Josie and I have been having a good time staying with Denise and her parents. We don’t see much of her Dad, but her mother is always very friendly. She is for ever offering me items of clothing that she no longer wears (as we are the same size). Some of them are really nice but I feel a little awkward in accepting them, although Josie seems quite happy to accept similar hand-me-downs from Denise. In fact Josie appears to have slotted so naturally into ‘girl mode’ that it is now difficult for me to think of her in any other way. The more time I spend with her, the more convinced I am that she is going to be very unhappy if and when she has to go back to being Joe once again. I tried to put myself in her position and wondered how I would feel if I’d been forced to live as a boy even though I knew in my heart that I was a girl. Yet at the same time I do wonder whether she has really thought through the implications of living as a girl full-time. Returning to her home as Josie would inevitably be surrounded with difficulties both for her and her family.

Denise agrees with me, as she confirmed yesterday morning whilst we were waiting for our young friend to emerge from the shower, where she was busy washing her hair.

‘You’re right to be concerned about Josie’s future, but for the time being there’s no reason why she shouldn’t continue to enjoy herself with us. As far as I’m aware there has been no occasion when anyone has been suspicious about her,’ she said.

‘What about your dad?’

‘Least of all Dad! The poor guy! I get the impression that he’s in awe of having three teenage girls around the place,’ she replied, chuckling.

‘You treat Josie like a life-sized doll by dressing her up and offering her encouragement and compliments about her appearance,’ I commented, half in jest.

‘I would remind you, Karen, that I wasn’t the one who asked her to model a dress for me in the first place, and then insisted that she took on the female role for a full week before entering the competition,’ she replied by way of justification. ‘I’ve now heard the full story of how she came to be Josie from her lips.’

‘I suppose you’re right, and I do feel a little bit responsible but at the time she didn’t need much persuasion,’ I replied. ‘Also I’d no idea then that once she became Josie, she wouldn’t want to go back to being Joe again.

‘Yes, she does rather ‘lap up’ any opportunities we provide to enhance her ‘girlyness’, but why not? Why shouldn’t she spend her time as a girl and enjoy the things that the rest of us take for granted without any need to worry about being recognised.’

‘As long as she doesn’t get too carried away with her new identity,’ I replied, ‘I was getting a little anxious with those German lads last night.’

‘Come on Karen, we were only having a little fun, and the guys have now left town. We’ll probably never see them again.’

I was about to respond but at that point as the subject of our discussion appeared in the bedroom dressed in her negligee and with her hair wrapped in a towel.

‘How long will these hair extensions last, Karen?’ she asked.

‘Mum said that they should be good for at least six weeks, which will last you until the end of August if you want to hang on to them.’

I don’t think any of us had really thought too carefully about what was going to happen to Josie by the time those hair extensions needed to be taken out or replaced.

I’d been the first to get up and have a shower and so was the only one of the three of us who was then dressed and ready to go out. I therefore left my two friends in their respective bedrooms and went downstairs to make a phone call to my sister as she’d sent me a text message last night asking me to ring her when I was on my own and had a chance to do so. She proceeded to give me an account of the previous evening and Jenny’s comment about her younger sister.

‘So Jenny referred to Josie ‘a freak’, that’s a bit rich given that she was just as keen as the rest of us for her to go in for that competition.’

‘I think that Jenny is finding the whole idea of having a new ‘sister’ a bit of an embarrassment especially so once Andy, finds out.’

‘Who’s Andy?’

‘Her new boyfriend, he’s six foot one and fluent in ‘Neanderthal’. But, I wonder whether there might be a small element of jealousy involved as well.’

‘Why would Jenny be jealous of Josie?’ I asked ‘No matter how successfully she makes the transition, she will always have to face a degree of embarrassment and hostility in her life.’

‘I doubt whether Jenny is looking that far ahead,’ replied Sue. ‘Josie has been receiving a lot of attention from us all recently, and she did look so lovely when she won the competition a fortnight ago. Then of course she and I got invited out in Southport and the two of you were invited to stay at Llangollen. Perhaps Jenny feels that she is being pushed out of the limelight by her younger sister?’

‘Maybe, but that’s not an excuse for her being such a bitch towards her. Josie will find life difficult enough without her own sister turning on her. I’m going to have a few words with her and tell her what I think of her.’

‘I’ll do the same. Perhaps if we both express our disapproval to her she may change her mind.’

There was still no sign of either Denise or Josie emerging from their bedrooms and Denise’s mother had gone out so I took the opportunity of ringing the elder Miss Stevenson to tell her what I thought about her and her bitchy comments.

‘You were way out of order, Jenny. You had no reason to be so unkind, particularly as your sister has never done you any harm, and shared her prize money with us all.’

‘She may not have done me any harm as yet, but she will be a huge source of embarrassment once she does return home.’

‘That’s all you’re concerned about, how will her behaviour impact on you, and your social life. You’re not concerned about she might be feeling.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Karen, she’s not a she, she’s a ‘he’, and she’s not my sister but my brother,’ Jenny replied sulkily.

’From what I’ve seen over the last three weeks, I don’t think that you’ll be able to sustain that position, no matter how much you want to bury your head in the sand. Either you accept Josie as a sister or else you may find yourself losing both her and also a number of your other friends as well.’

‘That will happen whatever I do. Once you return to Sussex, Joe or Josie will be the laughing stock of the school and the object of every bully and pervert around. It won’t be much fun for anyone who has anything to do with ‘him, her or it.’

’I think you’d better start showing your sister a little more respect. Like the rest of us, you were partly responsible for Josie’s present situation. You were happy enough for her to play at being a girl when it suited you,’ I said.

‘I know, but I never realised that he wouldn’t want to go back to being a boy afterwards.'

‘I don’t think any of us did, but she was our protégé and as such we are all responsible for ensuring that she comes to no harm.’

Jenny sighed.

‘Of course I don’t want her to come to any harm, and if she wants to live as a girl I suppose it is up to her, but I just wish that she didn’t involve me.’

‘You can’t help that. She is your sister, after all.’

I know that I was wrong, but I was in a bad mood due to something that Andy said. He made some joke about ‘freaks’ and then I suddenly realised that he was talking about people like my brother or my sister or whatever.’

‘Andy may be fun to go out with for a week or two, but you’ll have your sister for the rest of your life.’

‘I know, and I feel ashamed of myself now. I’ve tried to ring Josie to apologise but she now blocks my calls.’

‘So Josie knows what you’ve called her?’

‘Yes, I sent her a text message last night,’ she replied guiltily. ‘But I sent her another message later on to say that I was sorry, although it wouldn’t surprise me if she now deletes my messages without reading them.’

‘In that case you had better find a way to make things up to her,’ I said.

‘Yes, I know.’

So Josie knew what her sister had called her. Maybe that explains why she let herself get a bit carried away with the German lad on Wednesday night?