“Aw, I was hoping that we could watch you buy some sexy outfits!” Pete said, and Roger grinned.
Instead, they walked to the Park & Ride bus stop. The boys came too.
“Our car is in the same car park,” Roger explained when ‘Kayla’ frowned slightly.
“Oh, good,” ‘she’ said.
The bus was not long, and Pete sat next to Kayla again.
“Where in Sweden are you from?”
“Near Stockholm. Do you know it?”
“No, but if they are all as pretty as you, I am willing to.”
Kyle smiled.
“So where are you staying?”
“Viz a relative in Abingdon.”
“Oh, brilliant, where abouts?”
Kyle looked panic stricken at Sally.
“Just off the Radley Road, just round the corner from me,” she said.
Sally knew that Pete and Roger lived on the other side of the town, on the Drayton Road.
“Do you like England?”
“Ja, so far it is nice.”
“Seriously, are you over here for long? I’d love to show you my town,” he said, with a charming smile.
“I yam not long here. A few weeks, perhaps.”
“Weeks? Great. Then hopefully we could get together. Have you a boyfriend, back in Sweden?”
“Pete! Leave her alone. She’s not been here three minutes, and already you are trying too hard!” Sally said.
Pete blushed, and smiled apologetically.
“Sorry Sal, but your friend is stunning!”
“Don’t apologise to me. She does speak English, and she understands everything you say, so behave!”
“Sorry Kayla. I just find you a beautiful girl, and I’d like to get to know you better,” Pete said, rather sheepishly.
Kyle flashed him a smile, as Sally rolled her eyes heavenward. If that wasn’t a fuck-me smile, then she didn’t know what was.
“In answer to your question, zere is a boy, in Sweden,” ‘Kayla’ said, and Pete’s face fell slightly.
He recovered quickly and chatted aimlessly all the way back to the car park. Traffic was heavy, so it took a while.
Finally, they parted at the car park. It was a great relief to get into Sally’s car.
“Fucking hell!” said Kyle. “That was bloody horrible!”
Sally started to laugh, almost unable to drive because of the laughter.
“What’s so bloody funny? That was really awful!” Kyle asked. Even now, he kept the feminine voice and manner. Just lost the outrageous accent.
“Oh, Kayla, you were simply wonderful. If only poor Pete knew he was trying to get into a boy’s knickers!”
Kyle went quiet, and Sally realised she had said the wrong thing.
“I’m sorry Kayla, I didn’t mean…..”
“No, you were right. I am a boy. I just almost forgot for a short while.”
They drove in silence for a while. Sally glanced over to Kyle, and saw tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think,” she said, feeling dreadful.
“It’s not you Sally. It’s me. I just don’t want to go back to being Kyle. I know I must, but I just hate it so much! Why couldn’t I have been born a girl?”
“I don’t know. It is so unfair. If it is any consolation, I don’t think of you as a boy at all.”
“Neither do I. Until I take down my knickers!” Kyle said bitterly.
Sally dropped off Kyle at his house, and waved as he went indoors.
His mother saw him, and smiled sadly.
“My goodness, Kayla, you are utterly convincing, you are so beautiful!”
“Thanks Mum, I just wish it went deeper than the outside.”
“Come talk to me while I make supper. You can help if you like?”
They went into the kitchen.
Jake arrived home and went into the kitchen. He paused for a moment as he saw his wife and ‘daughter’ chatting together as if everything was normal. Kayla was wearing a short skirt, blouse and an apron. Her high heels clacked on the tile floor. She appeared more animated and cheerful than he could ever recall seeing Kyle.
“Hello ladies,” he said, trying to behave as if everything was normal.
“Darling, hello. How was your day?” Rebecca said, and came and gave him a kiss.
“Daddy,” Kayla said, and smiled.
“Oho, ‘Daddy’ am I now?”
She grinned.
“So, what have you been doing? Break any young men’s hearts today?” he said, joking. To his consternation, Kayla blushed bright red.
“Kayla, what happened?”
“Nothing. Sally and I went to the cinema, and then came home.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
“There were some boys from school. One of them fancied me, and well, Sally introduced me as Kayla Olsen again. It wasn’t my idea, but I’m stuck now!”
“Go on.”
“Nothing. We chatted, and he seemed to like me. That was it.”
“He’s a boy at your school?”
“He’s in my sixth form. But he doesn’t know me. We don’t see each other often. I only recently found out his name because Ricky had a run in with him.”
“So what’s the story?”
“No story. Not yet anyway. I just think I’ll put Kayla away until he forgets all about her.”
Jake grunted.
“Daddy, nothing happened. We chatted and I didn’t encourage him at all!”
“At all? Have you any idea how attractive you look?”
Kayla blushed.
“So, you do! Well, young lady. Your appearance is a huge come on to young men. If you are going to play this game, then you must be prepared to deal with it. How do you feel about boys, anyway?”
“I don’t really know. Before this, before Kayla, I didn’t think about it. Everything was focussed on my gender problem. But today, looking like this, I found I like the attention, and, well, er, I actually look at boys differently, I think.”
Jake laid a hand on the troubled teen’s shoulder.
“Kayla, if you are going to be my daughter, then we have both a steep learning curve. The difficulties you have at the moment are multiplied a hundred fold over a genetic girl, or a boy who may be gay. We will treat you as a normal girl. You must accept responsibility for what you look like and the manner in which you conduct yourself. To be honest, I’d prefer it if this had never happened. But it has, so we must deal with it.”
“So, you should avoid complicating the issue with relationships based on dishonesty. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Daddy.”
“Kayla. This is hard for us, and I imagine it is ten times harder for you. I want us all to work together to make this the best we can, and that is not going to be easy. There will come a time when you will be the person you want to be, but until then, we all have to be very careful. You know the press love these sorts of things, and my position in the community, although not important to you, is a factor. So, I’ll ask you to tread very carefully when dealing with people. The fewer people who know the truth at this stage, the better. Okay?”
“Yes Daddy. If it helps, I totally agree. But I still want to live,” Kayla said.
“I want you to as well. But I am worried that you may get into difficulties.”
At that moment, the front door banged, and all three of them looked at each other in some alarm.
Michael, Kyle’s middle brother breezed into the kitchen.
“Hi, everyone. I was passing, so I dropped in,” he said, and stared at the frozen tableau.
“Mike, what a surprise. We thought you were in Newquay?”
“I was, but we came home early. Who’s this?” he asked staring at Kayla.
“Kayla, meet Mike.” Jake said, struggling as to how to explain things.
“Hi, Kayla. Have we met?” he asked, taking in the very attractive girl standing next to his mother. They were very similar and he started to frown.
“Mike, come with me for a sec,” Jake said, taking the now confused Michael out to his study.
Jake sat Mike down in a chair and paced up and down.
“Dad, what’s up? Where’s Kyle?”
Jake looked at his middle son.