Synopsis:

Audra's not the only one who's having problems with the change.

Audra: A New Life

by Joanne Foxcourt

Part 3 - Meeting Friends

Story:

All the usual copyright and "viewing if you're legal" rules apply. There is no sex in this story, the character is far too young, but there is implied violence. It is a work of fiction and all the characters are fictional, any similarities to the living are chance.

Chapter 11: Mike.

Mike Davidson was nervous, more than nervous. The bombshell his mother had dropped on him left him pretty shaken and quite concerned for his best friend. That evening, after dinner, he pushed down his nervousness and biked over to Audra's place. As he rode, his mind was whirling over what to expect. Sure, he thought, Aaron always looked kind of girl-like, but he was a boy and I hope he doesn't look silly.

Mike dropped his bike to the side of the driveway as he usually did and walked up to the front door. He hesitated, a couple of seconds, before he pressed the doorbell. He heard Susie shout, "I'll get it!" as the door flung open.

"Mike!" Susie exclaimed, looking surprised to see him. "Audra! Audra, Mike is here!" She shouted into the house before turning back to him. "Come in Mike."

Mike entered the familiar home as Audra appeared at the top of the stairs. He stopped and stared at her in stunned surprise, his eyes taking in the appearance of a young girl wearing a jean skirt, a white top, and a curly new hair style. "Aaron?" Mike almost whispered.

***

Audra blanched and suddenly turned a fled back down the hallway from whence she had come. Audra had taken the surprise on Mike's face as rejection and she was devastated. If her best friend couldn't accept her, the other kids certainly wouldn't, she told herself. She slammed her door shut and flung herself to her bed, sobbing.

***

Mike and Susie stared at each other in surprise. "What happened, Susie?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Susie mused, "she's feeling pretty down. Why don't you go up and try to talk to her?"

Mike nodded and trudged up the stairs and knocked at Audra's door. He heard a muffled "who is it?" from inside and replied, "Mike. Can I come in?"

Audra opened her door. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying and she was trying to wipe away the remnants of her tears. "What do you want?" She asked, almost harshly.

"I want to talk, Aaron."

"It's Audra, Aaron is dead," Audra replied flatly.

"I'm sorry; I don't mean to screw up. Look, Audra, we've been friends forever. Can't we just talk?" Mike asked, embarrassed at his continual name slip and the hurt he could see in Audra's eyes.

Audra sighed and nodded, letting Mike into the room. He looked around, surprised at the changes. It looked like a cross between a boy's and girl's room, he thought. "Aar... Audra, I'm sorry I was so surprised. I didn't know what to expect and I didn't mean to upset you," Mike told her.

"It's okay," Audra whispered.

Mike sat down on the edge of the bed as Audra watched him silently. He suddenly felt self-conscious and his fingers pulled and twisted the comforter.

"Mike, I..." "Audra, I..."

Suddenly, they both laughed. "Audra, I missed you. Are you okay?" Mike asked.

"I guess so. I missed you too; it's good to be home."

"What happened?"

Audra's eyes squeezed shut and her breathing tightened. "I can't tell you."

Mike couldn't miss the white fear that came over Audra as she struggled with that question. "I'm sorry. I keep screwing it up. Maybe this was a bad idea." He stood up.

"No, Mike, wait. It's not your fault. Every time I think about it, I get scared. I'll try to tell you."

"Audra, hey, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's okay," Audra replied and took a deep breath. "I don't remember much. I was coming home after the came and a couple of men stopped me and asked for directions. After that, I woke up in some room, tied up and blindfolded. They told me that I was being ransomed for money to help support some cause. Sometime later, I don't know how long, they came back and told me that my parents had screwed up and that I'd have to pay. They gave me some needle and all I remember after that was waking up in the hospital."

"Pay?" Mike asked.

"My Daddy told me that they said they were going to take away one of my lives. Now I know what that means."

It didn't escape Mike that Audra was sounding more like a girl, especially the way she referenced her dad. "They made you into a girl?"

"No, the doctors did. They said they didn't have a choice."

"Just like that?"

"Well, it's not that simple and I'm not completely a girl. I can't have babies."

"Wow. Um... you look great though."

Audra blushed as the two fell silent again.

Mike was feeling the strain of the silence as he stood up. "Are you going to come to the game tomorrow?"

"I don't know, maybe. I can't play yet."

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "You should come anyways. The team has been worried about you."

"I'll think about it," Audra hedged.

"Okay. Well, um, I should be going, I guess. I'm glad you're home."

"Thanks Mike."

Audra silently followed Mike to the front door and watched him pick up his bike.

"Later!" Mike waved as he sped off.

Audra waved and closed the door. Quietly, she went back to her room, hugged a pillow and cried.

***

June Davidson heard the front door slam shut. "Michael, honey, is that you?"

"It's me, Mom," Michael replied as he wandered into the living room.

"Are you okay?"

"I guess so, Mom. It was weird," Mike responded. "I didn't know what to say."

"It's been pretty hard for Audra, Mike, you should know that."

"I guess so," he said again, shrugging.

"There's no guessing, young man, it is so. Her entire world has changed. Everything she knows, everyone she hangs out with, everything she is allowed to do has changed. She can't even play baseball on your team anymore."

"Huh? Why not?" Mike asked.

"Think about it. It's a boy's team."

"Oh, man, I never thought of that," Mike said.

"Obviously."

"I don't think Aaron, I mean Audra, has thought of that yet, either," Mike mentioned.

"Probably not. Poor kid. How does she look?"

"Like a girl."

June laughed, "Thanks for the clarity."

"You know what I mean. Aaron always looked kind of like a girl anyways and now it's even more."

"Yes, I suspect that is true."

"I asked her to come to the game."

"Will she go?"

"I doubt it. She didn't seem to want to."

"If you think about it, you'll understand."

"I guess so," Mike shrugged and headed up to his room to play video games.

June watched her son depart. He's not dealing with this well, she thought, it's such a drastic change for them both.

***

Marianne heard the quiet crying behind Audra's door. Pausing for a moment, she turned the handle and walked in to see her daughter curled around a pillow on the bed. She hurried over and gently touched Audra on the shoulder.

"Oh Mommy! It's so hard! Nothing is the same, not even Mike." Audra turned and sobbed into her shoulder.

Marianne softly stroked Audra's hair and whispered, "It'll get better Audra, I promise." Marianne rocked her gently until she cried herself asleep. Carefully, so as not to wake her, she undressed Audra and put a clean nightgown on her. She then tucked her under the covers and kissed her forehead. Turning out the lights, Marianne silently left the room and went to find her husband for a good cry of her own.

Chapter 12: Play ball! Well, not exactly.

Audra woke up the next morning feeling a little rebellious about her current situation. After showering, she deliberately set about dressing herself in Aaron's clothing, as best she could. While the panties were unavoidable, she could ignore the training bra, and don her baseball uniform overtop to hide them. She then pulled her hair into a low ponytail, as she had worn as Aaron, and put on her baseball cap.

Audra's mind refused to accept what her eyes told her. To her, her appearance looked like it always did, as Aaron. She was fooling herself, but she didn't see it. The chemical cocktail that she was required to take had already been working on her since the many weeks had passed from her surgery. Without the production of male hormones and with her young age, the female hormones had free reign to further feminize a once-boy who had already looked fairly feminine to begin with. All this had passed over Audra in her apparent desire to see Aaron and make what had changed familiar again.

Feeling a bit more at peace, Audra made her way down to breakfast. Already she was reasserting herself as Aaron, in her mind, and she began to allow herself to dream of doing all of the things she did with Mike, including baseball. Her mental state was such that she didn't even realize the surprise and sadness in the face of her family as she sat at the table for breakfast.

***

"I'm worried, James, Audra is trying to be Aaron again," Marianne told her husband after breakfast.

"Sheila warned us, Mari. It's to be expected, especially after seeing Mike."

"I know," Marianne replied, "but I'm really worried about her being hurt. Her teammates, other than Mike, don't know yet..."

"It has to happen sometime, we can't always hover over her to protect her from the world," James soothed.

"Kids can be cruel," Marianne stated.

"They can and they will be. She will face this now or face this in school in the fall. We can't prevent it. Audra is a beautiful girl, even without my parental bias, and she will come out of this okay."

"I suppose so. I wish I could roll back the clock," Marianne sighed.

"As do I. As do I..."

***

"I don't know about this, Audra," Susie commented.

"It's Aaron!" Audra insisted.

Susie sighed, "Whatever! I think this is a bad idea and I'm coming with you."

"No!"

"Yes! It's final."

Audra glared at her sister for a few seconds before relenting. She realized that Susie wasn't going to let her go alone and there was nothing that could be done to prevent it anyways. Together, the picked up their bikes and prepared to ride to the park. Audra barely suppressed the gasp of pain that suddenly escaped her from the sudden contact of her weight against the seat of the bike, pain that brought back her situation all too clearly. Gritting her teeth, she lifted herself off the seat slightly and began pedaling to the park, Susie following.

The two arrived to see that most of the players from both teams were already there. With a shock, Audra realized that her team was playing the same team as the day she was kidnapped. She repressed a shiver.

As they tied up their bikes, Mike wandered over to them. "Hey, it's cool that you're here!" Mike told them.

"Hey Mike," Audra replied as Susie echoed.

Mike looked at Audra, even in her baseball uniform, she looked like a girl. Mike sighed to himself as he realized that Aaron was truly gone. "Why the uniform Audra? I didn't think you could play yet," Mike asked.

"It's Aaron!" Audra stiffened at the question.

"Hey! Take it easy," Mike replied, confused at the change from the previous night. What's going on? He asked himself. Yesterday she's telling me that Aaron is dead and now she gets angry because I called her what she told me to call her?

Audra relented slightly. "I'm just here to watch," she told Mike.

"Okay. I gotta get back to the team."

As Mike trotted off, Susie looked at Audra with a frown. "What's the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?" Audra snapped.

"You nearly tore his head off!"

"I did not!" Audra retorted.

"Yesterday, you told him to call you Audra and now you snap at him to call you, Aaron."

"I am Aaron!" Audra shouted as she stomped to the stands.

Susie poked her in the chest. "You are not! You are Audra and you had best start accepting that!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Audra screamed, shaking her head and putting her hands over her ears.

Susie backed off, recognizing that her new sister was in no condition to face reality at this moment. Looking around, she saw that Audra's old team was staring at them in shock and she realized that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Sighing, she sat beside Audra in the stands to watch the game.

***

"What the fuck is going on, Mike?" Bobby Grant asked as the team got ready for the game.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Davidson, Susie called Aaron 'Audra' and he had a fit. Audra is a girl's name."

"It's just Susie being a dumb girl."

"No, it ain't. Aaron looks less like a boy than he ever did and that ain't sayin' much," Bobby asserted.

Mike measured Bobby with his eyes and realized that he wasn't going to get out of this with an explanation. Bobby was a bully, if he couldn't get an answer now, he'd try beating it out of Mike later, though Mike would give him a good fight. Mike sighed as he quickly told the basic story. Even knowing Bobby, he was unprepared for the response.

"Heh, now the boy-girl is a girl. Figures. That's probably just some excuse to finally start wearing girl clothing like he always wanted," Bobby commented.

"You know what, Grant? You're an idiot." Mike walked away in disgust.

"What's the matter, Davidson? Did I upset you about your faggy little boyfriend?" Bobby taunted.

Mike just looked away from Bobby's taunts, but he could see the looks that the other players were giving him. For the rest of the game, Bobby would sneak in some comment about Audra when the coach wasn't in earshot. Mike just gritted his teeth, but the taunts were getting to him.

***

Audra watched most of the game with tears threatening her eyes. She wanted to be out there, with the team, but she couldn't and it was tearing her up. Thankfully, for Audra, Susie had kept quiet beyond the occasional cheer.

As the game ended, Audra climbed down from the stands and headed over to where her former teammates were celebrating their win. The coach had already given them instructions for the next practice and game and headed off, so all that was left were the players.

As Audra approached, Bobby stepped forward and greeted her with, "Hey sissy, what are you doing here amongst real men?"

Audra stopped in hurt and confusion. "What?"

"You heard me," Bobby replied. "We don't want no girly-boys around here."

Mike went to move forward, but several of his teammates stopped him. "Shut up... Oof!" Mike said as he was elbowed by one of Bobby's cronies.

Susie stepped in front of Audra. "What's your problem Grant?" She demanded.

"Fuck off Susie or you'll get hurt." Grant told her.

"Oh, such a man are you that you'll beat up on a girl?" Susie mocked him.

"Take your little girly brother out of here before I teach him to hang around." Bobby menaced.

"We're going, little boy, but you should be smart enough to figure out that Ken will rearrange your face if you touch my sister." Susie snarled back.

"Your sister?" Bobby started laughing. "I knew he was a little faggot." Audra's other teammates, except Mike, started laughing as well.

Susie gently tugged Audra, who was still standing in stunned silence. "Let's go."

Audra felt the tears flow as she quietly followed Susie to their bikes. Bobby's mocking voice called after them, "Bye, sissy boy, crybaby!"

With the mocking laughter of her teammates still ringing in her ears, Audra ignored the pain her bike caused as she followed Susie home.

***

"You're an asshole, Grant!" Mike accused as Audra and Susie rode off.

"Shut up, Davidson; are you some kind of faggot too?" Bobby taunted him. "I'll tell you what. We can treat you like one of us or as a little fairy. What do you want?"

"Aaron didn't have a choice."

"So you say. He's always been half girl; this is just some bullshit excuse so that he can pretend to be a girl like he always wanted. Who'd be stupid enough to believe a story like that?"

Mike didn't know what to say. He wanted to believe the story that his mother and Audra had told him, but even he thought it was a little far-fetched. He was still angry about Audra snapping at him earlier that he began to rationalize what Bobby Grant was saying as some sort of truth. "Uh..."

"Exactly! He's just some kind of freak that wants to pretend to be a girl." Bobby asserted.

Mike's mind was assaulted with all of the events that had taken place and he began to accept the easy way out offered by Bobby. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I wouldn't have ever known it, but I guess he just turned into some sissy fairy."

***

Audra had buried herself in her room shortly after arriving home. Marianne was already quizzing Susie on the events.

"I can't believe that they'd be that mean," Marianne exclaimed.

"I know, Mommy, but they were. If it wasn't for the threat of Ken, they might have attacked her," Susie replied.

"I'm going up to see her," Marianne decided, leaving Susie to trail along behind. As they entered Audra's bedroom, they could see a dim glow from under the bathroom door and hear the sounds of crying.

"Audra, open up the door," Marianne requested.

"Please go away," Audra begged as Marianne tried to open the bathroom door only to find it locked.

"Audra, open this door this minute!" Marianne ordered, getting worried.

"No! Please go away," Audra cried again.

Marianne turned to Susie, "Call Ken and get him here now!"

Susie darted off to call her, hoping he was close by.

"Audra! It'll be okay, sweetie, I promise you!" Marianne called through the door.

"It'll never be okay, Mommy, nothing is okay anymore." Audra said softly.

"Audra, open the door! I can help!" Marianne cried, tears rolling down her cheeks as she prayed silently for Ken to hurry up.

"The pain will be gone soon, Mommy. I'm sorry," came the sleepy sounding reply from behind the door.

Ken burst into the bedroom. "Open this door!" Marianne ordered him.

Ken thundered into the door with his large frame, smashing it open only to be greeted with the site of his new sister lying in a pool of her own blood.

"Call an ambulance! Now!" He ordered his mother as he reacted quickly by wrapping towels around Audra's wrists. Fortunately, he realized, she had cut them horizontally rather than along the vein and the bleeding wasn't as profuse as it could have been.

"Hurry up!" He cried as he cradled Audra in his arms, catching the faint sounds of the ambulance in the distance.

Chapter 13: Aftermath

"She's going to be okay, physically, but the mental scars are quite deep," Sheila Coulson told the Wilsons.

James sighed as he looked at his new daughter sleeping, strapped into the hospital bed, her wrists wrapped in bandages. "What can we do?" He asked.

"Right now? I don't know. I have to talk to her and find out what happened." Sheila told him.

"I know some of the events," Marianne said. "Susie was telling me before I found Audra like this."

"What did Susie say?" Sheila asked.

"Her baseball teammates made some very hurtful comments; Susie wouldn't tell me any details. She was quite upset for Audra."

"Hmm... I was afraid something like that might happen. Children can be very hurtful."

***

"Mommy?" Audra croaked our, her throat sore and dry.

"She's not here right now, Audra."

"Sheila?"

"Yes, sweetie. Do you want a sip of ginger ale?"

"Yes, please."

Sheila held the straw to Audra's lips as she drank. "You gave us all quite a scare young lady."

"I'm sorry. I was trying to end the pain."

"I know. It wouldn't have worked though."

"What do you mean?"

"Audra," Sheila explained, "your parents and family love you a great deal. Had you succeeded in suicide, you would have caused them a great deal of pain."

"It hurts so much. How can they be so mean?"

"The kids on your baseball team?"

"Uh huh," Audra nodded.

"Kids can be like that, Audra, but you can't let them win."

"Why am I tied up?" Audra asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"We don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Oh."

"Do you really want to die, Audra?"

"No. I couldn't think of anything else though, it hurt so much. Even Mike..."

"Mike?"

"He was my best friend."

"What did Mike do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing, nothing at all. He didn't even help me!" Audra burst into tears.

Sheila released the straps from the bed and pulled Audra close to her. She gently rocked Audra as she cried out her frustration and hurt from betrayal.

***

"She feels betrayed by Mike, her best friend," Sheila stated.

"Mike? They've always been so close!" Marianne exclaimed.

"Hence the betrayal. When Audra was being verbally attacked by her other teammates, she felt that Mike had not stepped in to defend her."

***

"Michael Davidson!"

The young boy looked up at the figure of his mother standing at the doorway. "What?"

"What did you do?"

Mike looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Audra is in the hospital again."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"She tried to commit suicide."

"What?!?" Mike felt faint.

"Tell me what happened, young man."

***

"So, you thought what Bobby Grant said was reasonable?" June Davidson asked.

"Well, it made sense. It's a pretty weird story." Mike replied, defensively.

"Did you think I would lie to you?"

"Well, no. I..."

"You what? You listened to some juvenile infant who doesn't have a clue?"

"Umm..." Mike was beginning to feel foolish and not a little ashamed of himself, his mother had never lied to him before.

"I think you owe Audra one very large apology."

"I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"You're right, Mom. I'm sorry."

"You're telling that to the wrong person. Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the hospital. You're going to make your apology to the person that deserves it. The person that has deserved far more than you have shown so far."

***

Audra looked up at the knock on the door. "Come in," she directed.

Mike poked his head around the corner, "Hi."

"What do you want?" Audra asked coldly.

Mike winced. "I, uh, wanted to apologize."

Audra continued staring at him.

"Look Audra, I'm really sorry. Honestly. You've been my best friend since we could talk and I should have been there for you. I was an asshole. I could have tried more to defend you, but I was stupid and I was afraid what the others would think."

"Yeah, you should have."

Mike winced, again. "I deserve that. I don't want to lose you as a friend; you've been my brother when I needed you."

Audra snorted at that. "I can hardly be your brother now."

"Well, I've never had a really cool sister either."

Audra laughed, "I guess not."

"Friends?"

"Friends." Audra held out her arms. Mike didn't hesitate, he hugged his best friend.

Chapter 14: Home Again

After a couple of days in the hospital and many sessions with Sheila, Audra was pronounced fit to return home. Marie, the day nurse, entered Audra's room to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. "Hey cupcake, are you almost ready?" Marie called out.

"I'm coming!" Audra called back as she turned off the shower. She wrapped a towel around her hair as Marie had showed her and dried herself off. Tucking the towel under her arms, she walked into the main room.

"All clean?" Marie smiled.

Audra sniffed under her arm, "I think so."

"Okay scamp, let's get you dressed." Marie laughed.

Audra grimaced at the denim skirt that was laid out on the bed. "None of that missy," Marie told her. "You remember what Sheila said."

Audra sighed, "I know, I have to become more comfortable being a girl."

"That's right. It's important Audra. We all love you dearly, but we'd rather that your visits to the hospital were for good reasons."

Audra stepped into the panties as she nodded at Marie. "No pad?"

"The doctor thinks that you've healed enough not to need it anymore."

"They're more comfy without the pad," Audra noted.

"I know, but they are part of the joys of womanhood."

"Even for me?"

"Well, not in the future since you won't face periods, but at least you have had the experience and that is something."

Audra sighed with relief. Susie had started her periods before the summer and was often cranky. Audra didn't want to have to go through that, knowing that she wouldn't have periods made Audra feel much better about the whole girl thing. While she knew she couldn't have babies, she hadn't made that connection with periods.

Audra put on the skirt and top. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Marie asked.

"What?"

"Your bra. You're just starting, but you need to get used to it."

"Oh." Audra took off her top and struggled into the training bra before putting the top back on.

"Better." Marie smiled.

Just as Audra was doing up her sandals, Marianne and Susie entered the room. "Oh good, you're all dressed." Marianne noted.

"Hi mommy, hi Susie."

"Ready to go home?" Marianne asked.

"Born ready!"

As Marie wheeled Audra down the hall, Susie told her that she looked nice.

"Thanks. Sheila wants me to wear skirts and dresses though."

"What's wrong with that?" Susie asked.

"Nothing, I guess, it's just..."

"You look good in skirts, Audra. You have great legs."

"Susie!" Audra exclaimed.

"Well, you do!"

"I'm only eleven."

"Yeah, but by the time you're my age, the boys will be falling all over themselves to date you."

"I don't want to think about that."

***

"You have to help with keeping an eye on her, Ken," James was explaining.

"I thought Sheila said she was past the suicide bid," Ken commented.

"She is, for now, but the events that triggered it are going to happen again."

"Not unless they enjoy being pretzels!"

"It's life, Ken, she'll get hurt sometimes. Just try to help her past that."

"Right."

"Sounds like they're home." James noted as the two hurried to front door.

"Daddy!" Audra cried as she entered the house.

James swept her into a bear hug. "Welcome back, slugger."

***

"Susie, it's a beautiful day, why don't you and Audra go down to the park?" Marianne suggested.

"Okay. Let's go Audra," Susie agreed.

"Umm..." Audra hedged.

"You need some sun Audra, you've been cooped up in hospital rooms almost all summer and you're looking pale. Summer is almost over and you should enjoy what's left of it while you can," Marianne told her.

"Okay," Audra replied reluctantly as Susie led her out the door.

***

"Relax Audra, you look like you're coming apart at the seams," Susie instructed as they walked to the park.

"I'm nervous. What if Bobby Grant is there?" Audra asked.

"He won't do anything, he's afraid of Ken. Any boy with sense is afraid of Ken."

"Ken isn't here."

"Doesn't matter, Bobby would have a lot of running to do to get away."

Audra looked a bit more reassured. When they got to the park, there was already a large group of kids playing on the equipment and a couple of Susie's friends hanging out on the nearby grass chatting. "Hey, there's Dana and Julie, let's go hang out," Susie suggested. Not having any better ideas, Audra followed her sister over to the two.

"Hey Susie, who's the new girl?" Dana Clarke asked as the two newcomers plopped down into the grass.

"You know her Dana; this is Audra, my sister."

"Sister! I thought you had two brothers," Julie, Dana's twin sister, questioned.

"You didn't hear?" Susie asked as Audra looked uncomfortable.

"Hear what?" Julie asked.

"I heard Bobby Grant mouthing off about Aaron..." Dana trailed off looking at Audra closely. "Aaron?"

Audra shook her head, "Not any more, it's Audra now."

"I don't get it," Julie confessed.

"Bobby said that Mike had claimed that Aaron was really badly hurt and the doctors made him into a girl. Bobby didn't believe it, he figured Aaron was just a sissy and using it as an excuse," Dana explained.

"So, are you a girl?" Julie asked.

"She is," Susie confirmed before Audra could answer. Susie could see that Audra was becoming upset at the direction of the conversation.

"What happened?" Dana asked.

Audra sighed and nodded at Susie to tell the story.

***

The Clarke twins stared at Audra with astonishment and sympathy as Susie finished the tale. For herself, Audra was struggling with the inner demons that arose every time she thought about what had happened and why.

"Oh my God," Julie exclaimed, "that's terrible!"

Audra started crying as the three girls gathered her up. "Hey, don't cry Audra," Dana soothed, "we can help you."

"Help me?" Audra sniffled as she looked at the girls.

"Sure, we'll form a club!"

Susie looked at Dana, not really surprised because Dana was famous for starting clubs, she wanted clubs for everything. Susie figured it was because Dana liked the whole 'secret society' idea of them. "What kind of club?" Susie asked.

Chapter 15: The Girls Club

"So, here's the deal," Dana explained. "Audra is new to this whole girl thing and so she has a lot to learn. We have years of experience being girls, so we can teach her."

"Why do we need a club?" Audra asked.

Dana and Julie looked at Audra like she had grown a second head. "Silly, a club makes it more formal," Julie explained as if that answered the question.

Audra looked confused by the answer, but shrugged. "Okay, but what do I have to learn?"

"Lot's of stuff, you'll see. Being a girl is a lot different than being a boy," Dana assured her.

Audra didn't think so, other than the sitting down to pee thing, but she wisely kept that to herself. Not only that, she was sure that she really didn't have the experience to make that judgment call herself. So, Audra nodded.

"What's first?" Susie asked.

"Shopping!" Dana and Julie chorused at the same time.

"Gee guys, let's hit the biggest stereotype first why don't we," Susie teased.

Dana shrugged, "Shopping's fun. Do you think Ken'll take us?"

"I don't know, we can ask..." Susie hedged.

"Cool, let's go!"

Audra followed the girls with a sinking feeling that control of her life was slipping out of her grasp. Still, the enthusiasm from the Clarke twins and the fact that Audra really needed some new friends helped her decide to go along.

***

Ken looked up from the book he was reading poolside as several shadows darkened him. Staring up at four girls, Ken figured that the only possible thing that they could want was for him to take them to the mall. Sighing, Ken asked, "What's up?"

"How would you like to help our new club?" Dana asked him.

"In what way?"

"Well, we're trying to teach Audra about being a girl," Susie started to explain.

"And what better way to start than at the mall!" Julie filled in.

Ah ha, Ken thought to himself, I knew it. "What does the mall have to do with that?" He asked.

"It's a girl thing," Dana assured him.

Ken rolled his eyes as he thought about it. "Okay, but you two have to ask your parents first," he agreed.

"Oh, thank you! We already did," Dana smiled at him.

Ken thought that Audra didn't look especially thrilled with the idea of shopping, but he figured that she needed to get out and about with girls close to his age and begin learning. Getting up from the lounge chair, he smiled at his new sister and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Alright, meet me at the car; I have to get changed first."

***

Ken dropped the girls off at the entrance. "I'm going to park the car and hang out at the video games store or the book store. Come find me when you're ready to go."

"Okay," Susie told him, "we'll see you later. Let's go!"

"Where to first?" Julie asked.

***

Audra trailed the other three girls around the department store as they began digging through the huge racks of clothing. It was just like any other shopping experience, Audra decided, boring, boring, and more boring.

"Hey Audra, why aren't you looking?" Dana asked.

"I dunno..."

"Well, get a grip, girl, this is a part of your training!"

"Umm, okay." Audra began casually browsing through the racks of clothing, without really seeing anything that would even begin to interest her.

Susie poked her head up from a rack. "Did you find anything?" She asked Audra.

Audra grabbed the first thing her hand came in contact with and pulled it out. It was a skirt with black and red vertical stripes.

"You can't wear that!" Julie told her as the other three looked at her selection.

"Why not?"

Julie sighed, "You're too thin and the stripes will make you look like a pipe cleaner."

"I don't get it."

"Stripes are tricky," Julie explained. "Vertical stripes make you look slimmer and horizontal stripes make you look wider."

"I thought it was good to look slim."

"It is, when you need the help, and you don't need the help."

"What should I be looking for then? I don't know anything about girl's clothes."

Dana put her arm around Audra's shoulders. "Well, my dear, solids are what you need. Let me show you..."

***

"Come on Audra, let us see!" Susie called into the change room.

"It's too short!"

"It's supposed to be short, it's a mini-skirt! That's why they call it mini!"

"I still think it's too short."

"Just come out and let us see," Susie instructed.

Reluctantly, Audra came out of the change room trying to tug the red skirt lower. It must have been at least four inches above her knee and she felt completely exposed wearing it. She blushed at the sudden wolf whistles from the three other girls.

"Wow, that's hot!" Dana declared.

"I'm only eleven; I'm not supposed to be hot."

"Nonsense," Dana decided. "You won't be eleven forever. It fits perfect."

"Well, mom would kill me if I let her buy it," Susie noted. Audra sighed in relief and hurried back into the change room.

"Spoilsport," Dana told Susie with a grin.

"Shopping is making me hungry," Julie commented. "Let's go to the food court when Audra comes out." The other girls nodded in agreement.

***

The four girls found a table to eat their lunch. Susie had convinced Audra to go a bit lighter than her usual up-sized burger and fries combination. "Trust me Audra; girls have to watch their weight. If you keep eating that stuff you'll balloon right up. Nobody treats big girls nicely." Reluctantly, Audra got a chicken salad and diet pop, if only to shut Susie up.

"You know what we need to do?" Dana asked in general.

"What?" Susie prompted.

"We need to have a sleepover!"

"That's perfect! Let me ask my mom, but we have to have it my place," Susie told her.

"Why?"

"Well, Audra has some medical stuff to do at night and it's easier for her at home."

"Oh."

A shadow fell over the table. "Well, well, if it isn't the sissy-boy."

"What do you want, Bobby?" Susie snarled at him.

"Oh, nothing much, me and my pals decided to have some fun."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, we have a little sissy here and it's fun to pick on sissies."

"Audra isn't a sissy!" Dana exclaimed.

"My sister doesn't need your crap, Bobby," Susie told him.

Bobby laughed at them. "Little boy playing at being a girl. Maybe we should teach him how to be a girl, huh guys?" The four other boys clustered behind Bobby laughed.

"Maybe if you run now, Ken won't rip your head off," Susie warned.

Bobby snapped Audra's bra. "Look, the little sissy is wearing a bra too! Skirts, panties, bra, you're a real something there Wilson."

"Leave me alone, Bobby, I haven't done anything to you!" Audra cried.

"Aw, poor little sissy-boy," Bobby mocked. "I ain't afraid of Ken."

"Really?" Ken asked as he lifted Bobby by the scruff of his neck. Ken had wandered down to the food court because he'd gotten thirsty and had spotted the girls being harassed by the five boys. "You're not very smart are you, Grant?"

"Let me go, we weren't doing anything!" The other boys started to back away.

"Bullshit! Let me explain something to you little assholes: if I even catch word of you picking on my sisters I'll make you look like a pretzel. And just so it's really clear to you, Audra is my sister through no fault of her own. She has more guts than you little cowards could ever hope to have and you had better make it a policy to stay away from her. Get it?"

"Yes," Bobby squeaked out.

Ken dropped him. "Now get lost before I change my mind and feed you to the garbage can." The five took off, but not before Bobby Grant flashed Audra a dark look full of hate, a look only Audra and Dana, who sat beside her, saw.

***

"Why is Bobby Grant so hard on her?" Marianne asked.

"He's just a bully," Ken stated.

"He's like his father. His father is a bigot and a bully and he's teaching his son to be like that," James told them both.

"Why? He's well educated and carries a respected position in the community."

"I don't know Mari. Education doesn't always change someone's basic nature."

"Well, the girls want to have a sleepover tonight and I think it would be a great idea," Mari informed James in a complete non sequitur.

"Oh no, four teen or pre-teen girls? Here?" Ken exclaimed.

James laughed at him, "You're too big for them to do anything mean to."

"It's the noise..."

"Oh, stuff it you two!" Mari exclaimed, shaking her head in amusement.

Chapter 16: I thought this was a sleepover!

Dana and Julie had rushed home and grabbed their overnight stuff in record time. They had both figured that this was going to be a novel experience for the two of them, given the changes Audra had gone through, and they were excited. After all, it's not often that newly minted teenage girls get a chance to be the wise teachers of womanly arts!

After the twins had returned, the four girls had gathered in Susie's room to plan the evening out.

"Okay, because Audra is new to all of this, we need a plan for her education," Dana explained.

"A plan?" Audra asked, a little nervous.

"Sure! I mean, you aren't going to learn everything in one night, but we can have a crash course in some of the basic things."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's makeup, clothes, how to walk, boys..."

"Boys?!?" Audra practically shouted.

"Yes, boys!" Susie chimed in. "You need to start learning about boys."

"I already know all about boys."

"No you don't!" Came the response in unison from the three girls.

"Look Audra," Susie explained, "you only know boys from one side of the fence, but you are on the other side now. I know you're only eleven, but you're pretty and will get prettier as you get older. Boys are going to hit on you; it's just the way they're wired."

"They won't hit on me," Audra insisted. "I'm not really a girl."

"Hah, have you looked in a mirror lately?" Julie asked.

"Looking like one and being one are different. I can't have babies you know."

"Do you think that's all there is to being a woman, Audra?" Marianne asked from the doorway.

"Um..."

"Let me help you a bit sweetheart, I don't think you understand what being a woman means. I think it's time we had this discussion. Come with me for a little bit. I promise, girls, that I'll bring her right back."

"Um, okay, mommy."

Marianne led Audra to her bedroom and sat her on the bed. "Many women, Audra, go through life unable to bear children. Sometimes it is an injury, sometimes it is just an accident of nature, and sometimes it's deliberate. However it happens, it happens. Not all men can father children either and for the same reasons. Being unable to bear children doesn't make a woman less a woman anymore than being unable to father children makes a man less a man. Being a woman is a state of being, it is both conscious and subconscious, and is defined by much more than a womb."

Audra nodded silently, but her mind was beginning to trace a path through this explanation.

Marianne continued, "Part of being a woman is caring and loving, nurturing the life around them. You have a lot of that in you already."

"Why was I made into a girl, mommy, when fathering children doesn't make you a man? I don't understand."

Marianne sighed, she had dreaded this question and her sharp-minded child had seen the implication quickly. "One of the great treasures of life, Audra, is the ability to meet someone and become intimate with them. You're a little young to understand what that means, but as you grow older it will become clearer."

"You're right mommy, I don't understand."

"Audra, the options that the doctor gave us left us with three choices. Two of those choices would have taken away the ability of you to experience the intimacy that adults in love experience. The third option, the one we chose, gave you a chance to have that. Knowing what we know, we couldn't take that chance away."

"But I wasn't meant to be a girl."

"Perhaps, but can you be sure? Maybe this is the direction that God has chosen for you. You are beautiful and loving. You possess the abilities within you to be a wonderful woman. This doesn't make Aaron less of man than he might have become, don't ever believe that, but Audra is as much a woman as Aaron was a man and that makes you very special."

Audra hugged her mother. "Thank you, mommy."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Now why don't you run along back to the sleepover?"

"Okay," Audra smiled.

***

"Hey, I thought this was a sleepover!" Julie grumped.

"I'm sorry," Audra apologized.

Dana waved it away. "No big deal. Where were we? Oh yeah, boys!"

Audra groaned.

"No, really, you've got to learn about boys."

"Okay," Audra sighed, "What's the big deal about boys?"

"Well, right now they're kind of dirty and smelly, but that changes," Julie inserted.

"Huh?"

Susie smacked Julie on the head. "Don't listen to her, not all boys are dirty and smelly. Anyways, at some point, boys start to become interesting to girls and girls start to become interesting to boys."

"Yeah, Mike is hot!" Dana inserted, blushing.

"What?!?" Audra asked, surprised.

"Well, he is!" Dana asserted defensively.

"He's too young for you," Susie noted.

"Hah! He's only a year younger than me."

Audra started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Dana demanded.

"He doesn't like girls."

"That'll change," Dana said confidently.

"Oh?"

"Yep. That's what we're trying to tell you. The boys in my class make themselves silly trying to impress us girls, but the year before you would have thought that we carried a disease."

"Um..." Audra blushed, "Well, I guess that's true. I mean that's how us guys thought anyways. You know, cooties and all."

"Well girl, you've got 'em now!" Julie laughed as the others giggled.

"So, why do I have to worry about boys? They'll all know what happened."

"Because, silly, you'll be too cute for them to remember," said Susie.

"Huh?"

"She's a little slow, you know," Julie said in a stage whisper to Dana, winking at Audra.

"Boy's don't think with their brains when they get to that age," Susie explained further.

"I don't get it."

The three other girls gave dramatic sighs at the same time. "They think with their willy," Dana added.

"How would they do that?" Audra asked innocently, sending the others off into peals of laughter. "Well? I don't know what that means!"

"Um..." Susie paused, realizing that she really didn't get it either. "It means that they only think of sex."

"Really?"

"I think so." Susie didn't sound entirely convinced.

"Didn't Audra get new clothes?" Julie asked, distracting everyone.

Audra nodded.

"Fashion show! Fashion show!"

Notes:

Readers, Please Remember to Leave a Comment

Want to comment but don't want to open an account?
Anyone can log in as Guest Reader -- password topshelf to leave a comment.