Changeling - Chapter 5

I was trending A+'s in all my classes except Gym. When I asked Quinn why, she explained that Coach Sylvester never gave anything higher than an 'A' because, as long as you showed up for practice, she couldn't give you anything lower. Great. First, I get blackmailed into joining the Cheerio's and then I have my Grade Point Average lowered because of it. I seriously considered quitting but still had that pesky blackmail threat looming over me like the Sword of Damocles.

To top it off, I saw Noah kissing Santana in the hallway, both of them smiling at each other like they had something going on. It made me angry, and I didn't know why. I didn't like him, no way. Whatever he wanted to do, he could. He was just a bully and a man-whore after all. I hated myself for being angry about it.

At lunch, Sandra gave me a juicy bit of gossip about Ms. Pillsbury dating Coach Tanaka. I couldn't see it myself, but hey, what do I know?

Instead of rehearsing, we went to Carmel High School where Vocal Adrenaline was located. I had to admire Kurt's Lincoln Navigator, even though it was too big for my taste. Big men, yes. Big cars, no. There was a girl wearing a neck brace holding another girl's hair back as she threw up in the garbage can. Rachel went fangirl on the one throwing up. Supposedly her name was Andrea Cohen and she'd won Outstanding Soloist the year before at something called Absolutely Tampastic. Either it was sponsored by a tampon company, or it was held in Tampa, Florida.

Rachel ran up to ask her about Dakota Stanley. The girl, Andrea, strongly suggested we didn't hire him, calling him a monster. Not having much of a choice, we waited until their practice was over and Rachel approached him, asking him to coach us as he climbed into a red corvette with a pretty blond girl. I almost fainted when he quoted an $8000 price tag, plus $10,000 if we placed in the top 3. We discussed ways to pay for him on the drive home. Bake sales wouldn't cut it, so we decided to try a car wash slash detailing event to raise at least some of the money.

Mom and I planned out the extended family dinner for this Friday. We finally chose to do a meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, and my famous yeast rolls. After the important issue was out of the way, I explained how my day had gone, including describing Dakota Stanley but leaving out seeing Noah kissing Santana in the halls. That wasn't important. At all.

"So, this Dakota person seems like he's a bit full of himself."

"Mom, he's past arrogance and deep in the realm of hubris."

"That bad hmm?"

"Oh yeah."

"Then why hire him?"

"Well, he does get results. Plus, a lot of the other Glee members want him. And... I can kind of see their point. Mr. Schue can dance, but he can't seem to translate that skill to teach us. Sandra showed me a clip one of her friend's mom had taken of him singing and dancing with his group, the Acafellas, and they were really good!"

"Maybe it's because he's still trying to force your club into the same mold of when he was in it?"

I raised my eyebrows. I'd only been able to do the Spock eyebrow that one time and hadn't been able to repeat my success. Maybe because I lacked the motivation, or I was overthinking it.

"That's a good point, I'll have to agree with you on that."

Before I went to bed that night, I pulled Nagini out of her cage and cuddled with her. I'd tried to get Noah to start doing the right thing, but it seemed my words had fallen on deaf ears.

oooOOOooo

The only two things of interest happened in the next couple of days. One of which happened during cheerleading practice. During one of our infrequent breaks, only given because the school district required them, at least according to Coach Sylvester, one of the other cheerleaders, Faith, approached me.

"Hey Kayleigh, you know that Puck keeps checking you out, right?"

I tried to keep my face blank and adopt a nonchalant attitude.

"So? Last I saw he was sucking face with Santana in the hallways. I only want serious relationships and Noah doesn't seem the type. So let him look all he wants, I don't care."

The next thing was a meeting of the Celibacy club, Quinn being the president. Since I didn't plan on having sex anyway, I attended when Quinn offered. The first part was just us girls, mostly cheerleaders, and I was surprised to find Rachel there. They talked about things and, at one part, Quinn recited the Celibacy club mantra "It's all about the teasing and not about the pleasing!" And then everyone except Rachel and I started dancing like it was a big deal. That mantra sounded so evil, and it made me a bit queasy about how cruel it seemed.

The second part of the meeting had the boys come in and we did a little game with balloons. There was a nice-looking Latino guy headed my way until Noah cut in front of him. I wasn't happy about that, but he didn't act up. The balloon stayed between us as I rested my hands on his shoulders, and he rested his on my hips. The game was actually boring except for when Finn's balloon popped, and he claimed it had caught on his zipper.

oooOOOooo

I skipped my homework after I got home on Friday so that I could get everything ready. Paul and his family were coming over and I wanted everything to be perfect. I was excited to meet his kids, being an only child. If everything went how I'd hoped, they might actually become a part of our family and I'd have a brother and sisters! I had to multi-task to get things done on time, while my yeast rolls were rising, I started steaming the broccoli, and boiling the potatoes.

While they were going, I was preparing the meatloaf. My secret ingredient was A1 Steak sauce. Not too much, just enough to give it a little bit of a bite. As soon as mom came home, she took her shower and then took over for me so that I could take mine. I wanted to impress them, so I acted like I was actually going out on a date. I used my favorite body wash, honey and wildflower, along with my honey and shea butter shampoo and cream rinse. I blow dried my hair and then put it in a crown braid with spaghetti braids hanging down from the back running from ear to ear. A little makeup and I was set.

Mom wore a navy A line dress with a gold orchid pattern. She looked very fetching, hopefully Paul thought so too. I chose to wear a cobalt blue gypsy skirt that went to just above my knees, with a sleeveless keyhole blouse with a tie up. A pair of black leather sandals and I was set. Once again, the table was set with the good china and silverware. I'd made a couple of pitchers of lemonade and set out some fruit punch just in case they didn't like that. Mom and I had soda in the fridge just in case, but we preferred not to have it during dinner.

I was too excited to sit still, much to my mother's amusement. So, when the doorbell rang, I rushed to the front door, but had to stop to catch my breath. Several seconds went by before I felt calm enough to answer. I happily opened the door to see Paul framed in the doorway. I quickly gave him a hug and then stepped back to allow them in. Paul introduced his oldest daughter, Veronica. She wore a blouse and skirt combo that was professional, but still looked good on her. She had her dad's dark eyes and hair in which she wore in a shoulder length bob that suited her. She was almost as tall as her dad and had an hourglass figure. The only thing his youngest daughter, Kelly, shared with him was her eye color. Her long blonde hair hung down to the small of her back and made me very jealous since mine only hung down to the bottom of my shoulder blades.

Kelly's girlfriend, Ariel, was a redhead almost the same shade as mine and my mother's with pretty jade green eyes. Both wore jeans with different tee shirts. Kelly wore one that had 'Love is Love' written in lines that were colored like a rainbow. Ariel had one that said 'Sorry guys, I like taco's' also written in rainbow colors. I was like 'Oh my god! I love your shirts!' This made them smile.

The last member of my prospective new family was Daniel, he looked like he could have been a young Paul. His hair was a little wavier and his expression a little more open. When he grinned, he showed perfect teeth. He was just too cute! I hoped he wasn't a narcissist. My mom came up behind me and greeted them all with hugs, making me feel a little bad, but I didn't think I knew them enough yet to be that friendly.

Mom introduced me and I shut the door after they'd filed past, heading for the dining room. Everyone seemed to appreciate the meal when they saw the table and my mom made me blush when she told them that it was all me.

"You made all this?" Daniel asked.

"Mom helped." I said, not wanting to take all the credit.

"Sweetie, all I did was make sure it stayed warm while you took your shower."

Then she turned to Paul and said "Kayleigh was so nervous! You should have seen her running around trying to make sure everything was perfect."

I felt my cheeks heat up, and then heat up even more when I knew that being a typical red head, I had paler than normal skin. I didn't lay out and try to tan like a lot of other girls, skin cancer being a phobia of mine.

"Mother..." I semi-growled lightly, drawing out the 'r' in 'mother'.

This made everyone laugh but me. I didn't feel too embarrassed, it made everyone relaxed after all. I received compliments on the food, and, with generous helpings of seconds, I could tell it just wasn't them being polite. Veronica even joked that she was going to move in. I had discretely noticed that Kelly seemed to keep her hand under the table, and I assumed she had her hand on Ariel's thigh, but that could have been just me. Conversation flowed freely around the table, everyone adding to the content freely.

Then Paul asked me, "Kayleigh, have you thought any more on my suggestion?"

It took me a second to remember what that was and, when I remembered, I answered.

"I have. I looked it up and while I think it could be a good option, I'm more looking into something like Aerospace Engineering. I'm a geek and I'd love to be involved in getting mankind to the stars!"

"Well, I can't argue with that!" Paul said, raising his glass of lemonade in a salute.

I guess it was now a question-and-answer period because Kelly asked the next question.

"Dad told us you're trans." She stated.

Paul started to apologize to me when I held my hand up and said "It's okay. I expected you to tell them actually. You're like family and there shouldn't be any secrets with family."

My dad's infidelity had hammered that home to me. Paul looked relieved as I turned to Kelly.

"I am. I was 3 when I found out the difference between boys and girls and my mom told me of the colossal fit I threw when I found out I was a boy. I've been living as a girl since I was four."

"If you hadn't told us, we'd have never guessed." Ariel said with a slight smile.

I laughed.

"Neither did my best friend when she asked me to be her girlfriend. Then I came out as trans to her."

Their mouths dropped open in humorous surprise.

"What did she do then?" Ariel asked.

"She wanted to know if I'd still be her girlfriend." I said, grinning. Kelly and Ariel gave answering grins with the rest of them following suit, including my mom. I guess that was enough of me being in the hot seat since mom asked Ariel if she'd been named after The Little Mermaid. Ariel admitted that she had been, her mother being a huge fan of the animated movie. I found out that Veronica was in her first year of law school, Kelly was majoring in art while Ariel was majoring in music. Daniel was majoring in high school like me, he just went to Dalton Academy, an all-boys school.

He and I started talking about the music programs our schools had and he mentioned The Warblers, their music club. He didn't belong, but he told me about how good they were, sometimes holding impromptu concerts in the courtyard. My mom must have been listening to my conversation because she interrupted and mentioned my basement studio and how I would do covers for different songs and post them on MySpace. This led to me giving them a tour of said studio and even playing the piano for them as Kelly and Ariel were looking up my page.

I offered to sing a song for them, and they accepted. With at least 3 of the 4 of us being gay in one way or another, Daniel not having admitted to any orientation yet, I went with a song from my all-time favorite movie. I set up the music to play and launched into 'This is me'. I sang, they danced.

We headed back up to the living room, but before I got there, Kelly dragged me into the bathroom and shut the door. I was thoroughly confused and not a little scared. She looked at me and must have realized how on edge I was, so she held her hand palm out and said "Relax."

I didn't relax.

"Look, I just wanted to tell you that you should accept your friends offer. Just because you're trans doesn't mean that you can't be bi also."

I let my shoulders droop.

"My mom said the same thing."

She smiled and then she giggled. They stayed about another hour and a half where we all laughed and joked around, having a good time, and, well, being like a family. I wasn't naive enough to think that it would be all milk and honey, but things were looking good based on an introductory dinner, When we told them goodbye, I hugged everyone now that I was more comfortable with them.

After I closed the door and locked it, I turned to find my mom looking at me with a huge grin on her face.

"Daniel seems to like you."

Gag. "Ew mom! That's gross! I think of him like a brother, not like a boyfriend."

That appeared to shock my mom a little as she stilled and her grin dropped. I was afraid I'd said something wrong, but her question made me realize her true feelings.

"And would that be something you'd like to see in the future, Daniel as your brother?"

I grinned at her. "You know it! Mom, you deserve to be happy and Paul seems like a really great guy. His kids a great too! I really like Kelly and Ariel."

She almost seemed to collapse in relief. "I'm glad Sweetheart, because Paul's asked me to marry him and I told him I needed to wait and see how you and his kids got along first."

"Mom! Are you insane? Say 'Yes' already! You didn't have to wait on my account!"

"No, Kayleigh, I needed to know that you'd be okay with it. You are my first priority and your happiness comes before my own."

I stepped forward and gave her a hug. "You don't need to do that Mom."

She squeezed me tighter and said "Of course I do, I'm a parent, it's in the rulebook."

oooOOOooo

"Good Morning Kayleigh. Have a seat and tell me how the last couple of weeks have gone."

I sat and was quiet while I organized my thoughts. Then I explained everything that had happened to me since my last session.

"It seems to me you still have feelings for this Noah boy."

I frowned. "Yeah, disgust."

"Kayleigh, be honest."

God I was frustrated. Being honest with others is easy. Being honest with yourself is so much harder to do. Defeated, I sighed. "Yeah, I still like him, but I hate myself for it. He's still a bully even though I've heard he's not as bad as he used to be. And he's still a man-whore. I saw him playing tonsil hockey with another cheerleader in the hall last Monday. I tried talking to him to get him to change and be a better person, but it seems like he didn't listen."

"You need to understand that you can't make anyone change unless they want to. My suggestion would be to see if there's anyone else you'd like to try dating."

I've started to hate it when I blushed because I've been doing more of it since I started high school than in my entire middle school career, but I could feel myself doing it again. Of course Carla would notice.

"Kayleigh, is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"Um, well, my best friend, Sandra, asked me to be her girlfriend, you know, not just as a friend who was a girl."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"Uh, startled really, I hadn't expected something like that. The only things she'd told me before was how she'd was a virgin until she was 12 and that she'd slept with Noah and warned me how he treated her. Then I came out as trans to her and explained that I didn't have the right... equipment for what she wanted."

"And what did she say?"

"She still wanted me to be her girlfriend and that she wouldn't push... much."

"How do you feel about it now?"

I took a deep breath trying to get myself back under control from all the swirling emotions I was having. "Curious."

"You know that your gender identity doesn't have anything to do with your sexual orientation Kayleigh. You could see yourself as a girl and still be attracted to girls as well as boys."

I nodded tiredly. "My mom and Kelly said the same thing."

"Kelly?"

"My mom's boyfriend's daughter. Or, maybe fiance's daughter might be more accurate. She's gay and has a girlfriend. He asked mom but she put him off until she knew that I approved."

"Well congratulations to you and your mother. You seem pleased with the information."

"I am! She deserves some happiness and Paul is a great guy. His kids are pretty awesome too! So what do I do? About Sandra I mean. I'm not sure if I really like her, you know, in that way."

"Kayleigh, you're at that age where most teenagers tend to experiment and find out where on the sexual spectrum they fit. You've been more sure than most about your orientation, and now you've had something new added. Don't push it. If it happens, it happens. If you just kiss and find out you like it, then do what feels right, not just what feels good. That can lead to some unfortunate results. No matter what, be honest with her and yourself."

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, not really sure how to bring the subject up or even if I should.

"Was there something else on your mind Kayleigh?"

"My mom and I had a talk... about sex. Not the birds and the bees talk, but kinda more open? She ended up buying me condoms and KY. And a... a, um, a..." And I held my hands about 6 inches apart, unable to mention the name of the thing.

I swear I saw the corners of Clara's mouth turn upwards slightly.

"And how did you feel about that?"

"I love that I can talk to my mother about anything, I just never thought she'd do that! She said that, as a mother, she didn't want to think of me having sex at my age. But as both a woman and a doctor, she didn't want me to be hurt by not being... prepared."

"So you were embarrassed that she is basically enabling you to have sex when you're ready?"

"Embarrassed? No. Try mortified."

"Kayleigh, just because you have the ability to do something doesn't mean you have to do it. At least, now, you can take precautions if things progress further than you'd anticipated. Better safe than sorry."

I had to admit that was true. But I still didn't think I was ready for that level of intimacy. I began talking about Glee club and what had been going on there. Clara agreed with my mom about Mr. Schue re-living his glory days in glee through us. She also said he should be listening to us more as he seemed to be a bit out of touch with the youth he was teaching. I told her how upset I was about my grade in Gym, but she told me that being on the Cheerios was a much better feather in my cap for college than having straight 'A+'s'. That made me feel much better about it.

I left my therapy feeling better that I had in a long time. I felt more comfortable with myself as a transgender girl. Now, I no longer worried about being found out. If it happened, it happened. I wasn't going to walk up and down the school halls with a bullhorn announcing it of course, but still.

oooOOOooo

I had an overnight bag packed with my things, ready for the sleepover at Sandra's house. Her house wasn't as big as the one my mom and I had, but it was still very nice and had plenty of room. Mrs. Dietz was still very friendly and welcomed me with a hug and then Sandra and I escaped to her room.

Her room was a bit smaller than mine but decorated very similarly. Her bed was only a full as opposed to my Queen, but we'd both fit. We would just be lying very close together, which might not be a bad thing. She was obviously infatuated with Justin Bieber given the 6 different posters of him around the room. I leaned into her and whispered in her ear, gesturing at all the Bieber posters.

"I thought you said you were bi?"

She giggled and shut her door. Putting her finger to her lips for silence, she went over to one of the posters and peeled the bottom edge up, lifting it above her head. Underneath was a poster of Claudia Schiffer sitting almost sideways on a chair, nude from the waist up with her hands covering part of her boobs, wearing what appeared to be a garter belt. Okay, my best friend was bi.

We went swimming in her pool. Well, Sandra waded actually since it was one of those above ground pools and was only 4' high. It came to the top of my boobs when I stood flat footed, but we had fun anyway. Dinner was amazing. Mrs. Dietz had made beef empanadas with Spanish rice. They were so good! I asked for the recipe so that I could make them the next time Paul came over, hopefully bringing his kids again.

We sat in their living room, talking and watching Edward Scissorhands. At one point we paused the movie so that her mom could go to the bathroom, Sandra leaned over and whispered in my ear that she had a crush on Winona Ryder. I could see how she did, Winona Ryder was very pretty. She could rock the blonde hair.

I admitted to them that The Greatest Showman was my all time favorite movie and they admitted they hadn't seen it!

"You're kidding me!? That's sacrilege!" I said, mock horrified.

"Bring it over next time and we'll watch it!" Sandra suggested.

"Sounds like a plan! I will be honored to introduce you to the joys of that musical. I even used one of the songs from it for my audition pieced for Glee club."

"Really? Sandra said you're in Glee club. Could you sing it for us?"

"Yeah, Kayleigh. Sing it for us please? I haven't heard you sing yet."

I was a little startled, but Sandra was my friend and I really liked her mother so... "I guess? I've never sung it acapella before so give me a second."

I stood and mentally prepared myself. I closed my eyes as I hummed the opening bars and then opened my eyes before I launched into the song, looking at the pair as I sang. In my mind, I was on stage singing to the audience, just like in the movies, the music playing in my thoughts. I could feel my joy in music affecting my words. That's what music was supposed to do, convey emotions through sound.

When I finished, both of them were gaping at me for a few seconds before Sandra slammed into me, giving me a very tight hug. I could feel wetness on my neck. She was actually crying!

"That was absolutely beautiful Kayleigh!" Her mom exclaimed breathily, clapping lightly. Sandra simply nodded. I didn't think that my song warranted this kind of response, but I didn't mind the hug.

Later, we were laying in bed and talking about boys.

"You know that Matt has been thinking about asking you out to Homecoming."

I shook my head. "I don't know who that is."

She smiled. "He's that good looking dark skinned guy on the football team, number 17 I think."

"Ah." I said, remembering who she was talking about now. He'd waved at me a couple of times during practice, but he hadn't said anything.

"I don't know Sandra. I mean, he is rather attractive, but I have this little issue remember? I wouldn't feel right going to a dance with him if he didn't know."

"Hmmm, True. Homecoming is a time when some girls lose their V-card. Prom being the other time of course."

Yeah, unless I was invited to prom by a junior or senior, then I had a few more years before I had to worry about that. Sandra shifted a little closer to me and pressed her forehead against mine.

"Have you been thinking about what I asked you?" She asked, her eyes boring into mine. Her eyes were normally dark, but there seemed to be something brewing in them now, like a storm of some kind. It both interested me and scared me at the same time.

"Y... Yeah. I, uh, I honestly don't know if I like you that way Sandra. I am kinda curious about it, but you're my best friend and I don't want to ruin it y'know?"

"I know. I don't want to ruin our friendship either. How about we go slow and, if you feel uncomfortable or find out you don't like it, then we stop. I promise you'll still be my friend."

I was starting to breath fast and I felt a degree of anticipation I hadn't ever felt before. I was both nervous and excited as I answered.

"Um, o... okay."

"Have you ever kissed a girl before?" She asked me breathily.

I shook my head.

I was staring into her eyes, so I could only see her smile in my peripheral vision because I couldn't take my eyes off of hers. I could feel her hot breath on my face and it smelled of cinnamon, I'd say from her toothpaste, but the higher functions of my brain wasn't working at this point. She placed her hand on my cheek and it felt so warm and comforting that I couldn't help relax a little, despite my breathing starting to pick up and my heart thumping rapidly against my sternum.

She slowly closed her eyes and mine followed, knowing that her lips were moving closer to mine. My eyes were fully closed when our lips met. Hers were soft and oh so warm. The gentle pressure caused me to slowly let out a breath that I didn't remember holding through my nose. My arms went over her shoulders, holding her near me as she cupped my jaw and pushed our lips harder together. I felt my heart do flips.

She ran her tongue against my bottom lip, making me moan and gasp. Sandra was quick to take advantage and her tongue slipped into my mouth, running along mine. She tasted like cinnamon. I moaned again as she continued to kiss me, both of us breathing through our noses, not wanting to end the kiss even to breathe. Unfortunately, with how fast we both were breathing, the amount of air we could get through our noses wasn't enough and we had to separate, both of us gasping for air. I could feel a fluttering feeling in my lower stomach and I swore that, if I was actually a girl, I'd be needing a new pair of panties for the night. Sandra pulled back a little, looking deep in my eyes as I looked back into hers.

"What did you think for your first kiss?" She asked me with a hopeful look.

"Wow." I breathed. My first kiss and it had been fantastic.

"Is it this good with boys?" I asked.

"Sometimes. They're usually rougher, both their lips and how they kiss. But that's not always a bad thing." She said, her eyes alight with meaning as she smiled at me. "Would you like to kiss again?"

I nodded eagerly and her lips were on mine instantly, I opened my mouth and her tongue worked it's magic again. She shifted until her upper body was on top of me, pinning me to the mattress. Carla's voice intruded into my mind, 'Do what feels right, not what feels good.' This happened as Sandra began sliding her hand up my outer thigh. It felt great, but it didn't feel right.

I took my hand off her neck and grabbed her wrist. When Sandra pulled her lips off mine, I gasped out, "not yet."

She just nodded, moved her hand up to my shoulder, and then went back to kissing me, a bit rougher this time and I was thoroughly enjoying it. We made out for a little while longer before we fell asleep in each other's arms. As I drifted off, I could admit to myself that I was bi as well, and that I might have stronger feelings other than friendship for Sandra.

A/N: I've started trying to add x~x~x~x as a scene break and just using oooOOOooo to separate days or major scene changes. It's still a work in progress.

In the show, it seems that Glee Club meets during school hours. The school I went to, all clubs met after school, so that's how I have it set up. Unless it is an acutal music class, but it never says so during the show from what I remember. I tend to watch an episode, then write my story around that episode. I'm currently on season 1, episode 8, so it might in a later episode.