No Man’s Land

I shouted, “Game! Girls win!” Cheers erupted from the team. Katie got caught up in it, but she seemed to turn away slightly after. I’m not sure what I think about her yet. I definitely don’t think she’s already out like Maria does, but I think it’ll be fun to find out.

Speaking of fun, it’s time to have some fun at these boys’ expense! Maria propped her racket against her hip and sassed, “Seeing as you lost the bet, it’s time for you to pay up.” She called over to me. “Jackie, can you gather up their cards?”

I gave a mock salute. “Sure thing, Cap.” I began my circuit with the spectating boys. They all had such lame excuses. 

“I don’t have a card.”

“Don’t worry,” I snarked, “We take cash.” 

“My parents monitor my spending. They told me to only use this for emergencies.”

“Well, you’ll just have to explain this emergency situation to them.”

When I finished my loop, I went back to the court to get the cards of the boys who made this possible in the first place. Brock was brow-beating Jaleel. He scolded, “This is all your fault! I should get Coach Lance to kick you from the team because clearly you aren’t showing effort!”

Jaleel took a huge breath through his nose. His calm demeanor finally shifted. He fumed, “You know what, go tell the coach! Go tell the coach I quit!” He stormed off towards the parking lot. 

Before Brock could unleash his impotent rage, I tapped him on the shoulder. “Money please,” I sang with my hand out. He ripped out his wallet and flung it at my chest. He ordered the rest of his goons to return to the locker room. His little temper tantrum meant very little when we were about to go on a shopping spree on his dime.

I still had one more card to collect so I broke out into a jog. “Jaleel!” I called out, “Wait up!” He paused and turned around as soon as he heard me. 

He said, “Hey, I’m really sorry about what happened back there.” His brown eyes oozed with sincerity. He continued, “I don’t know that girl, but they were really out of line saying that stuff. I should’ve done more to stop it.

This level of grace was not what I expected. “I’ll let Katie know how you feel after you give me your card.” 

“Oh! Right, that.” He fumbled around for his wallet. “I really need to stand up for myself more when these silly bets get made.” He, unlike everyone else, politely handed me his card. 

I took it, pulled out a highlighter, and wrote my number on it before handing it back to him. I offered, “Maybe you could take me out sometime. You seem a lot less toxic than those other guys.”

He had this giddy little grin. He barely blustered out, “Thanks!” He turned away to save himself from any further embarrassment. I walked back to Maria thinking of some wonderful things we could do together.

I rode to the mall with Katie, Maria, Scarlet, and Kairi, in Maria’s green Honda Civic. Nia, Savannah, Emily, and Savannah rode in Nia’s purple Kia Optima.

Katie and Maria were going over the match in the front seats. Katie said, “I wish I could’ve been more useful in the game.” 

Maria assured, “No way girl, you did plenty!” This seemed to make Katie happy. She  seemed like she was opening up a bit. Maybe she was finally feeling safe around us.

Once we got to the mall, the food court was our first stop. Maria was going to get us something, but Katie insisted on getting a couple large fries at Burger King for us to share. “My treat!” she said with a cute smile. We all got our own drinks and sat around eating our fries. Scarlett broke out her Cards Against Humanity deck and we had a good laugh. 

After we ate we made our way to the far end of the mall where most of the clothing stores were. As we passed Athleta I noticed Katie stop. She was looking at a mannequin in the window. It had on a black tennis dress with pink and white accents, and shoes that were white with pink accents. 

“Katie, would you like to try this kind of style?” I asked her, “I know you need some more stylish clothes and you seem interested in this.”

Katie stammered for a few seconds before Maria stepped in. “Cmon, Katie!” Maria declared as she took Katie’s hand, “I bet you’ll look really cute in that.”

We ran inside and quickly found the window piece. We had to nudge her but we got Katie into the dressing rooms with it. While she was in there, we scoured the store for other outfits. We would return to the dressing room and add to an ever growing pile of clothes for Katie to model for us. 

We repeated this process at H&M. When she first exited the dressing room there, she had on black tights, a short red skirt, a leather jacket, and leather boots. She seemed really nervous, but when Maria excitedly told her how cute she looked, she seemed to get a little happier. The next outfit she came out wearing was a floral crop top with a pair of denim short shorts and the same boots as before. Again, Maria and the others told her she looked really cute and her spirits seemed to lift further. The next outfit was a floral dress with the leather jacket from the first outfit and flats, she even did a little spin in her dress to make it flair out. Everyone, myself included, told her she was cute in that. Maria teased that she was bound to get someone’s attention being that cute and confident in herself. She blushed and went back to try on something new. She would squee a little every time after that when we called her cute.

We got even more stuff from Forever 21, and we also stopped at Ulta to get a basic makeup kit. Maria insisted she take Katie to Victoria’s Secret. I was thinking I’d relish seeing her get measured in front of all of us, but now I was more than content to just make sure the girl had a good rotation of underwear.

While Katie was finishing up in the dressing room, Maria was telling me, “I don’t think Katie has ever shopped this long before. I’m so glad to be giving her this experience!” I nodded along. I still wasn’t as convinced as her in Katie’s gender, but I will admit the schadenfreude I had initially when she came out awkwardly in some of the outfits had shifted to a more sincere shared joy. Something about how her face lit up when she found an outfit she never would’ve thought of wearing. The way Katie posed in the mirror really was starting to convince me, maybe Katie was trans after all. 

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I had never shopped this much in my life! Even back-to-school sales weren’t this long, and that was including my mom taking me to get my supplies as well as my clothes. It was definitely a lot more fun shopping with the team though. I slipped my tennis uniform back on and walked out of the dressing room. 

Maria picked Brock’s card this time. I was sure he’d have a fun time explaining this to his parents. From all of our shopping I had underwear, outfits, and accessories to wear for at least a few weeks without repetition. It was a good thing we had so many cards from the football team, girls’ clothes are expensive!

It was also good that there were so many strong girls on this team. I could’ve never carried all these bags by myself. I was lost in thought thinking about where I was going to put all this, when the girls stopped by a store to reminisce. 

“Build-A-Bear Workshop!” Maria proclaimed. “Suzanne, do you still have that polar bear you made at your 7th birthday party?” 

Suzanne replied with stunning confidence, “Polly the Polar Bear stays with me for life!” Normally I’d assume Maria was teasing, but it really didn’t seem that way. Both she and Suzanne were far more at ease than I ever could be talking about stuffed animals. 

Maria continued, “That’s right, her name was Polly. Girls, help me jog my memory. I’m trying to remember who we each made.” She pointed at herself, “I made Diana the Dalmatian,” she pointed at each team member as she recalled, “Savannah made Lana the Lion, Nia made Floppy Bear, Emily made Penny Penguin, Kairi made Froggy, Scarlet made…”

Scarlet picked up where her team captain left off, “I made Tina Tiger.” 

“Right!” Maria replied, “And Jackie made Pretty Kitty.” She turned to me and paused. She said, “Oh Katie, I forgot you weren’t there.” It was nice that she had forgotten I wasn’t always one of the girls. If only I could forget that. She asked, “What was your bear?”

I sheepishly admitted, “Actually, I’ve never been to Build-A-Bear.” The group went silent. Maria’s jaw dropped, the other girls didn’t show it as much but it was clear they were also shocked. I asked, “What’s the big deal?”

“What’s the big deal?!” Maria repeated incredulously, “It’s a seminal childhood moment!” She grabbed my wrist and asserted, “We’re going in right now!” 

My cheeks were growing red with embarrassment as we entered the kids’ store. As the team followed us in, Maria spoke to the employee. “Excuse me, my friend Katie here has never built a bear before. 

The employee cheerily replied, “Let’s fix that then!” She pointed to the shelves at the front of the store. She instructed, “First you’re gonna pick out your bear, then you’ll take it over there for the stuffing and heart ceremony!” She pointed to a large stuffing machine filled with white fluff. I had no idea what a heart ceremony was, but I was getting nervous. 

Maria pulled me over to the shelves and I looked over my options. I thought if I got a more masculine animal I may reduce my embarrassment, but my eyes got caught on this little white rabbit. Maria asked, “Do you want that rabbit?” 

“Yes.” I answered.

I grabbed my rabbit and we walked over to the stuffing machine. The employee from earlier, Tracy, according to her name tag, came over and helped us operate it. After she made my bunny nice and fluffy, she pulled out a little fabric heart. She announced, “It’s time for the heart ceremony!” She handed the heart to me and explained, “Before you can put the heart in your new friend, you have to start it!” She commanded, “Now, hop up and down like a bunny!”

I looked around to ask my friends if she was serious, but their excited faces confirmed that for me. At the very least, they began hopping along with me. That really helped ease my embarrassment away. 

“Good,” came the voice of Tracy, “Now give it a kiss and stick it in!” I winced but followed the instruction. The team erupted in cheers. The employee then took my rabbit and instructed, “Now while I get your new friend finished up, you can go over to that computer and name them!” 

I did as I was told. Under the owner's name, I hesitated a bit before typing in Katie Greenberg. I guess this wasn’t really an official document so there’s no reason not to. When I scrolled down to name my bunny, Emily suggested, “How about Rachel the Rabbit?”

I shook my head and answered, “No, I have a friend named Rachel.” This did give me the push to come up with an alliterative name. I typed as I said, “Let’s call her, Rebecca Rabbit.”

Once I had filled out everything, Tracy returned with Rebecca Rabbit. After checking my form she said, “Now you can pick out a cute outfit for Rebecca!” She pointed at a wall of clothes for the stuffed animals. 

Jackie spoke up, “I’ve actually been eyeing that tennis outfit right there, would you like that Katie?” I followed where Jackie was looking and there it was. A white tennis polo, pink skirt, pink visor, and a little pink tennis racket. It seemed fitting, so I went with it.

Once we had my bunny packed up in her little cardboard house, we went back to the cars. That was when Maria dropped another reveal on me. She said, “We wanted to drill you on some girl experiences so we’re gonna go over to Nia’s house and have a slumber party!” 

I was taken aback, I knew guys were supposed to dream about witnessing a slumber party, but definitely not like this. I stammered, “I uh, — I have to check in with my parents.” Maria nodded and let the other girls know as I dialed.

Once my mom picked up I answered, “Hey mom, um, the tennis team invited me over to one of their houses so I don’t think I can be home tonight.” 

My mother responded, “Sure sweetie, have fun!” 

I let the girls know, but that’s when Suzanne yelled out, “Thanks Katie’s mom!” 

I put the phone back to my ear as I dreaded the wheels turning in my mothers head. She eventually let me go with, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Katie.”