Chapter 5 - Awkwardness

Walking down the hall in school can serve any number of purposes: instilling fear, seeking adulation or simply trying to get from educational point 'A' to educational point 'B'. Then there's the kind of walking currently being employed by two cute freshman girls: stroll and flirt.

The dark-haired girl passes by a group of geeks, their eyes practically bulging from their heads in a cartoonish fashion. She flips her long hair at them. The smell of her berries and cream shampoo causes the boys to swoon.

Following her friend's example, the brown-haired lass flutters her eyes at a grouping of jocks. Among them is Pat, who eyes her with great hunger. She turns back around, her hair flying down her back.

She leans over to the dark-haired girl. "You're right, Trixie. This is a lot of fun."

"I told you, Tiffany." Trixie exhales. "It's so nice to have someone to do this with."

"Wait." In her euphoria, Tiffany forgot a significant part of her friend's life. "I thought you had someone to do things with."

A nervous twitch tugs at the rich girl's lips. "Let's keep walking."

And so they do, passing by more interested onlookers. Two of them stand at an open locker. One of them carries a bunch of books. The other stands shocked.

"Those girls looked at us. Those girls looked at us!"

"Calm down. It's not like they saw you kill someone."

"But girls never look at us." The boy puts his hand to his mouth and grabs his compatriot with the other. "Oh, man. Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Not since you had the braces removed. Chester, you really need to tell me how you couldn't afford a house, but you could afford braces."

"A.J., what does that have to do with anything?"

The bald boy rolls his eyes as he backs into his locker door, closing it. His hands are a little full at the moment.

Another boy grabs a book from his locker as the girls walk past. Tiffany blows a kiss at him and winks.

The boy slams his locker door. Virgil doesn't look too happy.

XxXxXxXxX

It had been an eventful slumber party for Trixie and Tiffany. Raiding the (in this case, not unimpressive) fridge, watching movies, pillow fighting (which the rich girl managed to win) and gossiping.

"Wow. She really said that?" Tiffany had little, if any, interest in the goings-on of others, but in this context, she didn't mind too much.

"Yeah, and the whole cheerleading squad was behind her." Trixie erupted in laughter. Strangely, it's the kind of laughter that comes not from mockery, but from being truly happy about something.

"Whoa, that must've really hurt."

The dark-haired girl wipes a tear from her eye. "Oh, it's so nice to share this stuff with you."

"Yeah." Tiffany rocks back a little. "Wait."

"What is it?"

"I thought you had someone to do this stuff with."

Trixie clears her throat. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah. What about Veronica?"

The rich girl gets up from the bed and runs. This time, tears of sadness fall down her face. Tiffany follows her into the bathroom.

XxXxXxXxX

The raven-haired girl splashes her face with water. Behind her in the doorway is Tiffany.

"Trixie, I…I'm sorry if I upset you." She reaches her hand out for comfort, but retracts it.

Trixie looks up from the sink into the mirror. As she can see Tiffany's reflection in the mirror, she doesn't turn around.

"Veronica and her family went on vacation. We promised that we'd always keep in touch, no matter what. It's been a week and I haven't heard anything from her. I know she wouldn't just blow me off like this. I'm afraid she might be…" Her legs buckle. She grabs the sink to keep from falling. Tiffany rushes to her.

"I'm sorry, Trixie. I didn't know." The tone in her voice is one of melancholy, like she genuinely didn't know of the predicament.

The brown-haired girl wraps her arms around Trixie. Her eyes close as she rocks her friend. To her surprise, the girl caresses Tiffany's hands. Her whimpering gives way to happy moans.

Tiffany's eyes bolt open. She isn't quite sure how to react. For years, she (or, more appropriately, the guy she once was) had a yen for the girl. He'd try some nutty scheme to worm his way into her heart, but to no avail. Many times, he had longed for the moment when he'd hold her in his arms. Of course, he was a 'he' at the time.

As weirded out as he was at the prospect of being caressed by the girl of his dreams while he was a girl himself, he knew he had to do something to lift her spirits.

"Um, Trixie?"

"Yes, Tiffany?"

"What do you say that we, uh… get back to the bedroom.? We can talk about other stuff."

Trixie exhales. Tiffany reaches over and turns her around. She grabs a bit of toilet paper from the roller and dabs it on the rich girl. A smile slowly forms on Trixie's face.

"Thank you, Tiffany. I guess it's kind of silly for me to worry. She has to be okay, somewhere, right?"

"That's the spirit." Tiffany helps Trixie to her feet.

XxXxXxXxX

The two of them are back on Trixie's bed.

Tiffany rubs the girl's arm. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much, yes."

"Good." The rich girl regarded her friend with a warm look, one that Tiffany missed.

"Trixie? Do you find any of the boys at school cute?" As she, deep down, still had a thing for Trixie, Tiffany sounded a little unsure.

"Hmmm…I don't know. Some of them are, but they're too immature for me."

"Well, have you ever kissed a boy?"

"A couple of times. Felt kind of nice. So?

"So what?"

"Have you ever kissed a boy?"

Tiffany sticks her tongue out. "Eeeww! No!"

A giggle from the Asian girl. "It doesn't sound too appealing to you, does it?"

"Not at all." A head shake drives the point home.

Trixie bites her lip. "Then…maybe you'd prefer…kissing a girl?"

Tiffany shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah. That'd be better." The girl finally notices Trixie crawling toward her.

"Better?" Trixie's voice is barely above a whisper. She moves closer and closer to the confused girl. Her lips meet Tiffany's.

The brown-haired girl has never felt so elated…or so unnerved. Her eyes widen to plates as Trixie lies down, her arm around Tiffany.

"G'night, Tiff'ny." The rich girl fell asleep, grasping Tiffany as if she were a stuffed animal. The girl tried to loose herself from Trixie's grip, but it was too strong.

She exhales and closes her eyes. It'd take an act of God to get out of this.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaugh!"

Tiffany sits up in the bed. She looks down at her lower half hidden under the covers. With all the blood on the sheets, one would think that the girl was shot.

"Good morning, Tiffany. What's--?" Trixie gawks at the pool on her bed. "Oh…my…God."

"What? What's wrong?" This is clearly a frightening situation for the brown-haired girl.

"You've gotten your period." There is surprising awe in the dark-haired girl's voice.

"My what!"

"You're becoming a woman."

Tiffany's mouth hangs open. She was not prepared for this.

"I had mine a few months ago. Hurt like crap when I went through it, too." The rich girl hops off of the bed. "Don't worry. I've got some pads in my bathroom."

The girl sits on the bed. She looks up, searching the corners of her mind. After a few moments, a memory replays…

She and Virgil are walking through the park.

"Is there anything I need to know about being a woman?"

"Not much."

That last part echoes. A scowl forms on her pretty face. Tiffany turns slightly and notices the phone on a night table. The soiled sheets around her waist, she inches her way across the bed. She picks up the receiver and dials.

"Pick up the phone, you son of a bi…"

A click. "Hello."

"Good morning."

"Timmy?"

"No. It's Marie Antionette. Of course, it's Timmy!" She cups her hand over the mouthpiece.

"Is there something with which you can be helped?"

"Do you remember a conversation that took place a couple of days ago? One where I asked you if there was anything I had to know about being a woman?"

"I think so, yes."

"Well, you left out one little detail: getting a period!"

"I was sure you knew about this."

"I didn't, and I just had mine, thank you very much!"

"Well, as long as you're prepared for what happens to your body, you'll get through this."

"Yeah. I guess that…wait. You knew about this and you never told me!"

Nothing from Virgil's end. "I had figured that we'd have gotten switched back before having to worry about this, but someone felt that they wanted to try it out for a while."

"News flash: I'm the one tangled in the bloody sheets. Show some respect!"

"I do respect you. I really do. But…"

"But…what!" Tiffany's teeth are gritted.

"You did want the experience of being a girl. This happens to be one of those…bumps on the way."

"Bumps?" The girl stands up onto the bed. "Bumps! I want you to listen to me and listen good. I don't care if you're a boy or a girl. Don't you ever - ever - talk to me again, okay?"

"But, Ti--"

"No. Not another word. The two of us…done. You don't get to be near me again."

"Fine!" It almost sounded like the boy was crying before he hung up.

Tiffany hung up the phone. "Okay, I got them."

"Oh. Thanks. Sorry about your sheets, you know, with the…"

"Don't worry. These'll be taken care of." She notices the receiver slightly out of its cradle. "Who was that?"

"Who was who?"

"On the phone. Just now."

Tiffany waves her hand. "Oh. It was just some…nobody."