Chapter 2
Hotdog Surprise
Talim walked home from school alone. Amy and Raphael travelled together, so that was out. It was a little sad for Talim, but she tried to be optimistic.
"Maybe Ivy will cool down. Maybe Raph will break up with her." She thought.
Once she reached her house, Talim was greeted by her mother, Lidi.
"Welcome home! How was your first day of school?" She said.
"It was okay. I made a friend. Her name's Amy." Talim said.
"Oh! That's good. You could use a friend or two."
Talim didn't have a lot of friends in middle school. By the end of 8th grade, all of them had either moved or were going to a different high school.
"Well, your father's cooking dinner and should be done in an hour. Go do your homework and be ready by the time he's done." Lidi said.
"Yes, Mom." Talim replied.
Talim wasn't one to disobey her parents. Back when she was a small child, she was very unruly. Her parents disciplined her by making her hold weights for hours on end. If she dropped them, they'd spank her. Some might say that this was torture, but Talim was out of control. She'd antagonize other children, scream things at the top of her lungs, and embarrass her parents with her behavior. The final straw was when she wanted to see her grandmother fall down the stairs by placing sticks of butter at the top. …It was a time that she didn't like to think about.
Talim entered her room and was greeted by her squawking bird, Alun.
"Hey. You hungry?" Talim said.
She gave Alun some birdseed and sat down with her bookbag. She thought about changing her shirt, but didn't.
"What's the point? I'm not going out again today." She thought.
She worked at her homework for a while. Alun watched as she did the standard first day of school homework: filling out emergency cards, reading textbook introductions, studying basics, lab safety notes… She eventually got to the last assignment of the day, packing her gym clothes.
"Okay… It shouldn't be too hard. R… Right?"
She grabbed an old trick-or-treat bag that she used to use for Halloween when she was younger. It was big enough to stuff a spare t-shirt, gym shorts, and deodorant into it. She was still nervous. She turned to her pet.
"Oh Alun, what if they find out? What will they say?"
Alun didn't answer. Talim knew that he couldn't talk or understand her, but she liked to think it could. It made her feel like someone was listening to her.
"Do you think they'll accept me? Or maybe I can keep it a secret? Oh lord, I hope I can." She said.
Talim heard her mom from the kitchen.
"Dinner's done."
\/V\/VA/\A/\
The next day, Talim decided to sit alone at lunch, in an attempt to avoid Ivy and Raphael. She saw them sit down a few tables away from her, but seemed to disregard her otherwise. Two other girls sat down with them. They were Ivy's friends, the Alexandra twins, Cassandra and Sophitia. Raphael groaned when they sat next to him.
"Ivy, can we sit somewhere else?" He said.
Cassandra stopped him.
"No, stick around. We have just the juiciest story about…"
Talim couldn't listen to all of it. She started to eat her lunch. Amy sat down with her.
"…There's only four to a table and my brother's surrounded in sluts." Amy said.
"Who, those girls?" Talim said, looking at Cassandra and Sophitia.
Amy nodded.
"You know the rumors about them, right?" Amy said.
She moved in close to whisper to Talim.
"Over the summer, word is that Sophitia got pregnant."
"Oh! Wow. I couldn't have a kid, not yet anyway." Talim said.
"She didn't have anything. She got rid of it." Amy said.
Talim shuddered. She didn't want to think about how that felt.
"Oh, and Cassandra? Word is that she dyked out with Mina a couple of weeks ago."
"Who's Mina?" Talim said.
"Just another one of Ivy's bitchy friends. You'll know her when you see her." Amy said.
She sighed.
"You know, for being the 'cool' girls, they aren't all that cool." Amy continued.
"Well, being cool isn't everything." Talim said.
That's what she told herself anyway. Deep down, Talim wanted to have lots of friends and be surrounded in people who would support her, pay attention to her, and notice her.
Talim and Amy continued to eat their lunches together until they heard loud laughter coming from the other table. It was Ivy. She was looking to Cassandra and Sophitia while they were staring at her. Ivy said some words that Talim couldn't hear before all three of them laughed.
"Oh lord. She's saying nasty things about me, isn't she?" Talim thought.
She tried to ignore them.
"So, how's your class going? Did the history teacher give you that presentation?" Talim said.
Amy nodded.
"I'm going to do mine on the history of Poland. It looks fun. I'm…"
Ivy's table erupted into laugher again. Amy frowned.
"Bunch of fucking hyenas." She grumbled.
The rest of the day went as Talim expected. Homework was collected. Homework was assigned. Classes came and went. Then, she reached her gym class. Talim stared at the locker room entrance and tried not to get nervous.
"Okay. We'll just wait." She thought.
Talim waited for everyone else to go in so that she could change last, when no one else was around. She even waited for a few other students to walk out before going in. The locker room itself was fairly clean, though that was because it was still the beginning of the year. Later on, it would have an eternal scent of body odor and deodorant and perfume that poorly masked the stench. It looked like most of the other students were already finishing up.
"Right. This shouldn't be too hard." Talim thought.
She walked into a corner where no one would notice her. She moved quickly, slipping out of her normal clothes as fast as she could. As she opened up her Halloween bag to get her gym clothes, she heard someone behind her.
"Hey, Talim."
It was Amy. Talim didn't want to face her. The bulge in her underwear, the place where her extra anatomy could be noticed, would be in clear view.
"What do you think of my jersey? Cute?" Amy said.
Talim tried not to face her and began to slip her first leg into her gym shorts on.
"Just a second." She said.
Talim fumbled around, nervous from the thought of her secret being discovered. She tried to slip her other leg into her gym shorts, but was careless.
"Crap!" She thought.
Talim had tried to put both legs into the same hole. She couldn't keep her balance for long and fell down onto the floor.
"Need help?" Amy grabbed Talim's hand and helped her to her feet. That was when Amy noticed it, the bulge. Talim finished slipping the gym shorts on, hoping that Amy wouldn't notice. She tried to move on.
"Your jersey is cute, Amy." Talim said.
Her friend was silent. She was still staring at Talim's gym shorts, not sure if what she saw was real or if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
"Let's go. Gym class awaits!" Talim said.
Putting on her usual cheerful demeanor didn't do anything. Amy was still freaked out. She thought about saying something about it, but didn't.
"Yeah. Off to gym class." Amy said.