Pulling At The Red Thread Of Fate - Chapter 5 - The Only Easy Day Is Yesterday free porn video

Pulling at the Red Thread of Fate - Chapter 5 - The Only Easy Day is Yesterday I could feel the tension on the field as we broke our huddle and lined up. 30 seconds on the clock, 4th down, 50 yards to go. The defence slipped back to zone coverage - it didn't take a genius to know that we had to make a passing play. The Brightman Academy Tigers, or the Brightman Bastards as we "affectionately" called them, lined up to meet us. I could tell by the look on their DB's face that they thought they had this in the bag. That was perfectly fine with me, because no one seemed to notice that Mike was still on the field and had taken the place of our tight end. By the time I started calling the play, the defence finally noticed and were scrambling to readjust. Like hell if I was going to give them the time. "HUT!" The ball snapped and came right at me, our receivers starting running their routes. They knew their jobs - if they were open, great, but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy and it was time for what Coach Sanders disparagingly called 'skunkworks' football. I think it caused him to lose years off his life whenever Mike and I did stuff like this, but it's why I loved playing the game. I backed up and made a motion to throw before handing the ball off to Roger, who broke right and headed in Mike's direction. At that point I started running left and as far down the field as I could. The defence was in utter chaos as they quickly pivoted to Roger, before watching as he tossed the ball to Mike who was now was now running a reverse play and sprinting with the ball in the opposite direction. The zone coverage broke down as some of their linebackers were trying to pivot from Roger to Mike and their safeties gave up on the zone and started chasing down receivers who were just running all over the field at this point. I reached the end zone with no one near me and snapped to my right to head back to the center of the end zone. I knew Mike liked to pivot on his left side when he scrambles right, so he'd likely throw back to the center of the field. As I turned, I saw the ball was already in the air. In that moment, everything felt like it was playing out in slow motion as the ball slowly drifted down toward me. I could see a couple of the safeties start rushing back to reach me but it was too late. I felt the ball hit my chest as I cradled my arms around it and fell with my back to the ground. Everyone went wild. I can't believe that worked! I stood up and started jumping up in down in celebration as my teammates came over to swarm me. But Mike, with his helmet already off, cut through them all to reach me, giving me a hug as our stupid little trick play made us the newest legends in town. That's when he let me go to undo my helmet and toss it aside, allowing my long hair to flow freely against my shoulders. Did I always have long hair? I looked up at him as we stared deeply into each other's eyes... was he always taller than me? That's when he suddenly grabbed me by the waist to pull me up against him. What... what was he doing? I was so caught off guard that I didn't have a chance to react when he leaned in and give me a passionate kiss on my lips. I pressed my body back against his and returned his kiss, the moment I shared with Mike better than any silly touchdown I may have scored. I heard the crowd cheer even louder before as we continued to kiss each other, losing ourselves to the moment of passion. My eyes shot open as my phone's alarm started beeping at me to wake me up. What the hell was that?! That was definitely what happened, right until the end when Mike suddenly... I raised my hand to my lips, as if still feeling the lingering effect of the kiss. That's when I started feeling the rest of my body again and remembered everything that happened yesterday. Unless I suddenly lost a lot of weight and changed my body shape, I was still a girl. I noticed that my whole body was covered with sweat and that I had kicked the sheets off my bed. As the realization of what my dream had devolved into finally hit me, I pushed my hand away from my lips and snapped out of my hazy state. I focused so that I could pull up that memory and it did happen exactly as I had dreamed. Except I wasn't a girl quarterback and I definitely did not make out with Mike on the field with everyone watching. I fell back to my bed and curled up into a ball, trying to make sense of my dream. Was Ally starting to take hold of my mind? What if... what if I never replaced her, but she is still here struggling to kick this creepy boy out of her brain? Another thought entered my mind. What if these desires were mine...? what if I wanted Mike to grab me? To kiss me. To love me... I turned to stuff my face into my pillow and let out a muffled scream. NO NO NO NO NO. I decided to check my laptop again, but expectedly the professor didn't answer to the whim of a random teenaged girl who emailed out of the blue. I thought about what else I could do in the meantime and thought about Pastor Jones again. I didn't know what to expect from Church... I'd be the first to admit that religion had kind of slipped me by as I grew older, but this all being some kind of test of a faith makes about as much sense as anything else I could come up with. I just knew that this dual life was literally starting to drive me crazy, and the sooner I can get home and leave this life behind, the better. That's when a pang of heartbreak hit me, as if my body was responding to my rejection of the life it led. It was enough to make me think about the situation I found myself in, at least for a moment. I actually didn't have it bad here, and my first day did go rather well. Jeez... was I feeling guilty about trying to leave this life and go back to my own? "FUCK!" I screamed in frustration, before covering my mouth. The last thing I needed was to have everyone rush into my room again. This may be a great life... but it isn't mine - it's Ally's! I had my own life to get back to, my own dreams - not involving Mike! - to look forward to, and my own ambitions to fulfill. Whatever hang ups or worries about impropriety were now gone as I stripped out of my clothes and grabbed my bathrobe, heading to the shower determined to start my day. I'll do my best to keep Ally's life going, but I couldn't just be a passive observer anymore. Carpe diem, as my English teacher liked to say... well I'm going to 'carpe' the hell out of this 'diem'. I was startled by my phone when it started to ring, playing a few bars of 'Shake it Off' before I grabbed it to see who it was calling. When I saw Mike's number, I instinctively answered without thinking and said, "Hey Mikey, what's up?" I grimaced after I said the words, realizing what I just did. I could tell I threw Mike off whatever script he had in his head by playing off his call so nonchalantly. Well, I assumed he thought I was playing it cool. Because why would he think that I'm actually his best friend in the body of a girl answering his call as if it was something we did every day? I suppressed a giggle as I heard him try to regain his composure. "I... err... uh... hey Ally!" Real smooth Mike, real smooth. He continued, still a little flustered, "Sorry about calling you... but, umm." He cleared his throat. "But you didn't get back to me yesterday and I just wanted to talk to you." Before I could answer, he quickly interjected, "Oh and Britney gave me your number, just in case you were wondering why I'd have it... hope you don't mind, I'm not a stalker or something!" He gave an awkward laugh before he petered off. I'm sure if I was on the other end of the line, I'd see him facepalming quite hard right now. Is this what Mike is really like when he speaks to girls? I'd been so consumed with Violet that I never really considered asking anyone out and needing a 'wingman' or being someone else's backup. And come to think of it, when we'd go to parties and things, he'd usually end up hanging out with me or some of the other guys and girls would just naturally come up to him, so he never had to 'try'. Suppressing another laugh, I decided to put the poor man out of his misery. "Oh don't worry about it. I'm glad you called, it's a lot more personal than a text. Besides, I kind of blocked out the internet yesterday after someone posted that picture of us. Although I swear whoever took it needs to win an award or something because it's looks like something out of a movie!" Even though I couldn't see him, I could tell I had his rapt attention as he listened intently to what I was telling him, perhaps trying to read some double meaning in my words. I hated to admit it, but it was a little intoxicating to have that kind of power over someone - even if it was my best friend. I could only imagine how mortified my Mike would be if I told him I knew what he sounded like when he was trying to sweet talk a girl, smiling to myself at the thought. "Yeah, totally... honestly I was afraid of what you might think of that picture." "Well, I'll be honest. People, my parents included, think I'm some kind of siren who ran up and seduced you in the middle of football practice and that doesn't feel great." As I answered, I wasn't sure if I was more worried about my own feelings or how people saw Ally. Maybe a bit of both. Mike was apologetic. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed your shoulders like that." That's when I laughed. Despite everything, the most we did was held hands. What is this, the 80s? He was a bit flustered again and tried to salvage a situation that didn't need salvaging. "I'm sorry! I mean... what... why are you laughing?" I took a deep breath to stop my laughing and sighed. "This is just so silly is all. Next thing you know, people will expect you to ask me to be your 'steady' and then I'll wear your letterman jacket or something silly like that." I could hear Mike laugh too, although I don't know if he was laughing because he found it funny too or if he was a bit disappointed that I wasn't really interested in following those entrenched traditions. Certainly, I had my own reasons for not wanting to be Mike's doting cheerleader girlfriend, but the fact that my body didn't protest my words meant that Ally likely felt the same way too. Maybe that was the icebreaker he needed, because he was much more confident when he replied, "How about a date instead? We can get to know each other a little more and you can tell me how I can be a better quarterback." He was teasing a little, but being playful about it. That was enough to get my... Ally's heart to flutter again. Sorry Ally, but I'm not going to make it that easy for him! I took the opportunity to bring the subject to football. "Do you happen to have any footage of the game from last year? We could watch it together." I was kind of hoping my odd request for a first date would throw him off, or maybe he'd push for something a little more 'dinner and a show' than 'let's watch me get creamed by the other team', but to my surprise he quickly agreed to my request. "Yeah, I think Coach has some footage. I've been afraid to watch it actually, but if I have you there with me...." I could almost feel something in my body reaching out, as if to smugly declare victory over my obvious attempt to put off a date. Not only was I going to spend time with him, but I'll be there to support him when he's vulnerable. My Dad always taught me to be gracious in defeat and I shrugged my shoulders to myself, relinquishing any further attempts to put off what everyone else seemed to want. Fine Ally, you win. But if I find a way out of here before that date happens, then you better hope you can learn a lot about football quick! I turned my attention back to call and sweetly said, "It's a date then." "Friday after practice?" I was about to try to push it out further, but I could already feel negative emotions starting to rise up at the mere thought, so I relented and agreed, "Sounds great." "Awesome! I'll see you at school today and we'll work something out for Friday! Bye Ally!" I swore I heard someone giggle on the other end of the phone and Mike giving a muffled but angry response in reply, but put it out of mind and simply replied, "Bye Mike" as we both hung up. Well. Ally certainly seized the day at least. Hopefully I could do the same as I started to focus on getting ready for school again. I looked at my schedule and saw that I had practice again today, which meant if I didn't want to skip school, I'd have to make it over to the church over lunch. I can make that work. Since I was lost in thought, it was only after I had made my plans that I noticed what I had thrown on. A tight, pink sleeveless top and a light grey skirt. To make up for my almost instinctual need for more feminine clothing today, I made a point of barging into my parent's room and grabbing yet another oversized shirt from Dad's closet, slipping It on and tucking it into my skirt as I headed downstairs for breakfast. When Dad saw that I had made good on my threat to raid his closet again, I could see him give a little nudge to Mom to get her attention. She just shrugged her shoulders and ignored him, leaving him wanting to say something but unable to articulate his concern. I must admit it was a little fun to see him so perplexed. My brother smiled at me when I sat down and excitedly said, "No one believed me when I told them what happened yesterday until I linked them the video. They all want to play with you!" I'm sure Ally would have been more bemused than anything, but I'd rather have that kind of attention than being known as the girl who went after her man. "Tell them that was a one-time show." I smiled and added, "But if any of them start acting out of line, I'll find them and drop a nuke on them!" He laughed and Dad gave Mom another look, making her roll her eyes as she finally took the hint to speak to me, "When did you start playing video games?" My whole life? "Oh you know, here and there. It's just a little fun." "Well... just don't play too much." She turned to point at my brother. "You too Steve!" "Yes Mom," we both replied. And then laughed as we noticed we were in sync again. I'm not sure if Dad got the answer he was looking for, but Mom was certainly done trying and was simply rushing through the morning to be able to leave for work. "I'll be late again tonight - big deposition." "I'll take care of things here," Dad replied as Mom ran out the door, waving her hand in acknowledgement. He turned to us with a conspiratorial glint in his eye. "Looks like we can get anything we want tonight... is there anything you'd want?" "Burgers!" I quickly chimed in. Steve readily agreed and nodded vigorously between bites of his breakfast. Dad was a bit surprised but laughed. "You haven't wanted burgers in a while since they're 'bad for you'." I suppose Ally's right, but I'll make it up to her by doing an extra run or something. Given yesterday, I figured I deserved a little treat at least. We continued to chitchat a little bit more and it suddenly felt like any other morning. Even though I was literally a different person, they were still my family. I bit my lip, reminding myself not to get too comfortable, that I had my own family to get back to. The myriad of possibilities of what could have happened to my "old" life ran through my mind - was I missing? Was I in a coma? Was there an "Ally" out there trying to figure out my body? Or what if this IS my family now...? I was snapped out of my thoughts when Dad suddenly said, "Let's go squirts, you're going to be late for school and I have to get to work." I gathered up our plates as Dad cleared off the table and plunked them in the sink. Dad sidled up to me and tried to make a joke about what I was wearing. "So is plaid-chic the next hot thing with girls?" I felt my eyes roll, although I don't know if that was me or Ally. I thought it was funny that Dad was so awkward around Ally, but I guess that was the trade off for her closer relationship with Mom. I shrugged my shoulders. "It's just something new I'm trying out." "If you keep this up, I'll probably have to by more shirts!", he said jokingly. I looked at him and smiled as I finished the last plate. "That'd be great!" I wiped my hands off with a dish towel and gave him a quick arm hug. "Thanks Dad!" I left him a bit flustered again as I gave him an answer he didn't expect and went to grab my bags and my keys before heading outside. Jen was standing against the hood of my car, looking at the ground as she absentmindedly kicked some gravel with her foot. When she heard the door open, she looked up to see me and then shyly turned her face away from me. I had always considered Jen a good friend, but I guess we never really had a 'fight', so I was a bit surprised at her reaction to me. I knew she was shy and quiet, but was she always so... skittish and coy? I stepped up to her and made the first move to start our d?tente. "Good morning Jen..." She looked back up at me again, looking like a small wounded animal. "Hey Ally..." I have no idea how Ally would have handled this. Maybe they would have had a good cry about it or something? I'm sure this is where gender stereotypes came into play because I just wanted to bury the hatchet and get on with it. I dropped my bags and gave her a quick hug, feeling her body tense up in surprise at my gesture. "I'm sorry..." I broke my hug so that I could face her and saw her look at me with what I could only describe was a thoughtful gaze. The way she was looking at me with such intensity made me feel awkward, and I stammered, "I... umm... about Mike, there's definitely nothing between us... so..." She let out a small laugh and pressed her forehead against mine before whispering, "You're such a bad liar Ally. Always with your heart on your sleeve." I could see the sadness emanating from eyes as I felt her arms wrap around my body as she returned the hug. She continued softly, "I'm sorry about telling my mom about the picture." The awkwardness I felt suddenly grew, particularly since she was so close to me and showed no sign of letting go. I tried to wrack my brain to see if I could understand Ally and Jen's seemingly intense relationship, but nothing came to mind. Maybe this is just how girls were with each other. I resisted the urge to squirm, because the last thing I wanted to do was make her feel bad for sharing this moment with me, but being this close to someone for so long was definitely new to me... That's when my brother's uncouthness saved me, as I heard him pull at the locked door handles and whine, "Come on already!!" Thank god for inconsiderate teenagers. I gently released Jen and tried to step back and with an almost wistful sigh, she released me from her hug and let me go. I tried my best to recover my composure, although I was still thrown off by that unexpected moment of intimacy. "So, umm... are we good?" She gave me a quizzical look before laughing. "Good? Umm yeah, I guess we're 'good'". I laughed nervously and shrugged it off, before heading to the car to unlock the doors. I really had no idea how Ally spoke and unlike some of the more instinctual aspects of my... current cohabitation, it seems like her vocabulary and speech patterns weren't one of the things I could just pluck out of the recesses of Ally's mind. These rules really did seem arbitrary at times. Not that it mattered though, because it's not like anyone would suspect that I'm a different person. Although the talk about Steve's friend's mom made me wonder if my brain would be considered 'normal' under the circumstances. It would be an interesting experiment to get a scan to see if an abnormality showed up so that I could show someone that there was something wrong with me and maybe convince them that I'm not Ally. I'm not sure how I'd even bring it up with a woman I've never met - Hey, I'm Steve's sister, can you give me a brain scan? - probably not something you can just drop in over some small talk. Shortly after pulling into school, my brother bolted off and ran up to a group of guys and started excited speaking to them, before gesturing toward me. When his friends turned to face me, I gave them a 'finger gun' and blew on my finger as if to clear off the smoke which made them laugh. As they quickly turned away to talk about the next big thing, I turned to Jen and said, "Hey, I just have something to do at lunch so I probably won't see you until after practice today." She gave me a surprised look and seemed a bit sad. "I could go with you..." I smiled and started heading to school, expecting her to follow me in tow. "It's just an errand that I need to handle myself. We can have lunch tomorrow." I felt her gram my arm, linking it with hers, before she asked in deadpan seriousness, "Promise?" "Yeah..." I tried to hide a confused look. I really should figure out their relationship, because I honestly wasn't sure how to navigate it. Case in point was how she seemed to clam up the moment Britney came into view and started running up to me. "Ally!" She grabbed my other arm before she turned to Jen. "Hi Jen!" Jen let out a soft whisper of acknowledgement before turning her face away from the both of us, clearly opting not to engage. I still feel like I need to get to the bottom of Jen's awkward shyness, because I don't remember my Jen acting this way. But I guess I didn't see her hang out much with other girls either... But for the moment, I had another girl holding onto me, practically beaming at my mere presence. Having two girls on my arms as I entered the school... This would have been great if not for the whole 'I'm a girl' thing. When I turned to face Britney, I noticed the biggest Cheshire grin I've probably ever seen on a person. I braced myself for what she was about to say, because I could tell she was bursting at the seams to speak to me. It didn't take long for her to blurt out in a teasing sing-song voice, "So how was your little call with 'Mikey' this morning?" I felt Jen stop in her tracks for a second, before she recovered and caught up with our walking pace and hugged my arm even tighter. Perhaps out of shock or trying to be considerate, I ignored Jen for the moment and focused my attention on Britney. "How... what..." I coughed and cleared my throat to by a little more time before saying, "It was nothing!" Britney got closer to me and leaned up to whisper in my ear, "I liked how you played hard to get. You should have seen how thrown off he was with your weird idea to watch his football game." She giggled and continued, "But you're clearly the master of love! I bet you have a plan for Friday, huh?" I wanted to ask her how she would even know all this... did she hack my phone or something? But I felt the need to dissuade her from thinking I had anything more in mind that watching footage of last year's game. "Just football, Bea." She gave me a thoughtful look before flashing me a devilish smile. "Oh he's going to feel bad watching the game from last year, and then you'll comfort him like the perfect, supportive girlfriend. That's so evil Ally!" She giggled some more. "I'm going to make sure you have the night alone so you can have some 'fun' together!" When we neared my locker, she released my arm and laughed before stating, "Ally, you have to tell me how you came up with this plan... it's so good!" The fact that the 'plan' was more formed in her mind than it was in mind was a bit frightening, although given how happy I seemed to feel at the moment, Ally apparently wholeheartedly approved. I didn't even think about how she would make sure Mike and I were left alone... what power does she actually have? Hurricane Britney soon blew past me, leaving a trail of destruction behind as she left me to think about what Friday would actually mean and a shocked Jen who only stared at me in disbelief. I was about to say something to her, before she interjected, "He called you this morning?" I grew immediately defensive, because her tone seemed accusatory. "Yeah, he did. But it was nothing... We just talked for a few minutes..." She had a pained look on her face, grilling me an accusatory tone, "And that nothing has led to a date at his house? And now your new best friend is going to make sure you're undisturbed for the evening." I noticed a few people looking at us and I tried my best to lower my voice when I replied, "Look, it's not like that! I told you I'm not interested in him!" "Then why didn't you tell me that he called you this morning?" The silence was unbearable because I couldn't give her an answer. Why didn't I just tell her about it? I wanted to say that I just didn't want to upset her or that it wasn't relevant, but was that true? I felt her get close to me, like she did when we spoke outside our homes, as she whispered in my ear, "I really can see your thoughts all over your face." I tried to back up away from her but all I could feel were the lockers behind me, the cold steel making me jump as I pressed my bare legs against them. She let out a soft laugh when she heard me bang against the lockers and stepped back to give me some room. She was still close enough to whisper to me, "You can tell me anything, okay Ally? If... if you want to be with Mike, you don't have to hide it from me anymore. I... I can help you too." She turned so that she could stand next to me with her back against the locker as she watched Britney skip away from us. Crossing her arms with a pout on her face, she continued, "I'm not Mike's step-sister, but I know you better than she does!" I was relieved when Jen didn't blow up and gave me some space again, but I did a double-take when I processed what she had just said. STEP- SISTER?! What the hell? I was about to ask her what she meant she I saw her push off against the lockers and wave at me. "I have to get to class, but I'll see you after school." I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't asking and I just nodded silently at her, prompting her to give me a quick hug before walking off herself. Forget Hurricane Britney... I just got walloped by Hurricane Jen. I grabbed my phone and searched for Mike's profile. We weren't friends and I'm sure he'd take this the wrong way, but screw it. I tapped the "add friend" button and almost instantly was confirmed. Oh boy Mike, you're definitely not being TOO eager. Or maybe he thinks I'm the eager one for trying to add him so quickly? Well, whatever, it gave me a chance to take a look through the photos he had posted. Many of his childhood photos were the same, or at least I vaguely recognized them - but more importantly, his mom was in many of them. The Mrs. Taylor that I knew was a lawyer like my Mom, and I think they became friends after Mike and I started hanging out with each other. There wasn't any sign that she was any different here, at least from these pictures. As I continued to scroll to look at more recent pictures, I saw that his mom was suddenly absent and most of the pictures were just of him and his dad, until a new woman started to appear in their family photos... along with a younger Britney. I felt the phone start to slip out of my hands, which startled me enough to snap me out of my state of shock and forced me to think about the implications of what I saw. I was looking for differences in this world and I finally saw a significant one - somehow Mike's mom was gone and his dad got together with Britney's mom? I clutched my phone to my chest as I pressed my back against the lockers to maintain my balance. Of all the things to have changed in this world, why would Mike's life be the one that's so dramatically different? I pulled up my phone and searched for his mom and saw that she lived in California now. I turned off the phone and hurriedly shoved my cheer gear into my locker while rushing off to first period myself. I wanted to understand what had happened, but there was no way I could find out without it being weird. 'Oh hi Mike, I just noticed your mom left you and your dad and now lives in California! What's that all about?' It's not like it would change anything, would it? Maybe I could stop his parents from splitting up when I got back... was that why I'm here to find out why they broke up? But maybe it's better that they split up? Maybe I needed to get them to split up in my reality so that his dad could end up with Britney's mom? UGH! I suppose the one positive of having this bombshell dropped on me was that I didn't notice the whispers or stares from people as I walked through the halls and entered my class. I probably would have appreciated the simplicity of being the center of attention right now though, considering what I had just learned. I was clearly thinking too big when I was looking for differences yesterday... but what else could have changed around me? Jen was... well, intense, but was that because I'm a girl as well? Steve seemed fine too, but did something happen to him because he had a sister instead of a brother? What about Mom and Dad...? Needless to say, I didn't spend one moment thinking about Math that morning. When lunch came, I quickly headed for my car. Now more than ever, I needed to speak to someone. Reaching the parking lot and fumbling around my bag for my keys, I noticed Violet speaking with someone... well, more flirting than speaking. He motioned for her to get into his car and she nodded and hopped in. Something compelled me to duck behind my own car, to hide from her gaze. I'm not sure why I felt the need to hide... so she has a boyfriend. Why wouldn't she have a boyfriend? She's Violet Everdale! I peered above the hood of my car and watched as they peeled out into the street. When the coast was clear, I stood up and got into my own car and began to drive to the church. If I didn't have an idea of what I would ask when I got there this morning, When I parked outside the church, I immediately felt a little sheepish. I don't know if Ally was a little better about going to Church each week... or at least more than just once in a while during a big holiday or town gathering, but I pretty much stopped going once my parents stopped making me go. I tentatively opened the door and slinked into the lobby. It was empty, as one would expect during lunch on a weekday, and I gingerly walked toward the nave doors. I opened them slowly and peaked in, grimacing as a loud creaking sound echoed through the empty space. I saw the Pastor working up at the altar, before she turned her face up to look towards me. For some reason I felt like a child caught trying to steal from the cookie jar and fought the instinct to slam the door shut and run back to my car. Instead I saw her wave toward me, and I tentatively opened the door and stepped inside. I smiled when I recognized Pastor Jones, happy for any semblance of familiarity at the moment, and gave her a shy wave in return as she began to approach me. She cocked her head and looked at me before the moment of recognition flashed in her eyes. "Ally McCarthy, right?" She reached over to pat my shoulders before holding her hand waist high. "My, I remember you when you were this big!" I looked down at my feet and tried not to squirm. I guess Ally had the same idea as I did when she got older. Picking up on my reticence, she laughed and said, "Oh don't worry. I wasn't a teenager all that long ago myself, you know. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that church was probably the last thing on my mind back then." I blushed and muttered, "Sorry Pastor Jones..." Picking up on my awkward vibe, she gestured toward the doors again before saying, "Please, call me Barbara. Here, let's go to my office and we can have a chat. Did you have lunch yet?" I followed her lead and stepped back out into the lobby, allowing her to guide me to her office. I shook my head. "I forgot to pick something up... I can grab something on my way back." "Oh no, that won't do. I made a big sandwich today that I'll be happy to share with you." I didn't want to argue with her over something so trivial when I was trying to work up what I'd actually say to her now that I was here. When we reached her office, she gestured toward a seat at the corner of the room while she went to fetch her lunch and returned, handing me a plate with half a sandwich. I politely took a bite and surprised at how good it tasted, began to take another bite. "See, I knew you were hungry!" She sat across from me and began to eat as well, and I suddenly felt her eyes on me as she waited for me to talk. I tried to think about what I would ask as I chewed on my food. I don't think I could out and out tell her what I was going through... but if I didn't give her the whole story, she'd rightfully misinterpret my questions. I stared at my half-eaten sandwich and sighed. What the hell? I looked at her and slowly teased out the words I was struggling to find. "I... don't feel like I belong here." I waited for her to say something, but she just looked at my patiently, waiting for me to continue. The more I thought about what I was going to say, the more ridiculous it all seemed but I forced myself to continue, "I woke up yesterday and the whole world had changed. I had changed." I half expected her to give me some platitudes about being a teenager again, about how it's often a period of uncertainty. Instead, perhaps sensing my anxiety, she leaned forward in her chair and asked, "You must be here because you think this change in you is deeper than you could have ever imagined." I perked up and nodded. "You could say that." I leaned forward to meet her. "I've been trying to understand why I'm here. If... if maybe this is some kind of test from... well..." I felt silly as I looked up toward the ceiling but I didn't want to say it. She looked as if she was carefully considering my words, knowing that I was holding something back from her. "And you think if you pass this test, you'd start to feel like you belong again?" "Maybe," I answered quietly. I gave her a look of frustration. "I... I guess I'm not doing a great job trying to explain what I'm feeling right now." "It's quite alright. Please take your time." I looked at her and saw her gentle smile as she patiently waited for me to collect my thoughts. Screw it. There's no sense beating around the bush here. "Okay... here it is. I'm a not a girl. I had an entirely different life until I woke up in... in this body." I gestured at Ally's body for emphasis. The tension released in my body, like air being let out from a balloon that was about to burst, and I continued, "I don't know if there's a rational reason for why this would happen to me, so I'm trying to think of the..." I stopped myself before I said something that might offend Pastor Jones. She finished my thought, "Irrational?" I squirmed a little, but she tried to engage me at face value. "It's quite alright. I'm in the faith business after all." She pulled her chair closer to mine and continued, "I hope I'm not going to disappoint you by telling you that there's a passage you can read or a prayer you can say that would help you find the answers you're looking for." Honestly, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "But I can tell you that you are loved and that the people in your life will support you as you find your way." She winked at me and looked up at the ceiling. "And that you even have support from above." I could feel her compassion, but she took what I said and interpreted it the only way anyone would. I suppose it would have been too easy for an angel to show up or a booming voice to appear out of nowhere to 'give me a sign'. I couldn't hold in my snark felt the sarcastic words slip out of my mouth, "No burning bush to tell me what to do then?" "Maybe if I get some lighter fluid," she laughed and took it in stride as she got up to reach for a pile of pamphlets on her desk. Seeing the cutesy rainbow flag on the cover, I already knew what she was going to say as she handed me one. "There's a group of kids that meets here every week and they share with each other. You could come and listen. Why don't you think about it?" She smiled at me and reached out for my hand. When I gave it to her, she clasped it and squeezed it. "I can say that you'll find that He will reach out to your heart in many different ways and that you'll find the answers that you're looking for if you keep yourself open to His compassion." I knew she meant well, but it felt frustrating that she couldn't quite understand what I was trying to say. I only nodded in response and when she released my hand, I slipped the pamphlet into the pocket of my Dad's flannel shirt before poking at my sandwich again. She quickly added, "I have some soda in the fridge, let me get some for you." When she left, I couldn't help but stare at the cross on the wall. Well, if you do have plans for me, I'd really like to know what I'm supposed to do here. My heart is wide open right now! As I finished off the last bite of the sandwich, I pulled out the pamphlet and began to read through it as it explained how we should learn to love ourselves before we could learn to love others. I wondered if this was the sign I was supposed to be looking for... Am I supposed to accept what I've become? I looked at the cross again and shook my head, folding the pamphlet back up and returning it to my shirt pocket. Maybe that was the answer, but I wasn't ready to accept it. At least not yet. Pastor Jones - Barbara - came back in with a can and handed it to me. I smiled at her and popped the tab before taking a gulp. I couldn't help but let out a big burp, which made me give her an embarrassed look before we laughed about it. We made some more small talk, but I didn't really find the opportunity to broach the subject again. At least it felt nice to talk to someone about my feelings, even if I didn't quite get the opportunity to convey what I was truly feeling. A buzz on my phone made me check the time. "Oh shit!" I held a hand up to my mouth and corrected myself, "Shoot!" The Pastor chuckled at my attempts to try be polite in front of her and waited for me to continue. I'll say one thing, she's good at just letting people talk. I set the half-finished soda can down on her desk and pick up my bag. "Sorry Pastor... Barbara, I need to get back to school." She nodded and started walking me out of the office and jokingly offered, "It wouldn't be very pious of me to make a child late for class." I countered in jest, "Yeah, I think that's one of the commandments?" As we approached the main entrance, I turned to face her and she offered, "Ally, feel free to drop in any time. If you don't want to meet with the group, I'm still here to talk to you. Or we can find someone more... secular if that's what you'd like." I knew what that meant. I'm not really sure I'd want someone to try to peer into my head just yet. I nodded. "Thank you. I'll think about it." She nodded in response. "Alright." As I stepped outside, she called out to me with "Drive safe now!" before waving and closing the door behind her. Maybe I'm crazy to think something Biblical would have been responsible for my predicament. But I don't know if that's any crazier than slipping into an alternate dimension anyway. With mixed emotions, I started the car and drove back to school. This morning's dream... nightmare... fantasy? Whatever... It really made me feel like I was starting to lose a grip on my reality, on what was true. I didn't want to think about the 'Occam's Razor' solution to all of this... the one that Barbara's pamphlet pointed toward. But denying it would be silly as well. I wasn't at that point yet though. I could feel it in my bones... or Ally's bones that the memories I had of being 'Allen' were real. That I had a different life before I woke up as Ally. I just needed some way to prove it to someone. Or even just to myself. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, or rather, I was so distracted with my thoughts that I shut the world out entirely. I couldn't help but think about my life and Ally's life as I struggled to pull details out of her memory to try to reconcile them with my own, but my life growing up as a male still dominated my mind. That had to be a sign that everything I wasn't crazy, right? How could I come up with such intricate details of a fictional life, down to the very male feelings I discovered when I first hit puberty and found the wonderful world of lingerie models, when Ally's memories were hazy at best? I considered another possibility though. What if I was supposed to bring a male perspective to Ally's life, to help her change something here? Maybe that's why my life seemed to dominate hers. Instead of learning something to take back with me, maybe there was something I knew growing up as a man that she needed from me in her life. I shuddered as I knew at least one thing she needed from me. Although if all of this was happening because Ally wanted to be Mike's boyfriend, I'd be pretty damn pissed at whatever higher power was responsible for kidnapping me from my own life just to make that happen. The possibilities were swirling around in my head for the rest of the afternoon. Cheer practice was a little more eventful today, if only because the girls were still buzzing about what happened yesterday. It didn't help that the football team was on the field as well, and whenever Mike was even remotely close to us, some of the girls would make a loud "oooooo" noise which pissed off both Violet and Coach M to no end. For my part, I agreed with them and although they saw me as catalyst for the distraction, I did my best to focus on practice and going through our routines which at least soothed over Coach's annoyance if nothing else. When we were done, I couldn't help but turn my attention to the field to watch the guys practice their plays. If Roger had broken his arm last year, I couldn't tell because he seemed to be back to his old form. Darius and the defence seemed to be working quite well together too. All the same pieces were there, except for me. Before my thoughts could wander to my dream from this morning, I focused my mind back on actual football. What made Mike and I work well in tandem was the fact that we complemented each other fairly well, not just in personality, but in play style and skill. He was great in the scramble and could run the ball quite well. I could pass like nobody's business and pick apart defences down field. And even then, we'd often trick the other team into expecting a play by constantly swapping in for each other between downs and run each other's plays. I looked over and saw some of the JV team practicing as well. There was Doug, who I assumed was Mike's backup, but he was as raw as I remembered him when he started with us last year. This last year would have to be on Mike's shoulders, and there's a part of me that wished I could support him. I closed my eyes and sighed. There I go again, caring about what happens here. Britney came up to me and handed me a water bottle before playfully bumping me with her hips. "So what are you thinking?" Without much thought I replied, "Mike needs to work on his vision." I heard her laugh. "You don't have to play hard to get with ME." The image of Mike reaching down to kiss me suddenly flashed in my mind and I could feel my face begin to flush with embarrassment. I forced the thought out of mind and turned to face her. If I couldn't talk to her about football, I could try probing her a little about her life. "Did... did you talk about me with him yesterday?" She gave me a conspiratorial smile. "Of course!" She leaned up against me and whispered, "I think he's in looooove" before getting into a giggling fit. She calmed down and continued, "He actually couldn't stop asking me about you. He even got Brian curious about you by asking about you so much." She gave me another bump with her hips and looked at me with feigned innocence. "But don't worry, I told him that you'd make the perfect daughter in law." This girl! If I didn't know any better, I'd almost wonder if she was behind my transformation just so she could have some fun with me. Feeling my body respond quite positively to the mere thought of being Mike's wife didn't help either. But if nothing else, it confirmed what Jen had said earlier this morning. I assumed that Ally wasn't close enough to her to ask her about her parents' relationship though, so I decided to try to move the conversation away from my pending nuptials and the fantasy life Britney had created for Mike and me. "Mike needs to get his mind focused for next week's game..." We watched as Mike worked on his throwing drills. He could certainly throw, he just needed to work on being able to make his plays under pressure. I think Britney caught my serious tone and nodded. "He won't tell anyone, but I know he's worried about the first game. He just doesn't want to let anyone down." Until I figure this out, there's no harm in trying to help Mike out is there? I looked down at my body and sighed. Not that there was much more that I could do than provide some advice. I could sense people's eyes on me, so I decided to try Coach Sanders instead and slowly walked up to the sidelines to see if I could get anywhere with him. I could feel Britney follow behind me, perhaps tagging along out of curiosity, as the group of cheerleaders seemed to tense up at yet another one of my supposedly provocative moves. Sanders looked up and saw me approaching, finishing his conversation the offensive coach before crossing his arms to face me. Before I could get a word in, he started with, "Listen young lady, whatever intentions you have for my quarterback is frankly between you, him and God. But I can't have you distracting him in the middle of practice." I saw his eyes look behind me and I noticed he was trying to get the attention of Coach Marciano. It's funny, between me being too chicken to ask Violet out and Mike seemingly not being into anyone, Sanders didn't really have a problem with his star players fooling around with girls in my reality. I decided to ignore his comment and grabbed the clipboard out of his hand. "You're going to try to rely on the run to work against Eastern? We both know it's their secondary that's vulnerable." He snatched his clipboard back from me and furrowed his brow. Unless Eastern had a drastically different team, he knew I was right. While he was trying to work up a rebuttal, I turned to face Mike, still doing is passing drills and continued, "We also know that it's not his arm that's the problem. You need to help him take his blinders off so he's not playing with tunnel vision." I don't know if Sanders was intrigued or simply humouring me to get rid of me, but he asked, "And how would we work on that?" I remembered some of the drills I practiced in my backyard when I was younger. Mike would probably need some more tough love though to at least put him in the mind space for next week. I turned my attention to the receivers. "They're going to hate it, but you need them to just run random routes while Mike tries to find one of them." I pointed to Darius who was working on his footing. "And you need to get him to actually try to hit Mike to give him some real pressure and force him to make a throw." Sanders turned to his other coaches, and out of the corner of my eye I could see them shrug their shoulders in response. Keeping his eyes on the field, he said, "It could make things worse if we get into his head too much." Out of habit, I gave him a line that he would often give us during half- time talks. "No guts, no glory." He gave me a quizzical look as if pondering my very existence. I grimaced when I heard his reply, even if it was him conceding to my advice. "They do say that behind every great man is a great woman. I suppose I should give Taylor credit for dating someone who knows football." I swore if I had looked at Britney at that moment, she would have had a big grin on her face. But all I could do was blush and look down at the ground. He shouted, "Offence! Johnson! Come in!" I watched as Mike, the receivers, and Darius trotted to the sidelines, Mike almost stumbling when he saw me standing next to Coach. He began to explain the next series of drills that he wanted them to run to try to get Mike into the habit of finding a receiver quickly, with elicited some groans from them. Coach simply clapped his hands and shouted for them to go out to the field, and perhaps knowing that they needed to be serious, stowed their whinging and went back to practice. Mike gave me a confused look before heading running to join the rest of the squad to practice. That's when Coach Marciano came by and asked, "Is there a problem?" Sanders replied, "No ma'am. It seems like you may have a football mind on your team though." I could feel Marciano's eyes singeing me with a look of annoyance. "If only she would focus more on her own practice." We watched as they went through the first drill, and I could see Mike panic and toss the ball down the middle of the field where it could have easily been interrupted. Sanders started yelling at them to try it again, already forgetting the conversation in hand. Out of habit I joined in and screamed, "Head on a swivel!" To which Sanders joined in as if harmonizing with me. "Look down field!" Knowing that she had already lost Sanders to the practice at hand, Marciano jumped in and pointedly said to me, "Ally, time to heed your own advice. You need to be as ready as they are next Friday." "Yes ma'am! 100% ma'am!" I shouted in response. She narrowed her eyes at me, perhaps unsure if she should take my enthusiasm as genuine or sarcastic. Instead she just nudged me away from the sideline. "Since you seem to have so much free time, why don't you run a few laps for me." I couldn't help but glance at the field one more time to see Mike whiff another throw. It was a bit of a baptism by fire, but he needs to learn and learn fast. Turning back to Coach M, I shrugged my shoulders and started to jog to the track to run my laps. Britney, bless her heart, decided to join me in solidarity - or perhaps as a further chance to gossip. "Is this actually about the football for you?" For me, sure. For Ally? Probably not. In between breaths, I gave the only honest answer that I could, "Both." I tried to speed up, to either lose Britney or to discourage her from continuing to speak while running. She laughed and shouted, "You?re perfect for him!" before speeding up to catch me and join me in my run. By the time we did a couple of laps, Coach M finally told us to stop and for everyone to pack it in. Being the little ball of energy, Britney was more than happy to have joined in with me and quite frankly, made me more exhausted than I ought to be by constantly chatting with me. As we started to walk off the field, Mike saw us and ran toward us. My heart skipped a beat, but thankfully it turned out he was trying to catch Britney. "Hey Bea, I?m probably going to stay for a while." Before Britney could respond, I offered, "I could drive her." I don?t know why I said that, other than some natural instinct to be helpful to Mike. "You don?t mind?" I shook my head. "Not at all." He flashed that killer smile at me and said, "Thanks Ally..." He turned to face the other guys, who were calling for him to come back, "And I guess this new drill was your idea too?" I blushed and looked down at my feet in embarrassment. Sensing my reticence, he quickly added, "I think it?s a great idea. I need to be able to learn to see the whole field." As the calls continued, he annoyedly threw the ball he was carrying back in their direction and turned back to face me again. "I asked Coach for the game tape from last year. You?ll help me go through it Friday right?" I nodded shyly as my earlier cockiness dissolved under the new emotions that were surely Ally?s feelings on the matter. "Yeah, definitely... I can?t wait to go over the game with you." That was enough to make him all chipper. "Great!" He turned to Britney and tried to admonish her ? I think we all feared her at some level ? and simply said, "Now you behave." Britney gave her best puppy dog eyes expression. "Always!" Mike rolled his eyes at her and ran back to the others as Britney grabbed my arm and led me back to the locker room. I tried my best not to look again as I changed and showered, and thankfully everyone seemed to have moved on making me the center of attention and were talking about other things, although I could see Violet?s stern gaze on me. That?s when I remembered her boyfriend. Or at least the guy I saw her with. I was relieved that she didn?t seem to have a thing for Mike either, because the last thing I needed was to add another point to the complicated love shape. Although maybe her Gaggle may have had either ideas about how it?d make much more sense for the cheer captain to be with the dreamy starting QB. But I was also slightly disappointed, because I wondered if my Violet ? or, the Violet I knew to be more accurate ? had a boyfriend as well. Maybe I did dodge a bullet by not asking her out... If that was the lesson I was supposed to learn, I?m ready go home now! Nope, still here in a room full of girls showering and changing together. Violet finished changing and walked over to me as I was fumbling with my bra, trying to clasp it in place. The other girls pretended not to notice, but I could hear the room get quiet. For some reason I felt the need to cover myself up and grabbed my Dad?s shirt, quickly slipping it on by the time she closed the distance between us. She got into my face and was about to say something, but she looked down at the ground. As my eyes joined hers, I saw that the crumpled-up pamphlet from Church had fallen out of the shirt pocket. Perhaps sensing my desperation to grab it before she could see what it was, Violet?s cat-like reflexes sprung into action and she snatched it up before I even had a chance to bend down. The look on her face turned from one of annoyance to one of confusion as she saw the front of the pamphlet. As she tried to find the words to say to me, I quickly grabbed the pamphlet out of her hand and placed it back into the shirt pocket. She looked around the room and turned back to face me and opened her mouth, but whether out of kindness or for some other reason, she closed her mouth and simply shook her head as she left the locker room. It didn?t take long for members of the Gaggle to follow her out, confused expressions on their own faces as they expected a confrontation. Well... shit. I guess that?s one way to disarm someone. I quickly finished changing as the other girls went back to their own chit chat. Jaina came to check on me and I smiled at her in reassurance. I?m not sure if another set of rumours were about to start, but I felt a little guilty that my actions were now clearly intruding on Ally?s life. I hope Ally wouldn?t be too concerned with what other people thought about her, particularly when it came to her sexual orientation. I turned to wave goodbye gingerly at the others as I beckoned for Britney to follow me to my car. Jen and Steve were already waiting for me and were surprised when they saw Britney in tow. I could tell Jen was trying to hold back some of her emotions when she politely waved to us while Steve redoubled his efforts to go unnoticed by burying his head into his phone. Britney didn?t miss a beat and excitedly explained, "Hi Jen! Hi Steve! Ally?s going to drive me home today!" Jen made a point of standing by the "shotgun" seat while I went to unlock the doors and we all piled in. I was about to recite Mike?s address to Britney but thankfully caught myself, instead asking her to tell me where she lived. It was his address though, which wasn?t surprising I suppose. I made a show of entering the address into my phone, but I had driven there so many times I knew the route by heart and started to drive. I had to admit that Britney?s hyper energy was amusing to watch when it wasn?t directed at me. She seemed to have her ear to the ground and immediate got to asking Steve about Mary. I could see his eyes widen in shock, and I had to ask before he blamed me for telling her, "Britney, how did you know?" She smiled her innocent smile. "I see how happy he gets when she talks to him! Hey Steve, you should be like Ally and just ask her out!" From the rear-view mirror I could see the little twerp flash a shit-eating grin form as I started receiving some of her fire myself. Perhaps to try to draw our attention off Britney, Jen plugged in her phone and started playing an Ariana Grande song, to which Britney quickly reacted like catnip and squealed, "I love this song!" and began to sing along. I couldn?t help but laugh... if nothing else, her energy was infectious and for a brief moment I forgot about... well, everything and started singing along with her. When I turned to face Jen and smiled at her to encourage her to sing, even she relented and joined in. When we pulled up in front of her place, Britney reached forward to give me a quick hug from behind before letting herself out of the car. "Thanks for the ride," she cheerfully said before looking at me with a devious look in her eye. "And now you know how to get here on Friday!" Steve couldn?t help but ask, "What?s Friday?" "Your sister is going on a date with my step-brother!" The little twerp started laughing. "Mom?s going to love that..." Jen, for her part, tried her best to stay out of the conversation and fiddled with her phone, pretending to look for another song to play. With a little exasperation in my voice I said, "Goodnight Britney, I?ll see you tomorrow." "You betcha!", she exclaimed before reaching in through the window to give me a hug. That?s when I saw someone come out of the house ? it was Mr. Taylor and it looked like he was going to work a late shift at the police station. Or at least I assumed he was still a detective anyway... I watched as Britney ran up to him and excitedly squeal, "Brian, Brian, Brian! That?s Ally! That?s THE Ally!!!" I could hear Steve?s laughter become hysterical as he practically collapsed into his seat. As much as I wanted to sink into my seat and disappear from the world, all I could do was give Mr. Taylor a small wave. Thankfully he seemed to be in a rush because he simply waved back at me in return before getting into his car. "BYE ALLY!" I heard Britney shout as I turned to wave at her too before I started the car and drove off, trying not to speed in front of Mr. Taylor as much as I wanted to. When we were clear of the street and back on the main road, my brother finally stopped laughing and sat back up on her chair. "We should give her a ride every day," I heard my smartass brother say. "Yeah, she could give you some pointers on how to ask out Mary!" I retorted. "Let?s never give her a ride again!" We both laughed, knowing that we wanted to avoid Hurricane Britney again. At least it?d be easier for him anyway. Perhaps looking to change the subject, Jen tugged at my arm and asked, "Did you want to talk about where you want at lunch?" I glanced at her and saw that she wouldn?t let it go and decided to just tell her everything at that point. "I dropped by the Church. I just needed to get something off my chest." "I don?t think we do that," my brother said. I rolled my eyes. "It wasn?t confession." I could tell Jen wanted to ask my WHY I went to Church, but she seemed satisfied that I told her anything at all. That?s when I remembered the crumpled pamphlet in my pocket and made a mental note to tuck it into my journal when I got home and wrote my daily letter to Ally. I didn?t want to consider the possibility, but if... if this was really all in my head, that I had invented this whole story for myself to deal with something deeper... I smiled to myself, thinking how absurd it is that my life would be so much easier if a burning bush started talking to me. As I drove home, the three of us chatted about random things that happened today which gave me a chance to keep my mind occupied with something other than my current predicament ? both as Allen and as Ally. I?m sure someone would think it?s rather sad that I was really looking forward to the burgers Dad was going to pick up for dinner tonight, but I?m starting to appreciate the small moments of normalcy. Now if I could just keep my mind off Friday... ------- Hi everyone! Apologies for the delay in posting. I had to slow down my writing a little bit, but I?m still plugging away at the story and hope to release chapters at a somewhat regular pace. I?ve appreciated the comments I?ve gotten, including some of the speculation. I?ll hold off on saying anything and let the story speak for itself for the time being, but I hope everyone continues enjoying the story and leaving feedback. You can also reach me at [email protected] if you?d like. I?ll try to have the next chapter come out sooner rather than later. Thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!