Wednesday, September 24, 1997

The alarm buzzer went off. The same confusion from yesterday washed over me. But this time I reminded myself I was not home in 2018, but in high school in 1997.

I groaned, immediately regretting my decision on setting my clock for so early. I kicked my legs out of bed and turned off the alarm clock. I stood up and stretched my arms out, arching my back and extending my boobs forward. Yup. I'm still Christina.

I flicked on the bedroom light and trudged around the room getting my outfit ready for today. I placed my new skirt and top we bought last night on my bed. I dug through the panties drawer. I settled on a peach colored pair of panties as I seem to have exhausted all of the blue ones. I pulled out another tan bra and placed it on my stack of clothes.

I turned off my bedroom light and made my way to the bathroom through my dark hallway. Nobody else was awake yet.

I cranked up the shower and disrobed. When the water was warm enough, I stepped in.

I thought of yesterday's events. It was surreal. Not only was I stuck in the body of a teenage girl, I was starting to enjoy it. I have a big day today, and think I'm excited to show the world the new Christina. It wasn't a completely unfamiliar excitement. It felt like I was about to do a very elaborate cosplay that I'd spend a lot of work on. Granted I've never cosplayed as a girl. Only vampire, werewolves and other various undead creatures that required lots of costume makeup that hid the real Tony underneath.

I looked down at my breasts and remembered last night. Oh right. I have something new to play with too. I don't have time for that. Tonight.

I found some body wash so I decided to use that. It was then I realized that my legs were not as smooth as they were yesterday. I figured that Christina must've shaved on Monday before I came here. Since I was planning on wearing a skirt today, I figured I'd shave my legs. I found the shaving cream and a pair of pink razors on the shower wall. I wonder which one is mine and which one is Cindy's. I didn't have time for a guessing game so I just took one.

I put my foot on the tub wall. I hadn't really noticed my feet for the 24 hours I've been here. They are certainly smaller than they were as Tony. They were dainty, yet unpainted. I started shaving. I shaved my legs the same way I would've shaved my face. I went with the grain, hoping I was doing it right. As I got higher on my legs I got a good look at my new girl parts. Christina had a neatly trimmed patch of hair right there. Which kinda surprised me. Tony was not much of a "man-scaper." When I was done, I rubbed my hands over my legs. That's nice and smooth. Sexy looking legs. I had to shake that thought out of my head. "You don't have time for this Tony" I kept reminding myself.

I cleaned the rest of my body. Dwelling a little bit on my breasts again. "Tony. Focus." I let out what sounded like a girly moan as I forced myself to focus and finish up. I reminded myself that I didn't add time to my clock to play around. I have make up to do. and I can't afford to look like a circus clown.

After the shower, I put on my new contacts easily. Today I also decided to blow-dry my hair. It's not the first time I've used a blow-dryer. I've only used it for times I wanted to make my short hair bigger. Cosplay and Halloween. Today, It gave my hair a little more of a wave and bounce than letting it air-dry yesterday.

I left the bathroom with the towel draped correctly this time. I closed the door to my room and pulled out the makeup that Cindy lent me. I got to work doing everything I learned last night. I pretended I was an artist and this was my canvas. I took my time and went slowly so I didn't have to wash my face and start from scratch multiple times.

I didn't over do it. Foundation. Minimal eye-shadow. Mascara. Lip gloss. When I was satisfied with my makeup I continued getting dressed. I pulled up my panties and my clean smoothly shaven legs were much more sensitive. I put my bra on, then put on my new navy plaid skirt, then my new light blue top. I checked out myself in the mirror. I was happy with how I turned out. Posing in front of my mirror brought back the emotions I was feeling back in the changing room.

I rummaged through my closet for shoes. I found a pair of black flats and black heels. The heels weren't huge by any means, but any heel is larger than I'm used to. I settled on the flats. I'll learn to walk in heels another day. I stuffed my sneakers into my backpack remembering I didn't have a separate pair of gym shoes.

I walked into the kitchen. Dad and Cindy were sitting at the table much like yesterday. My dad looked up from his coffee and his jaw dropped. Cindy had a wide smile. "Cin." my dad said to my sister. "I think your sister has been kidnapped and replaced with an alien."

Nice. A "dad joke" first thing in the morning. "Oh this?" I said. "I'm working on that project I told you about"

"Listen, Chris." he said, concerned. "I should emphasize that no matter what you do, you should be yourself. I'd hate for you to try to be someone that you're not."

"Thanks, Dad." I replied. "I got this. Trust me." I smiled and prepared my breakfast.

"I trust you." He replied. His concern was admirable. Someone in the back of my head I was asking myself the same question. Is this what the angel wants me to do, or is that what I want to do?

When it was time to go, I grabbed my backpack, car keys, new Discman, a few CDs. I called to Cindy. "I'm ready to go!"

* * *

I walked outside of my house. The brisk late September morning air. I'm feeling great. I have a little swagger in my step. I got into my car and started it up while setting up the CD player and adapter. I popped in a Matchbox 20 disc. "Man, I haven't heard this album in forever" I said to myself. I pressed play and the familiar drum and chords of "Real World" started.

Cindy opened up the back door and joined me and we left to pick up Ron.

Wanna know the first thought that entered my mind was? It was "How does one drive with a skirt on?" I was keenly aware of my open legs under the steering wheel.

"Hey sis." Cindy said from the back.

"What's up?" I asked, looking at her in my rear-view mirror.

"You look amazing." she replied.

I smiled as we pulled into Ron's driveway. He opened the passenger door and sat down with his backpack. He took one look at me and said. "Wow. What's the occasion?"

"I'm just trying something new." I replied.

Cindy hit the back of Ron's seat. "Tell her she looks good." she said.

"You look good." he said and shot an annoyed glance back to her.

We pulled into the student parking lot. None of my passengers got possessed by my guardian angel friend, so today is already going better than yesterday!

As we got out of the car. I was running through my mental motivation. "Show confidence. You're the man.. i mean woman." I've never been a confident person. My goal here was to fake it until I make it.

The three of us walked into the building. I noticed I was getting looks and second glances. I'm not going to lie. I was nervous about my appearance. I forced myself to look into people's eyes and smile. "Confidence, Tony - I mean Christina. You got this. Girl Power. You Go Girl."

Focus on how good you look. How you felt last night and this morning in front of the mirror. Smile. Eye contact.

I stopped at my locker, exchanged books real quick and went to English class. I got the same glances while walking the halls. I mean it wasn't bad. I'm just used to fading into the background and being invisible. People are noticing me and smiling.

Upon walking into English class, Fay was already in her actual desk. I smiled at her and said, "Good Morning, Fay."

Fay's jaw dropped. "Oh my god, Christina. I love what you did. That outfit is so cute on you."

"Thanks." I said. "I needed a change."

"That's a huge change." she said. "Where's your glasses?"

"I got contacts last night." I replied.

"That's great." she said.

I sat down but realized I'm sitting on a bunched up shirt. I stood back and smoothed out my skirt as I sat back down.

OK. Moment of truth, Tony. You're going to ask out Fay. I realized I was Christina at that moment. I also did not know if Fay was into girls. I knew she dated guys. My assumption was that she was straight. But I had to try. She was my high school crush. This has to be the reason I was sent back here, right?

"Listen Fay," I started. I'm going to go for it. I rehearsed something like this while in the shower. Be confident and direct, Tony. "We should hang out sometime. It's been a while. Maybe grab a bite to eat, or catch a movie or something."

Her eyes got wide. I could tell the look of surprise on her face. I wish I knew what she was thinking. She tilted her head and smiled. "Sure. Are you free tonight?"

Holy Shit, I did it. Don't lose your composure now Tony. "Tonight is great. Pick you up at 6?" Tonight? Why did I agree to that? That gives me mere hours to plan a date. Don't worry about it. Keep up your confidence.

She chuckled. "Was this a ploy to show off your car and licence?"

Make a joke. Flirt back. "Maybe." I said. "Or maybe I genuinely want to hang out with you." Quick, make another flirty joke. "I mean, you can look under my hood if you want." Nooooo! That was awful! Stop talking Tony!

She visibly laughed out loud and smiled back. "You're full of surprises this morning."

Inside I just declared victory. It worked. She said yes!

The morning announcements ended and class started. I exhaled. "Today is going to be a good day." I told myself.

English was went by without any major issues. My mind was actually distracted by my legs and skirt. At first I learned to keep my knees closed. But the rubbing of my smooth legs together felt really good. Eventually I got restless in my head and crossed my legs - at first like a dude would do, but the cool breeze reminded me that I was likely giving my teacher a show. Then I let myself cross them completely. That felt good too.

Maybe all of this was too much too soon.

* * *

In AP Comp Sci I had some free time seeing as I finished my project 4 days early. I decided to do some of my new assigned homework from my previous classes. I also started brainstorming date night, when a fellow female classmate, Valerie came up to me.

"Hi Christina." Valerie said.

"Oh hey, Valerie" I responded.

"I was wondering if you could look over my code?" she asked

"Sure thing!" I responded. Mentoring junior developers was kinda my thing at work. While other senior developers didn't want to be bothered, I actually liked teaching our new people and showing them the ropes. Them moving on to better projects and telling me that I was an awesome mentor made it feel so rewarding.

She handed me a printout, and I pulled out a pencil from my backpack and started skimming her code.

Valerie was the only female in either of my programming classes. She wasn't given much respect by my male classmates. Such is the world of software development. It's always been very male dominated. Even at my job, women are a minority. Most of them are just as competent as their male counterparts. But most of the leads are men, and the women are forced into different roles. I wonder where Valerie ended up in 2018.

I wrote a few notes on naming conventions, some confusing unused variables. I circled a block of code and turned to her.

"Val, This is really good. I would make one change though. This circled block you can make better. You can abstract it into its own function so you don't have to keep typing it over and over again."

"Cool. That's easy enough. Thank you for your help." She said.

"Any time" I smiled.

"Oh." she added "You said you used recursion for your project, what chapter is that?"

Oh crap. I don't know. I took Mr. Perry at his word when it said it was later in the curriculum. "I don't remember. Honestly, I knew it before this class."

"Oh cool." she said. "Can you show me some time?"

"Sure." I said. "I can show you now on the whiteboard if you want. I'm only doing homework for other classes."

"That'd be great." She said.

We walked to the white board and I diagrammed and wrote pseudo-code demonstrating recursion for her. Other classmates started watching my mini-lecture. Mr. Perry leaned back in his chair just watching and nodding his head.

After I was finished, Valerie asked "Hey, Christina. So, I voted for you last year."

"For what?"

"For Class President." she replied. "You had some great ideas. "

"Oh. That." I replied. "Thanks. I think I was a long shot anyway. I wasn't nearly as popular as.." I'm trying to remember her name... Cathy. "Cathy"

"Katie".

"Right. Katie. She is way too popular." Katie Mitchell. Class President all 4 years. Tony tried to make it only 3 consecutive years because she did absolutely nothing while in office. But she was a straight A student, and in almost every academic based club at school.

"At the last student council meeting we were thinking of recruiting others to help us with homecoming." she said. "I remembered you running for student council and thought that maybe you might still want to be involved."

Did I get involved with the Student Council first time around? I don't think I did. Tony lost the election gracefully and didn't try to join as a general member.

"Sounds fun." I said. "I can come when I don't have band practice."

* * *

At lunch, Ron convinced me to go to McDonald's. I typically would get a Big Mac, or a double cheeseburger. My nerves had my stomach in knots, so I opted for the salad.

We sat down in the restaurant and started eating our food.

"So how was the driving test?" he asked "Any troubles?"

"None." I replied. "I think I accidentally did a rolling stop, but I passed anyway."

I pulled out my licence and showed it off.

"That's great." he said looking at it. "It's a good picture". He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and showed me his licence. "I look like a freak." It was a picture of Ron with a very seriously grumpy face.

I was still giddy about this morning. I had to talk to someone about it. Ron's my best friend so he seemed like the logical choice.

"So I asked Fay out today in English class" I bragged to Ron.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Ask out? As in a date?"

"Yup." I smiled.

"Um." he said shocked, putting down his burger. "I didn't know you were into girls like that." The look on his face was complete disbelief.

"I've had something for her for a long time." I responded. Oh shit. Why did I bring this up to Ron? My mom suspected him of liking me. Did I just stab him in the heart?

"Is this why you dressed up today?" he asked.

"No. Not at all" Oh shit. Did he think I dressed up for him?

"I'm sorry. I mean, that's great." he said. "I'm happy for you. It means something that you decided to come out to me. "

Come out? Does he think I'm gay?

"Wait." I said. "I'm not gay"

"But you said-" he said, stopping his sentence. "Oh, You're bi? Gotcha."

"No I'm just" I got flustered. I mean, I know Tony is straight. I assumed Christina was straight before I came into the picture. I knew I was asking out a girl. But this is the first time I really considered what that really meant. Did dating someone mean that either Tony or Christina had to be gay? Did I really want people to see Christina as a lesbian?

"Well, Do you like guys?" he asked.

"I. Ah" I stuttered not sure where to go from here. I painted myself into a corner. This isn't where I saw this conversation going.

"Remember, I was talking you up to one of my buddies in my band." he said. "He's very interested in meeting you. I can tell him nevermind."

Wait, what? Ron was setting me up? He never set me up with friends when I was Tony. I suddenly felt bad. I'll take one for the team to ensure Ron didn't waste his time.

"No No. I want to meet him." I said. "I don't know how my date with Fay will turn out anyway. It was a shot I had to take. I'm sorry, I should've told you earlier." This is so awkward. I'm talking about my sexuality with Ron.

"Nah. it's cool. Batting for both teams."

Is that what I'm doing? I'm so confused now. Why couldn't I just be Tony. This would've been so much easier.

"Speaking of" Ron continued. "My band is playing the club tomorrow evening for teen night. You should come and check us out."

Ron played the sax in a ska band our senior year. I nearly forgot about that.

"Cool deal" I responded. "I'll be there!" I was just glad the subject of my sexuality was dropped. I had been Christina for only a day and a half. I haven't even gotten around to masturbating yet. I hadn't really thought about my sexuality at all.

When made our way back to school. I dug my gym back out of my locker and headed to the locker room.

* * *

When I got to the girls' locker room, I found the same locker aisle from yesterday. I got out of my school clothes and into my gym clothes. I folded up my skirt and top nicely and placed them on the locker shelf. I found a hair tie at the bottom of my bag. I attempted to put my hair up. I saw girls doing this all the time. What was I doing wrong? I could really use a YouTube video right about now. After 2 failed attempts I realized I needed to double wrap it. I pulled my hair through, twisted the band and pulled my hair through again.

As I suspected Amber and her brunette friend appeared. Per my yearbook research last night, I figured out brunette's name was Brittany.

"Hi Amber." I said.

"What do you want?" she said sneering at me

"I just wanted to say hi." I responded. "You made a good play yesterday. So there's no hard feelings."

She turned her nose up at me and continued talking with Brittany.

Rude. Well at least I can say I tried. I stuffed my bag into the locker, locked it and headed out.

* * *

It was softball day again in gym class. I was hoping that was the case. I had some unfinished business. This time I was not picked last. It was somewhere in the middle. The guy who was picking looked at me. I smiled. He smiled back. "Christina Demarco." he said, picking me. Did I just flirt with a guy to get my way?

"You won't regret this Captain." I said joining the gaggle of classmates behind him. I was still second to last on the batting order. Baby steps I suppose.

The teams were somewhat similar to the teams yesterday. Fay was on my team again. Amber was on the opposing team again. Brittany was on mine.

I stretched and did some sprints off to the side. I was amped. I was holding onto an extra bat and was practicing my swings.

It was my turn at bat. Amber was the catcher. "Do you think you're going to be lucky again today?" she taunted. This makes me wonder if she purposely decided to be the catcher just to screw with me.

I smiled back at her. "I already am lucky."

The first pitch was ruled a ball. It was too outside.

"Oh you could've hit that" Amber said. I ignored her comment.

The second pitch was short as it rolled to my feet. The pitcher was clearly trying to lob some meatballs at me. The third picture was perfect. Ping, the sweet sound of a softball on a metal bat. My bat caught it and sent it into left field.

I sprinted my fastest easily running through first base. I could hear Fay back at our dugout. "Go Christina! Great run!"

The next batter, a guy, popped it into right field. I lead off first base waiting for the ball to be caught. It was caught, and I dashed back to first.

The next batter was Brittany. She swung and missed the first pitch. On the second pitch, she connected and sent a ball to shallow right field. I took off again. The right fielder threw the ball at first base and got Brittany out. I sprinted harder and rounded second. At that moment, my dugout started cheering and the other team started scrambling and yelling at each other. As I was about to get to third base, the third base girl was not paying attention and missed catching the ball. I continued running around rounding towards home. The guy left fielder caught up with the errant ball and threw a dart towards home.

Amber was standing on home plate blocking my way. "Look out Amber" I yelled as I sprinted towards home. She glanced at me and didn't budge. In fact it looked like she doubled down on blocking the plate.

So I did what Tony would've done.

I slid.

I launched and slid on my right leg a foot from the plate. My legs clipped Amber and she was sent flying backwards never having caught the ball.

My team cheered and ran out to give me high fives. I reached down to give Amber a hand. She swatted my hand away. "Bitch" she said. She stayed there and waited for Brittany to help her up instead.

Bitch? I was called a bitch. I've never been called a bitch before. Is this a badge of honor?

"That was awesome, Christina." my team captain said.

I brushed off grass clippings from my right leg. Ouch. I could see the rad streak marks going down my calf.

As I got compliments from many others on my team, I had this bad feeling, and it wasn't my grass burn. My goal was to try to make friends today. Did I just make an enemy?