Another Me

Left alone, I finished eating, reading my morning texts, and got ready for my jog to school. There were only a few texts and most of those had come in last night.

The first one was from Victoria [I saw the ending of your show and I’m so sorry. I forgot you forgot about Janet’s drive to be famous, or I would have reminded you]

Janet [Are you ok? You seem mad.]

Victoria [Normally she’s ok but forgets about others when she thinks about being on TV]

Victoria [I’m really sorry. You normally volunteered before, so it just seemed normal, and I didn’t think much]

Ann [Can you please talk to Janet, she feels awful]

Ann [Talk to you tomorrow… ok?]

I stepped out of the apartment building and could see my breath came out in little puffs of steam as I made my way to school. The temperature was starting to drop, and it was starting to get too cold to wear my normal shorts and tank-top, and I made a mental note to order something more appropriate.

Jogging helped me to think which was why I enjoyed it so much, and by the time I got to school I felt better and had a plan to deal with Janet. Unless she apologized, I would distance myself a little at a time. Even if she did, I still couldn't trust her like I had before. A friend that could torment somebody as a “joke” wasn't a good one. But judging off her only text she didn’t see anything wrong with her actions but knowing how she is, I could avoid such things again. So, with a plan in mind, I worked out and practiced my magic with peace of mind.

When I walked into homeroom, Janet was with Ann. They stood by my desk, so it was obvious they were waiting for me. It was like they were going to do an intervention. Seriously? I mentally sighed and walked over. I already figured Janet didn’t understand why I was angry but hearing her ask, “Are you angry with me?” as soon as I got close, made me want to slap her. She looked baffled at the very concept.

Right then, I decided to start distancing and gave a perfunctory reply, “It’s fine.” I saw Ann’s disbelief on her face as I replied but I didn’t care. I wasn’t some holy saint and wasn’t going to pander to them to sooth their feelings. The fact I exchanged my “life” as a joke really pissed me off. I didn’t like being toyed with, much less for anothers amusements. But even though I was angry, I kept my face neutral.

Janet looked relieved by my reply and turned to Ann, “See I told you she was angry about something else.” She turned back to me and continued, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Ann glanced between us and with a complex look finally said, “Well, as long as you’re not mad. Still, you should know that those shows make the contestants sign contracts and force them to follow it. The two boys, that told their friends about the secret, had been kicked off the show and need to pay the breach of contract fees. Janet thought you knew it was going to be the Halloween episode and didn’t think you believe in ghosts.” Ann kept making excuses until Victoria arrived and class began. And all of them were believable and if Janet had been the one saying them, it might have eased my anger. Instead, Janet just stood there happy I wasn’t angry with her, and I questioned the other me’s judgement on making friends

School went as normal with only a few exceptions. The first came when I was going to lunch. The boy who had stuffed the pink letter with hearts and had invited me to a concert stopped me with an angry look on his face. In the middle of the crowded hallway, he started berating me, “How dare you lead me on. I waited for you at the concert, but you never showed. Why would you take my ticket, led me to believe you were going and then sell it?”

As he yelled, those in the hall began to surround us to watch the show. He just picked the wrong day to fuck with me and with a sneer, I snapped back, “Who the hell are you? You stuff an envelope into my hand, babble something about a concert and ran away. Give you hope? I never said two words to you until now, so either get out of my way or we can test the school's policies about fighting inside it.”

But in this body my intimidation value was apparently in the negatives because he stepped closer and reached out to grab me. I didn’t know what he wanted to do but quickly used my footwork to flash to the side. When he failed, he looked even angrier and yelled, “Who doesn’t know you use men because you’re poor. I heard how you slept with a man for money. What, do I need to pay in advance? Here...” He reached back, pulled out his wallet and pulled out a bunch of money before throwing it in my direction.

The money fluttered to the floor as my anger took over my rational thoughts, and I pounced on him without a sound. I led with a flying punch to his face, followed by a foot sweep, and when he flopped to the floor, I finished it with a few kicks to his ribs. Only when he laid there groaning did I speak. “Who told you such bullshit?”

Instead, fire started pouring off of him as he got to his knees. I looked at the bleeding boy as he got up from the ground. Judging from the crooked angle of his nose it was probably broken. But he ignored the pain as he stared at me with murder in his eyes. I took a fighting stance and was a little sad that my punch hadn’t knocked him out. Before I would have had to hold back not to put a person in the hospital, now I just made them angrier even at my full strength.

Whatever, if one punch doesn’t work. Hit’m again. I shifted closer to the lockers as he sent a column of flames my way. I didn’t try dodging but waited, ready to send a kick at his head once the school’s anti-magic kicked in. I wasn’t disappointed. As his flames got closer, metal squares began to suck up his magic. They were the same boxes we used in music class and were scattered around the school to keep the kids from blowing it up… or sneaking into the girls’ locker rooms. The last one being the more likely to happen.

Seeing my chance, I dashed in his direction. But I didn’t take more than a step before I found myself being grabbed by somebody from behind and being pulled away from my target. I struggled like a wild cat, trying to break free and only calmed down when I heard a voice saying, “Calm down, calm down, there’s no fighting in school.” It was only after hearing his voice I knew it was the teacher Mr. Stagnik. Some of my anger diminished as he led me away. Meanwhile another teacher had blocked between us and the boy.

I was taken to the office while I was trying to figure out who could have told him such a thing. I couldn’t help thinking about the night I babysat and who knew about it. If that was what he was talking about, only a few people knew I went. But more importantly, they’d have to know that the man liked to sleep with little girls. I was worried. What if they had proof?

I was left to wait and worry. Because of that, I was sure I was going to miss lunch today until they brought me a tray of food. I didn’t get to select what I wanted but at least I could eat. It was only after lunch that I was brought into the disciplinary office. The boy I beat up was brought in as well but apparently, I didn’t hit him hard enough because his nose was back to normal on that arrogant face of his.

The person in charge of discipline was a stern looking man that looked like he should be a military instructor. The name placard read ‘Mr. Peebody’ which didn’t fit his image at all. He took out a folder and looked at me. “Hello Stephanie, we meet again. I thought you told me you weren’t going to fight in school anymore. Well, anything you want to say for yourself?”

I already heard I got into fights before but hadn’t put two and two together to realize that I had been sent here before. But I still defended myself, “This boy called me a whore and threw money at me. He’s lucky I left him the use of his legs.” Peebody frowned as I talked, and I wasn’t sure if it was from what the boy said or my threat of doing more damage to him. Maybe it was both.

“Is what she said true?”

The boy shifted a little before replying, “No, all I did was accuse her of leading me on, taking my concert ticket and then selling it. It is all true, but to cover it up she attacked me.”

He looked at a black opal that was built into his desk and frowned. “I see. Well, you can think about why you shouldn’t cause a ruckus in the hallways and lie to me during detention, after school, for the rest of the week. You can go.”

The boy looked unwilling but still got up and walked to out the door. Mr. Peebody didn’t speak until the door closed again. As soon as it did, he started talking again. “Stephanie, I told you that you needed to learn to control your anger or people can use it against you. Can’t you see that you were set up? Honestly, that boy was just a pawn, but the magic I have at my disposal and what I can do is limited. I can't go beyond my ‘station’. Do you want me to call your mother? She might be able to apply pressure on the school and find out more than I can.”

I quickly shook my head. She had enough going on. Plus, the way he said station made me think there was some rich kid involved and complaining might drag my mom and me into even more trouble. The odds of that complication were around fifty, fifty. It wasn’t something worth risking unless it escalates. “No, I’ll be ok and will ask a teacher for help if he bothers me again.”

He nodded reluctantly but finally said, “Let me know if you change your mind. I also can’t let you off, even if he deserved it, so report to in-school detention tomorrow for fighting in school. I agree that what he said was wrong, but there were better ways you could have handled it. Think about it.” With that he let me leave.

Because of the delay, my dance class was almost over by the time I changed and got there. I was quickly informed; we would be doing group dances. I had already been assigned into one because I was late. Luckily, it was only small groupings to start, and I knew the two in my group. Hanna had pulled me into her group with Bethany. We talked, but it was mostly them filling me in on what we had to do by the end of the week.

But I still started with, “I’m sorry I was late, but I have bad news. I’ll have to miss class tomorrow as well. I got into a fight earlier.”

Hanna replied with a cheerful tone, as if she found what I did humorous, “We heard what happened, but we should still try and get together. Did you just get in-school, or do you have to report after school as well? Our group project is based off our choreograph, technique, presentation and overall performance. And missing even one class may show. Plus, you should be part of the planning. If we do well, we might be able to stay together for the five person groupings.”

After hearing that, what could I say, “I agree, I don’t have after school detention, but I only have tonight free. Do you want to meet after school? Maybe we can get a room to practice in.”

Bethany shook her head, and said, “No need. We can use my apartment. I can have my boyfriend remove the table and it should be big enough. We’ll just have to restrict our jumps until we get to class. If that’s okay with everybody, I’ll message him, and we can go there after school.”

“Will he mind?” I asked. I didn’t really know her and wasn’t that keen on going to her place. It’s just that it was my fault we couldn’t practice in class.

She gave me a once over like she did when I first met her in the locker room and with the same smile, “No, he definitely won’t mind more girls coming over to our place.”

Her words did nothing to reassure me, but Hanna (the pig teammate) chimed in before I could, “Great, getting a room to practice in is such a hassle. The last time they put us in an English room, and we spent half the time moving the desks out of the way and back.”

“Great, meet me by the flagpole after school and he can drive us over. I’ll text him now.” She pulled out her phone and started typing before I could say a word.

She had turned her back to the teacher but waited until the teacher wasn’t looking before stuffing it back between her breasts. With a look of satisfaction, she said, “There! All taken care of.”

I looked at them and resigned myself to fate. My skintight leotard and spandex shorts didn’t allow me to bring my phone. And unlike Bethany, I wasn’t willing to keep it where she kept hers. So, I had to wait until after class and in the locker room before sending my mom a text, [I need to practice after school will be home late, is that ok?]

Because of the delay, I was only half undressed when Victoria rushed over to me, “Are you ok? I heard a nasty rumor that you got taken to the office.” She didn’t seem to mind that I was topless at the moment. Honestly, neither did I. As a guy, I had gone around topless when it was hot, so it didn’t take me long to get use to walking around the locker room when most of the other girls did the same. But as she grabbed my shoulders, making my D’s jiggle, sway and brush against her DDs as she moved me to face her.

When I first arrived in this world, we had experimented as little. It was mostly me bringing her off, but her naked, moaning figure that was still as vivid as it was when I saw it last. And that’s what popped into my head we brushed against each other. I froze and held my breath, as the memory played in my head.

“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to mention anything?” Janet’s voice came from behind me as Victoria was making sure I was still in one piece, breaking me out of my thoughts.

It wasn’t like the half peeled off leotard could hide any injuries, so Victoria quickly let go with a “Sorry”. So, I was free to see that Ann was right behind Janet. I watched her roll her eyes before adding, “Well, at least she didn’t mention the rumor that sprang out of nowhere.”

“Like you just did?”

Victoria moved beside me to her locker and said, “Don’t mind them. As long as you're ok, we’ll ignore what others say.”

I figured what the rumor was, but I only cared a little, so I said what I thought, “It doesn’t matter. I wasn’t planning on dating and if they are stupid enough to say it to my face, I’ll deal with them. I just want to know who started the rumor so I can let them know how I truly feel.” I stressed the word ‘feel’ while trying to keep an eye on all of them. I wanted to see if they reacted to my implied threat. For either good or bad, I didn’t see anything.

I peeled the rest of the tight leotard off and started to get dressed as I continued, “Whoever started it must not know me well. I don’t care about such slander.”

Ann pulled off her gym clothes, revealing several hickeys on her flat chest and bruises along her thin, skinny legs. I glanced away because to me she looked like a ten-year-old that had been sexually abused, even though I knew we were the same age, and I was being hypocritical because I also wasn’t innocent. So, I didn’t see her expression as she added, “But I heard he has pictures and that he’s going to post them on the school forum.”

My body stiffened but I still managed to get out, “Must be fake.” But inside, I was panicking.  I tend to bury any of my thoughts I didn’t want to remember, stuff them deep inside, and lock them away. I was frantically trying to recall if Tim, the man I babysat for, had recorded us? I knew he was a director and because of that, I had looked around a little to see if he had any hidden cameras. But after recording the show, I knew this world’s cameras were easier to hide or looked different than what I was expecting them to, because I never found any in the house we searched.

I felt cold as I thought about being recorded. I did feel any warmer as I finished dressing. I still pretended to be fine as I walked out of the locker room and waited for the others to shower. I was deep in thought and barely noticed students glancing at me as they walked by. Victoria hooked my arm and pulled me along. We walked arm-in-arm until she had to part ways. But she didn’t leave right away. She gave me a concerned look and whispered, “Want me to come over tonight? My dad has to work a double and won’t be home. I could stay over, and he won’t know.”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that. Let me text my mom… again. I remembered I hadn’t told them about my dance practice after school and quickly added, “I can’t drive with you guys today.” and told her about being grouped but unable to practice in school, while typing on my phone. I pressed send as I finished, [Mom, can Victoria sleep over. Her dad has to work.]

But she must have been busy because she still hadn’t replied to my first message, much less the one I just sent. Still, I said, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll try to get home as soon as possible, and we can hang out after that.”

“Ok, I have to go. I’ll wait for your text and then come down.”

I smiled as I walked to class, the fear I had was still there but the thought that I had at least had her, a friend I could rely on made it bearable. And I spent the rest of school in a mixture of stressed-out worry and anticipation of spending the night with my friend