Fourteen-year-old Douglas often feels his twin gets the better of him in their deals. The latest has him trying to ensure he doesn't lose his twin's U15 soccer teams good birth into their playoffs. Their step-mum caught them trying to swap, where Douglas would do his twin's detention. So now he is playing soccer for the first time this year. Of course neither his step-mum or step-dad know this, because they thought it was Douglas's U15 soccer team. Breanne is on the girl's field hockey team.

Out Centre
By Fallen Leaf - Playing in Lilith Langtree’s The Center

Chapter 1

Douglas cursed as he was subbed back into the game, but at the position his twin loved. It was his twin’s fault he was stuck playing soccer too. He thought he had managed to salvage the problem when he had begged off as starting striker by informing the coach he was a bit under the weather and would prefer midfield. Up until the last fifteen minutes it was working too. They had been up one – nil, and the coach decided to rest both Douglas and Michael for next week’s game. Michael the relief striker had never played a full game and had been running on fumes, and Mark the team’s third and last striker had just been injured.

That was bad enough, but for reasons unknown the whole team had stopped playing and they were now down two to one. So with less than five minutes of game time he needed to score a goal. Scoring a goal would be hard enough for his twin, but for him even more so, as he never had managed to score a soccer goal in game time before. So there was no pressure, yeah, right.

The U15 league they were in had no overtime and a draw was all they needed to enter the preferred post-season bracket. A loss and they would have a short week, and have to travel instead of getting a game with home field advantage. Other than private practicing with his twin he hadn’t played soccer in nearly a year. At the beginning of this year’s season they had started to pretend to be each other during school sports time and Saturday game time, to enable Breanne to play the sport she had preferred. During their personal practice he would set up his sister, thus why he had weaseled into midfield. It had worked too, getting him an assist on Michael’s goal. He had figured he had enough skill to hopefully get away with no one noticing a different person was playing. Rather ironic if his step-parents realized the twins had been swapping places now when he was actually playing as himself.

Both of them were watching too, verses only one, due to his sister being in detention. Normally the other step-parent would be with him, pretending to be Breanne, at the other school field. He had agreed to cover Breanne’s detention but their step-mum had caught them as they started the swap. She thought he was being coerced into taking his sister’s detention and had angrily demanded to know how he could think to jeopardize the team’s post-season chances as obviously Breanne, who hadn’t played soccer in nearly a year, would be rusty. In realty he was the one that was rusty, in addition when they were in the U14 league he had played midfield to his sister’s striker. She was the more aggressive twin, and furious that girls couldn’t play with boys after thirteen.

Sure he played left center striker for Breanne, but with both wings, the girls hockey team played with four strikers, whereas the soccer coach rarely played two strikers as their coach only had three. Breanne thrived on being a glory hound. Douglas was more willing to set-up and assist another to get the glory. Even if by doing so, it meant more running and harder work.

“Get out there Douglas! Get us the goal we need!” he heard his step-dad yell as he ran onto the field.

Most kids at school did a double take when he referred to the second parent with the prefix of ‘step’. That would lead into the depressing tale of his birth mother’s death shortly after delivering the twins. This then followed by the car crash that killed their birth farther, prior to their step-mum of just over a year returning to Australia with them when they were eight. Nearly two years later they had a step-dad and only step-grandparents. Their three grandparents in the US had failed to stop their step-mum from taking them out of the country losing guardianship. They had been too busy fighting each other to realize they might want to rally around a common enemy. Then again Douglas thought that might have been the best thing as his step-mum was better than two of the US grandparents. He also couldn’t really complain about his step-dad and step-grandparents.

He missed his Grandma though. His Mum’s mum who had practically raised the twins and the person they would have happily called Mum but didn’t, because they knew she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to usurp her daughter that had given her life for the twins. Their birth Dad’s divorced parents were self-centered and no great loss to the twins.

As he ran up the field the crowd's noise brought Douglas out of his internal musing and back into thinking how he was doing as the striker in these final minutes of the game. The stress of being found out mounted and was likely the reason for him feeling so sick. He’d missed badly to the left, which only saving grace came from hitting a defender prior to going out, resulting in a corner. However, the corner was cleared, and in his other near shot on goal he lost the ball to a defender’s tackle that his sister would most likely have beaten. So that was a goose egg from the prior two chances. With the minutes ticking by and their opponent concentrating on defense it was unlikely he would get many, if any more shots on goal. Stumbling with a shot of pain that cramped his stomach and made him hobble his stride, he groaned. Not again, the stumble had slowed him down just enough so it looked like a defender would get to the cross from his right wing, before him. But, in the next moment the defender stopped moving.

Douglas forced himself to battle through the pain taking the three paces needed to get to the cross and trap the ball with his left foot. He thought he had contacted with too much force and was expecting to see the ball shoot too far right before he could get his right foot to it. However, within moments of shooting off his left foot the ball miraculously stopped dead. With the ball only slightly right of where he wanted it, he looked at the last defender and goal keeper. Due to the defender that had been running in from the left stopping, there was an open section of the goal just left of center. Kicking with the outside of his right big toe he walloped the ball at the gap with a line drive that added minimal air. He became more confused as neither defender nor goal keeper moved to attempt to fix their errors as with body leaning forward he finished the follow through of the kick.

Momentarily wondering if he had missed hearing the whistle he glanced over his left shoulder to see no one behind him moving. It wasn’t going to count he must have missed a whistle. He was clearly onside though, and couldn’t think what was being called. Returning to look at what he was sure was a goal he was boggled to see the ball floating a few inches off the ground about five feet in beyond both himself and the defender. Before he could query what was going on the ball suddenly shot forward toward the left hand goal post. With a wicked curve to the right at the last moment it pounded into the net of the goal, and movement, noise and the prior absent breeze roared back to life. Searing pain roared up both his legs and his neck screamed in agony as if it had just suffered through whiplash. Then as instantly as the acute pain arrived it was gone, and he felt so great, he wondered if he had actually imagined the pain.

Thankfully after the ball was kicked off following the successful goal there was only a bit of kicking the ball back and fro’ until the final whistle was blown. The thankful qualifier because Douglas was too confused to do much of anything as he replayed in his mind the weird goal he had just scored. He was glad, as team and coach congratulated him on saving the game. Relieved that he hadn’t let Breanne down, as he knew she would not have stopped giving him grief if he hadn’t played well enough for the team to even tie. Ecstatic that he hadn’t been found out for swapping places with his twin, and thankful with the stress gone that he was no longer feeling the pain of before.

“Way to go champ! That was a real beaut’!” his step-dad ruffled his hair.

“Great goal! You were really good at the end there.” His step-mum stated, and drew him into a hug. “So where d’you want to eat? We’ll go there after picking your sister up.”

Following his step-parents, Douglas left the school’s field and headed for the school buildings. With their eyes no longer on him, and the game over, he mulled over what had happened during the game. Had he imagined it? What the heck was that? He glanced back at the goal as if looking at the playing field would provide answers. Unfortunately none were gleaned from the look.

“Hey well done, Douglas!” Alan called out as they got closer to the school buildings where a few groups of students and parents were milling about whilst others were getting into cars and joining the line of cars jockeying to leave the school’s parking lot.

“Of course you’re all happy. Wait ‘till I get to talk to your sister. Our season is over!” Leah moaned barely giving a glance to Douglas as she passed them following her family, swinging her sports bag, with her hockey stick handle sticking out. She swung her bag to the other hand as she passed them.

Douglas watched her leaving and his euphoria of the goal collapsed. Great as usual Leah didn’t really notice him, and knowing his luck she will chew out Breanne for getting detention when he has swapped places with his twin. Then again maybe not, with their season over he didn’t need to be Breanne, so perhaps his twin would get the yelling she deserved for not being available for the game. It would be nice for a change if the swapping didn’t seem to only cause inconvenience for Douglas.

The main reason he had accepted swapping places with Breanne was so he might have a chance to get to know Leah. When he pretended to be Breanne she at least did notice him.Unfortunately it was more a competitive, nearly argumentative relationship where he was usually on the back foot not knowing what his sister had said to her earlier in the day that had her so wound up against him. It probably didn’t help that as she played the other center they were forced into a dynamic of competition.

“Come on Douglas. Let’s get the car while your mum signs the jail bird out.” His step-dad said, interrupting Douglas’s wool gathering, also getting his attention to follow him to their car. “So how about Mick’s?”

Douglas thought about it and figured it was a reasonable choice. It would make his step-dad happy and slightly annoy Breanne. “Sounds good.” He replied while wondering if his sister whom had not been burning calories would get something fried. He knew she hated the boiled options, and the Irish Pub, as his sister quoted, only fried or boiled food. Making you choose between unhealthy and un-tasty. Urban myth stated it was un-tasty, as their idea of boiling is a huge multi gallon pan of boiling water that leaches the flavor from respective orders being dunked and scooped out for serving. She would then swear that they boil their salads. That, but of course is patently untrue, for Douglas knew that they obviously quick fry and freeze those. How else could they be so tasty and not destroy the whole tasty food is fried moto.

Douglas smirked at Breanne’s groan when they arrived at Mick’s. The smirk to ensure she knew that it was to annoy her that he chose the place. Well one of the reasons anyway. The place was fairly crowded. It was a typical Saturday later afternoon rush of mainly families getting a late lunch or early dinner. Douglas noticed a few kids from his school and Breanne headed off to a table where her friend, Nicole was sitting, stealing a couple of Nicole’s fries as she sat at their table. He continued with his step parents following the hostess to their own table, not seeing anyone he really called a friend around.

As they turned a corner, Douglas failed to notice John sticking a leg out from his seat to trip him. Surprised he fell forward and instinctively raised his arms to absorb the forward fall then realized he wasn’t falling, but hanging unbalanced at the midpoint of the fall with all of the restaurant noise cut off. Looking around he saw no one was moving. It was exactly the same as what had occurred during the soccer match. This time he knew that it wasn’t due to a missed whistle. Somehow time had stopped. As panic threatened to overwhelm him a crazy thought caused him to snort back a laugh. Namely if time was off taking a breather maybe he should take a load off and ignore the reason for a panic attack. If it re-started he wouldn’t need to worry anymore, and if it didn’t well he obviously wouldn’t be rushed by time to find out a solution.

It only left him with the problem of how to recover. Was he frozen too? No he was thinking, and had moved his head to look around the restaurant. Feeling really odd he lifted the one of his feet that had been trapped by John’s leg, he slammed his foot down on John’s ankle then stepped over it and then walked around to the side of his step dad so no one was anywhere near John. It was weird not only did time stand still but it would appear that he could choose which fundamental laws he desired to still be active while time was taking a breather. As until he removed his trapped foot he had been hanging outstretched and unbalanced in mid-fall. From which while hanging in the air and giving gravity a raspberry he was able to move his trapped leg and not worry about the unbalanced sections of his anatomy having to also follow the rules. Now he was safely positioned, how did he get time to start once more he wondered?

Douglas realized that time had restarted when he heard John yell in pain. “Fu… Douglas you twit! You might have broken my leg!”

“He is nowhere near you. Also the only reason for you to have your leg so far out into the aisle is to try to trip someone. I bet you rushed too late sticking your leg out to try to trip Douglas and rolled your ankle.” Douglas’s step dad defended Douglas, wrapped his arm around him, and drew him away from John’s table. While daring John Senior to disagree. It appeared that the son was just like his father and he wasn’t going to let the idiots ruin their family time. With neither John having a comeback the Parson’s continued to their table and early dinner.

It was rather ironic but Douglas nearly managed to find a further way for the steps to work out about the swapping when he ordered without thinking. Well actually he had been thinking.He had recalled the stomach pains of earlier and thought to order light to appease the upset stomach. Of course normally the Saturday meal after a game was played he would still be Breanne and ordering a salad and forgot he was not Breanne. Breanne would happily be ordering a half pound of grease with cheese, bacon, fries and a leaf of lettuce as a token vegetable to mop the lard with. He actually enjoyed the salads here and was left with confused steps and an angry sister that hissed into his ear that if he had ordered correctly he could have still had his bloomin’ salad, when she switched with him.

Douglas felt shards of pain in his gut and struggled to get to the ball that had been passed from his right wing. The pain in his stomach became so unbearable he just wanted to roll up into a ball but he must get to the ball before the defender. His legs were shooting beams of pain back up to his torso and he had to lean on his hockey stick to stop himself from collapsing. If he didn’t get moving he would let the defender get to the ball and miss his chance to getting the needed goal. His sister would never let him live it down.

Pushing off on his stick he somehow was able to now be in front of the ball and the defender coming in from the left had stopped. The goal keeper was also stopped too far right leaving the left side of the goal open for his shot that he swung his hockey stick to drive into the soccer ball.Soccer ball? Looking at himself he was wearing Breanne’s field hockey uniform but he was on the soccer field. The defender and goal keeper were in boys soccer uniform. They had frozen because of being startled seeing Douglas in drag complete with hockey stick on the boys soccer field.

The football barely moved five feet as the hockey stick didn’t drive it as a kicking leg would have done. Suddenly Douglass could hear the crowd screaming “Look at the bloomin’ poofter!” and comments about “He’s wearing a skirt!” or “Have you ever seen girl’s legs on a boy!” Douglas couldn’t work out how he was suddenly dressed in the girl’s hockey uniform. While trying to escape the field he sees his sister running onto the field, “You should have let me play! You should have taken my detention! Now everyone knows you’re a girl!”

“What!” Douglas yelled while sitting up suddenly in his dark bedroom. Trying to turn on the lamp that was on the side table.He fumbled and knocked it off. Thank fully he was able to grab it before it even started to fall and placed it back down carefully. However, turning the switch didn’t turn it on. The bedside clock showed it was three-twenty-four in the morning. He had to get out of bed and shuffle to the door in the minimal lighting from the night sky and street lights that trickled in through his window. He nearly fell as he crossed the room as something felt wrong. Maybe the earlier stomach cramps were a precursor to getting sick as he felt dizzy and unbalanced.

Getting to the door he flicked the switch for the bedroom light, but it, like the lamp, didn’t turn on. There couldn’t be a power cut as his clock showed it to be still three-twenty-four. It was odd for both bulbs to have blown at the same time. Perhaps there was an earlier power surge or something. Anyway being up told him that he needed to visit the bathroom so he opened his door and quietly headed that way.

Douglas nearly cursed when the bathroom light also failed to turn on. He turned on the vanity mirror lights and the vent and when they didn’t turn on, figured there must be a power cut. Did his clock have battery back-up? Well he really needed to go, and as long as he didn’t close the door his eyes were more or less able to see in the half light from the landing window. Lifting the lid and seat to the toilet he then reached into his pajama bottoms for his member. As Douglas reached closer to his groin in ever increasing worry his hand finally brushed something just prior to the inside of his legs. The startling reaction to roughly and suddenly coming in contact with the nub sent numerous dichotomous feelings flying along numerous new nerves to his brain. He only just managed to stop himself from peeing all over the floor by clamping down hard, swiveling dropping pajama pants and squatting over the toilet with the seat he might have liked to sit on, up against his back. The pleasure of releasing the pee was unfortunately erased with the panicked concern of how his dick seemed to have shrunk inside his body.

Barely stopping himself from collapsing into the toilet he was startled by the bathroom light, vanity mirror lights and vent all suddenly turning on. Through the open bathroom door he could see his bedroom light was also now on too. He also could now see that his pajama top had two bumps beneath it. He had breasts! He also had released some pee onto the floor before he managed to get into the new position this body needed for that bodily function. Jumping first to turn off the vent before it woke someone, and then closing the door, he then finally cleaned up the mess on the floor and flushed the loo. As he calmed down enough to be able to pay attention to himself he realized he had wet his pajama bottoms a bit. So he took them off and looked at the new him, or probably more correct her, between his legs. What was he going to do?

His new breasts looked huge. How did Breanne hide hers when she pretended to be him? Breanne! She could help him look like himself so no one needed to find out. He detoured from going straight to Breanne’s room when he saw both his lamp and bedroom light needed turning off. Then realized he needed new pajama bottoms as his sister might just scream if he woke her up without bottoms on. Lastly he dumped his old pajamas into the linen basket and then quietly entered his sister’s room.

“Breanne! Wake-up” Douglas quietly pestered his sister.

“Douglas stop pestering me or I will get you in so much trouble!” Breanne half asleep, disgruntledly whined back.

“I have a huge problem! You need to help me Breanne!”

“I bloody well don’t have to help you with that!”

Out Centre 2
By Fallen Leaf - Playing in Lilith Langtree’s The Center

Douglas need's to enlist the help of his twin as she knows how to make herself look like him. Now he needs to learn how to do so to.

~o~O~o~

Chapter 2

Douglas figured he needed to get to the point. Much like tearing an ‘elasterplast’ off in one pull. There was hopefully less pain just getting it over with. He did need his sister’s help after all. “I’ve got breasts and a… I’ve got all girl parts!” Douglas quickly stated.

“What! I swear Douglas I am going to get you in so much shit for this!” Breanne still mainly asleep hissed while turning on the bedroom lamp and turning on her brother…

“How the hell?” Breanne asked, while climbing out of bed and grabbing Douglas’s breasts. Causing her brother to step back and cover them protectively. “They’re real! Have you been wrapping them before? Have you been taking hormones too?”

“No, I just woke up with them, and I’m… well, a girl down there too.” Douglas hissed back.

“That’s not possible it takes months to years for tits to grow that big. You’re bigger than me!” Breanne declared not comprehending the second part of Douglas’s reply, because she over-reacted to the impossible first part.

“Breanne, I have not been growing these. I went to sleep a boy and woke up… I woke up a complete girl. I need to know how you hide your breasts when you pretend to be me.”

Breanne looked at Douglas having finally completely woken up. “What do you mean, ‘a complete girl’?”

“I mean I have girl parts between my legs. My dick is gone!” Douglas stated then sunk onto the bottom of Breanne’s bed. Somehow admitting it was gone took all his fight from him. “Now can you tell me how to hide this from our steps?” Breanne of course had to verify the ‘complete girl’ statement, and Douglas couldn’t even develop enough energy to care. I mean they were both girls now. What was the reason to worry about his sister seeing something she was infinitely more familiar with already? Hey, and if he was lucky maybe she could prove him wrong from his current despair. Unfortunately luck wasn’t with him.

“Douglas, I am a lot smaller than you up top. You are not going to be able to hide your boobs as easily as I can hide mine. Anyway I still have to play soccer in the league’s playoffs, and I am better than you at soccer.”

“Yes I could do without any more nightmares of having to play soccer in your hockey uniform.” Douglas added, and then seeing Breanne’s quizzical look added, “Don’t ask!”

“Fine; I won’t.” Then after sighing, “We can’t have the steps stopping us swapping like our step-mum did today. I mean yesterday. So it is easiest if I become you, and you become me. I mean you become Breanne full time.”

“What!” Douglas yelled to be quickly shushed by his sister.

“Look I enjoy soccer, and want to see how good our team can do. The chest binding I am using can flatten my barely there breast buds so they don’t poke out through your T-shirts. It can’t hide yours as easily. I think my training bras will be too tight but let’s see you try them on.”

At which point much to Douglas’s surprise, Breanne took her nighty off and picked up Douglas’s pajama bottoms and pulled them on. Completely indifferent to showing her naked body to her brother.

“Douglas, I don’t have anything, you don’t now, have. You are going to have to get used to seeing vaginas now, seen as you have one. Anyway see how much smaller my breasts are compared to yours.” Breanne brazenly commented then still topless walked over to her dresser and opened the second-down-right-hand drawer. Reaching to the back she pulled out a plain white piece of spandex type material that looked sort of like a too small ribbed T-shirt that had its top cut off so there were no arm holes. She pulled it over her head and arms, and positioned it to cover her breasts. Breanne then reached back into the drawer pulled out a second, and threw it at Douglas. “Here try this on, and you’ll see what I mean.”

Douglas initially struggled, and thankfully accepted his sister’s help after she had put his pajama top on. Once it was on he felt extremely uncomfortable. The annoying discomfort of the material compressed tightly against his newly sensitive nipples wouldn’t be too bad, as too the tightness from breathing in too deeply. However, the pain filled feeling of his breasts being squashed into his ribs was not something he could ignore. Further, unlike his sister that now looked like he did last night when he had put on his pajamas. His breasts were still obviously poking out, and would be noticeable unless he was to wear a thick sweater as well as a shirt. As the boys’ school uniform was a thin V-neck sweater he couldn’t hide his breasts and appear to be a boy, where Breanne could. She could look like a boy with a thin T-shirt over the compression torture device.

Douglas was much happier, and gleefully gasped in a few deep breaths after getting the torture device off. Unfortunately his sister had a new torture device to have him try, ‘bras’.

“Okay I won’t be able to help you in the morning to get dressed so let me show you how to try on my school uniform so you will be able to get ready on Monday, and also what to wear today dependent on what the steps decide we are doing this Sunday.” Breanne stated then closing the drawer opened the one above it, and grabbed out different underwear. She sorted it into standard girl panties and bras, more girly girl style undergarments and some boxer boy style underwear.

Over forty minutes later, and Douglas boggled at how he currently felt glad wearing his sister’s nighty. Something he was sure he would never be glad to be wearing before, but at least the too tight training bra, and more girly of the girls panties were off. Unfortunately, Breanne told him the boy style underwear was not for him. “I need to be Douglas, and I’m not wearing Douglas’s used skivvies. The rest of this underwear I’ve never worn. Our step-mum bought it, not me.”

He was so hoping the world would end before Monday so he wouldn’t have to wear the skirt, blouse and bright red satin ribbon tie that the girls’ school uniform consisted of. He could pretend the blazer was a jacket even if it buttoned oddly. It was the best part of the uniform and mores the pity, optional, thus normally not worn. Thankfully the beret was also optional except for special events. He wished he could wear the thicker grey boys’ shirt instead of the thin white girls’ blouse that did nothing to hide his new assets. Also how come the girls’ uniform didn’t have a grey V-neck sweater? No, it came with a thin bright red cardigan that didn’t even have buttons where they were needed, that is to close the thing over the female assets. The cardigan was like a photo frame saying ‘look here!’ It was odd to realize for the first time he wished he could wear the boys maroon tie, actually all of the boys’ uniform was preferable to wear.

Breanne pulled from the back of the third drawer a bottle of pills, and some boys’ vests, the bottle had been hid beneath. Taking the boys vests, and the boxers too, and picking up from the bed the compression tube she’d let him try on previously she said, “Well the rest of the clothes in here are yours. Goodnight Breanne.” With the chosen items of clothing she left for his bedroom that was no longer his.

“But, that means I will have your detentions…” Breanne had left though, and Douglas yet again realized he lost on the trade with his sister.

Breanne couldn’t believe what had happened. She entered her new bedroom and after turning on the light, closing the door, and throwing her items on her bedspread she threw both arms in the air and offered a silent yell as if she had just scored a goal. The yell was silent because she didn’t want her steps to wake up. Walking over to the window she closed the curtains wondering how her brother could change in a room with them open. Opening the drawers she pulled out Douglas’s undies and threw them on the floor before putting away hers. Feeling justified she swallowed one of her anabolic steroid pills before hiding the bottle. Hopefully the steroids would keep enabling her to develop muscle and stop her from developing any annoying girl secondary parts.

She had been imagining her brother disclosing he wanted to be a girl as the best cover for her to ensure she didn’t have to become a woman for nearly two years now. Somehow she would talk him into taking estrogen and they would swap places without anyone being the wiser. He had willingly agreed to play hockey so she could play soccer. Sure he was willing because he was interested in Leah Martins, the hockey team captain. But Breanne wouldn’t dress up as a girl just to catch a skirt. She justified he must be in denial. So he didn’t enjoy playing soccer, didn’t like being the center of attention, and found it hard to approach and start talking to a girl. Breanne just chalked those up as him being more of a girl than she was. She had no problem talking to boys or girls. Though she did hate the attention boys gave her, so rarely talked to them.

Before she had to get him to take the next step in her plan, he had somehow magically turned into the girl she always knew her brother could be. He’d agreed to let his hair grow a little long, while she kept hers as short as her steps would let her so they could easily swap places. Tomorrow she would go to the barbers and get a boys haircut. Something she’d always dreamed of getting. She looked around her room. She needed to get some posters on the wall. The room like her old one was too unisex. She needed to make it obvious that this was a boy’s room. Get some best buds too. She didn’t think Douglas even had a cool friend. In fact did he have friends?

With one more look around her room she noticed the pile of underwear. After quickly bagging the undies and sneaking outside to the trash to dump them, she got into bed and went back to sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day of her new life.

Breanne awoke to the curtains being drawn open and the sun invading. “Come on get up Douglas.” Her step-mum stated before leaving, and knocking on Breanne’s door across the hall.

As Breanne thought about how she disliked being called Douglas, she did have to admit that she now knew one thing she disliked about being a boy. It would appear that the common courtesy of knocking on her door was awarded her because she was a girl. She’d need to change that, as the last thing she needed was one of the steps walking in while she was undressed.

As she got her shower she thought about the name issue. Douglas was correct to not use his middle name of Marcel as she was sure to be teased with that, but she didn’t want to use Douglas seeing as she thought of that as her wimp brother. Doug was too close. Mark though, that was enough different and at least a nod to her actual name. Happy she finished her shower, dried and dressed in boxers, boob covering and vest. Throwing the towel over a hook on the back of the door, prior to opening it, she then headed to her new bedroom to finish getting dressed.

Breanne sat down at the table and helped herself to cereal. “I was thinking of getting my hair cut.” She told her step-mum.

“About time.” Her step-dad said while reading the paper. “I think you would get a lot less problems like yesterday at Mick’s if you got a decent haircut. Are you actually going to cut it this time?”

She ignored the comment and poured the milk into her bowl. Her step-dad was busy reading so she felt she could get away with it. It was so nice to actually be expected to get her hair cut short anyway. So she grinned at her private victory.

“Oh Breanne, what are you wearing!” Breanne’s step-mum startled her and she was looking at her outfit to work out what was wrong before remembering she was no longer Breanne. She looked where her steps were looking, at her brother, and spit her cereal out.

“Good god sis! What the hell!” Breanne laughed at Douglas in his/her wardrobe disaster. Why had he thought braless would work with that baggy T-shirt. Sure it was loose and appeared to cover everything but when the light was on it, as it was with the sun shining through the breakfast bay-window, the shirt was practically see-through. She always wore it with both the compression vest and a normal vest. Then remembered she’d taken her compression and boys vests with her last night, and Douglas obviously hadn’t wanted to wear one of the more feminine camisole undergarments her step-mum tried to force Breanne to wear.

“Language Douglas!” her step-dad frowned at her.

Her step-mum quickly dragged Douglas from the room, and Breanne went back to her cereal. Her step-dad returned to his paper and silence was restored; well sort of. The shouting match between Douglas and their step-mum over what Breanne should wear was invading the breakfast nook, and obviously preventing her step-dad from getting into the paper. It would appear that Douglas was losing mainly due to his lack of female fashion knowledge.

A few minutes later their step-mum returned to the kitchen. “I’ll drop both of you at the salon in the mall. Then you can look in at the game store or something for a bit, as I am going to need to get some clothes for Breanne.” Then before her husband interjected, she added looking at him, “It is needed, I’ll explain later.”

“I figure I’ll just walk to the corner barber’s.” Breanne said. Internally giggling that her step-mum wouldn’t realize she knew that the later discussion would be about Breanne hiding the true size of her breasts. Would her step-dad stubbornly get too far into the conversation or heed the warning hints, and avoid getting stuck in the middle of that one? Poor Douglas would never be believed that the boob fairy dropped them off over-night. Now if she could only find out how he had become a girl, and if the reverse was possible?

“Oh, what happened to the twin solidarity of the same haircut to enable Breanne to have her short hair?” her step-mum inquired.

“As we are well into Spring, it’s getting hot and I feel like a change. I don’t enjoy all the extra work on having hair this long.”

Her step dad looking over the paper decided to interrupt. “Well then dear, why don’t you have a mother-daughter day at the mall with Breanne; and Douglas do you want to work on the roadster with me, after getting back from the barbers? If you give me a hand we should get it up and running, and we could take it for a spin.”

Breanne nodded, prior to turning to see Douglas scowling angrily at her from the doorway in the peasant blouse, she swore she would never wear, and a short faded jean skirt with her wide plastic black belt. A pair of open toe wedge sandals completed the outfit. The off white blouse had a dropped circular neckline with baby blue silk ribbon thread along the edge of the neck opening that then went “V” due to the fact it was supposed to be worn with the three buttons undone.

Of course Douglas had fastened them. Its short sleeves were puffed at the shoulders with a lacy over-sleeve that through its holes showed the silky sleeve beneath. Both inner and outer sleeves were reattached together with blue ribbon thread at their edge. The short sleeves were just covering three inches of the arms. It also had pale silver butterflies on the outer lace, and the necklines ribbon ended in a tied bow beneath the buttons. Beneath the blouse Douglas was wearing a pastel blue camisole vest and a white bra. It was her largest bra a true “A” cup verses the “AA” padded training bras, but it looked a little tight. Douglas was probably almost a B-cup verses her AA buds.

Their step-mum noticing Douglas quickly got up and undid the buttons. “There Breanne, I knew this blouse would look darling on you. You need to get a quick breakfast so we can get to the mall.”

“I want to go for drive in the roadster. I’ve been looking forward to it.” Douglas grumbled petulantly.

“Breanne, you can another day. It is only fair for Douglas to get the first ride though, as he has been working on the car with me for the last few months.” Their step-dad informed. Breanne smirked, this day just kept getting better.

“You are also in trouble young lady. After I talk with your father we will decide on your punishment. Now what do you want to eat, we need to get going.”

“I’m not hungry and I don’t want to go out in this!” Douglas stomped his foot and ran back to her room. Breanne shook her head. She would need to teach Douglas how to argue, or their steps will realize he isn’t Breanne.

Their step-mum placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, who had thrown the paper down. She held him gently to keep him seated. “I’ve got it. I think I know what this is. I sort of have been expecting this. You know how teenage girls can become.” With that she left, and Breanne was left trying to look clueless and not bursting out into laughter at the hole, Douglas, her new sister was digging himself into. Judging by the look Breanne’s step-dad was giving her it would appear she hadn’t done a good enough job of looking innocent.

After washing up her cereal bowl she decided to quickly get out to the barbers so she had more time in the roadster to enjoy. Sure she could hear some of her step-mum and Douglas’s argument, but it wasn’t worth wasting time trying to listen in on. “Can I get some cash for the barbers?” She asked her step-dad.

“Say hi to Bob for me while you’re there.” Breanne’s step-dad requested while handing her some money. “Hurry back son.”

Breanne was chuffed, enjoying the walk there and back, and finally getting a short boy’s hair cut that had previously always been denied her. Even the veiled threats from John senior about what his son would do once his sprain was healed was fun to taunt back against. The fact he was in front of her in line for a haircut at the barbers didn’t have any chance to ruin this perfect day.

She had a great time insincerely worrying what would happen to his loser of a son if he actually tried anything against her. “I mean if his ankle is sprained while I was unaware, just think how many bones he will break if I take it upon myself to actually notice your son.” She had gleefully told him as she left the barbers, and the old fogey spluttering. She was done sooner due to her hair cut being faster than the attempt to coax hair to be sculpted over the bald patches that John’s barber had to attempt.

Getting home and even working on the roadster for nearly two hours didn’t yield her new sister and step-mum, from said sister’s first mother-daughter mall visit. Breanne had messed up handing her step-dad the wrong tool a few times, but felt she had managed to make him believe that it was due to distractions at school, and not that she wasn’t the son he thought she should be.

“So we should just check the fluid levels and we can take it for a spin. Douglas do you want to have lunch here, or can you wait, and we will grab a late lunch outside somewhere on the drive?”

“Let’s use the car and drive for lunch.” Breanne quickly answered. She could find out how bad Douglas’s day was tonight after the steps were asleep.“I want to make a change and am thinking of using ‘Mark’ as a nickname from shortening my middle name.”

“Well I think Mark that you are making a few good choices in the new you. Now does the windshield washer reservoir need filling?” Her step-dad queried and got her looking at the correct reservoir. Thinking his son as being extremely distracted when he had to show him where it was, but hey at long last he actually acted like a son.

Ellin takes her daughter, the one she thinks is Breanne, to the Mall.

~o~O~o~

Chapter 3

Ellin glanced across the car to her daughter in the passenger seat. Breanne, having been caught out for wrapping her breasts, was totally shaken. Her cloak of usually far too sure of herself confidence was stripped away. Ellin had never thought she could have got her daughter into the blouse she was currently wearing. She just had to take her to the jewelry store, and show her the earrings. They were clip on too. So she can let Breanne do her whole spiel on never getting her ears pierced, and then show her the dangling sliver and sapphire butterfly clip on earrings. Then Breanne will have a vested interest to wear this outfit again, as they go so well together.

Probably should start with clothes first. Move from the necessary, correctly fitted bras, on to matching panties? She’d probably not be able to go truly pretty there, unfortunately. Then tops as Breanne’s current outfits were too tight to wear. Hence, why Ellin had got her into the current blouse, as it was one of the loosest tops Breanne owned, that wasn’t ugly. Could she get her into dresses and skirts? She’d got Breanne to wear the denim skirt. That Breanne had not demanded to wear her usual jeans was quite surprising. Yes, Ellin thought she should likely be able to make ground there. She had a greater chance at that than being called Mum at least, unfortunately. She wasn’t too sure how to end that thought.

It hurt that both her children adamantly stuck to calling her step-mum. However, at least it wasn’t evil step-mum. She was determined to be the best step-mum ever. Well she could try. They’d saved her. Hopefully she could be good enough that they valued her as an acceptable step-mum one day.

Thinking back to where she was, when she first saw them, got her thinking of the past. Ellin was back in the American hospital. She was coming down from her latest drug induced escape. She was in one of those few and far between momentary lapses of normalcy. Down from the madness and fog of oblivion, but prior to the claws of drug withdrawal tearing her apart, and causing the sweats, and shakes. She’d run into the children’s ward by pure accident, in her intent to find an exit to escape into whatever U.S. city she was currently in. Thereby, escape the agents that were going to arrest her, and hold her for deportation. She knew now it was Baltimore, but then it was another city the band was playing in.

The band, boy did she ever mess up there. The concert to end all concerts, and her ticket out, rather than returning to ‘no-where-ville’, Northern Territory, as a college drop-out, prior to even finishing one semester. Well ‘no-where-ville' was appropriate, the closest place with a population of barely two hundred was Mataranka, and that was the height of civilization compared to actual home. Home, a lean-to-trailer, and less than half a rod of land to scratch some food out of in the middle of swampland, that came with all the poisonous and dangerous critters the Aussie outback could throw at you. Yes, back to the trailer-trash life, where she’d be lucky to be someone’s ‘Sheila’. The life that she’d fled to Darwin, to escape. Being one of the Jilkminggan school’s top students didn’t get her to stay out, it now seemed. Well one last bash before heading back. A few bands had actually chosen to come to Darwin. Darwin, population that had somehow finally exceeded one-hundred-thousand, one ‘huge’ city.

Ellin had landed the back-up bass guitarist for ‘The Schicks’. Yep the back-up’s back-up, score! Yeah right. Then again the lead bass scored a few girls, and didn’t take any with him back to the US. However, at least Brian put in the effort to get her a visiting visa, passport and paid for the flight out of ‘no-where-ville’. Then how did she repay that? When she thought she had a chance with the lead singer she’d jumped ship. He was just being a dick, or in need of using one, and she fell to being a band groupie. No longer any of the band's actual girlfriends. Brian had left the band too. A bad abortion ensured she couldn’t have children. Another reason to escape the world with drugs. To not admit the hell she was living.

The kids had left their psychologist, as she barreled around the corner, then slowed down to try to blend in. The Doctor was neither bad nor good, Ellin later found out. Unfortunately the grandmother was the client and she wanted the children to have grief counseling for losing their mother at birth. If their grandmother hadn’t spent time hammering the sacrifice her daughter made so the twins could live, they probably wouldn’t need counseling. Their mum died during child birth, and most likely just wanted her kids to be happy, rather than moping in depression of their mother’s death.

A comment from her son-in-law sent the grandma off, and as the grandmother screamed about the sacrifice her daughter made, Ellin knew the children needed help. Funny that when she pushed her effort into trying to help someone else, she finally was able to help herself. The drug withdrawal, a pain that could suddenly be ignored. Oblivion to hide in, not needed when two wounded kids needed her. She’d fallen in love with Marcell too, but that came later, and was more of an evolved mentor friendship than romantic fiery love. He wasn’t quite old enough to be her Dad, but it was closer than her being old enough to be the children’s mother. She was twelve years the twins senior, while he was fourteen, hers. The children always were what had got her though. Best drug treatment clinic ever. Their problems left no time for her to worry about her own.

She’d been all set to get Breanne into a girls’ soccer program. It was over beyond Parramatta though. So in the hope she could get her interested in the field hockey at North Rocks she’d pushed her into that first, and Breanne came alive on the hockey field. It really was like a completely different daughter. No longer was there a moody over aggressive, and competitive really mannish tomboy, suddenly there was a more excited, and actually alive girl thriving. Too bad the hockey season was over.

Her obvious interest in Leah Martins was tempered on the hockey field, and it seemed with organized interaction actually had a better chance of developing. Mary, Leah’s mum, had told her stories of her daughter pulling her hair out in despair. The young lady had confessed to her mum that she was positive she was a lesbian, and had said she could easily see herself in a relationship with the girl on the hockey field, but not the Breanne that shows up at school.

Leah did swimming and dance too. Perhaps she could find a way to get her into the same dance class? Carefully pulling into the mall parking lot, she decided she needed to call Mary, and let her know she was shopping in the mall with the Breanne that shows up on the hockey field.

Douglas was positive that he was currently in hell. He was loaded down with multiple store bags in both hands. Bags filled with girls’ clothing he despised. Well he figured he should modify that statement. The bags were filled with girls’ clothes that he would like to see being worn by other girls. Unfortunately they were going to be clothes that he would be wearing, and that was where the despising was coming in to play. His entire morning, and a good chunk of the afternoon had been wasted being dragged from store to store and forced to try on just about every style of female clothing known. He had only succeeded in two victories against what his step-mum wanted. She had won everything else and he now had clothes that he knew Breanne would never have worn before, as they were too girly for his tomboy twin.

He also now knew things he had never wanted to know or be. He was apparently just shy of a 28B cup up top. In two things bought he was a junior size four, nearly a third of his purchases were a size two, and then the weirdest size was for most of his new clothing that included a handful of unwanted skirts and dresses. For these he was a size zero, which just sounded nuts as a clothing size. He wondered for girls smaller than himself if there were negative numbers too? Otherwise what would those sizes be? He would have to ask Breanne. Further, how could his size vary so much between manufacturers? I mean they had to be using a standard didn’t they?

His feet had stayed the same size six that Breanne’s shoes were. Of course even saying that he had plenty of shoes back home, this didn’t stop his step-mum getting a few pairs more for the new outfits. His step-mum stated that those shoes, in Breanne’s closet, wouldn’t work with some of what they had just bought. Go figure.

His two victories were more won as he recalled how Breanne had stated she would never do them so he knew her arguments, having heard them so many times espoused by her before, and thus enabling victory now for him. He had loudly exclaimed in the jewelry store that having your ears pierced was just like a farmer tagging his cattle with ear tags to declare ownership, and he wanted to never have pierced ears. The jewelry store assistant actually came in on his side stating that for someone with such strong feelings against getting ears pierced, those feelings should be respected.

Unfortunately she still managed to agree that a pair of clip-on silver earrings that each had a dangling small silver butterfly with pale light blue sapphires mounted as both eyes and smaller ones in their wings were just perfect to go with the peasant blouse being worn and must be bought. Thus he currently kept noticing the pinch and swing as his head moved, and had to stop himself from accidentally reaching up and touching them. This was just another burden he found himself having to bear.

Douglas was sure that the commission from the expensive earrings obviously played into the associate championing Douglas’s right to not have his ears pierced. It was a poor consolation as he was still stuck not only with multiple girly outfits, bras, panties, but also wearing the pair of clip-on earrings that apparently matched his peasant blouse. Along with the earrings his second change to the outfit his step-mum had forced him to the mall in, was that he now was wearing one of his new bras that better fit his boobs than Breanne’s bra had. His boobs, well there was an expression he never thought he would be using, coupled with shopping for girls clothes and jewelry.

The other victory was against high heels. Again copying Breanne’s argument that she didn’t like the pressure on her toes, nor the way her body moved and would never wear them. Further, he would destroy any heels his step-mum bought by breaking the heels off and using the sharpest blade he could find in the garage to destroy the shoe, way before he ever got used to wearing the torture devices. Due to this he ensured no higher heels were bought other than those with at most one inch wedge heels, like the sandals he was currently wearing. So he had kept it down to five pairs of new un-needed shoes, and three of the sets were flats.

“Hey Breanne, nice blouse.”

“Breanne!” Douglas’s step-mum tugged his arm turning him, while telling him, “Your friend complimented you on your blouse. I told you that you looked good in it. I am so glad I finally got you to wear it.”

“Wow earrings too! I never thought I would see the day, Breanne.” Leah exclaimed. “You look really pretty.”

Douglas in embarrassment looked down at his feet. Could anything more go wrong? “They’re clip-ons. I will never get my ears pierced.”

“What, not even for me?” Leah asked and Douglas was speechless. “Well even if clip-ons, they match the outfit, and I think they’re the first pair of earrings I’ve ever seen you wear. This is the prettiest you’ve ever dressed. I always despaired at your prior casual clothing. I swear if it wasn’t for the school uniform, and hockey I would never see you in a skirt.”

“Breanne, why don’t you spend some time with your friend? I’ll take the bags filled with your new style in outfits to the car.” His step-mum just had to emphasis the victory in getting him new girly outfits. He had failed completely in stopping his step-mum in feminizing Breanne’s look.

“New outfits! Let me see,” and Leah was diving in to the bags.

Of course after holding two summer dresses against Douglas and declaring how she wished she could have been here to see her in them she stumbled upon the new bras. “Oh I thought you looked different.” Leah declared while staring at Douglas’s chest. She still seemed to be able to see his boobs even when Douglas covered them with both arms in shamed embarrassment.

“Leah, why don’t you come home with us, and Breanne can show to you the new style she has bought. Douglas is likely to be out with his dad. So we can have a girl’s day, okay?” Douglas’s step-mum quickly changed the subject to gloss over how Breanne had been obviously wrapping her breasts to look smaller before. Also she saw how embarrassed and shy Breanne looked around her friend Leah. There was mutual interest too, and more important the dominant male mannerisms were absent. If it took her daughter being interested in another girl to jump-start her development out of tomboy, then she was going to find ways to ensure Leah was around more often. This might be the only hope she had to keep a daughter.

“I’m hungry, and I am not playing dress up anymore today. Also I deserved to go out with the roadster. I spent hours working on it.”

“Breanne, I don’t think you worked on it once. Definitely nothing compared to the time Douglas spent helping Dad on it. Why don’t I pop everything in the car while you treat Leah at the food court? I will meet you there in about an hour or so. I have a couple of things I want to get done.” Without waiting for Douglas to agree she handed him some money and left with the bags.

Leah waited to ensure they were alone and then pounced. “Okay Douglas, spill. What the hell is going on!” Leah exclaimed.

“What… I am Breanne!”

“Yeah right! No, I know you’re Douglas and not Breanne. Are you transitioning?”

“What?”

“Have you finally realized you should have been the girl twin, and Breanne the boy? Or are you just experimenting with being a girl?” Leah asked. After waiting and realizing that obviously Douglas needed some prodding she continued. “Look Douglas, I’ve run interference all year so no one else on the hockey team worked it out, but I figured it out fairly early on. It’s pretty obvious when I am interacting with two people that are both interested in me...”

Douglas gasped and tried to leave, but Leah held his arm too firmly while changing tracts and trying to not be quite so aggressive.“Douglas, you are not as forceful as your sister. So I know that you, and your twin swap places at times. The only reason I never said anything was because I knew Breanne would never play hockey, and you made our team so much stronger.”

Though Douglas quickly latched onto the fact that it appeared Leah had a vested interest to keep things quiet, he still felt he could muddy the water and pretend to be Breanne. It definitely helped that he was now a real girl. “Leah, I must act differently at different times without knowing. But I am Breanne, and I play hockey. I am not my brother Douglas. He plays soccer.”

“Douglas, I don’t mind. I actually think that you make a better girl. I am okay with you being on the team while transitioning. The breasts are amazing they really look real.” Leah then grabbed Douglas, and as he shot away from her obviously conflicted, Leah was momentarily confused. Those breasts felt real.

“What the hell, Leah! Shall I just grab yours?” Douglas said trying to work out how Breanne would act.

“Do you want to?” Leah asked and as Douglas blushed she pounced. “I knew it. You are Douglas. Breanne wouldn’t have blushed. She would have likely tried to help herself to that offer. Are you actually both girls? What the hell is going on, Douglas?”

“Call me Breanne.”

“No, that is your sister.”

“Well she is being me currently, so I would appreciate you calling me Breanne.” Douglas stated.

“I’ll call you Bree, if you honestly tell me what the hell is going on. Are you both girls?”

“Currently, yes.”

“Come off it! I asked for honesty! You don’t suddenly change from being a boy to a girl the next day.”

“Um, that’s about what happened.” Douglas admitted.

“What! Explain!” Leah demanded. So after ensuring they were still alone Douglas explained the three a.m. wake-up discovery, and Breanne’s decision to change places full time. He didn’t mention his problems with the lights and the weird problem he had with time, as he was still totally confused about those things. Then how having agreed to swap places with Breanne; He still was unsure how that happened. This then led to him being in trouble with the steps for Breanne’s binding of her chest. Coupled with Breanne getting out in the roadster while he was stuck in shopping hell explained his surliness. How it wasn’t fair considering he had worked on the roadster, but all the good things he had done were now awarded to Breanne. He would also now sit Breanne’s after school detention for the rest of the coming school week.

“So if you were a boy, why did you willingly dress as a girl and play hockey?” Leah asked.

“Breanne hates hockey and loves soccer, but both steps demanded she do a girls sport as she couldn’t keep playing soccer in the U15 boys’ league. I didn’t really want to keep playing soccer, and Breanne is better at it than me, and you play hockey…” Douglas gasped and looked at Leah stopping suddenly, realizing he might have said too much. Actually, there was no might about it. He’d said something he never intended to say.

“Seriously you were willing as a boy to dress as a girl just to be with me?”Leah watched Douglas’s blush and enjoyed the feeling of power. “You are so sweet! Thank you.” She grabbed Bree into a hug and started thinking how she should handle this. After a few minutes she swung away so Douglas wouldn’t see her grin. Having thought back her interactions and recalling how Douglas had looked yesterday in his soccer uniform versus the prior times. “You played soccer yesterday and Breanne went to detention. That’s why you were playing at midfield instead of striker?” Leah figured if she asked enough questions she would work out what was really going on. As if gender flipped while sleeping, did he really think she bought that?

“Yes, I prefer playing midfield, and our step-mum caught us trying to change places before the game.” Douglas answered.

“You really were a boy yesterday weren’t you?” Leah asked recalling how he had looked in his uniform. Of course he could have stuffed something in his pants too, but it was unlikely that parents would demand only one twin to act like a girl if they were both girls. So was Douglas in the process of transitioning and trying to pretend he was a girl down there? As Douglas only nodded she knew she needed to work out a way to get him talking so he tripped up some more, and thus enabling her to discover the truth.

“So you are saying that yesterday you were a boy, and now you are a girl.” Leah waited and after Douglas nodded continued. “So you’re fine with both of us going into the women’s bathroom and proving it to me that you are now a girl?” When Douglas cutely blushed almost crimson while nodding, Leah grabbed an arm again, and dragged him into the women’s restroom. Well if he was only going to nod she would have to get drastic to force him to confess. She would get to the bottom of this, and when she sees his thing she can use that to force Douglas to do something she figured. If he completed transitioning he could be a good girlfriend.

The lady touching up her make-up watched them in the mirror as Leah forced Douglas into the disabled stall and locked the door. Both eyebrows rose when she heard one girl tell the other that they didn’t believe them, and had to lift up their skirt to show it, for proof. Overcoming her initial embarrassment Marcy nervously called out. “Do you need help? I have my cell phone with me.”

Quickly thinking of a possible excuse having run through her mind what words she had obviously said a little too loudly. “No Bree’ told me she got a piercing, and I called her bluff.” Leah said through the door.

“Is that true Bree? You can tell me, and I will help you. You don’t have to show anything. Do you want to come out?”

As Leah constantly used eyes and head to indicate to Douglas to say something, he pulled in a nervous breath. “I don’t need any help. I am okay. Thank you for offering but I don’t want you to call anyone.” Douglas finally gambled out in a rather unconvincing scared voice. At the same time he nervously lifted his denim skirt.

“Bree is your Mum at the mall? Are you with anyone? I really want you to both come on out or I’ll call the police.” Marcy decided that the second girl sounded far too nervous to be a willing participant in the other girl’s actions.

While the conversation was occurring through the stall door Leah had pushed Douglas’s hands and skirt up higher. After boldly reaching in and pulling his panties to one side she had been shocked, and lost any train of the conversation having now seen Douglas’s vagina. He was a girl! She staggered back until she was pressed against the opposite partition wall. She was so sure that Douglas was a boy. Her parents must be evil to force one twin to dress as a boy, and name her with a boy’s name.

So it was actually Douglas who gained bravery due to his fear in the woman’s threat of calling the police, that adjusted her clothing, and unlocked the door. He quickly exited the stall leaving a stunned Leah in it. “See I am fine. You don’t need to call for help.” Douglas forced out hoping to stop this going really bad.

Marcy was completely confused by the shift in dominance between the pair of girls. Now concerned for the girl she thought to be the aggressor she stepped in and shook Leah’s shoulder gently. “What’s wrong?” Marcy asked.

Leah’s brain was failing to reboot. She kept seeing Douglas’s vagina appear as she moved his panties to one side after having hiked up his skirt. “But... it… there… has…” she mumbled.

Marcy of course drew the wrong conclusions from the snippets of conversation heard as to what Bree’s friend must have seen. That of course led to her being worried for Bree. “Bree how old are you?”

“Fourteen?” Douglas confusedly replied, sounding more like asking a question.

“Does you Mum know you are pierced down there?” Marcy asked Bree, assuming the shock of seeing Bree’s pierced labia, had caused the other girl's meltdown.

Breanne enjoys Douglas's hard-work with a day out in the Roadster.

~o~O~o~

Chapter 4

Breanne smiled as the wind that was barely stopped by the windshield tugged at her new shaven head. She wouldn’t have wind tossed hair with knots to untangle ever again. Turning to her step-dad, Dan, she smiled at the smiling glance he gave her prior to him returning to look at the road. The car shot along on the surface streets of Carlingford and they were quickly on the M2 Motorway toll road and heading west along the ring of Sydney’s suburbs.

Now on the M2 Dan let the roadster go. It was unusual for police to have traps on a none holiday Saturday afternoon. He was of course carefully keeping an eye out for their easily noticed orangey-red stripe, which was then topped by a racing chequered black and white, and then finally plain white top cars. Their distinctive look had given him a head’s up many a time to take his foot off the accelerator pedal. No speeding tickets so far thank goodness. Mind you being now in the flashy roadster he might need to be more careful.

Of course his wife drove more than him really. During the work week Dan rode the train from Epping into his office in Sydney for work. The roadster was his car, and he had just got it ready to drive today. If he chose to drive it for work, it would only be to the train station’s car park. It really wasn’t smart attempting to drive into Sydney. There was an unofficial three side war between pedestrians, motorists and cyclists for the streets of Sydney. Unfortunately, no one had told the three sides that the train company was the only partial victor of their conflict. Luckily he didn’t have to cross one of the more deadly roads. Nope, Dharawal Liquors, Spirits and Wines, the largest alcohol distributer for New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, ACT and Victoria, had the office he worked out of. It was on the same side of the road as the station exited onto. So he didn’t have to worry about the over twenty pedestrians killed so far this year from aggressive drivers.

He’d done well for himself. Especially when he’d thought his life had collapsed when Teresa ran off with an old high-school sweetheart flame. Even when she initially deserted the kids with him, and he had juggled the two jobs of keeping an income coming in while keeping the family running, he kept his position. He’d stayed afloat largely due to the help from his parents. Two years later in the divorce she got awarded custardy and child payments for kids she suddenly felt he didn’t have any rights to see. In just over a year those payments would be finally over, and most likely the second child like the first would be back in his life. Back in his life due to being eighteen and not having to avoid him on their ‘Mother’s’ court won say so. Rachel his eldest had told him Wayne was counting the days ‘till he could visit him once more. Both kids according to Rachel liked only one parent and that was not their mother.

Looking at Douglas he hoped for the day he could finally say he was the Father of four kids. Currently he was only Dad to one, and step-dad to two, though of course he was paying for all four still. How much would Breanne cost him this weekend? He would be getting the answer to that tonight. He slowed while changing lanes to not take the A2 fork north, rather staying on the ring road that had just become the M7 Westlink slightly earlier. Once clear of the Congestion he let the Roadster purr. “What do you think of that power, son?” He asked over the increased wind noise, and while noting an automatic toll taking booth slip by.

Breanne grinned and nodded back, not even attempting to speak over the wind and risk her voice sounding wrong for Douglas. Thankfully Douglas was quiet, for she had most concern being found out if she said something. Not only did her voice typically range over slightly higher frequencies, even when she attempted to deepen it, but she knew she had habits in saying things that differed and might get noticed. Her rumbling stomach, suddenly cramped. She hoped they would be stopping soon and eating.

As the pain increased she got dizzy as her view became blurry. Something wasn’t right. For superimposed over the view was a slightly different one. In one that she knew was correct the sun was falling from overhead in front of the car, which made sense as they were traveling sort of west, and it was the afternoon. The second had the sun shining in from a high angle on the driver’s side of the car, which would only be the case if they were traveling south in the early afternoon. Her queasy stomach made her worried she wouldn’t be able to keep lunch down, if she even managed to eat it in the first place. That would suck as she knew she was hungry.

The wonky view showed the car pass the Power Street exit which overlaid on the Sunnyholt Road exit they actually passed. Her stomach was meanwhile attempting to do a tumbling floor exercise, and she swallowed back the bile and acid from a thankfully failed upchuck. The double vision continued to bother her though as after passing above both differently named roads there was no feed on access from Power street, while Sunnyholt road did have one on her passenger side of the car, complete with toll booths for entry onto the toll road. Less than a minute later and the wonky vision of the road finally had an entrance on her side of the car, though there had been no exit, unless you counted the Power street one several hundred meters before. Looking at the entrance that in reality wasn’t there, she saw several police cars. One of them suddenly turned on their flashing lights.

Thankfully the awkward stomach cramps and ghost false image faded away together. “So where are we eating?” She asked her step-dad. Hoping if she ate soon she wouldn’t get a repeat of the earlier cramps. Initially she’d worried it was that time of the month. Thankfully as soon as she had thought that she had realized it wasn’t possible for that yet, which was extremely good news as Douglas had her purse. It also brought up a concern on how she was going to handle those days when pretending to be Douglas.

“We could be in Mount Vernon in about twenty minutes. How’s that sound, Mark?” Her step-dad asked, obviously currying favor by using the newly minted name. She knew she could likely talk him into the Distillery but that was only slightly more than five minutes closer, and not as fancy a fare offered. The only thing was she’d have to interact with the other members’ kids as Douglas. Then again she was going to have to start the birth of the new Mark somewhere, why not at The Lodge at Mount Vernon. Being members only, meant a lot less kids for the initial outing than would be at school, plus it would be only the best social movers if there even was anyone from her school there. This was the exclusive club for Sydney. The waiting list to become a member was over five years. During which you still paid base membership dues.

“Sounds good,” Breanne said while seeing the exit sign for Power Street and getting a feeling of déjà vu. Oh and the sun was still high but over her step-dad’s side of the car. That’s right they were traveling south now on the ring road. “Hey don’t the police usually stake out the on-ramp here?”

“There is no on-ramp this way from Power Street.” Dan replied, but still eased his foot off the accelerator when he saw his speed.

“I meant the next street’s entrance, the one that doesn’t have an exit that pairs with this one.”

“You’ve seen police there?”

“Just about every time we travel to Mount Vernon.” Breanne lied.

“I guess they must be easier to see from the passenger side of the car.” Dan said while pulling into the outside lane after checking there was room. Having maneuvered into the slower lane on the left he broke to the same speed as the previously approaching car ahead.

Just prior to the point of being able to see the merging on-ramp where she had seen a few police cars they were overtaken. Moments later there was a changed not quite déjà vu. This time she saw the flashing lights a bit in front of their car, though still on the left hand side, and on the on-ramp. Whereas before when she’d seen them they had been level, or actually just behind their car when its lights had gone off. It had seemed so real, how lucky she was to have imagined there would be a police trap here. Had she subconsciously made note of the police cars’ speeding trap on prior trips to the Lodge? But Douglas normally sits on this side of the car. She was normally behind the driver on the right side of the car.

Dan slowed more to allow the police car to enter the toll road in front of him, its sirens now blaring. “Thank you Mark, you likely have just saved me, the money your sister is spending.” He decided after the close call to increase only enough to stay slightly over the speed limit. It was still fun even if not traveling at quiet as crazy a speed as he had been. “Mark, with soccer finishing in three to four weeks, have you any idea what you might want to take up for summer?”

“How about tennis,” Breanne said before suddenly realizing she had goofed up.

“Douglas you turned that down, even though I wanted you to play with Breanne in the mixed tennis camp and tournament the Lodge is putting on. There will be some really nice prizes.”

“I didn’t want to play with my sister. I mean come on, I’m fourteen.”

Dan withheld comment on how young fourteen still was. Instead he asked. “Then who did you want to play with?”

“Leah…

“Leah Martins?” at his son’s nod he carried on. “The Martins are not members of the club. Look you know how much Breanne wanted to play. If you did this for her, Mark. Well she would owe you and I would owe you double. You actually could find a girl that is in our social… What I mean is that you have a better chance of starting a relationship with a girl by being noticed competing than being her partner. In fact being on the same team could be a sure fine way to prevent a relationship from launching.”

“You do mixed doubles with Ellin.” Breanne noted how he had been referred as Douglas when he dropped herself in it and was Mark when his step-dad needed a favor. Unfortunately, Douglas disliked tennis more than soccer. He had refused to do this exact mixed doubles with her, and she was unsure if even saying he had to do it to ensure the steps didn’t work out they’d swapped would work here. There was a limit that she knew she couldn’t push her brother beyond, and she was fairly sure this was way further along than that.

“Your, mum, and I had been in our relationship before we started playing as a tennis team.” Dan stated emphasizing the ‘mum’ rather than wasting time starting in on a battle over Mark using ‘Ellin’, before muttering. “Even then it can still be a close thing at times.”

Slowing down he took the off ramp for ‘The Horsley Drive’. Breanne saw the northern edge of the Sydney International Equestrian Center. It ran along the inside of the ring road from the other side of the cross road. They turned right onto Horsley, traveling under the toll road, and west toward Mount Vernon. A couple more turns and after passing ‘The nineteenth hole driving range’ they entered the private drive. Stopping at the gate Dan lifted his club pass up over the side window to the guard who lifted the barrier letting them in.

Breanne remembered asking why it wasn’t electric, and being told that having it be manually lifted showed the club to be more pretentious. As paying a staff to lift the entrance, and exit barriers was more expensive than installing an electric one. Personally she thought it was poor money management.

Being half two the restaurant was rather empty. As they were being walked to their table a man called out. “Afternoon Dan, are your better half and daughter following?” Breanne looked to see a couple with two girls. One was about her age. She figured she’d seen her at the club before but not interacted with her. She was still staring trying to think if she knew anything about the two girls only vaguely paying attention to her step-dad talking with the other kids’ wrinkles.

“I should be mad with you Douglas, but I guess I have to give credit where credit is due, that goal yesterday was a beaut’.” The elder girl said. Did Douglas know her? This would be awkward.

“I hadn’t realized you went to North Rocks.” She decided as the best thing to say. Hopefully Douglas knew her from the club as she’d not seen him interacting with any girl but Leah at North Rocks.

“I don’t. We go to West Pennant Hills.” The still un-named girl replied for herself, and so far unspoken younger sister. There was a bit of a pregnant pause as Breanne didn’t want to say anything, and was hoping for a few clues, like why she would be at a North Rocks’ game. “West Pennant Hills was the team you destroyed the playoff chances of yesterday.” She finally clued him in on why she would be at another school’s soccer game. “Oh, and I am Sophia, and this is Marlene.” She indicated the younger sister. Who even though likely thirteen or fourteen showed she would most probably be prettier than Sophia later. Marlene took after her mother who could be a top model. Sophia resembled her dad too much to escape being called handsome. She knew that Sophia was not like her in desiring to be handsome though. “I know your name as it has been tweeted all over our school’s social network. We have even been talking about your sudden hair cut. So you can stop worrying if you were supposed to know me, and forgot me.” She snorted with the humor at her own expense. Sadly she seemed to expect people who knew her would forget her.

“Well I wish I didn’t know you Douglas, and I recommend you don’t visit our school any time soon.” A voice from behind Breanne called out. Spinning she saw a boy that she also didn’t know. “Brett, midfielder for the team you more or less single handedly dismantled yesterday. You’ve met my older and younger sisters, now you meet the best Morrison kid.” He held his hand out and shook hers. “Why didn’t you play striker from the beginning?”

Breanne figured she needed to go with Douglas’s excuse. “I was a bit sick, and felt the team would be better with Michael starting as striker.”

“God, that was you playing under the weather!”

“Brett!”

“Sorry mum.”

“Michael, can we pull another chair or table up so these two can join us?” Mister Morrison asked.

“I could move your drinks to those two tables pushed together. It has a great view of the eighteenth green, and the afternoon breeze I swear is known to bring the Pacific Ocean’s freshness from the terrace through the open veranda doors.” The Maitre D’ offered, and after getting the nod asked. “Could I get you anything to drink Mister Parson, Master Parson?” Michael’s idea was a better decision than pushing a square table up against the current six-person round top, or worse trying to squeeze a seventh of the overlarge rounded wicker chairs to go around the table.

Breanne quickly found herself sitting between Brett and Sophia, with her step-dad opposite between the Morison wrinkles, and Marlene was sat beside Sophia. This enabled the adults to have their own conversation, and Sophia and herself to have sort of three conversations that waxed and waned. She had a conversation just with Brett, while Sophia had one with Marlene, the second was with Sophia, and the third was all four of them talking together.

The entrees halted most of the individual conversations. Breanne became worried as half way through the meal her stomach cramps returned with a vengeance. She also got feelings of choices to make, and others to avoid. Why she was thinking the best of the numerous options started by accepting Misses Morison’s offer even though this included finding out she wouldn’t get a girlfriend as far as she could see, which true was a bit over a couple of weeks, but when bad choices could yield a girlfriend by this evening it was as if the universe was out to get her. Thinking she could manipulate what would happen, was she going mad?

She was awake and yet dreaming of hundreds of futures, they were all overlapping. She had to make choices to shut off some of them so the number was reduced to stop the headache. Ones that ended with one ominous word, ‘Syndicate’ were the worst. Quickly toggling options to get rid of those seemed to remove most of the aches and drowsiness. It was worse than drowsiness though, her brain seemed to not quite work right and was muffled, and ‘chained?’ in those images. Removing the obviously bad options that led to those scenes seemed to let her see about twenty choices, each of a different two weeks forward from now, which was confusing to keep track of. In those two weeks the only possible girlfriend were those where she got with Sophia, and she knew even in those options where she had chosen to accept her that she never considered her a girlfriend even when she was apparently kissing her.

What was even odder was that in most Sophia knew too that she was being used, and always didn’t care. Refusing to believe she could have a gift and not be able to use it to her own advantage she quickly went back trying to see which options led to her getting Leah as her girlfriend. There were only three; one enabled her to have her as a girlfriend for one day prior to the ‘Syndicate’ ending it. The next was three days and then the same ending. The last was half a kiss for the length of relationship, and ‘The Center’ broke it up, and she suddenly had a gay boyfriend. That nearly had her throwing up. In fact looking through them except for four, all the ones with ‘The Center’ arriving led to her having a flamboyantly gay boyfriend or a rather pretty boy one. Three she had no one and knew that ‘The Center’ had labeled her nonsexual and according to them will not have a relationship. The fourth reading a file that she somehow felt had been purposely left out for her to read, it said “…subject is bisexual, the interest in girls being actually secondary to a refused acceptance of his homosexual primary interest in boys…”

“Douglas…

“Mark. Son…

Breanne managed to get up from the table, through the open door, and out onto the patio before hurling up on the terrace. She needed to do whatever it took to avoid ‘The Center’ they initially seem like the good guys, but the forced feminization or masculinization of the newly gender flipped. The lies, manipulation and basically brain washing so their kids will appear to have similar percentages of sexual orientation to the world at large were sickening. All of it just so ‘The Center’ blends in, and doesn’t stand out. The manipulation in some ways is nearly as evil as the ‘Syndicate’ that is completely obvious in being evil. ‘The Center’ allows all freedoms except who you can be sexually attracted to, and contact with your actual family that they stole you from.

“Hey son, sorry you must be going down with something we should leave.” Her step-dad joined her outside.

“No I need to accept Misses Morison’s offer.”

“We can…

“I must do it now.” Breanne turned and returned into the dining room. “I am really sorry, I must be still not completely better. However, I would completely love to do it.” Breanne said the last part looking at Misses Morison. The lady looked across the table to Sophia, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh yes, yes, yes! A million times yes!” Sophia squealed.

“Fantastic, I am sure that you and Sophia will make a perfect couple. I’m sure you can exchange contact info with my daughter, and make all the arrangements when you are feeling better.”

While Breanne/Mark is upset with not getting too much information, Douglas/Bree is stuck learning more than he ever wanted about being a girl. He might argue that he is getting the too much information his twin is cursing not getting.

~o~O~o~

Chapter 5

Breanne was now left with a dilemma or three. Firstly, as she had just emptied her hungry stomach she really wanted to eat the second half of the meal on her plate, which was at a table where sat the other diners who almost definitely would not desire her to re-join, as they obviously think she is ill with a potentially contagious or at least totally unappetizing sickness.

Secondly she needed to talk with Sophia and find out exactly what she had agreed to just now, and if her power was true it needed to be done in private sometime now, which as Sophia and her family thought she was sick, she was clueless how that was supposed to play out. Lastly, she cringed refusing to think what was required. If the first two items weren’t impossible then surely the third one was. Maybe she should go back to revisit her disbelief that she could select from different futures. At the very least could she get the full script rather than a few crib notes? She stared longingly at her wonderful dinner.

“Mum, can I be excused.” Sophia asked. As soon as she had been given permission she got up and took Douglas’s hand and dragged him from the table, and her food. As they approached the front she grabbed the Maitre D’s attention. “Can you have Douglas and my drinks and food brought to the Rose Garden? I know the flowers settle my stomach, and I’m sure Douglas needs the food and doesn’t want to waste your delicious food.”

As soon as they were alone walking toward said garden, Breanne thanked her profusely. “Douglas, it is no bother I could see you trying to work out how to get back to eating your food.” Sophia seemed to be girding herself then plowed forward. “Can I ask you a personal question though?” Breanne nodded unsure what to say. “How long have you known?”

Breanne was slammed out from the relieved great happiness of somehow actually getting her food, back into her prior overly worried feelings about her crazy power of seeing different futures, and the weird belief she could manipulate the end result within certain restraints. She was left questioning how the heck Sophia knows about her power. “You know!”

“I’m friends with a girl that was unfortunately born with the minor birth defect of being mistaken at birth as a boy, Douglas.” She calmly said. “She has shared that there are times some of the medicine she is on along with the extra anxiety in social situations she is under gives her a ‘tricky’ stomach too.

“I’m sorry Ma’am that we bothered you. Come on Leah we need to go or it will be the time my mum picks us up and we won’t have got everything done.” Douglas attempted to defuse the situation. If Leah could get her arse in gear they could just run out of the restroom, but she was still doing far too good an impersonation of a statue, for plan ‘A’ to work.

“Bree, I asked you a simple question. As you avoided it I think I need to have a few words with your mum. Let’s give your friend a moment to recover from the shock you gave her, and you let me know what time and where you expect to meet up with your mum.”

“I am not pieced down there!”

“Well, can you explain your friend’s reaction?”

“It was joke. I made it look like I was by putting a loop ring on the lip. But the ring is actually not a complete circle. I am not pierced there. Heck, look even my ears aren’t pierced.” Douglas quickly un snapped one of her earrings. “If I don’t even pierce my ears you can be damn sure I didn’t pierce anyway else.”

“You prat! I really thought you had pierced your cunt.” Leah wacked him on the shoulder, well at least she was finally responding even if it was to humiliate him.

“Sorry Bree’s prank bothered you ma’am.” Then they were both running from the lady before she thought of anything else to say to them. Like demanding to see Bree’s mum.

“So how do I know you weren’t always identical twin sisters and your steps are crazy pretending one of you is a boy?” Leah asked after finishing her pastry. The two were sitting in the food court having escaped the lady in the restroom. Neither knew whether she did or didn’t believe the story Bree had spun of having pretended to get a piercing. Leah had thanked her for the perfect opening to use the word ‘cunt’ in polite company, much to Bree’s shame.

“About the only thing I can think to defend against that is if we were both girls but one of us is forced to pretend to be a boy…Then why wouldn’t we have just swapped places earlier…As Breanne was always the more aggressive of the two of us, and is obviously soccer crazy.

“If she not only wanted to play on the boys’soccer team, but also wanted to be a boy all along, and if I was actually a girl… Then why wouldn’t we have just swapped once, me into her, and her into being the boy you are concerned our steps forced me to be. Then we would not be worried about all the swapping back and forth we’ve been doing. Conversely if we enjoyed swapping places why would we now stop swapping?” Douglas replied sort of thinking it out as he or she rambled then took another sip of her drink. Not noticing that his internal thinking had flipped genders a few times.

“Bree, people don’t just suddenly change gender overnight. It is far more likely that you and Breanne have always both been girls, and your steps are evil.” Leah replied rationalizing. “Fraternal twins don’t look nearly as identical as you and Breanne do.”

“Leah, our pediatrician, Doctor Woods, would have not stayed silent on the abuse. Our real dad, our grandma, and the hospital we were born at would have to be willing to sign off on the farce. I think it was my sister taking something to stop her breasts growing and binding them that enabled us to look so similar before my spontaneous growth of a pair of...” Bree stalled from saying the dreaded word while indicating her new assets to his anatomy.

“What is your sister taking, and your boobs are bigger?”

“I don’t know, but when she saw my breasts she asked if I had been taking hormones too. So I guess she is taking male hormones, and yes she had one size “A” bra that was too tight for me. Thus the wardrobe disaster that led into this shopping hell. On Breanne that one is loose, she barely fills the “AA” training bras and I fit into a B-cup, seen as that is what my step-mum has bought today for me.

“Bree when you talk like that I think you are a girl as boys aren’t usually so catty.”

“Catty? What do you mean?”

“God Bree, you really didn’t know what you just did?” seeing Bree’s clueless face. “Fine, maybe you were a boy after all, but you are now, all girl.”

“That’s what I said.” Bree confusedly interrupted.

“Not what I meant. Oh , don’t worry about it… Head’s up, your mum is approaching.” Leah’s non sequitur woke Douglas back up to worry, and he quickly checked he wasn’t doing anything that would let his step-mum know he wasn’t Breanne.

“Okay girls, are you ready? Leah, are you here with anyone or do you want me to drop you home?”

“Actually can I come back with you? Bree still needs to give me the fashion show I was promised. I’ll do her nails for school tomorrow too.” Leah said.

“If you want to ask your mum if you can come to a sleepover, then you’re more than welcome for getting dinner with us tonight. I know it is a school night but if you mum is willing to let you stay the night, we would be delighted. I would love to see you get Bree to act more girly. If you could get her to go to school with nice nails I would let you have a sleepover whenever you wanted…

“Hey guys, Bree here. You know the person you’re planning events for without my input.” Douglas forced his way into the conversation. “I would love it if Leah can have a sleepover with me tonight, but my nails are fine the way they are.”

“Silly, a sleepover is all about nails, and outfits, and hair, and all good girly stuff. Let me ask my mum, Misses Parson.” Leah quickly turned while getting her phone from her purse and texted her mum.

Douglas’s step-mum grabbed her son’s hand, which she thought was her daughter’s. “Seriously this cuticle disaster is what you think fine nails should look like.” Ellin said, keeping her daughter off balance so the sleepover could be made a fait accompli. She turned to look at Leah. “If you need help convincing your mum, Leah, let me know. As I need your help here badly. Bree really needs to stop being such a tomboy.”

“That is good as she just said she was going to call to talk to you.” Leah’s phone started ringing while she talked so she then handed her phone over to Misses Parson and grabbed Bree’s hand from when Bree’s mum released it. Then Leah whispered coquettishly into Bree’s ear. “I would be so happy if you let me play with you. Won’t you let me play, please?”

Douglas couldn’t stop himself from blushing at the innuendo. He became concerned that he was already rationalizing that he could paint his nails as he was now a girl. Was he willing to do something crazy just to get more time with a girl? He suddenly realized that yes, he was, heck he had willingly worn a skirt while he was a boy just to be able to talk to her. Allowing Leah to play with his nails now he was a girl was far less demeaning. Hell, he was worried that he might have accepted letting her play with his nails to get a sleepover with her even if he was still a boy. Was there something wrong with him?

“God’s though Bree, your hair is terrible. About the only things going for it, is that it is cut evenly and without any split ends, but I don’t know what I am going to do with it tonight. It is just too short and boyish. Yuk!” Leah’s tirade was ended when Misses Parson gave her the cell phone back. “Oh hey Mum… Yes… Yes. Of course I will. Thank you. I love you too.” Leah put her phone away, and beaming grabbed hold of Douglas. “Thank you Misses Parson for inviting me to a sleepover with Bree. We are going to do so many girly things together that Douglas will be sick.”

Douglas gulped as he was not too sure that Leah meant him, or his twin acting as Douglas, with that last statement. What had he signed himself up for? Oh yes, a complete girly-girl makeover. He was doomed. Tomorrow was school too, did he not already say he was doomed.

“We need to get Bree some cosmetics. Come on girls, its shopping time!” Douglas was left realizing that no matter how doomed he might have thought he was. There was always a lower level of doom, as Leah happily dragged him after his step-mum; a step-mum whom had waltzed off after dropping the latest doom bomb.

As the garage door opened and their car edged in, Douglas saw the empty space that the roadster usually sat in. His sister was obviously still out gallivanting in the car, when she hadn’t done any of the work on it like he had.

“Good it is just us girls. Let’s get everything into Bree’s room. Have a quick fashion show as the outfits are put away then I’ll leave you girls to play with Bree’s new cosmetics while I get started on dinner. You two can be in charge of clean-up after dinner and then escape back to Bree’s room for your sleepover. As it is a school night I’ll get the men to bed early so you can have a very quick ice-cream-giggle-time in the sun-lounge, but I promised your mum you would be to sleep by eleven. As long as I don’t hear any noise after you go to Bree’s bedroom by eleven, then I will pretend you are both sleeping. Okay?” His step-mum rattled off the itinerary for the late afternoon evening as Douglas’s stomach rumbled to the word of ice-cream.

“Well Bree’s tummy is onboard Misses P.” Leah giggled as she ran for the house with nearly half the bags from the boot. Douglas blushed realizing that the one pastry and drink in the food court was all he had eaten all day. Grabbing a few bags himself he ran after, seeing his step-mum smirking from the corner of his eye. Just think he could be in the roadster if he hadn’t suddenly become female overnight. That thought was of no help with his current predicament. Running after a giggling Leah also didn’t help in delaying the next item on the agenda. That which was scheduled to occur after unloading the car.He realized what was next, unfortunately, too late. He shouldn’t have carried so many bags, as his step-mum had brought up all the rest. Now there was no reason to delay it.

“Twirl again Bree.” Leah requested for the umpteenth time. “Now cock your hip, and blow me a kiss. Come on; work it baby, work it! We really need some music and some lights, and a runway. Bree your bedroom, even if it’s twice the size of mine, is too small.”

“We could have her walk across the landing?” Douglas’s step-mum offered.

“Nowhere for us judges to sit, let’s head to the living room?” Leah countered. Thus half an hour later Douglas found himself working the living room. This time, and thankfully the last one, he was in a flimsy white blouse with pastel pink accents. It hung off one shoulder, showing a healthy amount of cleavage as it asymmetrically dived across his front. One arm left completely bare. Heck most of that side was bare too, as the blouse was a too short affair that left his midriff bare. His painted pink nails, yes breaks to his new bedroom to change make-up for the next series of outfits had occurred, matched the blouse’s accents and his strapless pink bra was partially visible through the flimsy thin blouse, even if it was quote unquote covered.

The blouse was really too transparent to be truly classified as covering it. Apparently it couldn’t be worn with one of his current camisole vests though as they were longer. ‘Go figure that rule out,’ Douglas thought it was weird how some under layers could be visible while others couldn’t. Worse yet was when the same under layre could only be allowed to be visible in certain areas but not others, and there were exceptions and consistency flaws to the whole concept too. The black tulip skirt, which clung to his bottom like a second skin and kept his upper thighs tightly bound to each other, flared out just above his knees while he twirled on command. He was wearing the same sandals as before but his toe nails were now also painted hot pink too. The earrings didn’t completely go with the outfit but as he refused to let them pierce his ears. They still had demanded he at least wore his only pair of earrings, even if they didn’t completely go.

The hi-fi system was booming out pop music from a local radio station and his step-mum and Leah were perched on the settee drinks in hand. Both were yelling out moves for Douglas to do for them in his last outfit from the day’s shopping. The rest of the clothing had thankfully been allowed to be put away. Douglas figured in a bit he could gracefully bow out, and get this ensemble away too, including the unwanted make-up.

“Bree, just one more seduction pose and twist and I’ll get you a drink to celebrate the end of your first fashion show.” Leah yelled over the music.

“Yes but do the two handed kissing blow version as you do have two adoring fans.” Douglas’s step-mum loudly added with her, well almost the usual smirk.

Glad for it to be finally over Douglas swayed toward them to the beat of the music, and then he cocked his hip hard and suggestively moving both hands to his face blew a kiss, each hand ending pointing toward his two members of audience. He then indicated with the fingers for them to come toward him. Then after they edged toward him and just before both got up, he giggled while waving them off, and span. He stopped mid twirl gaping at his sister and step-dad that had obviously been behind him. God knows for how long. Oh there were levels of doom even lower than he had thought of before, he now realized.

Taking in Breanne’s shocked expression, and his step-dad’s questioning one, he was at a complete loss at what to say. As they were between him and the exit he was also trapped.

“You got your ears pierced! What about your tirades that it was the same as a farmer tagging his cattle? Are you a piece of meat now Breanne?” Breanne demanded of Douglas into the silence that came when their step-mum shut off the hi-fi system by remote. How could Douglas have changed Breanne’s personality so much in one day, and why wasn’t their step-mum realizing that it wasn’t Breanne acting so… ‘Ahh! Needs must when the devil drives,’ Breanne thought as she continued the act. Some of which like the surprise to the outfit, earrings and dance, weren’t actually acting. She only got a rough poor man’s cliff note version of events to be, not the meat and potatoes of what was going to happen. Case in point, ‘Spring frigging Formal Dance.’ Well the extra side effects hopefully wouldn’t include something of that level too here.

“They’re not pierced!” Douglas exclaimed back before Breanne said something to unearth their charade. He had never seen her so frustrated. Quickly he un-clasped one earring to show his sister and step-dad.

Now knowing why she needed to say what she’d thought an odd comment of an illusion of a tag still being a tag, along with an animal sound. Breanne worked out something to incorporate that while hoping she wasn’t about to get grounded. She had a commitment tonight after all. “So you are wearing a simulation of a pierced earring. A tag is still a tag. Your convictions aren’t very strong. So it is just the pain of getting your ears truly pieced that stopped you from being tagged. Moo!”

Douglas is forced to apologize and the girls escape to Bree's bedroom for relationship soul searching or something like that

~o~O~o~

Chapter 6

“Douglas, apologize, your sister is allowed to change her opinion on something. Further, even if Breanne does not chose to change her mind and get her ears pierced your mum and Breanne’s friend both have pierced ears because they want them, and your reasoning is rude and demeaning to people that want to get their ears pierced. I had been completely impressed with how you acted today and you have just ruined it with that boorish comment.” Their step-dad angrily stated and it took Douglas a moment to realize for once, that it wasn’t him that was in trouble or being addressed but Breanne.

“I told you I wanted to go by Mark instead of Douglas.” Breanne surly stated.

“Then act like Mark, and we will call you Mark. Now apologize!”

“Sorry ‘sis’, your new style got me by surprise, and I miss-spoke.” Well she had got the important boxes for the initial meeting checked. Breanne quickly apologized not realizing she had stressed ‘sis’ and that her new sister and Leah would think she had done so on purpose. It was galling and cruel that she had to help push them together. Her jealousy didn’t help her apology any either. Worse she had one more time she need to say things to push them together.

Douglas didn’t want to accept the back-handed apology but didn’t want to appear bad to his step-parents as they likely wouldn’t have caught the stressed ‘sis’ nor know it was likely intended as an insult, so decided to change the subject. “So you are now going by Mark. Is that for Marcel?” he asked, to avoid actually saying he accepted the insincere apology.

Leah also noticing that it seemed Mark had insulted Bree decided to add her own muddying. “Mister and misses Parson can Bree and I head up to Bree’s room?”

“Sure that will work, and ‘Mark’ can help me prepare dinner.” Mrs. Parson replied.

As the girls left Dan interrupted his wife. “I’ll help you dear.” He then after checking his watch turned to his son. “You have forty-five minutes Mark, best get moving, and know if I didn’t think this was important that things would likely be different after your earlier tasteless comment.” He could explain in the kitchen what their son had planned for this evening, and why he didn’t ground him.

Bree let Leah drag her back upstairs and happily shut her bedroom door. She was thankful to finally be out of the awkward situation downstairs. If she hadn’t been wearing such a tight skirt that impeded movement she likely would have been the dragger due to his desired haste to get away as soon as allowed. As she removed the blouse she noticed Leah had grabbed a blue bra from his new underwear drawer.

“Swap bras too and then put on the blouse you were wearing this morning as it goes with your earrings.”

“I was going to take the earrings and make-up off.” Douglas answered.

“That will be taken as a victory by Marcel, ‘call me Mark, because I think I would get teased using my real name…’

“You do know that’s my name…

“Nope, you are Bree now. One hundred percent grade A cow… girl. Ye-Ha! Actually what was Breanne’s Middle name?” Leah asked.

Bree’s eye glistened slightly with unshed tears as she reverently whispered, “Julie.”

“Julie is your mum’s name, my Jubrelie?” Leah asked while handing a tissue to her. Bree nodded and turned away to wipe her eyes. Leah hugged her from behind. “Hey think about it, I am happy to keep calling you Bree, or either of the other two.”

“Let’s stay with Bree, but…” Bree gathered herself and soldiered on. “In private, I kind of like being your Jubrelie.”

“Anything you want, my Jubrelie, you’ve got it.”

Giggling through her tears she hopefully asked. “So I can take the earrings and make-up off?”

My Jubrelie, if you really want to of course, but know that Marcel will count it as his victory, and you are so pretty wearing earrings, and I saw you first as a girl wearing them, along with the peasant blouse. For those reasons I would really hope you wore both for our first evening meal, our first date together. Please…” Leah fluttered her eyes and pouted cutely. Sighing Douglas, no Bree internally corrected herself in who she was. Having decided that she changed bras, and blouse. She then checked in the mirror to ensure her earrings hadn’t been moved by the clothing change.

“Now come on I need to do your nails. Sit!” Leah indicated for Bree to sit at Breanne’s vanity.

Bree turning from having hung up the other blouse in Breanne’s closet lifted her hand. “My nails are done you did them already.”

“Bree, really you can’t see what is wrong. Your nails are hot pink, which was for the other blouse. Now… Yes, I think silvermist will work best. Come on Bree, sit. You know make-up is a girl’s war-paint. Men might think we do it for them. They are completely wrong. Marcel is clueless on this topic, and tonight we are going to destroy him.” Leah moved the stool out from the vanity so she would be easily able to get to Bree’s toenails.

“Let me change back into the denim skirt first” Bree asked mainly to delay and decide if she wanted the upcoming nail treatments.

“Nope, the denim skirt was nice and casual for the day, but what you’re now wearing is better for evening wear. Oh, yes my Jubrelie, I will be doing your first evening make-up!” Leah squealed delightfully at the realization.

“Leah, I am not comfortable with more make-up. Fine I’ll let you do my finger and toenails in silver, but no more…”

“Silvermist, Bree, the colour is not just silver. Come-on spoilsport let me get the spacers in between your toes. You know I wonder…” Leah looked carefully at the nail polish. “As this is so translucent I want to see how it looks over the hot pink, I can always add a second coat, or remove it all if it looks bad but I am hopeful that it might look good.”

A few minutes later and Leah was bouncing on Breanne’s bed while Bree sat at the vanity stool waiting for her nails to dry. “Bree, please let me do your make-up for tonight. If you don’t like it we can remove it, but at least I will have done your first evening make-up, please.” Bree falling to Leah’s deadly pout, figured there was no harm in letting Leah be able to say she had done her first evening make-up. There was plenty of time to take it off before dinner, so sat and acquiesced. She was curious how she would look too. Though she didn’t want to admit it she had actually liked how her nails had looked. Leah didn’t need to be offered twice as she set to with gusto.

“You don’t think this is too much.” Bree asked looking at herself while twisting her head from side to side. Three coats of mascara had thickened and made her lashes appear longer. Even when he was Douglas he had naturally long eyelashes, and that stayed true when he became a girl, but the mascara appeared to make them even longer as well as thickening them. The eye shadow went from a mid bright electric blue at the inside to a very pale pastel baby blue. Her cheeks had a bright rosy bloom and her silver lips could not be ignored. Glancing at her nails she could see it appeared they were a muted pink beneath a nearly translucent silver veil.

“Nope it is just right. Let me do mine so you can compare.” Leah said. “Can I borrow your green wrap around dress for tonight, Bree?” Bree nodded from Breanne’s bed, and watched Leah taking off her face, having relinquished the vanity stool to her. “God, your sister has almost no jewelry. I have the perfect pair of emerald earrings at home that would go with the dress but will have to make do with my silver hoops.”

Bree trying to appease Leah jumped in. “I think your dangling hoops work better than studs, and silver goes with dark green.”

“Wow look at you girl, coordinating and knowing what works. The emerald earrings aren’t studs though they have three dangling gold chains with several emeralds in them. If your ears were pierced, I could let you borrow them when you wear the wrap.

“Well sister you have gone all girly, and getting your ears pierced too.” Mark stated having just walked into the room and seeing Douglas, nope there was no Douglas here he was actually seeing his new sister, dressed to the hilt. Mark was in athletic shorts and a white V-neck T-shirt with under vest beneath. Even though freshly clean and pressed, it was quite glaring how he was dressed compared to the two girls that were dressed to the nines.

“Marcel, you know that now this is no longer your room, you should knock before entering a girl’s room.” Leah said after looking out the door and ensuring it was just the three of them.

“What the f… Douglas you told her!”

“I worked it out Breanne. I’ve known since the start that it was Douglas playing hockey, not you. I didn’t care because Douglas helped the team, and you wouldn’t have.” Leah defended Douglas. “Also she is Bree now so I can keep you guys straight.”

“Then don’t call me Breanne, to stop a potential problem call me Mark. Any-way, Leah, are you going to show Bree how make-up looks done right on a pretty girl?”

“I did Bree’s make-up, and she is a beautiful girl. I would date her, actually I am, and tonight is our first date.” Mark reared back shocked at Leah’s confession. Well that explains why she only had three chances to end up in a relationship with her. “All along I was more interested in Douglas than you Mark. Now she is Bree, you have no chance, I like girls not boys.” As Breanne further found out why any relationship would be so short, and was also realizing that she could leave, they had already reached the point she thought she needed to nudge them into, Leah however kept on talking before he could excuse himself. “Please close the door when you leave Mark, we girls are having a slumber party, and boys are not needed. Aren’t you supposed to be with your mother making our dinner too?” Leah turned and went back to working on her make-up, completely ignoring Mark.

After the door closed Bree let go of her held breath. “That was a bit mean Leah.”

“Mark was not being nice to you Bree. Some times its okay to be mean or others will walk all over you. Can I see if your wedges fit me, and borrow them tonight if they do?” Bree took a moment at the abrupt conversation change prior to nodding. It had also taken her most of the time she paused to realize that Breanne’s shoes were now hers.

Leah completed her make-up then rose while unbuttoning and slipping her blouse off her arms. Bree couldn’t stop herself staring at the lacy black demi bra, and of course what was beneath Leah’s nearly transparent bra. Going over what Leah had said she might actually be getting something going her way, and she would willingly accept all the prior losses for the current gain. She tried to not blush as Leah proceeded to pull the tight jeans she had been wearing off next, as if he wasn’t directly in front of her in his sister’s, no her bedroom with the door closed. The small lacy black briefs matched Leah’s bra. When Leah passed her heading for the closet to get the dress, Bree couldn’t stop feeling hot, nor stop enjoying the beautiful girl passing by virtually naked. Leah’s tight bum was prominently displayed as what little piece of cloth there was at the back of the panties was of the same transparency as the bra was.

Leah deliberately took her time getting the dress off the coat hanger enjoying the hungry eyes following her every move. Her nipples had to be as hard as diamonds as she was excited knowing Bree was interested. She slipped it on her arms and wrapped it around herself then tied it closed loosely. Leah then turned to confirm that Bree was still staring at her. “See something you like?” she asked knowing full well the answer. “If you wear the make-up down to dinner I’ll let you undress me tonight.” Smiling at Bree’s gorgeous innocent blush she waltzed back to the vanity stool. “Could you do my toe nails in the same silver mist?”

“I don’t want to mess them up. You did everything so well, as you know what you are doing.” Bree replied.

“Bree you need to learn, and it is easier to apply nail polish to someone else’s toes than to your own. We have plenty of time so if you mess up a nail it can always be redone.” She then placed the spacers between her toes. “Except you have pink beneath your silver mist, we both have the same nails and silver lipstick. We’ll have the same open toe wedge and silver accent jewelry. So you’ll be silver blue and I’ll be silver green. Do you know the biggest advantage of having the same colour lipstick on?” After Bree shrugged Leah continued. “We can kiss and not have to always then fix our lipstick.” Leah stole a quick kiss while Bree was stunned from her comment. This was going to be fun.

Bree was left reeling. He had fantasized kissing Leah for nearly two years, but never thought it would occur. Definitely she never expected that it would be Leah kissing him, nor that he would be a girl. He never thought his heart would be racing and thumping so loud surely her steps could hear it downstairs, nor the feeling of light-headed-slight-dizziness. Jeez he was such a girl. Come-on she was kissed and he/she was going to swoon. He had always thought romance novels saying the women swooned were so cheezy. Now she gave herself a female pronoun and just tried to mimic the same cheesy books that when he was a boy he made fun of.

“Are you going to paint my nails Bree?” Leah asked, knocking her out of her internal musing. Knowing full well what the kiss had done.

Strangely Bree was not glad when she finally finished from her kneeled position painting Leah’s toenails. It had taken a few retries to get the coating on smoothly. Now, unfortunately, she no longer had reason to hold one of Leah’s feet. Nor any reason to stare carefully at her foot. Looking up she noticed that Leah had sprawled her other leg sideways causing the slit of the wrap around to open to the waist and allowing him to look at the crotch of her black lace panties. Oh now there was reward for being on your knees. She could clearly see Leah’s parted lips and a moist patch on the materials. Quickly looking up at Leah and seeing her watching her she gulped.

A knock on the bedroom door had her spring back and hit the door to Breanne’s clothing cupboard. She had just righted himself when her step-mum entered. “Oh you two ladies look lovely. I am going to have to get myself dressed too. Leah, are you going to go barefoot it would be a shame to hide those toenails in the trainers you were wearing?”

“Bree’s going to let me borrow her other pair of wedges once these dry. She painted them. Her first set of painted nails so of course I am going to show them off.”

“Wow Bree, you did them well. You’re going to be able to paint your own too, now. Anyway, dinner will be in fifteen minutes, so don’t mess up your make-up. I’ll see if Dan is willing to dress up a bit too. So, dinner in fifteen, actually make that thirty minutes, okay?” After getting two sets of acknowledgments she let herself out re-closing the door.

“Bree, I love your mum.”

“Step-mum…

“Come on Bree, cut her some slack she’s been your mum now for like half your life. She thinks you were hiding your breasts and yet she goes out buying you new clothes. She could have said for punishment you can wear the wrong sized stuff. Or forced you to get used clothing, but no she bought you new, and brand name clothing that is currently in style.”

“Well I wasn’t the one hiding them, and I am sure forcing a child to wear clothing that doesn’t fit is some kind of child abuse.”

“Not if it was the child that tricked the parent, and she doesn’t know that it was Mark that was hiding stuff from her unless you’re willing to admit what happened.”

“Well she was the one that took us away from my Grandma. Off to another country…

“Where you met me, are you not happy to have arrived here? I thought you liked me.” Leah pouted putting it on a little thickly.

Bree came up short on that one. Realizing her first few comebacks would hurt or insult Leah, she had to really think a moment. If she was about to start a relationship with the girl of her dreams then she couldn’t be mad at her step-mum for uprooting him or she wouldn’t meet said girl of her dreams. Saying he would have met someone else, though potentially true, would be at best cruel to Leah. At worst, and of course more likely, blow any chance of catching the girl. Further, unless she thinks her steps were some kind of mad scientists that experimented on children she had to figure this whole gender swap thing was going to happen whether she was here or still back in the states.

What were the chances if he was in the states, of the girl he was then chasing as his dream girl, would like Leah, actually bat for the other team. Thus still be possible to catch when last night’s madness occurred. So she was left having to re-visit his preset rant against his, no her step-mum. “My mum died for us. My grandma that raised us said that we must never forget that her daughter gave her life for us and we should call her grandma to honor what her daughter, our mum, did for us. She said that we must honor our mum by not giving anyone else that title.”

“Okay I can see that.” Leah said to diffuse the situation a bit while she internally thought about how the grandma had manipulated her grandkids to dislike their new step-mum. “So I was wondering if you were interested in another kiss.” Needless to say Bree was extremely happy to try out some more kissing.

Having fixed Bree’s and her own make-up after their make-out session, Leah decided she had put together a good argument to make Bree see that she had a good step-mum. “Your grandma is not selfless, Bree.” Seeing Bree about to interrupt Leah continues quickly. “No listen to me on this. Being a bit selfish is not bad. In fact it is vital and Bree, you really need to be a bit more selfish at times. Your grandma, just like everyone has an agenda. She had lost her daughter, and needed her grandchildren to acknowledge that daughter, to minimize her loss.”

“So what’s your agenda?” Bree angrily retorted.

“Oh I have many, but to stick on topic, the ones in regards to you are as follows. I want to have all your attention. In order for that I want the relationship between you and your parents to improve. So they have a vested interest to keep me interacting with you. If I can encourage you to do things that your parents want you to do then I get more time with you. For me this is easy because your parents don’t know of the change. Where I teach you to fit in as the girl you now are, they see the metamorphosis of an angry tomboy that hated anything girly into a polite pretty happy daughter.”

Bree stared at Leah trying to work out what she had just told her. It was bad wasn’t it? Manipulative even, then why did it seem good for her?

“Bree, hopefully you are interested in me. Acting on that feeling is selfish. The reason that is not bad selfishness is because it aligns with my selfish desires. I have been granted my wish. I wanted Douglas’s mind in Breanne’s body. That Bree, is who you are. I get my cake, and eat it too. What I am trying to explain to you is that in business and life there are four types of transactions, and you should always strive for ones that are win-win…

“Leah, what are you talking about?”

“Bree, humor me. This was told to me by my Grandpa when I was mad with my parents for grounding me and returning Alexei’s DS3 a couple of years ago. ”Leah held up a hand to stop Bree from interrupting her. “I had tricked Alexei with a win, loss transaction. That is I won and Alexie lost until my parents grounded me, and forced me to return the DS3, and then I lost completely on the transaction.”

Leah paused and stopped herself from going off track. “My Grandpa finally made me realize that I shouldn’t be angry with my parents, because a win-loss or loss-win transaction will at best help one side of the transaction once. You will only trick or be tricked by someone once so it is a bad end to a transaction between friends.”

There was a knock on the door and it opened to admit Misses Parson wearing a floor length crimson ball gown with scooped neckline. She was also holding a bag. “Leah, your Mum dropped this off for the sleepover and it has your school uniform for tomorrow. Shall we now head down to dinner? I think Dan will have got everything onto the table.”

So did Mister Parson and Mark dress up nice and handsome for dinner too?” Leah asked, with a smirk.

“Oh, my husband has washed up quite nicely, thank you Leah. Mark I am sorry will not be eating with us as he is out with his girlfriend this evening.” Both girls were shocked by that comment. “Breanne, I know how badly you wanted to do the tennis mixed double with Douglas…

“I do not want to play tennis with her…im!” Bree started off exclaiming then forced the ‘im’ as she corrected the pronoun. How could Breanne do this? He knew exactly what she was going to say too. ‘Bree aren’t I the super nice brother I will be the partner you wanted me to be for the mixed tennis that prior to turning over my new leaf and becoming Mark, when I was Douglas, I had no interest in doing.’ Then in private ‘if you don’t accept they will know we swapped.’ This was not going to happen. Leah had said she wasn’t selfish enough. Brea… Mark was not going to walk all over her and get his bloody tennis! The nerve of…

Leah was suddenly hugging her Jubrelie, and frantically rolling her eyes trying to convey the items she couldn’t say. Also rubbing Bree’s back soothingly. “Bree it’s okay relax. Your mum is talking about Mark’s girlfriend playing as Douglas’s partner. Not you, I think.” She almost whispered the last part.

Bree heard her step-mum nervously laugh. “Well this went different than I expected, but I think Leah has a better grasp of what I meant to say. I thought the explosion would be elsewhere so I messed up the delivery of this.” Ellin took a breath and ensured the crisis of a nuclear meltdown had been averted at the current moment thanks to Leah’s intervention. Pausing she got back to the point, having rearranged the order of her planned spiel. “Mark has a girlfriend who wants to be his mixed double partner. I hope you aren’t upset he chose his girlfriend instead of you. I know, well I thought I knew…

“That’s great mum, I know how much I’d tried pestering Douglas into being my mixed double partner, but I thought he was going to suddenly force me last minute when I’d accepted I wasn’t going to play in that tournament.” Hopefully, using the mum card would distract her mum from wondering why her daughter was no longer interested in tennis and win brownie points from her girlfriend.

“Dan and I are going to check our friends with sons…

“Please mum, I really, really do not care, and don’t want to enter. I am no longer interested. I mean it, mum. Do not try to set me up with anyone…

“Even if it is with me?” Leah asked. Bree enjoyed the feeling, Leah was still hugging her so tightly, it was really nice.

“It’s mixed doubles…

“I look quite dashing when I dress like a boy. However, I wasn’t talking tennis.” Leah let Bree know, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Leah Anne Martins!”

“Misses P. you know my middle name?” Leah stated after the initial shock of thinking her mum must have arrived.

“I might have heard your mum yell it at you, a time, or ten.”

“Oh.” Then trying to hide her blush she carried on. “Shouldn’t we head down for dinner? Poor mister Parson might think he needs to send out a search party.”

“Poor my foot! The man has three beautiful ladies as his dates for the evening.” Ellin’s smile couldn’t be bigger. Her daughter had called her mum, and not just once. Ellin had never thought this day would come. Sure she’d hoped it would, but thought it never could. She needed to work out what Leah was interested in. It was Christmas in two months.

A rolling boil...

~o~O~o~

CAUTION - This chapter contains flashback to a traumatic event. There is no graphic description of the event but it is referenced by a character's words while they are having a flashback and reliving it. This is the most traumatic section of this story, and as it is my first I might be being overly cautious in flagging it.

Chapter 7

Mark stumbled across the landing, after closing what had been her bedroom door behind him. Frozen into inaction he just stalled in the mid landing on his planned trip back to his new room thinking on what he had just learned. How his sister, and she was most definitely his sister, had escaped from the prior cocoon of being his slightly effeminate, totally useless, pathetically weak brother that he hated, into a confident sure girl. One that obviously was happy and had fully embraced being female.

It broke into Breanne's cycle of hatred for all things Douglas, and pushed her into truly accepting what would be coming soon. Her immanent gender swap which she now realized Mark hadn’t thought through to the final goal properly before. She had wanted to be male because females were weak, females could be hurt, and she hadn’t been in control when she was a girl. If she couldn’t rely on males to protect her then by god she will be male, and protect herself. Further, her useless brother should be a girl, he was a failure as a boy. Well Douglas now was the girl Bree, and soon Breanne would be a young man, so that meant Mark needed to protect Bree. Or he would be a hypocrite in how she thought of her failure of a brother, Douglas.

Now that Douglas was gone, and actually understanding what being Mark would entail, namely being there to protect his sister, meant her disgust of Douglas didn’t have a target. Breaking the cycle made her realize that the standard she’d held Douglas to three years ago was ludicrous. Before her bitter anger, and warped justice, and means to ensure she was never in a situation of not being in control, not being strong, How she easily found ways to blame everyone but herself on what happened, and how she held Douglas most at fault. Had held Douglas more at fault than even frigging Jeremy, the fifteen year old heartthrob she couldn’t believe was interested in her. What the fuck did she expect an eleven year old boy to do?

Of course Douglas had been distracted at the party, with the video game set up. The party that was in the main house for Ansley, Jeremy’s just turned thirteen-year-old little sister, which they were actually invited to be at. She’d left quietly, not wanting Douglas to notice her leaving. Yet she then blamed him for not noticing she’d snuck out of the common area when she knew full well his attention was elsewhere. She’d followed Jeremy’s plan of heading out the back door when his parents were busy in the front of the house, where she was supposed to be. Instead she’d crossed the wooden deck, and went down the steps to the backyard, and saw the door under the deck, as he had told her she would find. She’d knocked, and was happy when he let her in to his bedroom apartment and the private party he had promised her. She was so bloody stupid!

The laundry list of people her eleven-year-old-self, had held responsible for her screwed up life had started with her grandma. The one that showed her pictures of her mum and then ones of herself at the same age, showing how they looked like identical twin sisters. As a four to five year old, or younger child she literally took grandma’s statement that, ‘if her daughter was alive today she would have eventually looked like me’ to make her think her mum was the same age as her grandma. As grandma was identical to mum in her mind she thought of her as her mum. Even if she demanded to only be called grandma.

When she was six and her dad started dating Ellin an eighteen year old where their nineteen year old part-time nanny was still in high school, she took the fact Ellin was a college drop out to mean she was a high school dropout. Looking back now she is fourteen she wonders if their grandma deliberately didn’t fix or encouraged that fallacy to be believed. She does know that her grandma referenced repeatedly that Ellin was a college dropout, a drug using groupie, and that she was a year younger than their nineteen year old nanny, Clair, whom was still in high school, and set to do something useful with her life.

In her mind her dad was trading in mum for a girl two generations younger than his first wife. Having Ellin in the house started a war. Clair was on grandma’s side as she was going to be out of a job. Grandma was also not around as much and the kids were in the trenches of a war they couldn’t understand. Of course her eleven year old self thus added her dad and Ellin onto the laundry list of those at fault for what happened. If her dad thinks he can date a woman half his age she should date Jeremy. She is three fourths his age. She would have never done it if he hadn’t first, she’d used to shift the blame.

At eight years old her dad died in a traffic accident. She was sure it was punishment because he had in his mid thirties married a teenager, basically a girl half his age. Yes, dad was smote because he replaced mum with a high-school-dropout-drug-using-groupie. She hadn’t known then what a drug-using-groupie was, but she knew it was a really bad thing, based on how grandma had said it. What at eight she couldn’t work out was why he was punished while driving with grandma also in the car? Was grandma supposed to be punished for something? Or was the fact she lived proof the punishment wasn’t also for her.

At eleven she had riled wondering when Jeremy was going to be punished. Sure she didn’t tell Douglas what had happened, but he wimped out when she said that next day at school he had to beat Jeremy up for her. He had to, or she wasn’t safe from other boys, and he refused. He let her get hurt, and just had fun playing video games. He needed to be added to the list five times as he was most at fault, and obviously useless.

How had she not seen the ridiculous standard she held her brother to? She had just got so caught up on her hatred for him. Looking for fault in everything Douglas did, as proof she was right to hate him. Looking for ways to lash out and hurt him because he hadn’t protected her. It took Douglas being removed from the playing field for her to see how far she had warped logic into justifying how she must punish Douglas.

Though grandma, unlike dad, survived the car accident, she did so with a broken hip that led while in hospital to an infection and other complications. The upshot of the injuries meant she was physically unable to take care of the twins. So Ellin is added a second time to the list because when she won the custody battle she brought them now they were nine years old to Sydney. If they had stayed in the U.S. then they wouldn’t have been invited to Ansley’s birthday party.

But no, they were uprooted to Sydney, where Leah’s mum, a friend from Ellin’s Northern Territory Jilkminggan school days had relocated. Mary had a job for their step-mum, working as a hair dresser in her salon. So they arrived in Carlingford and got enrolled in Murry Farm School, specifically mister Black’s form 4B class. Unlike the United States, everything in Australia was a competition. Their Sherwood court neighbor Sarah made sure to let Breanne know that mister Black’s class was only ranked second. Her class with misses Swanson, 4S was for the smartest students their age. Of course Breanne knuckled down and ensured Douglas did too so they will get into the top fifth form, and shut up miss smarty pants.

Leah refused to listen to her. She said she was happy in Miss Edmunds class 4E, the youngest and newest fourth form teacher at Murry Farm. Leah stated that as long as her fifth form teacher was just as nice she wouldn’t care if she ended up in the bottom fifth form class. Breanne had a devil of a time to get Douglas back on track studying after that. He was easily manipulated by a pretty face so another couple of reason’s to add him to the list. He probably was listening to Ansley too, when she needed him to protect her.

She recalls the dread, worry and anxiety to see if they made the class list for mister Michaels, whom teaches 5M, which is the top fifth form class. Initially Sarah was gloating as she is on that class list, but the twins are not on any list. Sarah said that they probably have been held back to repeat fourth form. However, Sarah gets worried when she notices that several of the kids she was sure would get in 5M were also on none of the school lists.

Then the twins had a meeting with the headmaster who discusses the goals of their new class 5/6 D which combined the top fifth formers with the bottom sixth formers as there are not enough students for a whole new class in both years, and they want to see if the brightest fifth formers can raise to the challenge, and push the sixth formers as half the class is a year younger than the other half.

The end result was the following year going into high school at North Rocks a year early, while still only eleven years old. It led to them being a year younger than their class mates, and mixing with the older kids of high school like Jeremy. Breanne accepts now that placing Sarah onto the list of people responsible for her getting hurt shows she was scarred to accuse Jeremy. For aside a stupid decision that she made, he was the only one that should have been blamed. However, in her fear of blaming the one at fault she found a convoluted method to blame nearly half a dozen that were not. From out of this incorrect list of who was at fault, her feud with Douglas had been spawned.

Breanne’s epiphany was interrupted when she noticed through the landing window Sophia’s red Hyundai i30N. Well she assumed it was Sophia’s, as she had told him that was what she drove, and she was picking him this evening, and that was the style car that had pulled into their driveway. Running to Douglas’s bedroom she grabbed his tennis racket and the prepared bag and ran for the stairs. Unknowing of her panda blotched eyes, she yelled bye toward the kitchen and the wrinkles, while opening the front door.

Ellin, woried she was about to miss her son leaving, began running from the kitchen, called out to him. “Mark I want you back by nine as it…

“See you about nine thirty,” Breanne quickly cut in, and closed the front door before Ellin arrived. In order to get the return time she needed. Mark had turned his phone off earlier so they could say they hadn’t noticed it wasn’t on later.

“Hi Sophia, nice car,” Breanne exclaimed throwing Douglas’s racket and bag over the front passenger seat into the backseat foot well. Then noticing the gear stick as she quickly sat in the bolstered leather looking bucket seat that wrapped her safely up, and closing the door, she asked. “It’s a manual?”

“Yep, six speed manual; my baby flies, and Speedy is just six weeks old.” Sophia grinned, popping the clutch and shifting into reverse so she could back out of Mark’s driveway. “Is everything good with you and your parents Mark?”

“My steps,” Breanne absently corrected while bristling at the wrong name. “I’m good ‘till nine thirty.”

Sophia held back on joking about keeping Mark out later so he would be bad for her. “North Rocks courts, yes?” she confirmed. Looking at Mark’s panda splotched patches around his eyes and the way he was sitting that just screamed deeply upset girl, that had just been crying.

Breanne nodded and tried to relax into the seat. This was one really nice car. She really did need to force the conversation she needed to place all the cards on the table. Breanne just couldn’t remove her guilt that she knew even if she did that she would still get most of the things she wanted, at the expense of using Sophia. She was still raw from reliving a chapter of her life she thought she had chained closed from herself. Why had Mark let it reopen, she hadn’t wanted that.

Having awoken to how she had used Douglas she questioned if she should be allowed to know she could bare all, and still come up smelling like roses. Sadly there was no way to remove her guilt as her power didn’t hide the overall plot. True it hid some fairly large items like Leah being completely lesbian, and the spring formal she needed to get a tux for and take Sophia to, a week next Friday. They were a few minutes away from the courts, and if she wanted to do this the conversation had to start soon or it would be too late.

Did she have the right to do this, was it fair her using Sophia. From the time in the rose garden Mark had known her personality was beautiful, and saying you must do this or the Center gets me and my twin…

“Do you want to talk about what is bothering you?” Sophia asked deciding to not say his name as he appeared to react badly to it last time. The question intruded on Breanne’s guilt laden wool gathering.

“Sorry I was enjoying your playlist, Cranberries, then Lithium, and now Chvches.” Breanne quickly covered for obviously being too silent. Hoping to get Sophia talking about the music she likes, while still startled by the use of being addressed as Mark earlier.

“You left your house like a scalded cat. I know men like to always appear macho but as you accepted me as your partner. I really would like to know if something is hurting you. You never know I might be able to help you. I can’t if you shut me out though.” Sophia used the word ‘men’ instead of ‘boys’ to stroke Mark’s ego, or as it showed let her know there was something seriously bothering her passenger. How she wished she could have used ‘girlfriend’ instead of the word ‘partner’ though. She sighed how could she get Mark to open up to her? If he saw she could help him, and finally stop hiding that he was transgender from her then perhaps he could become her boyfriend.

“That’s part of the problem. I know you, and only you can help me. I know I can bare all to you, and that makes me guilty knowing that you will help me.”

“Well I like that you think there is something only I can help you with. I could waste my time saying that, what you said is flattering, but I find it highly unlikely to be true.” Sophia slightly uncomfortably stated. “However, I won’t. I am going to use your statement that as I am the only person that can help you, why are you not asking for my help already instead?”

“Because I will be using you,” Breanne admitted, deciding to go with the best option that included her being open with Sophia. At least she felt better that in this version though using Sophia, the girl would know she was being used. Well Breanne figured, she could always chicken out and join the versions that would send both twins to the Center. Then Bree wouldn’t get a relationship with Leah. They both would leave Australia. He could get Bree a girlfriend or there were three boyfriends she could have. She would punish Ellin, but she no longer wanted to punish her…

“Mark!” At Sophia’s yell of that name Breanne found that they were parked in the strip mall a couple of blocks prior to the tennis courts. Sophia had parked the car and turned it off while Breanne was debating what to do. “Thank you for finally actually paying me some attention. I can tell you right now that if this is how you plan to continue spending time with me then to hell with the spring formal.” She took a breath to calm herself. “Now apparently not only am I the only person that can help you, but also you a using me. You are going to start talking, and if you ignore me again and don’t start talking…

Sophia huffed in air while trying to think of what she wanted to say. Finally deciding on saying, “Then when I restart this car it will be because I’m driving you home as we are finished. Are you clear on this?”

“Yes, sorry Sophia. Look there’s no easy way to start this so I’m just going to start. My twin and I, both have powers.” When it looked like Sophia was going to start the car she quickly rushed on. “No, I know this sounds crazy, but I’ve been debating whether or not I had the right to share this with you when I knew how you would act if I told you. It was my guilt of using you that caused me to be distracted, and I apologize that I wasn’t paying attention to you.”

“Okay I am going to suspend my disbelief. What do you mean by you, and your twin having powers?” Sophia asked.

“Well they’re both linked to time. I am not really sure what my twin’s is, but in general terms hers is some kind of control over the present time, while I have a kind of control of future time.”

“Hmm you know it sounds initially quite mysterious, but then it is so vague it could come across as something that couldn’t be proven.” Sophia dubiously stated.

“Oh, I know I can prove both my sister’s and my power before ten this evening. My control of the future lets me know that something critical will happen at nine forty-seven this evening. I must have you with me as otherwise I can’t interrupt my sister’s first ever sleepover with her new girlfriend Leah.”

“Is this the same Leah you mentioned as your first crush?” After Mark’s nod she continued. “Are you planning on using me to break up your first crush, and your sister?”

“No actually this will ensure they’re not broken up…

“You do know that if you are lying to me on this I will never forgive you.”

“I’m not lying on this…

“And yet I hear a ‘but’ in your voice, what are you lying about?” Sophia demanded.

Breanne took a breath then quietly said. “Leah wasn’t my first crush.”

“You actually have already lied to me, when we agreed to answer some questions truthfully to get to know each other.” Sophia clarified. “We said we could refuse to answer, but if we answered we would do so truthfully. Yet you chose to lie.”

“I didn’t lie, Mark was there then, and Leah was Mark’s first crush, and my second crush.”

Sophia zeroed in on the person sat next to her who had just admitted they might not be Mark all the time. How should she handle this? Was their therapist aware of this? How should she talk to them? Was she helping or exacerbating the problem if she called them Mark? Unfortunately Mark was the only name she had to use for them. She was fairly certain though that she was currently in the car with a girl. Mark was a male name.

“Do you want to talk about your first crush?”

“No!”

“Fine then let’s go back to why you want to interrupt your sister, and Leah’s first ever sleepover, and why you need me to do so.” Sophia quickly backtracked from that minefield of the other conversation. She could accept it as they didn’t lie to her, and also avoided a question that they were majorly uncomfortable talking about for now and not that they had lied. However, Sophia felt she needed to return to that probably if their friendship was to develop.

“I must have my sister use her power while I change. If I go home alone I will not be allowed to interrupt them. If you are with me when we get home about nine-thirty, then Ellin will allow us to talk to them for fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Sophia noted internally the things in that statement she needed to get more details on but decided first to stay on her initial line of query. “How do you know your mum will only let you interrupt their sleepover if I’m with you?”

“My power lets me see how doing a specific thing will prevent certain unwanted futures, and enable versions that are beneficial.”

Sophia carefully thought about what they had told her, so far. “Have you used it on me?”

“Well sort of indirectly, yes. That’s why I was quiet in the car. There were still options where I benefit, one of them this one is where I tell you the truth about my power, the other I felt like I would be manipulating you as you would not know about what I have started to tell you, but I knew either of them would still work. Now of course only this option is available to me.”

“So you were debating if you should use me?”

“No, in both options I am using you. I was debating not choosing either and letting something bad happen to myself, and not quite as bad happening to my twin and not use you at all, verses telling you about our powers that would lead to me using you.”

Sophia was trying to work out how she could be used if the person confessed ahead of time to doing so. If she knew everything including the intended using, she couldn’t be used. “You are saying if I knew everything you believe you will still be using me?”

“That is what my power shows me, yes.”

“What is the bad event you see happening if I am not there to allow you to interrupt your sister’s sleepover.

“I need my sister to use her power while I change. That way the precogs of the Center are unaware I changed.”

“Other precogs like you?” getting a nod, Sophia was now more interested in the second mention of a change than the Center, and boy did she ever hear the capital letter on that word, another thing to circle back to. “This change occurs at nine-forty-seven tonight?” When they nodded to her correct guess, Sophia barreled on. “Are you going to tell me how you change?”

“That will be one of the ways of proving we have powers, so yes I will tell you.”

“Will you swear to never lie to me?”

“As long as I can choose to avoid a question…

“Like how you didn’t want to talk about your first crush?” Sophia pushed.

“It wasn’t Mark's first crush, and after nine-forty-seven I will be Mark so it’s not really relevant.”

Sophia was increasingly thinking she needed to delve into the first crush. “And if I think it is relevant?”

“I hope you don’t.” They almost begged.

“What if I say it is a condition to me coming and interrupting the sleepover?” The tears falling down their cheeks and how they folded in on themselves made Sophia feel evil. What was so bad about hiding their first crush? It might be humiliating, but how could it cause this strong a negative emotional response.

“Please don’t.”

“I promise I will not mention about your first crush to anyone. I also promise I will go with you to your house at nine-thirty and try to help interrupt your sister’s sleepover after you truthfully state that it is not your intent to hurt anyone by doing so. However, I’m sorry, but I think I need to know all about your first crush, if you want my help.” Sophia didn’t know their existed an expression that upon witnessing it, made you feel you should swallow your prior words, but she regretted what she had uttered almost as soon as the words’ meaning had been realized by the person that heard her.

With their knees drawn in against their chest their head resting on them and arms tightly hugging their legs to their body the softest emotionally dead whisper began while they stared into the car’s passenger foot well unseeing. Shakes rippling through the tightly held bundled body, and tears now free flowing. “I was eleven, and he was fifteen. Douglas and I were in 5/6D, in primary school. So we had skipped into high school seventh grade a year early. Ansley…

The emotional conflict was too much for them. They continued rocking. Sophia leaped over the gear shift and center console and hugged them to her. She could feel their breast buds even if there was both a binding and normal vest beneath their tennis T-shirt. She had been right they were born a girl, or they had gynecomastia she accepted another choice that would mean she wasn’t correct. Sophia uttered soothing noises while holding them. She was so glad when they relaxed from hugging themselves enough to cling to her instead. Sophia couldn’t help thinking that Ansley was normally a girl’s name. She tried to get their attention that they could stop. She didn’t need to know, but they weren’t hearing her.

They had used ‘he’ not a female pronoun, was Ansley a boy? What was the deal with the oddness of them discussing Douglas as if he was someone else. They were Douglas, before deciding on the second male name Mark weren’t they? She was worried as their eyes were vacant. Figuring she would just hug her while she tried to work out what was going on. Surely their therapist would have resolved this.

Sophia was startled when they started whispering once more in the same voice. The one that eerily sounded dead. “He had told me he could get Ansley to invite both of us to her thirteenth birthday party. We were having a hard time in high school. The other girl from 5/6D who was supposed to be in our class moved… He promised we would make friends and fit in, but I needed to… If I promised him to sneak out of the party to him then he would get his sister to invite us to her party, and we could fit in… He was so good looking… A fifteen tear old boy and he was interested in me!”

Sophia tried to calm them down. She kept telling them it wasn’t important. She didn’t need to know, but it was too late, they were deaf to hearing Sophia, they weren’t in her car any longer. They were back in wherever they were during Ansley’s thirteenth birthday party, and Sophia was along for the ride until they escaped what she had realized was an actual hell.

“He wouldn’t stop… The pain never stopped… His hands were everywhere... The pain… It tore through me… I tried to stop him. I swear I did Sophia… I did try… He said that I didn’t… I’m not a slut… I’m not bad… I’m sorry… I hated Douglas… I was going to use you… He said I was filthy and wanted it… I didn’t… I didn’t… If I say anything then everyone would know… all the high school boys would be told… They would do it too… Don’t say anything Breanne… He would know… He would punish me… He could always do this again… I couldn’t… not again… I won’t tell… I hated Douglas… He was there… I blamed him… But I tricked him… I snuck out… I’m bad… It’s my fault… I have to protect my sister Bree… Not her… This… No… Please…

The stream of words interspersed with sobbing collapsed into mumblings and nonsensical sounds. It was clear that they had multiple names for themselves. They talked of Douglas as if they were a brother instead of it being actually an old name they had used for themselves. They called themselves Breanne, a name that Sophia knew was their sister’s. Now admittedly Psychology was the course she planned to study in university next year, and she knew that just having an interest didn’t make her a psychologist, but it clearly appeared that their therapist hadn’t unearthed this when they diagnosed them transgender. Sophia seriously thought gender dysphoria an incorrect diagnosis. This needed to be resolved before anything like that could be decided, and this was so not resolved.

Sophia allowed them to cling to her while gently rubbing their back and trying to sooth them. They were mewling, with the occasional hiccup. Their body shutting down as they ran out of energy, finally they fell into a restless tormented sleep. Sophia kept saying soothing words, that they were safe. Letting them know they were safe with Sophia, while stroking the sides of their shoulders. Hoping they would fall into a dreamless sleep to escape the hell they were trapped reliving.

Sophia was so far out of her depth on this. Their parents needed to be told. Sophia was sure the Parsons’ didn’t know. She was going to kill the boy, once she got his name. He would be the same age as her now. Most probably he was a senior at North Rocks High School.

Simmering to a conclusion

~o~O~o~

Chapter 8

Breanne suddenly startled awake when she realized she’d been sleeping, hugging someone. Initially panicked she leapt as far as the car’s passenger seat area would let her move away. Her leap caused her rear to hit the dash and her hands clung, one to the dash the other to the door so as not to fall back next to the person sharing her seat. The seat was reclined against the rear seat bench. Thankfully she realized it was Sophia and she tried to hide her panic.

“Hey, there, are you back with me?” Sophia asked them quietly as soon as she’d seen the initial panicked wild animal look in their eyes resolved into calm acknowledgment of where, and with whom, they were with. Trying to not make any sudden moves she pulled her right leg up so she could stretch it over the center console and over to the driver’s side of the car. As soon as they worked out what she was doing she saw the relief shining in their cried out eyes.

“I think we should get you home, you need to speak with your parents about this…

“What time is it?”

“It’s nearly eight…

“You promised if I told you… You said you would interrupt my sister’s sleepover at nine-thirty.”

“We need to talk to your parents…

“Then the Center or Syndicate gets us. They use children with powers. We disappear. The Syndicate will uses drugs and other children’s powers to make us their slaves. We can hide because I will become my brother when I become a boy tonight. My brother Douglas became a girl last night. He is now Bree, and if I show to you that currently I am a girl, then after the change at nine-forty-seven that I am then a boy, you will help, and keep my secret. My power says so.”

“Your power allows you to change your gender, when you like?” Sophia asked suddenly concerned, and angry.

“No, all the children go through that change once when their power first awakens. It is outside our control. The disturbance of an awoken power, or if we lose control of our powers by being too emotional, are what alerts the precogs of the Center or Syndicate to know it will happen. Bree’s power somehow prevents them being aware of us. We can swap lives so there is no paper record for the Syndicate or Center to follow. With no trail to follow they will be unable to find us. But, this only happens if you do as you promised. If we tell my parents, if anyone else looks into this then either the Center or the Syndicate will always show up. It is just a case of which one gets here first to steal us, and hurt us. We always end up being kidnapped by one or the other.

Sophia was left thinking one should be careful when asking how something can be. For she now knew of a way she could be used, when knowing full well she was being used. What’s worse she knew unless she could see she was being scammed, she would let them use her. If they were truthful about the Center and the Syndicate then she will help them cover this up. She will, willingly be used.

“Back up a moment, your power told you it will be awoken at nine-forty-seven tonight. You don’t have your power yet, but you talk of using it already.”

“I got brief moments of my power working prior to tonight's full awakening happening. The full awakening occurred for my brother now sister last night, and I've seen that mine will happen this evening. I’ve had three of the brief moment occurrences. The first one enabled me to save Dan from getting the speeding ticket. The one he talked about at lunch today. The second was the most involved, and occurred while at lunch. It showed me some nasty things which were what made me sick, and from it I knew I must accept whatever your mum had offered while I was distracted, too busy looking at some horrible possible futures that could occur…

“When you said yes to my mum you didn’t know what you were agreeing to?” Sophia interrupted.

“Correct it was a huge surprise when you started gushing about never having a date when going to a dance before, and how happy I had made you and all the things we would do…

“You didn’t want to go to the dance with me, when I thought you had asked me to it?” Sophia part asked, part exclaimed.

“Sophia, all I knew was it was critical I accept your mum’s offer. I had no idea what it was. I was rather busy seeing hundreds of different versions of the future two weeks, and most of them were really bad. As I selected different options I noticed that all the best ones were lost if I didn’t say yes to your mum right then. So for that reason I came back in and said yes. So yes I became aware of a lot of surprises, one was going to the dance with you.”

“So you don’t want to go with me, and only are because your power said you must…

“Sophia, I have got to know you, and I am not unhappy about going to the dance with you. I can’t lie and say it wasn’t a complete surprise as it most definitely was. Having got to know the real you, how on the inside you are the most wonderful beautiful girl…

“But on the outside I’m ugly…

“No, Sophia you are not ugly. Your mum is so beautiful she could work as a model and you father has to be the most handsome hunk I’ve ever seen. Definitely drool worthy. I see a blend of the two of them in you, and that actually excites me. More than that though, on the inside, you are the softest, kindest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

Sophia still upset chimed in. “However, I heavily favor my father’s handsome visage on the outside. I’m not blind when I look in a mirror.” Sophia said while taking a few more notes on the true gender of the person before them. “So what else did your power tell you, should be done to manipulate our futures at lunch time, and when was the third time your powers activated?”

“In addition to agree to your mum’s proposal, I also somehow had to talk to you privately and we must finish our meals, which until you made it happen, I had thought those things to be impossible. I had also thought they were separate things to do too, but you effortlessly combined both. Lastly I had to ask you to go to a sleepover when you drove me to play a game of tennis later in the evening. I was positive that one would be impossible until Bree told me she was having a sleepover just before you picked me up, and I realized if we interrupt their sleepover during the critical time, Bree can use her power on me while I change so the Center don't find out. Then you’ve been invited to a sleepover by me even if it is for just fifteen minutes, and it wasn't as I thought incorrectly, my sleepover. So impossible weird request, I suddenly found to be perfectly doable. There were a few other things I needed to do to get my sister, and Leah to become girlfriends. Obviously that was so they had a sleepover we could crash. Oh, and the third time my power was briefly active was on the drive home from the Lodge, and it involved me having to moo at my sister, among other things to help them become a couple.

Sophia stared at this wildly amusing wonderful person. She wanted to be part of the madness that would obviously be spawned from her seeing the route to the best future. Life would be great if she had someone say ‘we need to cluck like a chicken and we will get concert tickets’ or some other nonsense. “What name do you want me to use for you?”

“Call me Mark.”

“I don’t think you are Mark, though.” Sophia carefully stated.

“Not yet, true, and I’ll still look more like a girl than a boy even though my genitals will change, but tonight I become a boy, a girly boy true, but a boy, so I need a boy’s name.”

“You don’t have to. My friend dresses as the girl she is, and has a girl’s name though the body she was born with was male and she was incorrectly named Jonathon when she was born. I think you shouldn’t shut off yourself to the side of you that is a girl, and that is going to be one of my requirements.”

“Requirements?” the person worriedly queried.

Sophia took a breath, was she really going to allow herself to be manipulated? It seemed she was. “First requirement is that you truthfully answer me. For the second, I need more information. Let’s start with how these children get selected. What is different about them that as teenagers they will swap genders, and get super powers?”

“Remember that I see possible futures, images, spoken words and noises along with the key points in the present that are like switches to toggle between them.” Seeing Sophia was about to interrupt, Breanne indicating to give her the time to answer her question. “Thus it is primarily discussions from the versions of the future where we went to the Center, and where we as new 'candidates' were given an explanation about what had happened to us, and why. So my answer is from future seen information from Center agents explaining what happened in the past, to cause these children to be the ones this happened to. So it might not be true, there are things I know the Center lies about. This seems truthful.”

“That is perfectly acceptable. Then answer as truthfully as you can or indicate like you did here that the source is questionable.”

“Apparently some experiment in the United States had a leak of a chemical that got into the water intake of a company that bottles drinking water. The Center or an organization that created, was affiliated or linked to the Center later was in charge of monitoring the people that drank the contaminated water. When after a certain amount of time they saw no side effects they stopped their careful monitoring and thus lost track of a large number of the people that drank the water.” Breanne looked at Sophia to ensure she was following her so far. “There might be shipments of the contaminated water that they lost track of too.”

“So you and Bree both drank the contaminated water…

“No our mum did while she was pregnant with us. That was something they hadn’t thought of, and that is the common denominator. All mothers’ died around childbirth like ours did. So the Center covered up for the company that killed our mum and everyone else’s. They also kidnap the children. They say it is to protect them from the Syndicate.” Breanne drew in a haggard breath.

“For all I know there is an organization that has two departments, the Syndicate as one, and the Center as the other.” Breanne put to words her must scary worry. “Then they control one group completely using kids with powers that like to be nasty to others, and using drugs and any other illegal means. This allows them to relax control on the other group slightly, but they tell them that their sexual orientation will flip one-hundred-and-eighty and have a program which to me seems if not brain washing at least controlling and manipulating. In all cases the children are stolen from their homes, their families and their lives. They are told to not complain or the bogeyman, ‘The Syndicate’ will get them. It just seems too pat, too much like an easy way to control the kids.”

“Why do they flip the children’s sexual orientation?” Sophia asked.

“The Center must be invisible, not noticed by anyone. If their groups of children had more gay and lesbian relationships that heterosexual they would stand out. Normally in a group of school kids most are in a heterosexual relationship, by flipping what they were prior to the gender change they keep the percentages similar as would be seen in a large sample of not gender flipped children. Thus not stick out and be noticed. The Center is training these powered children like soldiers or spies, currently to get the children that awaken with powers before the Syndicate gets them. However, I can see how easy this could be abused and lead to wars. At a minimum between the Syndicate and the Center. But what if they become a countries secret weapon.”

Sophia reached across the car to gently stroke their shoulder. “I will help you. We will interrupt your sister’s sleepover and you are probably going to hate my conditions but though I will benefit from them, they are for you too. You likely won’t believe me.”

“I don’t care, the only thing I want is for you to be at tonight’s sleepover. That only us four at the sleepover know and all promise to not tell anyone else. I will not mind your conditions.”

Sophia laughed and said. “You should be careful and not offer that to just anyone. Any way, first you need a name.”

“I have chosen Mark.” Breanne said.

“Your name must be gender neutral.”

“What, why?”

“I thought you said that you didn’t care and would be fine with anything I said.” Sophia pointed out.

“I want to use a name or at least have it nod to a name that my mum chose.” Breanne hoped, unknowing that her breathing was becoming erratic with her agitation.

Sophia calmly diffused the building anxiety by inquiring. “Of course, but then I need you to tell me the full name you were given at birth, the one Douglas was given, and your birth parents full names.”

Breanne allowed her breathing to settle back. “I was named Breanne Julie, and Bree was named Douglas Marcel. Our middle names are our parents’ Christian names. I don’t know their middle names.”

Sophia recalled one of her prior psychology assignments that had included working on names and their gender prevalence. “Well gender neutral names closest to your parents would be Marley and Jules, so what do you say to being named Marley Jules Parson so you can honor both?”

Breanne couldn’t understand why this simple thing made her smile. It must be because she was honoring her parents she decided.

“Next this is my senior year, and in addition to the spring formal, I have the débutante ball, our senior prom and the Lodge has the Christmas and New Years balls. So I would like you, Marley Jules, to be my date for all five events.”

“It would be my pleasure…

“There’s something more Marley.” Sophia interrupted her. “For one of the Lodge’s dances you will wear a lady’s ballroom dress, and you will be my female date.”

“No, Sophia, I will be a boy. Boys don’t wear dresses.”

“Marley I am not convinced you are a boy, and for the rest of my senior school year and the Christmas summer holidays, we will explore you being a boy and a girl. Up until I go away to college we will see if you are my best male friend, one of my great female friends, my boyfriend or my girlfriend. There is no requirement you must be rigidly one or a combination of them. The key thing is we will have fun, and you will be open to exploring both boy and girl items.”

“I will be a boy from tonight on.” Marley pointed out, sounding a little like a petulant child.

“Marley you have never explored the wonders of being a girl. You need to be able to live both to be able to decide what is best for you to live as.” Sophia calmed her stroking her shoulder, wishing she hadn’t shaved her head so she could stroke the shoulder length hair she’d had before.She'd need to look into wigs tomorrow after school.

“I’ve had fourteen years living as a girl, I don’t need to explore my feminine side.”

“Marley you have spent your preteen, and teenage years denying Breanne’s existence. You have not lived as a girl, and to become a healthy adult you must. So we will be having several sleepovers with your sister and Leah. How you think the fifteen minutes tonight counts as a sleepover.” Sophia just shook her head in exasperation.“If anything thinking that proves you know nothing about being a girl. Further, to quote your own power, it said you needed to invite me to a sleepover on the way to playing tennis this evening. So you are inviting me to one this Friday, if you don’t then the future you know as the best one is in jeopardy. We will do each other’s nail, hair and make-up. It is required by me. Just like having a date for my formal dances I would like to experience a high school girl’s sleepover while I am still in high school, and not just fifteen minutes of one I wasn't invited to.”

Marley’s expression was a study of contrast. Sophia was sure she saw the gleam of excitement at the idea. Then again she could be projecting onto Marley. Really Marley needed therapy but the paper trail would likely get the Center and the Syndicate involved in controlling the twins lives which was absolutely the worst thing that could happen.

No she would be there, a friend to talk to, and someone to lean on. She would keep Marley safe while making sure she experienced both girl and boy activities in a safe environment. She knew at times Marley would think they were being pushed. However, she would try to not project on to them. She wasn’t such an egotist to think she could be Marley’s therapist.

But, she could be her friend, and unfortunately she would likely be the best Marley could get while staying safe. She now knew why Marley’s best outcomes involved her believing she was using her. She just hoped she kept herself grounded; this person’s very fragile personality was what was at stake. She couldn’t afford to mess up. She needed to air on the side of Marley using her, to ensure she didn't become the user.

“Just the four of us at the sleepovers, though.” Marley said.

“Well there is one other that must be there.”

“No I can’t let anyone else know. It must be kept to just the four of us. I am sure of that.”

“Marley, do you remember me talking about my friend, the one that was thought a boy when they were born and incorrectly named Jonathon. They’ve never gone to a girl’s sleepover event. Their parents wouldn’t let them, because until the summer after their eighteenth birthday they can't get rid of their birth defect.Early this summer holiday she's getting SRS as their Christmas present, but they will have finished high school before then.”

“Sophia, I know, and if it wasn’t that I was positive that this secret must not be shared with anyone other than the four of us. I would so want to share this with your female friend. I am really sorry that I am denying her this chance, but it just won’t work.” Marley felt it was so cruel to think everything could work out then have just one thing be the item that denies her chance at a happy life. She knew though that at most it must be limited to the current four in the know. She knew if Sophia pushed she would let the fifth girl join them, and either the Center or Syndicate would be her future.

“Marley, you never asked me for my friend’s real name.” Sophia gently prodded. “Her true name is Sophia.”

“Like yours.” Marley said sadly knowing how Sophia would keep telling her things about her friend in order to get her to know her friend. Then it would be harder to refuse accepting them. However, Sophia was looking at her funny, like she expected her to figure something out. So the friend had the same name...

She looked at the smirking Sophia, before suddenly realizing what Sophia had told her. The beaming smile on Marley's face was a keeper, and complete with glistening eyes, it was a wonderful sight. Marley didn’t think she’d ever understood or experienced happy tears before.

~o~O~o~

And thus my fellow friends 'Out Centre' comes to a simmering Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed and feel the time spent was worthwhile
Thanks
Fallen Leaf