Just like the previous day, they went for lunch again, and Arianne treated again. They then went around again and showed Val more of the sites, with Val sitting in her wheelchair and the five girls taking turns pushing. They spent a lot of time hanging around Tin Can Beach, but mostly just talking and munching some food from one of the food trucks. They had some hot pretzels, with Rose getting a disposable boat dish full of poutine. Val tried it and liked it a lot, so Rose swapped her poutine with Val’s pretzels. Val protested but Rose insisted: she put a French fry with gravy and cheese in Val’s mouth and kissed her sisterly on the lips for good measure. Everyone laughed and Val let Rose have her pretzels.

“It’s been real fun here,” Val said, “I feel real bad that I have to go back to Chicago.”

“Except for the operation, of course,” Jazz joked.

“Oh! Yes! Except for the operation!”

Everyone laughed.

“We are feeling just as bad,” Ashanti said. “We are so pleased to have met and gotten to know you, mukundwa Val. It would be so nice if you could go to school here as well with us.”

“Thank you so much, Ashanti.”

“We love you, <>i>petite amie.,” Arianne said. “Can you not stay here?”

Val was teary-eyed. “I can’t. Dr. Penny said I have to finish out my junior year at Delos High. But she did say I could transfer here for my fourth year.”

“That would be so wonderful!” Momo said.

“You know, Val,” Rose said, “I don’t believe it.”

“What don’t you believe, Rose?” Val said.

“I don’t believe you were ever a guy. I think you’ve always been a girl. Maybe not in your body, but in your heart. So I’m glad that Dr. Penny was able to fix you so that your body now matches the real you.”

“Thank you, Rosie,” Val whispered.

“Was it bad?” Ashanti asked, gently. “The operation?”

“Not at all,” Val said. “I didn’t feel anything. It’s like I didn’t have an operation.” She giggled because she didn’t lie that time.

“Maybe just a little bit?” Jazz said. “We saw how you were walking…”

Val shrugged.

“Well,” Arianne said, “let us not talk about that for the rest of the day. Let us talk about more pleasant things. D’accord?”

“I’m with Arianne,” Jazz said.

The rest of the day was just as mellow. They considered going to the Riverbay Festival concert – it was the festival’s last day, after all. But Momo nixed that idea because of Val’s condition. Besides, Momo said, the rumor that ABBA was going to be at the Festival was a total lie – ABBA themselves confirmed that they were never invited to the festival.

From then on, everyone made fun of Momo for being an ABBA fan. Val defended Momo, saying, so what? “Besides,” she said, “I love ABBA, too!”

Everyone gave her a very big, wet, and loud razzberry, and everyone, including Val, laughed.

They agreed to go back to the dorm, and sang ABBA songs all the way back to Troy House. They were not in tune at all but they didn’t care. All that can really be said about their singing was that it was loud…

On the way back, Dr. Penny texted Val, and asked where they were. Val said they were about five minutes away, and Dr. Penny asked them to pass by her office.

Momo had apparently taken full responsibility for Val’s wheelchair, and after Val got down, she awkwardly walked to where Momo had her chair. Momo then pushed Val into the school, with everyone walking around her. It was already seven, but there were still some kids around – some having late dinner while some coming from the library.

As they walked inside, they passed a lot of people. With the six of them, all of them pretty good-looking (which was saying something, especially for an Endowment school), everyone couldn’t help but notice them. However, the lion’s share of the attention was on Val.

Val rationalized this with the fact that she was a new face and that she was in a wheelchair. The other girls were far more good-looking than her, after all. But as they were passing a bunch of kids, she overheard one of the boys asking Rose, “Hey, Rose – who’s the hottie in the wheelchair?”

- - - - -

Arianne and Jazz volunteered to bring up Val’s backpack and wheelie to her dorm room, and the rest of them went on to Dr. Penny’s office. Dr. Penny and Maia were there waiting.

“Hey, girls,” Dr. Penny said. She leaned down to Val and hugged her. “Everyone here?”

“Jazz and Arianne are upstairs in Val’s room,” Ashanti said. “They are dropping off Val’s things. They will be here in a minute.”

Val stood and moved awkwardly to sit on the end of Dr. Penny’s office sofa.

“You feeling okay, Val?” Rose asked.

“I’m okay. Just wanted to sit somewhere else. That wheelchair can get uncomfortable after a while.”

“No problem. Okay. Let’s wait for them, then. That way, I won’t be repeating myself.”

Sure enough, the two were back in less than five minutes.

“Okay. Now that we’re all here - everyone find a seat.”

Momo sat on the sofa right beside Val on the seat while Rose sat to the left of Momo. Arianne sat on the wheelchair and moved it beside Val. Ashanti perched on the arm of the sofa beside Rose and behind Arianne in the wheelchair, and Jazz sat on the floor just in front of Val.

Maia looked at the two armchairs but everyone insisted on the sofa, and crowding around Val. She and Dr. Penny looked at each other.

“Well…” Dr. Penny said, “Let’s get started.

“Girls, thank you for keeping Val company the past few days. Val’s finally got her operations, and she’s totally okay. The operations were fairly straightforward and simple, and it only took only a few hours. She’s fine and on the way to a full recovery. In a couple of days, she’ll be back to one hundred percent.”

“Yay!” everyone cheered.

“We do have some news that we’re sure you’ll all be interested in. Next year, Val will be transferring over here…. Well? I was hoping for more of a reaction than that!”

Arianne looked at them. ”Oui? Dites-nous quelque chose que nous ne savons pas.”

“What did you say, Arianne?” Maia asked.

Momo cleared her throat, somewhat embarrassed. “Ari-chan said that Vale-chan told us that already.”

“Okay… Well, other than that we’ll be asking you for a big favor, on behalf of Val.”

Except for Val, all the girls were looking at her intensely. Val looked a trifle embarrassed.

“Yes, Dr. Maia?” Ashanti said. She put a hand on Val’s shoulder.

“Girls!” Maia said. “Don’t look so worried! It’s nothing bad. But our school psychiatrist said that it would help Val adjust to her new gender identity if her old gender and name weren’t mentioned anymore. It’ll go a long way in preventing any gender dysmorphic tendencies. Val also agrees. She thinks that it’ll help her a lot.

“So what does that mean? It means you don’t tell anyone about it – to your classmates, your teachers, your friends, your family, and especially to Val herself. And you refer to her as Faye Valentine, or Val – never Val Edward. All the time. There are no problems with the rest of the school. It was also lucky the staff at Archimedes don’t know anything – because of their straightforwardness and simplicity Dr. Castellanos and I were able to do Val’s operations on our own without assistance. So all that the people over there know is that Val had to have an operation, and that’s about it. They also know Val as Kaye Valentine and no one else. So… Val?”

Val nodded. “Yeah… Dr. Maia’s right. I’m not Val Edward anymore. I’m Faye Valentine now. Can you help me be Faye Valentine?” And she burst out crying.

And the girls crowded around Val for a hugfest.

Dr. Penny and Maia looked at each other.

- - - - -

Dr. Penny had bid the girls good night, and when they had all gone, Maia looked at Dr. Penny.

“What do you think of that?” Maia asked.

“What do you mean,” Dr. Penny said.

“Don’t you see how Val is now?”

“What do you mean?” She repeated, not understanding it completely.

“The reaction of the staff to Val this morning, and the girls just now. The solicitous, almost-fawning friendliness. And I just bet, if you asked Val, she’d say she’s not doing anything to make them act like that. How about you? Did you have that kind of thing when you were stabilizing?”

“My own magnetism is my own, not from my transformation,” Dr. Penny said haughtily. Maia looked at her and, after a beat, she gave her a big, wet razzberry. They laughed.

No, Penny,” Maia said after getting herself back together. “I’m being serious. Did you?”

Dr. Penny shrugged. “Not really, Maia. Aside from my, ummm, babeliciousness, I don’t think I have any aura. Although it’s easy to get people to do what I want. But it’s more because of my… babeliciousness…”

“You are so full of yourself.”

Dr. Penny shrugged. “Sorry, Maia,” she grinned. “People are looking for a sexy blonde. I just act the part when I want to get my way. Don’t you do it, too, after you stabilized?”

“Well, yeah. You have to use what’s available, you know. We women still have to work against stereotypes, so you do what you can. But again, my own Kodikos map was Metis, who was more known for being smart and clever. Unlike the goddess of looove!” Maia giggled.

Dr. Penny grabbed Maia around the waist. “You’re selling yourself short again,” she said. “You are one of the most babelicious people around, my love.” Dr. Penny said and kissed her.

“Don’t get me distracted, my love,” Maia said. “What I’m saying, Penny, is that Val doesn’t need to do anything. She just… is…”

Penny looked at her. “Do you think she is the second coming of the gods?”

“I don’t know, Penny. But, in any case, until she’s stabilized and she’s used to things, we have to keep her status hidden. That war-freak ‘Hercules’ might find her, and who knows what he’ll do if that happens.”

“That’s what we’re doing, right? Aside from getting her stabilized and getting her used to her new self…”

Maia nodded.

At the moment, the subject of their discussion was at one of the cafeterias having dinner with her new friends, and doing nothing more complicated than being a teenage girl.

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read my old Family Girl Blogs, click here to read ALL of my blogs, click here to read my stories here in BCTS, click here to leave me a Private Message, and click here to see my profile & know more about me