Gun Culture Chapter 2 free porn video

I was in a dark tunnel. I felt the shock of it run through me in an instant and my foot which had just taken a step forwards stopped. My hand went to my sleeve, gripping the hilt of my dagger. I felt surprise at the feel of it there, but I couldn't draw my hand away, nor could I untence. Something held me there, listening. There was a rustle right next to me, but I seemed to ignore it for some reason. Suddenly a stream of red sparks along the wall and fire burst back into the torch. I observed a large man, six or seven feet, out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't turn. As my hand began to unloosen it's hold though I knew the truth. This wasn't me that I thought I was. This was someone else and I was just a passenger in that persons body. In confirmation of this I tried to lift a leg and my body didn't even quiver. I was a puppet. I felt the rest of my body untensing and I realised that I had been ready to attack with everything I had. Blood was pumping in my ears and my heart was racing. My head turned and I saw the giant with the torch next to me. Words came from me which I didn't recognise and had no understanding of. But I had an insight into the person infront of me. He was a slave, though he was dressed in a toga of a free man. He had a long scything cut down one cheek forming a long valley in his face. I senced a great love coming from this large man and I knew he was utterly loyal to me. The man replied in equally unintelligible speech. Though I could imagine a sorry coming from him at this point. I began walking once again and as I did I recognised the movements and knew that in this dream, I was a girl. It was something I hadn't realised from my own voice, although I guess I should have done. I was dressed in something unsubstantial, perhaps silk or thin glossy velvet. I wasn't sure. I knew though that with the light back, I wasn't afraid any more. Harag. That was the slaves name. A string of thought began in my mind with that word at the beginning of it. I didn't understand all that babbling, but I picked out the name because whoever I was riding along inside was thinking about him. Why was I here? And how did I get here? There were tiles on the walls and I was barefooted, they were exquisite tiles too, aquamarine, with little pictures on them. I saw an opening up ahead now, light coming from the room and on the wall a large roman numeral in golden letters. IV. Just for the wildest moment that I have ever experienced in my whole life, as I translated the figures in my own mind into the word Four, I felt another sudden understanding cross the mind of the person I was holding vigil inside. There was no doubt that the girl heard my thought just as clearly as I had hers, because she stopped suddenly again, listening intently. Her mind went feverish, words bouncing left and right through my ears, in my head and then the tides turned back into the gentle muttering they had been previously. I felt my mouth moving and a small twisted imitation of the word came from my lips. It was quiet and after a moment more, she started walking again, pulling my legs along as if my body was inside her and she had far far greater strength than I and aswell was unaware of my presence. The strange girl turned my head and looked at Harag. She spoke to him and this time the articulation of the word she had pulled out of my mind was even more twisted. For-ure. I picked out the two words with strange ease. Harag shook his head. I tried again, thinking as hard as I could, trying to get a message across the barrier to this person I was occupying. "HELP!" I tried. She continued on, oblivious though, turning into the marked doorway, which had white sheets on rails. I felt a curious anticipation in the stranger's body, a tang of excitement in her. It was curious how unaffected I was by it and I had a sudden insight that she reguarded me as nothing more than a part of herself which didn't get agitated. Our hand came up, brushing the sheets away from my face, allowing the passage through into the place beyond. I smelled the unmistakable touch of steam ahead and I saw curls of it questing around the second sheet, like an animal trying to get out. This was roman times. It had to be. Everything pointed to it, from the letters on the door, to the picture of Harag in his toga. Togas were what they wore back then, wasn't it. I felt the remaining dregs of strain leaving me, the girl was utterly relaxed now. There was a looseness in her thoughts and body which she and I hadn't even noticed had been tenced. It was like a great weight had shifted off her shoulders at that point. I stepped forwards and this time, I felt the sheet that I was wearing in its full entirety. It wasn't much, just a few folds and we were naked underneath it, but I recognised it as being her only burden right now. She reached out and pushed aside the curtain of material, stepping through. The room beyond was heavy with white steam even though it was open topped, having only a band of stone a half dozen feet across projecting out from the walls. I could easily see the nights sky above and a myriad of diamonds glinting back down at me. It was a swimming pool of a kind and I knew immediately though I wasn't sure how, that it had been reserved just for me and her. There was a sauna and a massage parlour leading off the pool. There were people in the pool in a long semicircle, all facing me. The boys were dressed in white underpants, the girls in white bathing costumes. Neither of the outfits hid any detail of their bodies, but my hostess thought of slaves as her eyes travelled between them. Harag stepped out from behind me, scanning the room with his eyes, then he stepped to the right, standing back against the wall like a guard. I felt other feet behind me and hands which were thought of as servant girls were unfurling the sheet I wore. I don't know what they did, but a moment later, the sheet seemed to be in two halves and just slid right off my shoulders to the floor. I didn't look down, nor did I thank any of them. My hostess just accepted their presence without question and forgot about them just as quickly. She stepped forwards, towards the edge of the pool and I saw steps there, leading down into the water. As my foot touched the surface I felt a wave of pleasure running up her small body and though I felt almost unmoved, I senced her conscious enjoyment which was slightly more pervasive to the barriers that separated us. A thought a little louder than the others came through the barrier, this time with an inkling of translation. She'd thought the unmoving part of herself, to which I was a visitor, strangely less emotional than usual. I felt a brief wave of pleasure at the thought and once again felt her shock. She didn't stop this time though, she carried on into the water, thoughts somehow made the skin of the water against her legs uncannily magical and I felt heat and warmth and comfort coming out of that water and into our body. She felt no modicum of discomfort under the gaze of at least eight people, all of whom were watching her. She just accepted their presence with a certain self-pleased contempt. This girl knew she was better and more important than anyone in the room and the only one she thought of at all was Harag, who I senced a kind of familial love for. The slaves came forwards, smiling in welcome and their hands started to move over my body. I felt the smile beginning to form on my face. The sky was visible above and as I looked up, I saw a figure leap slowly out into the air, from the edge. I felt the surprise running through this girl, felt it slowly turning to realisation and as time seemed to slow to the point of slow moving transfixia, I saw the gleaming face of the figure above. His eyes were wild and filled with intention that I knew was concerned with the death of this girl. I still felt unconcerned when I saw the sword in his hands as he came down at us, all the weight and energy of his leap concerned with driving that sword right into us. He fell closer and closer, the slaves hadn't seen him yet, but there was no time to call for help. It seemed strangely, that the faster the girl's thoughts became, the slower time passed and the more immobile she was. It was like she was drowning in emotion on her side, none of which could pass through the barrier that separated and linked us both. I couldn't help her and I felt the sword scything down towards the girl's chest. I felt it's tip for one moment, then I felt the skin breaking and it's slow moving, icy killing stroke sinking deep into warm, yielding flesh. He had crashed down into my body now, still with his whole weight behind his sword. I felt our body being pushed down into the water, felt her scream beginning, but still keeping oddly distant from her. Her thoughts were a fury now, like a taping of a speech someone made in a forein language, speeded up to fourty times normal. It was completely unintelligible to me and even the subtle nuances of meaning like I had picked out earlier were flying by too fast for me to discern. My attacker was gazing down into the girl's eyes, he hadn't even blinked when he entered the water and I knew there was something very sick about this man. He was beyond all reason and probably sanity too. I felt a jar and a horrible sliding as the sword tip struck the bottom of the pool. Blood drifted up in the water in a strange cloud. She tried to reach up towards our attacker, to claw out those horrible staring eyes, but her hands fell back and I senced things going silent over on her side of the barrier. She was dying, the sword must've punched right through her heart. Finally the man blinked. And I saw a large hand closing around the top of his head. A moment later he was being pulled away, he clung onto the sword though and I felt it sliding up and out of me. There was no sound down here, in the water, but I imagined screaming. The girl was dead and there was just me, still stuck in an immobile corpse. Cold, alone, but feeling everything. The black hands reached down into the water again gripping my shoulders, he pulled me up so fast that I felt the water fountaining up with me. I lay there limp in his arms, staring straight ahead, only able to focus the eyes of the girl very slightly. The black slave, Harag was looking down at me now and I think shouting for help, or screaming orders, I didn't know. I could barely hear him. He touched the wound and carried me to the side of the pool. He put his hand across me, weeping into my side, I didn't know what had happened to the killer, but I wasn't really very concerned. I was scared perhaps, but not concerned. It was all so far away. I felt movement from their other side of the barrier which separated me from this body and then the girl coughed. She wasn't dead. The black man looked up suddenly, looking at her face and suddenly he stood straighter and seemed to come back into control. This time when he shouted there was a different look in his eyes where there had only been desperation before. I felt things snapping and breaking around me suddenly, it wasn't something happening to the girl, it was something happening to me. I felt like I was being shaken inside her body as things snapped and tore. The wall was pushing back towards me. She was reclaiming her mind, or perhaps she just needed to live in the space where I had been for a while. I felt not only my mind being pushed out, but what I had been using to look through the girls eyes too. I felt our flesh parting, or rather I felt myself leaving her. I had no physical form. I only felt the coldness of the air inside what had been my body as I turned lazily and looked down at her, still drifting upwards. Her eyes were focused on me, shocked. She blinked and I saw understanding in her eyes, I wonder if she had senced that the cold, part of her was gone. I smiled, finding that I was able to and she smiled and then I began to loose consciousness. "Hey, get up lazy!" A hand pressed down on my stomach and shook gently. I opened my eyes to see Amie kneeling down beside me. I blinked up at her, feeling the sleep mist leaving me in moments. This usually happened to me and I think I was blessed by it. Others never seemed to be quite able to do the same, but for me, I was either asleep, or I was awake. Memories came back to me in a second as I looked up at her. "What time is it?" I said stretching. I remembered the vivid dream I had had last night and wondered what it meant. Or even if it meant anything at all. "Nearly half past seven," she said turning to look at the clock. "Come on, we've got to get home to get changed. It's the last day of school." "Oh shit, y-yeah, I f-forgot." I reached for my jeans, trying not to think about what I was going to have to wear to school. It was a uniformed school and a little old fashioned. I hadn't really objected to the fact that the boys all had to wear shirts ties and trousers, so I didn't think I could really raise an objection about the girl's dresscode either, but all the same I was dreading it. "W-w-where's J.J.?" I asked, looking at the bed which was empty. "In the bathroom," she said. "We were talking about how we could get you through today." She admitted with a look of pained apology. "What people think about your habits is their own problem, but how you act is your own. We'll help you there as much as we can." "Yeah. I c-can imagine I look like a r-r-real idiot," I said imagining what I'd look like trying to walk in high heels, not part of the dresscode but it was only a slight exaggeration. I really didn't want to look like a guy in drag. On the TV I knew you could always spot the guys playing girls. They tended to blunder around. "Not so bad," Amie said. "I was watching you last night." I pulled open the sleeping back and stood up. "I'm r-r-really not looking f-f-f-forward to a s-skirt," I said. Amie smiled. "It's not so bad, I think you'll have forgotten about it by lunch," she said cheerfully. "Hows the ass?" I winced, aware that I had almost forgotten about it, I touched it now and sure enough felt the bruises there as firey patches of needles under the skin. "S-Sore," I said, but no more comment was made as we walked to the door. It opened infront of us though and J.J. stepped back into the room, already fully dressed in her school uniform. She had tied her hair back this morning, something she had never done before and had a little pony tail instead of the usual tangle of curls she normally made do with. She was dressed in a white blouse, tucked into her navy blue, knee-length skirt with a matching overcoat hanging loosely to her thighs. It was the standard outfit and I knew it was something I would have to achieve with as much care as she obviously had used. I glanced at the clock again, thinking that it was early for her to be ready to go. "Good morning," she said brightly, her eyes shining. I realised that I had become a little project for the two of them to work on then. It would be something that I knew I couldn't get out of and something which they wanted to help with. There really wasn't a lot of choice that I had in the matter. Things were just going to happen by themselves, I couldn't prevent them and these two were willing to help. "Heyas," I said still a little lost in my thoughts. J.J. turned to Amie. "Ok, break and dinner. At the maths room at the bottom." Amie nodded. "Yeah, no problem." Amie slipped past J.J. into the corridor and Jane reguarded me with a critical eye. Finally she nodded, deciding that my dignity was in order. "When you get to lessons, sit with Amie," she said. "Doesn't matter what people say. They probably won't care anyway. If you get into any trouble, I'd rather one of us was there with you. At least for now. What we can't teach you today, you'll learn on your own over the summer I should expect." She turned around and then opened her door again, slipping out. "Y-you're ready early," I said as casually as I could. I senced that we were in unsafe ground though, so I wasn't upset when J.J. said she'd tell me later. I was watching the corridor too, I wasn't in a hurry to meet up with Kirk again. Not after last night. I think I'd prefer his method of attention when I'd been boy-me. As we started descending the stairs, I saw Jane's mother coming out of the kitchen and beginning to climb. "I'm going early today mom," J.J. said. "I might stay over Red's tonight, if that's alright with her parents." "Ok, dear," her mother said placidly. She was usually like this, it made the times when she shouted unexpected and more meaningful. "Shall I ask Veronica if it's ok for you to stay?" That made us both pause. Veronica was my mothers name sure enough, but I didn't understand how J.J.'s mother would know that. She hardly ever used it really, just called herself ms Baker, which was the maiden name she had gone under and habitually used for years and years, or Mrs Harrow. I'd only ever heard dad call her by her first name and visiting friends from her childhood, but to everyone else she went under the reserved titles of formality. "N-n-n-n..." I paused, trying to force the word out, again Jane's mother looked acutely uncomfortable. I tried again without success and shook my head instead. J.J.'s mother watched me for a long moment and I saw a dull pity in her eyes that I'd seen in degrees all my life. Then she nodded. We carried on towards the front door and thankfully got outside without even a sound of Kirk's presence. From there it was simple. There was activity this early in the day as homes were waking up. One or two doors opened as we made our way up the street and then left and then right, onto the street where our house was. It was a slightly better class of neighborhood here, which is no slur on J.J. because her house was nice too, but my family was a duel income earning household. Not to mention the contributions that my brother, Daniel, made with his internet website run from the house he had bought next to my parents. Danny was a cool guy, a little intence but he had always put me up if things were going badly at home. Just lately, because dad's business was failing, the rows had been more frequent with each of them exploding at things which wouldn't have worried them so much previously. It was for this reason that I had relied on Danny a little more than usual. But I knew in my heart that these spats never continued for long. Dad owned a camper business on the edge of town, he imported them cheaply and sold them at profit. But things always slackened off around Christmas time when people preferred to stay indoors or had already moved abroad for the winter. This year obviously had been a bad one for him, but things would pick up again soon. We were quiet for much of the walk to my house. It was a cold morning and there was mist hanging around thickly. We didn't really have breath to waste on talking, because I could already feel cold fingers reaching between the layers of my clothes and biting at my new and strangely sencuous skin. I reached the door to my house and pulled my key out of my coat pocket. The door clicked open with the odd double click that was usual and as I swung the door wide, I saw my slightly younger brother Darren sitting on the stairs, pulling on some socks. He looked up briefly at me then I saw his eyes lingering on J.J. J.J. closed the door behind us and I heard mum clattering around in the kitchen. I walked down the hall, into the kitchen, deciding I'd better ask if J.J. could stay the night now. Mum liked to be organised and the thought of doing what we had done last night at Jane's house was an abhorrently discomfortable mannarism, that though treated respectfully and probably sustained, would undoubtably reap less desirable consequences later on. Right now, mum was stoking the stove, where eggs were frying in a pan, the boy's breakfast no doubt. She looked up as we entered and I saw a look in her eyes that knocked me back several conclusions. I realised I had walked right in here without even thinking about the fact that I didn't know for certain if she knew this girl I had become. I felt as if I had been nailed to the wall as her eyes unfocused strangely and then she blinked. "Angelina," she said as if she had asked herself my name. "Hi honey, did you have a good time at the market?" She noticed J.J. standing behind me. I wasn't sure if she'd ever met J.J. before. I know if I'd turned up with a girl at the house, even if just a friend, she would have just taken certain assumptions for granted and reached for the photograph albums, bringing forth embarrassing pictures of nakedness and equally uncomfortable stories. Mums live for those moments. "Hello Jane," Mum said brightly. "Would you like some breakfast?" J.J. eyed the eggs in the pan and I knew she wanted to. "No thank you, Mrs Harrow. We need to do some stuff upstairs before school." "M-m-mum?" I stammered. Mum turned her patient eyes on me and I senced a strange dull warmth in her that had been muted in my previous experience. "C-c-can J-j-j-j-..." I paused, the words stuck. I tried to start again, but I knew it was no good from the moment I tried to speak. Something in me seemed to have slipped back. I looked at J.J. asking for help. "Would you mind if I stayed over tonight?" Jane finished, not taking her eyes from me. "Of course not," Mum said quickly. "I always said you can come over whenever you like Jane and I mean it. I'll leave instructions for the maid to make you up a bed in Angelina's room." "Thanks," Jane said. She glanced nervously at me and I thought I saw a little unease in her then, but it was gone in an instant. I opened my mouth, trying to speak again, but then I just pointed to the ceiling instead and mum nodded. "If you're ready by eight, I'll drop you two off when I drive Darren and Michael to school," Mum said, "So get going Angel." I turned and headed back down the corridor, heading upstairs, past Darren who was still pulling on his socks, dull sleep still in his eyes. As he saw J.J. though I saw something come alive in him and I remembered how I had felt when Darren had brought his own girlfriends to the house before he had moved out. I guess I had eyed them up and down with as much enthusiasm too. Now though, I felt a little resentful of the little bugger. J.J. followed me upstairs. I don't know what it was about the house, but I knew immediately that things were different to what I had known before. I can't estimate how much effect my presence had contributed to the lives of my parents, but the house had a more feminine feel to it than I remembered. Before, there had been four males, against my mother, now there was only three which were much more even odds and had brought out more of mum's girlish side than I knew had existed in her. There was no doubt in anyones mind I decided that I wasn't a boy in thought and deed, but the physicality had obviously tainted less obvious sources. The corridor was slightly brighter than before and there was a circular window high up at the end of the corridor, letting in a stream of light where there had been only a dim corridor before. On each of the doors, name plates had been hung, there were pictures on the walls and even a potted plant in the corner, all details of which the house had been absent of in my earlier memories. The first door was Darren's room, the second was mum + dads, as the notice happily proclaimed in letters of pink on a wooden plaque. Next was the baby's room, Michael and finally the bathroom and the one with my name on the door. I paused in the corridor without realising why I was doing it and the door to the bathroom opened. Dad came out, wiping his chin with a towel. "Hi honey," he said to me. "Hi Jane." Then he went into my parents room, closing the door. Jane turned to me, her smile a little quizzical. I pushed open the door, realising what had made me pause as I stepped inside. The room wasn't different, not much different anyway. Things were in places where I didn't remember them being and the wardrobe was very different from the normal standard one. I remembered a stout pine box with hinges, this thing was much more elaborate and I saw the bed was done in the same style too. It told me everything about my character that I hadn't already known. I was a Goth. I had to be. The carpet of the room was black and the bed and the wardrobe were collectable and exquisitely elaborate carvings of dragons of all sizes. There was a poster on the wall of Robbie Williams, which was very embarrassing and would be coming down that night. "Whoa," Jane said as the door closed behind us. "You kept quiet about this Red." She went to the bed and ran her hand over the carving, admiring the detail. I went to the bed too and did the same only without touching it. "It w-w-wasn't l-like this b-b-b-b-before." I protested, but J.J. didn't reply. She turned, looking at the wardrobe. She crossed the room to it and pulled it open, scanning the contents with a critical eye. The things I saw there were mostly black. She crossed the room to a dresser, that I know I hadn't owned before. It was set out in the same style as the bed and wardrobe with high mirrors in it. There were a couple of boxes on the desk and J.J. flicked open the boxes with a quick scan of the contents which were mostly make up stuff, something which I think I had had little to do with even in this existence. The dresser had an unused look, although there was a slab of purple lipstick left carelessly on it's surface. Pretty much the only believable sign of my presence. I guess purple lipstick was more believable than the boxes of slap, it wasn't really lipstick either, not like red lipstick or gold like they used in those old science fiction films where the men were "real men" and the women were real women and I guess to go all the way with a smile, "small furry creatures from Alpha Centuri, were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centuri." I grinned to myself, remembering the moment I'd first read Douglas Adams. I was almost heartbroken at his death. He was a true visionary. J.J. turned and looked at me for a second and I saw she was getting an image of me from my bedroom, of how I should be portrayed. "Ok, lets get started," she said, noting that inexperience had all but immobilized me at present. "Strip off," she commanded. I turned a bright shade of red within seconds, but J.J. just rolled her eyes. "Look," she said patiently, "I promised I would help you today. I will help you with it all, but you have to do what I tell you. You've got nothing to be embarrassed about Red and you've got nothing that I haven't already seen." When I still looked a little dubious she dropped the bombshell that I hadn't realised yet. "You're going to have to do it anyway, we've got sports today, remember?" "SPORTS," I almost yelled. I had completely forgotten. That made the day a whole lot worse. I was going to have to change infront of everyone. "Yeah," J.J. said a little sourly. "So you'd better get used to it. I'll be there with you of course, so will Amie. So it's not so bad really." I looked at her and I realised I was turning red. I wasn't used to her enough to do this. "Look," she said watching me, "I know and you know that girls touchy feely crap only extends as far as other girls and not to the boys, right? Well, I guess I'm trusting you now on loan. But I tell you what, you'll get no help from me at all if you don't show me you're as willing to bare yourself to me as I am going to have to be later on aswell." "T-t-t-t-t-that d-d-d-doesn't m-m-make s-s-s-s-s-s-sense." I protested. She however just shook her head a little and raised an eyebrow, telling me she wasn't going anywhere. Knowing that I'd never like her again if she laughed at me, I pulled the shirt over my head and then pushed myself out of my jeans. It was strange really, but I needn't have worried so much. Once I actually decided I had to do it, it seemed easier. J.J. eyed me critically, then tossed me a pair of panties and a bra from the closet. "Those first," she said. The panties were easy enough, the bra wasn't. "Fasten it at the front, then turn it round," she said. "That's easiest to do if you're in a hurry, but try and fasten it normally whenever your alone." As soon as my breasts went into the bra, I actually realised what a strange invention they were. It was almost like being a guy again with no feeling of weight on my chest, until I moved that was. The deeply blue material felt very soft and I was glad. I hadn't realised how my breasts had been chaffing against the shirt, but they had been. The bra was supposed to protect them as well as keeping them in place, I observed. I felt like a damn fool, all things considered. "Next this," J.J. said passing me a cotton shirt that was a lot silkier than the one I had been using. It was just very slightly too comfortable for me, I knew, but it would have to do for today. I pulled it on and fastened up the buttons, all the while feeling the surreality of it contrasting with the feelings I was already used to when I had done this previously. The shirt had practically no weight at all, but it was thick enough to stop unwanted eyes at least. As I turned to look at myself in the mirror, J.J. saw my ass and the bruise there. "Hmm," she said. "Lets hope that doesn't get seen." She reached into the closet and pulled out a white bag which I used for PE. She looked inside and then nodded. "Yeah, I should have known you'd use shorts. Ok, that's fine then." She put the bag down, then tossed me a knee length skirt from the wardrobe which I pulled around me and fastened easily, but seeing that I'd fastened it at the back, J.J. shook her head and told me to fasten it at the front, or it'd come off unexpectedly, usually when around boys or sometimes even jealous girls. It might have been funny, but I think I was taking this a little too seriously for fun just now. It was my grandmother who had told me that any situation can be tackled, provided you treated it with a suitable amount of gravity. By that she meant that any problem is easy if you concentrate on it hard enough. Gravity was her word for the opposite of frivolity. Now I was starting to look something like, I felt better. I pulled my hair out of the back of my shirt and watched myself in the mirror. I saw a girl there who I felt quite honoured to be. She really didn't look so bad. J.J. appeared behind me, the school blazer in her arms and I shrugged into it. She glanced at the make-up, hardly used on the dressing table, then made a decision. I found I could read her easily now. She was wondering if there was sense in taking that step yet and while I knew there wasn't really, I would have done it for her. I was over the embarrassment issue now and I knew it would never return in the presence of J.J, at least not in that context. She was right to do what she had. I looked at myself in the mirror. "On second thoughts..." J.J. said returning to the closet. I wondered what she was looking for, for a moment then she pulled a pair of shorts from a drawer, passing them to me. "Better safe than sorry," she said, but didn't elaborate. I pulled them on under my skirt, they were invisible provided I didn't do anything stupid. "J.J," I said. "T-t-thanks. And I'm s-sorry I glared at y-you." She smiled, pulling my hair back over my shoulders. "You're our project," she said. "I'm just doing my bit." I grinned. I looked at myself in the mirror and realised that something was missing. I didn't know where it was, because it was a new bedroom for me, but to be honest, I didn't even know if I'd been given it in this new history I had. I hoped I had, because to me it was lucky and I always wore it to school. It helped with my stutter because it was always cold, like I needed to be and it was like a rock for me whenever I needed it. J.J. had already seen it though and noticing that I was looking around picked it up from where it had been hanging on the back of a chair. She lowered the pendant over my head, again pulling my hair back out of the chain. I felt the heavy weight of the silver mask against my chest and I relaxed a little. I reached up and touched it. It was silver, real silver, though probably not worth enough to steal, or at least I hoped so. I usually kept it inside my shirt, but today, I felt like I should wear it openly. Jewelry like this wasn't really allowed, I knew, but today, because I looked so good, they'd probably make an exception. I shrugged the strange thought away, it was stupid. No they wouldn't, they'd make me take it off and then I'd loose the edge it gave me. I slipped it inside my shirt. "Angel!" Mum shouted from downstairs. "Ready in five minutes!" I looked around, feeling a little more like myself now. I pulled my shoes out of the closet and pulled on the black boots I wore, even though I knew I wasn't supposed to. Footwear wasn't too much of an issue really at school. J.J. watched me all the time, with a strange look on her face. "Well?" I asked, putting my hands out. "What do you think?" J.J. just grinned and tilted her head a little. "Red," she said with a smile. "Do you have much experience wearing girl's clothes?" I stared at her for a moment, trying not to grin back and failed, but only a little. I shook my head. She laughed. "You look as good as I do babe," she said flashing her smile. "I think I have some knowledge, from this past life," I told her. "It's not like something I can say for certain, but theres just too much coming naturally for me to believe it myself just yet." "We'll have to ask HC next time she shows her face." I took in a deep breath, mentioning HC, who I wasn't really sure if I liked or not yet put a dampner on the occasion for me. But only a very slight one. J.J. must've realised, because she looked away. I picked up my school bag from the wardrobe floor, picking my books from the higher shelves that I would need today. The place seemed a little too orderly in a way, but still messy. There was English, maths and PE today. I had a timetable on the back of the door, just as I had in my last life. I put my copy of McBeth into my school bag, noting that it was exactly the same one I used to use too, aswell as my maths textbook. All my stationary and stuff was already in there. I picked up my bag and my PE bag and stood up, congratulating myself on remembering to bend at the knees, rather than bend over. J.J. led the way downstairs. Mum was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, as Darren and Michael pulled on hats and scarves. Darren, with the sadistic little mind of a twelve year old looked up at me and in a friendly voice said. "Hello ruh-ruh-ruh-retard!" Mum slapped the back of his head. Darren was normally like this, even in my old life he used the same joke. I knew I was going to have to deal with him if he ever tried it in the playground. "Shut it runt." I shot back. "Angel!" Mum warned. She made as if to turn back to the kids, but then looked back up at us, again that look crossed her face and I had the feeling Hellcats magic had only worked partially on her. I didn't know if I felt good or bad about that to be honest. "You know, you look different today somehow," she mused. "Did you change your hair?" "N-n-n-.." I tried, failing again. Mum got the message though, she shook her head, clearing away the musing and opened the door. "Grab Michael will you Angel," Mum said stepping out of the door, leaving the four year old Michael to us. Michael wasn't really so bad for a little brother, he was a quiet kid, didn't speak much and always seemed to know the best thing to say according to the atmosphere in the room, even if he didn't understand the subtleties. This time, he looked up at me as I came down the stairs, his eyes wide under the red bobble hat he was wearing and watched me for a moment. "Angelo!" he said reaching both arms up towards me. I stopped dead. "Oh... my.... God..." J.J. said slowly. Michael turned to Jane. "Jay-Jay!" he yelled similarly. I bent down infront of Michael. "M-M-M-Mikey, you c-c-c-can't c-c-c-call me t-t-t-that, ok?" I said quickly, praying that it was only him that Hellcat had missed. I remembered the look on mum's face when she'd been looking at me, but she obviously had chosen to ignore it. "Why?" he asked. "Is it b'cos you're a girl now?" I paused, shocked. "Yeah, Mikey," J.J. said quickly. "We can't let people discover that it's really Angelo, else Angelo will have to go away forever." She paused, letting this sink in. "You wouldn't want your sister to have to go away, would you?" "No," he said shaking his head gravely. "Angelo is the best sister in the world!" "Mikey. Y-You h-h-have to c-c-c-call me Angel n-n-n-now, ok?" I said, a touch of desperation in my voice. "Even w-w-when w-w-w-w-we're alone, w- w-w-we have to p-p-p-pretend. Will you p-p-p-p-promise me?" Michael nodded. "Good boy," J.J. said casting a worried glance at me. "Come on, lets go to school now." J.J. took Mike's hand and led him towards the door. I watched them go, knowing I had to get to my feet, but not having the energy to. J.J. glanced back at the door. "Red," She said a little sharper than she intended, but it was what I needed. I came back to myself in a second and got back up to my feet. I didn't know where the strength came from to get into the car and go to school without screaming, or trying to go back home and hide. I knew if anyone else apart from Michael had been missed then I was in for a hell of a lot of embarrassment and I knew it would be much worse than if I actually had just turned up and nobody knew because like this, I didn't know who knew and who wouldn't. I wished that Hellcat was around so I could throttle her and make her make it alright one way or the other. She didn't appear though, I had a feeling she was far far away, somewhere back in my past. The three of us squeezed into the back of mum's car and we set off. J.J.'s fingers found my hand on the seat and interlaced with my own digits. She didn't have to speak, I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. "Good luck," she whispered when we were nearly at the school. I felt Michael tugging on my school blazer and I turned. He looked up at me with wide eyes. "Angel?" He asked in a whisper. "Why are you pretending to be a girl?" I leant down a little. "I'm n-n-not p-p-p-pretending Mikey. I r-really am a g-g-girl, I always w-was. But w-w-w-we've g-got to be q-quiet." He nodded and zipped his mouth closed with a finger. I wondered if I could trust him to keep his mouth shut about what he remembered of me. I wondered how much of it all he actually understood. Mikey was intelligent for his class, early testing had shown an IQ well above average, so much so that he was looking at starting high school a couple of years ahead of people his own age. I was proud of him, but I worried. If he really did remember me as Angelo and he knew that I was a guy, or could remember me as one things were going to get confusing. Mikey was a strange kid, sometimes looking at him, you'd swear that he knew what you were thinking and how he was planning to outsmart you. Shit... the kid was learning to play chess and even I couldn't play that and I was eleven years older than him. The way Mike was looking at my chest now, which was at his eye level, there was no doubt in my mind he could see they were real. He would either fit it into place, or he'd grow up into a very confused adult. The car pulled up. I unclipped the seat belt and took a last look at Michael, who was going to the primary school down the road. "I'll see you later Mikey," I said and strangely I kissed his forehead. Even I was surprised by that, but covered it by moving away and getting out of the car. "See you guys later on," Mum called from the front as we waved and closed the doors. As Darren had got to the stage where family became slightly embarrassing, he moved away without a word, heading for the back playground where he would stay for another year or so before graduating to the front one. I could see most of the club already waiting over in the far corner, by the benches and we started to walk towards them. Amie who was watching out for us, waved. Most of the group waved too. I could see, in the first moment or so when I got out of the car that to the people in the playground, I was who I had always been. The looks that were turned my way were not of disbelief which would have been bad, but of placidity which was ok. Nobody pointed, nobody stared and nobody laughed. Except perhaps... He was sitting on his own, a couple of benches down from the club we were heading towards. His name was Jake NuVille. People said he was a rich kid, but he kept practically to himself. He watched me and I saw the amazement in his eyes. "L-l-l-look," I said to J.J., without pointing. "Jake NuVille." J.J. looked too. "Hmm, I'll talk to him. I'll find out if he knows, for now, just act normal." I scanned the faces of my friends across the playground and I saw the second oddity. "Shit. Leon," I said. Again J.J. followed my gaze, seeing stunned amazement on Leon's face. This time J.J. didn't say anything and I knew she didn't know what to do reguarding Leon. "I'm going to k-kill her," I said simply. J.J. didn't say anything. "Look, just go along with it. If it comes to the worst and he blurts it out, me and Amie will lead your defence. Just fake not being able to talk. We'll have to speak privately to little Leon." "I h-h-h-hope that's all there is," I said feeling a shiver running through me. I half wondered why I wasn't running for the gates already, perhaps it was that J.J.'s arm was padlocked around mine and she was holding it there. I hadn't even noticed Tiggy until it was too late. Tiggy was one of the cheerleaders and considered herself the girlfriend of Jane's brother Kirk. Though Kirk didn't see it that way, I knew. He just wanted a fuck from her. Tiggy was twisted in the same ways as her crush was. Seeing me she piped up and at first, because I was so nervous just waiting for someone to shout it out and then I would have to run for the gates, that I misinterpreted her words and just stopped myself from doing something stupid at the last second. "It's ruh ruh ruh red, the ruh retard!" Tiggy shouted. "B-b-b-bitch!" I was startled by her and she saw that she had struck deep. For a moment our eyes met and hers gleamed with glee. "Tiggy, go sit on a fence post," J.J. responded quickly, then to me. "Look." Leon was looking at the people around him now and I knew the moment had arrived when he would either contradict them, or let it slide. Leon was a quiet guy too, so I tended towards not participating, but trying to get me on my own later on to have a private word. That was the much better option in my opinion. Amie had seen Leon's expression too, because she was watching him. For a moment their eyes met and Amie realised the truth about him. She looked back at us, looking a little worried. Leon was smart, he knew now that Amie and probably J.J. too were in on the joke. He looked at the faces around him, but mostly at Hank, who was his best friend. I could see the gears beginning to slot together, but so very few that he would be left in consternation. He still looked very confused though. Amie walked around the group and sat down next to him, watching me approaching. She gave me a quick smile as she saw me looking. Hank was the first to speak when we were less than a few feet away from the group. "Red, I told em about Hellcat for you," he said laughing. I thought he meant the person for a moment and I wondered how he knew, but then I remembered that he must've meant the gun and the christening. "Yeah," Jamie said. "I didn't get a chance to see it much last night? Will you bring it along tonight?" "Sure," I said. J.J. looked straight at Leon. "Leon, I need to talk to you," she said, "I've got that stuff you were asking me about." Leon wasn't stupid, he took the hint quickly. "Oh.. right... ok.." His eyes flicked back to me, then back to J.J. J.J. came forwards, detaching from my arm and pulling Leon up from the bench, then they started walking back towards the bikeshed where nobody would overhear. I walked along too and Amie stood up and followed. "Uh oh," Jamie said observing what we were doing. Hank looked up at Leon. "Careful," he warned. "You want a lawyer? Don't want all of them ganging up on you." I don't think Hank could possibly have heard what J.J. whispered to Leon just then, but I did. "Say no, or I'll break your arm." Her arm was looped in his and there was menace in her voice that was completely unlike her. "No." Leon called back. "I.... Er...think I'm fine." J.J. took him well out of earshot of the playground and turned around to find us behind her. Leon looked me up and down, I could see in his eyes that he thought it was all fake. His eyes settled finally on my face. "Leon," Amie started, but he was too quick on the offencive for her. "What the hell is going on?" He demanded quietly, never taking his eyes off me. "Red, why are you dressed like that?" "I..," I said, but I couldn't find any more words. "And why are the rest of the gang suddenly referring to you as a she?" He asked. "Apart from the obvious," he added. I knew at that moment that Leon was not beyond hope, he still had a grain of comprehension in him which I knew I could encourage. "Red got changed by magic Leon," J.J. said. "It looks like about ninety nine percent of people believe she always was like this. It was the gun." "The new one?" he shot back, still staring at me. "Yeah." He paused and I saw the surprise finally leaving his eyes. "I can't imagine why you'd lie to me," Leon said slowly. "If it is a lie, then it's a damn good one, but if it isn't then I'm gonna need more proof before I believe it." "L-Leon," I stammered. "P-p-p-p-please d-d-d-don't s-s-s-say anything." His eyes widened for a second and I could see he was thinking about what would happen to me if he spilled the beans. He might cause everything to unwind and people would begin to remember the old me instead of the girl who lived in this version of history. She would become a memory and so would my dignity. "Ok." He nodded. "I'll play along.... For now." Amie kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she said and I smiled my thank you. Leon blushed a little, looking away. The whistle blew and we made our way back down towards the school. "Shit Red," Leon said putting his arm across my shoulders. "They really did a good job on you." I smiled. "It's r-r-r-r-really n-n-...not fake Leon," I said with effort. Leon's eyes moved down me and I knew he almost believed it. "Well, just so you know I'm not convinced," he said. "But I respect your right to privacy. I expect you'll find a way to convince me eventually." He smiled. "Probably," I said not even realising until a moment later what he was talking about. Slowly we started to filter into the school. "Look, have fun," Leon said. "I'll see you in Maths." "Y-Y-Yeah, bye," I said letting him move into his own line. I rejoined Amie and J.J. waved from three queues up. "Your names Red, right?" said a voice from behind us. I saw Jake NuVille standing behind us. I'd actually forgotten he was in the same year as us. I nodded after a moment. "J-j-j-j-jake?" I asked. My success with Leon was making me bolder with the problem of being discovered. I actually started to feel a little proud of myself and my friends. He nodded this time, his eyes never leaving mine. "So you do stutter," he said. "I never heard you talk before." "And you're the rich kid with no friends?" Amie asked quickly. Jake smiled a little. "Pretty much." "So why you dressed up?" Jake asked, looking me over. "Is it a dare or something? I'm sure the teachers will notice." I smiled a little, turning back to look at the entrance, it was nearly our turn to go in. "D-d-d-d-do you s-s-see anyone running and s-s- screaming at m-m-m-me?" I asked. Jake paused, then shook his head. "No." "Interesting, isn't it?" I said carefully. "Look," he said. "I'm just trying to be friendly." "Jake. You'll probably be appauled to know that Red has been spying on the guys for us for absolutely ages. We have pictures, ok," Amie said turning on him. "If you don't want them published, then forget... everything..." Amie was actually pretty scary when she wanted to be. As I said she's single minded. The line moved forwards into the school and I was never more pleased for school to be starting. Today it seemed orchestrated to prevent me from making as big a fool of myself as it was possible to. Amie stayed at my elbow the whole time as we dumped our bags in the cloakroom which was just one long hallway with hooks and then filed slowly into the great hall for assembly. "So it's nearly time for the holidays," the teacher said, the voice bouncing over us. Mr Andrews always shouted. He shouted everything. If Mr Andrews went on a moonlight date with some hot girl, everyone in the place would hear everything. It was also just bad luck that as well as being the accepted headmaster, he was also our class tutor. "Well done to those that deserve it and to those that don't deserve it, we hope you will enjoy winter school even more. Two notices, lab 17g is currently undergoing repairs for a burst water pipe, so all lessons in that room have been moved to 16g instead. Secondly, I'd like to remind all students that anyone skipping the second half of the day, as is the unauthorised custom recently developed over the last couple of terms, will be under repremand. Truency is as bad in my book as any other petty crime and I will be issuing term-long detentions to those who are discovered practicing it." He quieted down a little then, introducing the play that 707 had concocted for todays assembly. The classes took turns in doing this whenever one of the teachers decided it was time for them to do so. I was just glad that I'd had the fortune to be able to stay off the stage so far as our class never had been called on to perform. As the play started, something about global warming, my eyes began to wander around the faces of my fellow students. I saw bored expressions and even found the face of Jake, sitting not more than a few places away from me. I was surprised I hadn't noticed him before. I knew he was watching me, but I think I could cope with that for now. It wouldn't last of course, but it was alright to bear just now. It was strange how unlike my prediction it felt. There were people who had noticed, although nothing had been shouted out yet and I was still thinking reasonably clearly. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. Jake's eyes flicked to my face and I caught him. He smiled a little and though I wanted to smile back, even if only a little, I couldn't bring myself to do it. He turned away and didn't look back during the whole performance. Looking past Amie in the other direction I saw a strange oddity. There was a boy I didn't know sat right on the edge of our line. I'd never seen him before and I touched Amie's arm. "Who's t-that?" I whispered, wondering if it was someone I knew, just looking very differently. She turned and looked. "No idea." She whispered back. She studied him for a few seconds more, then turned back to the front. He was sandy haired, this new boy, with a very short style that was just long enough to be considered long, but still short. It hung down rakishly across the back of his head. "ANGELINA FARROW!" a voice thundered. My eyes widened and I jumped, petrified. I turned and saw the Head pointing at me. "STAND UP!" Slowly, numbly I got to my feet. Everyones attention was on me now and I knew that those who knew, knew now. We would see what was going to happen. "Detention for talking in assembly," the head said. "See me after." I tried to relax, but I couldn't do it. It's hard enough being made to stand up infront of everyone, but it was doubly hard for me now. I tried to find the weight of the cool silver around my neck and I felt my calm rising back up. The assembly went on and there was no murmuring such as I had been dreading, but eventually, the years began to filter out of the hall. The first year first, then the second, then the third, then ours. It was a relief to start moving again, my legs were going numb. The headmaster caught me at the door. "Breaktime, outside my office," he barked at me, with barely a glance. As soon as we were outside the hall, Amie grabbed my arm, her formality removed. The assemblies were more of a regemental meeting than anything else and it was usually a relief to step outside. But today and for the rest of the day there would always been a knife edge running up and down my spine. I was tensed up and ready for it though, well, as ready as I could ever be. Amie, bless her, knew this. Though I could feel the eyes of Jake behind me, on my back as he tried to puzzle this out. The head had announced the new truth to the world, at least to those that knew me before. "Calm down Red," Amie said, a little note of warning creeping into her voice. "I can feel your pulse through your arm and it's racing. I'm here, don't worry." I looked at her and tried to smile, but I think it came out a little twisted because she didn't smile back. "Seriously," she added. "You've gotta be careful." I took a deep breath and concentrated on my silver. It helped. We were nearly at the head's classroom now, so we walked in and took seats near the back of the class. I suddenly liked the idea of not having people staring at my back, even if I was only being paranoid. The class was arranged in double sets of desks, some people had been to retrieve their bags from the cloak room, but I never bothered until my first lesson. We were only here to take the register and I had to go back past the cloakrooms anyway. "It's ok," Amie said. "You're doing well. Just keep on like you are and we'll be fine." I watched people coming into the room, they all looked disconcertingly normal. I began to wish that if someone was going to shout out the forthcoming embarrassment, I wished they'd just do it and get it over with rather than all this uncertainty. I was so preoccupied with the door that I failed to see Jake sitting at the desk ahead of ours. He dropped his bag on the floor by the desk with a thump and then sat down in the seat. He wasted no time, but half turned in his chair and looked back at me. "You again?" Amie said a little unkindly. "Red's not some museum exibit you know." He smiled, obviously concidering the idea. "Why's nobody else remembering?" he asked. Amie wasn't prepared for that one, she'd been too intent on scaring him away. She paused. "Because it's only h-h-half m-m-..." "Magic?" he asked quickly. I hated it when people did that, it robbed me of the satisfaction of normal speech. This time though I felt doubly offended. "Yeah," I said almost a little bitterly. His eyebrow went up, but he looked more placatory than surprised. "Sorry I breathed," he said turning back around to the front. "IF YOU'VE QUITE FINISHED!" the head shouted from the front of the class, surprising me a second time, aswell as catching me talking. I started to wonder if he had something personal against me. He began to walk towards us and I saw the strange kid I had seen before standing at the front of the class next to where the head had been a moment before. He stopped infront of Jake's desk, looking down at the three of us. "Angelina. To the front. You two, in each corner," he barked at us. My first instinct was not to obey, to stay with Amie, but I knew I couldn't do that now. She knew it too because her arm was gone from mine. The head glared down at me, watching as I stood up. I honestly felt a significant degree of hatred towards the man just then, I could happily have planted him on his back and walked out of the school, but a voice inside kept my rage bottled. I lowered my eyes and walked to the front of the class. There was a completely empty desk at the front of the row I had been sitting in, so I sat there instead. I think it would be best not to have company, if I couldn't sit with Amie. There were just fifteen minutes to this anyway, so I would be out before long. The head had followed me back up the isle and he walked past me as I leaned my elbow on the desk, trying my best to look bored. I was always the same, even when I was a boy. I used to try to goad my teachers, not really in any disruptive way. I knew that not everyone had as good attention span as I had, but mostly I just did it to relieve the stress of my speech impediment. I heard the loud whisper from behind us, "Ruh-ruh-ruh retard!" But Tiggy wasn't caught. She nearly never was. I didn't react. "Ok." The head continued. "Now that we've got quiet... I'd like to introduce the new classmate who will be joining you all next term. Teloni Tarde." Like everyone else I looked at the new kid again. I'd never have figured him for an Italian. He was thin, but not stick thin and his eyes shone from his face a clear saffire blue, I realised that they were deliberately set by his sandy blonde hair to accentuate their color. His eyes lingered on me and I looked away quickly. "Teloni, if you'd like to take a seat," the teacher said gesturing to the seat next to mine. "I think we can ask young Angelina to show you around the school. Angelina, make sure he gets to lessons, otherwise I shall have words with you again." His eyes blazed a little and I knew that somewhere in the past I had done something to really upset this man. I wondered what it was. I glanced at Teloni as he sat down and gave him a quick, meaningless smile as he sat. He saw it and smiled back, but I remained unmoved. I wasn't in the mood for much of anything now. I knew I was getting angry now instead of scared and in a way it was good. There was a loud knock on the door and Mrs. Hill, the secretary, put her head around the door. The head turned and saw her, then grunted and walked over, there was a quick whispered conversation and then they both stepped outside, closing the door so we couldn't hear. I rolled my eyes and sighed, wishing that the lesson would just end so that we could begin getting this self-inflicted torture over with. "So what do you have this afternoon?" Teloni asked me. "He didn't give me my timetable yet." I started to turn to his face from the door, but Tiggy got in first. She was only a couple of seats away from us. "Teloni, don't try talking to THAT. She's dumb and can't even speak properly." I turned. "F-f-fuck off," I said, but that just made her laugh even more. She mimicked me to general laughter. Teloni turned back to me and I saw the uncertainty that Tiggy had planted in his eyes. I realised that he didn't know who to trust yet. "T-t-that's T-t-t-tiggy," I said not troubling to keep my voice down. "She's so r-rich she's been s-spoiled r-rotten and b-b-beyond hope." "Hey, shut up," Tiggy said a little hurt. "Immature retard. Why don't you tell your new friend why everyone calls you Red." That kinda did it for me. I knew Tiggy and I were going to have to have a serious talk soon. "Why don't you tell everyone why they call you whore?" I answered perfectly. I was as cool as the silver against my skin. "Oh, I forgot, they all already know." Tiggy sat, stunned. I think it wasn't just the words that did it, but that I didn't stutter once. I was learning to control myself it seemed and that was good. But the room all but fell quiet. Someone laughed, I think it was Amie and that started the others laughing too. There were a few calls of well done red and then the door banged as the head walked back into the room. "Settle down," he said quickly, then he pulled out the register. Five minutes later we were dismissed. I stood up, knowing that the worst was over now. Everyone had seen me now and the ones who knew knew. I felt a little angry that nobody had as yet come forwards, but the main thing I felt was relief. I was also glad that I had snapped at Tiggy. It would probably antagonise our friendship, but I honestly didn't care for her enough to think about it. "Do you mind if I come along with you Angelina?" Teloni asked. "You m-mean I get a c-c-c-choice?" I sighed. Teloni lifted his eyebrows, a little surprised. Then he shrugged. "I guess I could ask Tiggy." He grinned. "But I'm not sure about anyone yet." I watched him for a moment, remembering the facination that had swept through me when I'd looked into his eyes. "Ok," I said impulsively. "You c-can c-c-come along." He lifted his bag from the floor as people started walking past us and momentarily forgetting about Amie and Jake, I headed for the door. "So you from round here origionally?" he asked. "Y-Y-Yeah," I said nodding. As I turned to look at him again, those blue eyes caught mine and the feeling of facination gripped me again. I felt my mind skipping and blinked. Teloni looked away too, a little embarrassed. "Y-y-you'd better c-c-call me R-Red," I said. "Everyone d-d-does." "Only if you prefer it," Teloni added, watching me. "S-s-sure," I said, knowing that I was getting even more nervous. "So whats the first lesson?" he asked. His accent didn't have a trace of Italian in it, I noted. He just sounded American. "English," I told him. "Upstairs t-t-two f-f-f-... s-s-s-stairs," I said. He must've found it as painful as everyone else listening to me, but I didn't see a flicker of annoyance in him. "Hi Teloni," Amie said catching up to my arm. I noticed that Jake was still with her. I wondered what I'd have to do to get rid of him now. "Hello," he replied evenly. "I'm Amie," she said, then turned to me. "I love what you said to Tiggy." She laughed, looking around, wondering if Tiggy was in earshot, she wasn't though. Before we'd left the classroom, I saw her heading towards the headmaster. I didn't care though. I felt better than I had for a long time in school. I smiled. "S-s-s-s-s-..." I tried to concentrate on my silver, to calm the part of me which helped, but I just remembered the look on Tiggy's face instead and couldn't. I shook my head, telling them it didn't matter. Amie squeezed my arm. "Reds not dumb Teloni," she said quietly. "She just has a really really bad stutter." "Yes," he said. "I guessed." I looked at Amie, glad that she was able to say the things that I couldn't. I had actually been wondering how best to explain that myself. "W-w-w-wait here," I said to Teloni as we reached the classroom, then me and Amie ducked inside for our bags. We were barely out of earshot, when Amie squeezed my arm again, her face wide as though she'd just realised something. She was gazing at me in wonder. "You like him," she said. It wasn't a question. I couldn't help it, I kind of smiled. She was right of course, only I hadn't understood it until she said it. That was what had happened. Teloni's eyes kind of fascinated me. "I didn't know you were..." Amie began. I shook my head. "I'm not..." I said, then corrected myself. "I mean I w-wasn't." She didn't reply for a second, so I turned and grabbed my bag from the wall. "What were you thinking about?" Amie asked, moving closer. I saw her pure interest there and I knew it was alright to tell her. "I d-d-dunno, I s-sorta looked at h-him and h-his eyes k-k-kinda c- caught m-m-me," I said. Amie grinned. "I can't wait till I tell J.J.," she said. "Hey, w-w-whoa," I said. "I don't want it b-b-broadcast...!" Amie just grinned wider. "We won't tell anyone Red. J.J.'s the only one who'll understand anyway." "Actually he is kind of cute..." Amie said reflectively. I looked at he