Reports From the Front Lines

Later that evening, Riley came by to drop off the homework that I had been unable to pick up because I was out of the building all day.

"Zoe!" Heather called. "Someone's here to see you." I left my laptop where it sat and got up, headed for the stairs. With the way that our house was laid out, if you were at the front door, you could see up the stairs. I looked down and watched as Riley's face lit up; like she was happy to see me.

"Hi Zoe." Riley smiled as I hit the landing. We hugged, much like we had done at school that morning. I led her toward the living room so we could sit and chat for a few minutes. Riley sat on the love seat and I sat next to her. Her hair looked like it had been freshly brushed, and the pink ribbon that decorated her brown ponytail was not there that morning when I had seen her at school. "So, there are rumors flying around school now that this new girl Zoe managed to get Mrs. Perkins fired." I smiled.

"Not quite, but it may come down to that..." I said. "The decision is actually in the hands of the school board, it appears. Tomorrow will be my first day at school. I'm not sure what to expect."

"I'm in most of your classes, so I will be next to you pretty much all day. What are you going to do about going to the bathroom and gym class?" Riley said.

"Well, for the moment, I'm exempt from gym on the basis of a medical diagnoses, and I get to use that restroom that's in the nurses office until they figure out what to do with me..." I looked into her hazel eyes and smiled. "I was thinking about wearing the outfit I had on today, but in red..." I said. Riley's eyes lit up.

"I was planning on wearing that tomorrow as well." She said. "It's too bad that we can't wear the berets... I think the outfits look better with them."

"I agree. Dr. Hashburn said that he thought I would look cute in what ever I wore tomorrow." I replied, smiling at Riley. "I think that he's right." She smiled back at me.

"So do I." She kissed me on the cheek again. "I'm not sure which will look better on you, the red or the green."

"Well, from the photo session that I had Wednesday, I think the green looks better on me than the red, but, you'll see the red tomorrow and you can tell me which one you think looks better." She smiled. Dad walked into the living room.

"Hi Riley." He said. "What brings you by?"

"I just brought Zoe's homework by so that she could stay at the head of the class." Riley said. I had no idea if I was at the head of the class or not, but I was probably up there. Dad just nodded. "What time do you need to be home by?" he asked. Riley looked at the clock that was on the cable box.

"Eight thirty." The clock read that it was half past seven. Dad nodded.

"Zoe and I will walk you home." Riley nodded.

"My mom and dad would like that." Riley said. I knew her parents didn't like her to be out alone after dark, and it had been daylight when she arrived. Riley was an only child so her parents were very protective of her. I had walked her home before by my self, but I had a feeling that the rules for me were about to change in regards to being out on my own after a certain time...

"So is Mrs. Perkins still there, or is she going to be gone for a while?" I asked.

"I don't know. Anyone who knows anything isn't saying." Riley said. "I got teased for giving you a kiss today, and got asked a lot of questions about you."

#
Mom had carried some chocolate milk into the living room, and dad had gone off to the den, leaving Riley and I alone. I knew that mom was in the kitchen, still close enough to overhear anything that was said.

"Did I upset you with the kiss at school?" Riley bit her lower lip, a move that I thought made her look extremely cute. I smiled at her, which seemed to put her a little bit more at ease.

"No. You startled me, yes. But you didn't upset me." I said. Riley smiled at me. "I had been wondering maybe you'd like to go see a movie, but I'm not sure that your parents would let us now..." I let the thought trail off. Riley leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek again. I looked into her hazel eyes. "May I give you a kiss?" I asked. Riley smiled and nodded, it sounded as if she forgot to breath for a few seconds. I leaned forward and planted an extremely soft kiss on her soft, and unblemished cheek. I felt the warm air escape her mouth as my lips met her cheek. We both sort of sat back and just gazed at each other. All of the sudden her face turned red and she attempted to hide her face in my chest. I turned to look and saw mom standing there a smile on her face.

"Girls, it's twenty after eight. I know that Riley has to be home at eight thirty. Zoe, go get your shoes on, and grab your coat. Your dad will be ready in a few seconds."

"Yes, mommy." I said and headed for the front door where my shoes were and my coat hung in the closet. Dad had the closet door open and grabbed the dark grey wool peacoat, holding it out so I could slip my arms into the sleeves. I slipped my feet into the shoes, and then buttoned the coat. Mom and Riley walked down the hallway, Riley with a big grin on her face. I looked at Riley and then at mom, who smiled. What ever mom had told Riley would remain between them, for the time being. Dad looked at both of us.

"You girls ready?" He asked.

"Yes, Daddy." I said. Riley looked at me, a giggle escaping.

"Yes, Mr. Franks." She said, trying to hold the giggles in, and failing. I gave her a strange look. Now dad was giving her a strange look as well. He looked at mom, who smiled and nodded. I had a feeling that I was the only one that was not in the loop.

"Tom, They are expecting you." Now it was time for both Riley and I to look confused. Dad nodded.

"Let's go girls" Dad said, opening the front door. He let Riley and I walk out first, closing and locking the door behind him. I knew that we weren't going to get out of dad's sight so Riley and I walked toward her house, with dad out of ear shot, but not eye sight.

"What did you and mom talk about?" I asked her. I could see her smile in the moonlight.

"Us." She said, glancing over her shoulder to see how close dad was.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She was warning me that some people may not think too highly of you and I having a relationship... Something about people having an issue with two girls being together. I don't see it myself" Riley said.

"I don't have a problem with it either." I replied, slipping my hand in hers. We walked in silence for a few moments.

"I've waited for a while to be able to hold your hand like this." She said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "I remember seeing the sparkle go out in your eyes. I wondered if I'd ever see it again. It's back." She reached up with her other hand to wipe a stray tear that had escaped her left eye.

"You're ok with Zoe?" I asked. Given that we were holding hands, I assumed that she would be.

"Yes." She chewed on her bottom lip again, she was about to say or ask something that made her nervous. "I've pictured you as a girl for a while, at least since you've grown your hair out."

#
Riley and I walked up the steps and onto the porch. She reached into the pocket on her jeans and struggled to pull out her key I watched in quiet amusement as she couldn't stick her hand in her pocket far enough to get to the key. I knew from looking at the pants we had purchased that the pockets weren't that deep, but they were so small that very little would fit in them.

"Maybe you should get a purse..." I said nonchalantly. Riley turned her head and looked at me, and then blew a raspberry. I smiled at her.

"Got it!" She said, pulling the key out. "Maybe you girly girls are on to something with your purses..." she said, sticking the key in the key hole and unlocking the front door. Even though she had only unlocked the door, it swung open as her dad opened it from the inside, almost like he had been expecting us.

"Riley, Zoe, Tom, Come in." Riley and I looked at each other... I racked my brain trying to figure out how her dad knew of Zoe already. She was still semi secret at this point. Riley shrugged and we stepped into the foyer. Dad and Mr. Edwards shook hands, and Riley and I looked at each other and shrugged again.

"How did he know about Zoe?" I whispered in Riley's ear.

"No idea, but we're about to find out." She whispered back.

"Have a seat, girls." Riley's dad said. Riley and I sat on the love seat and looked at her mom and dad sitting on the couch and my dad, who had taken the only chair in the room. The three adults were smiling, which I considered to be a good sign. "First of all, Zoe, I'm sure you are wondering how I know about you when you still seem to be a pretty closely guarded secret?" Riley's dad said. I nodded dumbly, letting a look of confusion cross my face. "Your dad has been in contact with me all day. I've been providing some counsel to him. But, we wanted to make sure that you guys know that there are some people out there that won't think too highly of two young girls being involved in a romantic relationship. You guys already know how a group of middle schoolers can be, and Riley, I think that you learned a little bit of that after you kissed Zoe at school." Riley blushed

"Today it was more of a 'Riley kissed a girl?' floating around all day. Not many people know that Zoe and Allen are are the same and those that do are in this room or at Zoe's house. Tomorrow will be bit different as the girl I kissed will be at school, and we're practically going to be inseparable. We have almost every class together so she's got a second set of eyes watching everything that is going on around her." Riley paused. "Honestly daddy, I don't care what others think. They need to learn to worry about them selfs and not everyone else..." Riley's dad looked at Riley and then at me, and I realized that I was nodding in agreement with Riley. Mr. Edwards and my dad looked at each other, at Riley's mom, and then at the two of us.

"I guess we raised them right..." Mr. Edwards said... "We just wanted you two to be aware that people may have an issue with you holding hands or otherwise showing affection in public." We nodded and looked at each other. We were very close friends, had been for years, nothing more, nothing less that either of us were aware of.

#
"So, Zoe," Dad began. "There are going to be some rule changes for you now." I glanced up at my father, already expecting this statement.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, no going out after dark by your self anymore. You're turning into a young lady and there are a lot of sick and twisted people out there that will try to harm a young girl. I don't care how old you are, you're always going to be my little girl, as is Heather. The problem is that if they try to harm you and find out your secret, they are going to be a lot worse on you because you are not an actual girl." I pursed my lips. Dad had gone to the hospital before when some of the employees of Gilenfelter had been attacked. I had never gone with him, but had heard stories... "I know that you don't leave the house without your phone, but you will be grounded if you do." This was nothing new. This rule had always been that way but I understood why dad brought it up. "I pushed some additional contacts to your phone, Adam Peterson's, as well as the rest of the legal team. If you have any problems with staff, after taking to the principal about it, make sure that Peterson finds out." We were walking up to the front door.

"Ok," I said" Dad placed his hand on my shoulder after I had taken off my coat.

"Zoe, Don't think that we're punishing you for being you. I'm just concerned for your safety. There are a lot of people out there that won't understand you, or what you're going through, Zoe." He said. "I want to try to shield you from that as much as possible. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed and I'll be up shortly to tuck you in." I blinked, and dad smiled.

"Ok." I said.I climbed the stairs finally realizing how exhausted I was. It had been a long tiring day emotionally, and I was ready for bed... I went in my room and looked around. Most of the clothes that hung in the closet were not mine....They belonged to an impostor. I sighed, wondering when we were going to do something about my room as I changed into a baby pink satin nightgown that had been laying on the bed. There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" I said. Dad cracked the door.

"You dressed, Zoe?" He asked, before coming in all the way...

"Yes," I replied, taking one last look at myself in the mirror, The night gown that I now had on was longer than the skirt that I had worn that morning. Dad pushed the door open wider and stepped into my room. He smiled at me.

"You look just like your sister did at your age." Dad said, walking over and pulling the covers back on my bed. It had been years since I had been tucked in by either by mom or dad... "Your room doesn't look like it belongs to a thirteen year old girl... We should change that..." I smiled at him.

"Actually, Daddy," I replied. "I had been thinking that already. I'm not sure that I want to just throw out Allen's clothes, but they don't seem right hanging there. I was thinking about putting them all in the other bedroom tomorrow after school, We can figure out what to do with them later." Dad nodded and looked at the open closet door.

"That closet's gonna be empty after that." He chuckled. "Hop up in bed, Zoe." I climbed up in bed, and let him cover me up. I had a feeling that if there had been a teddy bear there, he would have handed it to me. He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the forehead, and brushed a few hairs out of my face. "Good night, Princess." Dad said, walking over to the door. He took one look around the room, smiled at me, turned off the light and shut the door. I turned over on my side and promptly fell asleep.