Chapter 6: You’re on Vacation, so Act Like It
718 2 27
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Cindy sat where the sand met the soil and stared into the dark forest. Now and then the trees would rustle in the wind like the static from Roberto’s radio, giving Cindy goosebumps. She waited, transfixed on the forest’s edge, for someone to peek out from behind a tree.

“Cindy!”

It took a moment to pull her attention away and turn around. Diana had called out to her from where she, Terri, and Winter had set up several lounge chairs facing the ocean. They were no more than thirty feet away, but they could have been on an entirely different island for how much distance was between them.

“Pull up a chair and sit with us!” Diana ordered.

Cindy was compelled. She grabbed a folding chair and brought it right next to Diana. Terri, all the way on the other end of the line, peered over from where Winter was painting her nails and bit her lip.

Without looking over, Winter asked, “Cindy, what color do you want your nails?”

“No, no no no no no. Absolutely not.”

“Suit yourself.”

Diana snorted. “Glad not to be alone for once. I didn’t come out of here looking for a nail salon.”

“It’s relaxing,” Winter retorted.

“It’s a poor substitute for real leisure.”

Terri admitted, “Part of me still wishes we’d gone to a resort where I could get a real spa treatment.”

Cindy jumped in. “At least everything here is authentic. We’re on our own adventure, not curated cheap luxury, and we didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg.”

“My kind of girl,” Diana said, putting on her sunglasses and leaning back.

Winter bent over her and said, “Name me one girl that isn’t your type.”

“Wow. Fuck you.”

Cindy snorted and broke out into a fit of giggles. For a moment, her throat closed up in embarrassment before Diana and Winter followed suit, and Cindy was able to relax. It was weird to open up in front of people whom she was always so careful to look cool in front of. For the first time, Cindy felt safe and comfy enough to just play along, even crossing her legs like a girl without thinking too hard about it.

“I guess it’s not a big deal,” Terri finally said, shifting uncomfortably and looking away from them. “If everyone wants to be here, that’s fine.”

Winter finished the top coat for Terri’s nails and asked, “Do you ever stand up for yourself?”

“Excuse me?” Terri asked, placing a hand to her chest.

“Don’t get me wrong–you’re a great leader when you’re passionate about something–but you avoid arguments that don’t have an easy answer. Social inequality? You’re all over that; you’ve done the research. But disagreements between people? Most of the time you just shrug and tell everyone we should move on.”

“I’m trying to keep the peace. You shouldn’t jump into a fight you’re not ready for and make things worse.”

Diana said, “Winter has a point, though. Ignoring problems just gives them more time to fester until they’re too big to solve without people getting hurt.” She glanced at Cindy, giving her the floor.

“So… nail polish?” Cindy asked. “What colors did you say you had?”

It took a few minutes for her and Winter to settle on a bright summery yellow. Cindy did her best not to squirm while Winter handled her trembling fingers. At least she’d managed to defuse that situation, and Terri looked a lot more relaxed now that the conversation had moved off of her.

When she was done, Winter said, “Okay. Don’t touch anything for a bit. I can do your toes too, if you want.”

“No. No, thank you.”

Winter shrugged and stood up to stretch. “I’m going swimming for a bit. Call me if anything interesting happens.”

Cindy nodded absentmindedly, her gaze on her hands. They had been magically transformed from generic androgynous grabbers to a hyper-feminine display of her girlhood with just a bit of lacquer. The clothes had been forced onto her out of convenience, but this was unmistakably a girl thing she had agreed to. She clenched her jaw. It was so easy to just agree to things now that they saw her as a girl. How much further could Cindy go before she stopped thinking of herself as a boy transformed and started thinking of herself as one of them?

“Oh, I need to practice my guitar today,” Diana said, glancing at the alert on her phone. “Excuse me, please.”

Once the coast was clear, Terri scooted a few chairs closer to Cindy. “Thank you for that. It did not look like you wanted to do it.” She took Cindy’s hand and examined Winter’s handiwork. “Maybe easing you into this stuff more will help you unwind a bit? Get more comfortable with being a girl? At the very least, it’ll help you avoid suspicion.”

Cindy pulled her hand away. “I’m not trying to fit in, Terri. We’re supposed to be discovering what happened to me so I can go back to normal. What are you even doing hanging out when we have more pressing matters to deal with?”

Before Terri could respond, Cindy stood up and walked away. She ended up standing on the edge of the tent semicircle and staring back into the forest. Behind her were the sounds of her friends enjoying the summer vacation. Cindy found herself struggling to hold back tears.

Alex would know what to do. Clay could always confide in him and get a straight answer. Or at least, she’d always thought so. It still stung to remember him admitting he “felt sorry” for Clay, but before that point, he was the only one who’d never made Cindy feel judged. Now he barely seemed to know she existed. If Cindy had been born a girl instead, would they have just never been friends?

The unzipping of a tent made her jump. Cindy glared at Winter when she emerged, only to avert her gaze immediately. She had never seen Winter in a bikini before, and it left nothing to the imagination.

“Odd place to stand around,” Winter noted blankly. “You want to come swimming or whatever?”

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” Cindy replied, still not looking directly at her. She could feel a blush coming on and had no way to stop it. “All Terri has is bikinis and I’m not wearing one of those.”

“I have a one-piece you can borrow if you want.”

Cindy shook her head, but a strong gust of wind from deeper in the island made her shiver.

She mumbled, “I guess it beats standing around and doing nothing. It probably won’t fit me, anyway.”

“That’s the spirit,” Winter said wryly.

Cindy took the colorful swimsuit and went back into the tent she shared with Terri. As with the previous few days, she was able to forcibly dissociate from her body while changing out of her current outfit, but getting into a one-piece outfit that was both underwear and overwear was a dizzying experience that left her woozy. She had never worn anything that clung to and hugged her so tightly. Nerves screamed that the moment she stepped outside, people would sneer and call her a whore.

There was a light tapping on the tent from Winter. “You coming?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Covering as much of herself as possible with her arms, Cindy stepped outside feeling just as naked as if she were wearing nothing at all.

“Huh. That color actually goes really well with your eyes. The pattern looks good on you, too.”

Cindy blushed. “It’s… good?”

Winter nodded. Diana, from where she sat and tuned her guitar, glanced over and whistled. “Dang. You look hot.”

Spots formed in Cindy’s eyes as the oxygen rushed out of her brain, but she was brought back to Earth by a light jab from Winter. “You don’t get complimented a lot, do you? I’ll be in the water. Maybe figure out how to breathe again before jumping in yourself.”

Cindy did take a few deep breaths while Diana watched and made sure she wasn’t going to faint. It took a moment to find her bearings, but once she had, Cindy flashed Diana a grateful smile. She grinned back with a hundred times more charm. A lot of feelings swirled around Cindy’s head and stomach, but none of them were the nerves she’d had a few minutes ago.

It was something of a relief to be in the water and out of sight. Cindy drifted from shore a bit to do her own thing away from Winter. Cutting through the water, letting it wash over her, melted away the tension in her shoulders. For a moment, Cindy felt weightless.

Cindy found herself lazily floating on the waves as they bobbed up and down. Her mind was drifting away from the island and all her problems. The clouds above drifted slowly across the sky without a care in the world. Like them, she could stay suspended in that moment forever and never feel like anything was missing.

Little waves carried her back toward the shore. Cindy sighed and sat up in the shallow water, hugging her knees and staring into the far distance where only seagulls could go.

Roberto walked up to shatter her profound tranquility like a circus seal at a fine restaurant. He asked, “We need another player for Ultimate Frisbee. Do you want in?”

After a pause, Cindy shrugged. “Sure. I’m just wasting time anyway.”

She was put on a team with Winter and Diana while the boys—Roberto, Chris, and Alex—formed another. Briefly, Cindy considered calling foul; the boys were bigger and stronger than them, giving them a clear advantage. Alex even played baseball. She’d already opened her mouth before her good sense kicked in and clamped it shut again. True or not, bringing it up felt like a disaster waiting to happen.

Two arbitrary spots were chosen as the goal posts, and each team took their sides. It took only minutes for Cindy to realize just how much the transformation had screwed her over. She had never been the fastest or strongest, but it took real effort to move like she used to. Cindy was frequently stopping to catch her breath. Passing to her was a gamble because her arms just weren’t as long as she remembered them being.

Alex passed the frisbee to Chris, but Cindy was close enough to intercept. Cindy jumped as high as she could, just barely knocking the frisbee enough to send it warbling off-course and out of Chris’ reach. She cried out in triumph just as her foot hit the ground at an odd angle and sent her toppling right into Chris. He did his best to catch her, but as scrawny as he was, it only sent them both toppling into the sand. Cindy rolled off him and came to a stop with a yelp when something in the sand jabbed her leg.

“I think I cut myself on something,” she hissed, clutching a spot where blood ran down her calf.

“Hang on,” Chris said. “I’ve got a first aid kit in my tent.”

He took Cindy by the arm and helped her up, but her leg buckled on the first step.

“Shit! Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Lean on me.”

They hobbled their way over to a chair, where Chris gingerly sat her down before disappearing into his tent. He emerged with a first aid kit and rummaged through to pull out bandages, tape, and rubbing alcohol. As he knelt down, Cindy felt herself shrink at the realization that, though nobody had commented on it, the transformation had not magically shaved her legs; she felt like she had food in her teeth.

“This is going to sting,” Chris warned.

“More or less than being turned down by my backup date for prom?”

He chuckled. “Not quite that much.”

She grit her teeth while he washed and sanitized the area. Looking for anything to make this less awkward, she mumbled, “Sorry about knocking you down.”

“I can hardly be mad about a beautiful girl falling into my arms, can I?” he asked with a wink.

Cindy couldn’t hold back a silly grin. “You tell that to every girl who hits you like a linebacker?”

“Only the last two.” Chris stood up. “You should be fine. Be sure to drink water and wait a bit before doing anything strenuous.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, face warm from embarrassment.

Chris walked away, but the dog walked over and placed his slobbery head in Cindy’s lap, looking up at her expectantly. She gave it a few rough pats on the head. Maybe Nightwing wasn’t that bad.

The game had reached its logical stopping point, and people were scattering. Cindy spotted Terri nearby staring in her direction and stood up. Leaving the dog behind, she approached Terri, who turned away.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Cindy said. It felt wrong to say out loud, not because it wasn’t true but because admitting it felt like exposing a hole in her armor. “It’s not that big a deal if we take one day to relax a little.”

Terri ground her teeth but said, “I’m just happy you’re having fun. That’s what matters.”

Cindy winced. Maybe Winter had been right about Terri not standing up for herself enough. It felt bad to know that she was upset, worse that she wouldn’t talk about it, and infuriating to think that she blamed Cindy but wouldn’t say so out loud. Despite how short Cindy had been with Terri from the beginning, Terri still put being nice above all else.

What was she supposed to say to that? Cindy didn’t know, so after a brief but heavy silence, she just wandered off.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone just said what they were thinking?

We are so close to the supernatural elements picking up. This is going to end up being a full novella despite my best efforts.

Patrons get access to early chapters as well as occasional exclusive material, plus updates regarding current and future plans. Please throw your support my way if you can; every dollar helps in this trying time. If you want more stories by me, you can find some on itch or go to Amazon for my first or second book! A number of my itch stories are also part of bundles from the Secret Trans Writing Lair, with anywhere from ten to thirty stories each, all for you. I also do the occasional nonfiction piece on EpistemicPolymath.com if you're looking for more.

Special thanks to my patrons of honor: Alex, Chloe Werner, Grymmette, Victoria, Zoey Jones, and Elliana May!

27