[Authors Note]
There are dozens and dozens of stories about a bad boy becoming a good girl on TG sites. This is a topic that I had not put my toe into until now. However, I decided to do something a little bit different whilst remaining within the ‘bad child changes and becomes good’ theme. This tale is about a bad girl who thinks that she is entitled to the world and therefore is in dire need of being put on the right path. I’ll leave it to you to fill in the blanks.
[Buffalo, New York State, early December]
“Sit!” commanded the man.
The teenage girl who was wearing a school uniform approached the desk that the man was sitting behind and sat down in a chair.
“Well, Taylor, what was it this time? Stealing the Head’s car? Getting drunk on school premises? What was it and don’t give me any bull like ‘it wasn’t me’? Getting a phone call at two in the morning from the Police is not going to cut it with me.”
“Dad?” said the girl in a barely audible whisper.
“Don’t mumble.”
“Dad, I hacked the school computer system and… well I goofed and wiped all the records of students and staff.”
“How did you get caught?”
“After my last hack, the school installed a secondary security system. It is passive and… it tracked my every move.”
“Why? Why did you do something so foolish? Don’t even try to say to improve your grades. We both know that if you bothered to even try, you’d get straight A’s with ease.”
Taylor didn’t answer right away.
“One of the other girls photographed me soliciting. The miserly ten bucks a week allowance that you give me, goes nowhere these days. They blackmailed me into changing her grades.”
“Did you change her grades?”
Taylor shook her head.
“It all went pear shaped before I could. The girl posted the photos all over the school so here I am.”
He shook his head.
“Did you solicit?”
She remained motionless.
“Taylor, you did wrong and I think that you know it, but you are not alone. Your mother did it before we met. She had no money behind her and all the other people in her dorm either had rich parents or were on full scholarships. She wasn’t and had to work her way. The restaurant where she worked was shut down because of health code violations, so she turned a few tricks to put food on the table.”
“Mom! Nooooo…”
“Yes darling. It is a fact of life for many, but you come from a privileged background. There is no need to turn to that sort of thing but I forgive you for that. What is unforgivable is that you got caught hacking the school computer system. Didn’t you learn your lesson from the last time that happened?”
Like some politicians, she would never ever admit that she was wrong to her father. It was her only way of standing up to him.
The father looked at his daughter. He'd had such high hopes for her when she was small. It was not as if she wasn't bright. Her IQ was verging on the genius level but the loss of his wife and her mother to a drive-by shooting as she put gas in the tank of her rented BMW in New York, almost four years before, had done something to his only child. It was as if she had decided to wage war on any man that got in her path of self-destruction.
“Taylor, I have tried but this last prank of yours is the end. No more. Do you understand?”
Taylor had resumed chewing gum as if it was going extinct.
“And take that gum out of your mouth. It makes you look like a tramp.”
She did what he wanted but slowly, very slowly.
“Good! I might get more freedom on the road,” said Taylor defiantly.
Her father’s face reacted a little bit. Luckily, his daughter was looking anywhere at her father.
“I’m glad that you are so happy. I’ve tried all the good schools that would give you an education that would test your intelligence but word has gotten around about you and none of them want to even consider you as a student. If you were a boy, you’d probably be on your way to Military Academy. One of my staff did recommend one such place that is on the South Side of Chicago…”
He saw his daughter stiffen.
“A good dose of military life would either make or break you. The problem is my darling daughter… is that you are way too intelligent for those places. If only…”
He sighed.
“I have two options left and neither are that attractive or rather they won’t be attractive to you.”
“I honestly don’t give a fuck what you do. I’m out of here and your life as soon as I legally can. Until then? I don’t care. You are just like all the parents of all those stuck-up bitches that I’ve been at school with for years. You are rich and want your offspring to be just like you. I’m not like you and I never want to be like you. As for inheriting your businesses? Fuck off. I’m not going to sit behind a desk twenty hours a day making more money than I can hope to spend in more than three lifetimes.”
This time, he smiled.
“At last, some reaction from you even if it was laden with expletives. The money I have made from sitting at that desk has paid for the life that you live so it can’t be all that bad now can it.”
Taylor looked at her father as a sense of ‘you’ve been played’ spread through her body.
“Where are you sending me next then?”
“Nowhere at the moment. It is far too close to Christmas for any half decent school to take a new entrant. That means Taylor you are free to do as you please for the next six weeks but…”
“Here it comes!” exclaimed Taylor.
“But… your bank account, credit cards and everything relating to money is frozen until I say otherwise. No ifs or buts. I have paid off your debits yet again and taken everything out of your current account.”
“But that’s my money…!”
“Sorry darling. Until you earned it yourself and stop taking an allowance from me, you are flat broke. Don’t even think of trying to pawn any of your things. I have put the word out. If you want to spend any money then you will have to earn it yourself. Think of it as a test. If you pass, the next school you attend will be a lot nicer than the alternative.”
After a second or so to let that sink in, he pushed a brochure for a ‘school’ on the New Mexico/Arizona border that dealt with female delinquents across the desk toward her.
“That is the alternative. If this last option fails then that’s where you will end up!”
“That’s child abuse!” said Taylor in a loud whiney voice.
“No whining. That is how it is going to be until you are of age… Unless you want to put yourself into hands of the Social Services?”
Taylor glared at him with eyes like daggers.
“There is a another way you know?”
Taylor was suddenly all ears and eyes.
“You could fake some incident with me and call CPS. They’d take you and put you in a group home while I was investigated. You have to bear in mind that every conversation in my office is recorded so faking it won’t work for very long.”
The mere thought of going into a group home with all the great unwashed was about the worst thing that could possibly happen to her.
Her father saw her reaction.
“Good. Then we have an understanding. Where you end up is all down to you.”
“Like hell it is. You have already fucking decided so why not fucking tell me right now?”
“I have not decided but every time you swear at me, the decision becomes all that easier. Got it?”
“Are you done?” retorted Taylor without even considering his final words.
“I’m done.”
Taylor stood up and headed for the door.
“There is one thing more,” said her father.
Taylor stopped dead and didn’t bother to turn around to face her father.
"I've cut off your phone service and you are limited to 2 hours of internet a day. Get a job and you can get your phone back.
Taylor shrieked at the top of her voice,
“Yes Mein Furher!”
She clicked the heels of her ankle boots together and did a Nazi salute before walking off with an impression of the Goosestep.
Her father smiled and thought to himself,
‘At last, I have got a reaction from her’.
Taylor had been fighting everyone ever since the tragic death of her mother. That was a major shock to the family. Taylor had blamed everyone including her father for her death. He hoped that this time, she’d get out of her blame game and start to become the beautiful and very intelligent woman that she was turning into that was the spitting image of her mother.
“Taylor, I have to say that you did surprise me these past weeks. You knuckled down and worked your butt off over Christmas.”
“I hated every minute of it. Everyone was a total loser and for $7.25 an hour. How can people live on that?”
“Most of them have at least one other job.”
“I still don’t know how they can live on such little money.”
He looked at his daughter. She was dressed up to the nines because she was going out that evening.
“How much did that outfit cost?”
Taylor glared at her father and then understood what he was getting at.
“About a grand.”
“Which is about what you earned in the last four weeks including tips if I’m not mistaken?”
“What about the hundreds of people that you employ? What pittance do you pay them then?”
He smiled. So far, she hadn’t sworn at him. Progress comes in small steps.
“None of my people earn less than $15.50 an hour. That is what I pay the cleaners. Most of the rest earn $40 plus. I pay well and I get good people who stay with my company for years.”
“Really? That’s not what Facebook says!”
This shocked her father.
“Care to show me?”
She looked at her father as if to say, ‘it won’t matter’.
She showed her father some posts on a Facebook group. He recognised the name of one of the people posting.
“Lane Adams used to work for me. Let me pull up the records right now and you can see his employment records. If I do it now, you can see that I’ve not faked the records.”
“Go on then!” said Taylor.
He signed onto the HR system for his group of companies and found the records for Lane Adams.
“Here you are,” he said as he let his daughter see the screen.
Taylor looked at the records for the person who had posted on Facebook. They told her that he’d been fired for gross misconduct some two years before after he was caught trying to get a new office assistant to have sex with him in his van. At the time of being let go, he was earning $61.60 an hour for his job as a welder.
“Ok, so he is lying.”
“And the lesson from that is, do not believe everything you read on social media.”
He watched his daughter answer with a small nod of her head.
“Good,” he said.
“Now go out and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow, we are going to your new school.”
There was no reaction from Taylor.
“Aren’t you interested in where it is?”
“Does it matter? You have decided and nothing I can do or say will change your mind.”
He sighed.
“I had hoped that actually doing some real work for minimum wage would have taken that edge of entitlement off you. Sadly, it appears that it hasn’t. I guess that I’ll have to put Plan B into operation.”
“Why not Plan Z?”
“You really don’t want to make me mad my darling but your act of superiority over everyone you encounter, is getting very tiresome. A lot of that is down to me and for that I am sorry. In the wake of the death of your mother I gave you some leeway, but it appears that was a mistake.”
“Mom’s death was all your fault and you know it.”
He sighed again. They’d beat this horse to death many times.
“I’m not going to argue this again. Yes, it was my fault that I didn’t give your mother the attention she deserved. I’ve beat myself up over that almost every day since she passed. It was your mother’s own decision to fly to New York and then she ended up in the wrong part of the city. Someone with your intelligence must know deep down that I’m right. But that is clearly trying to flog a dead horse. Go out and enjoy yourself tonight.”
Taylor glared at her father.
”One last thing, your new school won’t take kindly to your nails. Extensions are not allowed. They only allow clear polish except for the last week of term.”
Taylor looked at her hands.
“But I only had them done today and they cost me almost a hundred bucks.”
Her nails had been extended by around half an inch and they were painted with a matt dayglow green colour. Last week, it was dayglow yellow.
“Tough. I’m just giving you a heads up that’s all. You don’t want to start off on the wrong side of the Head. From all reports, she is a formidable lady who takes attitudes like yours and eats them for lunch and then spits them out.”
Taylor just left him with a stern look on her face.
“Ok, I’m packed and ready. Where are we going? I’ve heard that Alaska is very nice at this time of year,” said Taylor trying to be sarcastic.
“Nice try. Put your coat on. We are heading for the Airport. We have a long flight ahead of us.”
“So, we are going to Alaska then?”
“Wait and see,” said her father.
“What is there, is a chance for you to get a fresh start in a place where you won’t encounter all those and I quote, ‘stuck-up bitches’ that you complain so much about. Those girls have their parents wrapped around their little fingers. Remember Mary-Joe Capaldi? She got away with so much because her father was the city DA. You know that I’m not like that. I want you to stand on your own two feet, and not be beholden to me for everything which is what you keep saying that you want. Until you are of age and can tell me to fuck off, why not take advantage of seeing and experiencing another culture? Who knows? You might even learn something new?”
Taylor glared at her father. She’d rather be listening to some tuneless wannabe that had been autotuned to death than her father. She was oblivious to the talent for life that both her father and mother had seen in her from an early age. Instead, Taylor had seen any suggestions for her future as a red light and to be run at every opportunity.
Her father continued as they waited for the final preparations for their flight to be completed. Taylor was effectively trapped until they’d reached the other end.
“Girls like Mary-Joe will want a husband who can keep them in the life that they have enjoyed courtesy of their family. That is not you in a million years despite the image you present to the world in your efforts to fit in with that crowd.
You, my darling daughter are not one of them. For starters, you have a brain the size of a planet so why not use it and make something of your life? At the moment, your experience of the real world is limited. Yes, you have been to half a dozen countries on holidays but that’s not the big bad world.”
“Why England?”
“Because my dear, you will be attending a State School for the first time in your life. You can see how most of the western world lives. If that horrifies you then that should spur you on and help you decide what you want from your life.”
Taylor didn’t say anything. Her look of hate towards her father told him all he needed to know.
“Honestly Taylor, this is your last chance. Fail here and you can say goodbye to any help from me in the future. I know that your mother would support me in this. She had to make a similar decision when she was not much older than you. Should she marry me and build a life for herself without any support from her family or should she do as they wanted her to do, go to college and marry a lawyer who would a few years down the line stand for congress just like her father and his father before him. She chose me and… well, you know that her family have not spoken to either of us since her funeral. They are still fighting her will and will probably carry on doing that until the day they all finally end up in hell.”
“Don’t you dare bring Mom into this!”
“I can and will. Before her death, we talked at length about what we wanted for you. Living off of our coat-tails, was not an option in her eyes. She helped me make it good. We were far more than just a married couple; we were a partnership in life. Twenty years ago, we lived on the edge of Harlem. Now I can afford to rent this plane and not think twice where the money is coming from. She is with me every day. I don’t make any decisions unless I ask myself, what would Lillian want me to do?”
Taylor remained silent as they walked the short distance to their chartered Gulfstream.
Taylor decided to remain silent for the entire flight, but she turned to look out of the window at the lights of the city of Quebec City that were passing below them. She wondered if she’d ever get to experience the delights of their unique culture ever again. Her mother had taken her there for the last birthday before she died.
As far as she was concerned, her life was over. All she could think of was the words ‘State School’. That horrified her right to her core.
[to be continued]
[Colne, Lancashire 3rd January]
“How much farther,” complained Taylor as she looked out at the grey skies and lashing rain.
She'd sat stony-faced ever since they'd left Manchester Airport more than an hour earlier.
“Not much longer,” said her father who was driving their rental car.
“Do you know where we are going?”
“Sort of. I have directions from the end of the freeway which is in less than a mile.”
They were driving along the M65 in an easterly direction. Taylor pulled her thin jacket tighter around her body. She’d dressed for somewhere a lot warmer before leaving their home near Buffalo, NY.
“Did you pack your winter things?” asked her father.
“Not real winter things, but this is just cold.”
He smiled. The damp climate was very different to what they were used to. Cold, yes but not cold and damp.
“We shall have to get you something appropriate to wear before I leave.”
Taylor remained impassive. She was determined to hate every microsecond of her time in this horrible place and to return to her homeland at the very earliest opportunity.
"Here we are," said her father as he pulled up outside a by her standards, a positively tiny house. It was just one of many on a terrace. The front garden was taken up by two parking spaces one of which was occupied by an equally small car.
“Welcome to Gulag No 34,” muttered Taylor. The house was numbered ‘34’.
“It isn’t a gulag but if you really want to experience one then I’m sure that it could be arranged…” joked her father.
She just glared out of the window. The heavy rain of earlier had relented and was now just a fine drizzle that was making patterns on the windscreen which was only briefly cleared by the intermittent sweep of the wipers.
Taylor was way out of her comfort zone and therefore very, very unhappy. Her life until now had been built around always being in control and getting her own way even if it meant throwing a few tantrums along the way. Her brushes with the law and authority had long been erased from her memory.
“Come on Taylor, get your things and we can get inside out of this rain,” said her father.
She clearly didn’t want to but slowly, she moved. As they unloaded her two large cases from the back of the tiny rental car, the front door to No 34 opened. A woman stood there waiting for them. She was smiling but she didn’t offer to help Taylor. That piqued her right from the outset. She was asking herself questions such as, ‘who was this woman? Why didn’t she help? Couldn’t she help me? and ‘can’t she see that I’m struggling?’
“Hello Helena. Nice to see you again,” said her father.
“Hi Ed, I see you brought the rain with you then?” said the woman.
“Sorry about that. It wasn’t by design I can assure you.”
She laughed.
“Get yourself inside and we can shut the wet outside.”
Taylor was left on the doorstep with her two large suitcases. It was clear that she was on her own and this strange woman was not going to help her.
With a final heave, she got the largest and heaviest of the cases inside the house. She could hear voices coming from the rear of the house.
Then another voice came from upstairs.
“Were you born in a barn? Can someone shut that door?”
Taylor was surprised to hear that someone else was in the building and that the voice was soft but clearly that of a male.
She did as the voice wanted and closed the front door. Right away, the house felt a little warmer. By her standards, it was still well below her comfort level. Anything below 70F inside in winter was for her the depths of the Antarctic. 75F was bearable in her opinion.
Taylor left her luggage in the small entrance hall and went in search of the voices. She found them in a small… no make that minuscule kitchen.
“Taylor darling, this is Helena. Helena Bridges. She will be looking after you while you are here,” said her father.
“That won’t be for long,” said a defiant Taylor.
Her father chuckled.
“Take a seat and read this,” he said while still smiling.
“What’s this?”
“Read it and all will be revealed.”
She sat down and picked up the document. The first words told her a lot.
“The last will and testament of Bradley John Robert Phillips”
“Are you about to pass?” she asked not wanting to read any farther.
“Me?” he laughed.
“Not at all or at least that is what my doctors told me at my annual physical last month. Why don’t you carry on reading? I’m sure that it will be enlightening.”
Reluctantly, she carried on reading. What she read astonished her.
“There is no mention of me or any descendants. Why?”
“I can see that at least some of the things that you learned at those expensive schools that kicked you out on your ass has stuck.”
Taylor glared at her father.
“What is means Taylor darling is that I’ve cut you out of my will entirely. You get nothing… nada… zilch… nowt in the event of me passing before you are twenty-five. It means that you will have to stand on your own two feet from now in. You hinted at divorcing me but too late, I’m doing that to you. This is your last chance saloon. Make it work, get your act together and actually make something of your life… something that does not hang off my coattails and I’ll tear this up. Do I make myself clear?”
Taylor managed to nod her head.
“Taylor, as I said, Helena will be your legal guardian while you are here. She is not inclined to put up with even a little of the nonsense you have managed to dream up since your mother passed. Helena is the sister of David Bridges, my CTO. I met him when he was at doing his masters at MIT and persuaded him to come and work for me. It was David who suggested sending you here in the first place. It was only after meeting Helena at the beginning of last month, did I finally agree to the plan.”
“And I get no fucking say in the matter!”
“Language young lady,” said Helena.
“I will have none of that in this house.”
“Good. Then I’ll leave,” said Taylor defiantly.
“Care to explain how you will survive? You have no cash. You phone won’t work here and I have your passport. Don’t think about trying to turn a trick. That business is generally controlled by some very nasty people and besides, you’d hardly find any custom around here,” said her father.
“Ok. You win for the time being, but this is not the life I have come to expect.”
“That’s the whole point. You need to experience the lives that normal people have. Going to a new school in a new country will be a big change for you. If you come out the other end then you will be a better person and better equipped to make your own way in the world just like I did.”
“Not if I can help it,” muttered Taylor.
“We shall see shan’t we Helena.”
Taylor’s father left her a little later. No one had moved her cases and she was not going to do it. They had staff at home that did the housekeeping and cooking. Taylor had come to expect that sort of service and she wasn’t going to change. Her father knew that she had a rude awakening ahead of her and wanted to be well out of earshot when that happened.
He headed for the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham. He had meetings with several suppliers lined up for the next week with several of the small companies that supplied his business. The first was the next morning. He was going to be close by if he received the almost inevitable call from Helena.
“This is yours. Make the most of it.”
“Where’s my bathroom?”
“At the end of the landing. There is just the one in the house so don’t linger very long.”
Taylor returned a glare. Helena took her chance to lay down a few rules.
“The world in this house does not, and will not revolve around you.”
Just then some music interrupted their conversation.
“That is my son Danny.”
A look of hatred appeared on her face.
Danny was in her mind a ‘pretty boy’. Well, he was wearing a dress and had lipstick on his face.
“Mum! Thea please?”
This time, his voice wasn't male at all. Just what she needed, having to place second fiddle to a gay boy.
He smiled at Taylor.
“Thea is short for Dorothea which was my great grandmother’s name. She was very active in the fight to get the vote for women a hundred years ago.”
He looked to be about her age but there was something that didn't look right. Then she saw it. On the desk that he was sitting at was a book on advanced calculus. She thought back to a visit that she'd made to one of her former school friend's home in Albany, NY over the Veterans Day Weekend two years before. The friend's brother was studying at a local school for a Master's degree. That very same book was in his room. She’d seen it when they’d ‘made out’ at the party that the friend threw that weekend. That had been one of her more memorable sexual encounters even if she was underage at the time.
He might be a ‘Pretty Boy’, but he was probably even brighter than her. She wasn’t used to not being the most intelligent person around. At most of the multitude of the schools she'd attended, she'd been top of the class with ease. With it being easy, she got bored and that was when she started playing up but she would never admit to any of that.
Taylor was a very picky eater and that cut no ice in the Bridges house. You ate what was offered or you went hungry. She’d protested for more than a day until a lack of food combined with the lack of any local currency finally persuaded her to eat the food that Helena put in front of her.
The food was nothing like what her father's chef prepared just for her. The McDonalds and the KFC restaurants that she’d seen on the way from the airport needed money which she didn’t have plus she didn’t have any way of reaching them. As for taking the bus! Her first thought was to call her father and ask for a Hazmat suit but deep down, she knew that wasn’t going to fly.
Her penance for picking at her food was to do the washing up. Back home, Taylor had put the dirty dishes into a dishwasher. Someone else would operate it and put everything away afterwards. Here, there wasn’t a dishwasher, just a sink. There weren’t even any gloves to protect her hands.
“Those nails will have to come off before school on Monday,” said Helena.
Taylor turned and glared at Helena. She didn’t react at all. Helena was not going to bend to her will anytime soon.
Taylor complained about the damage the water and the detergent would do to her hands but those complaints fell on deaf ears. She did the washing up and Danny/Thea wiped them clean and put them away. She noticed that she/he needed no prompting. He/she was clearly well trained.
The thought of becoming like that made her shiver.
“Are you cold?” asked Thea.
Taylor was cold. The whole house was like a chiller but both Helena and Thea were wearing thick sweaters. To Taylor, sweaters were for wearing outside in cold weather and were removed as soon as you came indoors.
“I’m frozen,” said Taylor.
“Didn’t you bring a sweatshirt or something?”
“My home is warm even in the coldest winter.”
“You will get used to it,” came a voice from the kitchen door.
“You just need to get used to our way of living. Not everyone has a limitless source of funds young lady. Heating costs money. When you have some and pay your share then I’ll turn up the heat. Do you understand that?”
Taylor shook her head.
“We both know that this move is a big change for you but as your father made clear, it is here or that school for delinquents in the heat of Arizona or was it, New Mexico?” said Helena.
For a moment, Taylor almost said ‘bring it on!’ but refrained.
“As today is Saturday, why don’t you and Thea go into town. She can show you around the shops and where things are. Tomorrow, we need to go over your school plan. We need to decide which year to put you in.”
“We?”
Helena smiled.
“Didn’t your father tell you that I’m the Head Teacher of the School?”
Taylor's world had just crashed and burned… Again.
“Don’t worry my dear, we are used to bright students. Thea is one of our brightest. She’ll be taking her International Baccalaureate next month. She has a place at Cambridge to read Particle Physics lined up for next September. If what your reports say are true, you are just as gifted as she is.”
It took a few seconds to grasp what Helena had just said. While she was grappling with that Helena added,
“This is your chance not to be bored at school. All the reports that I have seen indicate that you were bored with the lessons and as a result, you played up and became very disruptive. Why not take up the challenge and work with Thea? She needs a challenge academically which was part of the reason that I agreed with your father about you coming here.”
Taylor was trapped and there seemed no way out of it until the summer. Then she’d be eighteen and could leave.
Helena took the chance with Taylor's silence.
“On Monday, Thea will take you to school. I have to be there early as it is the first day of term. Thea will show you the ropes. We have a learning area setup for people like the two of you.”
“You mean ‘Special Needs’? I’m not mentally retarded. You just said that I’m not.”
“Special Needs, as you call it also applies to those who are gifted. There is a dedicated teacher for those like you and Thea thanks to the funding from an Educational Charity. Your lessons will be designed to be challenging. If they aren’t then I’m sure that you will make your opinions widely known.”
Taylor knew what was being implied by that remark.
“Some lessons will be taken with the mainstream Year 12 students. These include games and art.”
“Games?”
“You call it ‘Sports’. Everyone has to take part.”
Taylor’s bottom lip curled down. Helena laughed.
“That won’t get you anywhere my girl. This term, your choice is between hockey or cross country. Given your build, then I think that cross country will be right up your street.”
In Taylor's mind life was looking bleaker and bleaker by the minute.
Just then, Thea poked her head around the door.
“Taylors uniform for tomorrow is ready. I pressed the jacket because it looked a bit crumpled.”
The mention of the word ‘uniform’ sent yet another wave of horrors down her spine. None of the private schools that she’d gone to had insisted that uniforms be worn once you got to the 10th grade.
Thea helped Taylor remove the expensive nail extensions later that evening. Taylor was determined not to do it herself. What surprised her was just how delicate Thea’s hands were. If anything, they were more feminine than hers and that made her question her very own femininity for the first time since her breasts started to grow.
While the dastardly deed was being done, she decided to ask Thea about herself.
“When did you come out? From what you mom said when we were introduced, it was a fairly recent thing?”
Thea nodded her head.
“Mum knew that I was moving towards coming out. She thought that I was going to do it next summer but the school put on an event just before Christmas. I recited part of the speech from Henry the Fifth part 1. This is where the King addresses his men before the battle of Agincourt.”
“So?”
Thea smiled.
“It ends like this.”
She stopped removing the glue from one of Taylor's nails.
“And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.”
She giggled.
“Then I added one line.”
“Henceforth, I will be known as Thea and shall be your queen.”
It slowly dawned on Taylor how it must have been.
“Was that to the whole school?”
“And to lots of parents. It got a great laugh. Afterwards, people started asking me if I was serious. I said yes. A few days later, Mum sent out an email to all the students and their parents explaining what had happened. I’ll find out tomorrow how well that went down.”
“Are you saying that you have not been to school as Thea before?”
“Yes. It will be a baptism for both of us. For me as Thea and for you as the new Yank in town.”
“Are you afraid of reprisals? You know from bullies and the jocks?”
Thea laughed.
“Jocks? Oh… you mean the braindead numbskulls who play what you call football?”
Taylor was a bit shocked not only by Thea’s response but the directness of her question.
"We don't have Jocks here. Sport, at our school is not like it is across the pond. As for the bullies… Well, it helps having the head as a mother and with you at my side, no one will dare touch me."
"Most of the boys will be hitting on you, and all the girls will be wanting to scratch your eyes out."
“Eh?”
“Taylor… To put it bluntly you are stunningly beautiful. Plus… you have a brain unlike most other girls. From what Mum has told me, very few of them are anywhere near you when it comes to brains. Sure, some of those that have a decent brain won't dare show it because of peer fear. Not being part of the 'in crowd' is just disasterous for them. They'd get shunned on social media and to them, that is a fate worse than death."
Taylor looked a but confused so Thea added,
"With you being an outsider, they won't know how to judge you other than your stunning looks. Being in the 'brainiacs' class limits their chances of getting under your skin and you under theirs. I think that they'll try to ignore you. As long as you don't get into cat fights with them you will be fine."
"How do you know all this?" asked Taylor.
"I looked on at them for years wishing to be part of their group but I began to see how they worked. Play ball and you are allowed to be part of the group. Say something that is out of line, and you get shunned. I put it all down to insecurity. Mind you, the boys are just as bad but in a different way."
Taylor's prospects just got a lot bleaker. Thea seemed so sensible and almost adult like in her behaviour.
[to be continued]
Monday morning dawned cold and grey. Taylor, was beginning to think that the skies over Colne, were going to be that colour forever.
“At least it isn’t raining,” said Thea as they prepared breakfast for themselves.
Taylor was still finding the ways of this house very strange. Nothing was like what she’d been used to… EVER!
“Is it always going to be like this?” asked Taylor.
“Like what?”
Taylor was about to reply but didn’t.
“Does your uniform fit?” asked Thea changing the subject.
“This skirt is just… just awful. Who wears pleats in this day and age?”
Thea couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh… just that the last London ready to wear fashion week had pleated skirts and dresses all over the place. Many of the designs were floor length as well."
Thea continued.
“I guess that you are more used to those tight stretchy ones that went out of fashion a couple of years ago?”
“I stopped wearing skirts like this when I went to High School. We all wore leggings or shorts in summer.”
Once again, Thea laughed.
“I can just see mum’s reaction if you walked into school wearing shorts.”
She saw a light go on in Taylors eyes.
“Don’t even think about it. Mum’s punishment knows no bounds when it comes to school rules. You are in the last chance saloon remember.”
“Ok, miss goody two shoes. Isn’t it time to go?”
"You need to do the washing up first. We have ten minutes before the bus, and the stop is just over the road."
Taylor audibly groaned.
“Don’t worry it will be my turn tomorrow.”
Taylor began to clear the table but her body language told Thea that she wasn’t happy. At least now, she didn’t have the expensive nail extensions to worry about.
If Taylor was used to being stared at on her first day at a new school, then the looks that she received from her new school ‘mates’ were on a different level. She got the distinct impression that they all considered her to be beneath them.
Thea, on the other hand, was welcomed into the sisterhood. It was as if she'd only been gone for a day. That left Taylor very confused.
That level of confusion only increased when Thea led her into a big hall where almost the school were gathered. On a stage at the front, she saw Mrs Bridges standing front and centre. A row of what were appeared to be the teachers were seated to either side of her.
“This is the start of term assembly,” whispered Thea.
For a few minutes, Taylor relaxed as Mrs Bridges went through a series of boring announcements. Then she said,
“I’d like to welcome a new student into our ranks. Taylor, please make yourself known.”
Suddenly everyone was staring at her. She felt about an inch tall.
"Taylor is visiting us from the USA for the rest of the academic year. Please make her welcome during her time here. I know that we would all want to make a good impression on her."
Taylor went red in the face. She wanted to flee because of the embarrassment, but Thea had a firm grip of her arm. She glared at Thea, who just shook her head.
Taylor relaxed and let Thea escort her to her first class.
That class turned out to be advanced calculus. Taylor had not done a lot of the work that was required for the course thanks to her very intermittent schooling over the past two years. Thea and other two boys helped her to complete the assignments.
“Don’t worry Mr Greenwood,” said Thea to the teacher.
“I’ll help Taylor catch up over this week.”
It didn’t help Taylor’s demeanour that the other two ‘brainboxes’ were more interested in the subject than her. Thea was ok because they knew her from before she'd come out as a transsexual. The two boys, Stewart and Ritchie just ignored her. They clearly thought that she was just a dumb blonde from the USA.
By the end of the first day, Stewart and Ritchie had decided that she was not worth interacting with because of her surly nature plus, she was so far behind them in almost all subjects that helping her would interfere with their studies. Thea tried her best to get some sort of interaction going, but they simply refused to talk to Taylor.
This unnerved Taylor who was not used to not being the centre of attention. Thea saw her growing frustration and tried to support her, but it didn't have much success.
In the last lesson of the first day, History, Stewart let his reason for ignoring her. He'd watched some of the TV series, '90210' when laid up with a broken leg the previous year. Taylor had seen one episode before dismissing it as bland rubbish. She began to understand their reactions to her. Taylor didn't like it but she'd have to live with it until she could escape.
She failed to notice that Thea had followed her and had sat on the bed beside her.
Before she realised it, Thea had kissed her lightly on the lips. Taylor recoiled more out of surprise than horror.
“Shhhhh Taylor. You have had a hard day.”
Taylor’s eyes went skyward as if to say, ‘talk about the obvious’.
“I think that you managed it very well.”
Then Thea took her face in her hands and this time it was a serious kiss. Slowly Taylor relaxed and began to respond.
“What was that for?” asked Taylor when they finally broke apart.
“Do I need a reason to kiss you? You were in a mess after the abysmal behaviour of the others today. You needed a diversion hopefully, a pleasant one.”
Taylor could not answer. Thea was right, her mind was in a mess.
“Why don’t you go and fix your makeup and then come downstairs. We have to prepare dinner before Mum gets home .”
Taylor had never made a meal other than a sandwich in her life. Her father employed people to cook and clean for them and… this was not in her plan for life.
The parting words of her father had somehow stuck in her mind.
Eventually, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible. For someone who prided herself on how perfect she looked all the time, this was just more new ground for her. Ground that she feared might open up beneath her feet at any moment.
After brushing her hair and noticing that her roots needed doing, she applied some pale lip gloss and went downstairs. Thea was busy in the kitchen. For a moment, she almost didn’t go and offer to help, but a pang of guilt pierced her heart and went to help.
“Can I help?” she asked.
Thea smiled.
“We are having leftovers so there is not much to do.”
Once again, she felt lost until she saw the remains of the joint of beef that they’d had the previous day sitting on the table. Back home, the ‘leftovers’ would have been given to the dogs. Not for the first time, she both hated, and admired Thea and her mother.
“You could lay the table when I’ve done with the beef,” suggested Thea.
Taylor stood back and admired how professional Thea seemed to be in her work. She sliced the beef perfectly after sharpening the knife. Taylor had led a very sheltered, pampered and privileged life. This was real and it was not some movie. Her fathers’ words came back to her. All her previous very expensive and private schools had people on hand to do the cooking and even the laundry. She’d been well and truly thrown in at the deep end yet Thea and everyone else just seemed to get on with life and do their best to improve their lot.
Her father’s words came back to her.
‘This is your last chance to get to grips with your life. Only then can you decide on your path in life.’
‘If this was ‘life’ then it was not for her and it was up to her to get out of it’, she said to herself. Then she looked at Thea working away with zero complaint. Now she felt a pang of guilt.
“Can you show me how to sharpen the knife?”
Thea looked at her and smiled.
“Perhaps on Wednesday or Thursday? Tomorrow we are having mince[1]. You can peel the spuds tomorrow.”
“Spuds?”
“Potatoes.”
“Ok.”
Taylor set the table as best as she could and wondered what to do next. Thea was busy at the hob frying something.
“What can I do now?”
Thea smiled and turned to her.
“There is a book called ‘Engineering Maths’ on the bookshelf in my room. The section on Laplace Transforms will help you tomorrow.”
Taylor groaned. She’d hoped not to have any homework on her first day but then she remembered what had happened in their first lesson of the day.
“Ok but…?”
“About me kissing you earlier?”
She nodded.
“That is between us. You needed something to focus your mind on something other than the school day, and that was all I could think of.”
“Is that it then?”
It was Thea’s turn to go a bit red in the face.
Taylor moved and this time, kissed Thea.
“Now we are even,” said Taylor when they broke apart.
She disappeared upstairs before Thea could react.
Thea had gotten under her skin unlike any one in her life and that included her mother. Thea was treating her as an equal and that was unsettling. To have someone in her life like that was strange but she vowed to herself to do her best to live up to her father’s hopes for her at least until it was time to break for the summer. The alternative of the school in the desert southwest was ever present in her mind.
Taylor gradually loosened up and began to enjoy life in England. Being amongst others who were on the same plane as her academically began to pay off. The rebel was being tamed but Taylor continued to pretend on the calls to her father that she hated every minute of it.
His phone calls to Mrs Bridges told a very different story. Her reports from school were better than he could have ever hoped for.
Taylor was very circumspect about her relationship with Thea on the calls to her father., but Helena assured him that she was aware that they were becoming close, and would crack down on it if it started to interfere with their studies.
Taylor’s father surprised her with an unannounced visit for the Easter weekend.
“I’ve booked us a hotel in Edinburgh for three nights,” he announced.
Taylor looked at Thea.
“What about Thea and Helena?”
“Thea and I are going to York on at least one of the days,” said Helena.
“I promised her last October that we’d go. We had planned on going then but Thea got a bad cold. That was before Taylor became our guest but it will work.”
Taylor suspected some collusion between the adults but decided not to fight it… this time.
“You will be back in time for our trip to Jodrell Bank[2] next Thursday, won’t you?” asked Helena.
Taylor looked at her father as if to say please?
He smiled.
“I would not miss it for the world,” he replied.
Thea and Taylor had been talking about going for weeks ever since a Professor from Manchester University had visited them and given them a Physics and History lesson about Radio Astronomy.
[Four days later]
“How was Edinburgh?” asked Thea as she helped Taylor unload the car that her father had rented for the week.
“Not what I expected. Some wonderful architecture and great views from the top of Arthurs Seat.”
While the two adults talked downstairs, Thea and Taylor went upstairs.
“I want to give you this,” said Thea as she handed Taylor a small box wrapped in paper.
“Happy birthday for last Friday.”
It had been her eighteenth birthday while she was in Edinburgh with her father. They’d spent the day out of the city walking along the coast near a small fishing village called St Abbs. Then he’d treated her to her first legal drink that evening as they dined looking out onto Princes Street. To be treated as an adult was both liberating and worrying for Taylor.
It was liberating because she could now make decisions for herself. Worrying because at least she had begun to understand how much of her adolescence she had wasted by playing up all the time.
Taylor… or rather the old Taylor would have objected but the new and improved on went with the flow especially as her father was spending money on her which included a new dress for the occasion.
Taylor’s mind returned to the here and now. Someone other than her father was giving her something without asking questions. This was another new experience for her in recent years.
“May I?” asked Taylor as she gingerly held the box.
“It isn’t much but Mum helped me buy it.”
She opened the package as if it was made of red hot metal. Inside the wrapping, there was a small box that from the writing on the top, contained an item of Jewellery.
It contained a small necklace with a St Christophers’ medallion attached.
“Life is a journey is it not?” said Thea.
“and this is to keep you safe.”
Taylor, much to her surprise, welled up. A tear formed in the corners of her eyes.
“Thank you.”
Then and for the first time since that first day at school, she kissed Thea. This time it was a proper kiss that went on for several minutes.
Both of them were slightly breathless when they broke apart.
“Thank you for the gift. Will you put it on for me please?”
Thea grinned as she placed the chain around Taylors neck and did up the clasp.
“Are we good?” asked Thea.
“Good? We are more than good,” replied Taylor.
She backed that up with another kiss.
“Are you ok with me being a boy under all this?”
“Darling,” said Taylor quietly,
“Despite my initial reservations I have realised that you are more feminine than ninety percent of genetic women, and yes, I’m ok with everything apart from your hair. It needs seeing to as you well know.”
Helena had been on at Thea to get her hair done for weeks.
“We’ll get ours done before we go back to school,” said Taylor firmly.
They kissed each other again before fixing their faces and going downstairs.
“How did that go?” Thea asked Taylor as she emerged from her last ‘A-Level’ exam.
“Easy and you damm well know it. You were all done and gone after eighty minutes.”
“Good. Now we can forget school.”
“Until September…?”
“When is your father flying in?”
“The day after tomorrow. Why?”
“Then we have tomorrow to ourselves.”
Taylor smiled.
“And?”
“If the weather looks good then why don’t we head over to the Coast and take a picnic?”
“Just the two of us? We can take the train up to the South Lakes.”
Taylor hesitated.
“We are both adults now, aren’t we?”
“I don’t know.”
Thea took Taylors hand in hers. Now that their exams were over Thea wanted to go public with their relationship.
Taylor stiffened up for a second. Then she relaxed. This was becoming a bit of a habit with her and Thea.
“We should try to do something for your father when he arrives,” suggested Thea a little later.
“What do you suggest?”
“After telling them about us?”
“I suspect that your mom knows already,” said Taylor as they walked past her office. They could see Helena sitting at her desk. She was smiling.”
“Do you think that he has told your dad?”
“I think not. She was very clear that what I did while I was here was for here and that I was to tell my father what was appropriate.”
“My mum is a wonderful woman.”
Taylor grinned.
“She has to be to have put up with you before you came out.”
“Eh?”
“When you were laid up with that bad cold, she told me how much of a pain in the ass you had been before you told the world. She was fearful that you were getting a bit schitzo, then you gave that speech to the whole school. She was so proud of you for that and especially the way you did it. She showed me the video. Hearing your words was impressive but seeing how you did it… that was pure class.”
“Yeah. Things did get a bit easier after that.”
“Which was what you intended wasn’t it?”
“Something like that.”
Taylor and Thea walked along in silence for a bit.
“We aren’t all that different, are we?” said Taylor.
“Errrr. Have you only just come to that conclusion. I knew it from our first day at school. That’s why I made my move that night. You had a lot of people wanting to date you but you repelled all boarders, didn’t you?”
“I did but that wasn’t because of you. At first, I was looking for a way to escape and get back home. Then you wore me down and I accepted that I was here for the duration. Then you sort of grew on me as an equal.”
“And now?”
“I think that is it time to show our cards…”
Taylor’s father arrived after a long overnight flight from South Africa. Despite his tiredness, he was pleased to see the new Taylor.
“Are you done being a rebel rouser?” he asked.
“I am and that is mainly down to Thea.”
Her father smiled.
“That’s what I hoped would happen.”
Taylor looked over at Thea and smiled. Her father noticed this.
“I take it that there is something else that you want to tell me?”
“Thea and I are a couple. If our exams go ok and if you can afford the fees, I have a place on the same course at Cambridge as she does.”
He smiled and looked at Helena.
“Were you aware of all this scheming?”
“I was, and I was honoured to support Taylors application,” said Helena smiling.
“And their relationship?”
Helena looked at the two young adults.
“I was aware that there was an attraction between them, but they didn’t let it get in the way of their exams. If I had felt that it was then I would have acted but they didn’t.”
Taylors father looked at her with a serious face.
“It appears that my grand scheme to get you to face up to the world worked even better than I had hoped.”
“I hated Thea for being brainer than me and that I had to do the washing up and the cooking and everything. I wanted to head for the exit but I had no money so I had to stay. Thea goaded me into trying to beat her in everything. That was so different to all those crap private schools that you sent me to. Those places were only interested in turning out potential Ivy League grads who’d find a nice rich lawyer to marry and carry on the cycle.”
“And you rebelled…”
“As you said Father, this was my last chance. After a while, I understood that it was just that and I took it. Without Thea and Helena, I would be in that awful place in Arizona right now. I have an equal in my life for the first time since mom died.”
Her father took her hand and smiled.
“Then I’d better start getting your student visa and everything else sorted out for September then?”
Taylor looked at her father and then at Thea.
“Dad, Thea and I want to get married first.”
Silence fell over the room.
Helena sat back and smiled.
“I take it that you are good with all this?” asked Taylors father.
“I am. After a few weeks of sparring between them, I have seen these two, grow as young adults. Before Taylor came here Thea was a bit of a lost soul. They are clearly devoted to each other and yes I do approve of their relationship.”
“Then we should all go out and celebrate. I mean somewhere a bit special. Why don’t you all go and get ready while I sort out our transport,” said Helena.
She smiled and pulled out her phone. The two young women looked at each other. Helena nodded her head. They got up and headed upstairs.
“Where are we going?” Taylor asked, half an hour later.
“Somewhere not too far. I know that you have to be back for school tomorrow. We are going to a place in the Pennines called Appleby. It is only an hour or so from here,” said Helena.
Taylor showed her relief. Geography was and never would be her strong point.
Now that Taylor and Thea were legally adults in the UK, they shared a bottle of wine with the adults. For Taylor, it felt like it was her coming of age. She’d had a drink a dinner with her father at Easter but this was far more public in her opinion.
“There is something that you should all know,” said Taylors father while they waited for their main course.
“I am in the process of selling my business in the US. I am going to invest in a foundry in Halifax. Something like this has been on the cards for a while now. Last week, I had an offer that really was too good to refuse. The place that I’m buying is a specialist in their area but have lacked the investment needed to move forward. They have been a supplier to my company for five years now so I know the business pretty well.”
“What?” exclaimed Taylor a few seconds later.
“Canada? Nova Scotia is in the middle of nowhere!”
Thea and Helena laughed.
“I think your father means, Halifax, Yorkshire. An hour or so by car from here.”
Taylor went red in the face but soon saw the funny side of her goof. Less than a year ago, she would have reacted very differently. She had finally found a place to fit in. The Bad Girl had made good.
[1] mince in the UK means ‘ground’ meat in the USA.
[2] https://www.jodrellbank.net/