The Flip Side

[Friday, March 29th]

Dazing through class as the final bell rings for the day, I begin to gather up my things to make the long trip home when Mia, the girl I have a massive crush on, comes over to me, squats down beside my desk and asks, “Andy, how have you been doing?”

I look over at her and then immediately turn away to look at my desk while blushing furiously. “O-okay, I-I guess.”

At the front of the class, one of the basketball players laughs and says to his buddy, “Look at that retard. He can’t even look at her without blushing!” His buddy laughs as well. “Can you say, permanent virgin?” Which makes several people around them laugh loudly.

Mia stands up and tells them, “Shut up! Andy is a much better person than any of you will ever be!”

The basketball players stare at her with their mouths agape for a moment before giving each other a look. The first one talks to her with a condescending tone, “Woah, hey there Mia, calm down. No need to get your panties in a knot over a lame-ass kid like him.”

“Yeah, right? Like, come on, no need to keep up appearances around a dweeb as lame as him. Hell, he’s probably a faggot as well,” his buddy adds.

Mia flushes angrily and emphatically states, “You know, I’ve never liked bullies. Especially, since most of the males that are bullies tend to have such small dicks that they have to make themselves feel better by putting others down.”

He has an irate expression as he begins to say something, but his buddies stop him. He grunts and says, “Whatever,” and walks out of the room.

Mia shakes her head and mutters, “What a bunch of asshats.” She blows out her breath and squats back down beside me. Opening her Algebra II book, she points out an equation. “Andy, can you help me with this? I didn’t understand the explanation from the teacher.”

“S-sure. Wh-what don’t y-you understand?”

She shows and tells me what she doesn’t get and I explain it to her while providing an example.

She smiles and says, “I get it now. Thank you so much, Andy. You’re so much easier to understand than our teacher. He tends to rush through his explanations and gets mad when you ask questions.”

I blush again and murmur, “Y-you’re welcome.” After she leaves, I sigh and think, ‘And people wonder why I stay to myself so much. I hate people like those basketball players. What I hate even more is not being able to talk to her normally. I wish I knew why I have such a problem even just talking to girls.’

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[Sunday, March 31st]

Zoning out during the minister’s sermon, I think about Friday and how much I wish I could talk to girls like a normal person, instead of getting all flustered and tongue tied. Maybe it would work if I pray for help.”

After service ends, I tell my parents, “I’ll be out soon. I’d like to pray one more time.”

They merely nod and head towards the entrance to say goodbye to the minister. Kneeling, I offer a simple prayer, ‘God, I know I don’t pray as much as I should, but please help me understand and be able to talk to girls.’

My eyes snap open to look around me when I hear a quiet female voice say, ‘Granted.’

Seeing no one around me, I look underneath the pews and see no one hiding either. Who spoke then? Or, was that simply my imagination? Shrugging, I stand up and head out. After shaking the minister’s hand at the door, I walk out to our car, get in and buckle up. Thankfully, we don’t live far from the Baptist church we attend, so we arrive a few minutes later.

Inside, I announce, “I’m going to go change and read.” Nothing new here. My parents and I are creatures of habit. Every Sunday after morning services, we come home, change clothes, and Dad watches sports while Mom makes some kind of soup and sandwiches for lunch. Me, I change clothes and read in my room until Mom calls out, “Lunch is ready!” After eating, Mom and I clean up while Dad goes back to watching TV.

Once that is done, I go back to my room to continue reading, or more rarely finish up my homework if I hadn’t already until Mom calls me for dinner. It’s always the same thing. Roasted whole chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn and wheat dinner rolls. After helping Mom clean up, I change my clothes for evening services. After evening services are over with, we head to Bram’s to get ice cream, and then go home where I change into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that I sleep in.

During the school year, at 10:00, I mark my place in whatever I’m reading or shut off the TV in my room and then go to sleep. During summer vacation, I can pretty much do as I like. My parents mostly trust me since I never get into or give them any trouble. Regardless, tomorrow is a school day, so 10:00 bedtime it is.

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[Monday, Apr 1]

Reaching over, I turn off the alarm that is screaming at me and notice that my shorts are uncomfortably tight, not to mention my chest feels heavy. Reagan, our cat, must have gotten in here somehow last night. For some odd reason, she loves to sleep on my chest.

Opening my eyes, I reach down to shoo Reagan off of me and I hit something very soft. I’m not really a morning person, but even I awake enough to know that something like that shouldn’t be there and Reagan doesn’t feel like that. Looking down at my chest, I see two moderately sized bulges underneath my t-shirt. The first thing that runs through my mind is, ‘What the hell are those?’ Throwing my covers off, I look at my shorts and notice the bulge that normally accompanies me when waking up isn’t there. I think, ‘That’s unusual, I always have morning wood.’ Reaching down, I find nothing but a smooth surface. Panicking, I stand and almost rip off my shorts and boxers. When I find that my little buddy is gone, I ask, ‘What the fuck is going on here?!’

I walk over to the full length mirror on my door and strip off my t-shirt so I can see what’s going on better. I’m literally frozen in place for a few moments when I look at it to find a very pretty girl looking back at me and I wonder, ‘What the hell?!’

I have to admit she’s beautiful. Long, waist length, wavy, silver hair; bright blue eyes; and full, ruby colored lips. Looking further down, she has well shaped, moderately sized breasts, a narrow waist, full hips with long, very shapely legs, and fair skin. All I can think is, ‘Damn! She’s hot!’ Reaching out to touch her, my fingers bump into the mirror. Of course, she followed the same action I did. I think, ‘I have to be dreaming! This can’t possibly be real!’

Pinching myself, I cry out, “Ouch!” Now I’m even more confused. What’s wrong with my voice? It doesn’t even sound like me! It sounds soft and gentle, more like a girls voice.

I call out, “Mom! Why is there a nude girl in my room?!” I continue to stare at the mirror until Mom opens the door, looks at me and asks, “Who are you and why are you in my sons room?”

I’m shocked for a moment, but then I say, “Mom, it’s me, Andy.”

“I have a son and you most certainly are not a boy!”

“I know that! It’s me though, I’m Andy!”

She frowns and snaps out, “Andrew Michael Williams! Wherever you are hiding, get your butt out here right this second! This joke has gone far enough! Young lady, I’d appreciate it if you’d put some clothes on.”

Sighing, I bend down, pick up the t-shirt I was wearing and slip it on. It’s far too large for me as one of my shoulders is exposed and it hangs down to mid-thigh, which is a good thing since the boxers I was wearing were uncomfortably tight and I don’t even want to put them back on.

She moves me out of the way and checks the room looking for me.

Sighing in exasperation, she looks at me. “Where’s Andy?”

“Mom, this is no joke. I’m Andy. What can I do to prove it to you?”

She suddenly starts throwing questions at me one after the other with very little pause.

“When’s your birthday?”

“October 7th.”

“Where were you born?”

“I was born in the car on the way to the Homestead hospital.”

“What sport do you play?”

“I don’t play sports.”

“What games do you like?”

“I don’t really play games and you know it.”

“What’s our dogs name?”

“We don’t have a dog. Our cat’s name is Reagan. Mom, I’m telling you this really is me!”

She has a confused expression as she asks, “Andy?”

“Yes, Mom, it’s me.”

“How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. I went to sleep last night and woke up looking like this.”

She asks with a concerned expression, “You haven’t been taking drugs have you? I mean hormones. You’re not transgender are you?”

I smile sadly and shake my head, wondering where she comes up with ideas like this. “No, Mom. I’m not transgender and I haven’t been taking any drugs of any kind. I’m as confused as you are about how this happened.”

Right then, something else hits me. I should tower over Mom since she’s only 5’2”, but I’m not much taller than her now. Really, what happened to me? I know of no disease or virus that can change someone’s gender, let alone their height.

Grimacing, I ask in a teary voice, “What do I do? I can’t go to school like this.”

She pulls me to her, hugs me, and rubs my back. “Shh~ It’s alright. We’ll figure out something…” She pushes me back to look at me. “How about we eat and we can try to figure this out together while we do?”

Wiping my eyes, I nod and she says, “Good.” She suddenly grins at me. “You know, I always wanted a daughter.”

“Mom! I’m not a girl!”

Still grinning, she points at my breasts and says, “I beg to differ with you since boys don’t have these… Come on, let’s go eat.”

Looking down at myself, I say, “I can’t go out there like this. Dad will see me.”

“It’s alright, he’s already left for work, so it’s just us girls.”

Shaking my head and sighing, I reluctantly follow Mom to the dining room and sit down.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?”

“What are we going to tell Dad? If we simply tell him this is me now, he’s going to think I had sex reassignment surgery and freak out. Regardless of the fact that doing it is impossible.”

“I know. I’m thinking about that too.” She comes back to the table with a couple of plates of toast, scrambled eggs and sausage.

“Umm… Can we just not tell Dad about this? I mean, can we act like I’m someone else? I don’t want Dad freaking out and going to the church about this. If he did, it would be all over Key Largo by the end of the next day.”

“That might be the best idea. Well, you did receive an invitation to attend a private school in Carlsbad, California. I could tell your dad you accepted since he won’t be back until Saturday.”

My dad is a civilian contractor for the US Air Force and he’s away a lot due to that.

“Okay, but what about me?”

“Hmm… Well, your father never met my sister Lyra and knows nothing about her family. They were killed in an accident a couple of months back. We could say that you’re her daughter and that we’ll be adopting you. I’ve got a lot of favors that I’m owed at the office. Speaking of which, I need to go or I’ll be late.”

Mom works for the Mayor of Miami as his executive assistant. She also knows the governor and his staff really well since they come here all the time.

“What am I supposed to do?”

She comes around the table and pulls me against her and says, “Honey, I’ll call the school and withdraw you on my way to work, so don’t worry about that. Just stay inside the house and try to relax, alright?”

“What about clothes?”

“I’ll take you shopping when I get home this evening. Get a pair of my shorts to wear for right now. They should fit you. Sorry, but I have to go. Try not to worry too much. I’ll see you later.”

She hugs me tight for a few moments, turns around and leaves. A few moments later, I hear her car start and pull away.

Picking up my plate to wash it, I think, ‘Now what? I know nothing about being a girl,’ which brings to mind my prayer yesterday and what I heard immediately after.

WTF?! “Son of a bitch!” Looking up at the ceiling, I angrily shout, “I asked to understand girls, not become one!”