A/N: For those of you reading, this chapter is where our main character starts to...interact more with the world she finds herself in. We're having a lot of fun with this story. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Special thanks always to Ellie without who I would not enjoy this as much or get this far. This chapter has one of my favourite scenes in it. Can you guess which one it is?

Chapter Three

"What do you think of the name Kate?"

Robin looked surprised as I sat across from her at lunch.

"What?" She asked. "Kate?"

"I'm thinking of changing my name. Or well, actually just going by my middle name. Sort of. You think I look like a Kate?"

"Why do you want to change your name?" She asked, looking at me like I had asked her for drugs.

I shrugged. "It'd be a stage name. You know, like Cher or Madonna. Those aren't their real names."

"So not Kate Thompson?"

"I guess," I said, "but I just like Kate." The truth was unexplainable. I couldn't tell her that Kate was the closest to my actual name and that I really wanted it because it felt like it took me forever to react when someone called Tammy's name.

"I think Tammy would be more of a stage name, right?"

I took a bite of my sandwich and tried to look like I was considering it. "Maybe but it's too close to Tiffany, and besides it isn't really a stage name if it's just my real name."

"That's true. Plus, it's a common enough name that it would resonate with people more. Like Tiffany."

"Exactly!" I smiled wide. Robin smiled back slowly. "So, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Not much, I mean, it's mostly soccer and band. My parents went kind of strict when the Byers kid and the girl in our class went missing, especially when only the kid came back and no one still knows what happened to the other girl."

I couldn't stop my response. "What?"

"Don't you remember? It was like...just last year. It was all over the news."

A cold feeling crept up the back of my neck. This wasn't right. Kids go missing, it was a fact, especially with the increase in news about serial killers over the last couple decades. But the town had monsters….

"Right!" I quickly realised that Robin was staring at me concerned by my lack of reaction, and possibly the fear on my face if I didn't hide it well. "My parents flipped out too. I was driven everywhere for my extracurriculars." I had no idea if that was true but it seemed like something Tammy's parents would do. They seemed like good people. "Crazy right?"

By the time we had finished lunch, we had found more common ground: music.

"Okay, but I'm just saying that the next time Queen comes around, I'm going to be front row." She looked amused at my passion. I knew she didn't understand though. Freddie Mercury died in the late 80s or was it the early 90s? and I had a chance to see him in this world. I would find a way to make it happen.

"You'd have a better chance making it front row for Prince. He's touring nearby in November. I heard it on the radio this morning."

"Prince?!" I hadn't even thought of Prince but he had passed away too. That would be awesome.

"Tammy!"

I felt myself jump at the sudden loud call of her name. My heart pounded. The thought of monsters did not do my nerves any favours. I turned to see Ally standing next to me. "Hey!"

"I've been calling you for like ever. Can we talk?"

"Sure," I smiled at Robin and turned towards Ally. "What's up?"

She looked confused before shaking her head. "I meant without an audience."

I nodded and told Robin I'd see her later. I packed up the containers and followed Ally out of the cafeteria. She was clearly unhappy with something and I figured it had to do with our last conversation. This one was likely to be just as interesting but I had to be careful. Ally had known Tammy forever.

We finally stopped once we were in the gym on the bleachers that were set up. She sat down and looked at me.

"What is your damage?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" I was tempted to walk away, but I sat down next to her.

"I don't get you. We're finally seniors and suddenly you're totally rude to me and Cindy. You changed all the classes that we chose together, and now you're talking to band nerds? Like, what is happening?"

She looked genuinely upset and I realised how hard this likely was for her. It was very easy to forget everyone else who was affected by this.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I guess I've been wrapped up in myself. I just, I realised there's so much I'm not ready for. I'm just trying to learn everything that I can that will help me. As for Robin," I said, emphasizing her name because come on, she was a person. "She's cool. There aren't many people who notice that someone's not okay and come after them."

"Oh my god," she drawled out. "Is this because of the freak out you had in English?"

"No," I said. I was tired of this already because it felt like she wasn't listening. "Look, I'm sorry senior year isn't what you're expecting, but it's still early. We're still friends, but there's nothing wrong with finding new ones."

"But she's in band!"

"So? What's wrong with band?"

Ally stared at me like she had never seen me before. "What's wrong with...who are you?"

I felt myself freeze. She knew. She knew and oh my god, what could I say? My chest and throat tightened and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. "What?"

"Whatever!" she said, standing up suddenly. "Whenever you decide you want to be my friend again, one who doesn't hang out with losers, you can call me."

She stormed off.

What a bitch. I tried counting slowly, breathing in and out to calm myself down. She didn't know. She was just reacting in anger. Things were changing, far more than she realised. The sound of a whistle echoed through the gym.

"Thompson!" I looked up at the sound of my name. One of the gym teachers was staring at me. "Get to class!" There was something about gym teachers and the way they yelled your name that got one running faster than anything else.

"Look! It's the butch who's back!"

I looked over at the boy who called out at my appearance in shop class. It was the same kid who asked me if I was in the wrong place last time. He was hitting one of his friends as they laughed. I already had a headache. I was in no mood to put up with this. "Oh good," I called back. "It's jerk class. I was hoping I wasn't late for the lecture on how to overcompensate for the lack of one's sexual prowess."

The laughter slowly stopped as they looked at each other. I rolled my eyes and sat in the same seat I sat in last time.

"That should occupy them for some time," I muttered. I heard Jonathan laugh softly.

"No need to be a bitch, Thompson, just because you're not getting any," the same guy from before called over again.

I looked over the machine in front of me. "Guess that explains your personality."

"I can squeeze you into my schedule, babe, if you want an attitude adjustment. Who knows, maybe getting laid will make you feel like a girl again."

I felt my mouth drop open at the comment. Wow. Considering how often he was trying to harass me in this class, it seemed like he was trying hard to be seen, to be noticed by somebody. I aimed for the jugular.

"I'm sorry," I said, in the bitchiest voice I could manage, "but do I even know you?"

"What?" He looked shocked. In fact, everyone was looking surprised.

"Do I know you?" I repeated slowly. "Like, why are you talking to me? Do you honestly think that I would be looking to some boy who is so obviously trying to hide his insecurities, for, what, a good time? I doubt you could even get a girl off, let alone spend an hour with you."

"I have a girlfriend!" he snapped.

"Give her my sympathies," I said dryly. God, he had a girlfriend and yet was still trying to proposition me.

"Listen you little bitch-"

"That's enough!" Mr. Caldwell walked in at the perfect time. "Get to work."

I sent the boy a fake smile and waved, ignoring how he gave me the finger, and got to work.

There was something soothing in measuring, cutting and building something. My first task was a magnetic knife rack. It wasn't much, but it was meant to just get me familiar with the tools. That fact that I was certain I was smiling as I was using tools and possibly looking a little more threatening than they were used to was just icing on the cake.

"I don't think I've ever heard someone talk to Tommy like that," Jonathan said quietly.

"That explains a lot."

"You know he's going to retaliate, right?"

I looked at Jonathan. He seemed sincere, but I had put up with enough vicious boys when I was in high school and more manipulative men when I was considered an adult. I barely put up with it then and I certainly wasn't going to put up with it now. "My mother always told me," I said, in the primmest tone I had, "that a lady should never start a fight. She damn well finishes it though."

My last period for the day was Gym. I had avoided it the week before because I was gone the day it was in Tammy's schedule. Now I had no choice. When I was in high school, the first time around, I had hated gym class. I felt uncoordinated and I hated running. As I grew older I saw the merits in it. My mother had once tried to convince me to run a 5k with her but I preferred group classes and personal training. I had taken a variety of classes trying to find one that I enjoyed enough to want to take for longer than a few weeks. Fitness classes with adults was nothing like PE with teenagers.

"Alright! Let's start with laps!" The teacher motioned for us to start and slowly, with more than a few complaints, everyone did.

I started off slowly. I had gotten used to Tammy's body when it came to walking but running felt weird. I was used to far more weight I had to essentially carry, and my chest was large enough that it needed to be strapped in tight so it didn't hurt when I ran. Tammy was smaller than me in some ways like chest size, but she was also taller and leaner. I had to catch myself a few times from falling forward because I overbalanced.

Moving at a speed faster than walking was proving difficult. Just when I thought I got the hang of it, like correcting my overbalancing, something else would happen like tripping over my feet. It was getting frustrating.

"Thompson!" I looked up to see the teacher waving me over. I ran up to her and waited. It was nice to realised I could still breathe easier. "What dance classes are you taking now that's messing up your running?"

I stared at her. Tammy took dance? "Nothing out of the ordinary," I said. "Why?"

"You look like a newborn foal with the way you're running," her tone was dry.

"I've been sick," it was the only response I could think of.

"With?"

I tried to think quickly of something that would mess up a person's balance. "Ear infection. It's getting better." It was the only thing I could think of.

"See that it does."

I went back to running. Tammy took dance. It made sense if I thought about it. She would need more skills if she went into show business. The only problem was that I couldn't go to her dance classes. They'd probably be advanced and I had no idea what I was doing. Not unless I considered how people danced for fun as a technique. They'd know something was up immediately. I had to figure out a way out of it.

When I left the gym, people were staring. I admittedly looked over my shoulder more than once in case something was trying to creep up on me. The thought of monsters lurking in the shadows stayed in the back of my head, like a warning sign that was flashing that I couldn't really make out. I was almost out the door when, surprisingly, Ally came up to me.

"Tammy! Did you or did you not totally eviscerate Tommy H.?"

"Nice word choice," I said before I could stop myself. "Is that the guy from shop?"

She stared at me like she had never seen me before. "Of course I mean the guy from shop! How can you not know who I'm talking about?"

I shrugged. "I don't know; I just didn't really think about it."

"But you did, right? Like Bobby told Sue who told Michael who told me that you tore him apart with words. That you said you didn't even know him!"

"Well, I don't," I prayed I was right, that Tommy and I hadn't actually interacted outside of the times him and Tammy would have been forced to in school. "Not really."

"Get out! You bitch!" she started laughing. "I can't believe you!"

It hadn't occurred to me that I have caused that much of a scandal. "He was being a dick," I said.

"Of course he was. It's Tommy!"

"Well, I'm tired of it. That's no excuse." I pulled my bag up from my shoulder. "I'm not going to ignore his shitty behaviour just because he feels like he's entitled to it. If someone acts problematic, you call them on it. It's that simple."

Apparently, it wasn't. She just stopped and stared at me. I shrugged. "See you later." I left her in that hallway. I was already anticipating a headache tomorrow if this was how fast the rumours were travelling. Didn't people have anything better to do?

I sat at the table across from Tammy's mother. She was talking about some woman she ran into at the supermarket. And something about a coupon. I wasn't fully listening. I felt like I couldn't get comfortable even just sitting in the chair. My body felt weird. It had been off since I struggled to get through gym without embarrassing myself, or Tammy rather, too terribly. I had managed to put it out of my head, thinking of ways to get out of dance and then facing Ally and the rumours about me. Now it felt like it was starting to consume me.

My arms didn't feel like they were mine. Logically, I knew they weren't, but they moved the way I wanted them too and I could feel with them. It just felt weird. Like they were prosthetics, not actually real but something that was attached to me regardless. I didn't like it.

"Tammy, you're slouching."

I pushed the food around my plate. I didn't really feel like eating. Not when I didn't feel like me.

"Tammy!"

I jolted at her mother's tone, her voice cutting through my thoughts. I blinked at her. "Yeah?"

"You're slouching!" she said. "You're going to damage your back. Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into you lately." A 28-year-old woman, I thought to myself. I couldn't say that though, for a multitude of reasons.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, looking concerned. "You're not eating."

"Sorry, I just...I'm not that hungry." I needed to work on my performance. I was getting used to being Tammy that it felt like I was starting to slip. It had only been a week or so. This wasn't good. I needed to find a way home. Somehow. "I think I'll just go to bed, if that's okay."

Tammy's parents looked at each other and her mother finally nodded. I left the room quietly and as I got to the stairs I could hear them talking.

"Something is going on, Sam. She's not herself," her mother said.

"She's a teenager," Tammy's father, who was apparently called Sam, replied. "It was bound to happen eventually."

"I know; it just feels like I'm starting to lose my little girl."

I had to stop myself from bursting into tears as I walked up the stairs. How could I tell her that unless I could figure out a way to switch back, she was right?

[tbc]