Jason's Story - Chapters 50 - 58 free porn video

Author's Note: Thanks to Joni W for her help in editing. Chapter 50 That night while Jason lay in bed, he thought about all the changes going on in his life and how he had gotten to this point. Earlier in the day, Julie, Julie's mother, Kathy, Sue, his Aunt Sally and his mother were all with him as Michele did her magic. He had spent a lot of this summer fully as Kelly, but had kept away from the general public as much as possible. Mostly he and his friends had gathered at one of their houses. Julie's family had a pool, so a lot of the time was spent there. He laughed as he thought that at least he had not had to worry about the tan lines. Of course he had gone to the school to meet with the principal and the superintendant as Kelly. He had thought the butterflies that he felt that day were bad, but they did not hold a candle on what he had felt tonight. This was different, he had thought that he was going to be seen by just about every person in town, and he was not too far off with that estimate. As he sat there and listened to each and every person that got up to speak, knowing that he was at the center of the division, he kept wondering if this was the right thing to do. Sitting there and listening to the horrible things that some of them had to say about his parents, hurt him and made him angry. "Who the hell are these people to judge my parents? What do they know about how hard this has been for them and how hard they try to do what is right?" Jason thought to himself. Then he thought, "Maybe I should just put it all aside and be what they all expect me to be. Could I do that?" He thought about taking all of Kelly's things, bagging them up and taking them to good will. He knew of course, that he would be teased about it forever; even if he did at least it would be over. Even as he was thinking that, he knew it would never be over. His heart ached as he thought of never being able to be Kelly again and he knew that if he tried to completely remove Kelly from his life, he would never be happy. He thought about Chris Fienberg and knew without a doubt that without the acceptance that he had from his parents, that he could easily be Chris. A wave of empathy for Chris washed over him. He began to cry for what could have been and should have been. A feeling of guilt came over him wondering why he had so much support and why Chris had to fight his way alone. As he was crying for Chris, and feeling unworthy of the support he was receiving, he suddenly realized that it was not a matter of being worthy or not. In fact, he realized both he and Chris were worthy of the support of their loved ones and the shame was not on either he or Chris, but on those that could not or would not give them support. This was Mr. and Mrs. Fienberg's failing and he realized that Mr. Fienberg knew that too. In fact, it is what he had said. For himself it was his Aunt Jessica's failing that she and Tom could not handle this. They may never recognize that, but he knew it now and knew it implicitly. He could forgive them, as he was sure that Chris would forgive Mr. Fienberg, if he could. "God, please let Chris Fienberg's soul be at peace. Please let her find what she was looking for and could not find here on Earth; and please tell her, I won't let them get me down. I'm going to overcome them for her, for every transgendered person that never got support, I will be strong." With that, he fell asleep exhausted. Chapter 51 "Well this has been a pretty big week. I understand there was a big debate at the board of education meeting. How did that go?" Dr. Daniels asked Jason. "I was really nervous going into it. It was quite difficult to sit there and listen to everyone arguing over me. Some people said some truly nasty things about my parents, and that made me angry, others came to their defense. Then Mr. Fienberg talked about his son Chris and why he had killed himself, which was very sad." Jason replied. "So how did this make you feel?" "A whole range of emotions, angry, sad, angry, guilty, angry, proud, angry... did I say angry?" Jason laughed. "That sounds about right." "I thought a lot about it later that night. At first I started to think about whether I should just give it up and just bag up Kelly's things, and put her in my past. The thought of doing that just makes me so unhappy; I cannot see her not being a part of my life." "What about Jason. Can you see giving up being Jason for the rest of your life?" "I don't know. It's hard to imagine not ever being Jason anymore. I don't really think of Kelly and Jason as being different people anyway. I like being called Kelly, it feels like I'm being accepted, but it still feels a bit strange to me when I hear it, like it's someone else." "Forget about the names, because you are right, you are not two different people. If you were, we would be treating a very real psychiatric problem. But can you see giving up being identified as male, forever? You have already realized that you can't give up being identified as female, forever. Basically you have three options, one of which you have ruled out. So of the remaining options, you can work towards becoming fully your female persona, or you can try for a balance." "I don't know," Jason said. "And yet you have embarked on the path of being Kelly full time. Are you certain this is what you want?" "Yes, I'm sure. It's a bit scary, but yes, I have to do this." Chapter 52 The first day of school came too quickly for Jason. The night before he had gone to Michele's salon and she worked her magic. Since Jason no longer had to preserve the appearance of a masculine hairstyle, Michele had much more freedom. Jason's hair, while still somewhat short, had grown out some over the summer giving Michele more to work with, without having to resort to the extensions. Julie, Kathy and Sue had all helped him pick out the perfect outfit for the first day of school. They decided that Jason needed to avoid any ambiguity by dressing as feminine as possible that first day. He could settle into the comfort of jeans, once their schoolmates got used to seeing him as a girl. In a show of support, all three girls agreed that they would also dress up, until he was ready to relax. He and his friends walked into the high school for the first time as students. They all shared the same homeroom. Superintendent West had pulled strings and made sure that the assignment of classes insured that Jason and Julie had supportive students in each of their classes. As they walked through the halls looking for their classroom, other students looked at them and pointed at Jason. "Look there he is..." "He actually looks pretty good... " "Faggot..." Jason and his friends just tried to ignore it, as he held his head up and walked into his homeroom. Mrs. Kaufman was their homeroom teacher. They sat together towards the middle of the classroom. Once the final bell rang, Mrs. Kaufman asked for their attention. "Welcome to Jefferson Regional High School. I'm Mrs. Kaufman and I will be your homeroom teacher this year. I'll begin by taking roll call and passing out your class schedules. Your locker assignments are also listed on your schedule." She began calling out each of the students names, when she said, "Kelly Anderson?" a few of the students snickered. "We will have none of that! Kelly will be treated with respect in this school, do you all understand?" Mrs. Kaufman said, as she stared at the students that had snickered. The room got very quiet. "Well?" she asked again. "Yes, Mrs. Kaufman," the class responded in unison. She continued her stare for a moment and then said, "Good. Now, Kelly Anderson." "Here, Mrs. Kaufman," Jason replied. She smiled at Jason and handed him his schedule. "Here you go, Kelly. Welcome to my classroom. If I can be of any assistance to you please let me know." "Thank you, I will," Jason smiled back at her. Shortly after the roll call was completed, the intercom crackled with the morning announcements. They began with the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Principal Martin came on and said, "Welcome to a new year at Jefferson Regional High School. I hope that all of you will take time to welcome our incoming freshmen and to help make them ease into this transition from middle school to high school. I'm sure all of you remember how excited and nervous your first day was here. To our seniors, congratulations on making it to your final year! This year will fly by for you; before you know it you will be graduating in June and preparing for college or for whatever career you choose. It should be lots of fun and I hope that you will have many happy memories of your senior year to look back on." Principal Martin paused, and then added, "I know that many of you are aware that this year we have a situation that is new to all of us. First period this morning, we will have an assembly to address what we expect from each of you. Thank you." The room again got very quiet and everyone looked at Jason. He could feel the blush come to his face. Forcing a smile as he broke the quiet by saying, "That sounds like fun; I wonder what that could be about?" The rest of the class laughed. The homerooms were dismissed by grade to head to the auditorium. The freshmen classes were seated in the upper left hand section of the mezzanine area, sophomores in the center, juniors in the right, while the seniors were seated in the orchestra seats. As they took their seats, Julie held Jason's hand and said to him, "Kelly, it's going to be ok." "Thanks... I know it will. I just have to get through the next couple of days, and things should settle down." Principal Martin soon called for their attention. "Good morning everyone. As many of you know, this year we have a transgendered student that is enrolled in our school, undergoing real life trials. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, transgender refers to one of a number of things, but in general it refers to a person whose physical body's gender does not match their perception of who they are. It could be a born male that knows he is a female trapped in the body of a male, or a born female who knows they are really a male trapped in the body of a female. There are many theories as to what can cause this to occur. This condition is more common than you might think; though no one is certain how common. Although, it is often thought that it could be as high as ten percent. Even if it is not this high, in a school with an enrollment of around 1500 students, it is very likely that there are at least several other students that are transgendered. For many transgendered people, the anguish caused by the perceived gender and physical sex is very real. Changing the way that a person perceives themselves is very, very difficult, if not impossible. There are methods however, to allow the physical sex attributes to be changed, to bring the body and mind into harmony. As you might suspect, this is a rather drastic approach to resolving the problem, so transgendered people are required to live at least a year full time in their chosen gender role, before such a solution can be considered, since it is pretty much a one way street. This is referred to as their real life test. Our student is currently going through this test. I know that many of you are already aware of this, because most of your parents were at the school board meeting a few weeks ago. I also know that there were some very strong feelings, both positive and negative expressed at the board meeting, so we are going to review the guidelines." Principal Martin paused for a moment and looked over the students. "This is a place of learning and we welcome a diverse student body. No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual preference. Our state law provides for this and we will uphold it as it is the basis for community. We will have ZERO TOLERANCE of harassment towards ANY student, and that includes this student. Let me make this perfectly clear, the staff has all been instructed to be vigilant about any form of harassment and action will be immediate. " He again paused to allow that to sink in. "Finally, if you have any questions or concerns about this, Mrs. Grey, the school psychologist, is available to meet with you on a one on one basis. You may also speak with any of the staff. Thank you for your attention. Hopefully we will have a great year." With that, Mr. Martin walked off the stage and the teachers began letting the students leave the auditorium by class, first the seniors, then juniors, sophomores and finally the freshman. Chapter 53 Jason's first class was Algebra. As he walked to his class everyone looked at him, and people stopped talking as he came by. He was very much aware that he was the topic of conversation, how could it be otherwise, after the assembly. The whole school knew who he was, so it was so silly when the official communication referred to him as the Transgendered student. So far he had not seen Brad, for which he was quite grateful, though he suspected it was too good to last. He was going to enjoy it as long as he could, though. He did know that he and Brad would not have any classes together. Brad and his father were on the hate mail list, and none of the students from those families were in any of Jason's classes. Fortunately this was a big enough school, with enough classes, that they could do so fairly easily. That did not mean that he was not going to face students that did not approve, but at least the ones that had been passionate enough to send particularly nasty messages were not. Kathy was in his Algebra class, and they sat together. The boys that came in carefully sat as far from Jason as they could, Jason wondered if they thought he was contagious. Some of the girls came over and said hello. Jason and Kathy smiled at them and said "Hello" back. One girl in particular, Kirsten, looked at Jason and said, "Jason, I've known you since kindergarten, and I would never have thought that you were a girl. But damn, look at you. If I did not know you were not born a girl, I would never guess." Kathy said firmly, "Kirsten, her name is Kelly now." "Oh, I'm sorry, Jas... I mean Kelly. I had not heard that you had changed your name, though I suppose that makes sense, you really don't look like a Jason anymore. Really, you would think that would have been something Principal Martin should have told us, so we would know." Jason could see from her expression that Kirsten had not meant to be offensive, and in fact she seemed offended that Principal Martin had pretty much insured such encounters. "It's ok, Kirsten. I was just thinking about that myself. I felt a bit strange being referred to as 'the transgendered student' instead of as Kelly or even Jason." "Maybe you should wear a name tag... you know, Hello ? I'm Kelly Anderson." Kirsten and several of the other girls including Jason and Kathy chuckled. "Not a bad idea you know," Kathy said, and then added, "I'd be willing to wear one too, so that you did not feel singled out." Several of the other girls said, "I'll do it too." "Great, but where are we going to get hello labels? By tomorrow it won't be necessary." "They have to have something like that at the office," Kristen said. "Mr. Stokes, can I be excused to see if I can get some labels?" "Make it quick, class is about to begin," Mr. Stokes said. Kristen came back a few minutes later, and took a seat near Jason. She had a couple dozen sheets of 3 x 4 inch labels. She wrote on the first one, Hello I am Kirsten Carlin, and peeled it and placed it on her blouse. She passed several sheets to each of the girls that had agreed to help, and told them to spread it out in the rest of their classes. Mr. Stokes brought them to his attention, and began in on day one of Algebra. The rest of the morning went by quickly, and Jason felt honored every time he came across another girl wearing a name tag. It was by no means all of the girls, but there were quite a few, and he felt good knowing that he had some support. At lunch, Jason and his friends sat down together. "So, how is it going? Anyone had any real problems?" Sue asked. John spoke up with a rueful look on his face, "I've had a few of the guys give me a hard time, saying that as Jason's best friend I had to have known about this and maybe I was gay. I pointed out that guys don't usually date beautiful women like you. They just said that since Julie is obviously into girls, or at least guys that want to be girls, that maybe Sue and Kathy are really dating, and Steve and I are together. So according to them, we are all just pretending so we can try to hide being gay." "Ick..." All four of them said. Jason said, "I'm sorry that you have to deal with this, it's my fault." "Yes it is..." Steve said with a smile, "and don't think we are going to let you forget it." "Gee, thanks." "Don't worry about it, Kelly. The guys will get over it. Now if we did not have these lovely ladies to console us, I would probably have been a bit more likely to punch you in the nose, at least when you were still looking like Jason. Somehow, I can't see you as Jason anymore though. After spending most of the summer with you as Kelly, it really is clear how much happier you are, this way. And really, if I had not known you all these years as Jason... I'd never suspect," John said. As they sat and ate their lunches, Brad walked over to the table. "Well, well, lookie hear, we have the queer table. Fags, dykes and its. Shit Jason, I always said you were a faggot, and now here you are all dressed up in drag. So Julie, now I know why you were never interested in me, you're a dyke, or maybe even worse, a wanna be dyke. You can't even go for real women; you go for fake women. Jason's not a man, but he ain't no woman either." Julie looked at him and said, "Brad, you know what, maybe I'm bi, male, female it doesn't matter to me, which Kelly is, but I do insist on human, so I'm sorry you don't qualify. I don't date asses." Most of the students that overheard the exchange from the surrounding tables laughed at this. Brad turned red, and said, "You bitch!..." Brad started towards Julie, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Mr. Stokes said, "Mr. Johnson, I believe you were given a warning about staying away from Kelly and Julie? I suggest that you head back over to your own table before you get yourself suspended from school before we even finish out the first day." Brad turned and looked at Mr. Stokes, and said, "Fine." When Brad had gone Julie said, "Thank you, Mr. Stokes." Mr. Stokes turned and said, "It's going to be a long year. But it will be longer still, if we don't nip this stuff in the bud right now. Let me know if he comes after you again." Mr. Stokes went over to one of the other teachers, and then headed out of the lunch room in the direction of the office. Another teacher soon came in to take his place. When lunch was over, Jason, Julie, Kathy and Sue all had gym as their next class. Jason told them he would meet them after he changed, and he headed to the nurses office. Mrs. Hammond was the school nurse. When Jason arrived in her office, she looked up and said, "Can I help you?" "I'm Kelly Anderson; I need to use the bathroom here to get changed for gym," Jason told her. Mrs. Hammond gave Jason a funny look, and said, "I guess we are going to be seeing a lot of each other this year." "Yes, I suppose we are," Jason replied, not quite able to read her expression. "Well, it is right over there. Do what you have to do," Mrs. Hammond said pointing at the bathroom door. "Thanks," Jason said, and went into the bathroom to get changed. Meanwhile, Julie, Kathy and Sue walked into the girl's locker room. As they walked in and searched for an open locker, Courtney Myers said, "Look out girls. Cover yourselves, unless you want Julie the dyke to see you naked." Kathy said, "Courtney, if you are so worried about being seen naked, why do you walk around three quarters exposed all the time anyway? Is there anyone that you have not shown your boobs to?" Kathy, Sue and Julie found three lockers together. Kathy and Sue deliberately made sure to take their time changing their tops and their bras, to their sports bras and gym shirts. Julie made a point of keeping her focus on her locker while everyone changed. After they changed they all found their way to the gym. Jason joined them there. Courtney once again determined to cause trouble, said, "Look it's in our class. I thought this was supposed to be girl's gym. Anyone got a hair pin we can use to pop those water balloon tits?" A girl that neither Jason nor his friends had met before spoke up and said, "Give it a rest. I'm sure she is not the only girl in this class that is using a little bit of help. I think she is doing remarkably well." The new girl came up to Jason held out her hand and said, "Hi. I'm Meghan. I'm new here, and I want to tell you I think that you are quite brave to face up to all of this nonsense. I hope that we can be friends." Jason took her hand and said, "Thank you, Meghan. It's a pleasure to meet you. This is Julie, and Kathy and Sue." As they each acknowledged each other, and Courtney watched them with disgust, Coach Evers came out of the locker room. "Ok girls, form a line." After taking attendance she had them run three laps around the gym. Then she had them grab a field hockey stick and headed them outside to the field. Jason had not played field hockey before so it took him a while to get used to the feel of the stick. About half way through the class he started to get the hang of it and was heading up field toward the opposing goal, when Courtney took a huge swing at his legs, tripping him up. Jason fell to the ground and grabbed at his lower leg. Coach Evers blew her whistle and said, "Hey... None of that! Courtney, you know better! Go sit on the sidelines." Coach Evers came over to Jason and asked, "Are you alright? That was a pretty bad hit?" Jason said, "I'll be fine, though I suspect I'm going to have a pretty good bruise from that soon." "Let me see." Jason pulled his hands away, and pulled down his socks and it was clearly already bruising and swelling. "Alright, your done for today, head into the nurse and get an ice pack on that." "Ok, Coach." Jason got up and started to limp off. "Julie, help Kelly get to the nurse's office, then come on back." Julie came and let Jason lean on her and together they made their way to the nurse's office. Coach Evers blew her whistle to start the game up again, then headed over to Courtney and spoke to her privately. Chapter 54 In the nurse's office, Mrs. Hammond looked up and said, "Well that was a short class. What happened?" Julie said, "Courtney took a hack at her with a field hockey stick. She needs an ice pack." Mrs. Hammond had Jason sit on the bed, and had her show him his leg. "Yes, that is already swelling quite a bit, and I'm afraid will be quite bruised. Hold on, I'll get an ice pack." "Kelly, you are not going to want to put your hose on when you get changed," Julie said. "But I'll look ridiculous with that skirt without hose!" Jason replied. "Kelly, it won't be that bad, and you will have the ice pack. Are you going to be able to walk to your next class?" Julie asked. "I don't know." "I'll come back and help you, just wait here for me, ok?" Julie said. "Ok." "I have to get back to class," Julie said. "Go on, I'll be fine," Jason said. He squeezed Julie's hand lightly, and smiled at her. Julie squeezed it back and then headed back to the field. Mrs. Hammond came back from her store room with an ice pack and a towel. "Here, put this on the bruise. It will help." "Thank you," Jason said. Mrs. Hammond went back over to her desk and made some notes. "Mrs. Hammond," Jason said. "Yes?" she replied. "I make you uncomfortable, don't I?" Jason said. "To be honest, Kelly, yes you do. As a nurse, I have studied and understand and even can intellectually agree with the path you have chosen. But sometimes it is difficult to reconcile that with my own religious belief of right and wrong. Please don't misunderstand me, I am a professional Kelly, and I am aware enough of my own biases that I won't let them get in the way of treating you properly. I take my responsibility as a nurse very seriously, and my job is to ensure the safety of all of the students in this school. I promise you that I won't be your enemy, Kelly. No matter what my personal bias is, what Courtney did on the field to you was wrong. But I would be lying to you if I did not admit that you make me a little uncomfortable, if for no other reason than that you make me have to face my own biases." "Thank you." "For what?" Mrs. Hammond asked, slightly puzzled. "For being honest with me. I am sorry to cause you discomfort, but I appreciate that you are honest enough with yourself and to me, and that you are a professional. I can't ask for more than that. I am going to be spending a lot of time in this office, getting changed, using the facilities, and I don't want either one of us to dread that time." Chapter 55 That night Jason and his parents were sitting down to dinner. He had continued to have trouble with walking, and his mother had had to pick him up after school, as there was no way he was going to be able to walk the almost two miles to his home. She had taken him to the clinic, and an X-ray showed that he had received a hair-line fracture. So he know had a cast on his leg, and a set of crutches. Courtney had received a week of detention, and had been given a strong warning about any future incidents. Jason's parents were of course concerned about the incidents with Brad and with Courtney, but they were heartened by some of the examples of support that Jason had received as well. His mother was very interested in his conversation with Mrs. Hammond, and said, "Give her a chance, it sounds like she is going to try, and it is worth it to give her that chance. But if you start to feel that having to go there every day is getting unbearably uncomfortable let us know." As they were finishing dinner, and just about to clear the table, a large crash came from the living room. Jason's father raced to the living room and found that a large brick with a note tied around it had been thrown through the big picture window. "Kristine, call the police. Kelly stay out of the living room!" Richard raced to the front door and out side to see if he could see who had thrown the brick, but all he saw was a pick up truck racing down the hill. He headed back inside. "Damn. I think that was Johnson's truck, but I can't swear to it." He said as he came back inside. "The police are on their way, Richard." "Good. Don't touch anything, especially that brick. Maybe they can get something off of it," he said. Within minutes, the first squad car had arrived. Neighbors poked their heads out and came over to see what had happened. The officer asked everyone to please stay back, that the detectives were on their way and would probably have questions, if anyone saw anything. When the detectives arrived, they came in and looked at the damage. They asked if anyone had been hurt, and then if anyone had touched anything, and Richard told them, "No. We were in the dining room, and we have not even read the note." The detective put on latex gloves and then picked up the brick with the note. He carefully opened it up and saw that it said, "Faggot, get out of our school." It was made up of letters cut out from various newspapers. "Of course, everyone knows that is how you do it to not be traced, because everyone watches damned TV." He put the note into a plastic evidence bag, and the brick into another. "Did you see anything?" "No, unfortunately not. I saw a big pickup flying down the hill, but I can't swear that it was involved." The detective went out and started questioning the neighbors. He came back a bit later and said, "We might have gotten lucky. One of your neighbors noticed a big black pickup that doesn't belong in this neighborhood making several passes through here. So they wrote down its license plate number. I called it in, and guess what; it belongs to the Johnson's. We might finally have something to bring them in on." Chapter 56 "That is good news," Richard Anderson said. "It gets better. He said that when he got suspicious he went into his house and he peeked out through some curtains. He said that the pickup came around again, stopped in front of your house. A boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, got out, took the brick and tossed it through your window. He saw the man egging on the boy and then gave him a high five when the boy jumped back in after breaking your window. He did not recognize them, so we will have him pick them out from a lineup." "Who is the witness?" Richard asked. "Mr. Weller," the detective replied and then added, "his statement is important, because assuming it really is Brad and his father, we can charge Brad with throwing the brick and we can charge his father with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and possibly other things. The DA is already working on getting a warrant so we can pull them in and get Mr. Weller to ID them." The next morning Mr. Anderson was outside with the glass repairmen, when Mr. Weller walked across the street and said, "Good Morning, Richard." "Good morning, Sean. Excuse me one second," he said to Mr. Weller and then turned back to the repairmen and said, "Ok. Go ahead and fix it." He signed the estimate authorizing the work. Then he turned back to his neighbor. "Sean, I have to thank you for coming forward last night." "Richard, I know that you are aware that I am not comfortable with the decisions that you and your family have made regarding Jason and that as a devout Christian, I find it distasteful. However, violence is never the answer, and if I did not come forward, I would be just as guilty as that boy and his father. Also it needs to be stopped here and now, before it gets out of hand." "Sean, I respect your beliefs. That is why I appreciate you even more, that you took a stand and spoke with the detective last night. I know there are those in this town that will not approve of your turning them in. Kelly has already been attacked at school and had her leg broken and now this with the window. As you said, it needs to stop here and now." The two men shook hands and Mr. Weller headed across the street to his home. Later that afternoon, the Andersons, Mr. West, Mr. Martin, Officer Dowling and the detective held a meeting at the High School. Mr. West said, "Thank you all for coming here to the school. Obviously the first day of school did not go off quite as well as we had hoped it would. Kelly, I am sincerely sorry for what happened in gym class yesterday, I think you are aware that Courtney is serving after school and lunch time detentions all this week, and has been warned that any further incidents will result in suspension, and possibly expulsion. We are also aware of the incident at your home last evening, which is why the police have been invited. Can we get an update on that from you, detective?" "Yes, Superintendant West. The warrants for Brad and his father were served this morning and they were charged with several counts. They of course denied that they were anywhere near your home last night and claimed to have been out of town. They were put into a lineup and Mr. Weller came and picked them out from the lineup. They have posted bail, and the DA is pushing to get at least Brad's case in front of the juvenile judge as soon as possible. We were also able to get some fingerprints off of the note. Funny they went to so much trouble to use newspaper clippings, but they just used a piece of notebook paper, probably from one of Brad's school notebooks. It was covered in fingerprints." "Thank you, detective. Ok, so that leaves us with how do we protect Kelly and your family? I knew we had some strong opinions out there, but I really wasn't expecting this much violence in our town. I'm actually shocked by it," Mr. West said. Officer Dowling said, "We are going to increase the frequency that our patrol cars go past the Anderson's house, for starters." Mr. Anderson said, "At their urging, we are also looking into having security cameras installed to provide us with coverage, so that we don't have to rely on luck and Mr. Weller." Mr. Martin said, "As for here at the school, I have already had an additional staff meeting and the staff will be even more vigilant. I know that Kelly was hurt in Gym yesterday. It would have been difficult to prevent that, since it was done as part of a field hockey match. Of course, at least for the next few weeks, as a result of that injury, Kelly will be excused from Gym. With the extra care in the halls and classrooms, I believe she is safe here at the school. My bigger concern is the walk to and from school. There is very little we can do to protect her on her way home." "Well for the moment, I have had to arrange for her to get a ride, to and from school anyway, since she is not about to walk two miles on crutches. She should be safe enough, at least for now." Mrs. Anderson said, and then she asked, "I have to say gentlemen; I'm more than a little scared right now. The violence yesterday was fairly mild. How do we keep it from escalating?" "All we can do is be on the alert. From what I heard from the staff, the one good thing about what happened yesterday and last night is that the reaction of the vast majority of the students was that no matter what they think of Kelly, that Courtney and Brad were over the top. That swings sentiment towards Kelly. More importantly, peer pressure is very strong. Courtney found herself being given the cold shoulder by the vast majority of the student body today. I suspect Brad would have too, but he was not in school today. That will help deter future outbreaks," Mr. Martin replied. "Mom, I have to agree with that. I can't tell you how many of the people, that were downright cold to me yesterday, came up to me and told me they were sorry for what had happened. Not everyone of course, but it was noticeable." "Kristine, we are going to have to just see this through." "I know, Richard, but Kelly is sitting here with a broken leg, we had our house attacked last night, what makes anyone think this is going to just stop?" "No one has said that it is going to stop, Kristine. We have to take every precaution we can, and make sure we don't let them have an opportunity for anything more." They all just sat there quietly. "Mom, I have friends in every one of my classes. They are not going to let anyone hurt me without a fight, and I can take care of myself. I did so as Jason, and I will do so as Kelly." "You shouldn't have to!" "No Mom, I shouldn't. I should not have been betrayed by my Aunt and my cousin either; but I was. I forgive them, because I won't sink into their hatred and bitterness. I'm going to hold my head high, and face whatever comes. I have to do this Mom." "Kris... I'm as worried as you are, but Kelly is right. She can't let them chase her away from here. She would not be able to respect herself. Everyone in this room is committed to keeping her safe. We will just have to be vigilant." Kristine looked at them all and finally said with a sigh, "Fine. But Kelly, you have to promise me that any form of harassment needs to be reported. If things start to escalate, we need to know about it and figure out how to make sure to keep you safe. Is that clear?" "Yes, Ma'am, it is perfectly clear." Chapter 57 "So what do you think of high school so far, Kelly?" Julie asked. They were sitting in the Anderson's kitchen, working on their homework. "Oh, you know, boring. Nothing exciting has happened yet." They both chuckled. "Well, I'm finished with my homework now. Why don't we go into your room and pop on a CD?" "That sounds good to me." They packed up their homework, grabbed their soft drinks and headed into Jason's room. As Julie looked around, she said, "You know Kelly, it's kind of funny coming into your room." "What do you mean?" "Well, look around. On the one hand this is a typical boy's room. The color scheme on the walls, the curtains, even the bedspread, are all very masculine. Then you have all of those sports posters. It looks quite a bit like my brothers room. Then you have your makeup mirror, all of your makeup, etc. on your desk. When we look in your closet you have a bunch of boys clothing shoved in the back and then you have all your new Kelly clothing. It looks like you are just visiting here and you're staying in this room, but it really isn't yours." "I see what you mean. I kind of feel like that sometimes. I have been Jason my whole life and I've only really been Kelly for a couple of months. On the one hand, I feel really, really, comfortable as Kelly. I can relax and be myself; I don't have to be this macho 'boy.' But I don't feel like a different person, it's more like I feel like myself. I like being called Kelly; it makes me feel accepted. But I always have to stop to realize what it means to me. You know yesterday, Kirsten called me Jason and it was Kathy that jumped all over her for it. I remember thinking at the time; it was funny that she was bothered by it more than I was. I was fully expecting people to call me Jason still, after all, how would they know what to call me. You know, I never really thought about a new name until Mom said I would need one the day we went to the mall, and you caught me." "Well you sure don't look like a Jason now." "I know that. But Jules, I have to admit, part of me is scared. Sometimes I feel that taking this new name is a loss of me, Jason, like by changing my name to Kelly, I'm not going to be me, Jason, anymore. I don't know how to explain it." "You know, I might understand. Mom and I talked about something similar once. She told me that it was really tough for her when she got married. She had been Shelly Gartner her whole life, and when she married dad, she gave that up and became Shelly Sanders. She said it really bothered her, like she was losing her identity. She seriously considered keeping her name. But as you know, mom and dad are pretty conservative, and daddy would have felt incredibly rejected by that, so she did it. I wonder, if what you are feeling is similar?" "Maybe. I'll let you know if I feel the same when I marry you and have to give up Anderson," Jason said with a grin. Julie looked startled, and then laughed. "Well that would make my parents heads spin again. Don't tell them that, there still trying to get used to us, as it is!" "Your parents have actually been great. Much better then you thought they would be." "Yes, I suppose they have. I guess I was wrong and it probably would have been better if I had just talked to them myself. A good part of the worst of it was, that they were upset about that blasted picture." "You should remember that the next time you have something to tell them you don't think they are going to like." "Yeah, you're right." She conceded. Chapter 58 "How are you feeling, Kelly? You had quite a welcome into High School, I hear." Dr. Daniels asked. "I'm fine. It was a rough first day, but it has settled down some, since." "Well that is good to hear. Yet, you look troubled, is there something you want to talk about?" Jason told him about his conversation with Julie about names, his room, and who he was. "So do you think that you are just visiting?" Dr. Daniels asked. "No, I don't. I can't see going back." "Ok. What is the real change? What is the difference between being Jason and being Kelly?" "Nothing, really. Two names for the same person." "But there is a difference, think about it." "To me, there isn't. I'm Jason, I'm Kelly, my likes and dislikes are the same either way." "Ok, if that is the case, just keep the name Jason." "I can't! I can't tell people that I'm Jason, when I'm dressed like this." "Why not, it's your name and there isn't a difference?" "Because they won't accept me as Jason, it would just make things more difficult." "But they will accept you as Kelly?" "Not necessarily, but it is certainly more likely." "Why?" A dawning of comprehension came on Jason's face, "Because, they perceive me differently as Kelly, then Jason." "Yes they do." "So the difference between being Kelly and being Jason has to do with their perceptions of who I am?" "Yes. But what does that matter to you?" "Because how they perceive me dictates how I'm treated." "Correct. How do you want to be treated? Do you want to be treated as Kelly, or as Jason? You are the same person, but how do you want others to treat you?" "I never thought of it like that." "Well, our time is up. I suggest that you think about it." Jason tossed and turned in his bed later that evening. He kept thinking about his conversations with Dr. Daniels, and Julie. "Who am I?" He thought to himself. "Am I a boy, am I a girl? Am I both? What do I want?" Jason thought hard about how he wanted to be perceived. He tried to think of what he missed about being Jason, these past couple of months. He could not think of anything. "I am me!" He thought. "Yes, but who am I?" "I am Jason," he thought, picturing himself as a boy. "I am Kelly," he thought, as he pictured himself as a girl, he started to get a warm happy feeling. "I am Jason," he tried again, the happy feeling diminished, replaced by a decidedly uncomfortable feeling in his gut. "I am Kelly. I am Kelly." The warm happy feeling returned. "Who am I? I am Kelly." The warm happy feeling continued to build. "I am Kelly." "I am me, and I AM Kelly!" With a crescendo of emotion, the warm happy feeling became an overwhelming wave of acceptance. "I AM KELLY," Kelly shouted. She shot out of bed, grabbed her bathrobe, and hobbled on her bad leg to the kitchen. She opened the cabinet under the sink and got out the large black trash bags. "Kelly, what is going on? Are you ok?" Her mother asked looking frightened. "I'm great Mom. I AM Kelly!" She said crying. "I know you are honey, but what are you doing? Why are you crying?" "I'm happy Mom. I am just really, happy. I know who I am; I'm me! I'm still me, but I am Kelly! I need to bag up Jason's clothes. I'm not just visiting, I'm here to stay and I want my room to be my room." "What are you talking about?" "Mom, I love being Kelly, but I was afraid that I was going to lose myself. It's funny, I yelled at Dad for treating me like I was somebody else just because I was Kelly, but I think it was because I was afraid of it too and did not want to think about it. It was keeping me from really accepting myself. But no more, I AM Kelly and I am still me. I'm not going back, and I need to bag up all of Jason's clothes, and purge them. We can give them to good will." "Can't it wait until morning?" "No, it can't. I have to do it right now." "Let me get my bathrobe, I'll come and help." "No, I need to do this myself. Mom, I want to redecorate my room; I'm here to stay! Can you help me with that? I don't want it to be a boy's room anymore." "It might take some time; we can certainly make some changes that will make it yours." "I love you, Mom." Kelly gave her mother a big hug. It did not take her long to bag up all of Jason's clothing. She took the bags out of her room and down the stairs to the garage and left them by the car. She said, "Goodbye, Jason." She turned around without looking back and went to HER room.