I watched as Jill and Anna descended on a brunette American girl, with them all embracing like long lost friends; which I knew they were. In the distance I saw Mr Hobson and Julia watching, with the person who appeared to be the head of the American school.

"What's going on?" asked Paula, surprised at the events unfolding in front of her eyes.

"I'm sure that Jill or Anna will introduce you in a minute," I said with a big grin on my face.

The year head moved across and year D again became somewhat less than a mob and a little more organised. Jill and Anna came rushing back and joined us, but couldn't say anything through tears of happiness.

"Hi, I'm Melissa," said a weary looking blond haired girl. "I'm the year head. I take it you're David and Helen?"

"That's right. Since the weather is nice, let's do the introductions here and then we'll show you where the common room is, so you know where to meet after your naps."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Melissa. "You looked like you expected Erika and that she knows two of yours?"

"I think its best that Jill, Anna and Erika explain," Helen said. "It would only be fair."

"That's fine with me. Do you want to introduce your year first?"

"Sure. Okay everyone from Immigration Manor. My name is Helen and the person next to me is David; together we are joint heads of year one. From the left we have Jill, Anna, Jessica, Sam, Paula, Emma, Brian and Lewis. I'll do proper introductions later when you are rested."

"There are slightly more of us," laughed Melissa. "Okay, my name is Melissa and I'm the leader of year D. In our slightly tired looking mob we have Jamie, Paul, Cassandra, Erika, Martha, Kenny, Randall, Elaine, Daphne, Phil, Wesley, Tina, Susan, Ruthanne, Michelle, Stephanie, Colleen, Monica and lastly Carolyn. It also looks that Erika already knows Jill and Anna, which is a great surprise. Would one of you three like to explain?"

"We already know most of the story," I interrupted, "And I think it might be a good idea for Erika to tell the tale to you. Jill found it very difficult when she told us, though we've only got to the start of this year."

Erika twigged what I meant as she suddenly started nodding furiously and I got a small smile of thanks for Jill. I leaned across and said quietly to Melissa, "I'd appreciate to be in this chat as it would give me a slightly different perspective to certain issues which I think we should chat about."

"Okay, why don't we meet sometime before bed? I believe you have a ten o'clock curfew like us?"

"Yes. Are you ready to be shown the school?"

"Oh yes, that's a good idea," agreed Melissa to me and then loudly pointing to me said, "Okay year D, let's follow Helen into the school."

"I'm David," I replied indignantly.

"Oops, I'm sorry. I think it must be the lack of sleep. Lead on David."

"Wow," said one of the girls from The Manor, possibly Elaine. "This looks so old. Are their ghosts and secret passages and things like that?"

"I think you're thinking of Harry Potter," giggled Helen at the girl's enthusiasm. "There may well be secret passages, but I've never found any. As for ghosts, I don't think Mr Hobson would allow having his school invaded, even by the dead."

That caused a few chuckles and giggles. When we eventually made it to our common room, we noticed that things had been re-organised slightly with more settees added. Since we'd only been in there a few hours ago, I was quite surprised how things happened when you least expected it. Sitting on one of the small tables was a box containing the PDA's for year D with a note, addressed to Helen and me, saying 'Please issue these before year D has their nap.'

"It seems you aren't getting away that easily. It seems you are to be issued with your local PDA's before nap time. Shall we start with you Melissa?"

"Fine by me," she replied. "We have PDA's at our school so I'm used to the drill."

I tapped a few buttons and registered it to Melissa and after getting her required biometrics handed it over. Each one took under a minute to do and with Helen doing half we were quickly finished.

"Before you sleep, please confirm online what you want for lunch and tea," Helen informed the guests.

"These are swell," commented Erika as she chose her food. "They seem lighter and faster than ours."

"They are the latest model," I said proudly. "They are custom built to our needs. Oh that reminds me, when you get up will one of you point out a girl from your school called Matilda."

"Oh sure. She is one neat girl. Everyone just loves her. Why do you ask?"

"I've been told that she is someone to watch out for."

There were some looks of laughter between the American's. Eventually one said, "I take it you specialise in computers. If that's the case, you're going to have a fun few months."

"One of us will point her out to you, or introduce you if you want, but first I think it's time to have this short nap."

"We'll show you where the bedrooms are, even though the PDA's would do just as good a job. You should then be able to find your way back to the common-room."

"Listen up gang, no more than two hours nap," instructed Melissa. "We want to be able to sleep tonight."

"So, what do you think?" asked Helen when we got back to the common room. All year-D were in their rooms napping.

"It should be interesting," said Paula. "Erika seemed nice, the little we saw."

"She is," said Jill. "What was even more interesting was the head of the school."

"Oh?"

"That's Erika's Dad. Now, I wonder how much he was involved with this school while he was here for a year."

"Wow, interesting," I mused, filing it away for further thought and perhaps a few choice questions to people in higher years who might have noticed him while he trained.

"So Helen and David, what else do you know about our visitors?" asked Emma as Paula pulled out the Monopoly set.

"Nothing," I said, making a grab for the iron. Last time I'd not been quick enough and ended up as the boot. Jessica stuck out her tongue at me and then laughed as she ended up with the little dog.

"So what's this about Matilda?" asked Paula as she started counting out the fifteen hundred pounds.

"Oh, well she is one of their students who seems to have a knack for not understanding what computer security is for."

"Uh?"

"She is very good in bypassing computer and other security systems. That's all I know. I've yet to meet her and have no idea who she is apart from that."

"Not even what year she's in?"

"No. Though if she has all the skills she is supposed to have, I'm sure she must be in at least year F."

We continued to speculate about the Americans as we played the game. Today luck wasn't with me and I soon was passing my mortgaged properties to Brian. Monopoly can be quite boring for people that exit the game, but not here. I joined Helen and we became a team. This game however ended up unfinished as the Americans started arriving before a conclusion was reached.

"What a weird version," said Elaine as she peered at the board. "Where is Mediterranean Avenue and Boardwalk?"

"This is the British version," explained Erika who had played both versions. "It is based on the areas of London, not New York."

"Cool, I wonder if we'll get chance to see anything of London. This trip is like nothing we've ever done before. The main concert isn't going to be here but in Moscow, so it's unclear how much of England we'll see."

"Main concert?" I enquired.

"Oh, we have a little thing later. Also there was something mentioned that we might have a little concert in London."

I glanced at Helen who raised her eyebrows. She obviously wondered if they were having a concert in London, then would some of their 'teachers' be slipping off for extra curricular activities.

"Shall we go for lunch?" I suggested looking at the clock. "After we'll show you around before you impress us with your singing."

The dining room, which had seemed vast after the expansion, now seemed perfect. We all made our way to the tables. Since there were so many per year we were split onto two tables, each with a mixture of Americans and British.

"So what's the drill?" asked Daphne. "Where do we get the food from? At our school we have a refectory where we choose the food."

"Ah, well you know that you chose your food before your had your nap? Well, when the food bell goes, a few of us go and collect the food. Since there are so many of us at the table, it will probably need to be four of us. We normally take it in turns to collect and clear. We do it for a day and then another set does it the next day."

"Sounds fair," agreed Phil in a rich Texas drawl.

My PDA suddenly warbled signalling an incoming phone call. I looked at the name shown on the screen with surprise.

"Well aren't you going to answer it?" prodded Helen.

"Hi David speaking," I said still surprised that the Kitchen would ring me.

"Sorry but we forgot to ask who was sitting at which table, so we don't know what trolley to put the plates onto."

"Ah, that would be an issue," I agreed. With Melissa's help, I relayed the names and they rung off to finish preparations.

Stacy, who was at the far end of the room, stood and all the students fell silent. The American's who didn't know who she was just followed the lead of everyone else. "I'd like to welcome everyone from Immigration Manor to Hayfield Hall. George Bernard Shaw wrote, 'England and America are two countries separated by the same language'. May our guests have a happy time with us and learn how the English language is really supposed to be spelt."

There was a little bit of giggling as Stacy sat down and all the regulars at Hayfield Hall stood and applauded the Americans.

"Can I have everyone's attention," said Mr Hobson as the applause died down. "For those that haven't yet been told, my name is Mr Hobson and I'm the headmaster at Hayfield Hall. Since Stacy very nicely quoted Shaw I think I'll do the same. He said, 'I dislike feeling at home when I'm abroad'. I hope you find things that are similar, but also different. At this school we sometimes do a Mix-up Monday. Do you have anything like that at The Manor?"

Mr Hobson's query was only met with blank faces.

"Mix-up Monday is where students dress in ways they don't normally. For instance people who normally present themselves as female will present themselves as male and ..."

"Freaky Friday!" screamed half the Americans with delight.

"I think I'm going to like you," laughed Mr Hobson. "You're a lot less reserved than my usual audience. Okay, so this will be like at home but it will be done tomorrow which, in Hayfield Hall style. Anybody that is normally androgynous will be male in the morning and female after lunch. Any questions? Excellent."

'Oh crap,' I thought to myself. I'm back to being Jayne when I hoped to avoid being Jayne in front of the Americans. Heck, I'd even tried to be slightly more masculine without going over the top like during the training but Melissa had still got it wrong.

As Mr Hobson sat down the meal bell rang. Helen and I took Melissa and Jamie out to the kitchens to retrieve the trolley. We then served things out in a professional manner much to the Americans amusement.

"All you need is a waiter's outfit," said one of them. I didn't see who and I'd yet to get everyone's accents down to their names and faces.

"Hey, we like to do things with style," defended Helen. "It didn't faze us when we ate at a top class restaurant on our last school trip."

"True," mussed Melissa. "I suppose it has something going for it. Only trouble is, I never can decide what to eat until I've seen it. So deciding up front is going to be something totally different."

"Ah, then you'll be okay with the buffet breakfast," I added, trying to stop things developing into an argument.

"You mean no English breakfast of death?"

"Uh?"

"The Traditional English breakfast."

"Ah, they cook it very nicely so it isn't too fatty," I said. "Also you have to order it via the PDA and the system then stops you having other things high in fat or cholesterol later; maintaining a balanced diet."

"Have you been digesting the parenting book?"

"David often talks like that," laughed Helen. "It's one of the things I love about him."

The meal went smoothly and gradually the two schools started to build an understanding about each other. The gentle banter of earlier continued and I began to see that although the Americans sense of humour was very different, it was also very gentle. At no time did they make fun of us and we reciprocated.

"So which girl is Matilda?" I reminded Melissa.

"Ah yes. Well see the small girl on the Year B table that has just stood up? That's Matilda."

"You have to be kidding?" I said looking at the girl. "She looks about eight."

"Don't underestimate her," warned Jamie. "She might look small, but is very bright. She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her hands, but she has probably gotten into more trouble than anyone else in the school."

"What?"

"Are you thinking about the Sydney trip?" giggled Daphne.

"That's probably the worst I'm aware of," laughed Jamie.

"What did she do?" asked Helen, intrigued at the thought of what a sweet, innocent looking girl could do

"Lets just say she rearranged the sleeping arrangements," said Melissa.

"Uh?"

"Look, let's wait till we can exchange gossip when we are all together and not split on two tables."

"Okay," I said reluctantly, still thinking what she could have done.

After lunch, Immigration Manor took over the school chapel to prepare for the concert they would give later. The small rehearsal was to get used to the acoustics and set anything that was needed. After tea, the chapel was full of Hayfield Hall students and the Americans came in from the sides wearing matching evening gowns and evening suits. They looked very professional. Over the next few hours they delighted us with their vocal skills, as they took us on a journey from early European choral music, to modern tunes.

As they finished, the applause they got showed just a fraction of our appreciation. As musicians, we all understood how much work had gone into their practice and development of their fine voices and ears.

"Thank you for listening," said Roberta their conductor. "You have been a wonderful audience and I can't wait to rehearse with us all together, where we can create an even better performance."

As we filed out, I saw Stacy and quickly moved to intercept her.

"Hi David," she said as she saw me deliberately move across the room. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," I said slowing down, so there was a gap between us at the end and the rapidly departing audience. "Did you hear that The Manor is doing a concert in London next week?"

"No, I hadn't heard. I suppose it isn't unexpected, but it's still very interesting. I was going to organise a meeting between the American and British beta's, but I think I'll delay that till after their concert. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problems," I said. "I've not really had chance to ask, but how are things going since the operation?"

"It couldn't be better," she said, her happy smile so genuine. "I can't begin to describe what it's like. I don't think I'd feel any happier if I'd been reborn. Living fulltime as a girl helped me fit in more with everyone around. I was treated and accepted just like I was a genetic female. However there was something still missing, I didn't have the body I needed. Andy couldn't do what I wanted him to do to me."

"Ahem," I coughed in mock jest at the idea of her having sex. Oh the school might have huffed about it, but it happened. You couldn't be that close to your soul mate and not give into the desires. Stacy just smiled and gave me a wink.

"I have a favour to ask," Stacy said, her face becoming serious.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind being Jayne for the trip to Russia?"

"WHAT!"

"Hush. Just think about it and discuss it with Helen. It is much easier if you are the same sex for the trip. I just thought you would find it more pleasant being Jayne than having Helen and you be full male."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm not doing anything. I'm just showing you the options."

"What about me going as I am?"

"I suppose you could do, but that might draw undue attention to yourself. Take our new arrivals. Have you been mistaken for a girl yet?"

"Yes," I said feeling a mixture of shame, embarrassment and upset.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," reassured Stacy. "You are you and be proud of it. There are no problems you being yourself, but I just thought that the consequences of that were something you might think about."

"I don't want to be a girl," I said for the thousandth time.

"I'm not asking you to have a sex-change. I'm just suggesting that you might melt more into the background."

"You're not forcing me?"

"No, why should I? I just want you to be happy. I'm worried that you might be unhappy if you couldn't sleep with Helen. I know how upset you were while you were separated the other week."

"Oh. You've given me quite a bit to think about. When is the trip going to be announced?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know, so that you can be dressed as you want to go."

"Thanks. I better get back to the common room. Oh, was Erika's Dad here last year?"

Stacy gave me a sharp look and then a little smile. "He was around, but not that most people would have seen and it is probably best not discussed. Think of the reaction when you went fishing for information about Mr Taylor."

"Ah, I understand. Thanks."

By the time I'd got to the common room the room had been rearranged for the chat about Erika, Jill and Anna.

"Just in time," said Helen waving me to sit at the other side of the large settee. There was Helen, Jill, Anna and Me, so we could comfort them if needed. Erika was also sandwiched between her partner and Melissa.

"So Erika, tell us how you know Jill and Anna," prompted Melissa.

"Before my Dad took over as principle at Immigration Manor, he was asked to be UK head of a company. Jill and Anna's dad's both worked for the same company. I went to the same school as Jill and Anna."

"Is that it?"

Erika looked at Jill, not wanting to say any more without permission. Jill smiled and said, "Yes there is more, but Erika was unsure if I wanted to reveal things. Erika, do you trust them?"

"With my life."

"When Erika first knew me, my name was Bill," Jill said, looking round at others reactions.

"Hey, I used to be called Martin," said Martha. "It isn't a big deal."

"There is a lot more. My Dad works at this school," continued Jill.

"Not that sports teacher?" guessed Colleen.

"What, Mr Yates?" Anna laughed. "No way. Look, there is a little story behind Jill's transition and being here. Some of it is a bit difficult for Jill, so that's why we're like this."

"I suppose it's best to start with just before Christmas last year," pondered Erika.

"Jill, are you sure you want to go through this again?" said Paula, remembering the events of a few months ago.

"Rachel says I need to talk about it and that I bottled things up too much. I don't want to repress this like I used to."

"Well in England they have this funny play called a Pantomime," started Erika. "The pantomime Dame is a female part played by a male. He is often done up to look ridiculous and often gets a good laugh. Poor Bill got tricked into playing the part. He asked Anna and me for help in learning how to act as a female."

The story on how Bill became Jill unravelled, just as it had when Jill had told us soon after we'd joined the school and when she told us about her mother dying. She told it with so much feeling that half the room was near tears, with some actually shedding a few drops.

"Do you want to stop?" I asked Jill after she told us about her mother dying.

"No," said Jill, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I need to continue."

"If you need to stop then say so," I insisted, discreetly sending a message to Rachel on my PDA, outlining the situation and asking for a curfew extension.

"I take it your dad is Julia, the computer studies teacher?" asked Melissa

"Yes, but when Mum died, I didn't realise that Julia and my Dad were the same person. As Mum was dying, she was trying to tell us both to tell each other, but we were both frightened of each other's reaction.

"I often think back to what Mum taught me and look to see things that she suggested as being for the best, even if I didn't think so at the time. When Mum and Dad were together, I had the best parents in the world and then Mum died and it was never the same. As I tried to give up the Jill part of me, Dad lost his soul mate and part of his spirit died. Even while they were split, they cared so much for each other. The way Mum instantly dropped everything to help when Julia had been assaulted; there was never any thought of not going, or not helping."

"Jill, why don't you close your eyes and tell us what happened after your mum had died?" suggested Helen.

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