I returned from the library at night and unlocked the door. I was a little surprised to see that Ashley and Reina were making out on the bed. It was good that I hadn't started to put my regular clothes on yet. I was a little bit impressed that Ashley had managed to seduce her already. I couldn't help but wonder how everything was working there. I couldn't help but feel a little turned on, but mostly watching, so I decided to interrupt.
"Ashley?" I asked her. Both of them blushed and got up.
"I should go." Reina said as she grabbed her sweater and put it over her tank top and went out the door.
"So…" I remarked. I didn't know how to start.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Well I do know one thing that you'll probably want to avoid while you're transitioning and that's sex." I explained. "I'm not really even that comfortable in the shower. I took more baths when I first started. It's been better since my breasts started to develop, but to say that I'm comfortable in my own skin would be a lie. I have body issues and I know it. I'll probably get over them eventually."
"Wow that was a lot of information." Ashley stated. "Do I really have to wait to have sex?"
"It won't feel like it should." I stated. "You won't be able to feel what it's like to have sex as a woman until you have all of the right parts."
"And I have none of those." She admitted.
"That doesn't mean that you never will." I replied. "If you stay with this, you will have the body that you want. It will take time though and money. There are other ways to do it, but it's much safer when you have doctors involved."
"Well it's a good thing my dad has a lot of money." She declared.
"You know you've never talked about your dad." I pointed out.
"Well he's kind of Kurt Martin." Ashley answered. At first, I thought she meant Curtis Martin, the former NFL running back…who was also black, but then I remembered the former 80s and 90s rock star.
"Your dad is a rockstar?" I questioned.
"Yeah, my mom got sick of him touring all of the time, so she divorced him." She stated. That probably explained how she and Cody could afford to go on the ship. Of course, her mother was also a Tipton employee, so that might've helped too.
The next day, I went to class. Miss Tutweiller was in the middle of the lesson. She pointed to the map.
"London, can you tell me what this is?" She asked.
"A bad manicure?" London guessed. I was pretty sure she was referring to what was under her fingers. It looked like she was pointing at the International Date Line.
"No…ew." The teacher said before she looked at her hand. "This is the International Date Line. It symbolizes the point where the days split. On the other side of it, it is tomorrow."
"Does that mean that today's homework isn't due until tomorrow?" Ashley asked.
"Did you not do your homework?" Miss Tutweiller questioned. I knew she did because I did it with her.
"Yes I did, but is it due today or tomorrow?" Ashley replied.
"It's due today." Miss Tutweiller answered. "Now, we will be crossing The International Date Line today and to celebrate it, we will be having an International Date Line Dance. It will not include line-dancing."
I was probably the only one in the room that knew how to line-dance.
After class was over, I finally got a chance to let my hair down. I wanted so bad to wear a dress to the dance, but I knew that I couldn't. I did have a suit that I could wear that I would feel weird in it. I didn't want to go to the dance as a guy. I really didn't want to go to the dance at all if I wasn't going to go as a girl, but I would because I wanted to be with friends. I was also going to support Ashley because she would probably be nervous.
"So, do you have a dress that I can wear to the dance?" Ashley asked me.
"You'll probably need to wax your arms first." I declared. She looked at me. "By that, I mean that they're sleeveless."
"You should wear a dress too." She suggested.
"I can't I…" I remarked. Suddenly, there was what sounded like an explosion I quickly put my hat before I opened the door to check out what it was. Outside, Woody was there with his hand sticking up and what appeared to be soot all over him. "Woody, what happened to you?"
"I don't know." Woody responded before he walked away.
"That was weird." I commented. "Now let's get those arms done."
Not that long after, I was helping set up the dance. The first thing that I noticed was Addison should not be allowed around sugar. She had gone pretty hyperactive. She was most likely going to crash later.
That night, I was wearing my suit with my hair pinned up and hidden under a fedora. I was pretty uncomfortable. I also learned that Ashley had asked Reina to the dance. She wore all yellow: strapless dress, shoes, and a headband. That made me even more comfortable because I didn't really like that girl.
During the dance, I was kind of miserable. I was stuck standing by the wall with Cody.
"You know these dances aren't really great for guys like us." He remarked. If only he knew. "It seems like boy or girl, my twin still gets all of the girls."
"Don't you have a girlfriend?" I asked. Ashley had mentioned her before. I couldn't remember her name other than it was something Jewish.
"Oh yeah, Barbara." He replied. "I heard you had one too."
How would he hear that? Oh, I had told Ashley that before she found out I was a girl.
"I don't actually have a girlfriend." I explained as I saw Ashley and Reina dancing together. I also noticed that Addison had fallen asleep next to Woody.
"You know what I'm going to do something." I declared. I began to walk across the floor.
"Attention, we're about to cross the International Date Line." Miss Tutweiller declared. I didn't really care and made my way towards Ashley just as Reina was walking away from her.
"May I?" I asked.
Suddenly, I found myself back in the classroom. What just happened? I was wearing the same clothes as I was earlier.
"London, can you me what this is?" Miss Tutweiller asked again.
"A bad manicure?" London repeated. What was going on?
"Why are we studying the International Date Line? We learned about this yesterday?" I questioned.
"I'm sorry if you read ahead, Bailey, but let's let everyone else catch up." She said before she went into her lecture again.
I didn't understand. We had already learned this stuff. Was I just having déjà vu? I headed back to the room and found that Ashley was already there?
"So, do you have a dress I can wear to the dance?" She asked.
"Do you have this feeling that we've done all of this stuff before?" I replied.
"Gone to a dance as a girl? No." She responded. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I just feel like all of this happened yesterday." I remarked. At that time, I heard the explosion again. I opened the door and there was Woody once again. I suddenly felt like I was the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day.
"Maybe you should let loose and go to the dance…as a girl." She declared.
"Were you going to ask Reina to the dance?" I inquired. I wondered if I could change anything.
"I was thinking about it." She stated. "Do you think that I shouldn't?"
"Well I don't really like her." I stated. "She doesn't seem like she's really supportive of you."
"She hasn't been that bad." Ashley pointed out. "Plus, I don't like to go to these things without a date."
"Well maybe I could go as your date." I suggested. If it got her not to go with Reina, I would do it.
"Were you going to wear a dress?" She countered. I couldn't help but sigh. "Then no."
"Why do you want me to wear a dress?" I inquired.
"I just want you to stop hiding your true self." She declared. "I think that you would be happier."
"I am happy." I argued. "Besides, I wouldn't even be at this school if people knew I was a girl. Have you thought about how you're going to tell your parents or at least your mom?"
She might not have the easiest time telling her dad because she might not be able to contact him.
"Well I was probably going to wait until after the dance." She said. "I'm still not sure on time zones and I don't want to call when she's sleeping."
That night, I was at the dance once again. I was once again wearing my suit. I decided that I didn't want to be a wallflower. I had some shrimp before I decided that I was going to ask Ashley to dance. It would be weird dancing with her because she was taller than me and I had never danced with someone taller than me before. Of course, I really didn't have that much experience dancing with anyone. I headed to the dancefloor.
"May I have this dance?" I asked.
"I still don't understand why you had to come like that." She remarked.
"Well I'm not ready yet." I explained as we began to move to the music together.
All of a sudden, I couldn't help but feel queasy. I felt like I was going to hurl.
"Attention, everyone, we are about to cross the International Date Line." Miss Tutweiller said right before I broke away from Ashley and spewed in the trash can.
I then found myself back in the classroom again. It seemed I was definitely in a Groundhog Day thing.
I was in a time loop somehow. I had to figure out how I was supposed to get out of it. In the movies, it usually involved doing something. Maybe I was supposed to succeed with Ashley. I was kind of jealous of her and Reina. Maybe to get out of it, I was supposed to get together with her. I just needed to do whatever I needed to do to get out of this day.
I went to the dance again. I was still in my suit. I had to redo it again because I managed to not eat the shrimp, but I didn't make sure she didn't eat the shrimp. It was very messy. Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with it for very long. We began to dance together. I really wanted to make it so she felt good. I realized that I was kind of acting like a guy, but I knew that I was still a girl, so I did not care.
"How did you learn to dance like this?" Ashley asked me.
"I've had lessons." I explained. "You know you look really beautiful in that dress. I knew that you would love it."
"I bet you would look beautiful in it as well." She replied. "You would probably look better than me even since you'd fill it out better."
"You still look beautiful." I argued. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not beautiful."
I then leaned in. I was about to have my first kiss. Our lips were about to touch.
That was when everything reset again. Damn it. So, getting together with Ashley didn't get me out of the loop. Maybe it was something else. I had to think of what it could be. I then realized that there was one thing that Ashley always said to me. Could that be it? Could the universe be telling me to go to the dance as a girl? That was a strange reason to be stuck in a time loop.
It seemed that was what I have to do. I got to the part where she asked for a dress and I suggested the same one.
"You know you should wear a dress too." She suggested.
"Okay." I agreed. "Which one should I wear?"
"Seriously?" She asked.
"Yeah, I have a feeling that I'm going to regret it if I don't." I told her. "I just need you to help me with my hair."
"I'm not really sure what to do." She stated.
"It's not that hard. I said I need you to help, not do it for me." I reiterated.
We managed to get my hair into a bun that stopped above my neck. I also wore a green lace dress with matching heels. I had only worn heels a few times, but I needed them to help make up for the height difference between Ashley and I. In agreeing to be her date, I also managed to get her to not ask Reina out.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked me.
"Just wondering how I managed to get a date with someone as amazing as you." I declared. I had a feeling that by tomorrow the secret would be out. I would deal with that when I got to tomorrow. I would just be happy to get to tomorrow.
"By the way, you shouldn't eat the shrimp." I declared. She looked at me. "I hear it's bad for your skin."
We then headed to the dancefloor and once again we began to move together. It felt amazing. I could tell that all eyes were on us.
"You know I've had some great times with girls, but none have ever been this good." She admitted. We once again leaned in to kiss…and once again, I was back in the classroom.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked in frustration. That caused everyone to look at me.
"I know you know the answer, Bailey, but let's give someone else a chance." Miss Tutweiller replied. I couldn't help but blush.
I had to figure out why I was in this time loop. I would need some help. Maybe I wasn't supposed to do something. I decided to talk to Cody about the conundrum. Maybe he would have an answer to why it was happening. I did leave some parts out, though.
"So, it seems like regardless of what I do, whenever I get to a certain point, the day resets." I explained.
"Hmm, I wonder if it has to do with crossing the International Date Line." He surmised.
"You know I thought I felt a shake before the reset." I replied. I had an idea. I was going to try to alter when we crossed the International Date Line to see if that would do anything.
That night, instead of going to the dance, I knew I had to act. I had to be there at the right moment. I had to get out of this. I had to go into the control room. I decided that it would be easiest if I went as a girl because I would be better at distracting. I flirted a little with the first mate before I pressed the button to stop the ship and ran off.
We started moving a few seconds later but it seemed that I had delayed it enough because we didn't cross the International Date Line until 10:14 instead of 10:13 like we usually had. I then got changed and headed to the dance.
"So, did you do it?" Cody asked.
"I did it." I confirmed as I saw Reina dancing with Ashley. "It looks like Reina is still dancing with Ashley."
"Oh I wouldn't worry about her." Cody replied before she saw threw up on Ashley's feet.
"What the fuck? These are my good shoes." Ashley asked before she went off to wash her feet.
"How did she get the bad shrimp?" I questioned. She didn't seem like the she wanted it before.
"I may have helped a little." He said. "You might want to tell her how you feel, though."
That would have to come later. I was just glad that I was going to get a tomorrow.
So I wrote about a popular episode of the series. Bailey and Ashley almost kissed twice, but time loops have a way of messing things up. Please don't forget to review.