A Wish Unwanted – Part 6
by Limbo’s Mistress

Okay, so … showering as a girl turned out to be different, but not quite the intensity of weird I thought it was going to be. I guess putting soap and water on flesh is pretty much an ordinary occurrence across the universe.

Which would explain a lot about the newer model Cylons.

Anyway, I walked into the shower area, armed with my little tray of Pee-Jay’s toiletries and a can-do attitude. I mean, it wasn’t like I could just stop bathing because I now had, uh, other parts.

Sarah was still there, washing the shampoo out of her long hair. Kara had just turned off the water on her shower and was grabbing her towel down from a nearby hook. Both of them, of course, were stark naked and soaking wet.

What did the new me make of that? Well, I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but it seemed like one of Kara’s boobs might ride a slight higher on her chest than its companion. Other than that? Not a damned thing.

“Hey, Pee-Jay,” the redhead said as she finished securing her towel around her waist and picked up her own little basket of soaps. “Pretty good hustle out there. Too bad The Butcher made you run laps first.”

“Well, I was late,” I said, taking off my own towel to reveal I was just as nude as the rest of them. A part of me expected the other girl’s eyes to widen and for her to start screaming and pointing. You know, as she would probably do if a guy were to walk in here.

She laughed. “I think she was happy that you were. Since that meant she could finally be mean to a cheerleader. I mean, if you went and complained to Coach Ferguson, Burchett can say you deserved it.”

I blinked, finding myself scrambling to make sense of her statement. “Wait, you think Butcher jumped on me simply because I’m a cheerleader?”

Kara gave me a look that seemed to ask if I had suffered a brain embolism between the gym and the locker room. “Well … yeah. You know how she is. Always complaining that we get away with murder, and the school always seems to have the funds for the squad, but never enough for the rest of the girls’ activities.”

Actually, I didn’t know that. What self-respecting dork gamer would know anything about the internal struggle for resources that took place between the Raiderettes and everyone else? A/V club had to have garage sales to afford any new equipment they wanted.

“I guess,” I said, hanging up my towel and turning the knob on the front of the wall next to it. A spray of arctic water shot out and struck me right in the left ass cheek. I squealed and leapt out of the way, nearly knocking into Kara.

“Sorry,” I said. “Forgot that thing shoots concentrated liquid nitrogen.”

Now I really did get an odd look from the red-haired cheerleader. Guess Pee-Jay wasn’t one for tossing scientific jargon in her sentences. I was actually surprised more people didn’t question my utter lack of vapidity. Or the fact that Penny didn’t seem to say “like” or “totally” as much as she used to.

“See you tomorrow,” the girl said after another second. Then she was gone, leaving me and Sarah as the sole occupants.

I reached back and felt that the water was now a more acceptable lukewarm rather than something that might come out of the end of Mr. Freeze’s ice gun. Stepping back under the slowly heating stream, I dipped my head back and saturated my hair. Then I pushed the soaked strands out of my eyes and looked over at Sarah.

She was standing under her own spray, though it seemed as if she were finished with actual bathing. Her eyes regarded me with a mixture of concern and sadness.

I sighed. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you were just teasing, like we always do to each other. I shouldn’t have taken your head off.”

She stared at me for another couple of seconds before shrugging. “No biggie.”

“But it is,” I said. “You’re my best friend. I shouldn’t snap at you without at least an explanation for why I’m snapping.”

She nodded. “Fair enough.”

I smiled at her, then looked in the conglomeration of products nestled in the tray. Conditioner, detangling shampoo, citrus herb shampoo, lilac body wash with vitamin D and aloe, vanilla body wash with cocoa butter, exfoliating face wash, hydrating face wash with microbeads, and clearing face wash with tea tree extract.

What the ever-living frack? Jesus, this chick had almost a many types of cleanser as she did shoes. Who the hell needed this much stuff? I wasn’t even sure what half of the labels meant or what they were supposed to do. For all I knew, putting the wrong combination of products together would result in an acid worthy of a James Bond villain. Sorry Pee-Jay can’t run the Homecoming Committee meeting today on account of her face melting off her skull.

I picked up the detangling shampoo, squirted some into my palm, and began to massage it into my scalp.

“So,” Sarah said, still standing under her stream of water. “What was it?”

“What was what?” The shampoo was tingly, and smelled very … flowery.

“What got you upset enough to snap at me?”

Oh, that. Right. Quick, Sam, think of a reason for Pee-Jay to have been upset. You know, besides the stress of dealing with a magical sex change accompanied by a side-order of new reality.

“Lee,” I blurted out.

Her slightly put-out expression instantly changed to full-on concern. “What happened with Lee?”

“Nothing, really. I just …” I paused, grasping at the thought I was trying to convey.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like Lee. While I didn’t even know the guy, there was no mistaking the way I reacted to his presence. Which sort of seemed of confirm that Penny did like him. Which mean that I must like him, too.

Frak! At this rate, I was seriously going to need a flowchart to keep up.

“You guys were trying to keep it on the down low, but now it seems that everyone either knows, or suspects, something is going on between you,” she answered, nodding her head in self-confirmation. “You’re just not ready to announce it to the world yet. Right?”

Sure, Sarah. Let’s go with that. It’s far less messy than the jumbled mess in my head.

I nodded. “Exactly. It’s been bugging me all day and, uh, when you made a comment about what I might have worn, underwear-wise, on Saturday …”

She nodded. “Gotcha. My bad, girlfriend. I should have known you were wigging out a bit about it. I mean, he and Jen have been broken up for a while. Though we all knew he was into you long before he and the Ice Bitch called it quits. You want to take it slow.”

“Exactly,” I said. Then I rinsed all the foamy suds from my hair. The strands suddenly felt a lot cleaner than they had. Almost squeaky. Guess that meant it was conditioner time.

Sarah turned around, flashing me that nearly-perfect bottom. Gah! If I was still a guy, I would have probably given a testicle or something to be this close to it. Stupid magic wish.

Grabbing her towel, she patted herself dry. I took a mental note of that. Guys are rubbers. We rub the towel over our bodies with all the care and concern of a pothead slacker drying down cars at the budget carwash. Apparently girls were a bit more careful with their flesh.

“Then I’m sorry I said anything, Peej. I shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate.”

“It’s all good,” I said, running my creamy fingers through my hair. “Mind waiting for me so we can go to the meeting together?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. Just don’t take forever like you normally do. You just got a little sweaty. It’s not like you’ve been crawling around the sewers over on Walker Street.”

Sarah walked out of the shower, and I rinsed the conditioner out. It left my hair smelling even more feminine and flowery. Not to mention super damned shiny. I’d had shiny hair as Sam, but that had been to an overabundance of oil production. This was the shiny that you saw in commercials with supermodels.

I grabbed a puffy white ball from the tray, as well as one of the bottles of body wash. I knew what a loofa was and what it was for. Come on, I’m a geeky dork, not a complete moron.

First I made sure there was enough of the body wash applied that I wouldn’t need to add an additional amount later. Then I squeezed the gooey loofa between my hands, creating enough suds to wash the equivalent of five Pennys.

I started with the more familiar areas. Feet, legs, arms neck, butt, and back. Those last two brought their own unique experiences.

Penny’s bottom was far more present than Sam’s. Not to mention rounder and more firm. Her superior flexibility also meant that instead of only being able to clean the small of my back and a narrow areas on the sides, I could pretty much scrub the whole thing. From top to bottom, hitting every square inch.

I paused, preparing myself for the remaining two bodily regions.

When I’d gotten dressed that morning, I’d seen my new chest ornaments. I’d even given them a couple of quick gropes for good measure. However, actually touching them, in a more personal manner, seemed a bit wrong. Like I was about to grope some girl who couldn’t protest it.

Yes, I know that I was having a moral quandary over touching my own self in a particular way. Even if that way was completely non-sexual. Personally, I think a debate such as that was far more amenable than freaking out because I’d discovered my dick had been replaced by a vagina.

Lathering up my hands until they were practically hidden by the pink suds, I reached up and began to run the loofa over my breasts. I stared with the outer portions, Then I moved to washing what Cindy had always referred to as “underboob”. When both of those areas and the cleft between them were sufficiently clean, I brought the soapy plastic sphere over the tops and down across the nipples.

Holy Tingly Jumpstart, Batman!

The rough fibers of the loofa scratched across the slightly-engorged nubs of flesh and sent a burst of sensations shooting from them in two directions. One stream rocked up into my brain, causing things to skew sideways for a moment. The other zoomed down to between my legs and drove the temperature in that area up by a dozen or so degrees.

I yanked the loofa away, gasping softly. Okay, that was … unexpected. I mean, I’d been able to tell from the moment I noticed they were there that Penny had sensitive boobs. The way they felt nestled in my bra had been plenty proof of that. I’d need to be a bit more careful in the future about how I went about cleaning them. Hands would probably create less of a reaction than the loofa.

It took a moment for me to get my sudden spike in pulse to drop back down to normal. Meanwhile, I turned around twice under the spray, making sure to get all of the soap off the freshly cleaned areas.

Only one thing left to wash.

When I’d gotten dressed, I’d pretty much been in such a hurry that I’d yanked off the thong Penny had slept in, and jammed my legs and ass into what Sarah had called my “granny panties”. I hadn’t had the time to go exploring around my new equipment.

I’d gone to the bathroom once since arriving at school. However, I’d been worried about not making it to class before the bell rang, so I’d sat down, did my business, then wiped and had my jeans pulled back up before I even realized I’d done it. Like taking a piss, even in a body I didn’t know much about, was some kind of automatic process.

Hell, I had even wiped twice without thinking about it.

Forgoing the loofa, I scooped a ton of soap onto my hand, then reached down to clean that most private of parts.

I wasn’t sure what I expected it to be like. Honestly, it really didn’t feel any different than when there used to be manly equipment down there. Sure, it was a little odd that there were folds instead of a dangling sack, but otherwise it was pretty much the same.

In the movies, okay in the pornos, a girl taking a bath or shower uses the nakedly wet time to do a little giving of self-joy. However, I decidedly avoided that route. First and foremost, because the last thing I wanted was to get caught jerking off, or whatever it’s called for girls, in the school showers. Not even Sam’s worthless reputation could survive that level of scandal.

Secondly, because I was a little bit worried about the things that would pop into my head during the act. As a guy, I’d kept a terabyte’s worth of mental material I could call upon when the urge to bust a nut made itself known. Memorized images of dozens of female celebrities, alongside a few girls I saw on a more in-person basis, were never more than a neuron’s spark away. ScarJo, Megan, and Ariana being some of the more frequent ones.

Now, though, I sincerely doubted those tried and true images would do anything other than give me body issues. Penny definitely had no attraction whatsoever to her own gender. Which meant that the moment I started exploring the mythical land of Multiple Female Orgasms, it was an assured bet that the first erotic thought that surfaced would be wearing Lee Taylor’s face. As well as his pecs, arms, … legs.

I quickly pulled my hand away before the heat that began to form could turn into an actual fire. I rinsed myself off completely, and when I reached for the knob to shut off the water, I noticed my hands were trembling a bit.

Get a grip, Sam. How about you make sure you know how to do the important girly things like put on makeup, walk in heels, and be able to tell the differences between the nine million shades of blue that supposedly existed?

I pulled my towel off the hook and patted myself dry as I’d seen Kara do. I had to admit, it did feel nicer than the way I used to dry off as a boy. Especially when I worked on my breasts and the still-perky nipples. Wrapping my towel around me, I grabbed my tray and padded back out of the showers and into the locker room.

Sarah was sitting on the bench in front of our lockers, mostly dressed. Her blouse was still in her hands, leaving her upper body clad only in a light green bra. I thought the color really looked good on her, especially the way it brought out the flecks of green in her eyes. As a guy with a bit of a crush, I’d considered Sarah’s eyes to be one of her best features. After her boobs, face, and ass, of course.

“I thought I was going to have to call in a search and rescue squad,” she said with a grin as I walked over to her.

I shook my head. “No, just enjoying the water.”

As I pulled my clothes back on, we discussed some ideas that we were going to present to the committee. I, well Penny actually, might have volunteered to head the thing up, but Sarah had agreed to be my co-chair. It was some of the others who Sarah felt might need a bit of additional persuasion and guidance.

“Well, you know Becki has been talking about how crappy the DJ was last year. I think she’s going to try to push for live music. Most like her brother’s crappy band.”

Becki Anderson was quite possibly the most annoying know-it-all girl at Benson High. She was one of those people who could not help but correct everyone’s mistakes. Factual or grammatical. A perpetual busybody, she always seemed to wind up a member of any afterschool activity. Whether she was actually qualified or not. Plus, she this nasally way of speaking that could make you actually want to beg to be eaten by a Mimic.

The rest of the committee, as I found out through Sarah, consisted of Tonya Michaels, Danny Rockman, Phoebe Nelson, and Kyle Johnson. I couldn’t say as the identities of the rest were that big of a surprise.

Danny and Kyler were football players, though both were also pretty inclined academically. Danny was actually a member of the Honor Society, much like Sam had been. Phoebe was a photography whiz who lived and breathed the Benson Herald, the school’s official newspaper. It was nearly impossible to flip through one of the monthly issues and not find the majority of the pictures had her name credited beneath.

Tonya had been a Raiderette until the prior year. Not being a member of the in-crowd before today, I didn’t know what had led to her no longer being counted among their skirt-shaking numbers. However, being as she was blonde, curvaceous, super sweet, and extremely friendly, I would be willing to bet that Jen had decided to cut out the competition.

Ironically, being kicked off the cheer squad, which would have likely been a death sentence to the social standing of anyone else, hadn’t phased Tonya in the least. She still sat with the popular group in the cafeteria, and was still invited to all the parties. Honestly, if the worst thing that came of her expulsion was not having to put up with Jennifer Winters’ shit anymore, I might have to consider taking Penny down that route.

Once I was appropriately decent, clothing wise, I quickly ran a brush through my still-damp hair. Inside the outer pocket of my backpack, I found a couple of hair-clippy things in various colors. You know, the ones that look like curved paperclips or something. I made a note to ask Cindy …err … Charlie, what they were called. Regardless of their official designation, I used two of them to secure my hair back on either side of my head, tucking the loose strands behind my ears.

Which were pierced in three places. Holy Handgrenades! How had I not noticed that before? I couldn’t resist turning my face to each side to admire the look. The bottom hole sported a little silver, or maybe platinum, hoop. The next up was beset with a gleaming diamond stone slightly smaller than a pencil eraser. The last had a tiny silver ball about the size of a grain of rice. The whole effect, coupled with the way I’d styled my hair, made the girl looking back at me about five times hotter.

If I still had a dick, I would have probably gotten a stiffie staring at her.

“Oh-Em-Gee, Peej,” Sarah said, moving into the reflection behind me. “You’re gorgeous. Standing there staring at yourself isn’t going to make you less so.”

I turned around, unable to repress a little laugh. Twenty-four hours ago, gorgeous would have been the last thing anyone would have said in regards to my appearance. Hell, “not super hideous” would have actually been a compliment. I found myself being instantly grateful that I’d said I didn’t understand what being a pretty and popular girl was like before Cindy uttered her wish.

We left the locker room and made our way back into the main building. The hallways were mostly deserted. Gym was our last class of the day, and with the length of time I’d spent in the shower and getting dressed, most of the other students had already gone. The few stragglers we passed were either on their way to their own after-school activities. Or detention.

Sarah grabbed the handle of the cafeteria door and pulled it open. We stepped through to find the rest of the committee gathered around one of the tables on the far side of the room. Five sets of eyes turned in our direction as we crossed the freshly mopped tile floor to them.

Danny and Kyle both waved at us, but then looked at each other with a barely hid look of amusement. It took me a second, but then I realized they were probably picturing me with Lee. Ugh! Becki looked a bit put out that we were late, Phoebe was looking at the images on the camera in her hands, and Tonya just sat there with her arms crossed over her generous chest.

“Hey, guys,” Sarah said, plopping down across from Danny. “Sorry we’re late.”

I took the spot next to Phoebe, directly across from Becki. “Totally my fault,” I added.

“I hope we can get started now,” Becki said, flipping open a spiral notebook. “I was thinking that …”

Kyle cleared his throat, cutting her off. “I think Pee-Jay is the chair. Maybe we should let her start the meeting.”

Becki let out a tiny huff and put the bright pink pen in her hand down onto the open notebook. Then she turned her attention toward me.

Crap! What the hell did I know about running a committee? For that matter, what the hell did I know about Homecoming? When you’re an unpopular dork who is a constant target all day at school, you tend to avoid deliberately going places where your tormentors are. Such as football games and dances.

Sarah, bless her, swooped in to save me.

“I was telling Peej this morning that I had a couple of good ideas for themes,” she said. “Of course, she said that we should ask the rest of you about what suggestions you had first.”

I could have kissed her. On the mouth even. It wouldn’t have done much for me, but that was the level of gratitude I felt for her rushing to my rescue.

“We could do a fifties thing,” Kyle said. “You know, with poodle skirts and pompadours. We could get an old timey juke box and play era-appropriate music.”

Phoebe nodded her head in response to the suggestion, while Becki looked like that was the dumbest idea she’d ever heard. Tonya remained impassive, and Danny reached over to high-five his teammate.

As for me, I was suddenly swept up in the image of myself in a long pink skirt, a white fuzzy sweater, and my brown hair held back by a strip of pink ribbon. I had my arm linked around Lee’s, who wore a black leather jacket over a white tee, black jeans, and black loafers.

Damn, it was totally hot.

I shook my head, snapping myself back to the present. Though, the mental picture didn’t completely dissipate.

“That’s good, Kyle,” I said, watching as Sarah typed the idea into her phone. “Anyone else got a suggestion?”

Becki immediately responded. “I thought we might go with a popular theme. Perhaps a Game of Thrones style event? We could have couples taking pictures in front of a throne made of swords. Or next to a dragon’s head. Everyone could wear gowns and furs and armor.”

“Sounds more like a recipe for a Red Wedding, if you ask me,” Tonya said amusedly. “Besides, that’s a lot of extra stuff for people to buy just to wear for one night. At least with the sock-hop idea, people don’t need to stress too much about attire. Most guys have a leather jacket and jeans, and poodle skirts aren’t that expensive.”

A couple of more thematic suggestions made their way to the pile. Including: an evening of superheroes (which sounded like fun to me), Over the Rainbow (Sarah’s suggestion), and Under the Sea. That last was thrown out by Danny as he scrolled through Google on his phone. We all groaned at the cliché.

“Maybe that one would work if we got someone to get up on stage and rock out to ‘Johnny B. Goode’.” I suggested.

A few blank looks were throw my way before Danny started laughing.

“That’s from that movie, right? Back to the Future? Classic!”

I clicked my tongue in the affirmative as I gave him a pair of “finger guns”.

In the end the sock-hop idea was the final winner. Becki tossed in the suggestion that her brother and his band could probably learn enough of the right songs to fit with the theme.

“I mean, people would rather hear a live band than a juke box,” she said with absolute conviction.

“I don’t know,” I said. “The jukebox itself adds to the atmosphere.” I shrugged. “But, in the spirit of democracy, we can take a vote.”

As expected, the jukebox won. What amazed me, though, was that everyone voted in agreement with me. Which made me think about the final decision on the theme. While it had been Kyle’s idea, it didn’t seem to gain overwhelming support until I threw my weight behind it. Then everyone readily agreed that it was the best of the lot.

Even the ones who had laid their own ideas out in exquisite detail fell immediately into concurrence. For a second, I had to wonder if I’d somehow accidentally pulled a Jedi Mind Trick on them.

No, a voice in my head whispered. It because you’re popular now. Everyone wants to be on your good side. They want to be liked by you.

I almost told the voice it was full of crap, but then I realized that it might not be. A perfect example was Becki. I would have fully expected her to argue and debate for her own suggestions. However, she had readily thrown in the towel, both on her theme and her brother’s participation, the very moment I spoke out against them. Something I was pretty sure she would never have done back in a world that contained Sam Davenport. The thought made me wonder if I could make completely outrageous suggestions and get support for them.

Easy there, Penny Parker. Remember that with great power, comes great responsibility.

We spent the remaining portion of the hour dividing up the required assignments in order to get the event rolling. When I asked how much we had in the Homecoming coffers, everyone looked at me like I’d just let loose with a pants-ripping fart.

“As much as we need,” Sarah said slowly. “I mean, you know how the Raiderette Alumni fund is.”

Before I could tell her that I didn’t have a clue how it was, since I hadn’t been a Raiderette for a full day yet, Tonya sighed.

“As long as a member of the Raiderettes is in charge of a school-sanctioned event, the esteemed alumnus of former Raiderettes will ensure there is enough funding available to make the event a resounding success.” She sounded bored. Like she was reciting a history fact or something.

Sarah nodded. “So, we can go whole-hog.” She shoved her phone into her backpack and then looked at me, arching a brow.

It took me a second to catch up, but I turned to the rest of them and smiled.

“Meeting adjourned,” I said. “Next Monday, show up with, uh, what you’ve done so far. Thanks all.”

They beamed back an array of smiles, then dispersed. Sarah went over to the light switches and turned them out one by one.

“I think that was a huge success,” she said as we exited the cafeteria and strolled down the completely empty hallway to the side exit. “This year’s homecoming is going to totally rock.”

Outside, we cut across the grass to the student parking lot. There were still a number of cars present. Including Sarah’s Prius. However, there was a classic Mustang convertible, cherry red, parked in the spot next to the little hybrid.

Leaning against the passenger side of the vintage car were Chad and Lee. The two of them glanced over as Sarah and I neared. I couldn’t help but notice the way Chad elbowed Lee in the side when they spotted us.

Sarah skipped ahead, giggling when Chad picked her up in his arms and planted a dozen kisses on the side of her neck before laying a long, deep one on her mouth. I stopped a foot or so away and watched, shaking my head with a grin on my face.

Chad might have been an utter dick to Sam, but it was obvious he was gaga for Sarah.

When he finally pulled his mouth off my friends, he set her down, keeping his arm around her waist.

“Hey babe, my dad came by earlier and borrowed my car. Apparently his Audi is having transmission trouble. Think you could give me a lift home?”

She glanced at Lee for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at me.

“What about Peej?” she asked in a tone that contained zero concern. “If you ride with me, then how will she get home?”

“I don’t mind giving her a ride,” Lee said immediately. A bit of red appeared on his cheeks and he gave me a small smile before looking over at Sarah.

“I don’t know,” she said, though it was obvious that she absolutely did know. “What do you think Peejie?” she asked. “Would it be okay with you if Lee takes you home? You know, so I can rescue my poor, stranded boyfriend?”

I almost asked why Chad couldn’t have gotten a ride from Lee. I mean, after all, it wasn’t like he was actually stranded anywhere. However, it was clear the two boys had made this elaborate plan to put me and Lee together. It would have been a complete bitch move to refuse. Or even call them out about it.

“I suppose,” I said, trying to sound like I was being reluctantly agreeable. Despite the fact that the moment I thought about being inside a vehicle with Lee, my pulse had shifted into a higher revolution. “As long as Lee doesn’t mind going out of his way.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Lee said nearly a millisecond after the words left my mouth. “It would be my pleasure.”

“Great!” Sarah said. Then she practically ran around the front of her car and jumped behind the wheel. Chad flashed me a sly smile and was barely able to get in himself before my bestie jammed on the pedal. The Prius lurched forward and was soon nothing more than a pair of rapidly fading taillights.

Lee chuckled, then opened the passenger side door of the Ford. I gave him a little smile before climbing into the leather seat, putting my backpack on the floor between my feet. He closed the door and went around to the driver’s side. When he turned the key, the engine fired up with a throaty purr. Like a mountain lion.

We pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street running past the front of the school. Lee kept our speed right at the limit, as if trying to draw out the journey as long as he could.

“So, did Chad’s dad really come to take his car?” I asked, turning in the seat to look at Lee.

He nodded. “Yeah, that much is the truth.” He took his eyes off the road for a half-second to look over at me. Once again, he seemed to be embarrassed about something.

At this point, I was beginning to think that I might actually be making Lee “Touchdown” Taylor nervous. I was also starting to think that his blushing made him look even more handsome.

“I mean, I could have given him a lift,” he continued. “Coach just had us lifting this afternoon, so we were done at the same time.” He gave me another brief glance, then made a left turn through a moderately busy intersection. “He asked if I would be willing to give you a ride. So he could get a little time with Sarah.”

I shrugged. “He could have just asked to ride with us. I mean, they are a couple.”

“True. But …” he hesitated, keeping his eyes focused on the road.

“But … what?”

“I think he a little jealous. You know, of you and Sarah.”

“Jealous?” I turned a little more in my seat, so I was mostly facing him. “Jealous of what?”

“Well, you guys are always hanging out with each other. Ever since sophomore year. Pee-Jay and Sarah. It’s rare to see one without the other.”

I laughed. It came out probably a little meaner than I intended. So, Chad was worried that his girlfriend’s best friend might decide one day to be more than just a best friend. That I might decide I wanted to take a trip down to the other Raiderette’s honey pot. The laughter came from the discovery I’d made in the locker room which had cemented my sexual orientation.

“So, all the time Sarah and I spend together makes Chad nervous? What does he think, Lee? That when we have sleep overs, rather than eating popcorn and watching chick-flicks we’re getting busy with a little girl-on-girl action?”

Lee’s arm jerked, causing the Mustang to swerve a little. A VW bug in the next lane blew its horn in protest. When I stopped laughing again, his formerly pinkish cheeks were practically scarlet.

“Sorry,” I said, covering my mouth. “I couldn’t resist.” Then a shook my head. “Well, you can put your friend’s mind at ease. I love Sarah dearly, but I doubt we’ll be moving in together and getting Hers and Hers towels.”

He nodded. “He’s just being paranoid, you know. After what happened with him and Monique, I guess he’s worried about losing Sarah the same way.”

Monique Laurent. Foreign exchange student from Belgium. Rumor was, at least as it filtered down to the people in Sam’s circle, that she had presented herself as a straight girl, though it wasn’t the truth. She and Chad had dated for about three months the previous year. According to the scuttlebutt, she had cheated on him with a half dozen girls, all of them two years her junior.

Chad had apparently gone over to her house one Saturday afternoon to take Monique on a surprise date. The one to be surprised was Chad, when he supposedly walked around to the backyard to find his girlfriend in a very passionate tryst with a pair of skinny band geeks. The story claimed that the three of them were so focused on pleasuring each other that they didn’t notice the football player standing fifteen feet away with his mouth hanging open.

Monique moved back home at the end of the year, and neither she nor Chad ever revealed the identity of the other two girls.

Back when I’d first heard the tale, I’d laughed my ass off. More than once I had made the comment that he must have been a shitty lay to turn a hot girl like Monique into a lesbian. Now that I’d had a peek at a different side of the linebacker, I felt a little guilty about my joy at his cuckolding.

“So,” I said, changing the subject a little. “This attempted ruse was solely for the purpose of allowing Chad and Sarah a little alone time?”

He didn’t answer immediately. When we pulled to a stop at a red light, he shook his head.

“Not completely. It was also to provide us with a little alone time as well.”

“I see,” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral. Though I was pretty sure he could hear my beating heart over the ruh-ruh-ruh of the Mustang’s engine.

The light changed and we rolled on again. After a couple more seconds of silence, he drew in a deep breath and released it. As if psyching himself up.

“Pee-Jay? Did I … do something Saturday? Or not do something?”

I blinked, tilting my head to the side to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

He sighed. “We had a great time. At least, I thought we did. I know I did. Then we talked for, like, hours on Sunday. You sounded like you wanted to go out again.”

“Okay …” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“Then, today, you’re kind of … distant. Like you don’t really want to be around me, but you’re trying hard to not show it.”

In a million years, I never would have guessed I would do what I did. I reached out and placed my hand on his leg. Right above his knee. The contact sent another of those happy sparks flowing through me and make goosebumps form on my arms.

“Lee, I had a great time Saturday.” That had to be true, right? I might not have actually been there, but judging from the number of times he and Penny had talked on Sunday, as well as the length of the calls, if she thought he was a dud, she would have let him go to voicemail.

He smiled, then reached down to take my hand off his leg. He brought it up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

The gentle sparks turned into a full-blown blast of Force Lightning. This time, rather than goosebumps, the sensation sent a wave of pleasurable shivers rolling through me.

“Good,” he said. “Because I really like you, Pee-Jay. I want you to be happy, first and foremost. Although, a close second, I want you to be happy with me.”

Sam wanted to bend over and stick his finger down his throat at the level of saccharine in the comment. Penelope, though, found it to be sweet. I mean, it wasn’t like there were two people in my skull. I was a dude who had been magically transformed into a girl. Not a schizophrenic.

“I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to avoid you,” I said, despite it being partially true. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind today. What with Jen being gone and the Homecoming Committee stuff.”

He nodded. “I understand. I hope I didn’t come off as desperate or distrusting. Or anything with a ‘dis’ before it.”

“You’re fine,” I said, squeezing his hand. “I really like you, too.”

We continued on in silence for another few minutes before he glanced back over at me.

“Oh, how was the meeting, by the way?”

“Good. We decided on a fifties’ sock hop thing for a theme.”

“Really?” he asked, looking rather pleased. “That’s awesome.”

“You like that?”

He nodded. “Grease is one of my all-time favorite musicals.”

Wait. Lee Taylor liked musicals? That was a fact about the handsome football star that I would have never, ever guessed.

“Well, then,” I said with a grin. “Guess it’s your lucky day.”

He shook his head, then looked over at me. “It’ll only be lucky if you’ll agree to be my date for it.” He smiled, staring into my eyes. I never really noticed how deep a shade of blue they were. Like staring into a pair of sapphires. “How about it? Want to be Sandy to my Danny?”

Having never seen Grease, I wasn’t completely sure who those people were. However, it was easy enough to assume they were a couple. Which meant Lee was officially asking me to go to homecoming with him.

“Of course,” I said, knowing that would be the only answer I was going to give. “I’d really like that.”

“Awesome,” he said, sounding like he really meant it. “Thank you.”

He didn’t say much else during the last five minutes before pulling to a stop in front of my house. However, he did have a goofy, happy grin on his face that I was afraid was going to be permanent.

Before I could climb out of the car, he had jumped out of his side and jogged over to mine. He opened the door, reached inside, and took my hand to help me out. While I didn’t actually need the assist, I still smiled flirtatiously at him in gratitude.

With my backpack on my shoulder, I allowed Lee to walk me to the front door. As if we were coming to the end of an actual date, rather than just a ride home from school.

“Thanks for the lift,” I said, turning to face him. “And thanks for asking me to the dance.”

“Thanks for accepting,” he replied. His eyes held my own for a moment, then flickered down to my mouth. For a moment, I saw the conflict in his gaze. Should he kiss me. Or should he refrain.

What the frack? I quickly rose up onto my toes, grabbed the lapel of his jacket with one hand, and planted my mouth onto his. Our lips parted, but just the barest tips of our tongues touched. Two seconds later, I pulled away and dropped back down.

“Wow,” he said, blinking. “Okay. So … yeah. Wow.”

I giggled. Really. “Be safe driving home,” I said, giving him a little push toward the idling car. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He laughed and leaned down to give me a second kiss, this one a few seconds longer. Then he walked backward down the path, grinning like the cat who ate the canary.

“Bye, Pee-Jay.”

I waved and stood on the porch until he drove off before going inside.

“I’m home!” I announced as I hung my backpack on the bannister of the stairs and headed toward the kitchen.

Mom was inside, cutting up vegetables and glancing at a recipe book propped open before her. She glanced up when I came into the room, grinning widely.

“How was the meeting?”

“It was good. We got a lot of stuff planned out already. Now we just need to do the fine details.”

She nodded. However, the amused smile didn’t dim the least.

“What?” I asked, staring to feel self-conscious. Whenever she’d smiled at Sam like that, it usually meant bad news.

“That didn’t sound like Sarah’s car,” she said in a sing-song tone. “In fact, it sounded an awful lot like the car the boy you went out with on Saturday drives. What was his name again?”

Oh Jesus. Is this really happening? I thought those mother-daughter bonding things were just a bunch of television bullshit. Did moms actually have Gilmore Girl-type discussions with their female offspring? I mean, at least Klingons had to do battle before sharing their emotions.

“Lee Taylor,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Like you didn’t remember.”

“That’s right. Lee. Such a nice boy. I think even your father liked him.”

Oh god. This was getting worse by the second. Lee had met my father? Well, I guess that sort of made sense. While Roger Davenport hadn’t given much of a crap about who Sam hung out with, the man was kind of a traditionalist. Stands to reason he wouldn’t let his daughter go off with a boy he didn’t know.

Of course, a part of me suggested that I give Lee extra kudos. He’d met my father and still been willing to date me.

I rolled my eyes again. “How long until dinner? I have a little studying to do, but Charlie’s coming over for a bit.”

She stopped chopping and looked up at me. “Charlie …Mueller?”

I nodded, then noticed her expression. “Why?”

She shook her head and resumed her task. “No reason. You just haven’t had Charlie over in a while. I was under the impression you two had had a falling out or something.”

“Nope. Just, uh, different circles. I guess. Anyway, he’ll be here in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay. Want me to send him up? Or would you prefer to come down?”

“You can send him up,” I said. “I promise to be decent.”

As I climbed the stairs to my room, I wondered about the question. Mom had never asked me to come down when Cindy visited. She just sent her straight up to my room. Was it because I was a girl now? Having a guy friend coming over to hang out? Such a double standard.

I changed out of my jeans and sweater into a pair of pink sweatpants with the word “Princess” scrawled in white letters down the left leg. I also put on a fresh sports bra beneath a black tank top. If I was going to break my neck learning how to cheer, I was going to at least be comfortable.

Then I plopped down at my desk and cracked open my Brit-Lit book. I was not going to get caught fumbling to answer a question again. The poem itself wasn’t too bad, if a bit wordy and confusing. The terms of the period requiring a bit of research to decipher.

It only felt like about ten minutes when I heard a gentle knock on the door. When I turned around, Charlie was already walking into the room. He stopped before fully entering, eyes widening as he swept them across the space with a look of utter shock.

“Holy crap,” he said, finally looking at me. “It’s so … girly.”

“Well, duh,” I said, standing and pointing at my chest. “Girl now, remember?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but my room was never this … feminine. Don’t you recall the movie posters all over the place?”

Cindy had, among other things, been a huge monster movie fan. The walls of her room had been nearly covered with reprints of the marquis ads for some of the better known flicks. The Lost Boys. Phantasm. A Nightmare on Elm Street. Friday the 13th. Warlock.

It had looked more like the inner sanctum of a serial killer, rather than a ballet prima donna.

“Yeah, I remember,” I said. “Did they vanish with the … changes?”

He nodded. “Now they’re more geeky than scary. A Brief History of Time. Star Wars. 2001. The Fifth Element. Albert Einstein. Stuff like that.”

I sighed. “At least that’s semi-familiar.” I gestured at the door. “Guess we better go ahead and get this over with.”

“Oh!” He said, grinning. “I think it’s not going to be as bad as we originally thought.”

“What do you mean?” What was he going to do? Offer to dress in drag and pull off all the moves I couldn’t?

“Come with me,” he said in his best Arnold voice as he held out his hand. “If you want to live.”

I took his hand. “Say that again and I’ll show you what getting kicked in the nuts really feels like.

We went downstairs and out into the back yard. The trampoline that I had begged for when I was twelve, then subsequently abandoned to a future of neglect and rust, was gone. Guess Penny wasn’t much of a bouncer. Given the size of my chest, though, I didn’t really blame her.

“So, I think what we need to do is work on getting you familiar with the actual routines. What the moves are called, when you’re supposed to do them. That sort of thing. You probably don’t have ballet practice until Saturday, so we’ll work on the cheer stuff first.”

“Oh, sure,” I said dryly. “All I need to do is know the names and I’ll be able to master the moves. Sorry, Grasshopper, but I don’t think that’s going to fly.”

He laughed. “Grasshopper was the student, doofus. However, I like the fact that you went there. It’s a great segue into what I want to show you.”

Charlie walked a few feet away. Then he launched into a barrage of kicks, punches, and turns. At one point, he even jumped into the air and spun around a full circle before snapping his leg out into a side kick. It was like watching a nerdy Jackie Chan.

“What the frack?” I asked, still trying to process what I’d just seen. “Where did you learn that?”

“Muscle memory.”

“You’re joking.”

He shook his head. “So, I guess Charlie kind of got tired of the teasing. He’s been taking Taekwondo for almost two years now.”

“That’s good for Charlie,” I said. “But how does that translate into Cindy being able to do that stuff?”

He grinned. “I had class after school. At first, I was freaking out. I mean, Charlie’s a green belt. That’s a pretty high rank. I knew there was no way to fake it.” He shrugged. “However, once we started going through the moves, it was like … automatic. Like my body knew what to do all on its own. All I had to do was get out of its way.”

I glanced from him to the spot where he’d just demonstrated that he could probably knock a few football players on their ass with little effort.

“And you think ….”

He nodded. “So, the first test is a back handspring. That’s where you flip backwards, putting your hands down halfway through the rotation before continuing around to land on your feet.”

“Or my neck.” I mumbled.

He shook his head. “Trust me. Just don’t think about doing it. Just do it.”

I nodded, taking several deep breaths. Then, hoping I wasn’t going to be going to homecoming in a wheelchair, I leapt backward.

How to describe it? As soon as my body went into motion, it happened. The world around me rotated as my arms when up, followed by my legs. Before I could even register what was going on, my palms were slapping the grass and my hips and legs were working in tandem to increase my momentum. A moment later, I was standing on my feet again, about a yard away from where I started, with my arms raised above my head.

“I … I …” my breathing was rapid, as was my pulse. I hadn’t even really tried, and still managed to make it work. “Was that …?”

Charlie clapped. “That was textbook, Sam. I mean, perfect. Arms straight. Legs straight. You moved backward in a completely straight line. It was absolutely perfect.”

I giggled, threw my arms around him, and kissed him on his stubble-laced cheek.

“That was awesome!”

He laughed and looked down at me. “You know Kung-Fu,” he said in his best Lawrence Fishburne voice.

I nodded, taking a step back.

“Show me.”