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~* New Beginnings *~ “Oh don’t give me that look. You’ve never spoiled Jen and Ally, and you know it. Don’t get me wrong though; it’s not that I’m too proud to accept a gift or anything, but…” I trailed off. She frowned. “But what?” “Mom and Margie are both worried that we’re taking things too fast. We’re only fifteen, you know?” “What are you saying, that you don’t want to go out with me anymore?” she asked nervously.

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“Widen your stance a little, Robin, and loosen your knees,” Josh instructed: Josh being the sixteen-year-old senior-student at Alpine Springs’ Kenpo Karate dojo. He also happened to be Jennifer’s dashing knight in shining armor. A lot’s happened since camp. I still thought he looked older than sixteen.

“Like this?” I asked as I tried to awkwardly bend my knees, eliciting a laugh from him.

“Almost. Here, watch me.” I watched as he fell into a loose, natural stance like he’d been doing it his whole life. What a show-off! At least Allison wasn’t here to watch me make a complete fool of myself.

She had another meeting with Doctor Ketz, the therapist who helped me come to grips with who I really am inside, and not the body I was born with. Jennifer and Nicole, on the other hand, were more than happy to sit o the sidelines for this. At the moment though they thankfully stepped outside to get me a bottled water.

“Robin?” Josh waved his hand in front of my face, causing me to blink several times. “What’s up? You’re a space case today.”

“I’m sorry Josh,” I said softly. “It’s just I’m so nervous about school starting in a couple of weeks. You know: new girl, new school, new life…” New breasts; I mean, they weren’t huge, but they were finally starting to develop at least. Josh had no idea that before coming to Alpine Springs I had been pretending to be ‘Robert’. All he knew was that Nicole and I were close, and that looking out for me meant bonus points with her, plus he really was a nice guy, and fun to hang out with.

Since it was just the two of us trying to catch me up on the basics, the dojo’s owner, Sensei Ashton Rogers allowed us to use a small, semi-private room normally used for storage.

Josh shot me a friendly smile as he responded, “Hey, it’s cool. We can pick up here later if you want. Just remember Sensei wants you to master the basics before he officially takes you as a student. No pressure,” he added with a teasing grin.

“Gee, that helps so much,” I shot back sarcastically as I laughed. I again fell into the fighting stance he tried to show me earlier.

“Better. Okay, now hold that stance while I get the pads. We’re going to see how high you can kick.”

I hadn’t noticed Nicole and Jennifer’s return, instead focusing on ‘holding that stance’, which was a lot harder than it sounded. Nicole, sporting a cute too-tight black top and jeans with just a touch of my favorite shade (on her at least) of plum lipstick strolled up and wrapped her arms around me from behind, offering me the unopened water.

“You look so hot in that outfit,” she commented on my simple, white karate gi while kissing my cheek. I giggled and opened the bottle, guzzling a few quick gulps. I handed it back to her as I turned to wrap her in a quick hug in gratitude.

“Thanks. I actually like the black one Josh wears, but there’s probably some symbolism to the color that I’m not getting.”

“Well, there kind of is,” Josh spoke up behind me, causing me to absolutely squeal as I spun back around. He grinned, laughing to himself as he held up the two foot long pad, setting it aside.

“You’re still jumpy. Don’t worry; Sensei Rogers will help you with that when you’re ready. As for the black gi, in our dojo at least, it represents a higher level of knowledge and training. The white represents purity and respect for the Master, and only instructors are allowed to wear mixed colors like black bottoms with a white robe or vicie versie” Visie versie? Josh had already been hanging around Nicole too long.

“Very good, Josh,” an older male voice spoke from the door. I looked over to see Sensei Rogers smiling at us. He had a strong jaw and slightly messy, medium length brown hair, but yet somehow I felt safe in his presence.

We both turned to bow respectfully, as Josh spoke up, “Sensei Rogers, I was just about to test Robin’s range of motion.” He motioned to the heavy black pad resting at his feet.

“Carry on. I just stopped in to watch.” He grinned, causing Josh to return a nervous smile. I hadn’t seen the poor guy this uneasy since we first met him at the party supply store back before the luau. It was kind of cute, in a goofy, boyish way.

Josh picked up the pad and strapped it to his arm, holding it up above my head: not a difficult task at my meager five feet four inches. Josh towered over me like a lot of boys. At least Nicole didn’t have too much height on me. “All right, Robin. Whenever you throw a kick…”

Sensei, Jennifer, and Nicole looked on as I followed Josh’s instructions. I took my stance and lifted my leg as hard as I could. Unfortunately I put just a little too much pepper behind it and soon found myself flying backwards. I landed squarely on my posterior on the martial arts mat, groaning. Josh laughed quietly as he offered me his hand, and for my part, I gave him a good-natured raspberry as I pulled myself up.

“Don’t worry; nobody gets it on the first try.”

Throughout the next ten minutes of practice, I couldn’t help increasingly noticing Sensei’s stare; I couldn’t decide if he was watching me or Josh, or both. It did make me a little nervous, but I pressed on anyway. Finally, Josh tossed the practice pad aside and bowed to me. Caught off-guard by the sudden expression, I clumsily bowed in return.

“Nice job. Now, the last thing I want to show you is how to deal with someone who tries to grab you. This isn’t a Kenpo throw, but as Sensei says, sometimes you have to climb a tree to see the rest of the forest.”

I blinked at him then turned to Sensei Rogers, hoping for an explanation. “Um… Sorry, I’m not up on my ancient proverbs. What does that mean?”

“Admitting we know nothing is the first step on the path to enlightenment.” Sensei responded enigmatically, adding, “As to your question, it means that just because you study in one style, doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to only learning that one style. It’s best to keep your study simple, but there will be times, especially at school, where you’ll need to defend yourself without hurting someone.

“May I?” He nodded toward Josh, as though he’d refuse. Josh quickly hopped back off the mat, and Sensei stepped forward. He bowed to me, and I to him.

“Now, hit me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hit me, and don’t hold back. Don’t flinch or cower. Come at me with all you have.”

“Okay…” I responded nervously. I ran forward and tried to hit him with a clumsy, closed-fisted punch. Before I even have time to blink, I found myself staring at the ceiling. The funny thing is it didn’t hurt. I’d swear I thought I felt him lower me to the ground in that split second. He offered his hand, which I gladly accepted.

“That was amazing!” I gushed. “How did you do that? I mean, I didn’t even feel it!”

He chuckled. “That was a simple defensive takedown. Here, stand over there and watch. Josh, you’re up!”

I stood with the other girls and watched as Josh rushed in trying to throw an open-palmed strike to Sensei’s midsection. To his credit, he had a lot more agility and accuracy than my pathetic attempt, but he still wound up flat on his backside, causing us to giggle quietly.

Sensei pulled him to his feet, calling me over again. This time, they repeated the maneuver in slow-motion, instructing me on how to plant my feet and how to use my opponent’s momentum against him while bracing the impact, as what he referred to as a ‘tactical scare’.

“If your opponent believes you can take them down so easily, they will think twice about pursuing further violence. Remember, the trick is not to get into this situation in the first place, but if you HAVE to protect yourself, use as little force as is necessary to get out of the situation and find help. Martial Arts when practiced properly ARE an art and a matter of self-preservation, first: always.”

“Yes sir,” I offered respectfully. A few more rounds of learning to put Josh on his butt from different angles of approach, including him ‘attacking’ me from behind, and Sensei dismissed us.

“Robin,” Sensei Rogers called as I gathered my duffle bag with my change of clothes in it. I looked up and smiled.

“Yes sir?”

“Please, call me Sensei. I’ve decided to accept you as a student. I don’t like to teach too many at once because it diminishes the value for each of you, but you strike me as someone with the determination to go far.”

“Yes Sensei,” I offered, grinning cheerfully as I picked up the purple duffle bag and approached him, bowing.

“Dismissed. I’ll see you next week. However, if you should find time before then to spar with Josh, I would do so. The hottest fire produces the purest steel.” For an American, he really reminded me of the old man from those Karate movies with the runty kid.

A few minutes later, Nicole ran up and caught me in a warm hug as I left the women’s restroom after changing into my street clothes: a pale yellow top and white shorts. Jennifer and Josh strolled up a few seconds later.

“Robin, thanks so much for letting Josh help you,” Jennifer said warmly. Josh shot her a nervous glance, causing me to chuckle.

“Um, you’re welcome, but really I welcomed the lesson. And the fact that when you laugh at me for falling on my butt, I know you don’t mean anything by it,” I teased with a wink.

He chuckled, “No, really, you’ve been a big help. The only way Sensei will let me test for my next belt is if I could demonstrate that I could teach someone else. Alpine Springs isn’t exactly New Haven though, so new students who’ll actually stick with it more than a day are hard to come by. I owe you one.”

“Watch my back at school and we’ll call it even?” I bargained. I was only half-joking.
“You’ve got it. But by the time school starts you hopefully won’t need me anyway… Even if you do kick like a girl,” he teased, causing Jennifer to elbow his side. “Ow! Sorry! It was a joke!” She grinned, leaning up to kiss his cheek as Nicole and I giggled.

Josh offered to give us a ride home, which we happily accepted. The sun still rested high in the sky, and the clock on Josh’s dad’s car radio declared it only 5:21, so rather than drive straight home we stopped off at a drive-through for dinner. Of course I phoned home to let Margie and Mom know we’d be a little late, and offered to get them something as a peace offering. They both politely declined, though we did get a vanilla milkshake for Allison, who would be home from New Haven by the time we arrived.

Sure enough, as we pulled into the driveway, we could hear familiar strains of electric guitar from the Jones’ open garage. Nicole and I stepped out, while Josh and Jennifer waved their goodbyes, so the two of us walked across the yard hand-in-hand. Allison seemed so absolutely focused on her electric guitar, her head bent down slightly as fingers danced across the frets that she didn’t even hear us approach.

Nicole grinned that ‘I’m going to get yelled at for this’ grin, holding her finger to her lips in a shushing motion and tiptoed around, unplugging the amplifier. Allison’s ponytail bounced as she jerked her head upward. An expression of sudden, if brief panic raced across her features. She glowered at Nicole.

“Jeeze, don’t SCARE me like that! I thought I blew a breaker or something!”

“With the light on?” Nicole prodded playfully, wrapping her in a hug and giggling. I walked over and offered her milkshake to her.

“Oh right.” She laughed after a moment, giving me a puzzled glance as she accepted my gift. “What’s this for?”

“We felt bad about going out to dinner without you so we got you something. Josh and Jen were starving.”

“Robin was too,” Nicole laughed. “I swear she could eat a deep-fried buffalo and not gain a pound!”

Allison giggled as she slurped her sweet treat. “Aww, thanks! It’s cool though. Mom and I stopped off for pizza on the way home. How was practice?”

“Awesome!” Nicole excitedly answered for me. “Robin got thrown on her butt a bunch of times, but then the Sensei dude taught her how to throw Josh on his butt too!” Sensei dude? Was it any wonder I loved this girl?

Allison glanced at me with a giggle, “Awesome. We’ll have to spar some time. I mean, I only know some basic defensive stuff, but maybe if we practiced together, then I’ll feel more confident about actually using what I was taught if…” she hesitated, looking between the two of us with a soft smile, “If we’re ever in trouble again.”

“How was therapy?” I asked, reminded by Allison’s comment of what we’d come to refer to as ‘the incident’. Doctor Ketz refused to violate doctor-patient confidentiality even for the two of us, but we always talked about it later anyway.

“Great. I’m so glad you suggested I talk to her. I’m finally starting to think about boys again. Uh, not that I was thinking about girls either,” she added quickly. “It’s just the thought of a guy trying something with me seemed so scary for awhile.”

“I know what you mean. I’m still a little scared of that. I mean, if someone grabs me wrong they’re going to get a handful of something they’ll never forget,” I sighed softly as I leaned on Joe’s white Silverado pickup, parked a few feet from where Allison and Nicole usually set up their guitars.

Nicole quickly moved from Allison’s side to mine, leaning her head into my shoulder. “If any guy so much as looks at you funny I’ll rip his balls off and feed them to him,” she offered in a tone that, to be honest, frightened me just a little.

“I’ll hold him down while you do, Nikki,” Allison reassured. I couldn’t help smiling at that. At least it wasn’t just Nicole, though I knew where both were coming from. Nicole’s real father abused her in ways I vowed to never repeat, and Allison had the Raggedy Man to put the fear of God in her.

I guess I had Arnold beating the stuffing out of me, but that several months ago and a distant, all-but-forgotten memory by now. It didn’t hurt that Josh played varsity sports year-round, shattering my image of jocks as all being meat-headed pigs.

We sat and talked for awhile, moving inside where Kelly and Carol stood in the kitchen chatting away about something. They suddenly grew silent when they saw us though so I’ll never know what it was, exactly. Kelly smiled as I came right over to put my arms around her, and then Carol.

“Hey Robin, what’s up?” she asked cheerily.

“Just got back from practice. How’s the new job?”

She beamed, “It’s not Crisis Medical, but the pay is okay, plus I get to live next to Margie while I find a more permanent place, which of course means I can come over and check on your mom anytime I’m not at work. Overall I like it; feels good to be home.”

“It’s good to have you around. I know Mom’s headaches had everyone scared for awhile.” I gave her another quick hug in gratitude for all she’s done for us then turned to head downstairs, where Allison and Nicole were already waiting to kick my butt at pool.

Somewhere around around six, my cell phone rang. I flipped it out, setting my stick aside as I hopped up on the barstool. “Robin’s phone: Robin speaking.”

Static.

“Hello?”

Nothing; I hung up the phone.

“Wrong number I guess,” I shrugged.

“Weird. Hey Robin, you’ have to work tomorrow don’t you?” Nicole asked. I nodded.

“Last day too.” Over the summer Nicole and I both scored temporary jobs at the new Alpine Springs mini-mall. I got all the Claire’s I could handle at a small employee discount, and she got to spend all day glaring at yuppies who wanted her to talk their teenagers out of listening to the latest bands: overall win-win for both of us.

My phone started ringing again. Allison shot me a ‘don’t answer it’ stare, though against my better judgment, I did anyway.

“Robin,” Margie’s voice answered this time, “Are you still out with Jen and Josh?” Crap! I forgot to let her know I was at Allison’s. I bit my lip.

“Oh, jeeze, Margie I’m sorry. I’ve been hanging out over at Allison’s with Nikki. I’ll be right over.”

She chuckled, “Just be home before dark, okay? Your mom and I need to discuss school arrangements.”

“Sure, no problem. Love you Sis,” I answered, turning off the phone. “Margie wants me home by dark so we can talk about school. I guess this means a school board meeting is in my future,” I sighed. “Why can’t things just be simple?”

Allison answered with a wry smile, “Because humans like to judge what they don’t understand. The transgender thing will be easy enough to hide, but the whole ‘dating a girl’ thing, not so much.”

Nicole and I glanced at each other, and I nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, Nikki and I are still dating, but we decided to try and keep it low key for awhile until the new girl crap wears off. You saw how kids freaked out at camp over me being from California.”

Allison giggled as she lined up the billiards for another round, “Good point. Hey maybe that can work to your advantage? Let everyone see how cool we all know you to be, then they can figure out you’re dating Nikki later, when it won’t matter.”

Nicole laughed, “See, now, that’s why I love Ally. She’s as devious as me, but her heart’s in the right place way more often than mine.”

“Yeah, I’d call a balloon full of shaving cream in my pillow case ‘devious’,” Allison replied, sticking her tongue out at Nicole and causing us both to giggle. I somehow had managed to stay out of their years-long prank war, and hoped to keep it that way. I had enough problems with staying out of trouble without causing more for myself.

After parting ways with Nicole and Allison, the former hitching a ride with Carol back home since Allison’s mother needed to run some last-minute errands anyway, I headed the short distance home across our front yards. Margie, dressed as casually as ever with her cute ringlet-laden fiery hair up in a tight ponytail, wrapped me in a hug as I entered the kitchen.

“There you are. Your mom’s not feeling well so she went upstairs to lie down,” she offered in a way that sounded like she was trying not to make me worry.

“Is everything alright?” I asked anyway. I mean, given what the poor woman went through at the beginning of the summer, I’d be callous not to ask. Margie nodded.

“She’s going to see a doctor tomorrow, but for what it’s worth, Kelly doesn’t think it’s related to the accident. It sounds like she just has a mild cold, but we’re not letting her take any chances.”

I crossed the room to the fridge, retrieving a can of red cream soda and sitting at the kitchen table. “So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“We have an appointment to meet with the school board next week. Joe’s taking time off to be there on your behalf, and of course Doctor Ketz.”

I rolled my shoulders a bit as I nodded, “I guess I don’t have to worry about anybody calling me ‘Robert’ there, do I?”

Margie laughed to herself. “No. You were already pretty before you started taking hormones,” she offered as she walked around to kiss the top of my head. I smiled as I hugged her briefly then let her pull away to sit.

“It’s just an informal meeting to discuss scheduling, making sure you and Allison have the same classes and seating arrangements close together, staff know to keep an eye on you, that sort of thing.”

With all the school violence these days, it was no wonder they were being careful. They wouldn’t have to worry about me having a freak-out and hurting people at least. I just wanted to get through the school year without being exposed. Maybe next summer I could finally get my surgery behind me too, but one step at a time. I didn’t remember the exact moment the ‘extra equipment’ became so undesirable. I just knew that more and more, it felt wrong, and needed to be corrected.

After we talked awhile more, I hugged Margie one more time then stood to head up to my room. Mom met me at the top of the stairs, but took a step back.

“Careful sweetheart,” she said as she covered her mouth with a tissue to cough, “Kelly thinks I have a mild cold, and I don’t want you to catch it.”

I smiled, stepping over and giving her a quick hug anyway. “How are you feeling? Do you want some soup or something?”

She smiled softly, “No thank you dear. I’m just feeling a little drained. How was practice?”

I related to her how my Kenpo lessons were progressing, and how Sensei Rogers agreed to take me on as his student. I gushed excitedly about how Josh would be allowed to take his test for his next belt now, of which all I knew was that he had a brown one with a couple of weird black stripes on the end, and finally how Sensei taught me a defensive throw I could safely use if someone did try to attack me. She praised my efforts then smiled as she turned to continue on toward the bathroom.

Meanwhile I stepped into my bedroom. No longer the sea of pink it once had been, my friends and I took some initiative over the summer to redecorate. A four post oak canopy bed with lacey light indigo curtains and red-with-white-polka dots bedspread now dominated the room.

We replaced my old dresser and desk with a composite material marble-patterned lilac-and-white matched set dresser and vanity, and tore up the old pink carpeting, replacing it with a deep, rich mauve that, against the near-white pastel indigo wallpaper, contrasted starkly, but also seemed to pull the room together nicely. Thanks to some very careful shopping around and the magic of eBay, we even finished a little under-budget!

Most importantly, I had begun acquiring a small collection of stuffed animals, mostly as gifts. My favorite by far was the plush purple gorilla Nicole won for me at the carnival last month. Mister Kensington slept with me at night and otherwise never left my bed.

I plopped down on my bed to relax, breaking out the old diary; I’d have to get a new one before long. Before becoming Robin I’d write in it every three or four days, but after that fateful day when I first met Allison, I found myself writing in it daily.

We arrived at Doctor Ketz’ office right at ten the next morning for my Saturday appointment. I’d need to be back in Alpine Springs by two for my shift, but we had plenty of time. Since Carol offered to drive Mom to the clinic, it was just Margie and me today.

I’d become so comfortable in my role as a girl by now that any remotely passing resemblance to Robert I may have had long disappeared in favor of the, if I do say so myself, rather attractive and finally-starting-to-develop young lady in the peach spaghetti-strap tank top and tight, faded jeans.

“Hello Robin,” Doctor Ketz’ chestnut-haired receptionist Katherine greeted me warmly as we entered. “Doctor Ketzowski is expecting you. Go on in, dear.”

I smiled, nodding as I practically dragged Margie by the hand. I wanted to talk to Doctor Ketz about the upcoming school board meeting! She sat at her desk, thumbing disinterestedly through some sort of medical magazine as I stepped into her office.

“Hi Barbara,” I offered warmly. She glanced up, immediately setting the periodical aside.

“Hello there, Robin,” she responded, standing and motioning to the sofa and chairs at the back of the room. Margie and I immediately took our usual place on the sofa as she followed. I couldn’t help reflecting, as she sat, on my first meeting.

Doctor Rosen didn’t work there anymore, ‘retiring’ without giving any specific reason. The weird thing is I felt kind of bad for the old codger, not because he probably had to quit because of me, but for his ardent refusal to admit he might have been wrong, not just about me, but about others too.

“Robin, are you alright?” she asked, ever the perceptive one. I smiled.

“Yeah, I’m great. Just thinking about how much has changed since we first met. I’m excited about the new school year, but a little scared.”

“It’s a daunting notion for any young person, starting a new year in a new school. Would you like to talk about it?”

I nodded, discussing openly, without even a second thought of hesitation, my hopes and anxieties about the coming year. I explained how I felt no concern about being read as a trans-girl anymore, so much as someone getting the bright idea to grope me where they shouldn’t, or things like changing for P.E.

She reasoned that to the former, in the unlikely event that something did happen, if I reacted quickly enough I could stop them from feeling anything they shouldn’t, and getting them in serious sexual harassment trouble too, and to the latter, that it could be set up discretely as an issue of having a ‘birth defect’ I didn’t want others to see. She reminded me that, when it came right down to it, my sexuality and sexual preference were absolutely no one else’s business but my own, and not to be afraid to politely tell people to drop the subject if pressed.

I also touched briefly on my finally starting a self-defense regimen, and being accepted as Sensei Rogers’ student. With my last day of work that day, I’d have to find another way to pay for lessons to avoid leaning too heavily on the life insurance money Dad left me though.

We finished early, but I had another appointment with my endocrinologist to check how my body was reacting to the new dosage. He stepped up the dosage a month ago to help with my ‘development’ so had been having me come by weekly to get myself tested.

I had begun to hate needles. I rubbed my sore arm lightly as we drove home, though Margie stopped off for burgers and a chocolate McFlurry to cheer me up before we arrived back in Alpine Springs.

It was already past one, according to my little white-banded wristwatch, so I asked Margie to drop me off at the mall. My last day at my dream job would be bittersweet for me. I’d have next weekend to hang out with the girls for an end of summer sleepover, but I’d lose my coveted employee discount.

As I passed the music store where Nicole manned the register, I had to giggle. I blew her a kiss through the open door, causing her to perk right up, blowing me a kiss back, and causing the twenty-something man she had been discussing a purchase with to turn and give me an odd stare. I grinned and kept walking, entering Claire’s a moment later.

“Hi Robin! You’re early!” Lindsey, my auburn-haired supervisor cheerily announced as I walked in; I gave her a girly finger-bend wave.

“Hi Linn,” I offered, “The doc squeezed me in early for the blood work, so we got back earlier than I expected.”

“Good thing, too. Laura’s down with an infection so it’s just me until Barb comes in. If you’ll take the register I’ll start restocking. These ‘End of Summer’ sales are a nightmare on my feet!” She laughed, disappearing into another part of the store as I stepped around the counter to take my place.

Bangles, dangles, belts, and bracelets, I must have rung up a hundred sales in my shift, to say nothing of trying my best to offer fashion advice for girls of every age. Barbara, the other girl my age who had the next shift, came strolling in fifteen minutes late. Lindsey looked like she wanted to yell at her for making me stay longer, but I quickly headed her off.

“Hey Barb, how’s your weekend?”

“Awful,” she whined. “Some stupid semi flipped its load and blocked the whole road. We had to take a detour through the side streets just to get here!”

I shot Lindsey a ‘See?’ glance. “Well, the register’s all yours. Laura called in sick so it’s just been me and Linn. I’m going to see if Nikki’s still hanging around or if I have to call my sister for a ride.”

“Robin, before you go?” Lindsey called after me then rushed over to hand me an envelope. She smiled as I glanced down at it, then back at her. “Open it when you get home.”

“Oki doki,” I offered, tucking the envelope into my purse. “See you around Linn, Barb. It’s been a great summer working here!”

I found Nicole waiting outside the music store. We embraced and, despite the promise to keep things low key, shared a brief kiss before turning to walk over to the food court together. Of course, it was more like a glorified hot dog stand compared to the bigger malls in New Haven or San Francisco, but the food was digestible so we couldn’t complain.

“So how was your last day?” Nicole asked as she squeezed my hand under our table.

“Busy. One of the other girls is sick so it was just Linn and me all afternoon. God my feet hurt. Hey, is your mom coming to pick you up?”

“Yeah, she should be here any second now. I told her I’d wait at the food court in case you wanted to catch a ride with us.” She thought of everything. I squeezed her hand back, though I jumped slightly as my phone rang.

“Robin’s phone: Robin speaking.”

Silence.

I sighed, hanging it up. “Okay, that’s creepy.” Nicole glanced over, having just shoveled half a chili-and-cheese smothered hot dog in her mouth. She was in no shape to ask, so I continued, “Someone’s been calling me the same time every night for the last two nights now. Only a few people have my number though.”

“Probably just some bored idiot pranking you,” she shrugged. “You should get a phone with caller ID on it. That funky old dinosaur looks like it’s about to fall apart anyway,” she added.

“I’d love to get an iPhone, but money’s a little tight right now, and I promised Mom and Margie I wouldn’t dip into the college fund frivolously. And no, before you say it, I’m not letting you buy me one,” I teased.

“What’s the fun of having rich step-parents if I can’t spoil my friends?” Nicole shot back with a grin.

“Oh don’t give me that look. You’ve never spoiled Jen and Ally, and you know it. Don’t get me wrong though; it’s not that I’m too proud to accept a gift or anything, but…” I trailed off.

She frowned. “But what?”

“Mom and Margie are both worried that we’re taking things too fast. We’re only fifteen, you know?”

“What are you saying, that you don’t want to go out with me anymore?” she asked nervously. I quickly shook my head.

“No, of course not!”

She laughed, “Oh thank God.” With that she happily returned to her hot dog.

“No, Nikki, I care about you so much, and I love spending time with you. It’s just they worry that we’re trying to be more ‘grown up’ than either of us are ready for.”

She shot me a surprised glance at that, but smiled. “Yeah, I got that same speech from my mom the day after she walked in on us on the sofa.” I had to think a moment to remember which incident she was referring to, as we spent a lot of time together on sofas. Suddenly I remembered, my cheeks burning just a little.

Nicole was having a truly terrible day that day, and as we sat talking on the sofa in her den, one soft kiss led to another, and before either of us knew it, we were rather deeply involved in inspecting one another’s dental work, so to speak. Her mother chose exactly that moment to walk in on us.

Nicole giggled. “Yeah, that’s part of why I agreed to this whole ‘low key’ thing. I love you to death and love being with you, but things did kind of take off a little faster than either of us intended after camp.”

We met up with Nicole’s mother outside the food court, and after some brief pleasantries about our respective days, and my sharing the news about the upcoming school board meeting, we started walking toward the exit. I pulled the envelope Lindsey had given me from my purse, turning it over in my hands as I contemplated whether or not to open it yet.

“What’s that?” Nicole asked as she took notice of it.

“Not sure. Linn gave it to me, but she told me not to open it until I got home.”

Nicole grinned impishly as she snatched it. “Don’t worry, I won’t open it,” she added, holding it up to the light. “Hmm. It’s too thick to read. Maybe like a check with a folded note. Bonus, maybe?” She beamed, handing it back to me.

“You’re so bad.” I giggled. I had to hug her as we stepped outside.

The sun already hung low in the sky, but the August heat still felt heavy. I’d have thought, being from the Bay, that I’d be used to heat, though truth be told I spent most of my summers indoors back then, where now if I wasn’t at work, chances were I’d be hanging out with Allison or one of my other friends outdoors jogging, hiking, or just hanging out.

As we pulled into the driveway, I thanked Gina for giving me a ride, and stepped out. Nicole rolled the passenger window down so I could lean back inside and give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Sleep well, cutie,” she offered playfully.

“Sweet dreams, vampire.” I grinned, turning to head inside.

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