail that dangled to his shoulders. Despite his apparent relaxed attitude, his eyes were bright and intensely focused on the man sitting opposite him.

“Hello Peter, my name is Keith Thompson and I’m here to discuss the possibility of you attending our school. Before we begin, I’d like to be clear about one thing. Do you understand that Hayfield Hall is a boarding school which you would be attending 365 days per year? If you join us, you would not be leaving until you graduate. No holiday breaks, no trips home, no family visits.”

“Sure,” said Peter, “But no way am I going unless Alice gets in too.”

Keith smiled. “We understand that. After these interviews we will either offer both of you a position or neither of you.”

Peter sniffed. “That’s okay then. As long as we’re clear.”

“So Peter,” Keith’s voice was casual and calm. “What do you think about your brother living as a girl for the last five years?”

Peter jerked upright and stared at Keith in astonishment. “She told you?”

Keith smiled calmly and stared Peter in the eye.

“Peter, the first thing we expect from our students is honesty. It would be difficult for us to go forward if you and Alice couldn’t be honest with us. The second thing we expect from our students is that they look after each other. Much the same way you have been looking after your twin for the last five years. I’m not criticizing you or Alice. I’m merely ensuring that you understand we need you to be honest during this interview.”

Peter’s mouth opened as if he were about to say something and then it closed again.

Now that Keith was certain that he had Peter’s full attention, he smiled and opened the file in front of him.

“We’ll get back to that shortly, but first let’s start with some basics … .”

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 3

Dr Quentin Hobson, Headmaster of Hayfield Hall, closed one folder and opened the next with one hand while he sipped coffee from a mug held in his other hand.

“Now let’s talk about the Fallow twins. Keith, what’s your take on them?”

“They’re both ideal candidates for this school. Academically, they are both very bright but massively underachieving. They both play musical instruments to a high enough standard that they will fit into the orchestra without any difficulty. Alice presents as a classic transgender child, though I suspect there’s more going on there than meets the eye. Peter presents as a fairly typical thirteen year old boy though some of that is an act. Through close contact with his sister, and possibly their experiences in foster homes, he is a lot more tolerant of differences than most boys of that age.

"If you want more detail about why they qualify for a place with us, I refer you to the second page of my report."

There was a rustle of papers and then silence for a moment as those around the table read the information being referred to.

"As a result of what you see there, the twins are socially isolated and quite suspicious of other peoples' motives," continued Keith.

“Also, there’s a lot of fallout from the death of their parents that I don’t think they’ve fully processed. I’m quite sure we’ll hit some turbulence when all of that comes out. We barely touched on Alice’s gender issues …”

Rachel snorted. “‘Allan became Alice and here I am’ is the shortest description of a transition I’ve ever heard.”

Keith grinned and nodded. “They have some serious trust issues with people in authority and in one session I didn’t expect to crack through that many layers of Alice’s shell so I left it at that. I was pretty impressed that I got the story out of her about how she got the computer file changed at the welfare agency. That story alone should give us some idea of the sort of intelligence we'll be dealing with. Also, I’m certain I didn’t get the full story of why they use Alice and Peter rather than their birth names. None of those issues have even been recognized where they are, let alone any attempt made to treat them.”

“We’ve never had twins before,” said Quentin. “We’ve had siblings in different year groups but not twins.”

“We’ve had a few come in with very close prior relationships,” argued Keith. “Jill and Anna were practically sisters when they came in to us last year, for example.”

“We will have to watch that they don’t isolate themselves from the rest of their year group,” said Rachel.

"The same possibility existed with Jill and Anna," replied Keith. "But they integrated into the whole group quite quickly. We must be careful not to simply assume the same thing will happen again with these two.”

“The relationship between the twins is going to create a different dynamic for study partners compared to the normal sorts of relationships that develop between study partners,” said Rachel.

"You seem to be assuming they would be study partners," said Quentin.

"Given their current co-dependency, I don't think we should split them up in any way," responded Keith. "As study partners they can continue to support each other. And yes, that implies a different dynamic than develops between many of our study partners."

“Not every pair that we put together graduate as life-partners rather than study partners,” said Quentin. “Adolescence puts a lot of stress on the relationship between twins as they struggle to establish their own identity. If we can guide the Fallow twins through adolescence and have them graduate with a healthy, long-term, close sibling relationship still in place then I will be a very happy man.”

“We need to be careful to stop identifying them as the Fallow twins,” said Keith. “They are Alice and Peter and with quite significant differences between them. They are very closely bonded and do many things together but react strongly against being treated as the same person.”

“Noted,” said Quentin. “The discussion I’m hearing seems to be assuming that we are accepting Alice and Peter. I’ve heard issues we will need to deal with rather than any actual objections. The rest of you have been fairly quiet. Are we all agreed?”

Quentin’s question is answered by nods from everyone present.

“Very well then.” He took another sip from his (now cold) coffee and closed the current folder. “Next we have …”

Alice and Peter were sitting on the fence outside their foster parents’ house when Keith drove up. They stood up and were walking towards the car even before Keith had finished parking. Keith got out of the car and went to meet them.

“You’re foster parents aren’t here to say goodbye?” asked Keith.

Alice shrugged.

“They had to go to work,” said Peter. “We told them we didn’t mind.”

“You were told you couldn’t bring anything with you,” said Keith looking at Alice.

Alice was clutching to her chest a small battered shoebox that was tied up with string.

“This is all that we own,” said Alice with a tear in her eye.

“All?” asked Keith.

“We do have some money from the house insurance,” said Peter — more to Alice than to Keith. “And a bit of money from the life insurance.”

Peter turned to Keith and explained. “It’s all being in held in a trust for us. It’s not very much — we’re not, like, rich or anything — but now that we won’t have to pay for anything through to the end of high school, it should be enough to get us at least some of the way through university.”

“That’s assuming that shonky accountant doesn’t steal it all,” said Alice to Peter with some bitterness. “It’s going to be hard to keep checking on him when we’re away at boarding school for the next five years.”

Keith smiled calmly. “Our legal people will help you with that. Hayfield looks after its students. We knew about your financial situation. We’ve already started the process to watch over your trust fund for you. Your money will be looked after. So what’s in the shoe box?”

Alice clutched the box more tightly to her chest and didn’t reply. Tears silently ran down her cheeks.

“It’s all we have left from … before,” said Peter. “Dad’s watch, a necklace Mum had loaned to a friend, a few photos, that’s about it — not much survived the fire. The photos are kind of water-damaged and the watch is a bit melted so it doesn’t work anymore. It’s one of those old fashioned ones that Dad inherited from his grandfather.”

“Can’t we please keep them with us?” begged Alice. “It’s all we have.”

“None of the other students are allowed to bring things with them,” said Keith as gently as he could. “It wouldn’t be fair on them if we made an exception for you.”

“I guess we could mail the box to our accountant and ask him to hold it for us until we graduate,” said Peter.

“I don’t trust him that much,” spat Alice.

Keith pressed a button on his keyring and the boot on the car popped open.

“Put the box in there. I will put it in storage for you. It will be safe, I promise you. It will be returned to you when you graduate.”

Alice stood there and hugged the box, crying softly.

“Come on, Al,” said Peter. “We knew their rules. It was worth asking but we expected something like this.” He gently took the box from Alice and handed it to Keith. Then he wrapped Alice in his arms and hugged her.

Keith put the shoebox in the boot and closed the lid.

“Nothing in your pockets?” asked Keith.

They both shook their heads.

“In that case, hop in and let’s get on the road.”

Peter strolled in through the connecting door.

“Do you believe this place?” said Peter. “The walk-in closet is bigger than our last bedroom. And the clothes …”

“I know … I saw! They even put the hair stuff I asked for in the bathroom.”

“You mean a hair-curler and all that? That’s good.”

“With these big rooms and the quality of the clothes,” said Alice. “It all feels like honey in the middle of a really big trap. I’m just waiting to find out what type of trap this is.”

“Whatever type of trap it is, we’ve already marched right into it. We took our chance to get out of that last place. We’ll have to wait and see if this place is better or worse. I’ll tell you this, though. I poked my head into the hallway and introduced myself to a couple of the other newbies and they’re just like us.”

“What, twins?”

“No! They were from the bottom of the heap — just like us. The sort of kids that nobody would miss if we suddenly disappeared.”

“We saw that group of older students as we came in. They didn’t look abused or mistreated or anything,” said Alice.

“How would you know if they were being abused or not?”

“You and I both know what abused kids look like — we can even pick abused kids who are trying to hide it,” said Alice. “Those students aren’t being abused.”

“You’re right. They looked healthy and happy. Maybe this place really is being run by do-gooders who just want us to get educated.”

Alice snorted. “It doesn’t sound likely does it. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open and watch each others’ backs.”

“What’re you doing?” asked Peter.

“Just retrieving our stash before I get changed.”

Alice was sitting cross-legged on the bed unwrapping a small cloth package. A second package lay open on the bed in front of her. Laid out on the cloth were the contents — a series of small photos, cut into ovals, and a tiny brooch in the shape of an owl.

Peter crawled onto the bed and sat crosslegged in front of her. He carefully scooped up the brooch and stroked the owl with his finger. Then he put the brooch down and picked up the photos — handling them carefully.

“The Wedding Photos,” he whispered, reverently. Carefully he looked through the photos — gazing lovingly at each one, before moving onto the next. “I wish we remembered which of the grandfathers was Justin and which was Jordan.”

Alice sighed and stopped what she was doing. “I remember the conversation. I remember cuddling on Mum’s lap while she told us. You were squidged in beside us. I remember her pointing but I can’t remember which way around she pointed.”

“After all this time, we aren’t going to suddenly remember it today. I was just saying what I wished.”

Peter put the photos down and gestured for Alice to finish unwrapping her other package. It quickly revealed a small multi-coloured scarf. Alice lifted it to her face and breathed in deeply.

“I can still smell her perfume,” said Alice. Then she held out her hands to Peter who smelled the scarf carefully.

“It’s so faded now,” said Peter, sadly. “I can barely smell it at all. We handled it too much in those first few months.”

“We didn’t know,” said Alice with a pout.

“I know. But if we had kept it wrapped up better and not handled it so much, maybe her perfume would have lasted better.”

Alice carefully flipped open the scarf and scooped two rings from the central folds.

“Mum’s rings?” asked Peter. “I thought you were going to leave the rings in the box with Dad’s watch.”

“I couldn’t,” said Alice, tearfully. “I knew what was going to happen to the box. Keith did exactly what you predicted and promised to store it for us. Who knows if we’ll ever see it again. I just wish I could have hung onto Daddy’s watch as well.”

Peter grinned and pointed at her now-flat chest. “Two years ago you wouldn’t have been able to smuggle in even that much. At least as a thirteen year old you get some storage space. Dad’s watch would have made you look all lumpy.”

Alice shrugged. “I would have just worn a bigger bra. If I wrapped it well enough, it wouldn’t poke out.”

Peter picked up her hand and rubbed her wrists. “You’d have had to wear a double D to do that. And they might have noticed if you suddenly sprouted out that much between the interviews and now.”

“We should probably hide these,” said Alice. “I bet they search our rooms.”

“Of course they search our rooms,” said Peter, looking around. “And even if they don't, other kids will probably raid us. Those closets have so much stuff in them, I’m sure if we’re clever, we could hide it all in there.”

Alice started wrapping the pile of mementos up again. “Which room should we use? We’ve never slept in different rooms before and I don’t want to start now. Who knows who will try to come in while we're sleeping.”

Peter shrugged. “Both rooms look the same. We’re in here now so we may as well live in this one. We haven’t shared a single bed long-term before but it’s big enough so we’ll manage. We can use the spare room for studying or whatever.”

Peter stood up. “We’re supposed to get changed into their clothes. Everything we’re wearing now goes in those black bags. We probably won’t see them again. They said we'd get them back when we leave but that seems pretty pointless. Even if we only last here for a year or so, by the time we leave none of this will fit us.”

“I know,” said Alice. “I heard the instructions, too. I’ve just been putting that off as long as I could. This is my favourite top. This is my only top. We gave all the rest of our clothes away last night.”

“Have you seen the clothes in there? You’ll have a new favourite top in next to no time. Your old clothes aren’t important. That little pile of things on the bed are the only things that really matter. Let’s hide our stash and get changed. Then we can go out and meet the rest of our group. Keith said they’d all be meeting up in the common room in about half an hour.”

The two of them wandered into the walk-in closet.

“I feel sorry for the others,” said Alice. “Most of them are coming into a place where they don’t know anybody. At least we have each other. We should try to be extra friendly.”

“Sure. We can do that,” said Peter.

“I’m just worried that they’ll all turn out to be horrible little shits like at our last school,” said Alice.

Peter shrugged. “Then we can always go back to ignoring them but we should at least give them a chance.”

“Absolutely. Now where do you think we should hide these?” asked Alice.

“How about there?” said Peter, pointing.

Alice smiled. “Perfect.”

They worked together to conceal their little collection of contraband.

"I'm glad they know about me here," said Alice. "The people who run this place, I mean."

"Why is that?"

"We have that medical appointment later today. Usually I would be getting stressed by now about having to face a doctor. But this one will know my secret already. It's kind of a relief."

"Keith was right about one thing. Sooner or later somebody would call you on that bluff. Something tells me the doctors here would be the ones to do it."

"I still can't believe this place is real. It's nothing like what we expected. Everything is so … so …"

"I know what you mean."

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 4

“I’m getting a strange vibe off Peter and Alice,” said Keith.

“What do you mean?” asked Rachel. “They seem to be settling in very well. They even seem to have made friends amongst their year level.”

“They still block the doors with furniture while they sleep,” said Quentin. “And they watch everybody. A number of the staff have mentioned that.”

Keith shrugged. “That’s just a healthy dose of paranoia. Perfectly reasonable for a pair that have spent the last five years in welfare. That isn’t the problem. They’ll get over that gradually as they learn to trust us. In fact we've already made some progress with that. Over the last week they have definitely started to thaw. My strange vibe is to do with them as twins. As you know, before I came here, I worked with a number of sets of twins. That’s why I was put in charge of Peter and Alice. In the last few days, I’ve had sessions with each of them separately and both of them together. I can’t put my finger on it but something feels just a fraction off when I work with them.”

“Has anybody else had that reaction?” asked Quentin as he looked around the room.

He was met with a circle of shaking heads.

“Tomorrow might bring something out,” suggested Rachel. “The first Mix Up Monday seems to reveal a lot about the character of the new students.”

“I agree,” said Quentin. “We should all keep a careful eye on Peter and Alice tomorrow.”

Alice slipped through the door and closed it behind her. She looked over at Peter and giggled.

Peter was standing in front of a mirror wearing a dress with violet and green stripes. He was struggling to adjust a long red wig.

“This is wrong. I look like a prat!” said Peter.

“You really do,” said Alice. “You look like a boy doing a bad job of pretending to be a girl. I don’t like it. They shouldn’t be making you do this.”

“It feels like they want to humiliate me and my only defence is to play the clown. And it feels wrong to clown around with this stuff.”

"I’ve just been for a walk. This place is so weird," said Alice. "I still can't believe how many people here are like — you know — different. And even the ones who aren't, they accept it so easily. Like today. Everybody I saw is taking this whole dressing up thing so seriously. They’ve all made this huge effort. We can’t go out there and be silly about wearing the wrong clothes. I think we’d offend just about everybody. Anything else we could do is just too weird."

"I agree," said Peter. "Absolutely nobody has been mean to us since we arrived here — either students or staff. In fact most of them have gone out of their way to be kind. It was kind of disconcerting at first. I'm not going to be the first person to be mean to somebody by making fun of their issues with clothing and gender and stuff like that. Besides," he pointed at his reflection in the mirror, "this is just wrong!"

"It's bad enough for you," said Alice. "Even thinking about it feels totally wrong for me. I absolutely do NOT want to dress up like a boy. And this place really is so accepting. I swear I could walk out there and say I want to be a giraffe and they would all just nod and start trying to figure out how to tie my food onto tree branches so it would feel more natural for me."

Peter laughed. "Keith would probably say, 'What are the main things you think are stopping you from being a giraffe?'"

"He would too," said Alice. "Then he would go to you and say, 'How do you feel about your sister pretending to be a person while all the time she was really a giraffe?'"

They both had a good laugh about that. Then Alice sighed and took hold of Peter's arm. She laid her head on his shoulder and looked into the mirror.

"I'm really starting to like this place," she said. "I'm almost starting to feel safe here. I really don't want to mess it up by making fun of them. I can't do this thing today.

“I think we should go with Plan B,” said Peter.

“Be ourselves, you mean?”

“Yeah!”

******

The Year One breakfast table went quiet when Peter and Alice entered the room. They walked over and took their seats without taking any notice of the stares. Then some hissed whispers started up, teasing the twins for not taking part in the day.

Finally Peter glared around the table.

“Look! We tried, okay? And we couldn’t do it. It just felt too weird.”

Keith had been sitting quietly at the table and not saying anything until this point.

“If you had concerns about the day, why didn’t you talk to me about it yesterday. A couple of the other Year Ones spoke to their counsellors about today.”

“Yesterday we were just planning for me to wear an oversized dress and make a joke about it. Today I put on a dress and I felt like a total prat. I felt like I was being insensitive to everything some of the people here go through. Besides, it was even worse for Alice. She doesn’t want to be a boy. She doesn’t want to dress like a boy. It’s just wrong to make her be one. You told us we wouldn’t be forced to do anything we really didn’t want to do. It’s breaking your own rules if you force us to do this.”

Keith had leaned back on his chair and watched Peter during his little rant. He didn’t respond in any way. Peter finished talking and immediately started eating, staring down at his plate. Alice glared aroumd the table — warning everybody, including Keith, to leave her brother alone. Then she reached over and rubbed her hand up and down Peter’s back. After a moment, Peter shrugged his back. Alice took the hint and moved her hand away.

The entire table quietly resumed eating, the silence broken only by the sound of Keith tapping on his PDA. Eventually quiet conversation resumed but the silence hung around Peter and Alice like a cloud until the end of the meal.

Just as their plates were being cleared, both Peter and Alice’s PDAs let out a loud ping. They took out their PDAs and looked at them then looked over at Keith.

“Why do you want us in your office?” asked Peter.

"We didn't do anything wrong," said Alice. "How can we be in trouble if we didn't do anything wrong?"

“I’d just like to talk through in more detail your reasons for choosing not to take part in today’s activities. As Peter correctly pointed out, we can’t force you to take part so you can’t be in trouble for not taking part. But why don’t we have the rest of this conversation somewhere with a little more privacy. Let’s walk together, shall we?”

Keith stood and waited for Peter and Alice to join him before they walked together to his office. Peter and Alice took a seat together on the sofa and Keith pulled a chair over so that he could sit facing them. Alice fluffed out her curly hair with both hands and then adopted her usual upright prim-and-proper pose. Peter slumped back into the sofa the way he always did.

“So, let’s start again, shall we. Help me understand why you’ve chosen not to take part in our Mix Up Monday.”

Keith listened as Alice repeated, virtually word-for-word, the speech Peter had made at breakfast.

“Alice, is that really the way you feel?”

Alice nodded.

“Okay, Alice, I understand where your concerns are coming from. I’ll come back to you shortly. Peter, I still don’t understand why you couldn’t take part. You said you realized it would be wrong to turn it into a joke but with a little effort I’m sure you could have presented as a reasonably convincing girl. You wouldn’t have offended anybody here if you did that. I’m sure that Alice could have helped you.”

“We told you, it just felt wrong,” said Peter.

“Peter is a boy,” said Alice. “It would be wrong for him to dress like a girl.”

Keith looked at Alice and blinked twice.

“Alice!” Keith’s voice was gentle. “You are a boy who is dressed like a girl.”

“That’s different.”

"Why is it different?"

“Because … just because!” said Alice.

“Because Alice really is a girl,” said Peter. “On the inside, I mean. And I’m not.”

Keith looked between the two of them and nodded.

Then he looked back at Peter.

“Nobody is asking you to be a girl, Peter. On days like today we are only asking you to dress like a girl. One of our reasons for today is so that you can get a better idea of what it is like for people like Alice. Don’t you think that is a good enough reason to make the effort — even if it feels a bit wrong?”

Peter looked back for a moment and then shrugged.

“Peter, will you do something for me? I want you to sit up straight for a moment.”

Peter looked puzzled for a moment and then sat up so that he was sitting properly next to his sister.

“Would you mind folding your hands in your lap the same way Alice has her hands?”

Peter looked back at Keith with a strange expression on his face and then folded his hands in his lap.

“Your hair is long enough,” said Keith. “A bit of time with a curling wand and you would look exactly … “

Keith’s voice trailed off as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Oh good lord! You really are twins, aren’t you? I should have thought of this before.”

Keith slapped his forehead and shook his head in disbelief.

“You’ve done a switch on us!”

Peter and Alice looked at each other and then back at Keith. They both shook their heads and then sat there looking at Keith with a blank expression on their faces.

“You have, haven’t you?”

“No!” they said together in unison.

“I’m Peter,” said Peter.

“And I’m Alice,” said Alice.

“We haven’t switched,” they said in unison.

Keith sat there and looked back and forth between the two of them. His face displayed the confusion he was feeling. Then his eyes suddenly widened.

“Ah!” said Keith as he jumped to his feet. “I’ve just thought of something.”

He went over to a cupboard and fished out a strange looking piece of apparatus. He sat it on his desk and plugged the cable to the side of his computer. He started up a program and then turned the monitor around to face the room.

“Alice, please come over here,” said Keith.

“Why?” said Alice. “I don’t want to!”

She sat there and pouted, looking suspiciously at the device.

"I don't know why you can't just trust us," said Alice. "We told you we didn't switch."

"I think you're trying to bluff me again," said Keith. "Just come over here beside my computer."

“Go on, Alice” said Peter. “You may as well.”

Alice sighed and stood up. She walked over to Keith.

“Now what?” said Alice.

“Just put your right eye up against this scanner here.”

Alice sighed and did as she’d been told.

A moment later the computer beeped and an information screen appeared.

It had a whole page of details such as birthdate and so on.

There, filling one quarter of the screen, was Peter’s photo.

And directly under the photo, in large, bold print was:

Jason Arthur Fallow (aka Peter Fallow)

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 5

Alice’s face dropped as she stared at the screen. It was showing a picture of Peter’s face and all of his details, including his name: Jason Arthur Fallow (aka Peter Fallow)

Then she pouted.

“Your computer’s broken. Somebody entered the data wrong. I’m Alice. I don’t care what your stupid computer says.”

Keith raised his eyebrows and looked at Alice.

“You’re certainly Alice today, I can see that,” said Keith.

She turned and flounced back to the sofa where she dropped into the sofa and crossed her arms, glaring angrily back at Keith.

Keith looked at Peter and pointed at the scanner. “Peter, would you please …?”

Peter stood without making any fuss whatsoever. He walked over to the desk, put his eye to the scanner and then returned to slump on the sofa without even bothering to look at the screen.

As Keith expected, the screen was now displaying the details and photo of Jordan Brodie Fallow (aka Alice Fallow).

Keith smiled and went back to the seat.

“Well, I guess that clears up one thing, anyway. Thank-you for taking part in our Mix Up Monday. Congratulations, by the way. You managed to fool all of us with your switch. I guess the joke’s on us.”

Alice frowned and looked like she was about to say something. Peter nudged her and she closed her mouth. The two sat and looked at Keith with blank faces.

"I must say," said Keith, "that I'm very impressed. Your performance today has been immaculate. You didn't merely swap your clothing and change your hair, you also mimicked each other's actions and normal behaviours almost perfectly. You even answered my questions the way your sibling would have done so."

Keith stopped and shook his head.

“You are both far too good at this. I can’t believe this is the first time you’ve switched with each other. How many times have you done this before?”

They both looked at each other and then looked back at Keith with blank faces.

“Okay,” said Keith. “Let me do it this way.” He looked at Peter. “Alice?”

“Yes?” said Alice.

“No, I mean the real Alice!” said Keith.

“I am the real Alice,” said Alice.

“You aren’t helping,” said Keith. “We just showed on the computer that you aren’t the real Alice.”

“And she told you that the computer was wrong,” said Peter.

“Wait, I’m confused. I was with you on the day you arrived here and we put those scans into the system. Are you saying that on the day you arrived at the school that you, Peter, was dressed as Alice and that you, Alice, was dressed as Peter?”

“We never …” Alice’s face crumpled. “You don’t understand.”

Keith leaned back and looked bewildered.

“What don’t I understand? Please help me.”

“Alice would never dress up like a boy,” said Peter. “We told you that before.”

“And Peter doesn’t want to look like a girl,” added Alice as she blotted away some tears with a tissue.

“Alice has always been Alice,” said Peter.

“Peter has never dressed up like this,” said Alice, waving her hand down at herself.

Keith scratched his head. At first he’d thought that the twins were playing a typical twin-type practical joke. But now he was starting to think that something more was going on. His every instinct was telling him that his young charges were being honest with him. They were telling him the truth as well as they could explain it. The only problem was that the truth wasn’t making any sense. They were contradicting themselves and each other nearly every time they opened their mouths but they seemed to believe that everything they said was the absolute truth.

“Wait! Which of you was born Jordan Brodie Fallow?”

The two twins looked at each other and then gradually their bodies seemed to crumple slightly as they pulled in closer to each other. Finally Alice raised a shaking hand. Then tears started to trickle down her face.

Keith looked at Peter. “So that would make you Jason Arthur Fallow?”

Peter burst into tears and nodded.

“Jason, how many times have you been Alice?”

For a moment Keith didn’t think he was going to get any answer. He watched as Peter used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face.

“More than once?” asked Keith. Peter looked miserable and nodded.

“More than ten times?” asked Keith. The two twins nodded together — tears running down both of their faces.

Peter wiped his face again.

“Every second day,” said Peter in a quavery little child’s voice.

Keith’s jaw dropped.

“Every second day? For how long? Since you arrived here at the school?”

They both shook their heads. Tears streaming down their faces.

“Since before you came here?”

They both nodded.

“Since when, then?”

They didn’t respond.

Keith’s eyes widened in shock. “Since the fire?”

Again they didn’t respond. They simply kept looking at Keith with tears streaming down their faces.

“Are you telling me that for the last five years, the two of you have been alternating every day between Peter and Alice?”

The two of didn’t even acknowledge the question. They clutched onto each other and started sobbing.

Keith leaned back in his chair and stared at the two crying boys in amazement.

"Well!" he said quietly to himself. "I didn't see that one coming."

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 6

Keith sat in his chair and looked at the two children on his sofa. They were hugging each other and sobbing loudly. He shook his head in amazement.

Taking out his PDA, he quickly sent a message to the Year One leader and her — no today that would be his — partner. “Please come to my office.” Then he remembered that they were still new to the school so he sent a second message. “Come now! Hurry, but don’t run. If you are currently handling some other crisis, send another pair.”

Then Keith sent a message to all of the counsellors. “I would appreciate any of you that are available at my office. I need backup. I’ll brief you when you get here.” He flagged the message as “Not an emergency but serious.” Keith thought for a second and then copied the same message to the Headmaster, Quentin Hobson.

A knock on the door announced the arrival of the young year leader and his partner. They were both panting slightly. With his head full of the current situation, their alternate names slipped out of Keith’s head so he used no names rather than the wrong names.

“Thanks for coming. I know you were only elected yesterday. One part of your job is that you’ll get called in to help when any of your year are particularly upset.” Keith smiled at the girl “Being the partner of the year-leader means you’ll get called in sometimes, too. That’s part of how you can support your partner.”

They both shrugged and nodded. “Of course, Keith. No problems.”

“Right now I have Peter and Alice on my sofa. I don’t want them left alone, but I need to speak with some of my colleagues. This is where the two of you come in. Would you please sit with them for a while?”

They both said “sure” and walked into the office. In no time at all, they had squeezed in on the outside of the two crying twins. Keith looked at them and shook his head. The sofa was designed for two adults. It was just as well they were all thirteen years old. Any older and the four of them wouldn’t have fitted.

In response to a second knock on the door, Keith slipped out into the hallway. Quentin and some of the counsellors were standing there.

“You called for help,” said Quentin. “The cavalry is here.”

"There's another issue being dealt with but the rest of us are here," said Rachel. "How can we help you?"

Keith led them across the hall into Rachel’s office and then looked around at the small circle of concerned adults.

“I’ll be honest. I think I’m a little out of my depth.”

Quentin nodded. “We’ve all been in that situation. That’s why we work as a team. What have you got?”

“The Fallow twins are in my office. I seem to have made a breakthrough of sorts. I want to keep pushing them while the iron is hot but I’m not completely sure how to proceed.”

The others nodded for him to continue.

“I didn’t get anywhere until I started calling them Jordan and Justin. This is what I think is going on. In a sense, Peter and Alice don’t exist. They are roles that the twins have been playing. For the last five years — including during this last week with us — Jordan and Justin have been alternating been the two roles. Every second day, Jordan is Alice and Justin is Peter. On the other days they swap and Jordan is Peter while Justin is Alice.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

‘Every single day?” asked Rachel. “That’s incredible. I haven’t picked any differences. None of the staff have.”

Quentin frowned. “Is this some sort of twin-style prank that’s gotten out of control?”

“I don't think so. I'm not sure what is going on. It is possible that we have two youngsters who are both transgendered. In the confusion after the fire, they managed to create one role for a girl. So they have taken it in turns to be that girl so that both of their needs were at least partially satisfied. Being exposed as Justin and Jordan appears to have been more traumatic for them than when I challenged Alice’s gender during the interviews. I’m not sure why. I only cracked them by using the iris scanner to prove that the twin presenting as Alice today is not the same as the twin who presented as Alice the day they arrived here. The two of them are quite distraught at being exposed in this way.”

“How did they manage to fool everybody for all this time, swapping every day?”

“In the interviews they both described how much fun they had each evening telling each other about their day. They even deliberately chose different subjects so they’d have more to talk about.”

“They debrief each other?”

Keith nodded. “Effectively. They both test as being very highly intelligent yet they’ve been kept in a standard curriculum for their age group. I suspect this is how they’ve been challenging themselves. Either deliberately or unconsciously, they have created a situation where they have to stretch themselves to perform the roles of Alice and Peter so flawlessly that nobody has detected them — until now. Also, by choosing multiple subjects between the two of them, they have been broadening their education somewhat by taking different subjects every second day. Though I imagine the majority of the work was still boring for them.”

“I’ve seen both of them in the practice rooms every afternoon,” said Quentin. “Alice always plays the violin. Peter always plays the trombone.”

“Jordan and Justin must be at about same level of competence on both instruments. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to swap for music sessions. That’s something we could check.”

Keith cursed softly to himself. “I asked Alice in the interview if they taught each other their instruments and she dodged the question. She did it so skilfully that I didn’t even notice.”

“They’ve been presenting as Alice and Peter continuously for the last five years,” said Rachel with a thoughtful expression on her face. “We may be looking at something more pathological than a simple role swapping twin prank. Especially given that this all appears to have been locked into place on the night their parents died in the fire. The conditions are conducive to developing something akin to dissociative identity disorder — what used to be called multiple personality disorder.”

“That would explain why I was feeling out of my depth,” said Keith. “I have no experience in that area at all.”

“I have a very little,” said Quentin. “It dates back to a long time before I was associated with this school. I can help a little but we may have to consult outside of the school. Hopefully, one of our sister schools has somebody with expertise. Otherwise, we’ll have to locate a suitable specialist and find a way to consult without breaching security.”

They all nodded and looked at each other.

“Rachel’s idea would also explain why Keith had problems getting through to Jordan and Justin. Peter and Alice aren’t just roles the twins have been playing, they are solid, well-established identities that exist to conceal Justin and Jordan.”

“So, how do we proceed from here?” asked Keith.

“You may as well stay on point,” said Quentin. “You’ve been doing a good job so far and you have an established connection with the twins. Rachel and I shall back you up and that releases the others to hold the fort with the rest of the school.”

The others nodded and then turned and left the office.

“I’ve had the camera in my office running since the start of today’s session,” said Keith. “You could review the session so far from in here. Then you could watch live as I resume with the twins. Any suggestions you want to whisper in my ear would be gratefully accepted.”

Quentin nodded and pulled out his PDA. “I’ll ask David to send one of his team to give you an undetectable earpiece. Oops! I guess today that would be Jayne.”

“My first suggestion will give us a bit of time to set up,” said Rachel. “Given that you have uncovered Justin and Jordan, we can keep them uncovered by using the rules of Mix Up Monday.”

“What do you mean?”

“The rules say they have to dress androgynously for the second half of the day. I suggest we get them out of their Alice and Peter clothes and looking more like a pair of androgynous twins called Jordan and Justin.”

“Let’s go with that,” said Quentin.

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 7

Jayne, the second year leader, was sitting at the computer in Keith’s office when as Keith entered the room.

Keith was followed by Jordan and Justin — now dressed identically in trousers and matching zippered sweatshirts. Jordan’s hair had been straightened and now hung loosely to just below the top of his shoulders. Justin’s hair, freed from its ponytail, also hung loosely, the same length as Jordan’s. With their clothes and hair the same, there was now no obvious way to tell the difference between the twins.

“Hey!” said Jayne. “Come on over here. I need Jordan first.”

Jordan glanced at his brother and then walked over, looking doubtful. Jayne held up a camera linked to the computer.

“Smile!”

Jordan managed a tentative smile and the camera flashed. Within a second the image was shown on the computer screen. Jayne typed a few keys and the picture on the screen shrunk and joined a row of three pictures: Jordan, then Alice then Peter with Jordan’s full name across the top.

“Now put your right eye to the iris scanner! That’s it! Now put your thumb on this plate! Excellent. We’re done. Now Justin!”

Jayne went through the same process with Justin and then started packing up her equipment.

"Like we talked about before, I'm going to put an extra function on your PDAs. Each morning, you will have a menu, just select whether you are presenting as Jordan or Alice or Peter for the day. Or in Justin’s case, your choices will obviously be Justin or Alice or Peter. You can change it later in the day if you need to. Any messages addressed to Peter will go to whoever is presenting as Peter and will be available to either of you when you're presenting as Peter. Any messages addressed to Justin will go privately to Justin, whoever you're presenting as. Same for Alice and for Jordan. I’m off to do the programming now. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll upload it as soon as I’m done. If you have any problems, talk to me — or to talk to David." She grinned and shrugged. "One of us will help you."

"You won't … tell anybody," said Justin. "About us, I mean!"

"Of course not," said Jayne, looking offended. "You're secret is safe with me. I'm used to keeping secrets. When you decide to come out to the rest of us, I promise to be as surprised as everybody else."

"Jayne is trusted with a number of secrets around the school," said Keith. "She's a year leader and our computer whiz, so she knows a lot more about what goes on around here than even I do."

"I doubt that," said Jayne. "Keith won't tell me what you talk about in a session for example — that's private. The only reason I know about you guys is because you asked for help getting the PDAs to work properly. Did you notice that Keith left it to you to explain what you wanted from me. If he'd said anything, he would be revealing private stuff to another student. Apart from Mr Hobson and the other support staff, absolutely nobody else in the school will know what's going on with you two until you're ready to tell us. I promise you that."

Jayne bundled her equipment into a bag and slipped the bag over her shoulder.

"Well! I'm off to do that programming. See you around."

With a cheerful wave Jayne walked out of the room.

Justin watched Jayne walk out and close the door. Then he turned to Keith.

“Does this mean we don’t have to stay like this?” said the little, wavering voice.

“We don’t want to stay like this,” said Jordan in a similar voice.

“No, you’re like this because of Mix Up Monday. I explained that to you,” said Keith. “Tomorrow you can go back to being Alice and Peter if that’s what you want. Maybe even tonight if that’s what you would prefer.”

The two of them clutched each other’s hands and sat together on the sofa. They were both huddled together and looked very insecure.

“You really are identical twins, aren’t you?” said Keith with an encouraging smile.

They nodded in unison.

“Is there any way in which you look different?”

“Jordan has a little black spot on his hip,” said Justin.

“Sometimes Justin uses a pen to make a matching mark on his hip but it never really looks right,” said Jordan.

“May I see it?” asked Keith.

Jordan nodded and rolled to one side, then pulled down the waistband of his trousers. Keith looked at the mole on his hip for a moment and then sat back on his chair and waited while Jordan adjusted his trousers and sat properly again.

“Anything else?”

“Justin got a cut on the back of his wrist when he was little. It made a small scar. Later on I got a knife and cut myself in the same place so I’d have a scar too, but I cut too big and my scar turned out too big. Then Justin cut himself again so now our scars are about the same — but they aren’t exactly the same.”

“May I see?”

Both boys held out their left wrists and Keith studied the two scars for a moment.

“They aren’t very big or very noticeable. When you start wearing a watch, I’m sure they’ll be completely hidden.”

Both boys looked at each other and nodded.

“Sometimes Alice wears a bracelet around her wrist,” said Jordan.

“Ah yes, Alice. Which one of you was being Alice when I interviewed you?”

They looked at each other and shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Jordan.

“We both remember it,” added Justin.

Keith sat and waited. The twins looked at each other.

“I think it was you, wasn’t it?” said Jordan.

“Yes, that’s right. It was me,” said Justin.

Keith looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Do you often have trouble like that? Remembering which of you was which?”

“It’s never mattered before now,” said Jordan.

“We just remember what Alice did and what Peter did,” added Justin.

“But you remember what both Alice and Peter did?”

The two twins nodded in unison.

“If I was talking to Alice, would she remember what Peter has done?”

The twins looked confused.

“Alice and Peter talk all the time so Alice knows what Peter has done.”

“Ah! I see.”

Keith listened to Quentin whispering in his ear for a moment. Quentin had been watching through the closed circuit tv and had an idea.

“Have either of you ever had any blackouts?” asked Keith.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when time seems to suddenly jump and you have no idea what’s been happening. For example, you might suddenly wake up sitting in class at school and the last thing you remember is going to bed the night before.”

They both looked at each other and then shook there heads in unison.

“Nothing like that.”

Keith nodded. “Do you get panic attacks?”

They both shook their heads.

“What about Alice and Peter? Do either of them get panic attacks?”

“Alice hates spiders,” said Jordan. “But Peter stomps on them for her.”

“Alice hates spiders but Peter stomps on them,” repeated Keith.

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“Is that all the time or maybe only every second day?”

The twins frowned and looked at each other.

“You don’t see spiders every day,” said Justin.

“But every time Alice sees a spider, she gets scared and Peter stomps on it.”

“Huh!” said Keith. “What about Jordan and Justin? What do you think of spiders?”

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"We don’t really like them," said Justin.

Keith sat quietly for a moment while he listened to a conversation in his earpiece.

“Have either of you ever had to be Alice for more than one day in a row?”

They both nodded.

“Alice got an ear infection,” said Justin. “And Peter didn’t get it.”

“Alice had to go to the doctor and get ear drops and everything.” said Jordan.

“Peter had to go to school. He wanted to stay home with Alice but he wasn’t allowed,” added Justin.

“So did Jordan get the ear infection, or did Justin get it.”

They both looked puzzled. “It was Alice,” they said in unison.

Keith chewed his lip for a moment.

“How did Peter feel while Alice was sick?”

“He didn’t like it. He was sad all the time,” said Jordan.

“He was angry, too,” said Jordan. “He got into trouble for fighting.”

“Fighting?” asked Keith.

“Yeah. He got punched, right here,” said Justin pointing at the side of his stomach.

“It really hurt!” they both said in unison, each rubbing their stomach where Justin had pointed.

Keith nodded. “I can believe that. How did Alice feel while she was sick?”

“She felt sick!” said Jordan. “Duh!”

“She got sad, too,” said Justin. “And angry.”

“She broke two plates because she threw them on the floor.”

“Oh yeah! I forgot that. She got smacked for that.”

“Right on the bottom!”

“It didn’t really hurt because she was wearing a dressing gown.”

“But she cried anyway.”

Keith nodded.

“Have Alice and Peter ever been away from each other for more than one day?”

They both shook their heads in unison.

“Apart from the time you just told me about, have Alice or Peter ever been in trouble for fighting or for breaking plates or anything like that?”

They both shook their heads in unison.

“Not for bad stuff like that,” said Justin.

“Peter’s naughty sometimes, but it’s always little stuff like not doing chores,” said Jordan.

“Alice is naughtier than Peter,” said Justin.

“Is not,” said Jordan.

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“Alice got more detentions at school than Peter!” said Justin.

“Oh!” said Jordan and tipped his head on one side. “Maybe that’s true. But mostly that was because of those girls being mean. She got caught a few times getting revenge.”

“Yeah! I guess! But she only did that so the teacher would ask why and then the mean girls got detentions, too.”

Keith nodded. “It sounds like Alice can be a bit sneaky.”

Both twins opened their mouths to object but closed their mouths without saying anything. Then they both shrugged.

“Okay,” said Keith. “Let’s go back to talking about Jordan and Justin.”

The twins had been sitting forward and becoming more and more animated during the previous conversation. Now they shrank back into themselves and looked at Keith with wide eyes.

Keith saw that and silently changed his mind about what he was going to ask.

“Back when you were young — say younger than seven — did you ever dress up like girls?”

They both nodded in unison.

“Did you do it together, or just one at a time?”

“Together,” they both whispered in unison.

“Did you do that a lot?”

They nodded again.

“Did your parents know?”

They nodded.

“Not at first,” said Jordan in a quiet voice. “But then one day, Daddy came upstairs and found us wearing Mummy’s dresses.”

“I think Mummy knew before then,” said Justin. “But she didn’t say anything.”

“Oh!” said Jordan. “I don’t remember that.”

“After that, Mummy and Daddy bought us clothes to wear — girls’ clothes,” said Justin.

“Did you wear girls’ clothes all the time?”

“No!” they said in unison.

“Never to school,” said Jordan. “We always wore boys clothes to school.”

“Besides, boys clothes are better for outside games,” said Justin.

“Like climbing trees, and playing ball,” added Jordan, nodding.

“And playing with boys,” added Justin.

“But girls’ clothes are better for playing with girls,” said Jordan.

“And for looking pretty, and for playing with girl toys,” added Justin.

“You played with other girls when you were dressed as girls?”

“Mummy took us in the car to the next town and we went to Rainbow Guides there,” said Justin.

“It was fun. We did lots of fun activities. We got invited to some parties. But we stopped going after a while.”

“I don’t remember why.”

Jordan shrugged. “Me neither.”

“How would you feel if I asked you both to wear dresses for the rest of today?”

They looked at each other and shrugged.

“How would you feel if I asked you both to be Alice for the rest of today?”

“That would be weird,” said Justin.

“There’s only one Alice,” said Jordan.

“And what would happen to Peter?”

“Yeah! Peter wouldn’t like that.”

“Oh!” said Keith. “Let’s go back to when you were living with your parents and sometimes dressing up as girls. Were there any times when only one of you was dressed like a girl and the other one dressed as a boy?”

Keith watched as the twins relaxed and smiled as they remembered.

“Yeah! Mummy and Daddy were teaching us to dance — Cinderella at the Ball type dancing — not pop music dancing,” said Justin.

“You need a boy and a girl for that, so we took turns,” said Jordan.

“Sometimes, Mummy and Daddy would make it like a grown up date with dining and dancing,” said Justin. “And Peter would bring flowers for Alice and kiss her hand and stuff like that. And then we'd eat dinner with candles and then we'd dance and all the crowd would watch and sigh and say 'What a lovely couple!'”

The two twins had happy little smiles on their faces as they looked off into the distance.

“And sometimes we would be Princess Alice and Prince Peter at the ball and all the crowds would wave and cheer,” said Jordan as he started swaying from side to side.

"And you took turns being Peter or Alice?" asked Keith.

They both nodded happily.

"Which was more fun? Being Peter or being Alice?" asked Keith.

They shrugged without losing their dreamy expressions.

"It was fun to do both," said Jordan.

"Sometimes we would be movie stars at a big opening," said Justin. "The crowd would take photos and ask for autographs while Alice and Peter walked up the red carpet and then we’d go inside and dance while everyone watched and took photos for the magazines."

“It sounds like you had a lot of fun with your parents.

They nodded happily.

Then Jordan went still and a tear started trickling down his face.

“What are you thinking about?”

“That’s what we were doing the night …”

Justin's breath caught in a gasp and he started crying too.

“The night of the fire?” asked Keith.

They both nodded in unison. Now both of them sat silently with tears trickling down their faces.

Keith went over and knelt in front of them, rubbing their outside arms gently. He talked to them softly while they cried.

In his ear, Keith heard Quentin’s voice.

“That was nicely done. You brought them to where Justin and Jordan can begin to grieve for themselves instead of hiding behind Alice and Peter. And you did it quite gently. I doubt if you’ll achieve much more this session.”

Then Rachel’s voice took over. “This was a very revealing session. You’ve made a lot of progress. Let’s talk more when you finish up here.”

A pair of twins cause headaches at Hayfield Hall.

An unauthorised story set in the SPA Universe created by Karen Page. These events are intended to take place one year after the events described in “A New Style of Education.” Reading that story first is essential.

Note: This story assumes the counselling team at Hayfield Hall does not change significantly as a result of events yet to be revealed in Karen's story.

Chapter 8

“… and that is where Alice and Peter came from,” concluded Keith.

“And that explains why Jordan was in a dress when they ended up at the welfare agency!” added Quentin.

“The good news is that they don’t appear to meet the criteria for dissociative identity disorder,” said Rachel. “There appears to be a complete internal awareness of their different personalities and the lack of blackouts is a very positive sign. So we probably won't need to consult any outside expert. But there is some dissociation going on that we will have to deal with. I think we have enough experience amongst ourselves to handle that."

"I am quite satisfied that this is not just a pair of twins playing an extended game." said Quentin. "The roles are too deeply embedded for that."

Rachel nodded. "However, we should probably consider Alice and Peter as well-entrenched social roles rather than separate personalities."

“I’m still astonished that they’ve been alternating every day since they were seven,” said Quentin.

“In a sense, it is not that much different to children from repressive home situations who present one personality at home and a different one at school,” Rachel replied.

“Now that I know what I’m looking at, I have more understanding of what I’ve been seeing since the interviews,” said Keith. “I agree that Alice and Peter aren’t really complete personalities. In a way they started as two seven year olds’ idealization of what the differences are between the personalities of girls and boys. Alice and Peter’s personalities have grown and developed since then but their origins are still visible. Alice is emotional, Peter is rational. Alice is tidy and prim, Peter is messy and slovenly.”

“We’ve also seen that Alice can be sneaky and manipulative,” added Rachel. “Peter tends to be more direct and straightforward.”

"More of that gender stereotyping," said Quentin with a grin.

“I suspect that there is really only one possible way forward in the short term,” said Keith. “We will need to spend more time with the Jordan and Justin — building them up so that they can draw on the strengths of both Peter and Alice. But we will have to go slowly. Peter and Alice are still in control and they have only just begun to trust us. I think we made some progress on that front today. If we are careful not to betray their trust, we will make better progress. I will also work with Peter and Alice — try to help them become more rounded individuals — or characters, if you prefer. I think both of those actions will eventually give me access to a more mature Justin and Jordan. Then we can try to answer some of the important questions.”

“Such as whether they are truly transgendered,” said Rachel. “I’m not convinced that they are. They both seem as comfortable portraying Peter as they do portraying Alice. Only Justin and Jordan can answer that question. I don’t think we can rely on the answers Alice and Peter gave you in the interviews.”

"It is possible they are truly androgynous," suggested Quentin. "Effectively without gender. Society forces us all into either one gender or the other. Even as young children, our twins wouldn't have been permitted to present as completely androgynous. Adults and other children would have pressured them to come down on one side of the line or the other. By presenting alternating genders, on average our twins end up in the middle."

"We've had androgynous students here before," said Keith. "They reported feeling uncomfortable portraying either gender. These two seem comfortable in both gender roles. Maybe rather than being non-gendered, our twins are pan-gendered."

"The story about the ear infection is very revealing," said Rachel. "Both of them became anxious and stressed when forced to remain in the same gender role for an extended period."

"Once again, we discover that there are as many different types of people in this world as there are people in the world," said Quentin.

"This speculation is interesting," said Keith. "I am sure the truth will be even more fascinating. Right now, the only thing I'm sure of is that we have two very mixed up kids on our hands. We haven't really addressed what happened on the night of the fire, or the effects of how they have been treated since then. They appear to be happy presenting as Peter and Alice but I'm not sure what is going to happen when Justin and Jordan emerge more regularly. I have a feeling the questions about Justin and Jordan's gender will also be central to resolving their issues. To unravel what's really going on will be a long term task. I can't see us making much progress until Alice and Peter accept that they have a problem. Who knows how long that will take? Even once that happens, we will have to work slowly and carefully."

"I agree," said Rachel.

“Being in an environment where it is safe to openly discuss questions of gender will be an enormous advantage for them,” said Quentin. “Once they realize that the entire student body is actively supportive, they will feel free-er to explore the question of their own gender.”

“So this is what I was thinking of doing over the next few days,” said Keith. “I’ll leave them alone tomorrow, so that they can settle back into their Alice and Peter personas, but then …”

"Good morning Mr Hobson."

"Good morning David."

"I was thinking about the Fallow twins in Year One," said David.

"Really? What were you thinking?"

"I think it's interesting that we have two people who can convincingly portray a single character so identically that nobody can spot the difference," said David. "More than that, they can portray identical characters in either gender. Then I was thinking about how that could be useful in certain activities outside the normal school curriculum."

"I must admit, I was having similar thoughts. But at the moment they are a long way from being able to cope with the pressures such activities would involve. Our first priority is to untangle their various issues. The health of the students comes first."

"I know. I'm just saying that it's interesting. Also, I think they have the right mix of intelligence and observation skills and paranoia to be successful. Eventually, once they are well enough to join us, they could be quite useful."

"Understood! Perhaps at some stage down the track we can explore that possibility."

“Hey!” said Peter as he walked into the bathroom.

“Hi,” said Alice. She was sitting on a stool in front of the mirror and frowning. Her hair still hung straight down and she was fiddling with it.

“Yesterday was pretty weird,” said Alice. “It was like I was watching a TV show or something. It felt like I was just sitting back and watching while they talked to Justin.”

“I felt the same,” said Peter. “What was really weird to me was that Jordan and Justin seemed to know more about us than we did. How could that happen?”

“It was a bit scary!”

“They seemed to act a bit immature sometimes. Like they’ve been half-asleep for the last five years. How could that happen? I mean — they are us, we are them. We’ve been the same people for all of this time but now they are different from us.”

“It is a bit confusing. Do you know what I noticed?” said Alice.

“What?”

“They were having fun. Not during the session with Keith, that was pretty rough, but afterwards when they were hanging out with our year level. Remember how we used to hate looking the same and acting the same. Well, last night they were liking it.”

“You’re right! They were having fun,” said Peter. “It’s something they haven’t done for five years. Maybe they missed it. I mean, maybe we missed it. Maybe we could do that again some time.”

“Sometime soon, maybe? But not today. I want to be normal today,” said Alice.

“Yeah! Me too!”

“This conversation is so surreal,” said Alice. “We’re talking about ourselves as if we’re completely different people.”

“Surreal? You get points for using that word in a conversation,” said Peter. “But you’re right, it is surreal. Speaking of cereal, it’s nearly time for breakfast.”

They both had a laugh about that.

“You haven’t even started curling your hair,” said Peter. “If you don’t get started soon, we’ll be late.”

Alice looked into the mirror and twisted a strand of her hair around a finger.

“I was thinking — before you came in — I was thinking of doing something different.”

“Huh?”

“Girls change their hair all the time,” said Alice. “I was trying to figure out why I always did the same thing with mine.”

“Alice always curls her hair,” said Peter. “Always! It would be wrong to do anything different.”

“I know. I agree. It feels wrong to me, too. I was just thinking about it. But why is it wrong? Why can’t I just put my hair into a ponytail like some of the other girls do?” asked Alice.

“Because … I don’t know. It just is!” said Peter.

“I think Jordan and Justin might have been right.”

“About what?”

“Last night, before they went to sleep, Jordan and Justin were talking to each other.”

"I know. I was there." Peter stopped and frowned. "Kind of."

“They said there was something wrong with us. It’s like we’re broken inside. And because we’re broken, we’re stuck doing the same things over and over.”

“We don’t do the same things over and over. We learn new things all the time,” protested Peter. “We do different things.”

“Yes, but I think they meant about the way we act, all of that sort of stuff. Like me always curling my hair, for one thing.”

“Oh!” said Peter. He frowned for a moment and then got a determined look on his face. “Hold still!”

Peter quickly went into closet and came back holding a scrunchy. He stepped behind Alice and gathered all of her hair into a ponytail, sitting high on her head. He secured it in place with the scrunchy and stepped back to look at the result.

Alice turned her head to one side, and then the other so that she should see the ponytail in the mirror.

“It looks wrong,” they both said in unison.

Alice looked down at the small photo on her lap. "Mother had her hair in curls at the wedding. I'm supposed to have curls."

Alice put her hands up to undo the ponytail but Peter caught her hands and stopped her.

"I remember Mother with her hair tied back one time when she was doing housework. You'll still look like Mother but just not like in the photo. Let's try the ponytail. You'll get used to it. Just like you got used to wearing a bra. After a while, it will feel like part of you. We can change. Justin and Jordan were wrong.”

Peter played with the ponytail, twisting it and fluffing it out.

“I don’t think so,” said Alice. “What they said feels right, in here.” She tapped the centre of her chest firmly with her fist. “I think there is something wrong with us. You said it yourself. How can we be different from Justin and Jordan? They are us!”

Peter looked at the image of her face in the mirror as he thought. Then he leaned forward and put his arms around her.

“Maybe! Maybe you’re right. I think these people are trying to help us. They seem to know something is wrong with us. I think Keith and the others want to make us better. Maybe we should work with them — let them help us.”

Alice leaned back into Peter’s arms, putting her head back onto his chest. “I’m scared. They’re going to want to change me. They’re going to want to change you. By the time they’re finished we won’t really be us anymore.”

“Maybe. But maybe we’ll still be us but better — not so broken anymore.”

“Maybe,” said Alice with a sigh. "I guess I'm most worried that they'll stop us being us altogether."

“I don't think they're going to do that or they would have done it yesterday. Regardless of what is going to happen,” said Peter. “I know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“They aren’t going to do anything to us before breakfast.” He held out his hand to her. “Let’s go.”

"I just have to hide the photos again," said Alice. "Wait a minute!"

They held hands as they walked towards the breakfast hall. Just before they went through the door and joined the rest of the school, Alice stopped and bit her lip.

“Peter? Will you promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“Whatever happens, however much they change us, will you promise to always stomp on the spiders for me?”

Peter smiled and opened the door.

“Always!”

Alice nodded and then stood up straight.

"Let's go!"

With a confident smile on their faces, Alice and Peter strode through the door — ready to join the rest of Hayfield Hall.