The days passed by in a blur. Days turned into weeks and soon the weeks turned into months.

"So, Mac, when are you going to tell Sally?" Duo asked a few months later.

"I don't know. I was kind of hoping you'd do it for me." Mac said. Duo shook his head.

"Nope, sorry sis. Can't do that." he said.

"I didn't think so." Mac said. She got up off of Duo's chair in his room. "I'll see ya later, Duo. I want to go finish my free time with Sam. He's been trying to get me to go in the pool, but you know, with my predicament, I can't exactly do that. Also, it's fun to turn him down." Mac said. She winked at Duo as she left his room. He shook his head.

"What a sister." he said. Mac headed down the hall and went into the poolroom.

"Where's Wufei?" she asked Sam.

"He isn't here right now." Sam said. "Will you come in the pool now?"

"No." she said. Sam shrugged and went over with the other guys. Mac laid her head back and closed her eyes. She felt a presence behind her and was about to peek open an eye, when her chair was shoved in the water. She went under and came up sputtering.

"WHAT THE HELL?" she yelled. She looked up. Joe was standing there, smirking. She stood fully up to take him on, when his face vaulted. He looked at her in astonishment.

Everyone else had gathered around to see what was going to happen and they were gaping in astonishment too. Mac looked around to see what they were staring at, and saw Joe looking below her face.

She blushed and remembered. They were all looking at her chest. She got out and grabbed a towel and walked out, running right into Wufei.

"Mac! What are you doing?" he asked. She mumbled sorry and brushed past him. Her shirt and shorts were clinging to her body. She heard footsteps behind her. She didn't turn around, just sped up. She went for the nearest exit.

She walked out into the cold winter night air. She just kept walking, not stopping. She didn't know where she was walking until she came to a halt in the hangar. She climbed up into a loft and sat there warming up. The door opened.

"Wow." Sam said.

"Are you surprised?" Mac asked.

"Kind of, but I guess I knew." he replied.

"How?" she asked.

"I don't know. The way you act is kind of girlish and the way you walk is not exactly the way boys walk. You kind of swing you hips, but you don't.I don't know.what's the old-fashioned word? Swagger." Sam said.

"Oh." Mac said. They sat there in silence for a while before Duo came in.

"Sam, can I have a few minutes alone with her?" Duo asked. Sam nodded and got up and walked out. Duo looked at her. "I love saying this, I told you so."

Mac made a face at him. "It's not like I meant for it to happen."

"That's what I was telling you before. But, no! We have to be a big girl and not listen to our older, smarter brother! We have to do everything ourselves." Duo said.

"Word gets around fast, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was in the office when Wufei came in sputtering and mad about some girl and me and it's all my fault." Duo said.

Mac winced. "Are you going to be in trouble?"

"No, I'm going to deny it all." Duo said.

"No you're not. You never lie." Mac teased.

"I know, but I'm not going to take the rap for you. You're going to tell Sally everything and you're not going to blame it on me or Heero or Milli or Noin. It's all your idea." Duo said.

"Oh, gee, thanks. I really appreciate it." Mac said, dryly.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you chose the hard way. If you don't tell Sally, I will. You don't want me to. If I have to, I'm going to make your life with me a living hell." Duo threatened.

"Don't worry. I'm going to tell her." Mac promised. Duo smiled.

"I know." he said. "Now, let's go tell her."

"Can't we wait until morning?" Mac asked as Duo pulled her out of the chair and back to the main building.

"Nope. You're going to do this tonight." Duo said firmly. Mac groaned.

Duo walked into the office and shoved Mac in front of him. He mocked saluted to Sally and walked out the door.

"So, Mac. Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Sally asked.

"Well, Duo said if I don't tell you tonight, then he's going to do it and then he's going to make my life a living hell." Mac said. Then she launched into her explanation.

When she finished, she took a deep breath. She looked at Sally expectantly.

"Well, what can I say?" Sally said. "I have to punish you-"

Mac didn't let her finish. "Oh, please Ms. Sally!" she pleaded. "Don't expel me! If you do, I have two options. They are live with Duo, which means that I would live in hell. I don't know how, but that's the way he said that my life would be. Or, I could live with Milli and Noin again. I know they backed me up on this, but still, Milli wasn't happy about me going as a boy in the first place and he won't let me forget it! Noin tried to get me to tell you before because she and Milli knew that I had one of those, 'always backfires' plans, and they tried to get me to come clean. They said that it's better to get kicked out because I'm a girl, than get kicked out because something happened and my plan blew up in my face. So, please, oh please don't expel me!" Mac looked at Sally with pleading eyes.

Sally had to bite back a laugh. "Looks as if the whole world is against you right now." she told Mac. Mac nodded. "Well," Sally sighed. "I won't expel you. And, I wasn't going to. However, I will suspend you." Mac's face fell. "I need to." Sally explained. "I need to show that people can't just go and break the rules at my school."

Mac nodded. "I understand. How long?" she asked. Sally was busy writing a note to Milliardo.

"A week." Sally said, not looking up. Mac tried not to look surprised. Mac nodded and thanked Sally and turned to leave. "Mac," Sally said. Mac turned around. "Do you want to tell Milliardo, or should I?"

"You." Mac said impulsively. "And, Ms. Sally?"

"Hm?"

"Could you tell him that my visual phone is "out of order"?" Mac asked. Sally smiled.

"Sure. I probably wouldn't want to talk to him right away either." Sally said. Mac smiled weakly and walked out the door. She was walking down the hallway towards her room when Sam came up to her.

"Hey. How was it?" he asked. Mac shrugged, trying to fight back tears.

"I'm suspended for a week." Mac answered. Sam whistled.

"Now, wait a minute." he said. "I thought your sponsor was behind you on this. I didn't think they would be mad."

"They won't be mad that I masqueraded. They'll be mad that I didn't tell Sally right away. They wanted me to live it clean and straight up." Mac said.

"I still don't understand." Sam said. "Okay, they let you come here, and pretend that you were a boy, right?" Mac nodded. "And then, you told Duo, and he wasn't mad right?" Mac nodded. "Then, they all told you to confess and you didn't, right?" Mac nodded again. "So they wanted you to get here, and immediately tell Sally so that she could kick you out?"

"They all believed that she would have understand and let me stay." Mac said.

"So why didn't they just let you come as a girl?" Sam asked.

"The people wouldn't have even let me sign up then. So, they agreed to me pretending to be a boy until I got in, then I had to 'fess up." Mac said. Sam nodded.

"I see. It makes sense now." Sam said. "Listen, I got to go, but I'll see ya later." Mac nodded and Sam walked away. Mac walked up to her door, and then just rest her head on it. She was about to open it when someone stepped up behind her.

"I don't want to talk right now, Duo." Mac said, without turning around.

"You don't have to." A non-Duo voice said. Mac whirled around. Joe stood there sneering.

"Now is really not the time to pick on me." Mac told him.

"That's what makes it even more fun," he said. Mac glared at him. "So, now we have a double negative." he said to her. "You are a kid and a girl. Even worse. Go home, baby. You'll never keep up with the big boys." Mac's fists clenched.

"Wanna bet?" she asked.

"Sure." he challenged. He lunged at her and she merely stepped aside. She smiled as he crashed into the wall.

He got back up and looked at her, eyes flashing. He swung at her and she ducked. This sort of thing went on for a few more minutes.

"Listen here, girly. You aren't fit to be here. We all know that you didn't even pass the test, but that you got in because Duo's your brother." Joe said. 'Focus. Focus Mac.' Mac thought. 'Don't let him get you angry.'

"How ironic." Joe said. "You pretend that you're a boy, and your brother pretends that he's a girl. What's wrong with your family?"

Now, it was getting hard to control her temper. She was trying not to get mad, but Joe was making fun of her family.

"Were your parents druggies or something? Oh, wait, that's right! Your parents didn't want two scrawny little brats so they left you at an orphanage." Joe exclaimed.

Mac was sure she was going to blow up. Joe sneer grew when he realized that he had successfully struck a nerve.

"That was low." she growled. While Joe was basking in his glory, Mac rammed into his solar plexus. He backed up, gasping for breath.

Mac didn't give him time to recover. She wanted this over; she didn't want to drag it out. She struck him on the soft spot right below his neck. He dropped unconscious. Mac brushed off her hands and unlocked her door and went in.

She saw that Sally had obviously already contacted Milliardo because she hadn't turned her computer off yet and Milliardo had tried to contact her. Mac opened the email that Milliardo had sent her.

I told you so! Those plans always backfire and you wouldn't listen! Even DUO told you that! But, NO! You couldn't believe the people who were older and wiser! NO, you had to do it yourself! Well, congrats young lady! You got yourself suspended. I know that your phone is working; you just don't want to talk to me yet. Well, you're not going to be able to avoid it when you come home.

Hi honey. This is Noin. I kicked Milliardo off the computer because he was practically breaking the keys. We'll see you tomorrow.

Milliardo and Noin

Mac sighed and finished packing a few things for home that she needed. She fell on her bed and did something that she only let herself do a few days a year. She cried.