“Don’t worry about that. I’m glad you don’t seem hurt. My name is Josh by the way, and the quiet one next to me is my twin sister Joan.”   Sam & Jess Chapter 20 ©2010 - Andrea Ribeiro

I was walking towards the school entrance when the final bell rang and I started to walk faster hurrying to get there before they leave school. I turned a corner and suddenly I found myself with my bum on the floor again. I looked up and I had bumped into a boy that seems to be just bulking up. Next to him was a pretty girl with golden color hair that looked simply amazing.

“Opps. Sorry about that.” He said and extended his hand to help me up.

I took his hand and he helped me up. “No, I am the one that needs to apologize. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m glad you don’t seem hurt. My name is Josh by the way, and the quiet one next to me is my twin sister Joan.” He told me smiling.

“I’m Sam, it’s nice to meet you both, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. I need to get to the entrance before my friends leave. They don’t know I’m here today.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sam.” Joan said.

“Definitely” Josh said.

“Have you tried to call one of them?” Joan asked me.

“I wanted to surprise them, but I guess I better do it now or I’ll have to walk home alone.”

I picked my cell phone and called Steph. I told her that I am inside and will meet them at the entrance. I also told her to not tell Jess as I wanted to surprise her.

“Thanks for helping me up Josh, and thanks to reminding me of calling my friend Joan, I was in a bit of a hurry and wasn’t thinking straight.”

“It’s not a problem. If you want we can accompany you to your friends.” Joan said.

“Hmmm…. I think I’ll accept.” I told them and we went our way to the front of the school.

“Are you new here? I don’t remember seeing you around before.” I asked Joan.

“Not really, I just changed a little recently. This is my first day since Monday last week.” She told me.

“I have been away from school since Monday too. I was in the hospital for some of the time and I was released Friday.”

“Oh that is so weird.” She said. “I was in the hospital since Monday night and was released Saturday.”

“Why were you at the hospital for?” Josh asked me.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough so I better tell you both already. I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you. Tuesday night I had a severe allergic reaction and almost died. The next day I had to make a small operation because a part of my body could kill me because of my allergy.”

“What kind of allergic reaction?” Joan asked me.

“Testosterone.” I said flatly.

“Testosterone?” They both asked me at the same time.

“Yes, testosterone. They had to remove my gonads because they could kill me apparently.”

“Does it mean you are a boy?” Josh asked.

“Josh!!!” Joan admonished him and punched him on his arm.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that, you look so pretty that I would never imagine.” He said rubbing his arm. “Damn Joannie. That hurts.”

“You deserved it.” She said angrily.

“He didn’t, he was just surprised I think.” I told her.

“So are you a girl now?” She asked me.

“I kind of have too. My body can’t handle testosterone and taking female hormones is the only way for me to have a healthy normal life. I also think I always have been a girl, but I was in denial for the last few years. In a twisted sort of way almost dying might have saved my life as I was really depressed and almost over the edge.”

“You mean you thought about killing yourself?” Josh asked me.

“Just about every single day for the last year or so.” I said ashamed.

“I know how you feel.” Joan told me. "More than you imagine.”

“How so?”

“Remember that I said I was also in the hospital last week?”

“Yes, why were you at the hospital?”

“I tried to kill myself.”

“What? Why?” I asked her shocked.

“Because I couldn’t live a lie anymore. You see, I was raised as a boy because I had a birth defect and I always felt in my heart that I was a girl. Fortunately in the hospital they did find out I was really a girl and I have a small corrective surgery. Now I am a normal girl, but I still remember how I felt all those years.”

“No way.” I said looking at her. “Wait a second. You said Josh is your twin brother?”

“Yes, he is. I think that now you remember me.” She said.

“I think so. Were you the person that used to sit at the other end of the table in the back cafeteria?”
“The other end? Don’t you tell me you used to sit at that table too. If I recall the boy that used to sit there was…. Sam?” Joan asked me.

“Yes, but now it’s short for Samantha.”

“Hey, I think I heard about it today.” Josh said.

“What did you hear?” I asked him.

“That apparently Sam has been a girl all along. I also heard the same about Joan though. I guess people are confused right now.” He said and chuckled.

“No wonder, with two boys suddenly turning into girls at the same time, who can blame them?” Joan said.

“And what are the odds of something like that happening at the same time in the same school?” I added.

“I can’t even imagine, but I think it would be easier to win the lottery than something like that happen again.” He said.

We arrived at the front of the school and Jess, Steph and the girls were waiting for us together with two other girls I don’t know.

“SAM!!!” Jess yelled when she saw me and gave me a biiiiiig tight hug. “What are you doing here?” She asked me.

“I wanted to surprise you.” I told her.

“Hi everyone.” I said to the rest of the girls.

“Hey Sam, I want you to meet Jenny and Mindy.”

“Nice to meet you.” I told them.

“I see you met my brother and sister.” Jenny said.

“Actually I bumped into Josh earlier and he helped me up.”

“That story sounds awfully familiar. I hope it doesn’t end the same way as the other one.” Jess said.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” I told her and gave her a peck on her cheek.

“Joan, Josh, I want you to meet Jess, Steph, Karen, Mandy and Liz.” I said pointing at each one.

“Nice to meet you guys.” They both said in unison again.

Jenny just shook her head and said and giggled. “They do that all the time, you’ll get used to that.”

“We also found out that Sam and I have a lot in common.” Joan said.

“Yes we do, we both were at the hospital last week and had different birth defects that in the end had similar results.” I said and you could almost hear the penny drop.

Jess was the first one to say anything. “So did Joan have a slumber party already?”

“No she didn’t. Did Sam?” Jenny asked.

“Yes she did, but was just me, Sam, Steph and Liz.” Jess said.

“We need to have another one soon.” Liz said excitedly.

“And with nine girls it will be a lot more fun than just four.” Mandy added.

“Hey, I don’t count?” Josh asked.

“Well, only if you decide to dress up like a girl.” Steph teased him.

“No thanks. I think I would be bored to death anyway.”

“Ohhhh and we can discuss Halloween costumes. There are just a couple weeks until then.” Karen said.

“We could have it at my house. We have space there.” Mandy said.

“Space? Your house is frigging huge.” Karen said.

“I just need to talk to mom to make sure we can do it there. What do you girls think of Saturday?” Mandy asked us and we all agreed it would be a good day.

“We could go hang out earlier at the mall, too,” Mindy said.

“That’s a great idea. Were Sam and Joan introduced to girl shopping? Going with your mom doesn’t count.” Karen asked.

‘I bet she added that just because of me.’

“If going with my mom doesn’t count then the answer is no.” Joan said. “Also I don’t have much money to buy new stuff.”

“Me neither. I just went shopping with mom, Jess, Steph and Liz.” I said.

Jess just shook her head and said. “Girls, we need to do something. These two have no idea what girl shopping means.”

After that we all agreed that we would plan the weekend the next few days. We exchanged phone numbers, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.