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Author's Note: Here's chapters 11 and 12, both of them are kind of on the light and fluffy side but they're fun I think. Here's some good news,this post was supposed to be the last in the story but after discussing it with my editor we both agreed that it ends too abruptly so there will be another chapter or two. I'd like to thank djkauf once again for the excellent editing and I must stress again that Green Arrow is a trademark and copyright of DC Comics.

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Chapter Eleven:

The noise of the TV is doing nothing to bring me solace. It’s a rerun of Family Guy, but I’m not really paying much attention to it. All I can think about is Mia. When I saw her at the cemetery and read her emails, I knew I had to do something to help her. She was miserable and suicidal. She was my best friend too; there was no way I was going to let her suffer like that.

I sat up, the blanket sliding off me. I looked at the clock on the far wall; it was three am. In three hours, Scarlet was going to be here to drag me off on some foolish excursion. I think it was a day at the salon then shopping or maybe it was the other way around. There was an email waiting for me when I got back tonight but I only slightly glanced over it. I wasn’t really in the mood after the lashing I got. Suffice to say the old man was known to be unhappy that I ditched Spencer. I never knew someone so old and calm could yell so much. He kept asking me where I was and when I told him he didn’t believe me. It wasn’t a lie per se but it wasn’t exactly the truth either.

If I had told him, I snuck off to help my best friend he would have blown a gasket. Instead I told him I slipped away to go home. I said I needed to see it for myself, to bring about some kind of closure. They only made him angrier. But luckily for me, Scarlet was there and she came to my aid. Scarlet may have been a pain in the ass but she went to bat for me, and that I wouldn’t forget. My grandfather grounded me and told me I could only leave if I had three escorts. When I stormed back to my room, Scarlet followed. When she asked where I really went I told her it was to see a friend and she dropped it. I’m not sure why I told her the truth but I was tired of lying.

I sighed and grabbed the remote. I flicked off the TV and lay back down. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking about Mia and the time the two of us had shared together. It was like the two of us rediscovered one another all over again. No, it was nothing perverted, but it was like two sisters realizing they had one another.

I smiled as my mind drifted back to it.

>-------------------------------------------------->

After I was done crying in her arms, she wiped away my tears.

She sat and stared at me for a bit, not sure what to say. When she spoke, it was in a soft, reassuring voice. “Ollie, you want to tell me about it?”

So I did. Just like I with BB I told her everything and didn’t leave anything out. She cried a bit when I told her about my parents and hugged me tightly. I told her about living on the island, being rescued by the cruise ship and then saving everyone from the so-called pirates. She smiled at that. I then told her about Gloria, about going to the mall and stopping the robbers. I ended my story with being found by my grandfather, going to my own funeral and the life I was now supposed to live.

When I was finished, she didn’t say anything at first. She just stared at me. Then she slowly reached forward, touching my face at first. Then she moved her hands to my breasts. She frowned a bit. I was about to ask why when she sighed.

“You’re bigger than me now.”

We both laughed at that. I hadn’t really noticed but I suppose I was. My mother once told me about her own puberty. She was a late bloomer too, but as soon as they started growing, they didn’t want to stop. She was a B cup before the end of her freshman year and almost a C when she started her sophomore year. At the time, it scared the hell out of me because my little buds were nothing. But over the last few months they were growing rapidly, it felt like they were getting bigger every day. I’m not sure if I was happy or horrified. A few months ago, it would have definitely been horrifying but now that I had to be a girl, I’m not sure how I felt about it.

“So what should I call you?”

I bit my lip. That was a good question. I really didn’t want her to call me Jonas but I wasn’t happy with Olivia either. “You can call me Ollie when we’re alone I guess. But I think you should probably call me Olivia or something when we’re in public.”

That brought another frown to her face. “Can we be in public together?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“How would we explain knowing one another?”

I hadn’t really thought about that. I was just determined to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. I didn’t really think things through when I ran off to rescue her. I still wasn’t really thinking things through. I was just happy that there was someone else from my old life who knew I was still alive. I told her all that and she smiled, giving me another hug. She was all about the hugs now. I guess it was something best gal pals did. I’m not complaining but it was a little weird.

She asked another question that seemed to be bothering her too. “Why are you a girl now, anyway?”

I was wondering the same thing too. I told her that.

She just continued with her earlier train of thought. “I mean, if there really are people trying to kill you, wouldn’t it be simpler just to be you. I mean, they connected you with Mr. Queen but that was easy enough to do. You could have just come forward and told the world your story. There was no reason to kill you off and then make you pretend to be someone else. I mean, being Olivia Queen is going to make you an even bigger target, after all you have his name now.”

I nodded. “He was insistent about it. I tried fighting him but he made it very clear that Jonas had to stay dead.”

“That’s stupid.”

We talked about it for a few more minutes and both of us tried to get our heads around it. The only thing we could come up with was embarrassment. The old man was rich and very influential. His money had helped several politicians get their jobs, including the one who currently sat in the big White House. I think he was embarrassed about me. After all, there would have been quite a scandal to bring me forth and say I was Jonas Oliver, his grandson. I didn’t exactly look like a grandson anymore. Before I was able to get by with baggy clothes and an androgynous look. Now, there was nothing boy about me, except what was between my legs.

I started crying. The old man truly was a bastard. Mia hugged me again, allowing me to cry on her shoulder.

“I hate this body,” I sobbed. “I hate these stupid female hormones. I can’t stop crying, my chest itches and my butt is too big.”

She laughed. “Welcome to girlhood, Ollie.”

She told me everything was going to be OK, and now she was there to help me. I nodded, wiping my tears. I asked her if she was going to be OK and she sighed.

She said she didn’t really want to talk about it, but thinking I was dead was horrible. When I asked her how long she thought that, she didn’t answer.Instead, she brushed some hair from her face. She looked kind of weird, not having her usual hot pink mop. When I told her that, she lightly punched me.We stopped hugging and we helped each other up. Bobby groaned behind us and started complaining. I snapped around and cursed, completely forgetting about him. He was still pinned to the tree and gave me a cruel look.

“I knew you were a freak, Oliver,” he snapped and started laughing.

Mia glared at him. She snapped around and was ready to punch him but I grabbed her elbow. I had another idea. I reached into my pocket and took out the two hundred dollars I had left; I waved it in front of his face.

“This is two hundred,” I said, stuffing it his pants pocket. “You keep your mouth shut and it’s all yours.”

He snorted. “You’re going to need a lot more than that to keep my mouth shut, freak?”

“How much?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“I think a million will do it. You’re rich now, right?”

I groaned. This prick was going to be a real problem. Why the hell did I leave him stuck to the tree like that? I opened my mouth to negotiate when Mia beat me to it. She walked quickly over to Bobby, leaned up a little and whispered in his ear. I’m not sure what she said but after a few seconds his eyes opened wide and his lip quivered. When she was done, he looked like she’d kicked him in the balls again.

“I’ll do as you say, I’ll take the money, just don’t tell anyone that?”

Mia smirked. She leaned forward and pulled the arrows out of his sleeves. He fell to the ground, landing on his knees. He wailed a bit and got to his feet, stumbling over them a bit, as he ran off. He didn’t look back and actually tripped before he disappeared. Mia started laughing and handed me the arrows, I slipped them back into my quiver. I had a bunch but I didn’t want to leave any around in case the jerks called the cops on me. It was unlikely seeing as what they were doing but I couldn’t take the chance.

“What did you say to him?”

She smiled. “My mother’s his doctor. I told him that she told me how big his penis really was and if he didn’t keep his mouth shut I was going to tell the whole school.”

I laughed. “Was any of it true?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. But I figured a bad ass like him would be scared about something like that.”

‘I’m glad you’re on my side,” I said, wrapping my arm around her waist.

She nodded. “That’s why you’re going to make me your sidekick.”

I pulled my hand away and gave her a look. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She grinned. “All great superheroes need sidekicks. I’m not saying I want to run around and fight crime with you but I could be your computer tech or something.”

I groaned. This was all I needed. “I’m not a superhero.”

She punched me in the arm. “We both know that’s wrong.”

I changed the subject by asking her to help me retrieve the two other arrows I fired. We found the first one because it was stuck in the ground but it took us a few minutes to find the one I broke the beer bottle with. Mia found it stuck in a tree and pulled it. I put them back into the quiver and then the two of us started trudging back to my house. On the way she brought up the whole superhero thing again, I tried to change the subject but she was insistent upon it.

When we got back to my house---or rather my old house---she asked me about it for the umpteenth time.

“It was a one time thing.”

“Two times actually”

I sighed. “I did it because people needed me. Before on the cruise ship I thought it was a cool idea but afterwards I realized how dangerous it really was. I’m not like those people on the TV, I don’t have super powers.”

She sighed and nodded. But she wasn’t ready to give it up. ‘You may not have super powers but you’re an awesome archer.”

I couldn’t argue with that but that was no reason to start running around and helping people. I told her that and then told her I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She frowned but agreed. Instead, we used her cell phone and called us a cab. When it arrived, we got in without a word. It dropped her off first; she paid quickly. I told her I’d email her later and she liked that. The cab took me home as slow as possible. My thoughts were on the whole superhero thing. Mia knew how to do that, get under your skin and make you second-guess things. I’m not saying I was second-guessing my decision but it was something to think about.

When I got to Queen Towers, my grandfather and Spencer were waiting. Neither looked too happy. Spencer paid my cab and my grandfather told me that under no circumstance was I allowed to leave again.

>-------------------------------------------------->

Could I be a superhero?

I groaned as I rolled over on my stomach, avoiding the discomfort my breasts were causing. I’d been thinking about it for the last few hours, ever since Mia and I parted ways. She was convinced that that’s exactly what I should do. But Mia had a tendency to get these crazy ideas in her head and run with them. Often times she roped me into them too. Sometimes though they weren’t as crazy as I originally thought they were. But this one was probably the craziest. I know that I’d saved people; I’d done it twice, like she pointed out. But the first time was necessary and the second time was a fluke.

Could I do it all the time though?

I racked my brain for the rest of the night---or morning rather---I never did get any sleep. Scarlet came promptly at six am and was shocked and pleased to see me up. She was a bit P.O.ed to see me still not dressed but she rectified that quickly enough. She was carrying a shopping bag with her; apparently, she’d gotten an early start. She handed me the bag and told me to get dressed as fast as possible. I took the bag and trudged off to the bathroom. I was so tired, but I didn’t let her see that.

When I opened the bag, I groaned. Scarlet was bound and determined to make me as girly as possible. The bra and panty were pink, which weren’t so bad. I slipped them both on. When I first started wearing a training bra, I had a hell of a time with it but my mother helped me. Now putting on a bra was the easiest thing in the world. After getting my undergarments on, I found the other two items in the bag. The shirt wasn’t so bad. It was a little small and a bit tight around the bust area but I managed. The skirt scared the hell out of me. I held it up in front of me, making a face in the mirror. It was white and pleated, like something a tennis player or a cheerleader would wear. I groaned. It was November and though it was only mildly cold, it still was too short. I reluctantly slipped it own, groaning some more when I discovered it only barely went past my hips.

I walked out of the room, tugging on the hem, trying to stretch it longer.

Scarlet smiled. “You look absolutely adorable.”

“I feel like an extra from Bring It On.”

She ignored the insult and held up a pair of white shoes. She explained that they only had a one-inch heel. She beckoned me over to the couch and told me to sit. I did so, with my legs wide open. She smacked my knees, telling me “young ladies sat with their legs together, especially when wearing skirts.”

She put the heels on my feet and groaned at the sight of my legs. I looked and saw a fine layer of blonde hair, barely visible. She mentioned something about getting them waxed then told me to stand up. I nearly fell over but she caught me. Then she told me to walk from one end of the room to the other. I groaned and did so reluctantly. I wobbled and stumbled but never once fell. She kept having me walk back and forth until I got it right. It took about fifteen minutes. Eventually I was able to glide as gracefully as I was going to allow. She wasn’t happy, but we had a deadline to keep and an appointment in a few hours.

‘This is for you,” she said, reaching into another bag and handing me a small white purse. “I’ve already put some essentials in there for you. The rest is up to you. A lady never goes anywhere without her purse, remember that, sweetie.”

I took the purse, smiled weakly and nodded. I felt like a total idiot carrying it but I guess I’d survive.

We got in the elevator. Scarlet complained about the state of my hair and my lack of makeup. I looked at the reflective surface of the elevator wall. My hair was getting quite a bit longer now. It was past my shoulders but just barely. It was kind of a mess though. I shampooed when I showered and Gloria taught me how to wash it but other than that, I didn’t take very good care of it. There was a salon onboard the ship but I never had time to go because I was busy working. Thinking about Gloria reminded me that I needed to call her; she was probably worried sick about me.

The elevator ride was long and annoying. Scarlet started playing with my hair half way down, finally pulled it into a high ponytail on the top of my head. She tied it there with a rubber band and promised to get me some accessories later. When we got down to the lobby, my goons were waiting. I barely acknowledged Spencer and Locke but the third man caught my eye. Partly because he wasn’t dressed in a suit and partly because he was so young. Looking at his sandy blonde hair, chiseled features and cute smile---did I just think his smile was cute---made my face blush. My heart skipped a beat and when he looked at me, I turned my head away. God, tell me I’m not crushing on this guy. I groaned, there was no way in hell I was attracted to guys, that was absolutely absurd.

“Hi, I’m Luke” he held out his hand and I shook it limply. “Your grandfather has asked that I stick by your side for the rest of your time here. I hope that’s all right with you?”

I nodded numbly. I stuttered my name to him, which caused the others to smile. Luke didn’t seem to notice or if he did, he didn’t react.

There was another sedan waiting for us outside but this was blue. I got in the back with Scarlet and Luke. Spencer got in the front with the driver. Our destination today was the Star City Center; it was one of the biggest shopping malls in the country. It had over a thousand stores, four floors, which included two movie theaters, a bowling alley and an indoor ice-skating rink. Mia and I used to spend loads of time there. She liked to drag me from one little shop to the other. I used to spend hours watching her try on clothes then groan because she wanted my opinion on them. What was worse was that a lot of the sales ladies kept asking me why a pretty girl like me wasn’t trying on any either. I always used to tell them I was a tomboy to save the embarrassment. Now I don’t think I could use that excuse.

Thinking of Mia reminded me of something. I reached into my purse, wondering if there was one in there. When my hand found the familiar shape, I pulled it out. I was pleasantly surprised. It was one of the new QPhones; it was the latest model, not even on the market yet. It was like an iPhone but much better because Queen Industries made a lot of adjustments. For one thing, it was smaller and for another, it only needed to be charged once. I’m not sure how they pulled it off and I didn’t care. I turned it on and found everything was already programmed in, except for Mia’s number of course. I started texting her, remembering her new number---her old one she allowed to run out, it was too painful for her to have the phone when she knew I had its match.

I fired through the text quickly enough, telling her where I was going and where to meet me. It was all a part of our elaborate plan. We concocted it last night. My grandfather wouldn’t allow me to have any contact with my old life but who’s to stop me from meeting a “new friend” in the mall. It was Mia’s genius way for us to still be friends and be new at the same time. It was a simple plan: I’d text her, she’d go to the mall and the two of us would meet in some random store. We’d hit it off and the rest would be history.

It took us about an hour to get to the mall; the driver dropped us off out front. He drove off; Spencer told him we’d call when we were done. I’d been in the mall hundreds of times before and knew where I wanted to go: usually straight to a bookstore. Scarlet had other plans. The first place we went was a lingerie store. It was so embarrassing. We stayed in there for too long. Even Luke and Spencer were uncomfortable there. They kept looking at their watches and I think I heard Spencer groan once or twice. I found out that I was a small B cup, which meant nothing to me except that it was bigger than Mia. I’m not sure why that made me happy but it did.

After the lingerie store, Scarlet dragged us from one boutique after another. She forced me into so many changing rooms that I wanted to scream. We left each store with at least three pages and set up to have several other things sent directly to Queen Towers. The only good thing about shopping with Scarlet is that we got the store to ourselves. As soon as we arrived at one place, Spencer would go in and the store would clear out. A lot of people would come out grumbling, which I felt kind of bad for but there was nothing I could do about it. Apparently, my name had a lot of pull. As soon as I entered the store, a lot of kiss-ass sales ladies treated me like a princess.

We shopped until noon. By then my stomach was grumbling and I was so exhausted my feet felt like lead. I think Luke half-dragged; half carried me to the food court. It was there that I “bumped” into Mia. I was standing in line at the Pizza Palace when she tapped me on my shoulder. It was all part of the plan.

I turned and smiled when I saw her. She looked like her normal self again, including the bright pink hair I loved so much.

“I love that top,” she said happily. “Wherever did you get it?”

It was our phony line. It was meant for the goons. Scarlet and Luke smiled as Mia and I chatted it up. We talked like strangers first but that didn’t last long. Soon we were chatting away like girlfriends who’ve known each other for years.

I turned to Scarlet after we finished getting our food. “Mia wants to know if I can sit with her.” I asked, pleading.

She smiled. I think she was just happy to see me adjusting and making friends. She nodded but gave me a sly look. I’m not sure if she caught on to our little ruse and frankly I didn’t care.

We sat down at a table far enough away but not too far. Mia kept glancing around, clearly looking for something. When I asked her what it was, she smiled wickedly.

“Robbers of course”.

I kicked her underneath the table and she laughed.

‘By the way, I really do like that top. I’m not sure about the skirt though, I don’t think you have the legs for it.”

I gave her a look and she started to laugh some more. I told her about my morning so far and she frowned. I think she was jealous that I could clear out the stores like that. I told her she could see it herself because I was bound and determined to keep her with me all day. She smiled at that. Something happened between us last night and now we were closer than ever. Before I was a guy and she was my best friend. Now we were both girls and for some reason everything was different. We were still friends like always but it was a different friendship. I’m not sure how to describe it but I felt closer to her somehow. Which didn’t make any sense because I was exactly the same as before---maybe a little more developed---but absolutely the same.

She brought up the superhero think again but I ignored. I forgot how much she liked her comic books. So I changed the subject quickly and asked her the question that I forgot to last night.

“How’s Sandra been?”

Mia was eating some fries and froze in mid-bite. She smiled painfully. “They’re gone. After you disappeared, she went into a bigger funk than me. She stopped eating and talking. She went all zombie like. Her parents kinda freaked and dragged her up north. The last I heard they were living in an Ashram now. No one knows for certain because the place doesn’t believe in technology of any kind.”

I nodded. I thought it might have been something like that. Maybe not as severe but I thought she was too upset to deal. She said her parents were obsessed with that Ashram place too so it didn’t surprise me one bit to hear that they went there.

We talked more about Sandra and then the conversation switched to some of the other kids at the school. I asked about the Memorial she mentioned in her emails, so she told me all about it. I was pretty touched actually, though was a bit annoyed when most of the guy talked about how pretty I had been. Then Mia smiled, meaning she was kidding, and I kicked her again under the table. We laughed again and it felt good. God, I really missed her. I told her that, again and she smiled. She asked me about the island but I was pretty vague. I didn’t really want to talk about it. It was something that one needed to experience and there was no real way to tell someone about it.

“You’re different,” she said as I sipped my chocolate milkshake.

“I’m the same person,” I said then laughed, realizing how wrong that sounded. “Well, partially the same person.”
We laughed again.

Scarlet ruined our fun. She walked over to the table, eyeing us like we were diseased or something. I introduced her to Mia. I accidentally slipped up by calling her my BFF but I don’t think that Scarlet noticed. If she did, she didn’t say anything.

“I had to spoil the fun, girls, but Olivia has an appointment that she cannot miss.”

“Mia’s coming with us?”

It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement. Scarlet raised her eyebrow at me and I stood my ground. She worked for my grandfather but today she also worked for me. So far, they’d been in control of everything but that ended here. I didn’t live through my parents dying and being stranded on an island to be bossed around. It was time to take a stand somewhere and Mia was where I drew the line. I think I made that very clear in the look I was giving Scarlet.

“Of course she can.”

We left the food court and headed to my appointment. When we got there I groaned, it was the place I’d been dreading: the salon. It was called Madame Zala’s. It was an upper class beauty salon, which also doubled as a spa. I don’t know much about these places and I don’t pretend too. All I know is that as soon as we entered I noticed once again that the place was deserted. There was only one person in the place, a thin, middle aged black woman who I assumed was Zala---though I doubted that was her real name. She led me first into a back room where another younger black woman waited and the two of them proceeded to wax my legs.

I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

After that, I was brought back into the main room where they took care of my hair. They didn’t do much, just gave it a wash, trimmed the split ends and gave me some bangs. Then they made up my face, telling me everything they were doing. When I was done and I saw myself, I was shocked at the pretty blonde girl in the mirror. After me, I made them do the same with Mia. Zala wanted to do something about her hair color but Mia protested. In the end, they just did her make up, too. Both of us refused the manicure they offered. My nails weren’t long enough and Mia had just had her’s done or so she said.

We spent almost two hours in the salon. Zala gave us a lot of free product then we left.

Mia left after that. She was supposed to meet her mother; they were going to a movie. I said good-bye with a hug and said I’d call her later. When she was gone, Scarlet pulled me aside.

“That was your friend who you snuck off to see yesterday?”

I nodded. “You’re not going to tell the old man, are you?”

She smiled. “It will be our little secret.”

We left the mall, several bags heavier than before. When we got back to Q. Towers, it took my grandfather’s staff several trips to get all the bags up to my room, not to mention all the stuff we had had delivered. When I got upstairs myself, my place was filled with boxes and bags. I left them, vowing to put the stuff away tomorrow.

Scarlet mentioned something about a walk-in closet but I was too tired to look. Instead, I crashed on the couch, watching some TV. Mia texted a few hours later, telling me she had a wonderful time and was glad that I’d decided to join the better sex.

That made me groan a bit. It also made me think too. Was I glad? I knew I’d accepted that I could no longer be a boy but was I glad about it? I got off the couch and stripped down to my underwear then stood in front of the mirror. I sure didn’t look like a boy and minus the penis, I looked a lot like a fifteen year old girl---even though I was legally sixteen now. I bit my lip and unclasped my bra. I let it fall gently to the floor. I stared at my bare top half, turning sideways as I did so. I definitely didn’t look like a boy there. I hesitated before I slipped off my panties. When I finally slid them down my legs and stepped out of them, I was a bit surprised. My penis was so small now, like a five year olds. It’d never been big to begin with but I didn’t realize it was that small. I made a mental note to make an appointment with a doctor. Before I hadn’t really paid much attention to all the talk but now I really wanted to know what was going on with me.

I didn’t bother putting my clothes back on. Instead, I went fishing through one of the bags to find one of the bazillion sets of pajamas we bought. I finally found a pair: they were light blue and made of silk. They felt really good on my skin and made my nipples a bit hard. I’m not sure if I liked that but I dealt with it. I cuddled up on the couch and watched TV for the rest of the night.

I think I conked out at about two am.

Chapter Twelve:

Scarlet spent the next few weeks trying to teach me how to be a proper girl. It was kind of grueling but I’m a fast learner---remember, photographic memory. I was reluctant at first but what guy wouldn’t be. First, she taught me how to dress then how to do my own makeup. I learned quickly enough. I’m not saying I was an expert but I was better than I was before. The clothes were a problem at first. I didn’t like skirts and dresses because I hated showing my legs. This wasn’t just a girl thing either. I’ve hated showing my legs ever since I was little. I didn’t mind wearing shorts around the house but going outside with my legs exposed was another thing entirely. I had a hell of a time at the mall but because Mia was there, everything had been all right.

Mia wasn’t here anymore. After I turned her life around, her parents felt she needed some time to reconnect. So a week after our mall trip, they went on an early Winter Vacation, I’m not sure where. Mia didn’t know either but she said they’d be gone for two weeks and that she wasn’t allowed access to anything electronic. It kind of annoyed me to lose my best friend but I knew she’d be back. Scarlet tried her best be a substitute but it wasn’t the same. I liked Scarlet but she was a bit too old to be my temporary best friend. She tried to rectify things by convincing my grandfather to give me more freedom so I could make some new friends but I wasn’t interested.

So while Mia was gone, I poured my heart and soul into my Girl Lessons.

Scarlet brought in an Etiquette Coach, Miss Frost, to teach me the proper way to be a girl. She fit her name well because she was the iciest bitch I’d ever meant. Scarlet said that a young lady who’d been in boarding school most of her life would be very prim and proper. I’m not sure if that was true or not but it didn’t bother me much. I’m not going to bore you with all the etiquette crap but suffice to say I hated it at first. The woman was a cruel taskmaster and didn’t give me any slack. She thought I was an appalling little girl and couldn’t figure out how I didn’t know how to act like a proper one. She called me “boyish” on more than one occasion. I fought her for about a week then gave me and fell in line. It wasn’t that hard but it was embarrassing at first. After another week, Miss Frost announced I was the “best she could get me.” I’m not saying she turned me into the proper young woman but she did fix some of my more “boyish” habits.

Girl Lessons ended when Miss Frost left. But Scarlet still felt I needed a girl education. She bought me all the current seasons of Gossip Girl and 90210 on DVD. She made me watch them. She also gave me loads of books to read, some of them were more current but most were older. I didn’t care for current ones much---who the hell cares about Bella and Edward---but I really loved the older stuff. Jane Austen was now my favorite author and Charlotte Bronte rocked.

Scarlet brought in another girl to help with my mannerisms. She was much younger than Miss Frost, about my age, her name was Clara. She was there to help me talk and think like a teenage girl. She wasn’t in the know but she was told that I was a tomboy coming out of my shell. Clara helped me talk, sit and act like a teenage girl---a proper one anyway. She was pretty cool, a little flighty but cool. WE spent a lot of time together and we became good friends but no one would ever replace Mia. Clara was a different person altogether and I kind of liked that.

Mia contacted me about four weeks later. I was sitting on the couch, painting my nails when my phone buzzed. I cursed, trying desperately to dry my nails so I could see who it was. Why couldn’t there be a speech activated phone or something. I wonder if we could make one of those. I waved my hands back and forth, blowing on them as I did. About ten minutes later, I think they were dry enough to take a peek. It was kind of hard with my new nails---extensions that Clara insisted upon---but I was able to see who sent me the text. I sighed with relief when I saw it was Mia. Now I knew how she felt when I disappeared. I was convinced I’d never see her again.

The text message was short: HEY, BACK TO CIVILIZATION. I SENT YOU SOMETHING, IT SHOULD BE ARRIVING TODAY.

I waited for my nails to truly finish drying, slipped on a pair of backless sandals and ran to the elevator. The trip was slow and boring like usual and I was a bit excited to see what Mia had sent. We didn’t usually buy each other stuff but that was before. Now we had a different kind of relationship. The other day I found this Mia top---something I know she’d wear---and I sent it to her house. When I got down to the lobby finally, the doorman was holding a package.

“Is that for me?” I asked excitedly.

He looked at the label. “It is indeed, Miss Queen.”

I took it from him, thanked him and ran back into the elevator.

Most of the Tower staff knew who I was now. It wasn’t that I liked being here now but I’d adjusted. I wasn’t allowed to leave the Tower without supervision but I was allowed free run of it, save for a few rooms. When I got back into the elevator, I looked up at the new camera and frowned. The new cameras were everywhere now. A week ago, someone set fire to one of our computer factories. The authorities were convinced it was some kids but my grandfather thought otherwise. He was convinced it was industrial sabotage. It would have been an isolated incident except for the fact that smaller things were happening, too. There was an illegal hack a few days before that and just yesterday, someone tried to get into the tower with a gun. That’s the reason why the cameras were everywhere now. We had cameras before but these new ones were more high-tech, they not only videoed people but they also picked up on their body heat and things like that. My grandfather was being extra cautious, especially since the Metahuman Boom started.

Just like Jade predicted, tons of Metahumans were coming out of the woodwork now. Here it was December 10th and already two more have publically made themselves known. One was some red, white and blue girl and another was some crazy girl with a hammer. I only half paid attention to the news stories. I decided that day with Mia that I was giving up my hero moonlighting. I wanted to try to live as normal as a life as possible.

The elevator finally stopped. I sighed and walked to my room. My door was probably the most secure in the whole building. My grandfather beefed up the security last night, wanting to make sure I was the safest I could be. There was a code pad and a retina scanner. It was kind of ridiculous but I guess he was being cautious. I punched in my code, let the thingy scan my eye then went into the room. I guess it’s not really a room, more like my own apartment. When I walked inside, I carried the package over to a little chair I had by the window.

Scarlet and I had it redecorated to my liking. It was a modern looking place now. I had an updated kitchen, age appropriate furniture and the color was a pale blue, which was gender neutral, like I wanted. I decided a while ago that I could be a girl but I didn’t have to be overly girly to be one. Kind of like my bedroom. The pink was all gone. So was all the fluffy girly crap. I had a bed; a normal kind sized one. I had a vanity but it wasn’t on a pink desk. There were no stuffed animals and kitten posters. I didn’t have any posters now. I did have some prints on the wall though; most of them were Van Gogh’s. There were similar pictures on the walls in the rest of my place too. Scarlet wanted to put up some modern art but I don’t like it.

I curled my feet underneath me as I sat in the chair. I took a deep breath and opened the box. As soon as I did, I frowned. I was expecting a cool shirt or even a skirt. What I wasn’t expecting was what was there. I reached into the box and pulled out the hat first. OK, the hat I liked. It was a cool green Robin Hood one, with a real feather and everything. It was a lot like the more I saw in the costume shop in Florida. The rest of the costume, I groaned at. It was a Robin Hood costume, a green dress with a tattered look to it. It looked like something that Errol Flynn would have worn if he’d been a girl. Underneath it was a pair of green leather boots and a note.

I sighed. Mia was making herself known once again. I took out the note and read it aloud.

“OK, I know what you said and I think you’re wrong. Have you been reading the papers lately, there’s super-heroes popping up all over the place. I know they have superpowers and things but you have something they don’t, you have ingenuity. I think you could make a real difference and really help people. That’s why I bought this for you. You don’t necessarily have to wear it but I want you to think about it. There are a lot of people out there that need your help. I know you can’t go toe to toe with some of these super powered madmen but maybe you could help the little guy. You said that’s the reason you pretended to be a hero the last two times. Just give it some thought. Give me a call when you’ve made up your mind, Mia.”

I sighed and put the note back into the box.

I guess I can at least try it on. I took the box and walked into my bedroom. I made sure the blinds were shut and covered the camera I wasn’t supposed to know was there. I stripped to my underwear and slipped the dress over my head. It was a perfect fit; at least Mia got that right. I made sure it was proper but groaned a bit when I saw myself in the mirror. It was a cool shade of green but it was real skimpy. It had no sleeves and the skirt was so short that it barely covered my butt. There was this little belt too and when I tightened it, it made my hips look bigger. I’m not sure if I liked that. But I was being objective here and promised myself to try the whole thing on.

I sat on the bed and slipped on my boots. They were quite comfortable, actually. They had a two-inch heel but that was nothing anymore. I walked around a little bit, getting a feel for them. I put the hat on last but it still didn’t look right. I guess I preferred a hooded cloak. The hat was cool and all but, it made me look like I was trying to be Robin Hood. I didn’t want that. Robin Hood was my idol but I didn’t want people to think I was copying him.

I turned left and right, modeling in the mirror. Miss Arrowette never looked better. I groaned; I had to drop that name. I’d been thinking about it for a while actually. I know I’d agreed not to do the hero thing but it still didn’t mean I couldn’t come up with a cooler name. I thought of it shortly after BB gave me his good luck charm. For the longest time I sat racking my brain when I finally pulled it out from my shirt and rubbed it, pleading for some inspiration. When I looked at the pendant in my hand, it came to me.

Could I do this? Those people on the news were Metahumans. I didn’t have superpowers; I couldn’t compete with them. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t try. Mia was right; I was being foolish. As soon as I looked into the mirror and saw myself, I knew I couldn’t give it up. I’d only done it twice but it felt so good to help those people. I took a deep breath and turned away from the mirror. I walked over to my jeans and took out my phone. I dialed Mia’s number and waited until she answered.

It didn’t take her long. “I just got home, I’m exhausted,” she groaned.

I took a deep breath and laughed. “You’re right and I’m wrong.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, she sounded tired.

“I got your package.”

There was a moment of silence. Then she spoke again. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

I sighed. “I think I want to be a superhero.”

>-------------------------------------------------->

“You’re serious about this?” asked Mia for the umpteenth time.

After my revelation last night, it didn’t take me long to fall to asleep. It was kind of a weight off my chest really. After Mia was done squealing, she called me the bestest friend in the whole wide world. She started rambling on and on about all the cool stuff we could do. She had a list of stuff we needed to get, which included a police scanner, some cool blue-tooth like earpieces and a proper costume. When I mentioned her being my sidekick she laughed and said she was more of a behind the scenes kind of girl. She wanted to talk for hours last night but I was exhausted so I told her to call me in the morning.

Unfortunately, for me, Mia called at seven am.

She repeated the question; her voice was annoying so early in the morning. “Yes, I was serious last night.’

I groaned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I struggled out of bed, trudged out of my room and still half-awake, I wandered into the bathroom. Looking at the girl in the mirror was still a bit shocking but I was kind of used to her now. She was still me after all, just a bit softer here and there. When I first saw my face, I was a bit surprised by it. My features had softened quite a bit and everything went from androgynous to downright girly. It was kind of scary actually. Now as I stared at my reflection, I was having a hard time seeing old Jonas in there at all.

She was still rambling about something but I was barely paying attention. I told her so and she huffed at me. “I was talking about your costume.”

“What’s wrong with the one you sent me?”

She sighed. “That was just to get you motivated. No one would take you seriously running around in something like that. I bought it at a Costume shop…you’d look ridiculous.”

I sighed this time. I wasn’t ready to show that much flesh to the world anyway.

“So what kind of costume do you think I should have?”

That set her off again, chattering a mile a minute. My head was throbbing from her talking so much. I needed to get her off the phone so I could wake up properly. Maybe after a shower and some breakfast, I’d be more receptive to her ideas.

‘Mia” I said, cutting her off in mid-babble. “I need to shower and wake up. Why don’t I send a car for you and we can talk about this in person.”

She squealed real loud. “You mean come there?”

I sighed. She was my best friend, so it was going to have to happen eventually. ‘Yes, I want you to come here and the two of us can discuss this for as long as you want. Give me about an hour to get freshened up and then I’ll send the car.”

“You’re the best friend ever, you know that.”

I nodded. “See you in a couple of hours.”

I ended the call and then made another quick one. I called my grandfather’s Security Chief, Marko, and told him I had a friend coming over in a couple of hours. He said he’d make the proper arrangements and send a car for her. I thanked him and clicked off. Marko kind of scared me. He was this great big mountain of a man, twice the size of normal human beings---or at least he looked it.

Many of the guys on his staff had this really cool nickname for him though, they called him “The Juggernaut” and it fit him to a tee.

After getting off the phone, I stripped out of my PJ’s and got into the shower. Usually I took hot showers but today I needed to wake up.

“Cold” I said in the clearest voice possible.

The shower was automatic and voice activated. There were four showerheads built into the walls and two in the ceilings. I could regulate temperature, intensity and quantity with a few choice words. This morning I wasn’t so picky. The shower was programmed with some of my presets though. When I said cold, I really meant about sixty degrees, which was borderline cold in my book. If I wanted really cold I would have said “Titanic” and the water would have been so fricking cold I’d of been blue by the time I got out.

I showered quickly; the water did the trick and truly woke me up. I dressed quickly too, pulling on an oversized t-shirt and a pair of tight shorts. All I had were small, tight shorts. Most of them were jean but a few were cotton. Apparently, the concept of girls shorts going any lower than mid-thigh was foreign to every designer in the world. After getting dressed, I made breakfast, which would have been really impressive except that it was all microwave-able. Scarlet didn’t like that and frankly, I didn’t care. She’d been trying to get me to eat right and I ate her crap whenever I had too. But I was a teenager and we don’t always eat nutritional things.

After breakfast, I sat on the couch and watched some morning cartoons on the Disney Channel. About an hour or so later, the Intercom buzzed.

“Miss Queen” said a nondescript female voice. “Your guest has arrived.”

My intercom was set up so all I had to do was speak. “Send her up.”

I pushed a button on the remote, switching off my TV and switching on the security footage from the elevator. My grandfather made sure that only he and I could do this. He was still convinced that someone was going to try to go after me again. So he tapped my television directly into the security feed. I could view the video of one camera or split the screen up into multiple views. On the screen right now, was Mia, standing in the elevator, holding a big bag? She looked a bit nervous and I knew why. This place was kind of daunting. I remember my first time coming inside and stepping into that huge elevator. It didn’t help either that Marko was riding it with her. She looked like a doll standing next to him. I smiled, wondering how scared she really was.

I watched until the elevator reached my floor. Then I switched it back to the TV and ran over to the door. Marko had a card that he could swipe and unlock any door in the building. I didn’t like it very much but my grandfather insisted that it was for my own safety. I heard his card swipe and the door clicked open. He opened the door for her, like a gentleman. Mia stood in the threshold for a few seconds, staring at the vastness that was my place. I waved a hand in front of her shocked face and when she didn’t show any sign of responding, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the room. Marko smiled slightly and closed the door.

Mia fully recovered a few seconds later. “Holy crap, is all of this yours?”

I nodded, still holding her hand. “C’mon I’ll show you around.”

I let her throw her bag on the couch then gave her the quick tour. She was impressed by absolutely everything. But it was the view that did her in. Like me, she absolutely loved it. She stood by one of my large windows and groaned. She pointed out the Golden Gate Bridge and a few other places. Then she pointed off into the distance and jokingly commented about seeing her house from here. We both had a laugh. I finished the tour by showing her my huge bedroom then led her back over to the couch.

“You don’t’ mind if I move in, do you?” she asked jokingly as we sat down.

I shook my head. “I’d love it actually; this place is too big for me. I’m thinking about getting a dog or something.”

We exchanged a few more awkward jokes then got down to business. Mia came prepared. She took a sketchbook and some color swatches out of her bag. I groaned when I saw them. I thought she was kidding about the whole costume thing but apparently, she was being serious. We spent the next couple of hours going through the stuff she sketched up. Besides being a competent computer hacker, Mia was a fantastic artist. Her sketchbook was completely full of different designs, all of them green and most a variation of Robin Hood’s iconic look.

“You’re serious about this?” I asked after looking at the hundredth drawing or so.

She nodded. “Do you realize how much I wanted to be a superhero when I was younger?”

I nodded. Where I was obsessed with Robin Hood, she was obsessed with men in spandex. It was kind of crazy how much she loved them. For a few Halloweens in a row she dressed up as one caped crusader after another. None of the costumes were ever green but they were still pretty cool. All of them had capes though; she was obsessed with the capes. Just like all the drawings in her book, most of them had some kind of cape. I wasn’t digging the cape look though and that’s where we were having problems. We started arguing about it and almost went to blows at one point---we’d never actually get that violent with one another but the possibility was there.

It was one of her last sketches that saved us. It was an all green bodysuit, very sleek and kind of cool. It was all one piece with this wicked arrow pointed straight up on the chest. Instead of a cape though, it had a hooded cloak, very similar to the green tarp I wore to save the people on the ship. When I mentioned it to her, she smiled and nodded. Apparently, she took that into account. She said after scoping out the grainy Miss Arrowette pictures on the Internet she saw how I preferred the hooded look.

“What are those on the arms?” I asked, pointing to the sketch.

“Vambraces” she said sheepishly. “I’m not sure why but I thought they were kind of cool.”

I told her I wasn’t so sure about them and she said they were negotiable.

But we decided right then and there that the costume search was over. This sketch was the winner. To make it official I tore it out of her book and set it on the table. After that, we discussed how to pull it off and I told her I had ways. My expense account was set up to only appear as transactions and never anything specific. Whatever I spent was just numbers in a computer somewhere. So in theory, I could order whatever I wanted and no one would question it. With that in mind, we decided to make the suit out of an ultra-light brand-new material that one of the Queen subsidiaries was developing. It was a substance called Perma-Flex, a bi-weave material being designed for soldiers to wear under their camos. According to reports, it was nearly indestructible, bullet proof from a distance and extremely flexible.

We took my measurements and made an order. We put a rush job on it, hiding it as an R&D test run. We had the hooded cape made of the same stuff but made sure it was lighter and a darker color.

“I assume you’re still going to use the bow?”

I nodded. “It's my signature.”

“Have you thought about sprucing things up a bit?”

She pulled out another sketchbook, this one didn’t have costumes, instead it was full of sketches of arrowheads. There was a bunch of different kinds in there, too many to count. Some of them were absolutely ridiculous but a few of them, like a tazer head, were kind of cool. We decided on several and I made another call. I wanted the heads made out of titanium, it was a bit expensive but it was worth it. I decided the shafts should be carbon and green. It was very important for them to be green.

Mia smiled at that.

“So have you thought of a new name yet?”

I smiled and nodded. “From now on, I’m the Green Arrow.”