My Mistake
My Mistake
Copyright 2008
By Samantha Jenkins
Chapter 1: The Mistake
I looked at my sister who was looking at me.
“You look cute" was all that she said. I stammered for words here I was standing here wearing a pink pleated mini skirt and a black turtleneck sweater along with a pair of black tights. I also had on a pair of her 3 1/2 inch platforms. She had one pair that she wore to parties that could be closed with a padlock that was the pair I had on and without thinking had closed the locks not realizing she had the keys.
“What would you do if I didn’t unlock those shoes?” My eyes must've gotten really wide.
“You wouldn't do that to me, would you?”
“You know I was thinking that since it’s Halloween next week, with little makeup you make a pretty decent looking girl. Of course one thing you've got to do shave the legs" Hmm, here was my sister telling me that I’d look cute as a girl for Halloween. What she didn't know was that I was already thinking about going out to a Halloween party dressed in what I was wearing with the exception of the padlocks on her shoes.
“Come downstairs and let’s sit at the table and talk."
“Ok” I got up off of her bed and made my way downstairs, moving carefully in the platforms, even though I had already mastered walking in them. When I got to the kitchen I heard Jen on the phone,
“Katie, its Jen, Call me when you get in. I need the keys”
“You mean you don’t have them?” I asked her.
“Nope, I have the keys to her 4 inch platform boots”
“She has 4 Inch platform boots that lock?”
“Yeah, have you ever seen them?”
“No I haven’t” Just as I finished the phone rang.
“Hello?” Jen said into the handset. “Oh, Hi Mom, Yeah he’s sitting here next to me, in a skirt.” I started blushing. “I walked in and he was in my room wearing my black turtleneck sweater and the pink pleated miniskirt that you bought me.” She listened for a moment, then continued, “No my boots that lock, and we have to wait for Katie to get home for the keys” Jen looked at me and winked. I was becoming worried.
“Here, Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Yes” I spoke into the phone with a shaky voice
“Josh, I’ve told you about wearing your sister’s clothes before, you are to stay like that until I get home, your sister is in charge and you will do what she says, understood?”
“Yes, Ma’am”
“Good, you can be a girl for the weekend. Put your sister back on.”
“Jen, she wants to talk to you.” I said handing the phone to her.
“Yeah, Ok. I’ll keep the keys and give them to you when you
get home.” I was really starting to get worried now. “Ok, I’ll talk to you when you get home.” She hung up the phone. “Come on little sister, we need to make you look pretty for when mom comes home.”
“Jen, what do you mean ‘make me look pretty’?”
“Just adding a little makeup, and maybe some nail polish. I’m also going to put on a skirt. Mom told me that I have to wear skirts because you are my little sister and that is all you are going to be wearing for the weekend. Plus, I get to pick out what you wear.” She grinned at me.
“Jen, What are you going to make me wear?”
“Nothing that I wouldn’t wear.” I just looked at her. When she wore skirts they were short, meaning 16 inches or shorter. The pink one I had put on was about 14 inches long. She got in her closet and got out a black skirt, a light blue sweater, and a pair of light blue tights.
“Mom said I have to lock my pants in the chest in her room. She also said that you do too. So go get all of your pants, and I mean all of them. Take them all and put them in the chest.” I headed to my room. Mom had said that I was going to be a girl all weekend, and this was a 4 day weekend. She wasn’t going to make me dress as a girl all weekend, was she? I got all of my pants, including my dirty ones, and put them in the chest. Jennifer came in behind me and dropped all of her pants, all 6 pair, in the chest and closed the lid. “I want you to lock it. Mom said if it isn’t locked she will make us both wear skirts for a month.”
“She wouldn’t make me wear a skirt for a month” Our mom had made Jen wear skirts for a month once, just because Jen refused to help wash the dishes. Jen had learned really quickly that she should listen to mom. She had begged for 3 weeks to get her pants back, so mom had made her wear skirts for another week. I picked the lock up and breathed as if I were being led to the death chamber as I slipped the shackle of the lock in the hasp on the chest. *Click* Just like that I had sealed our fate for the weekend.
“She made me do it, so I think that she will. Come on lets go paint your nails, and do your hair” I had forgotten that I had been growing my hair long for Halloween. We went into Jen’s room, and she sat me down at her vanity. “I think we should do pigtails for today.” I looked into the mirror at my self. I did look like a girl already. Jen grabbed her brush and brushed my hair. Pulling it apart at the part, she grabbed two pieces of pink ribbon and put my hair up into pigtails. As we were sitting there the phone rang, Jen looked at the caller id on her phone,
“It’s Katie.” She said to me smiling. “Hello” she said into the air because she had put the call on speaker phone.
“I just got your message, Jen. Did you lock your boots on and need those off?”
“Actually I didn’t but Josh did.”
“Oh?” I started blushing.
“Yeah, I came home and he was in my room in my boots, a Black turtleneck, a pair of black tights, and my short pink pleated skirt”
“I’m on my way over and I’ll have the keys. I have to see this.”
“Ok, see you when you get here.”
“Bye” Jen said grinning at me. “I think we need a name for you.”
“I like Veronica.” I said.
“Too old fashioned, how ‘bout Morgan?”
“I like that.” I said nodding my head, feeling the hair that had been placed into pigtails and the ribbons on my ears and neck. Jen put some lipstick and mascara on my face and pronounced me ready to see the world. Just as she finished, the door bell rang.
“That’s probably Katie, Go get the door Morgan.” Jen said, ushering me toward the door of her room. I made my way slowly down to the front door. When I got there, I peeked through the peep hole and saw Katie on the other side wearing a white sweater and a light blue skirt. I opened the door, and hid behind it.
“Hi, Josh.”
“Hi Katie,” I said as I closed the door. I turned to face her. I had a crush on her.
“You look cute. Have you decided on a name for yourself yet?”
“Yes, I have,” I said blushing, “I decided on Morgan.”
“Cute name for a cute girl, where’s your sister Morgan?”
“Upstairs in her room.”
“Ok, come on,” she said taking my hand and leading me up the steps. Here I was holding the hand of the girl of my dreams while I was wearing a skirt. At the top of the steps she kissed me on the cheek. I really started to blush. “Jen, I found your little sister Morgan trying to sneak out of the house.”
“Morgan, were you trying to sneak out of the house?”
“No,” I replied looking at my feet in the boots that I had locked on my feet about 2 hours eariler.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Katie started. “Let’s go to the mall.”
“Um, lets not.” I said
“Why not Morgan, We’ll go to one that isn’t around here” Jen Said
“I’ll get noticed, some one will know I’m a boy, not a girl.”
“You can act like a girl; I’ve seen you do it. You make believe that this is a play and you’ll do fine.”
“Do I have to wear these boots?” I looked hopefully at Katie and Jen.
“Yes,” Jen said. “Mom said you had to have them on when she gets home. Besides, Katie put the keys in the chest.” I hadn’t notice Katie slip away, she came back in the room with a grin on her face. She walked over to me.
“Your mine later,” she whispered into my ear, and then nibbled on it.
“Huh?” I replied still dealing with the way her nibbling made me feel.
“Yeah, I’m going out with you. I’ve always wanted a boyfriend that didn’t mind wearing skirts. What do you say we go see a movie later, just the two of us, both in skirts?” she said.
“Uh, uh, ok.” I said softly. Katie gave me a kiss on the cheek. I kissed her back on the lips.
“Be careful doing that, you’ll smear your lipstick” Jen said with a smile on her face.
“Will you do this on Halloween?” Katie asked me.
“Of course love,” I replied looking at the green of her eyes.
“Even at school?” Jen said, I had forgotten that our school had a dress-up day for Halloween. Last year about 5 guys dressed up as girls for the day, 4 of them didn’t pass, they were football players. Every one had a good time with the costumes.
“Yes, only if I can wear what I’ve got on now” I said after a few seconds of thought.
“Even the padlocks?” Jen inquired
“Only if my girlfriend has the keys”
“Deal.” Katie said. “Maybe I’ll leave them at home so You have to stay like that till I let you out.”
“I think she should wear my skirt just like that one that is shorter by about half an inch.”
“I think this is just fine.” Katie said. Then the phone rang. Jen picked it up.
“Hello?” she said into the phone. “Ok, mom, hang on. Morgan. Phone”
“Yeah,” I said into the handset
“You know Morgan was going to be your name if you were a girl. Have you had enough of the dressing as a girl yet?” My mother said.
“No, mom. I have a girl friend now though” I winked at Katie and Jen
“Oh, really and who is going out with my daughter?”
“Katie is. Mommy can I dress as a girl for Halloween?” I asked politely
“Actually, your going to be dressing as a girl at home for a while at least 3 months, and full time on breaks from school, and the weekends. Now put your sister back on.”
“Here Jen, she wants to talk to you again.”
“On Speaker? Ok,” Jen said as she pushed the button “Were on Speaker
mom.”
“Ok, The reason that I wanted to be on speaker is so every one knows what’s going to happen,”
“Ok,” Jen said.
“Now first, Katie I’m assuming your there?”
“Yes, Mrs. Smith”
“Where are the keys for the boots?”
“There in the chest with the girl’s pants.”
“Ok good, Now, Morgan is going to be visiting for a while. She will be here when she is not in school for at least 3 months. Jen?”
“Yes mom,”
“There’s $500 on your Debit card, Go help your sister get some clothes. Get her underwear and night gowns too. No pants or shorts.”
“Ok mom.”
“I’ll be home about 7:30 or so, I’ll have dinner when I get there. Katie you can join us if you wish. Talk to you all later” and with that she hung up.
“Three months?” Katie said. “I think I might get to liking this.”
“I think she is going to try to get me to stop dressing by making me do it for 3 months.”
“Is it going to work?” Katie asked.
“No. I’ve only been doing it for 3 years.”
“3 Years?” Katie asked wide eyed.
“Yeah, I tried on a night gown of sis’s and got hooked.” I began,
“I’ve never been outside before.”
“Ah, No wonder you didn’t want to go to the mall. Have you seen any thing of mine you like?” Jen asked me.
“Well, I like what I have on and you have on.” I said.
“Then we’ll buy you that. Have you ever seen any thing that Katie wears that you like?”
“Well,” I started. “She has a lot of dresses that I like”
“Ok, then we have your wardrobe. What kind of shoes do you want?”
“Can’t I just borrow yours and Katie’s?”
“No, you need your own.”
“In that case, shoes like I have on, with out the locks.”
“Oh, you don’t like the locks?”
“Oh I do for fun, but not for every day wear.”
“If I had the keys would you wear them every day?”
“Maybe.” I said looking at the floor
“That’s a yes maybe.”
“Katie, did you drive over?” Jen asked
“Why, yes, Jen I did”
“Pull it into the garage so we can get Morgan out with out any one seeing her”
“Ok,” Katie said getting her keys out so that she could pull the car into the garage. She left the room
“Jen, why are you having Katie pull her car into the garage, I figured that you would have made me walk to the curb where she parked.”
“I don’t’ think that my little sister is ready to be seen by her friends and neighbors yet. Besides, Mom will see to that for you.” Just then Katie honked the horn from the garage. Jen smiled at me, “Lets go sis.” She said. I sat down in the back seat of Katie’s Corolla. Actually I kind of fell.
“That was anything but graceful” Jen said aloud, “Get out and try it again.” With that I got out of the car, and sat down again, this time putting my butt on the seat them pulling my legs and feet in afterward.
“That was much better,” Katie said, smiling, and with that, we were off to our destination: The Mall.
Chapter 2: Shopping Part 1
By Samantha Jenkins
Katie put the car in gear and backed out of the garage, as she was backing out I saw a couple of my friends that were on their way over, probably to see if I wanted to hang out with them. They looked at Jen and Katie, then at me, and continued to the front door of the house and rang the bell, of course no one answered because no one was there. It was at that moment that I realized that I had passed in front of my friends at a distance.
"Jen, I just passed in front of James and Shawn."
"So I saw. I told you that no one would recognize you." I didn't exactly remember her saying that, but I was so happy that I didn't argue.
"Katie can you turn the heat on back here, I'm getting kind of cold."
"Sure thing, sweetheart." she said reaching for the knob.
"Morgan, are you looking forward to your first shopping trip as a girl?" Jen asked me. Then it hit me: I hadn't asked where we were going.
"Yeah, but what mall are we going to?"
"Were going to Easton." Easton! I thought: I was bound to run into someone I knew there.
"Jen, Easton is where every one from school hangs out. Some one will recognize me up close."
"No they won't, Morgan, now quit whining." Jen Said.
"Besides, remember the play you were in last year, the one where you played the teen aged girl?" Katie asked
"Yeah, what about it" I said. That play is what had really gotten me into skirts and I never really looked back.
"I wouldn't have known that was you unless I read the program, which I did afterward because I wanted to see if you were in the play like you said you were. Think of this as a play with the whole world as your stage."
"I never thought of it that way." I said. Jen had worked with me for months on how to act like a girl just for that play, Me dressing as one for 3 months was going to be a cinch because I had done it for the play, I realized as Katie turned on the express way. I grinned.
"What are you grinning about?" Katie asked.
"This is just going to be a play with the whole world as my stage." I said looking at Katie.
"You know if you weren't a boy, I'd be a lesbian." Katie said
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Cause I'd still go out with you, you make one hot looking girl." She replied. I think I started blushing under the make-up Jen had put on me a little bit earlier. I was used to watching girls at the mall, but I was looking at what they were wearing. If I looked as hot as Katie said I did, then I would be getting hit on.
"Guys, what do I do if I get hit on?" I asked.
"Tell them that you're taken already" Katie said
"Ok, I'll tell them I'm you're my girlfriend” I grinned. She grinned back.
"So you're a lesbian?" Jen said to me.
"For now." I said smiling. Katie looked at me and grinned.
"We're here" Katie said pulling the Corolla into the parking spot. I hadn't been paying attention, but noticed when I got out of the car, that Katie had parked out in the middle of nowhere so I would have to walk into the mall. Right as I shut my door, I noticed that Katie had pushed the lock button trapping me out side the car. "Come on girlfriend, let's go shopping" I took her hand as we walked to the mall. Jen was just grinning.
"What are you grinning about?" I asked her smiling
"You two make a cute couple" she replied
"Ok," I said before giving Katie a kiss on the cheek. A mother that was walking by with her daughter gave us a disgusted look. I really didn't care, because the woman had no idea that I was really a boy dressed in his sister's skirts. I've always hated that fact that people who didn't even know you were making assumptions about you. For instance when I was cast in the play, every one thought I was gay because I had the role of a girl in the play. When in reality I'm straight as an arrow. We walked in the door.
"Where should we start?" Katie asked.
"Let's start at the Sears end and work our way back" Jen said. Looking at the map.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Sis can I have at least 1 pair of pants?"
"No, you're wearing skirts and dresses for 3 months, according to mom. And I'm going to tell her that you asked for a pair of pants." Jen replied. I knew at that point my punishment was going to get worse. Jen looked at me and grinned. "I just thought of what kind of panties we should get you." I just looked at her.
"What are you thinking, Jen?" Katie asked.
"Oh maybe a few thongs." Jen replied with one of those grins that told you she was planning more than that. "And I'm going to try to get mom to make this punishment happen while you're at school too."
"Jen, I would get kicked out for disrupting the learning of the other students" I replied. My basis for the statement was the fact that three school years ago a freshman's sister who was a senior dared him to wear a skirt, sweater, and a pair of three inch platforms in the middle of February with no tights on. He had worn a red and black pleated skirt and a black sweater. He had walked in the shoes like he had done it before. Just like me in the boots I had on. He had gotten sent home that day and when his mom picked him up he told her it was his idea, and that his sister just went along with it. His mom flipped and got him into see a psychologist. He was later diagnosed as being Gender Dysphoric, and after a long fought battle with the school board, and a few thousand dollars in attorney's fees, he was allowed to come to school in skirts and dresses. At first every one picked on him, but after about a month or every one kind of forgot that he was a genetic male and treated him as a female.
"Do you remember Alex Johnson" Jen said back to me. Of course I remembered her, I was just thinking about her.
"Yeah." I wondered where this was going.
"He was allowed to wear skirts to school." Before I could respond to the latest in this discussion, Jen's cell phone rang. "It's mom."
"Yeah, Ok, $1000? Oh, yeah: he asked if he could have a pair of pants, only one pair. That just got him another month and her ears pierced? Ok, hang on." She handed the phone to me. She wants to talk to you.
"Morgan, just for asking your sister for a single pair of pants, I've added a month to your punishment. I've also been in touch with Mrs. Cooper at the school about this becoming a full time thing. She has been in touch with the school board and the attorney's. Part of the Johnson case stated that they had to let stuff like this happen. Don't give me a reason to make it full time every where you go. Do you understand me?" I was stunned by what had happened just because I asked for a pair of pants.
"Morgan, you have to the count of three to answer me, or you will have an additional month added to your punishment. One, Two Three." I smiled inwardly at myself. Had adding two months been that easy?
"I'm here mommy." I said into the phone.
"Good," my mother replied. "I thought I was going to have to add another month."
"No mommy, five months are enough." I was taking to this punishment like a fish to water. "Let me talk to Jen
"Jen Mom wants to talk to you." I said handing her the phone.
"Hello." Jen said into the phone. "OK. We should be home around 7ish. Ok, Bye." We walked into the upper level of Sears, which is where the jewelry was located in the store. Jen browsed the selection for a while, and then came to where Katie and I were looking at cheep necklaces. I selected a simple necklace with a butterfly pendant, and after paying for it, I put it on.
Our next stop was J.C. Penny for more clothing. I decided to see if I could get my punishment made any worse for me by trying to slip a pair of pants into the rest of the clothing when Jen or Katie weren't looking. We walked into the Juniors department, and I cast my eye on the pair of pants, well overalls really, that I was going to slip into the cart. They were black, and had silver buttons. I decided to go and grab them now.
"Morgan, just what do you think your doing?" Jen asked.
"Getting a pair of overalls?" I replied just as her cell rang again.
"Oh Hi Mom," Jen Started. "Yes she is here, attempting to get a pair of overalls." Jen said into the phone. "Morgan, Mom wants to talk to you again." Katie came around the corner with her arms full of skirts, blouses, and dresses.
"Hello" I said into the phone
"Morgan, you just made your punishment full time. I hope you enjoy the next year at school." My jaw dropped, "Give me your sister back."
"Jen, Mom wants to talk to you." I said trying to hold back a smile. I turned my attention to my girlfriend who had what would become a quarter of my new wardrobe. Katie was nice enough to get me some skirts that were ankle and knee lengths. Jen looked at Katie and smiled.
"Ok, we'll see you in a bit. Bye" Jen said before closing the phone. "Tuesday is going to be interesting for you Morgan."
"Tuesday?" Katie asked. "What is going to happen Tuesday?"
"Morgan, why don't you tell your girlfriend?" Jen asked with a wicked smile.
"Mom made my punishment full time, because I wanted a pair of overalls" Katie's Eyes got really wide, and she had this huge grin on her face. She gave me a hug.
"Remember it's a play and don't let any one pick on you." She said before kissing me on the cheek. We all turned our attention back to the pile of clothing that Katie had brought over. Jen was sorting things out. When she was done all but two of the ankle length skirts and three of the knee length skirts, all ten of the one inch above the knee and shorter skirts remained.
"Mom said she is cleaning out your room, and you are sleeping in the guest bedroom for the weekend because she is redoing your room to match your new gender." Jen said to me as we picked up the stuff that was going back on the shelf. Katie carried all of the clothing that we were going to get as we made our way to the intimate apparel department.
"Do you have on a pair of my panties right now, Morgan?"
"Yes, Jen I do" I replied in a low voice.
"Which pair?" Jen asked me.
"A black bikini in satin"
"Are you wearing a bra?" Jen prompted
"Yes, the one that matches the panties"
"Ok, so we are going to buy you a lot of satin" and with that, Jen started toward the table that had all of the satin panties on it. She grabbed a handful; some were pastel, some neon, some white and black. Mostly they were bikini cut; however some were thongs with a piece of same colored ribbon for the back side. Jen smiled at me. "You are going to love the thongs" she said. I looked at Katie, and winked. What neither one of them knew was that I had tried on Jen's thongs before and kind of liked the way they felt. After our brief stop in the intimates, we headed toward the shoes. Katie and Jen sort of got into an argument because Jen wanted me to have platforms and or heels for every day wear and Katie insisted that I have a pair of tennis shoes, and a couple of pair of flats. They agreed on the majority of my shoes being at least two inches tall, and me having 3 pair of "flat" shoes. After getting the shoes, we made our way to the checkout the cashier started eyeing me, and it was making me uncomfortable.
"So who's getting a new wardrobe?" she asked. Katie took the bait and ran with it.
"My little brother is being punished." Katie said with a smile.
"Is this your little brother?" the cashier said looking at me.
"No this is my girlfriend"
"Your girlfriend?"
"Yes My girlfriend, is there a problem with that?"
"What if I do have a problem with that?" The cashier said. It was this time that I chose to kiss Katie. The cashier got a disgusted look on her face.
"Well then you'd better keep your comments to your self." Katie said, looking at a older man that had walked up behind the cashier whose name tag read "Doris"
"Is there a problem here ma'am?" he said addressing Katie.
“Well your employee,” Katie paused, reading the name tag on the cashier “Doris, here seems to think that my girlfriend is a boy and that there is a problem with me having a girlfriend”
“Ok,” he said glaring at Doris. “My office when you're done.” Then he turned to Katie.
“Ma'am here's a 10 percent off coupon for my employee's hassle” He handed her the coupon, and gave Doris a pissed off look, and walked back to his office. Doris looked pissed off herself as she continued ringing up the clothes. When she was done, she asked” Do you want to use your coupon now,” then under her breath, but not quite low enough “You little bitch.” She didn't realize that the manager who had given the coupon to Katie had walked out of his office and was now standing within earshot.
“Doris, My office, NOW!” he said then took over her register.
“I'm terribly sorry ma'am” he said to Katie. As he took twenty percent off of the total. Jen pulled the card out of her purse and paid. The total was $200. Which Jen put on the card, leaving $800 for more clothes and accessories. There were six bags, and we each took 2 bags. On the way out there were two guys standing by the door, one of them gave a wolf whistle. I turned and winked at them. I was getting into this role very easily. When we got to Katie's car I was getting cold because the temperature had dropped into the upper thirties, and I really felt sorry for any female that had to wear a skirt in this weather. As we were walking to the car, Jen handed the two bags she was carrying, to me then said,
“You don't have anything to sleep in. Katie, you guys get in the car and meet me back up at the door.”
“Ok,” Katie said. As Katie and I walked to the car, we started talking. “Are you having fun yet?” She asked smiling at me.
“Yeah, except for that cashier.”
“Yeah she was a bitch. So what are you gong to wear tomorrow?”
“Not sure. Why do you pick it out?” Katie grinned, and I figured that may have been a mistake
“Ok, just don't hate me because of it. Will you wear the boots again?” Katie asked.
“Yeah, for you” I said, placing the bags I was carrying in the trunk. Katie and I got in the car and made our way back up to the building to get Jen. Right as we pulled up, Jen walked out the door.
“Morgan, your going to love what I got for you to sleep in” She said lowering her self into the back seat of the car. Once the door was shut, and her seat belt was on, Jen pulled what she got me to sleep in out of the bag. It was a pink nightgown with matching pink panty, however from the breast down to the hem (which I guessed would be just below the panty) was a sheer nylon. I liked it, and then she pulled 2 more out of the bag, one in blue, and one in black. And with Katie grinning her approval, she put the car in gear and headed toward home.
Chapter 3
By Samantha Jenkins
As Katie started moving the car toward the interstate to head home, I was starting to get nervous. The Last time mom and seen me dressed, I was wearing one of Jen's dresses and pretty much looked like a girl even though at the time I had shorter hair, which mom had explained away when we went to eat that I tried to cut it by my self, and screwed it up pretty badly. It was still longer than most boys’ haircuts going to my shoulders. This time I looked like a sixteen year old girl, to every one. We rode in silence for a while, and the closer we got to the house the more I started to feel faint. Katie noticed this.
"Are you alright Morgan?" she asked looking in my direction
"I don't want mom to see me like this." I stammered through rather short breaths.
"Here take my hand." Katie said offering her hand, I took it and squeezed. "Morgan, remember your mom is getting you all of your clothes, I think she knows what's best for you."
"What about church on Sunday?" I asked, finally starting to breathe normally again.
"What about it?" Jen asked.
"Am I going as a girl or a boy?"
"Well Mom did say full time, and for at least five months" Jen responded to my question, "So I'd say as a girl" Just as Jen finished her statement, Katie was turning the car into the driveway. I saw mom's car in the garage, with the trunk lid open.
"Morgan, We'll get the bags, see if there is any thing else in your mom's trunk." Katie said with a smile. I couldn't argue with her, I loved her too much.
"Ok." I said grabbing the handle of the door and stepping out. It had gotten dark out and was now in the upper twenties. I could have sworn I felt my blood cool off in my legs as I walked toward the garage. I looked in mom's trunk and picked up the only bag that was left and shut the trunk. I walked into the house and met my mom on the way out.
"Oh, Hi, Morgan", she said after about running me down. "You look pretty." I blushed.
"Thanks, Mom" I replied in a weak voice. She smiled, and then asked:
"Is that every thing from the car?"
"It's the last one and I shut the trunk." I said, still uneasy about mom seeing me in a skirt. Mom shut the garage door, and came back in the house. I was working on putting the cheese that was in the bag in the refrigerator, unaware that mom was watching me. Straightening my skirt as I stood, my mother’s voice startled me.
"I never realized how much you acted like your sister" I turned to face her.
"Mom!" I started, "I do not act like Jennifer"
"Actually you do." Mom stated, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a girl." I thought about that for a second. Here was my mom telling me I looked like a girl, which I probably did because I was wearing a skirt, had hair that was well taken care of, and had soft features like my sister. I skipped over to mom and gave her a hug.
"Thank you mommy." I said.
"What was that for?" She asked.
"For not kicking me out of the house when you found out what I had done."
"Do you remember when I found you in your sister’s dress after your dad died?"
"Yeah” I said looking at her. I thought she was going to flip and kick me out of the house, but she just took me in her arms and held me, it was nice being held like that but I thought she was mad at me after that. She and I just sat in the living room talking like mother and daughter for about three hours then Jen came home and I apologized to her for going in her room without her permission.
"Remember how we went out to dinner with you dressed like that?" I nodded. My hair had been as long then as it was now, and not a single person gave me a second glance when we went out and ate. We had also gone shopping and gotten me some denim skirts and a few dresses, and when I grew out of this "stage" those had gone into Jen's closet. "Well, I told Jen to put those in the guest room, which will become your room while your punishment is in effect. Now run upstairs and get changed for all four of us to go out to dinner, and you and Katie to go to the movies."
"Ok, Mom" I said, turning to go toward the stairs. Walking into the guest room, I saw Katie sitting on the bed reading a book. It looked like my copy of Left Behind, and from the looks of it, she had just started reading it. On the bed was a red sweater that had a keyhole opening right above where my sternum started, a red and black plaid pleated skirt that looked like it was shorter than the one I had on. On the floor were a pair of black boots with a five inch platform, and 3 glittering silver padlocks hanging open. I looked at Katie, who had not seen me come into the room, she was wearing an identical outfit but the sweater and plaid were white instead of black. Her boots had 2 gold colored locks and they were already locked. As she realized that I was there, she turned to me and smiled. I saw that her sweater was identical to the one that was laying on the bed, except hers had a gold padlock in the keyhole opening. I walked over to her and hugged her, then fingered the padlock.
"You like?" She asked.
"Yes I do, although I've never seen you have a gold plated lock before." I replied. I've always thought that Katie made some of her own clothes because she had all sorts of stuff that could be locked shut from pants and shorts to shirts to sweaters. I had always admired that she had the courage to lock herself in her clothes and wear them to school. She was on the Girls Tennis team at school and had even made her own skirts for the games that she could lock shut.
"The gold locks are new. Your locks are going to be silver, and I think you'll like this outfit." She said picking sitting my book down and picked the skirt up. She unzipped the zipper at the back of the skirt and I saw two locks, one at the center of the zipper, and one at the top which looked like it held a both ends of a chain that ran through the waist band. She smiled at me.
"What's the chain for?" I asked.
"To make sure you can’t' remove it." She said, unzipping her skirt to revel two gold locks and a silver chain that went through her waist band. I smiled at her then watched as she zipped her skirt back up and when she brought her arms up to hug me I thought I saw a golden reflection out of her sleeve.
"Is there a lock at your right wrist too?" I asked reaching for it.
"Yes there is," She replied holding her wrist out to me, "and you'll understand the point later tonight." That got me thinking 'what was she planning for later tonight' "Let's get you dressed" she said taking a key from the nightstand. She bent down and unlocked the lock on each boot, and unzipped them. She pushed me back until I fell on the bed, my skirt flying up and would have been showing my panties if I didn't have a pair of tights on. Katie giggled, and then pulled my boots off. I stood up and unbuttoned, and unzipped the skirt I had on, and then pulled the sweater up and over my head, dropping it on the floor with the skirt. I picked up the skirt from the bed, and stepped into it, pulling it up and holding my hand out to Katie, instead of getting a lock, which is what I wanted I got a handful of keys.
"What's this?" I asked looking at the keys.
"The keys to my outfit, there's a pouch in the front of your skirt that will hold them." I folded the waist band down and sure enough there was a zipped compartment there, with a ring at the end of it. I slipped the keys in the compartment then zipped it shut, holding my hand out again, this time getting a silver lock. Slipping the hasp of the lock through the hole on the zipper, and the through the ring, I closed it. I could have sworn that Katie purred when I did that. I went back over to the zipper and then stuck my hand out again, receiving a second lock. I slipped the hasp through the rings and closed it, sticking my hand out again. Instead of getting a lock, I got a kiss, and heard a click. I looked down and seeing Katie had closed the zipper on the skirt. I stuck my hand there and felt the outline of a lock. I picked up the sweater and slid it over my head. Katie came over and closed the two locks at the wrists. Then she handed me a lock and that was when I realized that the collar of the sweater had a chain running through it. Katie was standing over by the full length mirror in the guest room, which had become my bedroom with my punishment, brushing her hair. She tied it up in a ponytail using a white ribbon. I walked over to her at the mirror. We were the same height, and I did some real quick math in my head if I was five foot five, and she was five foot three, and my boots were five inches, that meant she had to have on her four inch platform boots.
"Katie, Hun, are those your four inch platforms?"
"Yes, Morgan, they are. You've never seen them have you?" She responded smiling.
"No, I haven't" I said looking at her boots. Some day I'd have to try those on. Katie moved behind me and started brushing my hair after taking the two ribbons that held my pigtails up. She brushed my hair out. Let me tell you, if you have never had some one else brush your hair, you should try it some time, it is one of the most relaxing things I can think of. When Katie was done brushing my hair, she tied it up with a red ribbon, then she gave my makeup a little touchup and we went downstairs to see mom and Jen.
"Were ready, Jackie" Katie said to my mom.
"Oh, good. I was about to have Jen assemble a search party and go looking for you two girls." Mom said smiling. I smiled back and took Katie's hand, as we walked out the door to Mom's car. Katie and I sat in the back seat and I was a whole lot more graceful than when I sat down the first time. Jen and mom got in up front.
“Mom, where are we going?” I asked after I buckled my seatbelt.
“Were going to the Max and Erma’s at City Center.” Mom said.
“Mom why at City Center, if there is one at South Ridge?” as we drove, I realized that we were headed toward the one in South Ridge.
“Mom you’re confusing me.” I said aloud, Jen turned and grinned at me. It was when we pulled into the lot of the Max and Erma’s in South Ridge that I realized that we were in fact going to the one where several of my classmates in different classes worked. I knew for a fact that several girls from my Pre-Calculus class worked tonight because they had been discussing schedules. Mom also knew that several girls from some of my classes worked here and she was going to make me pass in front of class mates.
“Morgan, you are a cousin that is visiting from Jacksonville for a few months and you will be attending school here, Jen, your brother went back to Jacksonville to attend to the requests of your Aunt Betty, who is Morgan’s mother by adoption and is suffering from health ailments.” I didn’t expect any one to believe this and so I said something.
“Mom, no one will buy that. I don’t even look like a Floridian.”
“Then what do you propose?” Mom had parked the car and we sat discussing this with the heat on.
“I like the cousin bit, that would explain why I look like Josh, but how bout I’m from Oakville, and our house collapsed with no one home, and my dad enlisted Josh to help with the rebuilding so I’m staying with you.”
“That will work, should any one ask. Morgan, don’t forget your manners, unless you want to be ‘read’.” Mom said. We got out of the car, and because the car was nice and toasty, it felt like it was two degrees out side. I knew it wasn’t because the multifunction computer in the car had said it was 23 degrees outside. Of course the wind was blowing, and therefore, it felt colder. As we walked in the hostess, who I recognized from her traversing with Jen in the hallways at school looked up at us and smiled at Jen. What I didn’t know was that Katie also knew her. They shared three classes together.
“Welcome to Max and Erma’s, how many in your party?” Asked the hostess, who was wearing a white button down shirt and a pair of black slacks, her long brown hair was tied up in a bun. She had a name tag pinned to whose name tag read ‘Amber’
“Four,” Mom said smiling. Amber grabbed four menus, and then Amber said to me,
“You look familiar; do you go to South Ridge High?”
“No, I go to Oakville High.” I responded as we approached the booth we were going to sit in.
“Oh, I like Katie’s and your outfits.”
“Thanks,” I said smiling. Katie sat down and scooted into the booth.
“Are the locks functional?” Amber asked staring at the lock at the collar of my sweater.
“Yes,” I said sitting and maintaining her gaze, “and the keys are at home.” I said. Amber glanced at her gold watch.
“I go on break in ten minutes, do you mind if I come back and we can chat?” she asked. I glanced at the others seated around the table, they were just smiling.
“Not at all,” I said smiling. Amber smiled as the waitress came up to greet us. One thing I have never understood about the restaurant industry was why you always get greeted to the extent of three or four times.
“Hi, I’m Erica, I’ll be your server today, and can I get you any thing to drink?” I recognized her from my lunch period. I didn’t even know she worked here.
“I’ll have water” My mom answered, it was then Jen’s turn.
“I’ll have a Sprite” Jen answered.
“I’ll have a Sprite also.” I answered.
“I’ll have water” Katie answered.
“Okay, two waters and two sprites. I’ll be back in a few to get your orders, and by the way, I like your outfits.” Erica said nodding toward Katie and I. As she walked away, I glanced at Katie who was grinning.
“What?” I asked
“Your doing this like a natural, like you’ve done this for your entire life.” Katie responded smiling. I smiled back.
“This is a play, the world is my stage.” I responded. Erica came back, carrying a tray of drinks. Erica put the drinks on the table.
“Here are your drinks. Are those locks functional?” Erica asked me.
“Yes they are. I can’t take my outfit off with out the keys which are at home.” Erica got a sudden twinkle in her eye.
“What all on your outfit is locked?” Erica asked, while flipping her papers to jot our orders down.
“My sweater, skirt, and boots.” I replied sticking my foot out so she could see my boot. She glanced down and smiled.
“I’ve always wanted a pair of shoes or boots like that. Now, what do you want for dinner?”
“I’ll have a plain burger and fries.” I replied smiling. The order sounded pretty much the same all the way around the table. I mean what more do you expect when you have four girls out to eat. I slipped my hand into Katie’s, and she smiled. I looked at Katie and she absentmindedly played with the lock in the keyhole opening of her sweater. I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“Morgan,” Mom started, “Are you having fun with your punishment yet?” she asked. Jen and Katie were smiling. The look on my face must have said it all. “I can see that this is not a punishment to you. What was that about this being a play and the world as your stage?”
“Earlier when we were going to the mall, Katie reminded me of the play I was in last year, if you recall, I wore skirts and dresses around the house for three months to get ready, even going as far as wearing them out to places with you and Jen when we went some where other than where we normally shop, I replied to Katie after she told me to think of the world as my stage and this as a play, that that is exactly what it is.”
“That’s a good way to think about it. You and Katie are going to go shopping tomorrow by your selves. Katie, I want Morgan to pick out what she wants. Morgan, you can have five pair of pants. No more, they are to be obviously feminine, and you can only wear them when you ask me first. Now, what movie are you guys going to go see tonight?” I looked at Katie, who looked at me.
“What do you–-“we both started at the exact same time.
“I don’t know what’s playing” Katie said to me with a smile. “Let’s go shopping instead.” I shrugged.
“Ok,” I said smiling. Somehow I knew there was going to be a little bit more than shopping going on. “I’ll drive.” I said looking at mom after looking at Katie. Mom frowned. I had just gotten my drivers license in July, but had never driven in heels.
“No, you won’t” Mom said looking at me. “Not until you and Katie have gone to the school’s parking lot and you’ve learned how to drive in heels. Furthermore,” Mom paused looking around, “your legal documents, all have your male name on them, you’ve already been reenrolled at school as Morgan. But you can’t drive with out a driver’s license, and yours says Josh, not Morgan. So therefore you’re not driving.” Mom said. I looked at her and pouted. I liked to drive.
“But, Mom, Technically I’m still Josh; I’m pretending to be Morgan. I’ve talked to some one on the Internet who has been stopped for driving her car while she was dressed. The car was registered to the male name, and she was able to prove that she was he.” I said.
“How by lifting up her skirt?” Jen asked.
“She didn’t provide details.” I replied looking at Jen. Amber grabbed a chair and sat at the end of the booth. She had a salad in a bowl in her hands. I looked at her.
“How did you get your food already? I asked looking at the salad.
“I put my order in the computer just before Erica put yours in. She’ll be out in a second.” Just as Amber finished talking Erica popped out of the kitchen holding a tray of food. This was happening like it was scripted and that worried me. Erica sat our food down and then came back with more drinks.
“Katie, where are the keys for your locks?” Amber asked.
“They are inside the front of the waist of Morgan’s skirt that is locked shut, and her mom has the keys.”
“Where did you get the sweaters, and boots?”
“Ask her.” I said nodding my head back to Katie.
“I had them custom made.” Katie replied between bites. Amber’s eyes got wide, and a smile broke on her face.
“I want a dress that locks so I can have my boyfriend hold the keys, or I can put them in water in the freezer and then wait till it thaws to take the dress off.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Katie replied, “Get with me sometime on Monday.”
“Ok.” She replied glancing at her watch. “I have to get back to work. Have fun.” She winked at me. I finished what I could of my food. By the time I finished every one else was done and ready to go. We got up and mom went and paid, Katie, Jen and I were back in the car with it warming up, I was shivering because it was in the lower thirties, Katie started shivering also so I cuddled up to her to combine our body heat, unfortunately, our body heat was not much of a match for the cold interior of the car. Even after the car had warmed up we stayed sitting in the back seat with me holding her in my arms. Mom walked up to the car and got in.
“Where are you guys going to go shopping?” Mom asked putting the car in gear and backing out of the parking spot.
“Probably over to Oakville to make sure that no one recognizes Morgan.” Katie said.
“Ok,” Mom started, “Are you staying over tonight?” She directed the question at Katie.
“Yes. I’ll swing by my house before we go shopping and clothes for tomorrow.” Katie said, slightly lifting her head from my chest. “Hun, you need boobs.”
“What was that?” Jen turned smiling.
“I said Morgan needs boobs” Katie said, returning the smile. I saw mom smile in the mirror.
“I’ll work on that tomorrow.” Mom responded.
“We bought B cup bras today,” I volunteered, thinking she might need that info. I knew that was needed because the school had to purchase a pair of breast forms. I wore a simple denim skirt, black sweater, white panties, bra, and tights for the play. I was self conscious for the last three weeks when I was wearing the similar outfits every day. It was weird walking among my classmates in a skirt. I got a lot of support from the girls, most of who were in pants, but they seemed to appreciate the fact that here I was a guy, and I was willing to wear a skirt, to school nonetheless, and I made a lot of friends during the eight weeks we were in practices. The first time I walked on stage wearing a skirt, I felt as if every one could see right up it. After a few days of wearing the same thing or similar on stage, I kind of started acting like a girl. Eventually, I was so confident that I started going by my stage name in all of my classes and at home because I was not wearing pants at any point. I even learned how to do makeup, although it was just the basics.
“Ok, I’ll get you a pair of B cup sized forms tomorrow. I want you two to be home by midnight, any later you both are in trouble.” Mom said making the turn into the driveway from the street.
Chapter 4: A Night with Katie
By Samantha Jenkins
Katie and I walked over and got in her car. It was 33 degrees outside according to the computer in mom’s car. We sat in her car talking while it was warming up. I glanced at the clock, it read 7:15
“Do you like your outfit?” She asked.
“Yes. Does my mom really have the keys?” Katie jingled her keys, smiling.
“I have the keys to the locks at our wrists, and you’ll figure it out when we get to Wal-mart.” She said putting the car in reverse and pulling out into the street. Ten minutes later we were in the parking lot of Wal-mart. We got out and walked into the store. I grinned at her as we walked through the store. We got a lot of funny looks, I think because of our different jewelry. Our first stop was the woman’s department. I was browsing a selection of ankle length skirts, while Katie was looking at some rather short mini skirts. She brought four over and showed them to me. All but one was plaid, the first being red and black, the second green, black and white. The third I like because it was royal blue and white plaid, which was our school colors. The fourth I liked the best because it was a simple black miniskirt. I took the royal blue and white plaid skirt and placed it in the cart. I held the black one up to my body before placing it into the cart, it was an inch shorter than the skirt I had on. I picked up some button front shirts in black, white, royal blue, light pink, light blue, and a cream color. I was still wondering about the wrist chains. Katie and I walked back to the shoe department, where Katie picked up another pair of boots and a pair of tennis shoes. From there we went over to the accessories department, pausing to look at purses, I grabbed a black one, because it matched everything, and I was going to need it to put money, and makeup in. We made our way over to the hosiery department, where I picked up a pair of white fishnet tights and a pair of royal blue tights. I was thinking put on the royal blue tights, then the white fishnets over those. That would look neat with the royal blue and white plaid skirt. I decided to wear my new outfit to school on Monday. I explained to Katie.
“Hey, I think I have my outfit for my first day of school as Morgan.” I said smiling.
“Really?” Katie asked, “I was thinking you should wear a this pink sweater,” Katie pointed to a sweater in her hand, “and that black mini that you put in the cart a few seconds ago, and the boots you have on, with me holding the keys.” I thought about that for a second. I liked the idea of her holding the keys while I was at school. I knew that she and Jen would protect me from the other guys who might try to beat me up.
“I like your idea; I’ll wear what I was going to wear on sprit day.” I said. She smiled.
“What was your outfit?” she asked.
“I was going to wear the blue and white plaid skirt, blue tights with white fishnets over those, and a white or blue shirt.” I laid the outfit out on the top of the cart.
“I like that outfit, you really should wear that on Friday, and we have a pep-rally. What are you going to do about your hair?” She asked.
“I’m not sure. Ponytail maybe?” I said.
“What about pigtails, using white and blue ribbon on each side?” She asked making mock pigtails with her own shoulder blade length strawberry blonde hair. I liked her hair, especially the color. My own hair was a light brown, and went to just below my shoulders.
“I like that idea, but I need some hair ties and ribbons and that kind of stuff.” I said laying the outfit back in the cart. We made our way up to the checkouts. After every thing was scanned and bagged the total came to just shy of $150 dollars. I dug the card out of my purse. I think that mom had handed it to me when I got out of her car, but I was not sure. I signed the receipt, and took the bags out to Katie’s car. I looked at the clock in Katie’s car. It read 8:30. I looked at her. “Let’s go to Kohls.” I said, pointing at the store, a couple hundred feet away.
“Ok.” She said, locking the doors on the car so that we’d have to walk to get there. Once we got inside, I was kind of chilly, and we headed for the juniors department. I instantly fell in love with a denim miniskirt that looked like it would come to mid thigh on me. I took it off of its rack and held it up to me. It hit mid thigh, and Katie smiled.
“I like that, and I could probably have it modified so that I can lock you in it.” I grinned at her; I liked the idea of her locking me in my clothes and having the keys. We wandered around for a bit, and I saw a short jumper that looked like overalls. Jen had a pair of overalls and I think I wore them more than she did. I took it off of the rack and held it out so Katie could see it.
“That would be cute for every day wear, speaking of which we need to get you some more skirts for daily wear. We walked over to the area where the majority of the skirts were and I picked out 4 long skirts. Katie responded to my 4 long skirts with 4 knee length skirts. I smiled, she was going to match me move for move, I picked up 2 long sleeved t-shirts, and she picked up a cardigan, and a sweater. I put the shirts and skirts in the cart, and Katie did the same. I kissed her on the cheek. We walked over to the shoes. I picked up a pair of pink canvas shoes. Katie smiled and walked around the corner of the aisle, she reappeared with a pair of black platform loafers. I guessed they were three and a half or four inches high. I nodded. We went back over to the juniors department. I started looking at sleepwear. I saw a pink satin nightgown that looked like it would show panties, around the top of the hanger, there was a pink satin thong. I was starting to try to figure out why it seemed that the only types of panties I could see were thongs. I held the nightgown up to me and Katie looked at me and winked.
“What is it with you and thongs?” She asked smiling.
“It’s not me” I replied placing the night gown in the cart. “It’s you GG’s” I said smiling at her. I knew she had no argument to that because she usually had on a thong, thus wearing the tights when she had on a skirt. We walked up to the cash registers and proceeded to pay for the items. As we were putting the items on the counter, the woman standing behind it smiled.
“You’ll like the night gown, I have 5.” I furrowed my brow. When she got done scanning the items, the total was another $150. I pulled the card out of my purse, and handed it to her. We carried the bags out to the car, and got in. Katie started the car and I looked at the clock. It read 9:30 and I looked at Katie.
“It’s time to go home.” She said. I pouted. “It’s ok, once we get changed for bed we can cuddle.” I liked the thought of cuddling with Katie. We started to drive home, I took her hand, and fifteen minutes later we were pulling in the driveway. Katie and I got out of her car and got the bags out of the back seat, and we walked in the house. Mom was standing in the kitchen, smiling.
“I see you two went shopping, how much did you spend?” she asked, looking at me.
“Just shy of $300” I replied, “and I know what I’m going to wear for my first day at school.”
“Oh?” Mom asked, surprised. I nodded.
“This sweater,” I said pulling the pink sweater out of one of the bags, “This skirt,” I said laying the skirt at the bottom of the sweater. “A pair of black or pink tights, I haven’t decided which yet, and the boots I have on, with Katie having the keys.” Mom smiled thoughtfully.
“I think you should use pink ribbon for a pony tail or maybe let me do braided pigtails.”
“I’ve always like when Jen’s hair was in braided pigtails. I think it looks cute.” I glanced at Katie, who seemed thoughtful.
“Ok,” Mom said, “Run up to your sister’s room and get some elastic bands.”
“Ok,” I said standing up and straitening my skirt. I walked up to Jen’s room and found her elastics and brought them back downstairs. I had grabbed a brand new pack that had 20 bands in it. I opened it and laid them on the table. Katie picked up the white and 2 of the black elastic bands, and mom picked up the red and the other 2 black bands. 10 minutes later, I had a pair of perfectly braided pigtails, and went upstairs to find the blue nightgown that Jen had picked up earlier that night. Right next to it, was the pink one with a piece of paper on it that simply said “Katie”. I lifted the panties of the nightgown; I hadn’t noticed earlier that they had 3 rows of lace on the back side of them. I went to change and realized that Katie was standing behind me with a container of 14 keys, and the one that would open the two new locks on my wrists.
“You’re going to need these in order to change.” She said then she picked up a four inch length of chain and two locks. “Turn around,” She commanded, “Put your hands behind your back.” I did as she commanded. I kind of liked this, and was thinking about it when I heard two clicks; I tried to pull my hands around to the front and was unable to. I finally realized what the chains in the wrists were for. She took the keys and spread them around the room, placing some high and some low. Katie sat on the bed, and watched me try to collect all of the keys. She giggled at some of my attempts; of the keys I could collect I sat them on the bed. I stopped and looked at Katie.
“How many have I picked up?” I asked. She counted.
“I count 12” she replied. “That means you need 3 more, and I know one is to your wrists.” I figured it was marked some how. I tried to remember where she had placed all of the keys. They were all higher than what I could reach. I looked at Katie, and she was grinning like a cat that had just swallowed the canary. She had placed a few keys out of my reach on purpose.
“There’s some you can’t get your hands on. More specifically the ones for the locks at your wrists, the collar of your sweater, and the waist band of your skirt.” I stood on the bed and looked around the room. I saw a key on the top of the door frame, one more on the top of the hutch of my desk. I gave Katie a close look. She had a key on a necklace and I grabbed at it. Once I had managed to open the hasp, and pulled the necklace off of her I tried the key in the locks at my wrists. It opened one, and that was all I needed. I grabbed the other two keys and then threw Katie back on the bed, smothering her with kisses. I then proceeded to unlock my outfit. I had only unlocked the necklace that was sewn into the sweater when I thought about something. I looked at Katie.
“Do you have any dresses that you can lock shut?” I asked her. She grinned.
“Yes I do,” She said still grinning. “Would you like to see one?” She pointed toward the closet, where a denim dress hung, its front facing out into the room. It had a zipper that ran up the middle of the dress, with ten padlocks hanging open, keys in the keyholes of the locks. It looked like it would be ankle length, or maybe a little bit longer, requiring heels to fit properly. I walked over to it. I reached in the closet, pulling the dress out and holding it up to me. The back of the dress looked like it had a built in corset. I felt around where the waist would be, and sure enough there was some boning for a corset there. I glanced back at Katie with a quizzical look, and then continued to examine the dress. Over the lacing of the built in corset, was a zipper with a d-ring at the top, I assumed for a lock, to lock the occupant in the corseted dress. The locks down the front had no real bearing on the occupant’s ability to remove the dress, because with the corset in place it could not be removed. I had seen Katie wear a similar dress, except the one she had worn was knee length, and was khaki. The khaki dress had only 5 locks on the front, and she had told me once that the corset reduced her waist to 24” from 29”. I looked at Katie, she was grinning. I was really beginning to think that she liked being controlled. I kind of wondered who she had that held the keys for the majority of her outfits. I know it’s no fun if you don’t have some one else to hold the key.
“Who do you have hold your keys for your outfits?” I asked
“Now I have you, and I’ll hold yours. Before I used this.” She said, reaching into her bag and pulled out a necklace. The part that went around the neck was a chain that looked like a choke collar for a dog with the open padlock. In the middle of the chain, there was a clear box that closed with a single padlock. I gave the box a really close look. It looked like an eye ring had been screwed into the Plexiglas the box was made of. The closing mechanism was a piece of metal that had 4 little metal prongs that would slip into the openings on the box, when the closing mechanism was closed a padlock could be slipped into the two rings, closing the box with it’s contents locked inside, the keys somewhere else. I toyed with it for a while, and Katie just smiled.
“Let’s try on the dress you are going to wear tomorrow.” She said tugging at my skirt. I reached down and undid the zipper; however, the locks were not unlocked. I reached over to the bed, and started picking up keys, trying each one in the locks on the skirt. Eventually I found the right one for the zipper, leaving the key in the zipper; I picked up another key and tried it in the other locks on the skirt. On the fifth key I managed to open the other lock on the zipper of the skirt. Unzipping the zipper, and letting it go, it fell to the floor. I stepped out of the skirt, and tried the keys in the other locks, finally getting the three locks on the sweater open. On the bed there were six keys, which went to the boots. I reached for them.
“I don’t think so.” She said scooping the keys up and placing all but one key and lock in the box, she put it around her neck and locked it shut. She took the single lock, and twisting the closing mechanism, locked the box, keeping my boots on my feet. I had not noticed the fact that the keys for the dress were now in the box securely locked around Katie’s neck. Katie had gone over to the closet, and pulled out the dress. Pulling the locks out of their respective d-rings and sitting them on the bed, Katie unzipped the dress and helped me put it on. As she zipped it up, snapping padlocks shut as she went up I realized that the keys were in the box locked around Katie’s neck. I had not realized that the dress had a high neck that held the final padlock.
“Where are the keys for the dress?” I asked finally finding my voice.
“Around my neck. Suck in your tummy.” She said, and I did. I felt the corset tighten around my waist. It wasn’t too uncomfortable, and then Katie started tightening it down. I felt as if my intestines were going to be squeezed out of my rear end. After it got tighter than I thought it could, I heard the zipper close and a click. It was a thrill knowing that my waist size had been reduced, and I was trapped by Katie’s hand. That kind of excited me; I wondered how she felt holding the keys, trapping me in my dress.
“How does it feel having the keys for my dress in your control?”
“I kind of like being in control.” She said grinning. I wondered briefly what the roles being reversed, with me holding the keys. Katie and I sat and talked for a while, and I got used to the corset. Katie stood and stretched. She took off her skirt, sweater, and boots, and slipped her nightgown on. She turned away and pulled her panties and tights off, and slipped the pink panties up and I saw how much the matching baby blue nightgown would show on my body. The rows of lace on the panties stood out in contrast against the baby pink of her bum. Katie unlocked the box containing the keys and let me out of the dress.
“You’ll wear that dress tomorrow, and we’ll lace it a little bit tighter. You’ll also wear the necklace, and the keys for it will be here.” I picked up the nightgown, and slipped it over my head, and then picking up the panties, I slipped them up and tucked my twig and berries away for the night. I slipped into the bed next to Katie and fell promptly asleep.
Chapter 5: Shopping part 2
by Samantha Jenkins
I woke up to being snuggled by Katie; she was warm and still asleep. She was quite cute when she was asleep. I reached over and brushed her cheek, and smiled. I had managed to get my girlfriend even though I was also wearing skirts. I glanced at the clock. It was only 3:30 AM. I put my arm around her, and pulled the blanket up over both of us, then fell back asleep. The next thing I knew Katie was shaking me awake.
“Come on sleepy head, its 8:30 and we need to get shopping!” I shook my head, and tried to roll over. Katie pulled the blanket off the bed, and I got cold. I sat up and realized that I had to go to the bathroom. I stood up and noticed that Katie was already dressed, and her dress was all locked up. She had on a shorter version of what I was going to wear, and hers was made of pink corduroy instead of denim. She spun and showed me that her dress had a built in corset like mine, but it was not laced or zipped up. My dress was hanging in the closet like it was hung up last night, and over the chair at my desk were a pair of pink tights, and a baby pink thong and bra set. Katie saw me looking and smiled evilly.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom really quick.” I said getting up and walking toward the bathroom. Upon getting there I sat down and proceeded to relieve my self. After I stood up and wiped my self, I walked back to the bedroom and kissed Katie on the cheek. I then slipped the thong and bra on then walked over to the back side of her and started lacing her corset. I tightened it down and paused.
“Do you want it tighter?” I asked her.
“Keep going, I’ll tell you when you get it tight enough.” I kept going and after I shrunk her waist by about 6 inches when she said, “Enough.” I tied the laces off and then pulled the zipper down and locked it shut. She turned around and smiled. “Your turn,” She said, slipping her hand around my waist and steering me toward the bed. I sat and she brought the pink tights over. I started slipping them up my legs and then stood up. Katie had unzipped the dress and placed all of the keys in the little box on the necklace. I had just noticed that Katie had on a necklace that looked like the one that she had just locked my keys into.
“Are the keys for the necklace in my box?” I asked; she smiled.
“Yes they are," she said placing it around my neck locking the necklace inside the box and then locking the box. She then picked up my dress and held it out so I could put it on like it was a coat. I pulled the zipper up from the bottom as Katie started locking the locks. Once I was securely locked in the dress, Katie started lacing me in from the back. I felt the dress get tighter than it did the night before. I heard the click and spun to face Katie. She was now standing by the door that was closed and had a mirror attached to the back of it. Katie had reduced my waist by 3 or so inches. I sat on the bed and picked the boots up. I unzipped them and slid my feet into them and then locked them. I stood up. My dress had zippers down the left and right sides of the skirt portion, and they both were closed and locked.
“Katie, Why are there zippers on the sides?” I asked
“So I can control the length of your step.” She said with a small grin. “And right now, you have to take short steps, and place your feet in front of one another. Let’s go down and get some breakfast.” Katie was right; I did have to take short steps. I almost tripped going down the steps to the kitchen. Jen was standing there wearing a dress like what Katie and I had on. Jen’s dress was about mid thigh, and was made out of light blue twill colored fabric. Mom walked into the kitchen a few minutes after we had sat down.
“I spend a lot of money on new clothes for you and you wear Katie’s stuff.” She said with a smile on her face. I grinned.
“I’ll wear something of mine tomorrow, Speaking of tomorrow, are we going to church?”
“Yes, we are going to go with the same story we had for the restaurant. Josh is helping to rebuild Morgan’s house. Pick something out today and make it nice, I want short sleeves and a long skirt, and it has to be white or pink.”
“Ok.” I said looking at her. I had seen the perfect dress at Kohl’s the night before.
“Also, I have decided to have Katie help you to learn how to drive in heels, of course most females will have a pair of flat shoes to drive in but with your choice in footwear,” She paused, motioning to my boots that were locked shut. “Once you put your shoes on, you can’t take them off.” Katie and I had a nutra-grain bar each and some juice. Then we were off for a day of shopping. I had to get used to taking shorter steps, and the way the corset made my body move, by the time we had gotten to Katie’s Corolla I had noticed that my hips were swaying as I walked. I sat down in the front passenger seat after opening Katie’s door on the driver’s side. As Katie backed the car out of the driveway and started for the freeway, I was watching her feet working the pedals. She was keeping the heel of her right foot on the floorboard and pivoting her toes to hit the pedals, her left foot was working the clutch in pretty much the same fashion. Katie was one of the few girls I knew who could drive a stick shift, and she did it quite well. I knew how to drive one, but it had been a while since I learned. My father taught me one day when we went over to the school parking lot and he taught me the basics of driving a stick shift. He had also said that it was like riding a bike, and you never really forgot, just got rusty. We were driving down Leppert Road, when Katie made a left turn into the school parking lot.
“What are you doing?” I asked as she slowed the car to a stop and applied the parking brake.
“You and I are going to switch spots and your going to learn how to drive in heels.” She replied shutting the car off and opening her door. I opened my door and walked around to the driver’s side, pausing to kiss Katie, and then got in. The first thing I did was set my left foot on the clutch. Ok, this is a bit different. I was not used to my heel being 4 inches off the floorboard, and I managed to stall the car a couple of times. After I had gotten used to the difference in the height of the heels, I got pretty smooth at the shifting and accelerating. I knew that if I learned how to drive a stick shift in heels, driving mom’s Camry with the automatic would be simple. I pulled the car out into traffic and started making my way to the Kohls we were at the night before. As I pulled into the parking spot and stopped the car, Katie smiled.
“You’re a natural at driving a stick.” She said giving the hand that was on the shifter a squeeze before getting out of the car. I turned the key off and pulled the parking brake up so the car would not roll away without us in it. We got out and hooked our arms together and went inside. We went strait to the dress that I had seen the night before and I picked it up. Katie was over looking at panty hose.
“You should wear panty hose to church instead of tights,” she said. “They will look more adult; tights make you look more like a young girl.”
“Ok” I said. She had been doing this her whole life; I had only been doing this for 2 days. She selected a pair and placed two packages in the cart she had appropriated when we walked in the door. I gently laid the dress in the cart and went off toward the shoes. I wandered around the shoes for a few seconds and was approached by a sales associate.
“May I help you?” She asked looking me up and down as if to figure out why my dress and boots were locked shut. I stole a glance behind her at Katie who was smiling.
“I need a pair of shoes to go with a dress I’m buying.” I replied as Katie walked up beside me.
“Ok,” she said, now looking Katie up and down. “Which dress trying to get shoes for?”
“This one,” I said pulling the dress out of the cart. “And I'd like boots with a 3 inch heel.” I replied with a smile.
“Ok,” she replied “Were you wanting loafers, boots, sandals and what is your shoe size?” She looked at my feet.
“Seven and a half and I'd like boots, similar to what I have on.” I replied picking Katie's left foot up off the ground and looking at the bottom of her boot. She supported her self on my shoulder while she was balancing on one foot.
“I’m afraid we don’t have any boots that you can lock on your feet” she replied. I was getting frustrated with this woman.
“Ma’am I don’t want a pair that will lock shut to go with this dress, if I did, I’d wear the ones I have on now.” I stated as calmly as I could because I didn’t want to give away my true gender. I noticed a man at the end of the aisle in a short sleeved shirt and tie. I correctly guessed him to be a manager. Katie saw him and smiled.
“Who holds the keys to your boots and dress?” The woman responded with a snarl.
“Um, I do.” Katie said, and then looked at the manager who was now walking up behind the employee.
“I bet it turns you on to hold the keys to your girlfriend’s clothes.”
“Katie, Hun, What seems to be the problem here?” The manager responded.
“Hi, Daddy.” The look on the employee’s face, whose name tag her hair had finally uncovered, and read Jessica, turned a bright red. I looked from Jessica to Katie’s dad to Katie. Katie just smiled.
“I know who Jessica and my daughter is, but who is this young lady Pumpkin?” Her father asked.
“Daddy,” Katie responded turning a crimson color because of her dad’s pet name for her, “I’d prefer to tell you in your office.”
“Ok honey, Jessica, Clock out and go home, I’ll deal with you tomorrow. Katie if you and your friend would follow me to my office, please.”
“Ok daddy,” Katie replied grabbing the cart with one hand and my wrist with the other. He led us through the layaway department, back into the storeroom where we finally got to an office door that read “Don Richardson, General Manager.” He fished his keys out of his pocket and let us walk into the office before him, closing the door after he entered. Before he walked to his side of the desk and sat down, he took a moment to kiss each of us on the top of the head. I sat there thinking ‘what is he going to do when he finds out I’m really a boy who is being punished for wearing his sister’s clothes.’
“So, Katie, Who is this young lady that looks an awful lot like Jen?” He asked. Katie squeezed my hand to confirm my worst fears that she was going to expose me to her father. Little did I know that he would be perfectly accepting, almost adopting me as another daughter.
“Daddy, this is actually my boyfriend” she said giving this really cute smile after she said it and the surprise must have registered on my face. Her dad was smiling at me from across the desk.
“I see she has you all locked up and under her control.” He said smiling.
“Daddy, Her name is Morgan, His name is Josh. The reason that he looks an awful lot like Jen is because he is Jen’s younger brother, and is currently being punished for wearing his sisters clothing. He has to dress like this for the next 5 months.” She giggled. “I like him regardless of what he is wearing.”
“Well, Josh,” He started, smiling at me and Katie, who had a huge grin on her face, “Normally I would not allow my daughter to be alone with a boy with out me or her mother meeting him first, I am trusting you to not do any thing stupid or to hurt my little girl.” He looked at Katie, who had turned as red as beet because of her father’s concern for her welfare.
“Mr. Richardson, I would never think of harming Katie. I love her too much, and as for our relationship, we just started going out. Although, I do worry about Tuesday, I’m not sure how I’ll be handled at school and I’m kind of nervous about it.”
“You mean you’ll have to continue your punishment while you’re at school?” he asked. I nodded.
“Daddy, do you remember Alex Johnson?” Katie asked softly.
“Yeah, what about her?” he asked with a curious look on his face, almost as if he knew something about her that we didn’t.
“What ever happened to her?”
“I’m not sure honey. I know that her father got transferred out West somewhere. I’m sure she’s fine. Now, I have to get back to work, so you two run along and play nice, And Katie, use this when you check out.” He said handing her his managers discount card. Katie’s face lit up and a huge grin appeared.
“Ok, Daddy.” Katie answered with such enthusiasm that I thought she was going to start bouncing off the walls, and it was that moment that I knew I was going to be in trouble.
“And, Morgan, you need to come over and meet Katie’s mom, and I’m trusting that you will take care of Katie, and if you guys do decide to do any thing foolish, for God’s sake, use protection.” He said to me. Katie turned as red as a Coke can.
“I’ll take care of her, sir, and as for doing any thing foolish, let’s just say that I want my wedding night to be the first time.” That brought a smile to both Katie and her dad’s face. I nodded my farewell to him as Katie dragged me out of the door, and grabbed our cart.
“I think that Daddy likes you.” Katie said with a smile as we left the way we came in. We got some weird looks as we exited through the layaway department and headed back to the shoes. I had seen the shoes that I thought would go perfectly with the dress as we had gone to her dad’s office. I picked them up. They were a light pink pump with a two or three inch heel. I showed them to Katie.
“I think that you have found your shoes. One thing you will learn is that a woman never has enough shoes or purses.”
“You’re forgetting one thing.” I said, “I live with 2 other girls...”
“Oh yeah,” She replied with a grin.
“What time is it getting to be?” I asked.
“Ten o’clock. How’s your corset feel?”
“I’ve still got it on?” I asked looking down, smiling. “I’ve gotten used to it, if that’s what your asking”
“That is what I’m asking.” She said softly while pulling a key on a necklace that I did not see her put on before we left the house that morning. Undoing the clasp on the necklace, she took the key and unlocked the zipper over the corset and started tightening the corset. The corset got tight again, and I heard a faint click. Katie placed a small lock in my hand. I eyed it with curiosity.
“Now the key for your corset is in the box around your neck.” She said with a smile. We moseyed our way up to the checkout and used her dad’s discount card. After we checked out with no problems, we loaded the bags in the car, and Katie handed me the keys. “Lets go get lunch.” She simply stated.
Chapter 6
By Samantha Jenkins
I walked around to the drivers side and sat in the drivers seat, after opening the passenger side door for Katie. I put the car into gear and backed out of the parking spot. I drove in the direction that Katie pointed. I stopped at the light and managed to stall the car.
"Restart it, Morgan, before the light changes." Katie said with a grin. I turned the key and started the car again.
"I know." I said, and as the light changed, I put the Corolla in gear and made a left turn, toward the local pizza joint. As we drove, we started talking.
"I like this dress and the way it holds me tight. I can't really forget that I have it on, but at the same time I can't take it off either." I said to Katie as I stopped at a red light, with out stalling the car this time. I glanced over at her. she looked at me and blushed, and then looked away. I saw that the light had changed, and put the car in first gear and edged ever closer to the pizza shop. I turned the car into the parking lot of the pizza shop and backed the car into a parking spot. I turned the car off and looked over at Katie. Katie had glanced my direction when I turned off the car and then when I looked over at her, and she turned her head away again, blushing.
"What's up with you?" I asked her, she turned toward me again, with a smile.
"In you I have the best of both worlds, I have another girl to dress up in my 'special' outfits, and I have a boyfriend that I've been trying to get for a while." She said, a tear rolling down her cheek. I reached up and brushed it away.
"Does that mean that we are going out now?" I asked with a grin. Katie looked at me and smiled. "How long have you been wanting to get me?" I asked. Katie blushed and turned away. "It's ok, you can tell me." I said, placing my right hand on the top of her left hand.
"Yes, I guess you could say that we're going out now, and I've only been throwing signals your way for a year or so. I'm hungry. Lets go eat and discuss this inside." She glanced at the front door of the pizza shop. I got out and walked around to her side of the car and opened Katie's door for her.
“Thank you.” Katie said, with a little curtsy, as well as she could do in an ankle length dress with a built in corset. I took her hand as we walked into the pizza shop. We walked in and sat at a table. I looked around and saw some people that Katie knew from school. I knew that Katie knew them, because I knew them too. This was the first group of people that I had run into that I might have known while dressed in a skirt. After they watched Katie and I come into the pizza shop, one of the girls of the group approached us. I watched her approach the table that we had been sat at, walking pretty damn sure of her self on a pair of three or so inch heels. She was wearing a red turtleneck sweater and a short black and red plaid miniskirt. When she got to the table, I recognized her as Kristen, one of Katie’s friends from school.
“Hey Katie,” Kristen said as she sat at the table next to Katie.
"Hey Kristen, I didn't expect to see you here" Katie said, smiling. I watched as Katie winked at me, causing me to blush ever so slightly, but not enough for Kristen to notice.
"I didn't expect to see you come in either, I was just wondering who your friend was, because I've never seen her before." I looked at Kristen. I shared a math class and an english class with her, sitting right next to her in the English class.
"Kristen, Meet Morgan, she is Josh and Jen's cousin, and she will be staying with them for a while, Josh went to their house to help build something." Katie said.
“I can’t really see Josh helping with any type of construction, he has always struck me as girlish, but I could be wrong.” I felt my cheeks get warm when all of the blood flowed there because I was blushing. Katie shot me a look that appeared to say ‘sorry.’
“Actually, Josh has been working with my dad on designing the new shed that we are building.” I said trying to defend my self with out giving my self away. This took Kristen by surprise.
“Ah.” Kristen said, and looked back at the table she had gotten up from. “I’m going to go back over and sit with Mark, It was nice meeting you Morgan, and I’ll see you on Monday Katie.” Katie and I both nodded and watched as she went back to sit with her boyfriend. Katie and I looked at each other.
“Good save, Morgan.” Katie said. I smiled at her. “I would have never thought of anything like that. I’ve seen some of the stuff that you draw, you could be an architect.” When we moved into the house that we were living in, after measuring out my bedroom, I had drawn up a basic set of blueprints to figure out how to place stuff in the room to maximize the space that I had at my disposal. I had actually done a project in which some of the other students accused me of paying an architect to draw up the floor plans to the building that housed the project. The teacher called my mom and she had verified that I had in fact done the drawings, and had not payed for them to be done for me. I took my laptop to school the next day and showed the teacher, who said that I should look into architecture as a career. I had looked into it and was seriously considering doing it.
“I have actually designed a shed for Julie’s mom and dad to hold all of their stuff. I drew it up and they built it exactly as I had drawn and the thing ended up surviving a flood.” I paused and took a drink of the glass of water I had got when we had sat down. “I’m probably going to end up spending the rest of my life doing it, It’s something that I enjoy.” I motioned to the clothes that I had on, “Kind of like this.” Katie smiled.
“That’s basically what I do when it comes to modifying the clothes so that I can put locks on every thing.” Katie said, tugging on one of the locks of her dress. I saw Katie look over my shoulder and give a little smirk. I glanced over and saw that our pizza was coming toward us, being carried by a server. Now one thing that I have to tell you, dear reader, is that Katie normally doesn’t eat pizza.
After we had eaten the pizza, Katie looked at me, and had a grin appear on her face. It was one of those looks like she was thinking about something.
“What?” I asked her, knowing the look that she was giving. I watched as she reached up and played with the simple gold stud that she had in each of her ear lobes. Katie had only had her ears pierced for just over a year, her mother refusing to have them done until she turned fifteen. I had worn clip on earrings for the play because my character had worn some dangly earrings, and if I had gotten my ears pierced just for the play, I couldn’t have worn the ear rings that my character wore because the holes would not have heeled to the point where I could. Katie looked at me sand smiled.
“We should get your ears pierced.” Kate said, after taking a drink of her Sprite that was sitting next to her. I thought about it, knowing that at the moment no part of my punishment was leaving permanent marks on any part of my body. I looked at Katie.
“I’d want to discuss it with mom first.” I said. Jen had her ears pierced at ten so I didn’t think that mom would mind, but I also knew that it would be my responsibility to maintain my newly pierced ears, and I also knew that I would be stuck with them until the holes heeled enough to take the studs out without then holes closing. Katie smiled at me.
“Ok, can I pick the ear rings that you get?” She asked, practically bouncing off of the wall.
“Mom gets to approve it, but, yes you can pick out my new ear rings.” I watched one of those grins that told me that I had just made a mistake. I seemed to be doing that a lot in the last few days, making mistakes. I took a drink of my water and then looked at Katie. “What are you thinking?” I asked. Katie smiled. I didn’t get an anwser as Katie paid for the pizza . Katie handed me the keys to the car.
“You’re driving” she said as we walked out the door and got into the car. where I got in and stated driving home. the entire ride was in silence . I caught her looking at me and when I looked at her, she looked away, smiling.
I backed the car into the driveway and set the parking brake. I shut the car off and got out and walked around to Katie's side and opened her door for her.
Chapter 7
By Samantha Jenkins
Katie, Jen, my mom and I sat around the table Sunday night eating a pot roast that I had made in the crock pot as part of my punishment.
“Mrs. Smith,” Katie said after eating a bite of potato. My mom looked at her. “I was thinking that Morgan should get her ears pierced.” Mom looked surprised.
“Why is that, Katie?” Mom asked, sitting her fork down on the table. She was obviously interested in this, and wanted all of the details. Katie had used the time today that we were not together to do some searching and pulled some papers out of her purse.
“I think it looks odd for a girl that is Morgan’s age to not have her ears pierced. I was thinking these,” Katie said, pointing to a pair of four millimeter gold studs, or at least that’s what the piece of paper said they were. Katie had printed a page that was in color on a black and white printer. they looked like a simple black dot to me. “And besides, she should just have it done anyway.”
“Why,” Mom said looking at me.
“As part of the punishment that may not actually be a punishment.” Katie paused, ate a carrot, and continued.
“I’m thinking that there may be more to this than meets the eye. How many times has Morgan gotten caught wearing girls clothes?” Mom seemed surprised at this, and had to think about it. while Mom was thinking, Katie continued her train of thought. “Jen, remember how the boots were locked when you found Morgan when you came home from school earlier than you were supposed to?” Jen nodded, and then it was like a light turned on in her head. Jackie Smith had the same thing happen at almost the same time.
“Josh, you were trying to get caught, weren’t you?” Mom said. All of the other times I had been caught, were completely by accident, this time, however, Mom hit the nail on the head. Jen looked at me.
“You knew that Katie had the keys, and you locked the boots so that you would have no way out once you were dressed the way that you wanted to be. You had been planning this for a while and was hoping that Mom would be the first one home to catch you, but I beat her too it.” All I could do was look at the floor and nod.
“Let’s finish eating and then we will go into the living room and discuss this.” Mom said. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence
Jen and Mom cleared away the dishes while Katie and I went into the living room and sat down to wait on them.
“There is more to this, isn’t there?” Katie asked me, after I had sat down. I just looked at her.
“I don’t know.” I started, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn’t really sure how to go about this. Mom and Jen walked in the living room, carrying a pot of coffee, cups, cream and sugar. Mom was the first one to see that I was about to start crying. I looked at Mom and Jen.
“I think I’m in the wrong body...” I said before breaking down into a ball of goo on the floor. Katie was the first one to my side, hugging me. Mom knelt down and helped me up off of the floor and sat me on her lap, dragging Katie along for the ride because she wouldn’t let go. Mom just hugged me.
“Honey, why didn’t you tell some one about this? We could have helped you sooner.” Mom said, rocking me, and Katie, because she still had a grip me, gently. I sniffled and looked at Mom.
“I don’t know, I’ve always thought that you would think of me as a failure. I’ve felt that every thing has been wrong since you caught me in Jen’s dress just after Dad died. I lobbied Mrs. Cartwright to get the girls role in the play so that I could dress as a girl for three weeks strait with out any one saying any thing. I knew Katie had the keys to the locks that Jen had on her boots because Katie had told me her self and also told me that she kept them in her jewelry box so that she would always know where they were. Mom you were supposed to be the first one home, you were supposed to be the one that found me all dressed up. I’m sorry.” I said in two breaths. Mom’s response was to simply hug me. Katie had let go about halfway through my breathless story.
“I’m going to call a psychologist tomorrow, I want to get you in to get evaluated.” Mom hugged me again.
“Katie are you staying the night?” I glanced at Katie who looked at mom.
“If you think I need to. I can.” Katie said. Mom nodded. “I’m going to call home and let mom and dad know.” she said, and left the living room.
“Morgan, I’m sorry.” Jen said, giving me a hug. This caught mom and I both by surprise.
“For what?” I sniffled.
“For teasing you without end the entire time you were practicing for your role in the play. I had no idea that this was going through your head.” Jen took my left hand in both of hers. “I am so sorry.” she said, I looked into her eyes and saw that they were just about to the point of leaking because of the tears that were welling up in them. I did the only thing I could think of: I hugged my sister. Mom just smiled at us. For once we were at peace rather than at each other’s throats like most siblings are.
“Can I expect peace and quiet now?” Mom asked with a smile. Jen and I smiled at each other, and pushed away from one another as Katie came back in the room.
“Jen, I can’t believe that you just hugged me, yuck.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. Katie just stood there for a second, taking in the scene and then burst out laughing. Laughter is contagious, or so they say, so as a result every one started laughing.
“I let mom know that I’m staying over.” Katie said, her laughter subsiding. Mom nodded.
“I know you guys don’t have school tomorrow, but I am throwing out a vote for the three of you sleeping in here so that you can discuss things.” The three of us looked at each other. “Josh,” Mom said, using my male name. “you get to decide what you wear tomorrow. You two,” Mom said pointing at Jen and Katie. “Let him decide. Josh, if you want to wear a skirt or dress then do it, if you want to wear pants, do that instead. I’ll put your pants in your room before you go to bed.” Mom said standing. “Josh and Jen, you guys know where the sleeping bags are, go get them, and Katie if you would help me move the table out of the way so that when they get back we could just set the sleeping bags out.”
“So, what are you going to wear tomorrow?” Katie asked, propping her self up on her left elbow. I just looked at her and smiled.
“You’ll have to find out tomorrow.” I said to her. Jen, who was on the other side of me pouted.
“You know, Morgan,” Jen started. “We have gotten along better over the last two days than we have in the last year or so.” I rolled over and looked at her, and then smiled.
“Ya, know, you’re right.” I said to Jen. We hugged. “Lets keep it this way, regardless of what happens.” I said to her. Jen smiled at me, and then hugged me.
I woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in through the window. I heard Jen and Katie’s voices from the kitchen and sat up and looked at the clock on the wall. I shook my head after reading that it was twenty minutes until ten. I hadn’t slept in that late in I wasn’t sure how long. I stood and felt the soft satin of the nightgown that I had put on before falling asleep brush against my bare legs and went into the kitchen.
“So she awakes.” I nodded and looked at Mom, who looked like she was about ready to say something, which she was.
"You have an appointment with Dr. Franklin at two this afternoon, I laid out two outfits on your bed. I want you to eat breakfast and then go get a shower. We need to leave here around twelve thirty to get there with enough time to fill out the paperwork that we will need to fill out." I looked at mom and nodded. Jen and Katie both came up to me and gave me a hug. Katie was the first to speak.
"We are going to support you no matter what the doctor says." She said, hugging me again. "You already know what you are going to wear right now even with out seeing what ever you mom laid out for you, don't you?" Katie asked. I looked at her and smiled.
"Yes, and you're going to have to wait to find out what I choose to wear." I said, eating the scrambled eggs that mom had placed on a plate for me. I finished my eggs and put the plate in the dishwasher and started it. I went upstairs and looked at the two outfits that mom had laid out on the bed. At the head of the bed, was a pair of khaki slacks and a grey polo; at the foot of the bed was the royal blue and white plaid pleated skirt and a white button down blouse. I figured that mom had a reason for selecting the two outfits, so I decided that I wouldn't mess with either one of them and wear which ever one I put on. Like Katie had said, I already knew which one I was going to wear before I even saw them. I took off all of my clothes and grabbed the baby pink robe that hung in my closet and put it on, and headed for the bathroom to take my shower. After I took my shower, and shaved what little body hair that I had off, I went back into my room and opened the drawer that contained all of my undergarments. I pulled out a pair of white panties and a white bra and put them both on. I dug around in my sock drawer for the white knee socks that I knew were in there. After finding them, I put them on and then slipped the skirt up to my waist, buttoning and zipping the side of it. I picked up the blouse and put it on, buttoning the buttons much faster than a guy should be able to do on a woman's blouse with the buttons on the 'wrong' side. I grabbed some royal blue ribbon and went back into the bathroom and brushed my hair. When I was done, I put my hair up in a ponytail and tied the ribbon in it. I went back into my room and found my mary janes with a two inch heel and put them on. Looking at my self in the mirror in the hallway, I decided that I was presentable and I walked downstairs to greet every one else. Jen was the first to see me enter the kitchen, and she just smiled. Katie who was talking to her with her back to me, saw the smile and turned around. Katie jumped up out of the chair and bounced over to where I was to give me hug. Mom heard the sound of the chair scooting back from the table and turned around to look at me. The only thing that Mom did was smile. I sat at the table and had some coffee with Jen and Katie. Mom came over and sat down with us.
"Morgan, I knew which one you would pick, and that is why I picked out that skirt and blouse." Mom said.
"That and I wanted to see how cute it was on you." She said, smiling. Mom glanced past Jen’s head and looked at the clock, which read that it was quarter after twelve. "We should get going." Mom said, standing. Jen and Katie stood.
"Call us as soon as you are you your way home and let us know what happens." Katie said, giving me a hug.
"We'll be thinking about you." Jen said hugging me. Mom walked out to the garage where her car was parked and got in and opened up the garage door. I walked out and got in, smoothing my skirt as I sat down. I saw Katie and Jen give a smile of approval, and mom was also smiling. Mom backed out of the garage and closed the door and then we were on our way to Dr. Franklin's office.
Chapter 8
By Samantha Jenkins
Mom and I were driving down the road when I started to get nervous about seeing Dr. Franklin. Mom sensed this and patted my leg.
“Don’t worry sweetie.” Mom said. "Every thing will be alright." I smiled at her. "You have such a pretty smile, I've always thought that it looked more like your father's than my own. Are you aware that you look just like me when I was your age?" Mom asked, slowing the car to a stop at a traffic light.
"No, I didn't know that." I said, feeling my cheeks get warm because I was blushing. I turned and looked out the window.
"You blush easier than your sister." Mom said, with a giggle. "What's on your mind, other than seeing Dr. Franklin?" Mom asked. I just turned and looked at mom.
"I'm not sure." I said, turning and looking back out the window as mom got on the freeway. I had seen Dr. Franklin after dad died and had gotten to know her quite well. She had helped greatly then and I hoped that she would help now. “I guess I’m just worried about what Dr. Franklin is going to say about this. I mean, she saw me after dad died, and I seemed like a normal boy then, but I’ve not been a normal boy since well before that. Do you think that she picked up on that?” I asked, feeling a tear start to fall. “I’ve felt like I’m trapped in the wrong body since I was about ten. I’m not sure why, but I just feel that I should have been born a girl.” Mom just glanced over at me.
“I know sweetheart, I just want you to be happy, if that means that you have to become a girl to do it, then so be it. Your sister and I will support you every step of the way, and so will Katie.” Mom said. I started laughing. “What?”
“If I become a girl, you know have the surgery and every thing, will that make me a lesbian?” Mom just gave me a funny look and then started laughing her self. “Well, it’s an honest question.” I said.
“I know. it’s just the thought of my daughter, who used to be my son, being a lesbian...” Mom let the thought trail off as she turned into the parking lot of the building that housed Dr. Franklin’s office. When she stopped the car and shut it off, I realized that I hadn’t brought my purse with us.
“Mom, I forgot my purse at home.” Mom just looked at me and smiled.
“Your purse should be the one thing you don’t leave the house with out, young lady.” She said as we got out of the car. “I doubt you’ll need it for any thing right now, but make it a habit to grab it when ever you leave the house.” Mom stopped and opened up the door so that we could go into the building. I walked in and then pushed the button that would take us up on the elevator, which opened, so I stepped inside and held the door open so that mom could board the elevator. Mom pushed the button for the sixth floor and the doors closed and the elevator rose to the sixth floor. When the doors opened, we stepped out and walked up to a door that was labeled ‘Julie Franklin, PH.D” I took a deep breath and opened up the door. The receptionist glanced up as the bell on the door rang when I opened it. She smiled at me, I smiled back.
“Good afternoon,” Mom said. “I’m Jackie Smith, and my son Josh has a two pm appointment with Dr. Franklin.” The receptionist looked at me and then raised her eyebrows. She looked down at the appointment book and then looked at mom, grabbed some papers and a clipboard and handed them to mom.
“I need all of this filled out and Dr. Franklin will probably take Josh back before you get it all filled out, but that’s fine.” She said. She smiled at me. “Things have changed for you since the last time I saw you, you don’t look any thing like you did then. You may even confuse Dr. Franklin.” She said with a giggle. I blushed again and smiled at her, and then went to go sit next to mom, who had started filling out the paperwork. The door that went back to where Dr. Franklin’s office was opened and Dr. Franklin looked around the waiting room.
“Jackie, I thought this appointment was for Josh.” She said. Mom and I both smiled.
“I’m here, Julie.” I said, causing Dr. Franklin to do a double take and the receptionist to giggle again. Dr. Franklin shot her receptionist a look.
“Come on back.” Julie Franklin said, sweeping her hand toward the office and consulting areas that were behind the door. Once the door going into the waiting area was closed Julie led the way to her office.
“What do you want me to call you?” She asked as we entered her office.
“Morgan.” I said, sitting down on the couch, Dr, Franklin sat in the chair that faced the couch. As I sat I smoothed my skirt, Dr. Franklin noticed and made some notes on a notepad that was sitting on her desk.
“Ok, Morgan, what seems to be going on?” She asked. “I see how your dressed and assume that has something to do with why you are here today.” I nodded and started at the beginning.
“When I was about ten, I started feeling that I was a girl trapped in a boy’s body. I tried to ignore the feelings as much as I could but it always bothered me when I would see a girl at school wearing a cute dress, or a skirt. I wished that I was her and that I could always wear a skirt with out any one saying any thing. When I was twelve, my dad died in a car accident, which you know about; well around one month after his sudden passing, I snuck a dress of Jennifer’s out of her room and put it on.” I paused and took a drink of water. Dr. Franklin stopped writing and looked at me. “Mom caught me in the dress and ‘punished’ me by making me wear the dress the next day. What mom didn’t realize was that it wasn’t a punishment, but that I enjoyed wearing the dress that day. Around a year later we had a play at school, When no girls had auditioned for the female lead role, I persuaded Mrs. Cartwright to allow me to take the lead role and do it even though I was a boy. She allowed me to do it and as a result I got to live as a girl for the month leading up to the play, That was one of the happiest months of my life. I’ve dressed up off and on since then, usually going into Jen’s closet and wearing her stuff because we are the same size, and on Friday, I decided that it was time to get caught.” I paused and took a drink of water again. Dr. Franklin just kept writing on her notepad. “Jen has a pair of boots that have some straps on them that lock shut, well I put on a pink pleated skirt, black turtleneck, a pair of black tights, and the boots. I knew that Katie had the keys to the boots so I locked them. Mom decided that I needed to be punished for wearing Jen’s clothes, yet again, so she told me that I had to dress as a girl at least for this weekend, with today ending the period that I have to dress in skirts. Mom gave Jen some money and told her to take me shopping, which she did. While we were shopping, I tried to sneak a pair of pants in with every thing that we were buying and that added time to my punishment. I’m up to spending the next five months like this, but I don’t’ want it to end after that, I don’t want to have to go back to dressing in boring boy’s clothes. I want to be a girl.” Dr. Franklin stopped writing and looked at me.
“So this is a punishment, but it’s not because you feel that you should be dressing this way anyway, right?” She said. I nodded.
“Yes, Mom told me that I could dress how I wanted to dress today. She laid out two outfits, one was a boy’s outfit consisting of a pair of khaki slacks and a grey polo, and the other a girls outfit consisting of what I’m wearing. You can see which choice I made. Give me a choice between a skirt or dress versus a pair of pants and the skirt or dress will win hands down.” I said. Dr. Franklin looked at me.
“Ok, I don’t need you to show me, but are you wearing boys or girls undergarments?” She asked. I smiled and she scribbled something else on her notepad.
“Girls, it would feel weird to wear boys underwear with a skirt.” I said.
“Tell me about your friends.” Dr. Franklin said.
“Well, I’d have to say that my best friend is Katie Richardson,” I said. “She would be the same Katie that had the keys to the locks on the boots. I learned that she has been throwing signals my way for a while, trying to let me know that she was interested in a relationship with me. I’ve thought about it before but approaching girls for that kind of relationship has never been easy for me. but I’m not attracted to guys either.” More scribbling on the notepad, and then flipping a sheet. “It seems to me that I hang out with the girls more than I do the guys. I know that all of the girls were supportive of me taking the lead female role in the play and I know more than a few that were jealous because they thought that I looked better than them. I mainly hang out with girls at lunch, and Jen and I get along more like sisters would rather than brother and sister. When I was younger I always envisioned my self as the damsel in distress.” I took another drink of water. Dr. Franklin just scribbled some more and looked up when I hadn't said any thing for a few minutes. I had never realized how distressed that I actaully was with the situation. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Dr. Franklin handed me a tissue. I wiped the tears from my face. "I don't want to have to
go back to being a boy." I said.
"Morgan, can you go sit in consultation room two, while I look some stuff up and talk to your mom?" I nodded, thinking that Dr. Franklin knew that I was off my rocker and that she was going to have me committed. I got up and walked into the room labeled 'Consult 2,' not realizing that the room had video cameras and also contained a lot of toys. Most were for kids much younger than my self, but not all. I found a puzzle and decided that I would start putting it together. Mom and Dr. Franklin went into the room next to consult two and watched me putting the puzzle together on a video monitor. The puzzle I had selected was a ‘my little pony’ puzzle that had been in the office for quite some time.
“Jackie.” Dr. Franklin began, “My preliminary diagnoses is that Morgan has something called Gender Identity Disorder. I’m going to write notes for the school, so that she can attend as she is and use the girls rest rooms, locker rooms, etcetera. I want her to live full time as a girl for the next five months, and I want her to keep a diary, She is only allowed to wear girls clothing and I want to see her every two weeks for the foreseeable future.” Mom nodded and glanced at the monitor again.
Chapter 9
By Samantha Jenkins
Mom and Dr. Franklin both walked into the room where I was. I glanced up from my puzzle when they entered. Dr. Franklin was the first to speak.
“Morgan, My preliminary diagnoses is that you have something called ‘Gender Identity disorder.’ What this means for you is that you feel that you are a girl, trapped in a boy’s body.” Dr. Franklin paused, took a breath, and continued. “I told your mom that I want you to keep a diary, journal, something of that nature so that you can keep track of your feelings. I also told your mom that I want you to remain in girls clothing, and nothing else until I decide that you can have your boy’s clothes back. I want to see how serious you are about wanting to be a girl. I don’t think it’s a phase, but I want to make sure and making you do it day after day is going to do that. Your mom has notes for the school saying that you are allowed ot use the girls locker rooms, and the bathrooms.” I reached up to stop a tear that was rolling down my cheek. “Are you ok, Morgan?” She asked. I didn’t trust my self to speak so I simply nodded. I was having my outward appearance finally match the way my heart felt.
“Every thing is going to match finally.” I said, after soaking in all of what was happening. I stood up and hugged Mom, and then sat back down. Mom just smiled at me.
“I’m glad you’re happy, honey.” she said.
“I also want to see you every two weeks for a while so we can talk about how your transitioning is going. Your mom can set that up with Suzanne on the way out. Do you have any questions for me?” Dr. Franklin asked.
“No, Dr. Franklin. I’ll call you if I need any thing, and I’ll see you in two weeks.” Dr. Franklin walked us back out to the waiting room. Mom stopped to speak briefly with Suzanne about my next appointment, and then we walked back out to the car. After we both had sat down and put our seat belts on, I looked over at Mom.
“I don’t have a diary or journal or any thing like that.” I said, rolling down my window because the inside of the car was warm from the sun beating into it; I was just glad that mom’s car had cloth seats. “And I don’t know what I’m going to wear to school tomorrow, I have on what I was going to wear.” Mom glanced at me as she stopped at the stop light.
“We’ll stop and get you a diary, complete with the little lock... and you had thought far enough ahead to figure out what you were going to wear to school tomorrow?” Mom smiled. “Just like your sister. What was your back up choice?” she asked. I hadn’t thought about that.
“I didn’t have one.” I said as mom got on the interstate. I rolled up my window as mom reached over and turned on the AC so that the inside of the car would cool down. It was unseasonably warm and I was glad that I was just wearing a short skirt and a blouse rather than wearing an ankle length skirt and a sweater. Mom turned into a Borders that happened to be on the way home. “What are we doing here?” I asked. Mom just turned and looked at me.
“Getting you a diary, and I want to pick up John Grisham’s latest novel.” Mom said, pulling the car into a parking spot. we got out and walked in, and as we did, I had to learn something new: how to hold a short skirt down when the wind blew. Mom saw me trying and giggled. I was glad when we got into the vestibule and I no longer had to contend with the wind. after we got inside, I headed toward where I thought the diaries were. I ended up wandering around the store for a little bit. I had found my way into the general fiction section when I had an employee walk up to me.
“Do you need any help, Miss?” the employee whose name tag read Elizabeth asked me.
“Actually I do.” I said to her. “I’m looking for diaries, journals, that sort of thing.” I smiled, aware hat I was blushing slightly. Elizabeth smiled.
“There over here.” She said, turning and walking toward where I had started my browsing. When we got over to one aslie over from where I had started I saw a whole shelf full of journals and diaries. “Can I help you with any thing else?” she asked, with a smile.
“I think that’ll do it for right now, thanks.” I said to her. She nodded and walked away, smiling. I looked at the vast selection of bound volumes filled with blank pages trying to decide which one would hold the chronicles of my journey from boyhood to girlhood. I looked at a journal that locked that had a pink cover. I picked it up and opened it, inside were pastel pink pages that were lined in purple ink. I grabbed two of them and went off to find mom. After I had found mom I showed her the two journals that I had selected.
“Ok,” She said, placing them into the basket. “Why two of them, though?”
“I just have this odd feeling that I am going to fill one of them up pretty quickly, this way we don’t have to come back in two weeks to get another one.” Mom knew that my math on filling one of the volumes that would start chronicling my life would surely not fill up in two weeks, but it would be more like a month before I filled it up.
“Ok.” she said with a shrug, wrapping an arm around me as we walked toward the checkouts. After we had bought her books and my journals, she made an unexpected stop at the local mall.
“Umm Mom, what are we doing at the mall?” I asked. She looked at me and smiled, and then pulled up to the doors where Jen and Katie were standing.
“Hop out and go meet your sister and Kaite, but wait for me before you guys go anywhere.” I nodded and got out of the car and got attacked by Katie.
“What did the doctor say?” She asked. Jen looked interested as well.
“Lets wait for mom to get over here, I have no clue what she has up her sleeve.” I said.
“We don’t know. She called while you guys were still at Dr. Franklin’s office and told us to meet you guys here.” Katie said, crossing her arms over her chest. She had on a simple red and black plaid pleated skirt and a red long sleeved blouse. Jennifer was wearing the same pink pleated skirt and black turtleneck that I had put on when she caught me wearing it on. Both Katie and Jen had on what looked to be black patent leather mary janes. Mom walked up behind me.
“I see you girls dressed as I asked you to.” Mom said. Jen and Katie nodded. “Did one of you grab Morgan’s purse?” Katie nodded and pulled my purse off of her left arm and handed it to me. I smiled at her. “We are going to go to a store that I am choosing, and you three will tag along, and then we will go eat.” Mom walked into the mall and the three of us followed. Mom went into the mall, up the escalator, and walked into Claire’s. I glanced at Katie. Katie had this grin on her face like she knew what we were doing from the start but I don’t think that she really did, but that she just had an idea of what was going to happen.
“Welcome to Claire’s” the employee, whose name tag read Arika. “What can I do for you ladies?”
“Well, I’d like to get my daughters ears pierced." Mom said.
Chapter 10
By Samantha Jenkins
I looked at Mom, not believing what was happening. it was less than twenty four hours ago that the issue had been brought up for the first time.
“Which one is your daughter?” Arika asked, walking toward us. Mom looked at the three of us.
“The one in the blue and white plaid skirt.” Mom said.
Arika smiled at me and patted the chair where I would be sitting when I would get tortured by two little sharp pointy objects. Arika opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic container that had each of what the piercing ear rings looked like and handed it to mom who was standing next to me.
“Ok,” Arika looked at me. “What is your name, sweetie?” She asked me, after I had sat in the chair.
“My name is Morgan.” I said, taking a seat in the chair. I watched as Mom handed the container that had all of the ear rings to Katie. I watched as Mom and Katie looked over their choices.
“How many holes?” Katie asked mom. Mom glanced at me and smiled.
“How many do you think Katie?” Mom asked. Katie looked at me with a grin that told me that I was in trouble.
“I think,” Katie said, pausing and drawing out her answer. “Two in each ear.”
“Ok, since Katie is picking out the studs that are going to go in your ears, I’m going to start with some basic care instructions, you will want to clean your ears at least three times a day with the antiseptic that we will give you for the first 6 weeks. You will need to keep the piercing studs in for the first six weeks, and after that you have to keep some form of stud in for a total of six months after that. You shouldn’t wear dangly ear rings or hoops until after that six month period. Now I’m going to mark your ears so that you can see where your new ear rings will be.” Arika said, picking up a purple felt tipped pen. Katie looked over at us.
“I picked out the ones that I think would look nice.” Katie spun the plastic thing that held a single of each earring stuck through cardboard. “In one hole, the ruby birthstone studs, because ruby is Morgan’s birth stone, and in the other this one.” Katie pointed to the white gold crystal rose daisy studs that were mounted in the in the case. I just looked at Katie, who smiled. She had picked the second one mainly because it was girly.
“Ok,” Arika said pulling them out of a drawer that she unlocked with a key hanging off of her wrist.
I just kind of sat there as she prepared to pierce my ears. I watched, everything happening in slow motion and she called another employee over and they both picked up piercing guns, held one on each side of my head and counted to three. I felt a small pinch, and just like that, I had a set of newly pierced ears. I sat there and watched as Arika and her coworker reloaded the guns with the daisy studs. Once Arika and her partner in torture were back in place they started counting again. I felt the same pinching sensation and then I was handed a mirror so I could see my ears. I liked the way my new earrings looked in my ears.
Mom, Katie and Jen had all browsed the store while I was getting sharp pointy things stuck in my ears. They had selected a bunch of jewelry that I could wear after my holes had healed enough to switch out the earrings, plus some necklaces. I watched as mom paid close to $100 for every thing that had been bought, plus the piercings. I was handed the bright pink bag that said “Just got My ears Pierced!” and we walked out of the store.
Katie and Jen headed for the JC Penny store that was close to Claires. Mom and I followed, with me resisting the urge to reach up and play with my new earrings, because I didn’t want to get them infected. Jen and Katie just went into the juniors section and started looking at dresses. Mom had steered me toward the intimates department. Apparently she didn’t think I had enough in the way of bras and panties, which I probably didn’t. Mom started grabbing some plain white cotton panties when I saw the pretty colored satin panties and walked over to them. I picked up several pair in my size in various colors. Mom just looked at me and smiled.
“I like that choice,” She said. Jennifer was about sixteen when she started to wear satin panties. I remembered that because I remember taking a pair of baby pink satin panties and keeping ahold of them for quite a while before they got lost somewhere. I took my selections back over to the juniors department where Katie was pretty much hiding behind a stack of dresses in her arms.
“We found some dresses for you.” was all that she said, I still was able to hear the smile in her voice. All of the dresses that she was holding were pastel colors, my favorite being the pastel pink, blue, yellow, and green striped one that was on the top of the stack. Mom liked each one of the dresses and had me try on every one, electing to buy all of them, plus the intimates that we had selected. We walked out to the car and dropped the bags in mom’s trunk, and then went back into the mall for a late lunch.
Chapter 11
By Samantha Jenkins
Mom pulled into the garage, with Jennifer pulling up right behind her in the driveway. Mom shut off the car and popped the trunk so that I could take my spoils to my room and hang them up. After I hung the dresses up and put my new panties and bras in the top drawer of my dresser. I looked around my room, well the room that was mine now. My old room was off limits until, well who knows when. I went back downstairs to where Jen and Katie were working in the kitchen making something for dinner.
“What are you guys making?’ I asked. looking into the casserole dish that was laying on the counter, empty. on the stove there was a pan of noodles that was boiling, and on the counter there was two cans of condensed cheddar cheese soup that were unopened as well as two cans of tuna. Looking at all of the ingredients and ignoring the cook book, I decided that they were making a batch of Tuna Noodle Casserole. I had helped mom make it before so I opened the cans of tuna and drained them, and then opened up the two cans of cheddar soup. Jen took the noodles and dumped them into the strainer that was in the sink, and fogged up the window in the process.
“Tuna Noodle Casserole.” Jen replied rinsing off the noodles. “But I think you have already figured that out.”
I smiled at her. Katie was busy opening up a can of corn and some green beans. and putting those into sauce pans so that we could get them warmed up so they would be ready when the casserole came out of the oven. I started mixing the flour and butter and cheddar cheese soup together and then added the tuna as Jen poured the noodles into the bowl that I had mixed the rest of the ingredients in. after every thing was mixed really well, we dumped it into the casserole dish and put it in the oven and then cleaned up the dishes that we had made a mess of while we were mixing every thing.
Katie set the table as we waited for the food to finish cooking.
Mom came in the back door. She must have gone out while I was putting all of my new clothes up. She was carrying what looked to be a cake. I couldn’t’ figure out why Mom would have a cake. She put the cake in the freezer and looked at the three of us.
“The cake is for after dinner, no one is allowed to look at it until then.” Mom said, closing the freezer. Jen, Katie and I looked at each other and shrugged. Katie started to get dishes out to set the table, and I grabbed the silverware, the three of us working in silence. Normally, silence would have made mom wonder, but the three of us were busy getting dinner ready so that Mom didn't have to cook dinner. I took the pot of coffee out to mom and poured her a cup of coffee. Mom looked up at me smiled, and then patted the cushion next to her. I sat down, smoothing my skirt as I did, Mom looked at me and smiled again. “So,” She started. “What are you going to wear tomorrow?” She asked.
“I’m not sure, I was thinking about asking Katie and Jen their ideas, or just finding something and putting it on after I take a shower in the morning.” Mom just smiled again, and that was kind of making me worry.
“Morgan, can I lay out two outfits for you to wear tomorrow, and then you pick one out to wear?” I looked at Mom, I trusted her judgment.
“If I don’t want to wear what you lay out can I pick out my own clothes?” Mom nodded at me.
“I trust your judgment, but I reserve the right to review your outfit before you leave the house.” She said with a smile.
“Yes, Mommy.” I said. We heard a ding come from the kitchen.
“Dinner is done.” I heard Jen shout from the kitchen. I stood up and offered Mom my hand to help her stand up. Mom took my hand and stood and we walked into the kitchen together. When we walked in, Jen was scooping out casserole onto the plates that Katie had sat on the table before I went into give Mom some coffee.
“Mom, Morgan, have a seat, we are serving dinner.” Mom and I glanced at each other and then sat at the table. Katie and Jen served the food and then sat at the table. We started to eat in silence, when Jennifer looked at me and smiled.
“So what are you going to wear to school tomorrow?” Jen asked, causing Katie to stop eating for a few minutes, mainly because she wanted to hear my answer. Mom looked at both of the girls from her place at the head of the table.
“I am laying out two outfits for Morgan to wear tomorrow, she will, more than likely, wear on of them.” Mom said, Jen and Katie looked at me and then at mom, and then at me. I nodded.
“It takes the pressure off me to find something to wear.” I said with a shrug. Katie looked at me and smiled.
“I think that mom wants to dress her daughter up for her first day of school.” Katie said. “Kind of like how even when I was in the 8th grade, my mom always got out my clothes for both the first day and picture day. It was kind of nice, actually not having to worry about picking out clothes” Mom smiled.
“Katie, are you staying tonight?” Mom asked, retaining her smile. Jen saw mom’s smile and frowned.
“What are you thinking, Mom?” Jen said, having a feeling where this was heading.
“Yes, I’m staying tonight, unless you want me to leave.” Katie said. Mom wouldn’t kick her out and had told her, more than once, that our house was her house.
“I’m thinking that I’m going to pick out all three of your guys’ clothes for tomorrow, and I don’t want any complaints. Morgan,” Mom said, I watched Jen roll her eyes, and then turned my attention to Mom.
“Yes,” I said, wondering why I was being singled out.
“I want you to pick what the three of you do with your hair tomorrow, and I’ll drive you and Jen to school, as you and I need to meet with the principal.” Mom smiled again. “Oh, I forgot your diaries out in the car, you can get them while Jen and Katie clean up the kitchen.” Mom said.
The rest of our meal was eaten in silence until I got up to go out to the car to get my diaries... When I came back into the house, I was glad that we were home for the night because it was rather cold outside. Katie and Jen, who had cleaned as they cooked, had already cleared the table, and were carrying a pot of coffee toward the living room. I followed and mom smiled when she saw me walk in behind the other two with my diaries in the bag. I sat down next to mom, and Katie and Jen sat in the two chairs that sat opposite of the couch.
“Mom, why are you picking out our clothes for tomorrow?” Jen asked. Mom sat back with a little grin on her face.
“You and Morgan have never been told this, and now seems like a good time to do it, so I’m going to tell you the story of what happened the night that Jennifer was born.” Jen and I traded looks. I watched as Katie poured coffee, and then sat back.
“We’ve never been told, what, mom?” Jen said. Mom took a cup of coffee off of the table and handed it to me.
“Thanks, mom” I said to her, sipping the coffee. She picked up another cup of coffee.
“You’re welcome Morgan, and Jen, you and your sister have never been told that you had a sister, and that Jen, you were actually a twin.” Jen’s mouth dropped, as did mine and Katie's. “There were complications, you came out head down, just like Morgan, but your sister came out with the umbilical wrapped around her neck, and she was very small. They later determined that she had spun around and gotten the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck some time between the check up in the 32nd week and the time you were born at the end of the 35th week. She had somehow kinked the umbilical when she wrapped it around her neck cutting off the blood and nutrient flow for long enough for her to be still born.” Mom wiped a tear from her cheek. “They were concerned for you for a while until you started to develop normally. We were going to name her Morgan, but when they asked for a name, we decided to name her Stephanie Marie. That is why when you were born, Morgan, we had the names Joshua Paul and Morgan Elizabeth.” we all reached up to wipe a tear from our cheeks. “The reason why I’m picking out what you girls wear tomorrow is because it’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do for my daughters, but have never been able to because I was blessed with a son and daughter, but now,” She took a breath, “I have my two daughters, so get used to it.” Mom looked at the clock that hung on the wall. “You girls need to figure out sleeping arrangements.”
Jen, Katie, and I looked at each other and then got up and started to move the furniture around to accommodate the air mattresses and the rest of the camping gear that we had set up the night before in the same room.
Chapter 12
By Samantha Jenkins
I woke up to being gently shaken by Katie. She was already dressed, her wet hair hanging in a high ponytail.
“Wake up Morgan, you need to go get a shower. Jennifer will be out in a second. Your mom picked out some clothes for you to wear, they are on your bed.” I smiled up at her from my place on the air mattress. Katie offered her hand.
“Ok,” I said reaching up to take her had to help me get up. “What time is it?” I asked, our living room being the only room in the house with out a clock.
“It’s about ten minutes after six.” She said. Mom had picked out a simple red and black plaid pleated skirt and red turtleneck for Katie to wear. I stood up, my baby blue satin night gown falling back down to my ankles where it belonged. Katie smiled at me. “My mom would always yell at me when I was little and I’d get out of bed, and my night gown would be up around my waist...” Katie let the thought trail off. I shook my head to let my hair shake out. I followed Katie up the steps toward the bathroom. When we got there Jennifer was coming out of the bathroom wearing a pink robe.
“Morning, Morgan” Jen said.
“Morning Jen,” I said in passing. I stopped and looked at her. She had done the same thing.
“You guys have never done that before.” Mom said, suddenly appearing in her door way. Jennifer and I smiled at each other. I shrugged and went into the bathroom, where my lilac colored robe was already hanging on the robe hook. I took off my nightgown and hopped into the shower. After I took my shower I walked into my room, and saw an ankle length black skirt and a baby pink light turtleneck sweater. I heard foot steps and turned to see Katie standing there. She saw what was laying on the bed.
“I don’t remember us buying that.” She said. Sitting on the floor was a pair of black patent Mary Janes. “Or those.” She pointed at the shoes.
“That’s because you didn’t even know that they were in the house.” Mom said, startling us both and causing us to turn and look at her.
“Hi Mom.” I said, as Katie rummaged around in my dresser and pulled out a pair of
pink satin panties, a matching bra and a pair of black tights. I looked at Katie.
“Satin?” I said, picking up the panties and looking at them. They were a very low cut bikini, and I looked at both mom and Katie who seems to not be leaving and I slipped them on under my robe, once I pulled them up around my waist.
“Yes, Satin.” I must have smiled once I had gotten the panties pulled up around my waist
“See, I told you it was a good choice” Jen said appearing in the doorway.
“Will you guys go so I can get dressed?” I asked, They all nodded and left, but as mom left she looked at me.
“Come get me when you are ready for your hair to be done.” After my door had been shut, I dropped my robe on the floor, I picked up the bra and put it on, and then sat on the bed, and put the tights on. I stood up and looked at my self in the mirror. I looked like most any other girl my age, I turned back to the bed and picked up the skirt and slid it up to my waist. and then picked up the sweater that was still laying on my bed. I slipped it over my head and felt the softness against my stomach. I was slipping my feet in the Mary Janes when there was a knock on the door. I turned around and opened it, and then sat in the chair in front of the vanity, contemplating what to do with my hair. I looked in the mirror and saw Katie pick a brush up off of the dresser and start to walk toward me. Katie had a smile on her face and I saw the red ribbon that was tied at the top of her ponytail and a pair of similar length baby pink ribbons in her left hand. She grinned.
“Your sister is doing pigtails, and I’m going to change mine here in a few minutes.” Katie said, starting to brush my hair. If you’ve never had some one brush your hair, you really should try it some time. Katie brushed out my hair, and put it up in a pair of matching pony tails. I’m not sure from where, but Katie pulled two pink ribbons out and put them in my hair. Jen walked in the room wearing a baby blue turtleneck sweater and similar black ankle length skirt. She even had the matching Mary Janes on her feet.
“Are you girls almost ready?” Mom called up from down stairs. The three of us looked at each other, our pigtails bouncing.
“Yes”
“Lets get in the car. I need to meet with Mrs. Paskly before Morgan can just go into classes.
I held on to Katie’s hand for dear life all the way to the school. I had never been this nervous when I was going to school before and that included the time that I went dressed because of the play. Then I had a reason to be dressed like that. This time, I was being punished, a unique punishment, but a punishment none the less. As soon as I had walked out the door into the garage, the fact that outside the garage was twenty degrees, hit me and I got goose bumps from my toes to the hairs on my head. I was not really looking forward to today, but at the same time, yes I was. This was a play, and the whole world was my stage. I wondered how long it would take some of the people at school to realize that Morgan was really Josh, and I did, to an extent, worry about my safety. I knew that Katie and Jennifer would have my back and that they wouldn’t let me go anywhere alone. Mom was backing her car into a parking spot in front of the school when Katie squeezed my hand.
“Alright girls, we’re here. Lets go inside so I can talk to Mrs. Paskly.” Katie and Jen both opened their doors and I just sat there, watching as the busses pulled up. Katie opened my door for me and offered her hand to help me out of the back seat of the car. She had a smile on her face as she leaned close to me and whispered in my ear
“The world is your stage, have a little fun with this. You may never get this opportunity again.” I let her help me out of the car, looked at her, and then smiled.
The four of us walked into the main office. I felt like every one in the school was staring at me and knew exactly who I was. Mom walked up to Mrs. Paskly’s door and knocked. The door opened and Mrs. Paskly looked at mom, and then the three teenaged girls behind her.
“Good morning, Mrs. Smith, what can I do for you?
“Have you talked to the superintendent within the last, week or so?” Mom asked following Mrs Paskly into her office. The three of us followed mom into the office. Mrs. Paskly looked at us girls.
“Hello Jennifer, and Katie” Mrs. Paskly said, and then looked at me. “You look familiar, though I’m not sure why.”
“That would be because that is my son. The young lady’s name would be Morgan.” Mrs. Paskly had not been in the school when the verdict on the Johnson case had been handed down.
“Why is your son dressed like a girl?”
“Because his therapist thinks that it's best that he does so. Are you familiar with the case of Johnson versus the Takoma county school board?” Mom said.
“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve not read it, nor have I had any experience with what it states.” Mrs. Paskly said. Mom dug around in her bag, which I saw contained her laptop as well as several folders that were color coded. I watched as she pulled out a blue folder. She handed it across the desk to Mrs. Paskly who opened it and looked at it.
“That would be the ruling on Johnson versus the CSB, supporting the Johnson family, as well as the doctors.” Mom paused and pulled out a yellow folder and sat it in her lap. “This case, went all the way to the state Supreme Court on appeals. The lower courts ruled in favor of the school board, despite testimony from medical professionals, stating that thirteen year old Alex Johnson actually would attempt suicide if he had to continue living as a boy. All of this started some time before the day that Alex attended school dressed as his female counterpart Alexis. Alexis graduated last year and is going on to college to study psychology. That brings you up to speed on the case and now I get to the things that the school board has changed since the ruling came down.” Mrs. Paskly looked up from reading the file in front of her.
“You’ve done a lot of research on this, I can see...” Mrs. Paskly said, letting her thought trail off.
“Yes, I have. I’ve been doing research since Friday.” Mom said. “And a lot of reading.” Mom pulled out the pink folder. I had an idea what was in this folder. I had seen Mom drop it in her bag when we left Dr. Franklin’s office. “My son, Josh, is no longer to be addressed as such.” Mrs. Paskly looked at me, and then back to mom. “Morgan has come to stay for as long as she does. Her records are to be switched to indicate her new name and gender.” Mom pulled a sheet of paper out of the pink folder, and handed it to Mrs. Paskly. “That is a note from her psychologist, stating that Morgan is to attend school as a girl, and that she is allowed to use the girls locker rooms, use the girls restrooms, and in general, be treated as a girl. Her sister and Katie will watch out for her welfare, One part of the changes that the school board made was to say that if someone threatens a student, especially one whose doctor has decided that they should start the process of Real Life Transition or for some other reason the doctor has decided that they should live as the other gender, is an automatic suspension.” Mom paused. “I know that Morgan already shares almost every class with Katie. Her Doctor has also requested that she either have classes with her sister or Katie, every class so we will have to figure out how to accommodate that. If you have any questions, my information is on the emergency contact cards, Morgan is also going to have her cell phone in her purse at all times, as is Jennifer.”
“Cell phones are not allowed in school.” Mrs. Paskly said.
“Mrs. Paskly,” I began. “Are you aware that every student in the school that has a cell phone already carries it on them. They have ever since what happened at Columbine. I have been carrying mine for months with out anyone knowing it. The difference is knowing when to divulge that you have it.” Mrs. Paskly turned her attention to me.
“Miss Smith, are you admitting to me an offense that could get you suspended?” She asked, Mom looked at me, and I met Mrs. Paskly’s gaze. Mom had always taught us to tell the truth regardless of the possible consequences.
“Yes, I am, but if you suspend me for it, then you had better suspend the rest of the school as well.” I said back. That would end up looking bad on her and she knew it.
“I can’t do that, but I had better not see your phone young lady.” She said. “I’m not too fond of having a boy dressed as a girl running around my school, but it appears that I can do nothing about it.” She looked at mom. “I can’t believe that you are allowing this to occur.” Mom looked like she was about to blow a gasket.
“I’m doing the best that I can for my children. Morgan’s doctor said that this is best for her. I’m going by what a person who is trained in psychology has said is best for my child.” Mom shot back. “You have no right to say that I’m not a good parent, just as you can’t say that Morgan can’t attend school as herself. you have people that you have to answer to that have laid out rules in this instance. Right now, I want the girls to get to class so they can learn something, better than what they are learning here. I think we are still in first period.” Jennifer, Katie and my self had all picked up our bags and were turning to walk out the door when Mrs. Paskly stopped us.
“Girls, Morgan is not attending classes like that.” She said. “She is going to get laughed at, beat up, called a sissy and a faggot, and probably will end up getting suspended for causing a disturbance to learning.” Katie looked pissed.
“Joyce” Katie began. I had no clue that Katie knew Mrs. Paskly’s first name. Mrs. Paskly looked shocked at being addressed by her first name while in the school. “This is where you are wrong. Well before you came to this school, Morgan took the lead role in a play. That role was that of a female. Yeah, she got called a sissy and a faggot, but every one got used to it, and the name calling, which is not befitting of a high schooler in the first place stopped after she didn’t let it get to her. She got laughed at, until every one saw her perform in the play. Those that didn’t know that she wasn’t a girl had no clue until they were told later. This school as a whole actually embraces the fact that each one of us are different. Morgan was born into the wrong body. Who cares, Morgan is Morgan or Josh depending on how she’s dressed. You just watch her, I’m sure that she is going to prove you wrong, and that none of what you just said is going to make a difference.” Mrs. Paskly looked angry.
“Katie, I’m suspending you for disobedience.” Mrs. Paskly said.
“No, you’re not.” Mom said. “And if you do you had better suspend the three of them because these three girls will stand up for one another, they have always been that way and then you had better start looking for a new job. Are you planning on suspending her because she used your first name, Joyce? Are you shocked that a student has the nerve to address you by first name? Are you shocked that a student has the nerve to stand up for what is right?” Mom stood, she was getting heated, and I could tell. Mom didn’t give Mrs. Paskly a chance to answer. “Morgan, call Dr. Franklin and have her come over here to the school. She is expecting your call.” Mrs. Paskly looked pissed now.
“Morgan, you do that and I’m suspending you as well.” She said. “You know that phones aren’t allowed in the school.” I looked at her and pulled my phone out of my purse.
“If I need to call Dr. Franklin for something, I will do so regardless of where I am. I have a hell of a support system in place, Joyce, and you’re not going to stop it. Suspend me if you want, but I’m telling you now that it will get overturned.” Mrs. Paskly looked mad. I hit the speed dial for Dr. Franklin’s cell phone, and put the phone up to my ear. I stepped out of the office so that I could talk to Dr. Franklin.
“I guess I just won’t come to school then.” Jennifer said as the door shut behind me. I looked up to see Kaite’s mom walking in the office.
“Josh, where is Katie, and why are you dressed like that?” Katie’s Mom, Susan, asked.
“Long story, you’ll find out soon enough I’m sure. Katie is in Mrs. Paskly’s office, with my mom and Jennifer.” I said to her.
“Your mom said that she might need my assistance this morning, Who are you calling?” Susan asked
“Dr. Franklin. Mom wants her to come here.”
“Ok, I’m going in come back in when you are done.”
“Yes, Ma’am” I said as Katie’s mom disappeared into Mrs. Paskly’s office and Dr. Franklin picked up her phone.
“Yes, Morgan, what can I do for ya?” Dr. Franklin asked.
“Mom asked that you come to the school. She is having some...” I paused looking for the words that I wanted. “Issues, with Mrs. Joyce Paskly”
“Isn’t she the principal there?” Dr. Franklin asked. “I was expecting some issues...”
“Yes, Ma’am, she is.”
“I’ll be right there.” Dr. Franklin said. “10 minutes.”
“Thank you, Ma’am” I said
Chapter 14
by Samantha Jenkins
I turned to open the door as Dr. Franklin walked into the office, followed by someone I didn’t recognize.
“Hello Morgan,” The stranger said. “I’m Doctor Phillips, I’m going to help you out, as well as consult on some stuff.” Dr. Phillips offered his hand, which I shook. He looked like he was making notes in his head. I turned and opened the dark oak door that led to Mrs. Paskly’s office. Mrs. Paskly had not moved from where she was sitting at her desk. On top of the folder were two out of school suspension forms that had yet to be filled in. I had a feeling those were for Katie and I.
“Mrs. Paskly,” Susan was saying “You have no reason for the suspensions, and you also are subjecting the school district to another law suit.” Susan was leaning on the front of Mrs. Paskly’s desk. “I would encourage you to just drop this.”
“As would I,” Dr. Franklin said. “You are going to cause Morgan psychological trauma if she has to continue attending school as Josh, and at the moment, I would encourage the girls to get to class.” Mrs. Paskly scowled at Dr. Franklin.
“I don’t want Morgan to go anywhere in my school dressed like that.” Mrs. Paskly stood, her chair sliding toward the windows behind her desk. “And I’m going to suspend her for causing a disturbance.” I looked around the office.
“For starters,” Susan began, “You have to prove that she is causing a disturbance, and I haven’t seen one yet. I also doubt that she would get called any names, or cause a disturbance. The only person that is disturbed by this is you. You have her psychologist stating that it would cause trauma for her to continue to attend school as a boy. How would you feel if she committed suicide because of your actions?” Mrs. Paskly picked up the stack of paper on her desk, stood and then slammed it down on the floor.
“That wouldn’t be my problem! That would be Jackie’s problem because she let some half rate doctor tell her that her son should be a girl!” Mrs. Paskly just about shouted, I was sure that the people in the classroom above us could hear the whole thing. “I don’t wan-” Susan cut her off mid sentence.
“First of all, it would become your problem very fast, mainly because I’m acting legal counsel for Jackie, Second of all Dr. Franklin is not some half rate doctor that got her Ph.D. out of a box of Frosted Flakes; she is one of the top minds in her field, which happens to be transgender issues, and furthermore, you are about to have a suit filed against you as we speak. You think you know what you are doing, but Joyce, you are out of your league on this one. It doesn’t matter what you want or don’t want in this school. You answer to the tax payers, My daughter has already told you what would happen when Morgan walked out and into the school population dressed as she is right now. She is no different than any other girl in this school.” Susan paused to catch her breath.
“You’re not an attorney, and I control what happens in this building. If I say that Morgan can’t attend, Then she doesn’t come to school, and then she fail-”
“US Supreme court number 387498, Look me up. I’ve been doing what I do for longer than you have, and I’m better at it. I will win, I’ll make Morgan win. I’ll make my daughter win. This is a fight that you don’t want to even start, but you have chosen to.” Susan paused for breath as there was a knock on the door. I watched as Dr. Phillips reached over to open it. It was Mrs. Johnson, one of the administrative assistants.
“Every thing alright, Joyce?” She asked, seeing the 8 of us in the tiny ten foot by ten foot office.
“Yes, but would you get the SRO for me, please?” Joyce said, crouching to pick up the stack of stuff she threw on the floor. Jennifer and I looked at each other, we both knew Officer Mullin very well since dad had worked with him. He was always watching out for Jennifer and I. “Also get me whoever Joshua Smith’s Guidance counselor is and have them come to my office.”
“Will do.” Mrs. Johnson said, and turned, letting the door close behind her. Mrs. Paskly didn’t know that we knew Officer Mullin, nor that he knew us as well as he did.
“May I ask, why you are calling the School Resource Officer into this?” Dr. Franklin asked. She also knew that Officer Mullin was kind of like a father to Jennifer and I.
“Because I’m going to have the two girls and the boy arrested for truancy. They should be in class.” Katie, Jen and I looked at each other. Mom and Susan let out exasperated sighs.
“But you won’t let them go because of the way Morgan is dressed, or so you claim.” Dr. Franklin said, “So therefore you are going to have your self placed under arrest for causing the truancy, or how is this going to work?” Joyce Paskly turned red and looked like she was about to blow a gasket. There was a knock on the door, and Dr. Phillips opened it and let Officer Mullin in.
“I was summoned?” He said, glancing at mom, and then Katie and Jen. His eyes finally stopping on me, and giving me a once over. “You look familiar, young lady”
“That would be because that is Joshua Smith hiding under those clothes. I would like the three juveniles arrested for truancy, and causing a disturbance.” Mrs. Paskly said. Officer Mullin looked from her to me, back at her, then at mom, and then back at me.
“I’m assuming that this young lady is not going by Josh.” Officer Mullin said. “What is your name, sweetheart” This was not uncommon for him to refer to Jennifer this way, so it didn’t phase me when when he did the same to me.
“Morgan, Sir.” I gave a slight smile, and then looked at the worn maroon carpet on the floor.
“Morgan, Jennifer, and Katie.” Officer Mullin said. “I want the three of you to go to my office and wait for me, I’m going to give you passes to get to class.” The three of us nodded and left the room. “Joyce, they are not truant if they are in the school. I watched them walk in, I knew they were here before you did. I suggest you guys work out what ever it is that you have going on, I can tell that it affects all three of these children that I do care very much about. I’ll be back after I escort the kids to class.”
“I don’t want Morgan attending classes dressed like she is!” Joyce shouted. “If you take her to class, I will have your job, Officer.”
“Somehow I doubt that, Joyce.” Officer Mullin shot back. “I don’t know what is in your coffee but the Johnson ruling states clearly that you don’t have a choice. You have to let this happen. I would imagine that your actions so far have probably already cost you your job.” Joyce stood there, open mouthed as Officer David Mullin turned and left the office.
Jennifer, Katie and my self all walked up to the office that belonged to Officer Mullin. I had Katie on my right and Jennifer on my left, and the had stayed that way since we had left the main office.
“What was Paskly’s problem?” I asked, not expecting a response as we sat on the bench outside of the office. The bell rang signaling that it was time to switch to second period. So far Katie and I had missed U.S. History, and Jennifer had missed her creative writing class.
“I have no idea.” Katie said, leaning back against the brick wall that was behind the bench. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Mom wasn’t working on some briefs to file when she got back to the office in her head. She didn’t seem to give a hoot that the Johnson ruling can’t stop her.”
#
“My first call when I get back to my office is going to be the superintendent, Joyce. You might as well start packing your desk up as soon as we leave.” Susan was saying. “You can’t stop this. I don’t understand why you are even trying. You have read the Johnson ruling, you’ve read the changes the school board has made, you’ve heard from Morgan’s Doctor, so I’m not sure where you are falling short on this.”
“I don’t want those two girls and that boy,” Mrs. Paskly practically spat, “In my school, and I want the rest of you out of the school too, or I’ll have you arrested for trespassing. I want you off of school grounds in 20 minutes or else.”
“Jackie, Lets get the girls and head to the district office.” Susan said. Jackie realized that this was legal advice as much as it was a friend helping a friend and stood. She collected her files and put them back in her bag, turned on her heel and walked out the door with out so much as a word to anyone. Dr. Franklin followed her out of the room.
“Jackie, I want Morgan to ride with me on the way over to the District office. I want to make sure that she is doing ok.”
“That’s fine. I just want her to be happy, and this is not going to make her happy.” Jackie said, walking out of the carpeted offices and on to the tile floor of the hall way.
#
I glanced down the hall to see my mother scowling coming down the hall way followed by Doctors Franklin and Phillips. Susan had just walked out of the office and was hurrying to catch up. I nudged Katie.
“What’s going on?” I asked her. She looked down the hall and shrugged.
“Not sure, but neither one of our mothers look very happy.” Katie said.
“That’s because we aren’t.” My mom said, staring out the door to her right at the bright sunny day. “We are going to the district office, Morgan, you are going to ride with Dr. Franklin, at her request. Katie and Jen, come with me.” The three of us stood and walked out.
“Are all three of us going with you to the district office, or just Morgan?” Jen asked. I guessed that she didn’t want to let me out of her sight if she could help it. Dr. Phillips held the door open as Dr.Officer Mullin walked toward us.
“She just called the radio room about you guys, and is going to try to get the folks at the district office to not hear your case. I have a strong suspicion that it’s not going to work.” Officer Mullin said.
“Well then we’d better hurry then, Jackie, I’m going to swing by my office and grab some stuff that I think we are going to need. Call ahead. Request the superintendent and the Board.” Dr. Franklin took my arm and started walking toward the door that Dr. Phillips was holding open. I glanced at Dr. Franklin as we walked. We were pretty much step in step We didn’t say a word as we walked toward a black Lexus that was sitting by it self. The lights on the car all blinked twice in the sunlight as Dr. Franklin opened up the passenger door for me. I sat down on the leather seat and smoothed my skirt out. Dr. Franklin got in the car and started the engine. She reached up and pushed the button to turn on the heated seats. I had never ridden in a car that had heated seats before.
“How are you holding up, Morgan.” Dr. Franklin asked, putting the car in gear and driving toward the main street to head to the district office.
“I’m a little pissed about Mrs. Paskly.” I said reaching over and grabbing my seat belt. After I had buckled my belt I looked over at Dr. Franklin. “Doctor, why do people have to be that way?” I asked, reaching up to wipe a tear away. Dr. Franklin reached over and patted my leg.
“I don’t know, but we are going to get this sorted out and you will be able to attend school as Morgan.” She said, turning left on Birch Street. I looked in the mirror and saw mom’s car behind us. “When I said that I thought that it would do you more harm to return to being Josh, I meant it, you would have eventually taken the only way out. I’ve seen it too many times in my career.”
“Do you really think that?” I asked, watching mom pass us. Mom was also pissed, and I could tell by the way she was driving. Mom stopped at a red light and rolled down her window.
“Morgan, we will fix this.” She said to me. I looked at her and smiled. I was happy overall, just the bull shit with Mrs. Paskly not doing what she was required by law to do, was troubling me. Maybe it was seeing me in a skirt, she had always known me as Josh. I did work in the office during my study halls, and would run and do little errands around the school for her. She didn’t seem to to even want me in her office.
“I don’t get this.” I said watching mom drive down the road in front of us. “I’m one of the best office aides that she has. She didn’t seem to even know me, she’s always been nice to me before.” I watched up the road as mom made the right hand turn into the parking lot of the building that housed the district office. Dr. Franklin slowed and made the right hand turn as well. and I could see to police cars sitting in the lot, no doubt sent by Mrs. Paskly.
“What now?” Dr. Franklin muttered pulling in next to mom’s car. A few seconds later, Susan’s tan blazer came rolling in and parked across from mom. Susan got out and looked at the police cars. Every one else piled out of the cars that they were in. I had a feeling that when this was over I would need to have a session with Dr. Franklin.
Susan led the way to the front door of the District office. Mom followed, and then us three girls with Doctors Franklin and Phillips bringing up the rear. The two police officers stood on each side of the door. I heard a car coming in fast and looked over to see another cruiser pull in.
“Mrs. Richardson, we were instructed to not allow you in the building.” One of the officers said. Susan looked at the officer.
“Officer,” She peered at his name badge; “Jacobson, Do you have a restraining order that has been filed by the school district, preventing any of the members of this group from entering the building?” I glanced over at the car that had stopped behind the other two cruisers.
“No, Ma’am. We received a call from a complainant that said to not allow you access to this building.” Officer Jacobson said. Mom obviously didn’t know either of these officers. I glanced over at the car that had stopped and saw Lieutenant Chang getting out of car. Mom heard the door shut and glanced over at Lieutenant Chang.
“Jacobson. Let them in. We don’t have grounds to stop them. Complainant isn’t in this building, she’s at the high school. I have Mullin talking to her now.” Jacobson stepped aside. Susan placed her hand on the door handle to open the door.
“Jackie,” Lieutenant Chang said, walking up to her. “What the hell is going on?” Mom looked at the Lieutenant, and then at Dr. Franklin who shook her head no.
“I’ll call you later, John, I can’t get into it right now.” John Chang looked from Jackie to Dr. Franklin.
“All Right, if you need any thing, call. You have the entire department looking after you guys.” Mom smiled.
“Thanks, John.” Mom followed Susan through the door.
#
“You cant just bar people from buildings because you don’t like what they are doing.” Officer Mullin said to Joyce Paskly. “Are you aware that you could get arrested for misuse of the public safety system, interference of police business, and probably some other stuff that the prosecutor would know of that I don’t? Joyce, you are done, you have cost your self your job...” Officer Mullin let the thought trail off. Joyce looked at him.
“I’m not allowed to file a complaint because I don’t want that child in my school dressed that way, I have to accept it and go on? That’s bull shit, Officer, and you know it.” Joyce swept her arm across her desk, knocking the papers and monitor for the computer to the floor. It hit the carpet and the case cracked exposing the wiring inside. “You’re right, I should probably clean out my desk. I have probably lost my job.”
“And added a few criminal charges to the mix. You’ve screwed up today Joyce...” Officer Mullin left the room.
#
The seven of us walked up to the receptionists desk, Mom letting Susan do all the talking.
“We would like to see Mr. Gallagh, The Superintendent of the Takoma County School Board.” The Receptionist just looked at Susan.
“Do you have an appointment?” She asked. I briefly wondered how many people tried to come see the Superintendent with out an appointment.
“No, But I did just call and talk to his Administrative Assistant, Joy Phelps, who said that we could see him.” The receptionist picked up her phone and dialed a number.
“Joy did you just speak to a...” She looked at Susan.
“Susan Richardson” Susan said. I felt Katie take my hand and give it a squeeze. We were no longer playing in the minor leagues. I looked around the lobby of the District office. It was a rather drab area, with only a few fake plants.
“Susan Richardson?” I heard the receptionist ask. I glanced at her. “Meet Mr. Gallagh in the conference room on the second floor, Ok, Thanks.” She hung up the phone. “Go up the stairs to door, go through it and the conference room will be on your right.
”Thank you.“ Susan said with a smile. It was the first time that I had seen her smile since we left the school. Neither one of the mothers were very happy about the way that this was turning out. Susan turned and walked up the carpeted stairs, at the top of the stair case there was an oak door, which Susan opened and walked through, with the rest of us following. She kept walking until she got to the conference room, which she entered without knocking. Inside the room, was the Superintendent, and three other people. I wasn’t sure who the other people were but I hazarded a guess and figured that they were probably the legal team.
”Mrs. Richardson,“ Mr. Gallagh said. ”I am Dave Gallagh, Superintendent, and this is our legal team. Joe Jamski, Sally Courtright, and Thomas Jones.“ Susan shook every ones hands.
”I’m Susan Richardson, This is Jackie Smith, her son and daughter,“ she motioned to me first, ”Josh, who is now going by Morgan. and Jennifer. My daughter Katie, and Morgan’s Doctors, Julie Franklin and Robert Phillips.“ I watched the faces of the legal team when Susan had introduced me. The three of them shared a knowing glance.
”Have a seat.“ Mr. Gallagh said. We all sat at the table opposite from Mr. Gallagh, and the school district’s legal team ”I understand that this has something to do with the Johnson ruling.“ It had been Mr. Gallagh and this legal team that Susan and four other lawyers from her firm had taken on, and won.
”Yes, it does.“ Susan said, pulling some papers out of her bag. ”This morning, Jackie Smith, her son and daughter, and my own daughter went to see Mrs. Paskly at the high school with documentation from Morgan’s doctors stating that she is going to be attending school as Morgan. The resistance that Jackie Smith met this morning is very similar to what Mr. and Mrs. Johnson faced two years ago. I’m not sure how long Mrs. Paskly has been in the district, but I do know that she had absolutely no clue what we were talking about. Even after being presented with both the opinions of the judges, and the changes to policies in the school district, she still refused to allow Morgan to enter into the population of the school, even going as far as trying to get the School Resource Officer to arrest both of Jackie’s children and my daughter on Truancy charges, even though they were in the school.“ Susan paused. ”Mrs. Paskly was also informed by Morgan’s doctors that if she were to continue attending school as Josh, that it would probably end in Josh committing suicide. Mrs Paskly then went on to defame Dr. Franklin as a half rate Psychologist, and said that if Josh did commit suicide, then it would only be Jackie’s fault. I had hoped to not have to sit here like we did two years ago, but here we are. I could file another civil suit against the district on behalf of Jackie Smith, and given the precedent set by the Johnson case, we’d win. That case was bad publicity on the district, and this one would be even worse. The staff at the high school was shaken up pretty well by the last one. I think that Joyce Paskly has realized that she has probably already lost her job over this. She called the police and tried to get them to bar us entrance into the district office. I want to know what you’re going to do about her?“ Susan looked at the four people on the opposite side of the table.
”The Doctors orders are enough for Morgan to attend as Morgan, regardless of what the principal says.“ Sally Courtright said, ”She can’t stop that, regardless of the Johnson ruling.“
”You’re right. I remember sitting through the assemblies after the ruling. Mrs. Paskly said that I would get laughed at, called gay and a faggot, would get beaten up. What she didn’t realize was that I had taken the lead role in a play that the school had put on. I was a girl for that role. I walked among my classmates for pretty close to a month wearing skirts and dresses. The girls treated me as one of them, and the one boy, out of all of the boys in the school who did try something, was quickly quashed by some others, and then dealt with according to the disciplinary rules of the school district. The high school is pretty tight knit, and I would have had more than my sister and Katie to watch my back.“ I paused. ”Mrs Paskly seemed to think that I would fail, but, I’m not the kind of person to just give up when the going gets tough, and if I’m right, I won’t back down.“
”Then why is she trying?“ Mr. Gallagh said. ”I can see that you are the kind of person that won’t just stop because someone wants you to, Morgan. I can also see that you know that you are in the right here, and that is why you are sitting across from me, rather than at home crying.“ Mr. Gallagh smiled at me. ”What was the play?“ I was slightly taken aback by the question, not expecting it.
”The Wizard of Oz, I played Dorothy.“ Sally Courtright’s mouth dropped.
”You were Dorothy?“ She asked. ”I had no idea, and to be honest, if I didn’t know what was going on, I would think that you were a girl right now.“
”Yes, I was Dorothy, and I loved every minute of it. I would do it again, and as a matter of fact, I am. This is a play, and the whole world is my stage. Do you guys know what my goal in life is?“ I asked. The four of them stared at me, not knowing. ”My goal in life is to help people like me.“
”My next question,“ Susan said. ”Is are we going to resolve this here and now, or am I going to have to file these papers with the Takoma County Municipal Court Clerk?“
Officer Mullin sat in his office on the phone, writing out a General Case Report Form. “Deb, I need an Incident and Call for Service, Also start me two street units, I’m going to Code three the principal. She swept every thing off of her desk, including the monitor.” Officer Mullin scribbled some numbers down on a notepad. “Thanks Deb. Also, have Lieutenant Chang swing by, I want to give him and update on what is going on.”
“Mrs. Richardson,” Thomas Jones started. “The school district would prefer not to have a second legal fight over this issue.” He poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher that sat on the table.
“I understand that.” Susan said. “I, honestly, would prefer the same; However, Joyce Paskly’s actions may have not allowed that.” The lawyers looked at each other.
“Are you going to file?” Thomas asked, the color draining from his face. “The School Districts legal counsel would like to make an offer to prevent a lawsuit.”
“Don’t you think that is a bit premature?” Susan asked, eyebrows raised.
“Mrs. Richardson, the last time that this happened.” Sally Courtright was saying, “it ended up costing the school district around $10 Million dollars.” I suddenly realized that they were afraid of a law suit and were going to do what ever it took to keep this out of court. I looked at mom. Susan looked at Mom.
“May I speak to my client?” Susan asked the legal team.
“Certainly.” Sally Courtright said. She pulled a stack of paper out of her bag. Susan tilted her head toward the door as she tapped me, Mom and Dr. Franklin stood and the five of us walked out into the corridor.
“I think they are scared shitless.” Susan said after the door shut. “For them to suddenly place an offer on the table I think they are afraid that there is already paper on its way to the clerks office. Jackie, I would like to file a civil suit against Joyce Paskly, but that doesn’t involve the District. Jackie it’s your call on accepting their offer. I think that this is really messing with Morgan’s head, and she’s going to need to see Dr. Franklin because of all of this.” I watched Mom nod.
“Why are they doing this?” I asked, glancing from mom to Susan.
Lieutenant Chang pulled in and parked behind Officer Mullin’s car. He shut off the engine and got out. He walked up to the doors that would let him enter the building right next to Officer Mullin’s office. Officer Mullin looked out the window as Lieutenant Chang walked in. He motioned for him to enter the office.
“Debbie said you wanted to see me.” Lieutenant Chang said.
“Yeah, you went on the run over to the District office, right?” Officer Mullin asked, watching Lieutenant Chang nod. “You notice any thing about Jackie or her children?” Lieutenant Chang studied the drop ceiling in the room.
“Yeah, there were three girls rather than two and a boy. Katie is always running around with Jen or Josh. Who was the third girl?” Lieutenant Chang asked.
“The third girl was Josh, AKA Morgan.” Officer Mullin said. Lieutenant Chang looked at Officer Mullin.
“Wait, What, Dave?” Officer Mullin chuckled.
“Yeah. The girl in the pink over black was Josh, AKA Morgan Smith.” Lieutenant Chang looked out the window.
“Dave when she comes back to school tomorrow, Take care of that girl.” And with that Lieutenant Chang left, leaving Officer David Mullin staring at the wall.
“I’m going to head over to the high school and relieve Mrs. Paskly of her duties as Principal...” Mr. Gallagh said, standing. Susan was busy skimming over the proposed settlement, and was going to give her professional advice to her client.
“Jackie, may I have a word with you in the hall way?” Susan said, standing. Jackie stood and walked toward the door, leaving myself, Dr. Franklin, Katie and Jennifer all sitting at the table staring at the lawyers.
Susan let the door shut, and looked at Jackie.
“Take the deal. It will at least start Morgan through college. They want to settle out of court for ten thousand. They are running scared and trying to avoid a lawsuit that they know they will receive. Also in this Paskly looses her job for insubordination, I won’t have to fight for that.”
“Susan is that your advice as a friend or legal counsel?” Susan looked at Jackie.
“Both.” Susan said.
“Joyce, Dave Gallagh is here.” Mrs. Johnson said.
“I know, and I know why he’s here. Send him in when he comes into the office.” Joyce Paskly said.
We walked in the school in the middle of a class switch. When several of Jen’s class mates saw her, they came over, but were stopped by Mr. Gallagh.
“Girls keep going to class. You can find out what is going on after school.” Mr. Gallagh said. Officer Dave Mullin walked up to us.
“Boy am I glad that you showed up, Mr. Gallagh, I thought that I was going to have to do this my self.” Officer Mullin looked at the two street units that had come in with the group. “I have a GCR filled out, vandalism of school property, and if I could tack general stupidity on there, I would...” Officer Mullin looked at the group.
“Alrighty. let’s do this.” Mr. Gallagh said, turning and heading toward the office. When we got to the office, Officer Mullin opened up the door so that we could all file in, and then he came in. Mr. Gallagh walked right up to Mrs. Paskly’s door and just opened it. I watched at Joyce Paskly looked up a stack of paper on her desk. She stood. “Joyce, What happened this morning?” She watched as I walked into the office behind mom.
“I don’t want that boy,” She pointed at me. “Running around my school dressed like that. He’ll cause a disruption and will eventually get kicked out of the school because of it.” Mr. Gallagh looked at her.
“Joyce, No she won’t, and besides, the Johnson ruling states that we don’t have a choice as to letting her attend as her. Not that the choice was ours before that, we learned from the Johnson ruling. I know it happened before your time, but that is no excuse for you to be ignorant of it. It’s been in all of the policy handbooks for over a year, and you just came in last year, and signed a statement indicating that you had read the handbooks.” Mr Gallagh produced a piece of paper, which I assumed was the statement stating that she had read the handbooks. I knew that most people just signed paper like that without ever actually reading it. Even the students in the school had to sign one for our student handbooks. Most of us never actually read the things, just signed the papers and got it over with.
Mom, Jennifer, Katie, Susan, Dr. Franklin, and I were all sitting at the table at the Max and Erma’s at City Center, waiting on our food to arrive.
“I can’t believe that Mr. Gallagh laid into Mrs. Paskly with us standing there like that.” I said. I had never seen any adult just tear into another with kids around like that.” Susan looked at me.
“Morgan, you should be lucky you haven’t seen a lot of what I’ve seen in the court system then. ”Custody battles are sometimes the worst when it comes to two adults acting like kids. I’m still trying to get my head around her thinking that she stop you from attending because you ‘Were an abomination to society and should be locked away in an institution...”
“Frankly, I’m the only one who can do that...” Dr. Franklin said. “And I don’t think that it would be in Morgan’s best interest. I think that she would be much better off attending school and then going off to college.” Dr. Franklin smiled. “Morgan, do you know how long it’s taken me to rise to being the top of my field?” I looked at her.
“25 years. if you want to get to where I am, you need to start now. Although I can’t think of a better person to become the new head of the field than someone who has gone through it.” Mom and Susan looked at Dr. Franklin after sitting their coffee cups down. I just looked at her and blinked. I could see where she was coming from, In twenty-five years I would just be on the verge of 40, and in the prime of life when my career took off.
“I’m serious about this. I had done some research on this for a paper a year ago. That is what led me on to the fact that I want to help people that are like me. I’ve known that I’m different than most boys my age for a while.” I paused when the waiter replaced my empty Sprite glass with a full one and gave me a funny look.
“You’re not a boy.” He said shaking his head and returning to the kitchen. We all watched him go and then broke out laughing.
“The world is my stage, and I’m going to have fun with it.” I said, sipping my Sprite. “I knew I wasn’t quite a boy.” I said. Dr. Franklin seemed to have a slight smile. “But at the time I didn’t think that I was a girl either. At the time I didn’t know the difference between a boy and a girl, physically, but from my research I learned that there were physiological differences between boys and girls. I knew that boys were supposed to like sports, something that I never cared for; and girls liked dolls and such. At younger ages, girls use their imaginations more, which I did. I always liked role playing, but I always tried to be the damsel in distress. I’m just not right...” I said letting the thought trail off as the waiter approached with food.
I walked into my room and collapsed on the bed. I was exhausted from the events of the day. I was so exhausted that as I was laying on the bed I fell asleep, and woke to Katie gently shaking me.
“Hey sleepy head.” she said, with a smile. “Your mom said that dinner is done. Come on, lets wash up.” Katie said, offering a hand and a smile. I sat up and realized that my hair was rather disheveled so I walked over to the dresser and picked up the brush and started brushing. Katie walked up behind me and took the brush out of my hand. “Do you mind?” she asked. I shook my head. Katie started to brush my hair and finished with it, leaving it down.
“Lets go eat.” Katie said, laying the brush on the dresser and taking my arm, and we left the room.
To Be Continued...
“Morning, Sleepyhead.” I heard Katie’s voice. I picked up the pillow and tried to swat her with it.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“6 am. You should probably get up and go get a shower.” Katie said. I heard a smile in her voice, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. “I’ll have your clothes out on the bed for you when you get back.” She offered a hand and I used it to help me sit up. The sun was starting to shine through the window as I stood up, causing my night gown to fall back to my knees. I shuffled off to the bathroom, leaving Katie to get out my clothes. I walked into the bathroom and got in the shower. Ten minutes later I was standing back in my bedroom looking at what Katie had laid on the bed. Katie had laid a simple white blouse and a short pleated denim skirt. On the floor was a pair of white ballet flats. Laying next to the skirt was a pair of white panties with red and pink hearts and a matching bra. I saw Katie appear in the doorway.
“Do you know how cold it’s going to be today?” I asked her. She gave me a smile.
“Yeah, and I’m going to be wearing the same thing, but mine is going to be pink.” She replied. I shrugged and tossed a teddy bear at her. She caught it and grinned.
“Go so I can get dressed.” I said, with a smile in my voice. “How are we doing our hair?”
“I’m wearing mine down, I’m not sure about Jen. Your mom is working on cooking breakfast; something about eggs, sausage and bacon...” I spun so fast that my towel just about fell down.
“Mom is making breakfast?” I asked. Katie smiled and turned and left the doorway, closing the door. I shrugged and got dressed. After I had slipped the shoes on, I brushed my hair and went downstairs. Katie was sitting the forks on the table, dressed just like I was but in pink. She looked at me, and winked.
“Morning Sweetheart.” Mom said. “Would you like some breakfast.” Jen shuffled into the kitchen wearing an ankle length red skirt and a black sweater.
“Morning,” Jen mumbled, her shoes clunking on the floor. Katie and I looked at each other and smiled.
“Did you sleep, Jen?” Katie asked. We had all gotten our assignments from our ‘absence’ the day before and had worked through the night to get them done so that we wouldn’t be too far behind in our studies.
“I think I got four hours.” Jen said groggily. Mom knew that we had been up kind of late studying. Our homework was probably harder than the rest of our classmates because we had missed the lectures on the subjects. Mom got down some coffee cups, and sat them at the table. Jen looked at mom, and then stood and got the coffee pot and poured all of us some coffee. I rubbed my eyes right as mom sat a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, , toast and something that caught me by surprise, baked beans on the table in front of Katie and I. Katie and I looked at each other, not knowing what to make of the baked beans.
“Baked beans?” I asked, looking at the back of Mom’s head as she prepared Jennifer and her own plates. Mom sat the plates down and then sat at the table, her coffee cup still steaming.
“Yes, baked beans,” Mom said with a smile. “This is what you would call an English breakfast, without the mushrooms, which none of us like.” Mom picked up her fork and made short work of a piece of sausage. I glanced at Katie as she started to eat. Twenty minutes later, we finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher and mom started it.
“Girls, go get your shoes on, we are going to try this school thing again.” Mom said. Katie and I looked at each other and picked up our backpacks. I wasn’t as nervous today, going out and getting into Mom’s dark blue Toyota Avalon as I was the day before. I got in the back with Katie, who reached over and patted my leg. Jen sat up front with mom. Dr. Franklin had given mom a stack of papers that she would need when she had the school change my file to indicate that I was no longer Josh, but was now Morgan. Even though the school had to let me attend as Morgan, they could still give mom a hard time with changing the paperwork. Mom turned left into the parking lot of the school and parked the car in the visitors spot, next to Katie’s mom’s car. Apparently Susan wasn’t taking any chances this morning with the folks in the school being stupid. As soon as we walked into the school, we were met by Officer Mullin who must have watched us pull in.
“Good Morning ladies.” He said, opening the door to the main office for us. “Morgan, I was told by Lieutenant Chang to keep an eye on you and take care of you. So if it seems like I’m around an awful lot today it is probably because I am. If you have any problems today come to me first.” We stopped in front of my guidance counselor's office.
“Yes, sir.” I said, flashing a smile. This was going to be an interesting day, I could tell. Officer Mullin nodded and left to go back to his office.
#
“Good Morning” Mr. Thompson said, sitting behind his grey government issued desk. All of teh desks that the staff sit behind were the same color. I think the school district got a deal on the desks. “What can I do for you girls?” He asked. Mom looked at him and then started talking.
“We need to change my daughters information in her file.” Mom said with a smile.
“And who would your daughter be so I can pull her file and we can make the changes.”
“My daughters name was Joshua Allen Smith.” Mr. Thompson did a double take, and then looked at me.
“What’s your new name, sweetheart, calling you Josh doesn’t seem to be conducive to how you are dressed.”
“My name is Morgan.” I said, flashing a smile. I had almost expected a response similar to what we had gotten out of Mrs. Paskly the day before.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Thompson?” She asked.
I toyed with the hem of my skirt unconsciously. I took a look around the room, some of the girls were whispering to each other and some of the boys looked like they were trying to figure out who I was... Katie noticed that I was playing with the hem of my skirt and smiled.
“Mrs. Snider, can you step into the hall with us for a second?” Mrs Snider turned and looked at the class.
“I want every one reading while I’m out in the hall. I will assign detention for any talking.” Mrs. Snider said. Mrs. Snider was one of the stricter teachers in the school. If she said you were going to get a detention for doing something, then by golly you got a detention for doing what ever it was that you were told that you shouldn’t do... She closed the door almost all of the way, but left it open slightly so that she could see if any one was doing anything other than reading.
“Mrs. Snider, this is Morgan. You already know Katie.” Mrs. Snider held out her hand so I could shake it.
“Morgan, you look like someone that I have in my class.” Mrs. Snider said when I shook her hand.
“Who would that be, Mrs. Snyder?” I asked, figuring I already knew the answer.
“You look like a young man in my class named Joshua Smith.” Katie and I looked at each other and smiled. Mrs. Snyder raised an eyebrow.
“Would you mind if I picked up where he left off?” I asked, with a smile. Mrs. Snyder’s eyes widened as she realized that I was Joshua Smith.
“That would be perfectly fine.” She said with a smile Mrs. Snyder could be a fuzzy bunny if she needed to be. “Since class is almost over, reading for tonight is up to the end of Chapter seven of along with a little spiel about what it was that you read, alright?”
Katie and I nodded.
I glanced at the clock that hung off the wall a few feet down the hall from Mrs. Snyder’s class room. Second period was almost over, which meant that we needed to head toward our third period class, which would be Algebra.
Chapter 22
Five minutes before third period was over Mr. Thompson knocked on the door of Mr. Hopkins room. Mr. Hopkins poked his head in and pointed at Katie and I, and then beckoned us to the hall way. Mr. Hopkins nodded. We had already gone and spoken to Mr. Hopkins about our missing assignments from the previous day. We had some additional work that wasn’t included in the batch of homework we got the previous night. Katie and I packed our stuff up and stood. I felt as if every eye in the room was watching us go, and everyone was probably watching us go. We walked out in the hallway and Mr. Thompson smiled at us.
“How was Hopkins’ class?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“It was like algebra, kinda boring and I wonder if I will ever use it.” Mr. Thompson smiled. Officer Mullin walked down the hall. He stopped next to Mr. Thompson.
“How’s it going, Morgan?” Officer Mullin asked. I looked at him.
“Good, Sir. No problems to speak of yet, not that I am expecting any.” I said.
“Good. Let me know if you have any problems.” Officer Mullin said, gave a playful salute to Mr. Thompson, and then continued on down the hall.
“What class is next?” Mr. Thompson asked. He was relying on us to know our schedules, which was fine as they wouldn’t change for another month.
“Study hall, in the upper gym.” I replied. After study hall, we had lunch, and then Katie and I were separated for the only part of the day, which would be when I had typing. After that Katie and I would meet again for business management. I looked at Mr. Thompson “Actually,I wanted to talk to you about college. I want to go into psychiatry.”
“I’m staying with her as much as possible, so I’ll come along too.” Katie said. Mr. Hopkins nodded, and turned to head toward the stairs that would take us back down stairs so that we could go over to the upper gym and then back down to Mr. Thompson’s office. When we got to the stairs, Mr. Thompson held the door open so that Katie and I could go ahead of him down the steps. When we got to the bottom of the steps, Mr. Thompson had opened the door for us.
“Thank you, Mr. Thompson.” I said as I walked past.
“You’re thanking me for holding a door open for a lady like I was brought up to do?” He chuckled. “We should be offering classes on politeness, but somehow I don’t think that Mr. Gallagh would go for that.”
“Yeah, Probably not. It’s something that has to be taught at home, not school.” Katie said.
“True.” Mr. Thompson said. “Not that most people would take it or even use the knowledge that they gain. The doors that went up to the balcony that made up the upper gym were propped open on the fire latches. Mr. Thompson would have probably let us walk up first, but we were wearing shorter skirts so he went up first. All of the doors upstairs were propped open on the fire latches as well. We walked into the upper Gym, and I stayed away from the edge of the balcony. Two years ago when I had been a freshman, I had been down on the gym floor and had looked up to attempt to catch a ball that was flying my way when I noticed a girl that was walking on the balcony and had a glimpse up her skirt because of where she was standing. I knew I had seen her panties as they were neon pink and her skirt was black. The ball had hit me on the head, and I was pretty much laughed out of the gym class. We walked up to Mrs. Jackson, who also taught in the music department.
“Morning Mr. Thompson, Katie, new person.” She said, with a chuckle. I smiled.
“Morning Mrs. Jackson.” Katie and I said in unison.
“Josh?” She asked astonished. So far she was the first person to correctly guess who I was.
“In the flesh, but not the clothes. My name is Morgan.” I said to her, flashing a smile.
“Actually the reason that we came up was that Morgan and I were going to discuss college stuff. Katie’s going to come with us.” Mr. Thompson said. Mrs. Jackson nodded, and marked us as attending study hall. The three of exited the upper gym and headed for Mr. Thompson’s office. He let us go down the steps first, and then opened the door to the guidance office. We walked down the hall to where Mr. Thompson’s office actually was and walked in with him. Katie and I smoothed our skirts as we sat down.
“Morgan where were you wanting to go to school?” Mr. Thompson asked.
Chapter 23
“Morgan where were you wanting to go to school?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“I really haven’t given it much thought,” I said, truthfully. “I just know what I want to do. Now I need to figure out how to go about doing it.” Mr. Thompson looked at me.
“Sycamore University has a really good psychology program, as well as a world renowned medical department. They are also local, which would save money as you wouldn’t have to pay for a dorm,” Mr. Thompson said. “I would imagine that with your grades as high as they are a scholarship wouldn’t be out of the question.” I looked at him. I guess I had some research to do. I made a mental note to talk to Dr. Franklin about it.
“Hmm,” I said. “I have some research to do.” I smiled. Mr. Thompson looked at me.
“Yes, you do,” He said, chuckling. “I’m going to write you girls a pass to go see Mrs. Perkins in the library. Morgan, you at least need a new ID, you know, that matches the way you look.”
“Right.” I said. I dug in my backpack for my old one. I looked at the picture. The picture was the same one that was taken during registration for classes this year. The company that did the pictures had the equipment to print ID’s and had printed them in about thirty seconds. Mrs. Perkins had received the file that the photography company had created after we had all gone through the cameras, as well as a printer giving her the ability to reprint ID’s and add new students as the school year went on. Well as far as the school was concerned I was a new student. “You have some papers for me to give Mrs. Perkins?”
“Yeah,” Mr. Thompson said, shuffling some papers on his desk. He handed me a piece of paper that was on school letterhead. “Give that to Mrs. Perkins, and she should run you off a new ID after taking your picture.” I skimmed the paper. Mr. Thompson handed out another piece of paper, one to each of us. “Those are your passes, Get to it. Morgan, if you want some more help after you have looked at schools, and have an idea of where you want to go, come back down and see me. If you need anything you know where I am. Come back before your class after lunch.” Katie and I had lunch after our study hall period. After lunch, we had the only time during the day that we were separated. Katie and I stood. Mr. Thompson looked at me, looked at Katie and smiled. “You girls enjoy lunch.” Katie and I walked out of his office and into the outer office. There were a few people in the outer office that watched us go. Most of the students in the school weren’t even paying attention to me, which I thought was a good thing.
“Any idea what you missed yesterday in Downard’s class?” Katie asked as we walked. I opened the fire door at the bottom of the steps for us since I was the one closest to it. There was a boy and girl standing in the stairwell looking like they were doing the tongue olympics.
“Look at the lesbians.” I heard the boy say. I suddenly realized that Katie and mine’s hands had automatically joined after we had entered the stair well. Katie and I ignored them and continued up stairs. Katie was closer to the door at the top so she opened the door for us. We turned to the left and walked into the library. Mrs. Dunhaven was sitting behind the counter. She looked up at us.
“Katie, You and this new girl are going to have to go back to study hall. The bell rang ten minutes ago.” She said. Katie smiled.
“Actually Mr. Thompson sent the new girl up to get her ID. Although she isn’t exactly new.” Katie said, nudging me closer to the desk. I handed her the note that Mr. Thompson had given me. She looked at the paper, me, back to the paper, and back at me.
“Well, I never thought I’d see the day when they just let a boy run around the school in skirts,” Mrs. Dunhaven said, rather loudly. There were a few students that were sitting close enough to hear what Mrs. Dunhaven had said, and they looked in our direction. Katie looked at Mrs. Dunhaven, who stood and handed the note to Katie. “Mrs. Perkins is back in her office. Katie knows where it is.”
“Thank you.” Katie said, walking through the opening that would let us into the library proper so that we could go see Mrs. Perkins. Katie walked up to the door and knocked.
“Come in.” Katie and I heard. Katie opened the door and we both walked into the office that was as large as a classroom. Mrs. Perkins was able to claim that she had the largest office in the school. “What can I do for you girls?”
Katie and I walked into Mrs. Perkins office. Mrs. Perkins looked at Katie, and then looked at me.
“Wow. I think you are prettier than what everyone is saying you are, Morgan.” I felt my cheeks turn red. I guessed when you were the cause of the principal of a school loosing her job, people, especially the staff, who I’m sure had heard what was going on before Mr. Gallagh had even showed up to relieve Mrs. Paskley of her duties.
“What can I do for you, hun?” I handed her the note. She read it and then looked at me. “Is your student ID number staying the same or are you being re-entered into the system?” She asked. Katie and I glanced at each other. Mr. Thompson hadn’t said.
“I’m not sure, Mrs. Perkins,” I answered. She smiled and motioned for me to sit in front of a blue piece of paper that had been attached to the wall.
“Ok, Well, I’ll go ahead and take the picture for your new ID, and call down to Mr. Thompson to find out about the student ID number. While I’m doing that, go find an empty computer and log in and you can start doing the research you need for school.” I nodded and then sat on the stool, Mrs. Perkins stood behind the computer and a few seconds later, looked at me. “Smile.” She said; I did. “Go research. If you need to make any calls, Come in here to do it.” Mrs. Perkins apparently anticipated the need for me to make phone calls while doing my research. I looked at her.
“Thank you,” I said, standing to execute a slight curtsy, which elicited giggles from Katie and brought a smile to Mrs. Perkins’ face. I looked at Katie. “What?”
“Where did you learn to do that?” Katie asked.
“I learned for the play,” I said, turning to leave Mrs. Perkins’ office and walking toward . Katie followed me to a computer and sat next to me. I used my current logon and password to log into the computer. As I waited for it to display my desktop, I idly wondered how long it would take the person in charge of the computer systems at the district office to change the information.
“I don’t recall you curtseying during the play.” Katie said, after logging into the computer next to me. I double clicked on the icon to get on the internet.
“That’s because I didn’t,” I said. Katie did a double take. “Mom and Jennifer wanted to make sure that I knew how, just in case I needed to. It was kind of nice watching your faces though.”
“Why did your mom and Jennifer want to make sure you knew how to curtsy?” Katie asked, her brow furrowed. “I don’t even think I could curtsy.” She said, clicking on a link on the computer. I glanced over at her and frowned.
“I bet I could teach you.” I said, emailing my self some information Katie glanced at the clock, and then me.
“It’s almost lunch time,” She said, logging off of the computer. I glanced at the clock on the computer that I was using and saw that she was right. I logged off and stood, my knees cracking. I walked over to Mrs. Perkins’ door and knocked on it. I saw her reach over and open the door, she motioned for me to come in.
“Ok, Mr. Thompson, I’ll let her know.” Mrs. Perkins said into the phone and then placed the handset back in the cradle. She looked up at me, smiled, and then handed me my new ID. I looked at it. She must have just printed it, as the plastic card was still warm; Gave new meaning to the term ‘hot off the press’. “Mr. Thompson wants Katie and you to swing by his office as soon as you girls are done with lunch.” I nodded, and Mrs. Perkins held out her hand. “Give me the old one, Missy.” I smiled and dug my old ID out of my book bag and handed it to her. She looked at it and then looked at me. “I wondered how long it was going to take…” Mrs. Perkins said, “You girls need to get to lunch.” I smiled, executed another curtsy, and watched Mrs. Perkins smile. I left Mrs. Perkins office and then looked at my ID. I must admit I thought I looked pretty.
Katie and I were sitting at a table close to one of the exits of the commons area so that we could make a quick exit toward the office to see Mr. Thompson. I had seen Officer Mullin talking to Mr. Jackson, one of the PE teachers, and one of the football coaches. Ever since then, Mr Jackson had been kinda close to where Katie and I sat. I’m sure that there had been rumors flying around the school that I hadn’t heard, but I also knew that those would be quickly quelled by members of the schools mediation club, who would politely remind those spreading the rumors that they were subject to suspension for the content of the rumors. Kaite and I were walking toward the main office, which was on the opposite end of the school when suddenly I was grabbed from behind and shoved into the wall rather roughly. I felt my head bounce off the wall and briefly saw stars. I recognized the student as James Petry. He was on the football team and a good one hundred fifty pounds heaver than me, throw in his additional foot in height, his muscular build, and well, I was pretty much dead meat.
“You’d better watch your back, faggot,” he said menacingly. He pulled his fist back to punch me. I took his fist in the gut, which doubled me over, but it didn't’ incapacitate me like he thought it would have. With one quick, practiced move, I struck out with my right foot, catching his common peroneal. He dropped to both knees as his right leg gave out in a sympathy reaction to the impact to his left leg. He blinked a few times, and then swung his fist again. I still hadn’t come back up to a standing posture, so this hit caught me square in the jaw. I blinked twice and swung around on my left foot in a clockwise direction, I caught James in the shoulder blades with all one hundred ten pounds of force that I had and sent his body crashing to the floor, face first. I stepped on his left hand and Katie, who had finally realized that I was no longer beside her stepped on his right. I reached up and wiped a little bit of blood from my mouth. Officer Mullin came around the corner as the students in the common area finally realized that there was a fight that had happened. As Officer Mullin pulled his handcuffs out of the pouch on his belt, I let up on James’ hand. Next thing I knew I was falling backwards and landed rather roughly on the floor, skidding across to the far side of the hallway and feeling my head bounce off the wall a second time. This time the stars didn’t dissipate as quickly. I looked over at Katie, who had firmly planted her boot on the side of James’ face and was pushing down as Officer Mullin handcuffed him. Students came surging from what seemed like everywhere, as did staff. Katie rushed to my side. My brian was processing everything in slow motion.
“Morgan, Are you ok?” I looked at her.
“Why, yes, I am, beautiful,” I smiled up at her. “I have a headache now, but yes, I think other than that I’m fine.” I saw a look of relief cross Katie’s face.
“Close your legs, you are flashing half the student body.” Katie whispered in my ear. I blushed, I think, and pulled my legs together.
“Aren’t you going to arrest the faggot, Officer?” James asked. Officer Mullin shot him a look.
“No, She didn’t do anything more than defend her self.” Officer Mullin said. He reached up for his microphone.
“Twenty eight, I need an incident and CFS, also start a street unit, I have a code three on a seven. I’ll call the radio room in a few for info on the card.”
“Copy twenty eight, twelve oh six.” His radio crackled. There were murmurs from the students as they didn’t know what the codes that Officer Mullin had said over the radio were, everyone was talking trying to figure out what was said…
“That faggot hit me first.” James said from his position on the floor. He knew he was in deep shit, and was trying to get out of it. Katie stood and offered her hands. I reached up and grabbed them and winced. I slowly stood, using the wall for support. I stood, leaning against the wall for a second allowing my equilibrium to realize that it wasn’t moving any more.
“You want to argue that with a video tape, Mr. Petry?” Officer Mullin pointed at a camera that was mounted in the ceiling of the hallway. “I was coming down the hallway and saw the whole thing anyway; and, next time you pick on someone, you shouldn’t pick on a girl who’s father was a police officer who had trained his daughter in the fine art of self defense.” I saw James’ forehead hit the floor. I wiped some more blood off my lip. It felt as if everything was still intact. My lip was split, I was sure that I had a bruise on my face, and I still felt like I had been punched in the gut, mainly because I had been. Katie looked at me.
“You think you can walk to the nurses office?” She asked, I looked at her, and then at James, who had a little bit of blood trickling from his nose. I guessed it was from where he fell to the floor I felt a small twinge of satisfaction, knowing that I had at least inflicted some damage on my opponent. I really hoped that word would go forth from here that I would defend my self. We started walking toward the hallway that would take Katie and I toward the schools offices. When we got to the nurses office, the school nurse, Mrs Price, took one look at me and had me lay down on one of the two cots.
“What happened?” Mrs. Price asked, pulling a pen light out of her pocket. The school district actually paid to employ licensed RN’s rather than people that were licensed as a school nurse. Mrs. Price shone the light in my left eye, and then she moved to my right. She disappeared for a second, and then reappeared.
“James Petry tried to beat her up. I think she hit her head on the wall when she was sent flying across the hallway.” Katie said.
“Honey, do you know what your name is?” Mrs. Price asked. I blinked.
“Morgan Danielle Smith,” I said. “Formerly Joshua Allen Smith” Mrs. Price smiled.
“Do you know what day it is, Morgan?” She asked, holding her penlight in front of my face and moving it from side to side. I followed it with my eyes.
“Wednesday October twenty first.” I replied. “Can I at least sit up, I tend to fall asleep if I lay down.”
Katie and I were still in the nurses office when Officer Mullin came in. He looked at me and shook his head.
“I reviewed the tapes,” He started. “But I want you to tell me what happened, in your own words.” Officer Mullin said.
“James came up from behind me and slammed me into the wall. I felt the back of head bounce off the wall. It stunned me for a moment. He looked at me and said ‘You’d better watch your back, faggot.’ Then he punched me in the gut. When he didn’t walk away after that, I kicked out with my left foot, aiming for the common peroneal. I guess I hit it because he was down on his knees. I hadn’t gotten back to standing, and he punched me in my jaw, and busting my lip. I shook that off, spun to my right, caught his shoulder blades, knocking him flat on his face. I think that’s when his face started bleeding.” I paused. “Katie had realized what was going on by then and stood on his left wrist, I stood on his right. You walked up and pulled out your cuffs. I let up with my foot so you could cuff him and next thing I know I’m bouncing off the wall on the other side of the hallway.” I reached up to rub my temples. Officer Mullin looked at Mrs. Price.
“That’s what the video looked like, What’s your prognosis, Mrs. Price.”
“I called Jackie, she’s on her way in. I don’t think Morgan has a concussion, but I want her to get checked out anyway. Katie, you are probably going to be going with her as Morgan’s mom has the ability to sign you out too.” Jen came running into the room. She stopped and slid next to where I was sitting on the cot. She bent down to hug me. I winced as everything still hurt. Jen saw this and let go of her embrace. Lunch was one of the few times that we were separated through out the day.
“What happened?” Jen asked.
“James Petry tried to beat her up…” Katie said for me, I was too beat up to try to explain it any more… “Our Morgan is a fighter though, she knows how to defend her self. I really hope that word gets around that she will defend her self if she has to. I didn’t even know that anything was going on until I saw James hit the floor…” Katie wiped a tear away. “That was when I stood on his hand, When Officer Mullin tried to cuff James, James sent Morgan spinning across the floor, and she hit her head a second time… Jen, I’m sorry.” I could hear the tears forming in Katie’s voice. She had sworn to protect me and on my first day of school, she had failed. I saw Jen move from my left side, to my right, which was where Katie was standing. I glanced up as Mr. Thompson walked in to the room and looked at the three of us….
“Morgan, are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m a little banged up. But other than that, I’m good. Mrs. Price wants me to get checked out further and I think mom is on her way in…” I said, squeezing Katie’s hand.
“Ok, I just talked to Mr. Jackson, who is in charge in the interim while Mr. Gallagh selects a replacement for Mrs. Paskly, and Mr. Petry is getting expelled and he will be by to see you shortly. Your mom should be here shortly, as well as a Dr. Franklin and Katie’s mom.” Mr. Thompson said. I blinked, and then looked at Katie. James Petry getting expelled was a given, but I was actually wondering why Dr. Franklin and Susan were coming to the school as well… I nodded.
“Why is my mom coming?” Katie asked. Mr. Thompson shrugged…
“I have no idea. I got a call from her saying that her and Dr. Franklin were on their way over.”
“After looking at the CT scan and X-rays, nothing is broken and Morgan does not have a concussion.” Dr. Montgomery said. We were sitting in the ER of the local hospital, and Dr. Montgomery was looking at the computer monitors that showed the output of the CT scan.
“Anything we should watch out for?” Mom asked. Dr. Montgomery looked at her.
“I would wake her up every couple of hours tonight, but she should be ok to go in the morning. If any sudden headaches appear, she might want to get them checked out as soon as possible. I would bring her in here, it will be faster than trying to see your primary care doctor.” Mom nodded, and Katie squeezed my hand. Mom reached over and bushed my hair out of my face. I had been switched out of my skirt and blouse, into a hospital gown, had a CT scan and the X-rays done, and now sat back in my skirt and blouse. I had done a quick job of putting my hair in a ponytail by simply gathering it and putting a hair tie at the top. I knew I had missed some hairs, but at the moment, I didn’t care. I felt someone playing with my hair and tilted my head to look up and saw Katie playfully running my ponytail through her fingers.
“Ok, we can do that.“ Mom was saying. I felt Katie pull the hair tie out and then felt a brush brushing out my hair. I tuned out the room while my hair was being brushed.
“Morgan.” I heard Mom’s voice. “Let’s go home, honey.” I stood, feeling my skirt float back down to just above my knees. Katie took my hand and we left the exam room in the ER.
I awoke the next morning, sore all over, wearing a baby blue satin night gown that I did not recall putting on. I sat up in bed on my elbows and looked around my room. The sun was just starting to turn the sky a light pinkish color. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 5:30 in the morning and I really didn’t need to be up that early so I rolled over and went back to bed, slipping around between the sheets as I rolled.
“Morgan, it’s time to get up.” I was being shaken gently by Katie, who, not surprising to me, was already dressed. She had on a simple white blouse and a pink and white plaid mini skirt. I looked her up and down before finally sitting up in the bed. I blinked a few times as the room was brighter than it had been an hour before.
“I want to go back to bed.” I said, wincing. I still had some residual pain from bouncing off of two different walls the day before. The doctor in the ER has said that some exterior bruising was possible, and the slight amount of pain, combined with getting woken up every two hours had not allowed me to get a lot of sleep. Katie smiled.
“We have to go to school…” Katie said. Logic suggested why I didn’t want to go to school, I had only gotten beat up the day before. Katie held out her hands for me to grab on to so that she could help me get out of bed. I took ahold of her out stretched hands and stood, feeling my night gown tickle my legs as it fell back to my thighs. Katie gently pushed me toward the door so that I could go get in a shower. I got in the shower and, and let the hot water flow over my aching body. It felt nice to just let the water flow over my skin, and if I could have done so, I would have just stood there all day. Unfortunately, as I was standing there, I felt the water start to cool off as I was the last one to take a shower this morning. I quickly washed my hair and body before I ran out of hot water, and then shut the water off. I grabbed the towel that was hanging there and dried my hair, and then patted my skin dry. I shuffled back to my bedroom to find my clothes already laid out on my bed. Laying on the bed was the same outfit that I had gotten caught in. On top of my comforter was the black turtleneck sweater and red and black pleated skirt. On the floor was a pair of black loafers with a two and a half inch heel. I got dressed and made my way downstairs. Jen had beat me down and was making coffee. Mom was pulling a bowl out of the microwave and carrying it over to the table. Jen turned around and offered me a cup of coffee. I could get used to my sister treating me very nicely. I glanced over at the bowl on the table and then back at Jen and Mom.
“Thanks for the coffee, Jen.” I said to her She smiled and then poured another cup of coffee for Katie who had just walked into the kitchen.
“Eat honey,” Mom said, pulling another bowl out of the microwave, and sitting it at the seat next to the bowl that was already on the table. Katie slid into a chair and I sat next to her. Katie and I ate in silence, and then Katie reached over and took my hand and squeezed it.
“How’s your head?” Jen asked. I turned and looked at her, not letting go of Katie’s hand.
“It still tingles, but I think it will be alright.” I said, looking past Jen at the clock on the wall. It was time to leave for school…
Samantha Jenkins
Katie slowed the car as we went to turn into the lot at the school. Across the street a small group of protesters was protesting, claiming that I was an abomination to God, and I was startled to see that the group was led by none other than Mrs. Paskly. Katie and I looked at each other.
“What in the hell?” She said, pulling the car into a parking spot. I refused to let Mrs. Paskly win, and wrote her off as a slight nuisance. I could live knowing that she would just be standing there, freezing her rear end off while I stayed inside the nice warm school building. I took a deep breath and opened the door, feeling the cold air invade the car that had warmed up nicely in the time it had taken us to get from the house to the school. I felt the goosebumps rise on my legs as I gracefully extracted my self from the car. My skirt fell back to my knees and my pink peacoat kept my upper body warm. Katie and I joined hands as we walked into the school, our black loafers making very little sound on the dry blacktop. I was not looking forward to making this walk in the snow, with my feet either getting soaked or having to switch from snow boots to my shoes for inside. Katie and I wore similar skirts, both a black plaid, and knee length. Under my peacoat, I had on a black turtleneck sweater, and I could see the top of Katie’s baby pink turtleneck sweater poking out of the neck line of her jacket. We walked into the school and Officer Mullin stepped out of his office.
“Did Paskly try anything?” He asked. I looked at him.
“You mean other than defamation, no. She’s just mad because her own antics cost her career and she hasn’t phased me in the least.” I said, while adding in my head ‘closed minded bitch.’
“There are some units on the way to deal with her, we checked and they don’t have a permit to be protesting, regardless where they are doing it. You girls run to class.” Mullin said. That made sense in my head as you had to have a permit for any type of protest inside the city limits. Katie and I walked into the hallway that ran down the side of the commons, when Katie looked at me with a confused look on her face.
“What was Officer Mullin talking about with the permit?” She asked.
"To protest anything inside the city limits, you need go apply for a permit." I said. "They cost about twenty bucks and they usually don't deny the permit unless there is just cause. Apparently, Paskly and her group never applied for one." We walked into our first period classroom. Several students were already there and a group of girls came over to us.
"Morgan, we are with you 100% if you need anything, just ask." Jessica said. "We think you are very brave for finding your true self and also, welcome to the 'fairer sex'" Jessica said, giving me a wink. The five minute warning bell sounded so we all shuffled off to our seats. I had noticed that Katie and I both were dressed nicer than any of the other girls and with the exception of Ashleigh the only girls in skirts. Ashleigh's mom refused to allow her daughter to wear pants, and it was rumored that she had some way of enforcing that rule. No one knew what that was, but for the time that I had known her, she had, to my knowledge not taken a P.E. Course in the three years that she had been at the school. I sat down at my desk which was right behind Katie’s desk and waited on the tardy bell to ring. I pulled my text book for the class and reached up to playfully tug on Katie’s ponytail. I then felt a tug on my own pony tail… I turned to look at Elizabeth who was sitting behind me. She had a huge grin on her face.
“I saw you do it to Katie and thought that turn about was fair play.” She said. Kaite had turned to see me looking at Elizabeth.
“Did you tug on Morgan’s pony tail, Lizzy?” Katie asked, using the nickname of everyone in the class for Elizabeth. She didn’t mind as most everyone in the school called her Lizzy. Lizzy giggled like a little girl that had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Yep.” She beamed. It had to be a bad day before you could catch Lizzy not smiling. Mrs Snyder came into the room and sat her stuff on her desk. She examined the room and shrugged, taking a sip of coffee out of her mug. Two minutes later the tardy bell rang.
“Good Morning everybody.” Mrs. Snyder said. She received a variety of mumbled good mornings back in response. She went on to talk about the research project that was due at the end of the school year, some scant six months away. I had an idea on what I was going to do mine on, but everything had to be approved by Mrs. Snyder. I would have more than enough information in short time on laws affecting transgendered people and the reasoning behind those laws, as well as the way that some of them could be changed.
The bell rang signaling the end of first period so Katie and I got up and went to our next class which was US History. Katie and I sat side by side in this class, and we both dug out our text books as well as the notebooks that were dedicated to the class and smiled at each other. Right after Mr. Anderson had started class, the PA broke into his lecture on the Civil War.
“Mr. Anderson?” Came the voice of someone in the office.
“Yes?” he said.
“Could you please send Katie Richardson and Morgan Smith down to the office, and have them bring their stuff with them, please?” Katie and I glanced at each other and looked at Mr. Anderson.
“They are on their way.” Mr. Anderson said. Most of the room was speculating that we were in trouble. Katie and I gathered our things and dropped them in our bags.
“Thank you.” Katie and I stood and walked into the hallway.
“What’s going on?” Katie asked me as we walked toward one of the stair cases to go downstairs to the main office.
“I have no idea, but I bet it has something to do with James Petry or Mrs. Paskly.” I said, pushing open the door at the top of the stair case.
Katie and I walked down the hallway toward the main office. We walked hand in hand until we rounded the corner and discovered Officer Jackson, James Petry, someone who I assumed was Mr. Petry, and some guy in a suit. I stopped dead in my tracks as the last time that I had seen James Petry, I had pushed him into a wall and also gained a concussion from the encounter. Katie hadn’t realized that I had stopped until our hands disconnected and it was like someone slammed on the brakes. James smirked at me, knowing that he had caught me off guard. Katie grabbed my hand and pulled me into an office that was occupied by the the person that handled collecting fees for the school. I started shaking like a leaf as Katie drug me back through the office, into the nurses office, which had a passthrough to the main office. By the time Katie had gotten me to Mr. Thompson’s office, I was a compete wreck. Normally nothing would shake me, but seeing that smirk on Petry’s face did it. I was worried, and judging by that smirk, I had every right to be. Mr. Thompson looked up from his desk as we burst into the room.
“Katie, Morgan, what’s going on?” Katie gently sat me in a chair, trying to smooth my skirt as she lowered me to the padded surface. Katie turned to him.
“Call my mom, have her get in here as well as Morgan’s mom. Morgan may need Dr. Franklin, before this is all said and done.” Mr. Thompson nodded and picked up the phone.
“What’s your mom’s number?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“555-2034” Katie said. “I’m going to go see who paged us down here, and who we were supposed to talk to.” Mr. Thompson nodded. Katie looked at me and I nodded slightly. Katie left the room and walked around the inside of the office toward the front where the receptionists sat. Katie startled Mrs. Vickers by coming up behind her rather than through the front door as students usually came in.
“Mrs. Vickers,” Katie started, crouching below the level of the back side of the desk so that she couldn’t be seen by Petry’s group in the hallway. Mrs. Vickers jumped about two feet in the air. She instantly understood, why Katie had snuck in on the backside of the office. “My mom, Morgan’s mom and perhaps Dr. Franklin will be arriving soon. We are back in Mr. Thompson’s office. What do they want?” Mrs. Vickers ‘accidentally’ knocked a sheet of paper off the desk. Kaite picked it up and looked at it. It was a temporary injunction barring Morgan from attending school as Morgan, until the courts had a chance to review all of the facts in this odd case. “They filed an injunction?” Katie said. “They can’t do that.” Katie turned, and crouch walked back toward the back hallway. Right as she had turned the corner, James Petry came in the front door of the office and confronted Mrs. Vickers.
“Where are they, they ducked into Mrs. Ewing’s office as soon as they saw me. Little pansies. I want that freak out of this school; him and his pathetic girlfriend.” That was all that Katie heard as she ducked into Mr. Thompson’s office.
“Mr. Thompson,” Katie said to him.
“Hang on, Mrs. Richards, Katie just walked in.” Fred Thompson said, offering the phone to Katie. Katie took it, and closed the blinds
“Mom?” Katie said into the phone. “Ok, it appears that James Petry, his father, their counsel, and a police officer are here to serve an an injunction barring Morgan from attending classes. Peterson is the signor.” Morgan’s head turned slowly toward Katie as she processed the new information. Katie realized that Morgan was on the phone.
“Doctor, it appears that Mr. Petry and company have filed an injunction to get me out of the school.” I said. “Ok, See you in five minutes.”
“Mom, Doctor Franklin is on her way, she will be here in five minutes.” Katie said, relaying what I had just said. “Ok, Thanks, Mommy.” Katie and I hung up the phones almost simultaneously.
“Your mom is on her way, as is Katie’s mom and Doctor Franklin, it appears. I’m going to go out and talk to Mrs. Vickers and see if we can get them into the conference room. If we can, I want you girls in Officer Mullin’s office until the cavalry arrives.” Katie and I both nodded. “Wait here.” Mr. Thompson said, and then left the office. Katie and I looked at each other.
“An injunction to keep me from going to school?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that violate the Johnson ruling?”
“I think it would, but it’s hard saying. My guess is that he’s pissed because he got expelled for something he started, under the hate crimes clause in the student handbook. Our student handbooks had been updated right after the Johnson ruling including increased penalties for any type of hate crime. Mr. Thompson poked his head in and just tilted it toward the door that Katie and Morgan had come in. Katie and I quietly walked out of the office and back through the nurses office. Once we hit the hallway, we went the opposite direction of the way that James and company and come in, and took the long way around the school. I wasn’t concerned with getting caught by a hall monitor, as much as I was running into someone that would tell James where we were. As Katie and I rounded the corner and entered the commons area, we both took off in a run for the far end of the commons, and the doorway that housed what had become Officer Mullin’s office. He was just coming out of his office as we came through the doors that would lead us to the office.
“Morgan, Katie, shouldn’t you girls be in class?” He asked, as we passed him and went into his office and sat on the chairs that were there in case he needed to have a chat with a student. The office was sparsely decorated, mainly having binders of papers on the walls.
“Yeah, but we got called down the main office for some reason and when I saw James Petry, I just froze…” I said. Katie grabbed my hand and squeezed it, this action not going unnoticed by Officer Mullin.
“James Petry is in the building?” Officer Mullin said. “He got expelled for that little stunt he pulled, he shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah.” Katie said. “He has an injunction signed by Peterson to get Morgan out of the school. His father, counsel, and a police officer are with him.”
“Morgan, who was the officer, do you know?” Officer Mullin asked.
“Yeah, it was Jackson.” Officer Mullin furrowed his brow and sat at his desk. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“Lieutenant, It’s Mullin. Can you swing by, we have an issue.” Katie glanced at me. Officer Mullin hung up the phone.
“What class is Jen in right now?” Katie whispered in my ear.
“Are you guy’s parents on the way?” Officer Mullin asked.
“Yes, as well as Doctor Franklin.” Katie said. “Can you pull Jennifer out of class and get her down here with us?”
“Yep,” Mullin said, picking up the phone again, and dialing the office. “Susanne, could you page Jennifer Smith to come down to my office, please? And try to be discreet.” Mullin listened for a few moments. “Yes it is relating to that issue. Thank you.” He hung up the phone again.
“Officer, Why is he doing this?” Katie asked. It suddenly dawned on me that in the last three days of classes, I had spent more time with Officer Mullin than in classes…
“I have no idea, Katie.” Officer Mullin said. “But, I suspect that it is because he got expelled even though he knew the consequences of his actions. That has been in the handbook since the Johnson ruling came down from the court system… Everyone in the building had to sign a piece of paper saying they had read the handbook and would abide by it. I sighed, ready to start crying. I was just being me, I wasn't’ hurting anyone and I was getting beat up over it. Katie noticed this and held me close. There was a knock on the door and I curled up into Katie, afraid that it was James Petry on the other side. Officer Mullin opened the door, and Doctor Franklin stood on the other side. She came into the office and sat on the side of me that was opposite of Katie.
“What’s going on?” She asked. “Other than this stuff about an injunction, which frankly, You have a doctors excuse to be here so that just got shot down. I have prepared a brief for the judge that signed that order so that we can overturn it. He’s not going to get his way and kick you out and get back in here.” Dr. Franklin said. “I’m waiting on Mrs. Richards to get here so I can turn it over to her, so that she can file it.” I nodded.
“It really scared me to see him standing in the hall way. I just froze.” I said to Dr. Franklin. “I’ve never done that before.”
“It’s ok.” Dr. Franklin said, pulling me close. Just that second there was another knock on the door. Officer Mullin reached over and opened the door, and Jennifer walked in. Jennifer took in the situation in the room and figured out that something was seriously wrong.
“What’s going on?” Jennifer asked.
“James Petry is in the building. His fathers counsel has filed an injunction preventing Morgan from attending to school. A judge signed it, although I’m not sure why. I personally think this is Petry’s way of striking back against Morgan for getting expelled for something that he knew he was going to get expelled for.” Officer Mullin said. A few seconds later, there was another knock on the door and I noted that the little office was starting to fill up with bodies quickly and I wondered where the next body was going to fit. Officer Mullin opened the door up and looked up at Susan Richards.
“Hi Mommy.” Katie said, vacating the spot she was sitting in.
“Ok, so what we have is an injunction filed by their counsel to prevent Morgan from attending school, signed by Judge Peterson.” Susan said aloud. Katie, Dr. Franklin, and I all nodded. “Peterson was the judge on the Johnson ruling. I wonder if he’s aware that this very injunction would end up holing the school district in contempt of the previous ruling…”
“Sue, I have a brief regarding my diagnoses of Morgan that could be filed to stop the injunction.” Dr. Franklin said.
“Ok. Where are these clowns?” Susan said, standing.
“In the conference room, in the main office.” Katie said. Susan nodded and opened the door.
“Alright, lets go for fight number two in this school… I’m getting tired of this…” Susan said, leading the group out of Officer Mullin’s office and back toward the main office. As we got to the doors that were actually at the front of the school, mom was walking in. Susan stopped her and we gave her a quick run down on what was going on.
“Jackie, Mr. Petry’s counsel has filed an injunction that will stop Morgan from attending classes. I presume that he is trying to get back at Morgan for getting expelled, which is the punishment outlined in the student handbook for a ‘hate crime.’ We are getting ready to go meet their counsel.”
In the last two days, I had spent more time out of classes than I had in classes. Dr. Franklin opened the door and we walked into the Main office. Mrs. Vickers looked up as Susan and my mom entered the office, followed by Katie and I. Dr. Franklin brought up the back of our little group. Right after the door had shut, it opened again and Officer Mullin and Lieutenant Chang walked into the office.
“They are back in the conference room.” She said. “Should I call and have the school board folk show up for this as well… I can already tell that this isn’t going to bode well for someone.. Probably Mr. Petry…” Mrs Vickers let the thought trail off. We followed Susan back to the conference room. Susan opened the door and walked in, followed by mom, and then Katie and I. I watched the lawyer for Mr. Petry swallow a lump in his throat and turn pale. I assumed that he didn’t know that he would be going up against Susan Richards.
“Good Morning.” Susan said, pulling a chair away from the mahogany table and sitting in it. Mom sat next to her. “My name is Susan Richards, and I represent Morgan Smith, and her family.”
“I’m Tom Jones,” The lawyer for Mr. Petry said, swallowing another lump in his throat. Something was telling me that Susan had a reputation… “I represent Mr. Robert Petry, and his son, James.” He slid a piece of paper across the table to Susan. “This is an injunction signed by Judge Alan Peterson preventing Miss Morgan Smith from attending classes. The injunction was filed on the premise that Morgan is causing a disturbance that is disruptive to other students learning.” Susan read the paper, and then sat it back on the table.
“Morgan is causing a disturbance? Would this be the same disturbance that caused young Mr. Petry to attack Morgan yesterday?” Mr. Jones shifted in his seat and glanced at James. “Also, Morgan is protected under the decision of Alex Johnson, Et al versus the Takoma County School Board, of which Judge Alan Peterson was the signer. I am fairly confident that Judge Peterson was unaware that Morgan is protected under that ruling.” Susan paused for a second. Mr. Jones looked uncomfortable.
“Mrs. Richardson, I was unaware of the altercation between my clients son and Miss Smith, as well as unaware of the fact that Miss Smith was protected by the Johnson ruling. I will have the injunction reversed.” Mr. Jones stood and left the room. Officer Mullin walked in.
“Mr. Petry, you have five minutes to remove your self from the premises before you are arrested for trespassing.” Officer Mullin said. Robert Petry looked at his son and scowled.
“Out to the car… Now.” He said. He looked at me and then at Katie. “I apologize for his behavior. My wife and I tried to raise him better…” Robert Petry offered his hand. “Morgan, If there is any thing that I can do to help you in any way. Let me know, ok.”
“Thank you, Mr. Petry.” I said, reaching out and shaking his hand. He turned it so that it was flat and gave it a kiss like the guys always did in the old movies. I giggled and blushed. I executed a curtsy. “Have a nice day, Mr. Petry.”
“You too, Miss Smith.” He said, and then left the room. Katie and I looked at each other.
“That was…” Katie paused. “Odd…” She giggled. I just looked at her.
“Yeah. Where did they come up with that crap?” I said aloud to no one in particular. Mom gave me a disapproving look.
“Morgan,” She started. “Young ladies do not talk like that.” She said. I glanced at the floor.
“Yes, Mother.” Susan looked at Mom.
“You know, I’ve noticed that you keeping both of your girls in skirts has kind of changed their behavior… They are more…” Susan paused. “Docile…” Katie and I looked at each other. Katie hadn’t worn pants since I had set my self up to get caught. I knew exactly who had the keys for the locks on the boots, and I also had correctly predicted Mom’s ‘disciplinary’ response, I also had predicted that Dr. Franklin would diagnose the GID after I came completely clean about my feelings. I had withheld that I felt like I should have been a girl in the first sessions I had with her after dad had died. I had taken his death pretty hard and got very depressed. I used wearing skirts and dresses and my imagination to become someone else. I think that Dr. Franklin knew then that the gender issue was going to come up again at some point. “Katie, when you get home, put all of your pants in my room and I will put them up for you. You can wear skirts and dresses like your girlfriend.” Katie blinked.
“Yes, Mommy.” Katie said, and then winked at me. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I was sure I would find out later. Mrs. Vickers came in and looked at us.
“Morgan, Katie, you girls should head back to class. We will be switching into third period.” Katie and I had a study hall
that period.
“Yes, Mrs. Vickers.” Katie and I said and grabbed our books, and left the office. We walked, hand and hand toward the only room in the school that was setup as a lecture hall, which was very rarely used for lectures, but more often used for a regular classroom. Katie opened the door at the bottom of the steps so that we could go upstairs. When we got to the landing, I turned and gave Katie a kiss on the lips. Katie took a deep breath and kissed me back. We smiled at each other and when we got to the top of the steps, I opened the door for Katie. We got to the door of our classroom, the bell signaling the end of second period.
Katie and I walked into the lecture hall and sat at the two desks that were assigned to us. I watched as Miko came in and sat down next to Katie. Miko was wearing an ankle length red skirt and a black long sleeved shirt. She looked at Katie and I and smiled. The tardy bell rang and Mrs. Jackson did a quick look around the room, doing attendance. She made a few notes and sat down. Miko looked at Katie and I.
“So, what happened?” She asked.
“James Petry tried to keep me out of the school. I won without even trying.” I said.
“How?” She asked, her brown eyes wide. I could see that she had added some eye liner to her eyelids.
“Because she’s protected by the Johnson ruling.” Miko blinked. That was when I remembered that Miko had arrived in the district after the Johnson case had been decided.
“The Johnson ruling?” She questioned. Katie looked at me. I knew more of the details than she did…
“Alex Johnson was a senior who’s sister ‘dared’ him to wear a skirt, blouse and a pair of her boots to school one day in February. Well needless to say, Alex got sent home for ‘causing a disturbance…’” I paused and took a breath. “Long story short, Alex’s parents took her to see a psychologist who later diagnosed her with Gender Identity Disorder. She won the right, by way of the lawsuit, to attend school as the feminine version of herself. The fallout of that lawsuit was that the school district could not suspend, or expel a student based solely on their clothing choices. Any student in the school can wear what ever they want and there is nothing that the school can do about it. There was actually little that they could do before, but they never anticipated a boy wearing a skirt. This is not my first time running around the school in skirts, just my first time with as much support as I have now.” I squeezed Katie’s hand and Miko smiled.
“You’ve run around the school in a skirt before?” Miko asked, her eyes wide in surprise.
“Yes, two years ago, we did a production of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ After much debate on the part of Mrs. Childress, She chose me to take the lead role in the play as Dorothy. She upset a few people with her decision, and was quick to point out that in the days of Shakespeare, males were routinely drafted to play roles of females in productions. I got so deep in my character that a month before we had our first performance in front of the student body. I was Dorothy with no breaks for that month. I spent every day in a skirt or dress, my mom, sister and Katie helping me prefect my outward perception of being a girl to the point where they questioned wether or not I was a girl. Long story short, it helped me discover my true self.” I said, glancing at the clock on the wall. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth periods were actually two half periods as they coincided with lunches. The reason that Katie and I had a study hall third period was because we had lunch fourth period and then Algebra for the fifth/sixth period class. At least that’s the way it was this semester… I knew Miko went on to PhysEd after study hall and then on to lunch and we would see her again in our typing class. When I had started in the school two years ago as a Freshman, typing was not a required class, and someone in the district had decided that it needed to be a mandatory class so that we ‘were going out into the world with skills that we could use.’ This was not how I felt about algebra, and I was still trying to figure out where I would use the skills I was learning in algebra. I had never, other than in homework, had to solve an equation for the value of X…
“You got to be Dorothy?” Miko asked. I smiled.
“Yes she did,” Katie said. “And she did a fine job if I do say so my self.” I felt my cheeks getting warm, and knew that I was blushing. Just that second as if to try and save me from embarrassment, the bell rang. We all stood and Katie and I walked out with Miko, our skirts swishing around our legs as we made our way to the staircase to go down stairs. Katie and I had long since given up on the meals provided by the school district and started packing our lunches. We walked with Miko down to the commons area and parted with her as she continued on to the gym. Katie and I found our usual table and sat down, Digging our lunches out of our bags. I pulled out the notebook that I kept notes in English class in and sat it on the table. Katie watched this with a confused look on her face. I very rarely worked when I ate and that was usually if I was trying to catch up on something in algebra.
“What are you working on?” Katie asked in between bites of her sandwich.
“My proposal for Mrs. Snyder’s class. I am going to do my paper on the laws that affect the transgendered and how they can be modified to help and or further protect the individuals that are already protected by these laws.” Katie had stopped chewing and just sat staring at me.
“Wow.” Was the only word that escaped her mouth… I glanced up at a clock and quickly ate my lunch, not having planned to work through my lunch hour.
Katie and I walked into the classroom that housed one of our business classes. Katie and I walked in and sat down at two of the computers in the class room. Mrs Johnson, the head of the business department, walked into the room and sat the bottle of water and assorted papers and books in her arms on her desk. She logged into the workstation on her desk and picked up the remote for the projector. There were a few more students that scurried in right as the bell rang, and Mrs. Johnson made a note of who they were.
“Good afternoon, I want everyone to keep working on the power point projects that we started. Katie, would you and your friend come up to my desk please?” Katie and I stood and walked up to her desk, feeling everyone’s eyes on us. Katie and I got to her desk and looked at her.
“Yes, Mrs. Johnson?” Katie said. I was staying quiet to see if she could put two and two together and realize who I was.
“Having not seen you, I’m going to assume that you are Morgan?” Mrs. Johnson asked. I smiled and nodded. “You look every bit as pretty as what I’ve been hearing about you.” She said. I blushed. “Ok, you guys missed the beginnings of the project for this week. Chapter three of your books gives you the details as well as all of the data to use. You guys have until next Monday as your absences were excused for the last three days…” Apparently someone had been covering our bases on our behalf… Katie and I glanced at each other. We had played around with Power Point and had a firm grasp on how it operated.
“Yes, Ma’am.” We both said together before heading back to our computers to get started. Between the two of us, I was the better typer, but Katie was the better speller. We opened one of our books to Chapter three and started to read the particulars on the project. I had put a post-it-note flag in my book at the beginning of the project as I thought that it was something that we might end up doing. Katie skimmed the information relating to the project and looked at me.
“Ok, it looks like we are responsible for showing the sales growth of our sales team to the vice president of operations, who would oversee the sales department.” Katie flipped a page. “Due to a new product, called the ‘Wonder widget 2000’ our sales have grown 2500% in a six month period, mainly because our widget is better than anyone else’s on the market…” Katie said, turning the book to show me a picture of the wonder widget… It looked like a piece of cheese to me.
“Ok, and we have to be showing the VP of OPs this for some particular reason, what is it?” I said to Katie. Sometimes some of our teachers had observed that Katie and I were really good at deductive reasoning.
“Hmm.” Katie said, examining the book once more. “This seems to be a budget meeting and R&D and sales have teamed up to make some changes to the wonder widget that our customers have requested and R&D needs more money. The point is so R&D gets their money, our customers get the changes that would make the wonder widget even better, and keep Widgets Inc at the top of the industry…”
“So, it’s up to sales to convince the VPOPS to to give more money to R&D?” I asked.
“Looks like it.” Katie said, shrugging and smiling at the same time.
Katie pulled up in front of Dr. Franklin’s office building and let me out of the car.
“Who’s picking you up?” She asked.
“Mom is, unless she gets caught up on something at work, then Jen is. Why?” I asked, feeling goosebumps start to pop up on my bare legs.
“There’s a Barns and Noble around the corner. I was going to go find something to do until your appointment was over and then we could go back to your house and work on the project some more.” Katie said. I could see goose bumps starting to appear on her legs which meant she was starting to get cold too.
“Ok, that works for me. Are you trying to get the project done faster and better than everyone else?” I asked, a grin spreading across my face.
“Yep. I’ll scratch out some notes while I’m there and we can digitize them later.” She said.
“Ok, I’ll call mom and let her know that you are going to be picking me up so we can work on this project.” I said to her. Katie nodded, and I closed the door and went in to the building. As I walked up the stair case, I fished my phone out of my pocket and called mom. I didn't’ get her, so I left her a voice mail. “Mom, Katie will pick me up from my appointment with Dr. Franklin, and will be coming over tonight because we have a project for Mrs. Jonson’s class that we want to try to have done by Friday. Love you. Bye.” I hung up the phone as I opened the door to Dr. Franklin’s suite of offices. Suzanne sat behind the receptionists desk, and smiled as I walked in.
“Hello Morgan.” She said. “Have a seat, and I’ll let Dr. Franklin know you are here.” Suzanne picked up the phone and called Dr. Franklin. I sat in one of the seats in the waiting area, and a few moments later, Dr. Franklin opened the door.
“Come on in, Morgan.” Dr. Franklin said. I followed her back to her office, and sat in one of the seats that made up a small, cozy seating area. Dr. Franklin sat in the other.
“Good afternoon.” I said to her, noticing that she was making notes in her head about the way I was acting.
“Good Afternoon. How have the last few days been for you?” She asked.
“They’ve been good, although I think I’ve spent more time out of classes than in them…” I said to her, shifting slightly to put both of my feet on the floor. The chair I was sitting in was tall enough that my feet didn’t touch the floor unless I was sitting on the edge. Dr. Franklin smiled as my toes touched the plush carpeting in her office.
“You’ve spent more time out of classes than in? How does that work?” She asked.
“There have been a few people that have had an issue with me transitioning.” I said. “I had a student beat me up over it. The doctors at the hospital said I had a minor concussion. He has been expelled, and I’m doing ok.”
“Did you know this student?” Dr. Franklin asked, a look of concern crossing her face.
“In passing. He was on the football team, I want to say the star quarterback…” I said, reaching up to brush a piece of hair behind my ear. Mom had let me grow my hair long on the condition that I took care of it and It did. The long dirty blonde locks helped me fit in as if I had always been a girl. My mannerisms had slowly gone to feminine as my hair had gotten longer. Dr. Franklin smiled.
“What did he do?” She asked.
“He shoved me against the wall, called me a faggot and punched me in the stomach. I responded by dropping him to the floor. Officer Mullin, the school resource officer saw the whole thing. My description of what happened matched what he saw.”
“I see.” Dr. Franklin said, scribbling some notes on her notepad. “Given that you are now the victim of a hate crime, does this affect you wanting to transition?”
“Not at all. It just makes me want to be me all the more.” I replied, knowing it was exactly how I felt in my heart. “I’ve been thinking about something though.” Dr. Franklin raised an eyebrow.
“What’s that?” she asked, her pen hovering above the pad of paper.
“Eye color. It’s easy to change your hair color, and you can get colored contact lenses. I’ve been wondering off and on what I would look like with grey or blue eyes…” Dr. Franklin scribbled some more notes down.
“I think you should talk to your mom and an optometrist about that, professionally. Personally, I think that grey eyes would look stunning with your blonde hair.” She said. “I think that since you are starting to ask me questions, that we can call this session finished.”
“I’ve been thinking about something though.” Dr. Franklin raised an eyebrow.
“What’s that?” she asked, her pen hovering above the pad of paper.
“Eye color. It’s easy to change your hair color, and you can get colored contact lenses. I’ve been wondering off and on what I would look like with grey or blue eyes…” Dr. Franklin scribbled some more notes down.
“I think you should talk to your mom and an optometrist about that, professionally. Personally, I think that grey eyes would look stunning with your blonde hair.” She said. “I think that since you are starting to ask me questions, that we can call this session finished.” I bit my lip. Dr. Franklin noticed this.
“You’re worried about something…” She noted. I sighed and nodded, kind of collapsing in the chair. “What’s on your mind?”
“The surgery. I just don’t know that I can go through with it. I would be content to keep my current plumbing, and that way Katie or my wife, if it’s not Katie, and I can have kids if we so desire. If I have my plumbing changed, that won’t be an option.” I took a drink of water. Dr. Franklin looked at me.
“Morgan, you are worrying about things that are at best several years off. I would like for you and your mom to try to stop by later this week so we can start to talk about hormones. If you are planning on living full time for the rest of your life, then we need to halt puberty as much as possible and keep close eyes on the amount of sperm you are producing so that you have the option to have children, if you so desire.” I nodded dumbly.
“Would anyone think anything of a girl that has a penis?” I glanced at the floor. I felt awkward talking to another girl about this sort of thing.
“No one would have to know. They have prosthesis that can make you look like you were born a female, even going as far as to where you can have sex that way although you wouldn’t ever have to worry about getting pregnant.” Dr. Franklin looked down at her note pad and then back up at me.
“You know, by your age, most girls have developed a little bit. Are you wearing a bra?” She raised an eyebrow at me and I blushed.
“Yes.” I said quietly, embarrassed for some reason.
“What is your band size?” I looked at her, my eyebrows raised. “That would be the number.”
“36, I think.”
“You think?” it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. I gave a small smile.
“I’m kinda new to bra sizes, at least in terms of knowing my own…” I said to her. She smiled at me.
“Would you mind letting me look at the bra you have on so I can see what size it is?” I stood up and turned around and lifted my shirt up so that Dr. Franklin could take a look at the band. I felt her cool fingers flip the band over and look at the tag. “You were off.. This is a 32.” She said, gently letting the band flip back over and then I heard her sit. I let my shirt fall to the top of my skirt and then sat, smoothing my skirt as I slid back into the chair. Dr. Franklin smiled and picked note pad back up, she smiled at me and then made a note. “B cup.” She said. I nodded, thinking to my self that anything bigger would look odd on my small frame.
“They would be out to about here?” I asked, holding my hands where I expected the end of my breasts to be. Dr. Franklin nodded.
“Yeah. About there.” She said. “Do you have any thing else thats bothering you?” She asked.
“Only things that you can’t answer.” I said to her. She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, things like why people like James Petry have to be the way they are…” I let the thought trail off. She smiled and then reached out and patted my leg.
“People have wondered that since the dawn of time…” she replied.
Katie and I sat in my room, in front of my MacBook trying to figure out what data we actually needed for this project and what was just filler data in the book. Once we had gotten the data into Numbers, we looked at each other.
“Run it.” She said. I clicked a few buttons and let the program work it’s magic. “How’s your head?” I glanced over at her.
“It’s ok. It’s not hurting anymore. Maybe tonight you guys can actually let me sleep…”
“Katie, Morgan, Dinner is done.” We heard Jen shout up the steps. I glanced at the computer which was still sorting it’s way through the data we had fed it and then looked at Katie.
“Lets go eat.” I said. Katie and I both headed for the staircase and went down. We walked into the kitchen and Jen had already set the table, and was carrying a pot of what smelled like macaroni and cheese. As she walked by, I looked in the pot and sure enough, there was macaroni and cheese with what looked like ham in it.
“Smells good.” I said. Katie sat in a chair and I sat next to her. Jen sat the pot in the middle of the table on a large ceramic plate so that she didn’t burn the table. Jen scooped some of the mixture into bowls on the table. Mom came in and sat at the table. After Jen served all the food she sat down and smoothed her skirt out.
“Let’s eat.” Mom said, and with that we dug in. “So how was school today, Girls?”
“My day was ok. I don’t know about those two.” Jen said. Mom and Jen looked at us.
“Our day was fine with the exception of James Petry showing up and trying to get me kicked out of school. I just wish that people would accept me for me. I’m the same regardless of what I’m wearing.”
"Isn’t that the truth.” Mom said.
Katie and I cleared the table, and then went back up to my room. My MacBook had finished sorting the data that we fed it and had gone to sleep. I moved the trackball and woke it up, typing in my password to regain access to the computer. Katie had glanced over my shoulder at the monitor…
“You know, you really should change your name so that it’s correct.” Katie said. I hadn’t changed the username on the MacBook to reflect my name change.
“Maybe, but my name change isn’t legal yet. I still need papers from Dr. Franklin for that.”
“This isn’t official, silly. It’s just the name you use to log on to your computer. You could have it be anything you wanted…” With that I went and changed it so that my login name was Morgan Smith. Katie beamed. I went back to where Numbers had compiled our data and looked at it. I selected a few fields and then told the program to create a chart.
“What kind of chart did we need.?” I asked Katie. She flipped pages through the book before looking at me.
“It doesn’t say any kind in particular, just that we need to have a chart for production versus sales, R&D costs versus sales and it says that if we can do it using the data we have, to project sales year over year on the improvised widget.” I looked at Katie.
“Do we have the data for that?”
“Yep. We might need to add some more data to the spreadsheet to generate the chart, but it’s on page 213.” I flipped my own book to page 213 and looked at the page. Sure enough, we had the data that we needed to do the projections on a year over year basis as well as a six month projection chart. I wondered how many of our classmates would catch the six month chart. I quickly entered the data and generated the new charts. I switched from Numbers to Keynote where I told it to create a new file. I grabbed a sheet of paper from the printer on my desk. I started to lay out the Powerpoint presentation on paper. Katie looked at my ideas.
“I like it. Now lets convince the VPOPS to give R&D More money, so we can finish out the year in the green.” Katie said. I nodded and started transferring the paper I’d drawn up to the slides that made up the powerpoint presentation. I finished building the presentation and then looked at Katie before starting it from the beginning.
“Thoughts?” I asked her after letting the show play on it’s own.
“It looks good to me. Mom called me while I was at Barnes and Noble, she would like me to come home and sleep in my own bed tonight.” I pouted.
“We knew it was going to come eventually.” Katie said, running her fingers through my hair.
“Yeah. Do you have a thumb drive with you?” Katie reached into her purse and pulled out a purple thumb drive. She handed it to me as I saved the file. I went to where I saved it and then copied it to her thumb drive. After the file had been copied, I ejected the thumb drive and handed it to her. I repeated the same process on my own thumb drive and then dropped it in my backpack. It never hurt to have multiple copies of something like this. I stood up and stretched. The bedside clock blinked and it caught my eye. It was already nine PM. “What time did your mom want you home by?” I asked Katie, pulling her into a hug.
“Ten. And not a minute later or she will take my car away.” She kissed me on the lips and then pulled back to look at me.
“Do we have anything pressing that needs to be done tomorrow?”
“Umm. I have some math that needs to be done. I did my preliminary ideas for Snyder’s paper over lunch. I still need to talk to her about that. She might reject it. Other than that I think I’m good.”
“Ok. I’m going to head home so that I don’t get in trouble. Call me if you need anything.” Katie and I walked to the front door where I helped her put her coat on. I handed her backpack and purse and kissed her again. I stepped out onto the porch and watched as she got in her car and drove around the corner to her house. I walked back in the house and shut the door, locking it behind me. I went up to my room, changed into a lilac colored satin night gown and promptly fell asleep.
I rolled over at six thirty the next morning and hit the alarm clock, causing it to silence one of the most annoying sounds I think that has ever been produced; certainly not something I want to hear that early in the morning. Who ever designed the thing needed to be taken out back, shot, and drawn and quartered… I sat up and turned on the lamp on the table. Jen poked her head in the door.
“Morning. Shower’s free.” She said with a smile and then disappeared. I stood, feeling my nightgown fall to my knees and disappeared to take a shower. Ten minutes later, I was standing in my room staring into my closet when my phone beeped to indicate that I had a text message. Getting a text message at quarter till seven in the morning was odd in the first place. I looked at it and saw that it was from Katie. “White button up shirt, pink tee shirt, short black skirt, black knee socks, black shoes with two inch heel.” Well, so much for me needing to figure out what I was going to wear today. I pulled out the various pieces of clothes that Katie had specified in the text message. Once that was done, I got dressed, and then brushed my hair. When I entered the kitchen, my nose was assaulted by the smell of coffee. Jen was manning the coffee pot, and Mom was nowhere to be seen. Jen turned on her heel and offered a cup of coffee. Mom came in the kitchen a few minutes later and Jen offered her the cup of coffee that she had just made.and started another cup for her.
“Thanks sweetie.” Mom said, taking the cup of coffee. She looked at me. “Are you going to stay out of trouble today, Morgan? I’d like to get in a whole day of work…”
“I haven’t been doing it on purpose…” I said. Mom smiled at me.
“I know. When is Katie getting here to take you to school?”
“She should be here any minute…” I munched on a piece of toast and finished my coffee. As soon as I had sat my cup in the sink, My phone beeped, indicating a text message had been received. I looked at my phone. “My ride is here.”
“Ok, I’ll see you at school.” Jen said, hugging me. I hugged mom and then walked outside. I was instantly assaulted by twenty degree air blowing up my skirt. I ran for the car and got in. I was grateful that the car had heated up a little bit on the short drive from Katie’s house to mine. I turned to Katie and kissed her, and then she put the car in gear and let the car roll backwards out of the driveway. Katie pointed the car in the general direction of the school and drove us there. Katie pulled the car into a parking spot and we got out. There was no one around as we walked toward the school.
Katie pulled on the door that we usually entered the building through, and found it locked. “That’s odd.” She stated, tugging the handle on one of the other doors. We both looked at each other and then started walking toward the other set of doors that we could use to gain entrance into the building. While we were walking, I fished my phone out and called Jen.
“What’s up?” she asked after she had answered her phone.
“We’re at the school, but the doors are all locked. Any idea what’s going on?” I asked her as I watched Katie tug on the fourth, and final door that made up this entrance.
“Hmm… Nope. I have no clue and they haven’t said anything on the news. Call mom and see if she knows something that we don’t. I would also recommend getting back in the car where you would be out of the wind. At least then you can have some heat…”
“Good idea.” I signaled to Katie for us to head back toward the car. “Are you on your way?”
“Yes, I’ll be there in a few minutes, assuming traffic isn’t bad.” I heard Jen switch gears. “Where are you guys parked?”
“We’re in the-“ I stopped talking and crouched behind a pillar and felt Katie do the same. There was now a group of people doing something to Katie’s car. “Jen, when you get here park on the admin side of the building, where mom parked the other day when we came over to talk to Paskly. There appears to be half a dozen people, looks like kids, doing something to Katie’s car.” I looked at Katie and she looked at her car. “Give me your phone.” She handed me her phone. Without moving my phone from my ear, I called the police department from Katie’s phone. “Good Morning, Ma’am. I’m a student at the high school, there is a group of people surrounding my girlfriends car, doing some damage to it. My name is Morgan Smith. Yes, Ma’am, that Morgan Smith. The car is parked in the student lot, it’s the only car over there right now. Thank you, Ma’am” I hung up Katie’s phone as I heard glass breaking.
“Morgan, I’m in the lot and I see you guys, come over and get in my car until the police get here.” I turned and looked at Katie.
“Jen’s here. Lets go get in her car until the calvary arrives.” I whispered to Katie. Katie crept back the way we had come and then, after we had moved out of view of her car, we sprinted to Jen’s car. We got in and shut the doors, locking them behind us. Jen had been sitting there with her foot on the brake, and the car in reverse waiting on us to get into the car. She punched the accelerator and the car shot backwards. Jen reached the other end of the parking lot in a matter of seconds.
“Who’s over there?” Jen asked, shifting the car into neutral and setting the parking brake.
“Not sure, everyone had on coats so ID’ing them is going to be hard. I don’t think they had on gloves, so lifting prints shouldn’t be that difficult.” Two cruisers pulled into the lot and flew around us, heading for the student lot. Jen put the car in gear and released the parking brake and slowly followed the cruisers around the front of the building so we could see what was going on. The two officers that had arrived first had six people on the ground as another cruiser pulled into the lot. I squinted as Lieutenant Chang and Officer Mullin got out of the cruiser. Around thirty seconds later, the only paddy wagon that the city owned pulled into the lot. After the six officers that had arrived had placed the eight people that had vandalized Katie’s car in the paddy wagon, Officer Mullin flashed his flash light at Jen and she pulled over toward Katie’s car. Jen parked the car and Katie looked at her car and gasped. All four tires were flat, every window had been broken out. Someone spray painted some obscenities that I won’t bother to repeat here.
“Are you guys alright?” Officer Mullin asked after we had gotten out of Jen’s car.
“Yeah, I don’t think that they even knew that we were here until you guys showed up. The more important question is why is there nobody here? All the doors are locked.” Officer Mullin and Lieutenant Chang looked at each other.
“The doors are locked?” Lieutenant Chang asked.
“Yeah, All of them. Also, there are no cars here, which isn’t normal.” Lieutenant Chang looked around the parking lot.
“L2 to Radio,” Lieutenant Chang said into his radio.
“Go L2.” Came the voice of one of the dispatchers.
“Can you contact the Department of Education and find out why the doors are locked at the high school?”
“Affirm sir, Stand by.” Lieutenant Chang looked at the three of us.
“You girls must be cold, get back in the car. I’ll come over if I need any of you for any thing.”
“Yes, Sir.” Jen and I said at the same time. We had been around the police force long enough to know when a dismissal was a suggestion or an order. Lieutenant Chang had just given us an order to get back in the car. Once we were in the car, Katie called her mother.
“Mom. You may want to call the insurance company.” Katie listened for a few seconds. “No eight guys attacked the car. There are no windows left and they spray painted things that I shouldn’t repeat to my mother.” There was another pause. “Ok, they spray painted the words ‘Fag Lover and the ‘C’ word’ Also, when we got here, all the doors were locked.” I glanced at Katie and she rolled her eyes. “Ok. I’ll give you a case number as soon as I get it.” Katie put her phone back in her purse and sighed. “Why can’t people be accepting?”
“I don’t know, Katie, I don’t know.” I said. “I wish they were.” Lieutenant Chang walked over, and Jen rolled down her window.
“Ok, the radio room contacted the Department of Education and found out that they had delayed school by two hours. That’s why no one was here. They said that they were looking into the matter as there was no reason to delay school.” I leaned over to look at him.
“They don’t know why there was a two hour delay?” I asked. “That’s kinda odd, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is, Morgan. Also, one of the guys we arrested here this morning was Adam Petry, but you didn’t hear that from me.” I glanced at Katie.
“James’ younger brother?” I asked.
“Older. Seems he was upset at his younger brother’s actions that got him expelled. Seems that he stated to Cassingham that you should have been the one expelled, Morgan. Said that you were causing a disturbance that was affecting all of your classes. I know you better than that.” He smiled.
“Some people never learn, do they?” I wondered aloud. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m waiting on a hook to get here so we can take the car somewhere. Katie, where do you want it to go?”
“Lets take it to my house. We can put it in the garage.” Katie said. Chang nodded.
“Mullin said he would talk to the school and have your absence excused today.”
“I’ll be here.” I said. Katie and Jen nodded.
“Alright then. I’ll let Mullin know.” Chang stood and walked back over to Katie’s car as a tow truck pulled in. The tow truck pulled in and backed up to Katie’s car and then started to hook the car up. He walked up to Lieutenant Chang, who pointed at the car we were in. The driver walked over to the car and Jen put her window down.
“Which one of you ladies is Miss Richards?” Katie raised her hand. “Ok, where are we taking the car, Miss?”
“To my house, it’s at 3421 Wagon Way.” Katie responded.
“Ok, if you ladies would follow me there, please. Miss Richards, I will need you to sign for the transport.” The driver said. Katie nodded and we watched as the tow truck driver got in his truck and started to drive away. We followed him to Katie’s house where he dropped the car in front of the garage door and then helped us get it inside, which I thought was nice. The last time that I recalled mom needing a tow the guy was nice enough, but he didn’t really go the extra mile… This guy did. After we had gotten the car in the garage. Katie, Jen and I headed for a local coffee shop. Once there we got our latte’s and sat at a quiet table in the corner.
“Did any one else find what happened this morning strange?” I asked, after sipping my latte.
“Yeah. The sudden two hour delay was strange. Especially when you consider that between the three of us we had two TV’s and two radios on and we didn’t hear a thing about it.” Katie sat her cup down. Jen was fooling with her phone.
“I can’t find the closure listed anywhere. I’m not sure, but I would expect more than just us would have shown up this morning. When was the last time that you heard of the doors of the school being locked.”
“Only when there was no one there, like over Christmas, or if we go into a lockdown. I think they even leave them unlocked at night.” Katie said. Jen closed her phone and then looked at the time.
“We should get going if we want to get there on time, two hours late…” Jen said. The three of us finished our latte’s and then headed back out to the car to go to school. This time when we arrived, there were people there.
Katie and I made it to third period before we were called down to the office. At least we were in study hall when the call came trough the PA.
“Mrs Jenkins, could you please send Katie Richards and Morgan Smith to the office.” Every eye in the room looked at the two of us.
“They are on their way.” Mrs. Jenkins said, nodding at us. Katie and I hadn’t pulled anything out of our bags, as we had pretty much just sat down. Katie and I walked out of the lecture hall and toward the stairwell to head to the first floor.
“I wonder what we are in trouble for now…” I said, letting the thought trail off. Katie looked at me.
“How much do you want to bet that it has something to do with this morning. We seem to be the only two people besides Jen that missed the fact that we were delayed by two hours today.” She said as we started to descend the steps.
“You’re probably right.” I said to her. “The question is, what are we going to do about what happened this morning?”
“I have no idea.” She shrugged, before pushing open the door to the main office. Mrs. Vickers looked up and smiled at us.
“Mr. Gallagh would like to see both of you. He and Officer Mullin are in the conference room.” She said, pointing down the hall toward the conference room. Katie and I glanced at each other.
“Mr. Gallagh would like to see us?” I asked.
“Yeah, He thinks he’s come up with how you guys didn’t get notified this morning, and who was behind the delay this morning.” Mrs. Vickers said. I dumbly nodded and followed Katie to the door of the conference room which was closed. Katie reached out and knocked on the door, and Officer Mullin opened it.
“Ah, Come in, Girls.” He said, “Have a seat, we are waiting on Jen to come down as well.” Katie and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows. Mr. Gallagh chuckled.
“No, you guys aren’t in trouble, although Miss Richards, please have your mother make sure that copies of everything relating to what happened this morning gets to my secretary, please.
“Yes, Sir.” Katie said quietly. There was another knock on the door, and Officer Mullin admitted Jen and Lieutenant Chang into the room. Jen sat next to me and gave me a bewildered look. Lieutenant Chang sat across from us. Officer Mullin walked around the table and sat between Mr. Gallagh and Lieutenant Chang.
“I heard about this morning’s delay as I walked into my office at ten till eight. Apparently the switchboard at the district offices were getting calls as to why there was a delay, and no one even knew any thing about it. Well, I think I know what happened but, before I explain it, I would like your mothers here.” Mr. Gallagh said. “I’ve already called them, and they are on their way.” Jen and I had glanced at each other. Here was another day that Mom would be missing work due to something related to me and school. It was a good thing that Mom worked from home 95% of the time.
“So why call us down now, rather than wait until our mothers arrived?” I asked.
“Because we received a threat.” Lieutenant Chang said. “It was against you, Morgan, and they said that they would kill you if you walked out of this building. The source is almost certainly the same person who was behind the delay this morning, or an accomplice.” I started shaking. Katie reached over and held me, and I felt Jen start stroking my hair. Mullin and Chang exchanged a glance.
“Morgan there are more people in this building that will protect you than you realize. We’ve had plain clothes units here since this morning. I dug around in my bag and pulled out my phone. I had Dr. Franklin on speed dial, and I pushed the button and held it so that my phone would call the speed dial.
“Why won’t you just tell us what is going on?” I heard Jen ask. Dr. Franklin picked up her phone.
“Good Morning, Morgan, is everything ok?” She asked. I was calling her on a school day, in the middle of school. She knew that everything was not ok.
“No.” I said into the phone, my voice almost a whisper. “Can you come to the school, Please? We’re in the conference room, and there is something that I think you need to hear.” I knew that Dr. Franklin would end up at the school, based solely on the way my voice was giving away my emotional state.
“I’ll be there in about ten minutes, I need to have Suzanne clear some appointments. Is your mom on the way?” She asked.
“Yes. Her and Mrs. Richards should be here any minute.”
“Ok, Hang tight, I’ll be there in a few.” Dr. Franklin said. I heard a door shut and then her talking to Suzanne. I felt Katie wrap an arm around me.
“Ok, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere so I’ll see you when you get here.” I said, and then hung up the phone. There was a knock on the door and I jumped. Officer Mullin rose and walked around the table to open the door. I suddenly realized that we were sitting in a position that we wouldn’t be seen by someone standing in the door way. Officer Mullin stepped aside and admitted Mom and Mrs. Richards into the room. Mom glanced at Lieutenant Chang and raised an eyebrow. He pursed his lips. Susan looked at Mr. Gallagh, who motioned for our mothers to have a seat. A few seconds later, there was another knock at the door and Officer Mullin, who hadn’t made it back to his seat opened the door a second time. He stepped aside and Dr. Franklin came in. I must have visibly relaxed when Dr. Franklin walked in, as Katie had released her grip on me.
“Now that everyone is here, Let me try to explain what happened this morning.” Mr. Gallagh stood. “Do you guys remember that last year we set up a reverse calling system to notify people of something major happening within the school district?” The five of us nodded, the forms that had been sent home didn’t make much sense at the time but as time went on everyone started to understand what the system was in place for. That system had been used in that past to make sure that every knew of delays, early dismissals, and closures. That was when it dawned on me what was going on.
“Someone altered the database…” I said suddenly.
“Yes. I started to do some digging after I heard about the small mob that attacked Katie’s car this morning, Mrs. Richards, please make sure that my office gets copies of everything. I would like to see if there was any student involvement in any way.” Susan nodded. “What I discovered shocked me. I specifically went and looked at the records that belonged to the three of you in the database. I highly doubt that the three of you share a number that can’t be assigned. The number in the database: 000-000-0000.” Katie and I shared a look. I had an idea of who had done this, and I think Katie did as well.
“Joyce Paskly…” Susan said, suddenly realizing what had happened.
“Yes, we realized after we started fielding calls about a delay that we knew nothing about that something was up. Someone that knows how the delay system works called in the delay knowing that the three of you wouldn’t find out about it. We determined that the call came in from a pay phone, and finally figured out who did it. Susan you hit the nail on the head. Joyce Paskly has been arrested for misuse of the phone system, and the charges for destruction of school property.”
“Ok, What about this threat?” I said. Mom, Susan and Dr. Franklin looked at me, and then at Officer Mullin and Lieutenant Chang.
“Threat?” Mom asked.
“Yeah, someone called the school and said that if Morgan left the building, they would kill her.” Lieutenant Chang said. “We already have several plain clothes units in the school as well as around it. We are ready for everything.” I had noticed some people that I had never seen in the building and now I knew why. “We have a few ideas, some of which I’m surprised that a pair of guys came up with some of this.” The Lieutenant looked at Mom.
“Go on, Lieutenant, we may be able to help you with the ideas.” Mom said. She knew the kind of stuff that Chang had come up with in the past.
“We change Morgan’s appearance. I think we could make her a strawberry blond, get some colored contacts, change her makeup, change her clothes.” I glanced at Dr. Franklin.
“Dr. Franklin and I had discussed the colored contacts…” I said. Mom glanced at me.
“What color were you thinking?” Mom asked.
“Grey. I love the way it looks and I like the idea of becoming a strawberry blond. I’m not wearing any makeup, and I don’t have any clothes to change into here.” Mom looked thoughtful, like she was trying to figure out what I would look like as a strawberry blond.
“Now, there is one other trick to this.” Chang said. “This new girl can’t exit the building with Katie and Jen.” I looked at him. That would be one of the most difficult things about this.
“What do you suggest?” Susan asked.
“Officer Evans will pick Morgan up in an unmarked car, and will take Morgan Dr. Franklin’s office. Morgan, do you know Evans?” I shook my head. “She’s a relatively new Officer, and she does have a daughter who attends Morrison.” Morrison was one of the Middle Schools on the Southern end of town. “We will need to give you an assumed name, any suggestions?”
“Samantha.” Mom said suddenly. I shrugged. I was too worried about the thought of someone trying to kill me. I glanced at Mom, and then at Jen.
“Where did you come up with that?” Jen asked.
“Samantha Marie was the third girls name on the list that your father and I had for names of our children.” Mom said. I never realized that mom and dad had gone into that much detail in naming us.
“Oh.” Jen said.
“I like it.” Katie said.
“Ok, so Morgan is now Samantha, at least when she leaves the building tonight. Now we need to get the contacts, hair color and a change of clothes.” Chang said. “Is there anything that Morgan is not allowed to wear?”
“Pants.” Mom, Katie, Jen, and my self all said at the same time. Lieutenant Chang raised his eyebrows.
“Actually, pants may be the perfect disguise for what we are trying to do.” Dr. Franklin said. This was the first time that she had spoken since she had walked in the room. I turned to look at her. She was the one that had suggested full time skirts. “May I suggest an outfit?” Chang looked at her.
“This is your patient, Doctor, suggest away.”
“Pink shirt of some kind, skinny jeans, ballet flats, and lets put her hair in pigtails.” Dr. Franklin looked at me, presumably picturing me dressed as she had just described. “I will take the clothing that she has on now with me, and she can put them on when she gets to my office this afternoon.”
“Sounds good to me.” Mom said. “Who is going to go get the hair color, contacts and clothes?” The bell rang, signaling the change from third period to fourth period.
“Sounds good to me.” Mom said. “Who is going to go get the hair color, contacts and clothes?” The bell rang, signaling the change from third period to fourth period.
“I will.” Chang said. Mom and I looked at him.
“You are going to go pick up hair color, contacts and clothes for a sixteen year old girl?” Mom asked.
“Yeah. I’m not going to let this person hurt Morgan if I can help it.” Chang said
“What do you know about girls fashion?” Dr. Franklin asked.
“Nothing.” Chang admitted.
“Jackie, I’ll go get the stuff for Morgan. We’re going to need a doctors’s note to get the contacts anyway.” Dr. Franklin said. “Morgan, what shade of grey would you like?”
“There are different shades?” I asked. I had only ever seen grey eyes and had been captivated, so much in fact that I never noticed the shades of grey.
“Yeah, dark grey, blueish grey, and I think there may be a light grey.” The Doctor said.
“Can you get me all three, and then we can decide what looks best with my skin color?” I asked. Dr. Franklin looked at Mom, who shrugged.
“Yep. We decided on Strawberry blond, right?” Dr. Franklin asked, and then looked at Chang.
“Yes, unless you see a color that you think would work better then go for it.” Chang said. They had copy of the blue prints of the school spread out on the table. “Katie, show me where you guys would normally exit the school.” Dr. Franklin left to go get the stuff we needed to pull this off, so I turned my attention to what was happening on the table.
“Right here.” Katie pointed to the doorway that would lead outside next to Officer Mullin’s office. “But, my car isn’t here, Jen brought us.” Officer Mullin looked at Jen.
“Where are you parked?”
“In the student lot.” Jen replied, pointing in the general direction of the lot. Chang and Mullin went back to the blue prints. I looked at the blue prints.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Trying to figure out how to get you out of the building.” Chang said, and then went back to looking at the blue prints. I gave them a close look.
“What about the maintenance area, here.” I said pointing at the blue prints.
“That could work. Let me have Mullin check it out and see if we can use it to sneak you out of here. I would love to have you out of here before school is out…” Chang said. I jumped as there was a knock on the door. Susan opened it when Chang nodded. Standing on the other side was Mrs. Vickers. Susan let her in the room.
“Mr. Gallagh, you have a call on Line one, sir.” She said.
“Thank you, Robin.” Mr. Gallagh said, and then went to the phone that sat in the corner of the room. He picked up the extension. “This is Steven.” A few seconds passed and then he spoke again. “Ok, thank you.” He turned and looked at Chang after he had hung up the phone. “That was Tamara, my secretary. She said that they just got another call, and said that the IT department had pulled a phone number out of the system.” He glanced at me. “The number that came up matched the number for Joyce Paskly’s husband, Carl.” Katie and I shared a glance. Chang nodded and then walked over to the phone, and called someone.
“Cassingham, it’s Chang. Steven Gallagh just told me that his people pulled a number from the phone system. It belongs to a Carl Paskly. He’s the husband of Joyce Paskly. She was termed over some actions that she took regarding Morgan Smith.” Chang turned to look at me. “I’m not sure, Hang on.” Chang said into the phone. “Morgan, have you ever had contact with Carl Paskly?”
“Not to my knowledge.” I said. There was a knock on the door and Chang put his hand on his gun and nodded at Susan, who cracked the door. When she realized it was Mullin, she opened the door all the way. Mullin walked in the room and shut the door behind him.
“No, she’s never had contact with him.” Chang said into the phone. Mullin tilted his head to one side, not understanding what Chang was saying on the phone. Officer Mullin looked at me and pointed at Chang.
“Detective Cassingham.” I said quietly. “They got an ID on the threat call. It was Carl Paskly.”
The bell had just rung to indicate that sixth period was starting and that also meant that Katie and I would be missing lunch. Mom had left just after Dr. Franklin did and Susan had left shortly after that. Mom knew that she wouldn’t accomplish much while she was here worrying, so she had gone back to the house and left me in Lieutenant Chang and Officer Mullin’s capable hands.
“Great, there goes our lunch, and I didn’t eat anything this morning…” Katie said. I looked at her. I pulled out my phone and sent a text message to Dr. Franklin, who still wasn’t back yet, asking if she could stop somewhere on the way back and pick us up some lunch. I got a message back and then looked at Katie.
“Dr. Franklin will pick us up something. What do you want?” I asked her.
“Lets just get something from a sub place. There is one down the street, ask her if she will get me a tuna salad on wheat, please?” Katie said. I typed out our requests on the keypad on my phone. I really needed to get a phone that had a keyboard on it… I got a response a few seconds later, stating that Dr. Franklin would pick up the subs for us and would be back at the school in the next fifteen to twenty minutes.
Katie and I finished eating our subs and I looked at the stuff that Dr. Franklin had carried in. There was more than I thought she’d have. After we’d eaten, Dr. Franklin started to unload the bags. Chang and Mullin watched with a look of bewilderment on their faces.
“New panties?” Katie asked after Dr. Franklin had pulled a matching pink bra and panties out of one of the bags.
“Yes. I don’t think that the bra that Samantha has on now would hold these very well.” Dr. Franklin responded, opening a box to reveal a pair of breast forms. I guessed them bring me to an average sized C cup.
“Fair enough.” Katie said and then sat back in the chair she was sitting in to see what else Dr. Franklin had brought. The next thing that she pulled out of a bag was a long sleeved black top. She sat this on the table, covering the bra and panties. Katie reached out to feel the shirt, and then sat back again. The next thing that came out of a bag was a pair of dark blue jeans. They looked too small to fit me.
“Are you sure those will fit me?” I asked. Dr. Franklin and Katie both gave me a smile.
“Yes, they will fit, and they are your size. They are going to be super tight, which seems to be the style right now. When we are done, you are going to look like any other sixteen year old girl in terms of fashion, and making you blend in more than you already do is what’s going to let us pull this off.”
“I see.” I said, thinking that the pants were still too small to fit, and that I would look silly trying to wear them. Dr. Franklin then set a pair of what looked like fleece lined boots on the table. They were black and looked rather warm. My feet tended to get cold in most shoes so something warm would be a plus. There were two bags that hand’t been unpacked yet, and I could see that one contained two boxes of hair color. The other I wasn’t sure about. Katie noticed this too.
“What’s in the other bag, Doctor?” Katie asked.
“Contacts, and the related care supplies for them. In the bag with the hair color I found strawberry blonde, but as I looked I thought that perhaps a brown with lighter highlights would work too. I’m not sure that would change her appearance that much, so I’m still leaning toward the strawberry blonde.” She said. She was the one trained in some of this, after all. Katie was looking at me, a grin appearing on her face.
“What?” I asked her.
“I’m trying to picture you as a strawberry blonde and I’m liking what I see…” she said, letting the thought trail off. The bell rang again, this time indicating that we had just started seventh period. We now had less than ninety minutes to transform me into someone that, hopefully, I wouldn’t recognize…
I looked at my self in the mirror. I was still me, obviously. Now I had long strawberry blonde hair. Dr. Franklin still hadn’t taught me how to put the contacts in yet, She wanted me to get dressed first. I looked at the clothes that were hanging on the hook. She had brought the clothes in to the little shower that was part of the nurses office. This was one area that I had seen a few times in the last few days and I had never been here before that. I slipped the pink bikini on and tucked everything away, it would be even more important when I put the pants on than it was when I had on a skirt. I pulled the socks on, and then put the bra on. The cups were a bit empty as I hadn’t slid the two breast forms in yet. I looked at the two forms in the box. I picked one of them up and looked at it. I held it up to my chest trying to figure out which way it went and finally just sat the thing in one of the cups on the bra. I must have put it in correctly because it looked right to me. I picked up the other one and placed it in the cup, and that one didn’t look quite right. I moved it around and noticed that it felt more comfortable, and when I looked in the mirror, it matched the other side, but in reverse.
I picked up the pants and looked at them. The tag had my size on it, and when I held them up to my waist and the waist seemed like it would fit, and it looked like they would hit the ankle, just like they were supposed to. I sat on the little bench that was built into the wall and started to pull the pants on. When my left foot finally popped out, I noticed a stirrup that was part of the pants. Smart idea, especially if you are tucking them into boots, they will stay tucked in… I made my other foot pop out of the opening at the bottom of the right leg and stood to try to squeeze the rest of my lower half into the pants. After pulling the pants together right below my hips, I finally got them buttoned, and then slipped the shirt over my head, I looked at the white blouse I had worn over the pink tee shirt today and slipped that over the black long sleeved shirt that Dr. Franklin had purchased. Rubbing my temples I sat on the bench again, feeling the jeans tighten as they had to stretch to accommodate my change in position. I slipped my feet in the boots and then I picked up my skirt and undergarments and opened the door. Dr. Franklin stood there, and give me a look up and down.
“I was just about to come see if you fell in, Samantha. You look nice.” She said. I looked like any other girl in the school, down to the super tight jeans that were the current fashion. “I like what you did with the blouse. Are you sure you’re not a girl?” She asked with a chuckle.
“I’m pretty sure that I’m not.” I replied dryly. I wasn’t really up to games and jokes right now. Someone was trying to kill me after all… Dr. Franklin smiled.
“I know you’re worried. I’m worried as well. Morgan, you’re going to survive this and come out better on the other side of this. You are a strong young lady, and one that I think is going to make waves in the transgendered community. Morgan, you’ve already overcome some pretty tough odds, you had to fight your way into school, you’ve been attacked you are currently being threatened, but to look at you, you are taking it all with a grain of salt. I can tell that you’re mind is engaged in forward planning, you are thinking about getting out of this building, and then you are thinking up contingency plans just in case plan A falls apart.” I blinked. That had been exactly what was going through my head.
“How did you know?” I wondered aloud. Dr. Franklin smiled at me.
“Morgan, I’ve been seeing you since your father died. I knew that you put on your sister’s dress as a way of coping, and I somehow knew that we would be having the session that we had last week. I didn’t know when, but I knew that we would be having it. I’ve gotten pretty good at learning the way you adapt to situations, as well as the way you handle stress. Morgan, I’m to the point where I can almost predict what is going through your head. You are a model patient, and one that I’m honored to have had the pleasure of seeing.” I could tell that she was serious, and that she meant every word that she had said. I hugged her, and she hugged me back.
I had finally gotten the contacts in and was looking at myself in the mirror. Dr. Franklin did such a good job at the makeup that I looked like I belonged in college, not high school. To me, I looked nothing like myself. This was a very good thing. I was still trying to get used to the really tight jeans after wearing skirts for the last week. There was a knock on the door and Officer Mullin opened the door to admit Katie and Jennifer in. They had gone around to our classes and collected the assignments that we missed. Katie’s eyes fell on me and then her jaw dropped. Jen was saying something to Officer Mullin when she glanced over at me and stopped talking.
“Wow.” Was the first thing out of Katie’s mouth. Jen’s mouth still hung open. Katie looked at Dr. Franklin.
“Can I take her home with me?”
“Not my call, but I think her mom might have a problem with that.” Dr. Franklin smiled.
“Morgan?” Jen asked, not believing that I was me.
“In the flesh” I replied.
“You look so different with the grey eyes and strawberry blonde hair. If I had my way, I wouldn’t let you switch back.” Jen said. I blinked.
“Me either.” Katie said, I just looked at both of them.
“You guys are crazy…” I replied, sitting down in a chair. Dr. Franklin chuckled.
“I think that I’m the only one qualified to say who in the room is crazy or not.” Dr. Franklin said. Jen looked over at her and started laughing.
“Very true, Doctor. I will defer to your expertise on determining who is crazy…” Katie had a look in her eyes.
“No.” I said to her, already knowing what she was thinking.
“Aww, man!” she said, before coming over and giving me a hug. “I’ve collected our homework and I will see you at Dr. Franklin’s office. It doesn’t seem like we have too much to catch up on tonight to stay at the head of the class.” Jen looked between Katie and I.
“Someone is trying to kill Morgan and you guys are concerned about staying at the top of the class?” She chuckled.
“Got to keep the priorities straight…” I said. Jen’s jaw dropped. Dr. Franklin looked at me and shook her head.
“Samantha does have a point,” Dr. Franklin said. “She is dertimined to survive today and she’s not willing to let some moron with a closed mind get to her. “This is human nature at it’s most basic form, Samantha is choosing the flight reflex over the fight reflex. The other day when James Petry attacked her, the response was fight as there was no option to fly.” Jen shook her head, and Katie had walked up and was giving me a hug. I could feel the breast forms pressing against my chest. Katie’s hands slid down to my butt.
“When you are allowed to wear pants again, I want them to be tight, just like these.” She whispered into my ear, and then she nibbled on my ear lobe. I heard a bell sound, and knew that we were now starting our last period of the school day.
“Samantha.” Dr. Franklin said. I slowly turned my head toward her. She handed me a small purse that my phone and wallet were already in. “I had your mom turn on the ability to track your phone, and it will be watched by several people. We know what Carl Paskly drives, we know what Joyce drives, and we are looking for both, but we may not catch him if he’s in something different.” She paused for breath and leaned against the wall. “How well do you know Officer Evans?”
“Not very, and that actually makes me nervous, rather than comforts me.”
“Why?” She was back to her primary role of picking brains.
“I would feel more comfortable with someone I knew driving.”
“Who?”
“Lieutenant Chang, Detective Cassingham, Sergeant Miller, you.” Dr. Franklin looked at me.
“Where is Lieutenant Chang? Also, why not Officer Mullin?”
“I think Chang is with Mullin down in his office. Mullin has duties here after school, so he can’t.” Dr. Franklin left the conference room for a moment. She came back and looked at me.
“Good call on Chang, he and Mullin will be here in a second.” Dr. Franklin winked at me. Katie looked at me, and then at Dr. Franklin.
“What are you thinking?” Katie asked. She knew that Dr. Franklin was trying to orchestrate something.
“Get Chang to drive one of the unmarked cars to get Samantha out of here. Samantha is not comfortable with someone that she doesn’t know driving the car, and I completely respect that.” Chang and Mullin came through the door and looked at the four of us. Both looked me up and down.
“If I didn’t know who you were, I wouldn’t know who you were. Samantha.” Mullin said.
“Ok. Here is the situation.” Dr. Franklin started. “Samantha is not comfortable with someone that she doesn’t know driving the car that is going to take her away from the school. She would prefer that one of you two or I drive the car.” Chang and Mullin looked at each other, and then at me.
“Why is that Morgan?” Chang asked.
“Something doesn’t feel right about this. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think it has to do with me not knowing Evans.” Officer Mullin looked at the clock.
“It’s almost time to get everyone in position.” He said. Chang walked over to the phone and dialed a number.
I waited by one of the doors to the school that was on the back side of the building for the cars that Chang had described to pull up. Officer Evans would be in the first car, and Detective Cassingham would be driving the second one. I was to get into the car that Cassingham was driving, lay down in the back seat and wait to be told that I could come up for air. I heard the dismissal bell ring and watched as a white Crown Vic came around the corner, followed by a red suburban. I knew that Evans was driving the Crown Vic and Cassingham was driving the suburban. I cautiously looked around before exiting the school. I ran out and got in the back of the suburban, pulling the door closed and hearing them click as Detective Miranda Cassingham locked the doors. She flashed her lights at Evans and they took off from behind the school. I felt the suburban lurch as Cassingham hit the gas, I rolled into the back of the seat as we flew forward.
“Stay down, Morgan.” Detective Miranda Cassingham said. I felt the suburban turn to the left and figured we were in the parking lot. “I’m about to make a hard left and run a light. Be ready for anything.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I said, lowering my self into the space between the passenger seat and the back seat. This would provide the maximum protection if something happened. I felt the suburban make a hard left, the rear end fishtailing before catching. Horns honked. Detective Cassingham punched the gas and once again, I was driven backwards into the seat. The anything that Detective Cassingham spoke of was the crack of a gun firing and the sound of the back window shattering. I heard the bullet hiss as it flew over my head and then a thunk as it entered the front passenger seat. I felt her push the gas, and then felt the SUV get hit from behind. Most people would be screaming, but one thing that our father had somehow instilled in us was that panicking did no good, and that if you stayed calm, you stood a better chance of getting through whatever was causing the panic. I carefully raised my head up to get a glimpse behind us when I felt my shoulder get nudged. I glanced up at Cassingham and saw that she was handing me her weapon.
“If you can disable that car, do it. Do you have your phone?” she asked.
“Yes.” Whoever was driving the car rolled up and bumped the back end of the Suburban, trying to execute a PIT.
“Call the Dispatch Center, tell them who you are and that we are west bound on Marconi, coming up on Simpson and that D4 is issuing a three. Tell them to track your phone and keep the line open.” I pulled my phone out and dialed the Dispatch Center.
“Takoma Police, Tech Seventy two.” Came a voice from someone in the dispatch center.
“This is Morgan Smith, I’m with Detective Cassingham. We are west bound on Marconi approaching Simpson. D4 is issuing a 10-3. There is a-“ I poked my head up just high enough to see the car behind us. “Light brown Chrysler behind us, Tag is AK339FD.” I heard the dispatcher typing, and then an all call come off the radio mounted in the front of the car.
“I’m making a hard right up here, Northbound on Simpson. See if they can bring everyone in behind us.”
“KQW992 to all units, D4 is 10-3, Repeat D4 is 10-3. Northbound on Simpson from Marconi. Suspect vehicle is a light brown Chrysler.” I braced my self for the turn that was coming. I knew what type of turn this was going to be. Cassingham was going to hang a U turn and take us back toward the responding units. The suburban that we were in belonged to Auto Task Force and it was modified to, if necessary, hit a vehicle to stop it. I curled up in the floor board behind the passenger seat, my back against the door to keep from moving around too much.
“Morgan, advise the Dispatch Center that I’m in a task force vehicle, I will ram this guy if I have to. Get ready for the turn.”
“I copied.” A few seconds later the radio came alive.
“All Units responding on the 3, be advised that D4 is in a Task Force vehicle.”
“Are you ready, Morgan?”
“Yep.” There was a thunk as the Surburban stopped a round that had entered the lift gate. I carefully raised my self up and looked back at the car that was chasing us. I wondered how many rounds this guy had… So far I counted seven rounds, no, make that eight. There was now a hole in the window a foot off of where Detective Cassingham was sitting. I looked at the Glock model 23 in my hand. “Detective, permission to fire on the car that is chasing us?”
“Morgan, if you can take him out, do it. It’s him or us, it’s self defense.” There was another thunk as a bullet penetrated the headrest of the seat a foot above my head.
“Morgan, I concur.” Tech 72 said into my ear. I knew that everything was being recorded, so I knew that the entire incident was logged.
“Miranda, can you hold the phone and drive?” I asked her as another bullet passed through the windshield.
“Normally, yes, but not at this speed. I’ll have to put the phone in the cup holder.” Came her reply.
“Dispatch, I’m passing you off to D4, we are going to keep the line open.” I handed he phone to Detective Cassingham. “Miranda, how many rounds do I have?”
“Fourteen. Thirteen are in the Mag, and one in the pipe.”
“Ok. It’s gonna get kind of loud in here.” I replied, peering over the top of the seat. Carl Paskly was trying to reload and drive at sixty miles an hour at the same time and was all over the road. I took aim and fired three rounds through the grill on the front of the now beat up Chrysler. I raised the Glock and fired two shots right at Paskly. With the way he was swerving, both shots missed, but I got his attention. Steam was pouring from the three holes I had put in the radiator. Paskly racked the slide on his gun and pointed it at me, so I dropped down below the seats again. I reached up and grabbed the phone. “I put three rounds in his radiator. Fired two at him but missed. I think I made him mad.” Four rounds hit the liftgate. He was just firing, not really caring where the rounds went or who they hit.
“Turning now!” Miranda shouted, and then turned the wheel to the right as far as it would go and hit the gas. The back end snapped out and just slipped around, and we headed right for Paskly, who opened fire at the front of the Suburban. As we passed the car that Paskly was driving, I opened fire from where I sat. I fired four rounds in the time that it took the two vehicles to pass each other. I knew that three of my four rounds had hit some part of his car, and the fourth sent a shower of blood erupting from his right arm. I could see him scream, as we passed, but I was unable to hear him as every marked cruiser in the city and surrounding area bore down on us. Knowing that we now had the entire police department there I collapsed in the floor board, and tossed the gun on the seat away from me. “Are you ok?” Miranda asked, turning in the seat as best she could while still having her seat belt on.
“Physically, or mentally?” I asked, trying to make light of what had just happened.
“Both.” She replied. The suburban was surrounded by marked cruisers and everyone was out and and had their guns pointed at the Oldsmobile. The door behind me was yanked open and I was carried toward the back of the line of cruisers. I was placed in the back seat of a cruiser, and looked up at the concerned faces of Lieutenant Chang and Officer Mullin. There was a few seconds of silence and then the sound of gunfire broke into the air. Chang and Mullin both collapsed toward me to shield me in case the bullets were intended for me. Over some radio, I heard the words “Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired. Suspect is down, repeat, suspect is down.”
We were half way to Dr. Franklin’s office when what had happened finally dawned on me. I started to shake as my body went through the drop in adrenaline. Mullin was the one that noticed, as he wasn’t driving.
“Morgan are you ok?” his voice was full of concern.
“No!” I all but shouted. “I just shot someone!” Tears started to stream down my face. “I was just shot at!” Mullin reached back and placed his hand on my knee.
“Your emotions are normal. There is a reason why any officer that has shot at someone or other wise involved in a shooting has to see the psychiatrist. Well, I’m taking you to see yours. Morgan, when the investigation is done, you acted in self defense. If you hadn’t done what you did, I’m pretty sure that you and Detective Cassingham would have your toes tagged down in the morgue. You did what you had to do.” We pulled up out side Dr. Franklin’s office. Katie and Jen were waiting on me. Mullin’s door was open before the car came to a complete stop. Katie and Jen rushed the car and Officer Mullin held his hand up and both of them stopped. He opened my door as Chang came around.
“What’s wrong with Morgan?” I heard Jen ask.
“Do you think you can walk, or do I need to carry you again?” Mullin asked me. I just looked at him, and he understood, leaning into the car. I wrapped my arms around Officer Mullin’s neck and he slid me out of the back seat, and picked me up. This action, of course, caused more concern from my girlfriend and sister. Jennifer opened the front door to the building and the five of us all walked in toward the elevator. Katie pushed the button and the elevator dinged. It hadn’t moved since they had come downstairs. We boarded the elevator and Katie hit the button to take us up to the third floor. Officer Mullin carried me all the way to Dr. Franklin’s office, gently sitting me on the couch. Dr. Franklin had dropped the papers that were in her hand on her desk when she had seen Mullin come through the door to her office.
“What happened to her?” Dr. Franklin asked after seeing my condition.
“She had to shoot at Carl Paskly. He was shooting at her, and Miranda handed Morgan her firearm and Morgan had to fire. She got one round into his right arm, and then we swarmed the scene. The realization of what had happened finally hit her. Julie, you are the best person to help her.”
“I know. Everyone out. Officer, get Morgan’s mom here, now.” Dr. Franklin said. Jen already had her phone out and was dialing as she backed out of the office. Dr. Franklin took my hands in hers I looked up into her face. “Morgan, tell me what happened.”
“He was chasing us and I had to shoot at him.” Dr. Franklin looked at me. “Miranda said I could, she said it was us or him. Frankly, I’m not ready to die…”
“You are much to young to go through what you did today. It’s my job to help you pick up the pieces.” Was her reply.
“I think I made him mad when I fired three bullets at his radiator, I missed with the two I fired at him, but that probably just made him mad. He fired off an entire magazine between the time I fired into his radiator and I put the round in his arm. I wasn’t trying to kill him, although I probably could have if it came down to it.” There was a knock on the door. Dr Franklin opened the door and Chang was standing on the other side.
“Sorry, Doctor, but I need a written statement from Morgan.” I turned my head to look at him.
“It’s ok, Morgan. Just write down what you told me.” Dr. Franklin said. I nodded, and took the paper and pen that he was offering. I looked at the paper and couldn’t get my hand to start writing, I was still shaking. Dr. Franklin looked at me and then at Chang. “Can I write it for her?”
“Yeah. Make sure that you note that you filled the form out at the bottom, and you both will need to sign it.” And with that, he left again. Dr. Franklin began filling out the statement form that Chang had left. She was done with the parts of it that she didn’t need my dictation to fill out relatively quickly.
“Julie, I’m not in trouble am I?” I asked. She glanced up at me.
“I think that if you were, we’d be doing this at police headquarters, not here…” She replied with a reassuring smile. “Tell me what happened starting from the time that you left the school until the time that Mullin pulled you from the suburban.” I started at the beginning and worked my way to the end. When Dr. Franklin handed me the form to sign there was a knock on the door. When Dr. Franklin opened the door this time, it was mom. She rushed in and gave me a hug.
“Are you ok?” she asked. I looked at her.
“Mentally or physically?” I responded. Mom looked from me to Dr. Franklin.
“Physically, she’s fine. Mentally, the entire ordeal has probably caused some trauma that will take some time to completely diagnose.” Dr. Franklin said to mom. She turned her attention back to me. “Lets put you back in a skirt. I think that will help you, it’s been therapeutic in the past, no reason why it wouldn’t be now…”
It was several weeks later after a session with Dr. Franklin when Katie and I were sitting in my room working on a project for our business class when Katie turned and looked at me.
“When’s Prom?” she asked. I stopped typing mid sentence and looked at her, more caught off guard by the question than anything.
“May, I think. Why?”
“Just wondering. I need to get our dresses together.”
“Dresses?” I replied. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead. “Are you asking me to prom?”
“Hmm…” Katie acted like she was pondering this question. “Yes.” She smiled.
“I’ll go with you. You must have an idea for our dresses inside that pretty little head of yours.”
“Um… Actually I do…”
The Friday after Katie and I had discussed prom, I was sitting in Dr. Franklin’s office with her and mom.
“Jackie, I think it’s safe to say that Josh isn’t dressing like a girl because he thinks it’s fun. I think Morgan can wear pants now, if she wants.”
“So does that mean that we are done with sessions?” Mom asked. Dr. Franklin raised an eyebrow.
“No. Morgan still has a ways to go with the Post Traumatic Stress from the incident with Carl Paskly, and I still need to confirm a few things before I can recommend sexual reassignment surgery for Morgan, if that is how far she wants to take this. I would recommend that we get her on hormones as soon as possible to keep any more male traits from appearing.” I looked at mom, who was contemplating what Dr. Franklin had just said.
“I consent to the hormones and I want Morgan to research the surgery thoroughly before she makes a decision on that one way or the other.” Mom smiled at me.
“I kinda thought that you’d see it Morgan’s way.” Dr. Franklin said picking up a folder from her desk. “Morgan, inside this folder are the prescriptions you need to start receiving hormones, and I anticipated your mom’s suggestion that you research the surgery. There are some documents in there that will help you. Some have been written by me, and some by others. Jackie, I’d like to talk to Morgan alone for a bit.”
“Ok.” Mom said standing, She turned to me and patted my leg which was bare under the short pink skirt I had on. “Call someone when you are through.” Mom kissed me on the top of the head.
“Ok. Love you.” I said to her.
“Love you too.” She said and then left the office.
“So, how have things been?” Dr. Franklin asked.
“Good.” I replied, shifting in the seat. “I haven’t had any cold sweats or flashbacks recently…” I felt the hair on the left side of my head tickle my ear. I had a few flashbacks since the day that I had to shoot at Carl Paskly. Katie had gotten really good at detecting them and helping me through them. One of the worst had occurred while we were at school. We had taken a slightly less congested route to get from our math class, which was upstairs to our business class. The quickest and least congested route was the stairway that had the door that I exited that day. I had told Katie that I was ready to try that stairwell and apparently I wasn’t as ready as I thought. As soon as my feet hit the floor next to the door, everything that happened that day came flooding back and I all but collapsed. Katie and been holding my hand as was normal for us as we moved from classroom to classroom. She could tell a lot about what was going through my mind by the way I holding her hand. Apparently when I flashed, I squeezed her hand really hard and about brought her to her knees. I had no clue where I was, and the pictures that were running though my head were of Detective Cassingham and I being chased by Carl Paskly. I could hear the sounds of the gunfire, smell the sulfur after I fired, hear the sounds of the glass breaking, tires squealing, the thunks of each one of Paskly’s rounds that struck the Suburban. Katie had instantly realized what was going on, and attempted to pull me away from the door, but I was not going to move with the amount of force that a one hundred ten pound girl wearing shoes that didn't have much traction was going to have. In the end, Katie had attacked a pressure point. I still don’t know which one she hit, but it worked. Unfortunately, by the time that she had reacted in a way that brought me back to reality, I had relived the entire incident, in vivid detail.
“That’s good. I take it you haven’t tried the stairwell again.” I must have looked at Dr. Franklin with a look of disbelief on my face. “You can get over it. You just have to face up to it and that is the part that is not going to be easy.”
“I’ll just not use that stairwell…” I said.
“Have you driven the route that you and Detective Cassingham drove that day?” I shook my head. “That could trigger a flashback as well. Maybe you should have Katie drive and you ride and see what happens.” She said.
Katie and I had done what Dr. Franklin suggested and driven the route that Cassingham and I had taken away from the school on that day. Unlike my experience in the stairwell, I had a vivid recollection of the events that had transpired that day, but they didn’t incapacitate me like what happened in the stairwell… Katie shifted as she pulled into a parking lot and parked the car.
“Well?” She asked, obviously wondering what was going though my head. I brushed a few strands of my freshly dyed strawberry blonde hair out of my face and smiled at her.
“I’m ok. This didn’t do to me what standing by that door did. I’m not sure why but I equate that doorway to everything that happened.”
“Maybe that’s because you equate the door to the start of everything that day. I mean the first thing you thought of when we tried to use that stairwell was what happened.”
“Yeah.” I replied. “You would think that driving the route that had almost killed me would have some effect…”
“Well, It didn’t. I think that’s a good thing.”
“Yeah. I’m hungry. Lets go get something to eat.”
We were laying in my bed relaxing when I remembered that Katie had never answered my question about our prom dresses.“So, what are our Prom Dresses going to look like?” I asked.
“You’ll see. How big is your waist?”
“Umm… Twenty eight inches, I think…”
“You think?” Katie said. “I think we are going to need to figure out how big your waist is so we know how much of a reduction to try.”
“Reduction?” My eyebrows went up. “Do our dresses involve corsets?”
“Maybe.” Was her simple response. “What do think of burgundy and white?”
“Umm… The two colors would work, I think.”
“Ok. I think that they will look good on you.”
“And what colors are you going to have?”
“Navy and white.”
“The skirts are going to be poofy aren’t they?”
“Maybe?” Katie said making the statement sound like a question.
Katie and I had sat down in our study hall, Miko smiled as we sat down.
“So, do you guys have your dresses for Prom yet?” Miko asked. I simply pointed at Katie.
“Yes, I’ve designed our dresses, but Morgan has no clue what they look like other than the colors of hers and mine. That will be a surprise for her. Lets just say that between her, Jen and I, we’re going to turn heads.”
“Now I want the details…”
“Not with Morgan within ear shot. I want it to be a surprise…”
“Oh.” Miko said. I pouted, knowing that I wasn’t going to find out anything until Katie wanted me to.
Two weeks after Dr. Franklin had said I could start wearing pants again, I still hadn’t worn any. Katie and Jen had worn a few pair, but were still mainly in skirts. The weather was getting warmer and I was looking forward to being able to stay cool by way of a sundress rather than wearing pants. I had not really worn shorts since I was about twelve, even on the hottest days of summer. Spring break was just wrapping up when I slipped on a pair of denim shorts and a teal tank top before going down to the kitchen. Mom was standing in the kitchen and looked over at me.
“Shorts? You haven’t worn shorts since you were a kid..” She said. “Where’d you get them.?
“From Jen. I figured I’d try them. I haven’t worn anything like this since the incident with Carl Paskly… I have a feeling that I’m going to end up in a skirt before today is over. I understand that girls like to show off their bodies, but I’m not sure that super tight clothes are the way to go about it…” Mom chuckled.
“I have asked my self that since your sister started to wear clothes that I thought were too tight. I’m glad to see that she has reverted to wearing clothes that she doesn’t have to squeeze into. They have to be more comfortable than clothes that barely fit. The only thing that really bothers me now is the lack of length on some of your girls’ skirts…” I didn’t have a problem with the length or lack thereof on the skirts that I wore. I just meant that I had to be careful on how I moved while I was wearing them.
“You want them to be longer?” I asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.
“Yeah, but not much, more like knee length. I went through the miniskirt phase when I was your age. My mom threw a fit.” She chuckled.
“When Jen caught me, and told you what I was wearing, Did you know that it would have led to this?” We sat down at the table, and just talked.
“I had a feeling. Actually I had my suspicions from the time that I caught you in Jen’s dress after your father was killed. Your sister had been complaining that someone had been getting into her clothes for some time before that. I wasn’t, and I know your dad wasn’t… He wouldn’t have fit into them if he tried… My clothes were more his style.” My jaw dropped. “It had to have been you. What? Did I just tell you something about your father that didn’t know?”
“Yeah… Dad wore your clothes?”
“Only once. We were young, and I convinced him to dress as a french maid one year for halloween. He was rather convincing, just like you.” Mom paused and looked thoughtful. “When you started adding months to the ‘punishment’ I had given you, I knew that it wasn’t going to actually be a punishment. Between the two calls I made to Jen that day, I called Dr. Franklin to give her a heads up, and to get her opinion. She agreed with me until I called her the following Monday moring and told her what you had said about being in the wrong body. She cleared her schedule and we went and saw her that day.” I had idly wondered how mom had arranged that… “She was going to see you on Thursday of that week, but felt that it would be better to see you as soon as possible.”
“So that’s how you got an appointment on a Monday without having it set up in advance…” I said. Mom nodded.
“Dr. Franklin and I had kept in touch ever since your father was killed. You were really close to him and you took it pretty hard. I know your grades dropped a little bit, but you are a smart girl and you brought them back up. When I took your pants away, I was trying to see how serious you were about wearing your sister’s clothes. Your revelation about being born in the wrong body pretty much settled the argument right then and there. I will say that even with what’s happened after you started your transition, you seem much happier than you did before…”
Katie smiled at me as we left school the week before the prom. The smile had been constant all day and while I had an idea of what the smile represented, I also didn’t want to guess.
“Something showed up at the house yesterday…” Katie said as we got into the Chevy Cobalt that she had replaced her Corolla with. I decided that morning when I got in the car that wearing an ankle length skirt was a lot more hassle when it came to getting into and out of a car than the miniskirts that I was used to wearing.
“Oh?” I asked, pulling the door shut on the car, and catching the hem of my skirt. I opened the door and pulled my skirt in and then shut the door again.
“Yeah. Our dresses, or more specifically, the parts of our dresses arrived.” Katie put the car in gear and pulled into the line of traffic that was waiting to turn out onto Chattfield Lane.
“So, when do I get to see our dresses?”
“Tonight. We’re going to try them on, and I think you will like your dress.”
“Ok.” I replied, grabbing on to the handle that was built into the roof of the car as Katie took a corner. “I’ve been waiting to see the dresses since you figured out what we were going to wear.”
“Remember when you asked if they involved corsets?” I nodded, and when Katie said nothing, I glanced over at her. She was grinning like the cat that ate the canary…
“Am I going to like this?” I asked.
“I think you will. It’s going to take you a little bit to adjust to being squished, but I think that after a while you will find the feeling comfortable. You did ok with the dresses that I have with the corsets built in. I think that was a three inch reduction when it was all said and done. I don’t think that six inches will be too much.”
I was grabbing the bedpost as Katie pulled on the laces on the back of a burgundy over bust corset.
“How much tighter?” I asked. Katie tugged some more, and I felt the corset close around my ribs just a little bit tighter. She worked her way down to the middle and then repeated the process starting at the bottom of the corset. I felt her stop pulling and then felt her tie off the laces.
“Hmm… I’ll need to come up with something to tuck this mess of laces into. It’s an ungodly sight.” Katie said, picking up a white taffeta skirt that went poof and looked very much like something a ballerina would wear. Katie helped me step into it and then led me toward the hallway where there was a large mirror attached to the wall. I looked at my self. The combination of the reduction of the corset and the poofyness of the skirt made my waist look really small, and it drew your eye. “What do you think?”
“I like it. How did you come up with the idea?” Katie grinned and shook her head.
“I’m not going to reveal all of my secrets.” She giggled. “I came up with this idea after I read a story. Thought it would work well for our prom dresses.”
“I agree. This was worth the wait. I’m not going to say anything and let everyone see us saturday night. I have a feeling that dinner is going to be difficult…” Katie giggled.
“Maybe. I don’t know how much you will be able to eat if we lace you down all the way…”
“How much further can I go?” I asked. Katie smiled and held her hand above my head. I reached up and grabbed her hand and twirled. I stopped with my back facing the mirror and that was when Katie handed me a small mirror. I looked behind me and saw that there was still quite a bit of space between the two sides of the corset. “I don’t think I ready for that…”
“I don’t think so either.” Katie said. “Lets get you out of it. You may not want to look at a corset after Saturday night. If you don’t I will understand.”
Tuesday afternoon I walked into Dr. Franklin’s office for our weekly appointment.
“Good Afternoon, Morgan.” She said as she got up from her desk and walked over toward the chair that I had lowered my self into.
“Good Morning, Julie.” I smiled.
“How has your week been?”
“Remarkably good. Katie and I drove the route that Miranda and I used the day that Carl Paskly tried to kill me. Nothing happened. I’m just glad that door isn’t one I use on a regular basis.”
“So you equate everything to the door?” Dr. Franklin asked. I nodded. “You haven’t had any nightmares or anything like that in the last week?”
“No, surprisingly. I think that part of it is that Katie got me a teddy bear to sleep with.”
“Katie got you a teddy bear to sleep with?” I nodded. “Well, that is something that a boyfriend will do for his girlfriend, no reason why girlfriends can’t do the same…”
Two days after my appointment with Dr. Franklin, Katie and I were sitting in Math when the fire alarms went off. Katie and I grabbed each other’s hand as we headed for the stairwell. The air smelled slightly of smoke, which told me that this wasn’t a drill. I was fine until I got to the bottom of the staircase when I just froze. In my mind, I watched Officer Evans and Detective Cassingham pull up. The entire incident started to play in my head. The squeeze that I gave Katie involuntarily caused her knees to buckle. She managed to stay upright, and tried to pull me toward the door. I wasn’t budging, and I had one of the linebackers from the football team behind me. He, seeing there was a problem, simply picked me up and carried me outside. Katie had to move at the speed at which he was carrying me because I hadn’t let go of her hand. Once outside, my new linebacker friend gently sat me on the ground and made sure I was modest. He stayed there and helped with some crowd control as other members of the class realized that something was wrong. Katie was trying various things to bring me back to reality. Nothing was working, so she attacked another pressure point. This time I knew that she went after the one behind the ear.
“Ow. What the hell was that for?” I said, as I rejoined reality. Katie’s face was full of concern and compassion and I knew instantly that I had flash back.
“Are you ok?” Katie asked.
“I think so. How did I get out here?” I extended my hands so that Katie could help me up. I stood up and looked around.
“Matt Andrews picked you up and carried you out side. I tried to pull you, but you were rooted to the spot. He was right behind you and just picked you up and carried you like it was nothing.” I supposed my one hundred twenty pounds wouldn’t be much to a football player.
“He carried me?” Katie nodded. I turned to Matt. “Matt, Thank you. I didn’t hurt you or anything, did I?” He chuckled.
“A little thing like you? No. What happened though?” I looked up at him. He stood five feet eleven inches tall, seven inches taller than me and I had on two inch heels.
“Remember the incident with Mrs. Paskly’s husband?” He nodded. “I was reliving that. For some reason that door will just incapacitate me… When it happens, it’s so real.”
“Do you need the Doctor?” Katie asked, reaching in her bag and pulling out her phone.
“No. I think I’m good, although curious to know if going through the door the other way will have the same effect..” Katie nodded.
“I’ll stay with you. We know I can carry you if need be.” Matt said. Katie smiled at him.
“Thank you.” I said. Matt was true to his word and walked back in the school with Katie and I. Going back in did not pose the same issue as leaving did. Once we had returned to our classroom the PA system came alive.
“May I have your attention please. I know that some of you smelled the smoke as you exited the building. Somehow, someone left a pie in one of the ovens in the Home Ec room and the smoke detectors picked up. I want to thank everyone for a quick and calm exit despite the fact that we had an actual situation. This is why we hold fire drills, so that you all know what to do and can be orderly and calm and get out safe. That is all I have, now back to our regularly scheduled classes.” The current principal said.
Katie and I were sitting in a coffee shop after school. We had gone to the nurses office between math and our business management class because Katie’s hand was in still in pain where I had squeezed during my flash back. The nurse didn’t think that I had broken her, just injured her.
“Are you ok?” I asked after she had taken a drink of her latte.
“I told you, yes…” Katie said. “I’m just glad that Matt was there. He picked you up like a small child and carried you outside.”
“I am too. I should let Julie know about that flashback. I think it was worse than the one when we tried to just use the stairwell to get from math to business management.” I sipped my own latte. “He picked me up like a small child?”
“Yep.” She said. “I would do it if I could, but I probably couldn’t pick my self up if I had to, at least not in these heels…”
“I bet that was a sight to see.” I chuckled.
“It was. The part that surprising to me was that the entire time, he made sure that no one could see your panties. I would have thought that a guy would have not cared and shown everything to the world…” My phone rang and I looked at Katie as I pulled it out. Mom was calling.
“Hi Mom.” I said as looked at Katie, wondering why she was calling me.
“Officer Mullin called. He said that you had an issue when the fire alarm went off. Everything ok now?”
“Yeah. I had a flashback. The door that I was supposed to go out was that one. A nice linebacker picked me up and carried me outside. I should also do something nice for Katie since I almost broke her…”
“How did you almost break Katie?” Mom asked. Katie giggled.
“When I flashed I squeezed her hand and hurt her. It was involuntary…”
“I know. Have you told Dr. Franklin yet?”
“Not yet. I was thinking about calling her right before you called. I think she should know.”
“I agree. I’m making a casserole for dinner, it’s something you and Katie like, so come home soon. The casserole should be done by six.”
“Ok. We will.” I said, and put my phone in the pocket in my purse. “Mom said that she is making a casserole that we like. It should be done by six.”
“Ok. Lets go knock out some homework before dinner is done.” Katie said.
Friday evening Katie and I were cuddling on the couch when the phone rang. Mom paused the movie and picked up the phone.
"Hi John, What has you calling at this hour?" I glanced at the cable box and saw that it was quarter after 9... "Yeah, we'll be here, but I'm not sure how Morgan will feel about you seeing her in her nightgown." Mom winked at me. I shrugged, and Katie cuddled closer into me. "Ok, we'll see you then." Mom hung the phone up and looked at the two of us. "Lieutenant Chang is on his way over. He said he has some information about the investigation into the events the day of the shooting." Katie and I looked at each other, not sure what to make of this. "Morgan, if you think you may need Dr. Franklin, you can leave the room and call her, I'm pretty sure that John will understand." I nodded, and mom turned the movie back on.
"Good evening," He started. "I didn't really want to swing by and bring you this news tonight, but the Chief told me to come tell you guys." I raised my eyebrows. "Morgan, remember how you had some reservations about being in the car that Officer Evans was driving?" I nodded.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. Lieutenant Chang was like Officer Mullin, someone I trusted with my life.
"You had a reason to be concerned." Katie and I shared a look
"Oh?" Mom said.
"As part of our investigation, we subpoenaed the cell phone records of everyone that knew the plan to get Morgan out of the building." He looked at the three of us. "This includes your phone records, we needed to cover every base. We found something strange." Katie and I looked at each other. "Remember how the threat calls came from a pay phone?" I nodded.
"Yes, what does that have to do with it?" Mom asked.
"It wasn't a pay phone, but one of those prepaid cell phones. About every twenty minutes Officer Evans received a phone call from the same number."
"She was communicating with Carl Paskly?" I asked.
"Yep. Apparently, he paid her a lot of money for details on your escape from the school. We've taken her into custody. Carl Paskly was, as you know, killed when he shot at the officers responding to Miranda's duress call. Joyce is still awaiting trial for her involvement in the whole mess. We still aren't sure how the Paskly's and Evans are connected, and neither of them will implicate the other..." Chang let the thought trail off...
"Morgan, we should get up and get breakfast." She said, brushing a few of her strawberry blonde locks out of her face as she sat up.
"But I'm comfortable..." I replied, my voice coming out as a whine that matched how I felt about getting out of the bed. I watched Katie's nightgown fall back to her knees as she stood up next to the bed. I knew the house was cold, but I could clearly see her nipples though the white fabric of the nightgown; another reason to not get out of bed... Katie grabbed the pink and purple plaid comforter and pulled it off the bed, revealing the baby pink flannel sheet set that was really warm, especially with the comforter that my girlfriend had just removed from the bed. I reluctantly sat up and frowned at Katie who was smiling.
"Turn that frown upside down." Katie started singing. I shook my head and crawled out from under the sheets. Katie tossed a pink ankle length skirt and black long sleeved shirt to me, followed by a pink bra and panty set. I started to change and noticed that Katie was slipping into a pair of jeans and an orange long sleeved shirt. I had always loved the jeans that she was slipping into, they were tight in all the right places and showed off her body.I pouted as I pulled the skirt on; this action didn't go unnoticed by Katie. "What?" she turned toward me, her green and white polka-doted bra the only thing that she had on above her waist.
"Why do you get to wear pants and I don't?" Katie smiled.
"Because I picked out what you are going to wear until we get dressed for Prom tonight." She smiled. "Besides, I thought that you liked me in these pants."
"I do," I said, with pride in my voice. "And why do you get to pick out what I wear, I'm perfectly capable of doing so my self." She gave me one of her smiles that tells me that she's up to something.
"I know you are." She said, before chewing on her bottom lip. "Don't hate me for this, but I kinda view you as my little dress up doll, besides, I seem to be the one wearing the pants..." I shook my head as a smile spread across my face.
"You guys haven't been dressed this differently since before Morgan set her self up to get caught..." Mom said. Katie smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"I was playing dress-up with Morgan this morning." Katie chewed on the tip of her tongue. "Maybe tomorrow I'll let my little dolly wear pants." Mom chuckled and I stuck my tongue out at Katie. Katie shot me a look and I pulled my tongue back in my mouth and looked at the floor. This got a chuckle from mom.
"Well, I can see who wears the pants in this relationship..." Mom said, "Both figuratively and in reality." Mom opened the waffle maker and pulled out what looked like it would be the last waffle. "Sit and eat, girls." I gave a quick glance toward Katie to see if she would move first or I would. She moved first and gave me an almost imperceptible nod almost as if to say that I could sit at the table and eat.
"You seem distracted, what's on your mind?" Katie asked, her eyes and voice full of concern and compassion. I pointed at a Starbucks that just happened to sit caddy corner from where we were in the mall. Katie glanced over and nodded. She grabbed my hand and practically drug me to the counter.
"What can I get for you girls?" The young woman behind the counter asked. Katie took a quick glance at the menu boards.
"Two Venti Carmel Macchiatos, please." Katie said, ordering drinks for the two of us with no input from me. Katie had been around me long enough to know my taste in coffee. I watched as Katie pulled the Starbucks gift card out of her purse and handed it to the barista. She swiped the card and handed it back to Katie. Katie handed me her purse and smiled. "Morgan, go grab that table back in the corner, I'll be back there in a second with our coffees." I nodded dumbly, took the purse and headed for the corner. As I approached the table, it dawned on me that I had just followed another command of Katie's blindly. I sat down, my back to the wall, my eyes not leaving Katie and felt a single tear roll down my cheek. This didn't go unnoticed by Katie. Her smile faded as she walked over to the table that I sat at, and noticed the trail of water that terminated at my chin. She calmly walked over and sat down across from me at the table.
"What's wrong?" Katie asked.
"It dawned on me this morning that you've been controlling my life. You pick out what I wear, what we do. I just don't understand why I go along with it without a single thought..." I said, another tear rolling down my cheek. Katie put my coffee in front of me and I wrapped my hands around it, feeling the warmth.
"What do you mean?" Katie asked me. "I never said that you had to wear what I suggested, or that we had to do what I thought we should do. You could have always worn something else, we could have done something other than what I suggested... I wouldn't have been mad."
"Ok, That's all well and good, but why do I listen and do without a second thought?" I glanced down at my coffee and then took a sip.
"I've read things about people that are in dominant and submissive life styles." Katie said, taking a sip of her coffee. "I wonder if you aren't naturally submissive... I seem to have taken after my mother in that department. It's nothing to be ashamed of and, frankly, I only want what is best for both of us, regardless of who is or is not in charge..." I looked at her.
"When did you read about people that were in this kind of lifestyle?" I asked, not knowing when she would have read anything like that.
"It's interested me for some time." Katie replied, before taking a sip of her own coffee... "Did you know that there are people that still own slaves to this day?" I blinked at Katie.
"There are?" She nodded. "I thought that slavery was illegal..."
"It is. Slavery was outlawed by the thirteenth amendment." Katie replied. "Today, the slave voluntarily gives up everything to their owner. They chose to enter into slavery as opposed to being forced. I'm sorry that I took your natural submissiveness and just started telling you what to do without asking if it was ok first." I looked at Katie.
"People chose to give up everything to someone else?" She nodded. "Maybe we should try it since it already seems to work for us." Katie pursed her lips and then looked at me. “I accept your apology, although I actually wonder if you aren’t submissive as well, with the way you like to wear things that lock as well…”
"We can if you want. It does already seem to work for us even though neither of us actually realized it was happening until today."
"Although, with your love of things that lock, I wonder if you might not be submissive as well... " I said to Katie.
"No, I love the little click sound that they make..." Katie glanced around to see who was within ear shot. "That sound causes certain..." Katie paused looking for the right words. "Problems for me. It also causes problems for me to see you in clothes that are locked on and I hold the keys." I raised my eyebrows. Katie's phone chimed, and she fished it out of her pocket. "We need to get heading home so we can get ready for tonight. I think you are going to have a blast..."
Katie backed the car into the driveway and parked next to mom's car. Neither one of us had planned to do much with our hair or nails or makeup for that matter. Katie and I both had shaved the night before, so neither of us had to worry about any hair on our bodies that would be exposed by our dresses for the evening. I still had our little talk running though my head and was still wondering if Katie knew that she was controlling me the entire time. I decided to try to push the thoughts to the back of my head and concentrate on having fun tonight at our Junior Prom. Katie and I entered my bedroom and closed the door. Katie would help me get ready, and then I would help her, Jen would be home in half an hour or so and we both would help her get ready. I stripped, tossing my skirt and top in a bag that we had set aside so that we had something to change into should we decide to go to the after prom party.
"Bra too, Remember, the corsets are over busts, the bra straps would look pretty funny, and would probably not be comfortable..." Katie chuckled. I smiled at her as she started undoing the laces on the corset I would wear. I stepped into the skirt, letting it settle around my hips and and feeling the hem swish about three inches above my knees. I still hadn't seen what she had come up with to help manage the bundle of laces that would be hanging off the back of our corsets.
"So, what is this thing you've come up with to deal with the bundle of laces?" I asked, reaching behind me to unhook and remove my bra. I had already learned the skill where I could remove my bra or put it on without removing my shirt, except right now, my shirt was with the skirt that I had tossed in the bag. Katie reached in her purse and handed me a piece of black leather with two holes in the center and four flaps, three with holes and one with a small silver toggle. The toggle had a small hole in it, and I guessed what could be slipped in there... "How does it work?"
"Simple, you thread the laces through these two holes," She indicated the two holes in the center of the piece of leather. "And then after you've tightened the corset, and tied off the laces, you wrap them up and fold the pouch around them." She folded the part with the toggle up first, and then the left and right sides, and finally folded the top down and twisted the toggle to hold the whole package closed. It looked like it would look a lot cleaner than a bunch of lacing hanging down our backs.
"And the hole?" I asked pointing at the toggle.
"They are designed for keeping someone from removing or loosening a corset, but the locks are optional. We don't have to lock any of them." Katie said. I nodded and picked up the burgundy velvet corset, wrapping it around my body, and making sure it covered my natural A cup breasts that had always been there. I got the corset situated so that I was wearing it right and turned my back to Katie, gripping one of the posts on the bed. I felt Katie behind me, fooling with the laces, and then heard her speak. "Do you want to go a little bit tighter than we went the other night?"
"Can you tighten it until I tell you to stop?" Katie nodded. "I'm thinking, tighten it, rest a bit, tighten a bit more, and then I will have a nice tiny waist. How far will this corset reduce?"
"If it's tightened all the way, twenty two inches." Katie said, running her hands through my hair.
"Twenty two inches?" I turned my head to look at her. "Talk about a small waist..."
"I'm going to go all the way down to twenty inches tonight; I'm twenty six to start with though, and I will have to wait to have my corset removed..." Katie smiled at me. I smiled back, and she pointed at the post on the bed. I turned back around and grabbed the post, knowing that I was about to have forces exhibited on my body that would compress my midsection and keep my body rigid from the waist up.
"Twenty and a quarter inches." I said, tossing the tape measure on the bed and wrapping my arms around her small waist. Katie dropped a small padlock into my hand. "You sure?"
"Yes." Katie said. I rolled the laces around my hand and stuffed them into the pouch, closed the top flap, twisted the toggle and slid the padlock through the hole.
"Last chance to back out." She shook her head and I clicked the lock shut. I felt her body shudder at the sound and watched as she turned to the door, opened it and walked toward the bathroom. I followed her intrigued by what she was doing, and realized that she was headed for the full length mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door. It was the first time that I had seen my self. My jaw dropped, and Katie giggled.
"You've been wearing the corset for about an hour, do you want to see if we can tighten it some more?" Katie asked.
I pondered her question for a few seconds and looked at her. "No, I think I'm sufficiently compressed..."
"Ok, You know who to talk to if you change your mind." Katie said before looking at her toes. "Damn, I forgot to put my shoes on."
"So did I," I said, after looking down at my own feet.
Katie smiled at me before she spoke. "I guess that either Jen or your mom can help us with them in a bit.
"I guess." I replied, not hiding the smile on my face. This would be the first time that someone had helped me with my shoes since I was about five. I imagined that Katie was the same way.
"Katie, Morgan, I'm home!" We heard Jen shout up the steps and then we heard her foot steps climbing up the stairs. Katie reached over and opened the door to the bathroom. As the bathroom was at the top of the steps, this would ensure that Jen saw us when she got to the top of the steps. Katie and I watched as Jen stopped at the top of the stairs, her mouth dropping as she took in the sight before her. "That's what our dresses are going to look like?"
Katie and I looked at each other and grinned. "Yep." Katie said. "But I really think you should put your shoes on first. It will be easier than trying to do it after your dressed."
"I bet." Jen said, smiling. "Let me help you guys get your shoes on before we get me dressed..."
"I could get used to this..." Jen said, her eyes flicking to Katie and I standing behind her in the room. Jen's waist had been compressed from twenty six inches to twenty two inches, and she knew that she looked good. I tried to imagine how she would look dressed in street clothes with the corset underneath... Her posture was certainly a lot better than it had been when she had gotten home...
"Are we ready to go down stairs?" Katie asked, looking at Jen.
"Yep," Jen said, turning around and looking at me. "Those colors look nice on you, Morgan."
"Thank you," I said, a smile crossing my lips. Katie and I linked hands and the three of us left Jen's room, headed for the kitchen. We were silent as we headed down the carpeted steps, the first sound coming when Jen's heels clicked on the linoleum at the bottom of the steps. I could hear mom and Susan talking quietly in the living room, that meant that we would have to get into the kitchen before they could see us. The three of us linked arms, with me in the middle as we turned into the kitchen. Mom was the first one to see us and her jaw dropped. This caused Susan to turn around and look at the three of us, her jaw giving the same response as moms.
"You girls are beautiful." Mom said, standing to walk over and get a closer look. "Are those corsets?
"Yep." Katie said, doing a slow twirl so that mom could see the back of her corset. Of course because of the pouches the laces were nice and tidy. Mom gave the padlock on the pouch that hid Katie's laces a small tug.
"How small are your waists?" Katie's mom asked, looking at the three of us.
"I'm down to twenty and a quarter inches, Morgan's down to twenty three and a half inches and Jen is at twenty two inches." Katie said.
"Where is the key to the lock?" Mom asked, motioning for me to spin around.
Katie pulled six keys out of the little clutch that she carried. "These are the keys for all three locks. I have locks in here for the pouches on Morgan and Jen's corsets, if they end up wanting them." Katie dropped the keys in mom's hand.
"You do realize that if you entrust me with the keys and you guys aren't here, I can't unlock those locks, right?" Mom said, closing her fingers around the keys. I don't know what she thought about holding the keys, but I knew that if she had them there would be no way that they would get lost.
"Yep," Katie said. "But I also don't want to lose those keys. Would you keep them for me, please?"
Mom smiled and nodded. "Yep, but you had better hope that I'm still up when you girls get back here or you're gonna be sleeping in that corset..." Mom chuckled as she glanced at the clock on the microwave. "Now, we have a surprise for you three. Why don't you go look out side."
The three of us shared a glance and then turned and headed toward the front door and then stepped outside. Sitting next to the curb was a limo, I had never ridden in a limo before, and as far as I knew neither had Jen or Katie.
"He's going to take you girls to dinner, and then to the prom, and then bring you guys home," Mom said, smiling. "Have fun and be safe."
The driver got out of the limo and walked around to the side that facing the house and opened the back door. "If you ladies are ready, dinner awaits."
The three of us turned to our mothers and gave hugs and then got into the limo, ready to begin the night of our junior prom.