The next morning, Taylor finished up his breakfast and was heading back to get changed when he noticed that something was missing from his room.

“Aunt Agnes!” Taylor shouted. “Have you seen my bathing suit?”

“I don’t think so,” Aunt Agnes shouted back as she climbed the stairs. “Where did you leave it?”

“It was on the chair in my room.” Taylor said as Aunt Agnes walked in.

“Was it underneath that pile of dirty clothes you had sitting on it?” Aunt Agnes asked.

“Maybe, why?”

“While you were asleep I sent it away to be cleaned. If you didn’t wake up late and stay up till all hours of the night...”

“Dammit! Now I can’t swim until the laundry comes back?” Taylor asked. “This stinks…”

“Not necessarily… Give me a few minutes.” Aunt Agnes said.

While Aunt Agnes did whatever it was she was planning to do, Taylor returned to his video games. As he was playing, Taylor heard footsteps as Aunt Agnes came back up the stairs.

“Taylor, I just found this, and I thought you might want an extra bathing suit.” Aunt Agnes came into the room carrying a blue speedo.

“A speedo?” Taylor asked.

“I used to do some consulting for fashion designers, so I’d get some pieces for free. Usually I gave them away if they weren’t my style, but this one’s been in the back of my closet for years. I’ve been cleaning out, and I think it looks about your size.” Aunt Agnes replied, handing it to Taylor.

“It looks like half a bikini.” Taylor held it in one finger, away from him.

“It’s blue, which I’m pretty sure is the fashion code for boys.” Aunt Agnes laughed. “Besides, it’s popular in Europe.”

“Sure it is…” Taylor sighed. “And have you seen my sunglasses?”

Taylor stepped back and stopped when he heard a cracking sound.

“I haven’t seen them, but I think I just heard them.” Aunt Agnes said.

Taylor’s face fell as he quickly lifted his foot and saw the broken plastic underneath his feet. He picked it up, hoping that some part of it could be salvaged, but the hinge had snapped completely.

“As if this week couldn’t get any worse…”

“Oh relax, I’ve got tons of sunglasses lying around. Just pick a pair of those and I’ll get you a new pair delivered next week.”

“But those are women’s sunglasses!”

“I didn’t realize sunglasses had a gender. Besides, no one is going to see you anyway!”

“Fine…” Taylor sighed and headed downstairs.

Aunt Agnes followed and spent a few minutes digging in a hall closet, before retrieving a bucket filled with sunglasses of every shape and size. She handed it to Taylor, who quickly started rifling through it.

“This one’s missing a lens… these are too wide…” Taylor tested a pair on his face. “Maybe these…”

After a few minutes, Taylor wasn’t satisfied with any of the pairs he’d found. He sighed and handed the bucket back to Aunt Agnes.

“What about this pair?” Aunt Agnes pulled out a pair of pink transparent plastic sunglasses. “Won’t this one fit?”

“Haven’t you noticed the color?” Taylor asked.

“I have. It matches your nails.” Aunt Agnes smirked. “Now, go! Enjoy the pool!”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Taylor said, taking the sunglasses from Aunt Agnes. “Thanks.”

Taylor headed out to the pool with the sunglasses and a fluffy white towel in tow. After swimming for a bit, Taylor was ready to lounge on one of the chairs when he heard a loud motor from over the fence. He got up and rushed over to the fence to investigate, taking a chair with him so he could see over the tall fence, people in this compound enjoyed their privacy. Not wanting to deal with having his towel draped like a cape over his shoulders, he quickly wrapped it around his chest, before hopping onto the chair.

Peeking over, he could see a moving van across the way… a bunch of movers… and two teenagers? A boy and a girl stood near an older man and woman, presumably their parents, as they supervised the movers. Taylor pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and squinted to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. They looked to be about Taylor’s own age, which was great, especially because the girl was cute. Of course he couldn’t introduce himself until he got those stupid nails off, but Taylor was stoked! Unfortunately, he watched for too long, because the boy started to look around and spotted him. As Taylor quickly ducked back behind the fence, the boy got his sister’s attention and the two of them approached the fence, eventually finding the door. They knocked on it.

“Hey!” the boy shouted.

“Sorry if we spooked you, we’re moving in next door. We didn’t realize there were other kids our age around here!” the girl shouted.

Taylor was frozen in fear. They’d spotted him, the damage was already done. So why didn’t he open the fence and introduce himself? Taylor steeled himself up for the humiliation, and hoped that at least they might still want to hang out, since swimming alone was starting to get boring. He walked over to the fence and opened it, quickly stuffing his hands behind his back.

“Hi.” Taylor said, opening the door.

In front of him was a young man and a young woman, clearly a brother and sister. They were dressed affluently, but not overly so, the boy wearing board shorts and a casual short-sleeved button down, left open to reveal the gaming t-shirt underneath. The girl was wearing a simple sundress and strappy sandals.

“Hi! I’m Emily.” the young woman said, sticking her hand out. “And this is my younger brother, Logan.”

“Twin brother.” the young man, Logan, said. “I’m only two minutes younger.”

Taylor instinctively outstretched his own hand and silently cursed as Emily grabbed it to shake it.

“Cute nails!” Emily exclaimed as she released his hand. “I love the color.”

“Yeah…” Taylor put it back into his pocket. “They’re not usually like that, my aunt’s idea of a joke…”

“Oh, your aunt? So you’re just visiting?” Logan seemed crestfallen.

“For the summer, yeah.” Taylor said. “Say, that’s a Doom Gods t-shirt, right?”

Logan looked down at his shirt and nodded excitedly.

“Yeah, do you play?” Logan asked.

“Every day! We should totally do co-op!” Taylor replied.

This was great! Not only were they ignoring the nails, but they didn’t seem to care! And they seemed really nice.

After a short conversation about gaming, respective high school experiences and their plans for the summer, Emily and Logan’s parents called them back to help with unpacking. But not before Taylor exchanged phone numbers with the siblings.

“We’ll talk later, though.” Emily said.

“And game.” Logan said.

“Definitely.” Taylor smiled.

“I’m so happy that there’s at least one other teenager besides us around.” Logan said.

“I know how you feel, it was starting to get really boring swimming alone.” Taylor said.

“Emily! Logan! Get your butts in here and pick your bedrooms so we can tell the movers where to put your stuff! If you’re not up here in one minute, you’ll be carrying them up the stairs!” Emily and Logan’s mother shouted.

“Seeya!” Emily waved as her and Logan rushed back to their house.

Taylor happily returned to the house, passing by Aunt Agnes as she sat in a chair in the living room, reading.

“What was all that noise I heard outside?” Aunt Agnes asked.

“New neighbors. And they’re kids are my age!” Taylor replied.

“Isn’t that fortunate for you? I take it your hands weren’t as much of a detriment as you thought they’d be?” Aunt Agnes said.

“They didn’t say anything, so I guess not. I still don’t think it was that funny of a prank.” Taylor said.

“Either way, I’m glad that you have someone your own age around, maybe it’ll inspire you to get up before noon…” Aunt Agnes chuckled.

After dinner, Taylor, who had changed out of his bathing suit and into a t-shirt and shorts, got a text from Emily asking him to come over to their house. Taylor slipped on a pair of flip-flops, told Aunt Agnes where he was going and quickly headed out, knocking on the door, and trying to keep his hands as hidden as he could. Just because Emily and Logan were cool about it, didn’t mean anyone else would be. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing an imposing looking man, who Taylor recognized as Emily and Logan’s father.

“Yes?” Emily and Logan’s father asked.

With his broad shoulders, close-cropped salt & pepper hair, and intense stare, Taylor was slightly terrified of the man, especially given that this was the first time he was seeing him up close.

“Uh, I live next door, my Aunt is your neighbor. I’m here to see Emily and Logan.” Taylor stammered a reply.

“Daddy, stop looking so intimidating. This is Taylor, the one I was telling you about.” Emily, who was now wearing a camisole and capris, pushed past her father. “Taylor! I wanna show you my room!”

Emily quickly grabbed Taylor’s arm and pulled him into the house.

“We’ll be up in my room.” Emily said to her father as she led Taylor up the stairs. “Sorry about him, he was in the military, so he kinda always looks like that.”

“Right… Where’s Logan?” Taylor asked.

“He’s helping my mom set up her computer in the basement, he’ll be up soon.” Emily replied.

Eventually, at the end of the hallway, Emily opened a door and led Taylor into the room.

“What do you think?” Emily asked.

Taylor looked around, there were still a few unpacked boxes lying around, but the room had mostly been unpacked. Emily had a vanity in one corner, her four-post canopy bed in another, various posters on the wall of boy bands, and an overstuffed closet. Emily was definitely a girly girl, despite growing up with a brother.

“Pretty nice.” Taylor replied, though he didn’t have much experience critiquing teenage girls’ bedrooms.

“You can take a seat on the bed and… oh, shoot.” Emily sighed as she looked at her shirt. “There’s a stain on this. Hold on one second.”

Emily quickly pulled her shirt off, much to Taylor’s surprise, who immediately turned around as soon as he saw the bottom of the cups of her bra.

“Do you want me to wait outside?” Taylor asked, facing the door.

“Why would I?” Emily asked, pulling a t-shirt over her body. “It’s just us girls in here.”

Taylor froze. What had Emily just said?

“Huh?” Taylor asked.

Did she just say that it was just them girls? Did she think that he was...? Did Logan think that too? Was it because of the nails? Or was it the hair? Sure, puberty hadn’t been overly gracious, and Taylor was incapable of growing anything more than peach fuzz on his face, but how could they think he was a girl? Before he could stammer a response,

“I’m so happy that there’s another girl around here, with Logan as the only person to hang out with, I thought my summer was going to be like living in testosterone city.” Emily said. “Plus, he’s no fun on shopping trips.”

“Right… shopping trips…” Taylor’s brain was still working through the previous part of the conversation.

“Are you okay, Taylor?” Emily asked, snapping Taylor out of his reverie.

“Uh, yeah… I…” Taylor reached into his pocket for his cell phone and looked at the clock. “Oh, my aunt needs me back at the house. I’ve got to go!”

Taylor didn’t wait for a response before rushing out of the room, nearly running into Logan, who was approaching, carrying a box of games.

“Oh hey, Taylor! I wanted to show you my collection!” Logan said.

“Maybe another time!” Taylor shouted as he made a break for the stairs, and didn’t stop running until he was back in Aunt Agnes’ mansion with the door slammed.

Aunt Agnes heard the slam of the door and came into the foyer to investigate. Taylor was quickly catching his breath and panting as he leaned on the door.

“Taylor! What’s the rush? I thought you were over at the neighbors’, how are they anyway? Nice?” Aunt Agnes asked.

“I’ve got a big problem.” Taylor wheezed.