Chapter 10 – Escalation
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Thursday, September 25, 1997

I woke up and looked at the clock. 4:59. A minute before the alarm goes off.

I get out of bed and stretch. The alarm goes off and I stop it.

It's a new day. I feel great. I have a spring in my step. Today is going to be another great day in the life of Christina Demarco.

I walked over to my closet to pick out my clothes for today. The floral dress I found in my closet looks nice. I hadn't worn a dress to school yet. Let's try these heels too. I opened my underwear drawer and found a shade of pink panties that seemed like the same pink of the flowers on the dress. I also picked out another set of gym clothes. A plain baby blue t-shirt, some pink shorts, white ankle socks and grey sports bra. I stuffed my gym clothes into my gym bag and headed to the shower.

The nice hot shower let me relive yesterday's events. It's so crazy. I've been Christina for two days and I feel like I've done so much. I've done things that only existed in Tony's dreams. And of course stuff Tony would have never even dreamed of. As I was washing myself, my thoughts drifted to last night. "Hmm." I thought to myself. That was nice. I put the thought to the side because I have things to do this morning.

* * *

After I was done drying my hair and putting on makeup - I was getting better at it, and did it in half the time - I put on my dress and modeled it in front of my mirror. Damn I looked good.

I put on my heels and practice walking in my room. I watched myself in the mirror as I attempted to walk. It took a few minutes before I didn't look like a total doofus. I should keep practicing around the house, I told myself.

I grabbed my bags and headed out to the kitchen.

"Good Morning, Dad!" I said to my father.

"'Morning sweetie." he said. "How is your- project going?"

"It's going great." I said. "You were right about just pouring myself into it."

"Just be careful" he reminded me. "I have this feeling you're dealing with something more than just a school project."

"I got it under control." I smiled. I feel that I more than have it under control. I feel I dare say - invincible.

I grabbed a Pop Tart and made my way to the steps. The first step I took with my heel, my ankle bent and I caught myself on the banister. Nobody saw that. "You OK?" Dad called from out of eye sight.

"I'm fine." I reassured him. OK. I still have a little bit more to go before I'm invisible.

I continued my way downstairs and to the den and powered on my PC. The click of my heels on the linoleum echoed in the tiny room.

I opened a desktop publishing app and started making a flyer for Powder Puff signups. I consulted the notes I got from yesterday's student council meeting. There were still some pieces of information I left blank that I would have to fix later.

"Powder Puff Fundraiser 1997. Friday, October 3rd. Proceeds benefit Junior and Senior Classes. To Join the Senior squad or be a Powder Puff Cheerleader see Christina Demarco at homeroom B16. To join the Junior Squad see xxx. Sign up by Wednesday."

I moved words around, tinkered with the fonts and sizes. It looked good. Well, good enough for now. I pulled a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk off my shelf and saved the file to my disk. I stuff the disk into my backpack and turned my computer off.

* * *

It was Ron's turn to drive to school today. We did our traditional just jam out to Metallica on the way to school. Either he forgot to ask me about last night, or didn't want to know. I was still giddy about it. But there was a voice in the back of my head telling me that Fay didn't consider it a date and I shouldn't be nearly as giddy as I am.

The guardian angel didn't possess Ron during the drive. Which I was a little disappointed about. I hadn't seen her or him or it since right after my track tryout. I figured she'd have something to say about my date with Fay.

At my locker I put my gym bag away and I got out the right books. Julie stopped by before I closed the door.

"Hey Christina." Julie said.

"Oh hey." I replied.

"We have our work cut out for us. Come to gym class early." she said.

"What? Why?"

"You want to get in shape for winter track right?"

"Yeah"

"Well we're going to do some runs before class." she said.

"I uh." I managed to get out.

"Great! See you then, Chris!" she said heading to class.

Man, that girl never lets me get the last word.

On my way to class I noticed more and more people looking at me and smiling. I smiled back. I said good morning whenever I made eye contact with someone. Something I really didn't notice at first was Christina is at least two inches shorter than Tony. Wearing these heels brings me back closer to Tony's height.

I settled into homeroom and sat at my desk, smoothing my dress and crossing my legs. I think I'm getting used to this. Fay walked in a minute after I did.

"Good Morning" I smiled.

"Last night was amazing." she said "We have to do that again."

"We certainly can" I said. "That particular place does that once a week on Wednesdays. There may be other places that do other days of the week."

"I saw some of the more advanced dancers doing crazy tricks like throws and stuff. We should try some of that."

"Aerials." I said. "Takes practice, but I could show you some of the moves I remember."

The morning announcements ended and the teacher shut the door.

"Great, we can talk more later" she said as class started.

* * *

In Comp-Sci I devoted my extra time to homework again when Valerie came up to me.

"Sorry Christina for thrusting the powder puff stuff on you." she said

"It's OK." I replied. "I already have a draft flyer done. I just need to find someone to volunteer to be the point person for the Junior squad."

"I knew you were the right person for the job." she said. I think you should ask Linda McIntyre. She's one of the Junior class officers. I think she's in Band with you."

"Good idea." I said. "I think I know where to find her." I think I remember who that is. Maybe I should keep my yearbook in my bag for reference.

Mr. Perry came up to me and sat down next to me. "Christina, how's it going?"

"It's going great." I answered.

"Are you going to be applying for any of “Women in STEM” scholarships we have?"

"I hadn't thought about that." I replied. And that's the truth. But I wasn't planning on staying a woman much longer, so I don't think it'll be something I look into.

"You should really look into it." he said, almost reading my mind. "You have a gift and you need to see it through. The moment you stood up at that white board and started teaching the class stuff we haven't covered yet, it was amazing. Everyone else stopped what they were doing to listen to you. I've never seen anything quite like that in all of my years of teaching."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence" I said. "Oh - let me know if i'm overstepping my bounds."

"I will." he said. "Keep it to advice and make sure you point them in the right direction but avoid giving them the answer. Make them figure it out themselves."

"Thanks." I said.

It's crazy. I had never considered myself a confident person. But with Tony's additional 20 years experience coupled with Christina's newfound self-image, this was really working out better than I had hoped.

Later in the class, 2 more classmates stopped by my computer to ask me for advice and run some ideas past me. It's nice to have 15 plus years of professional experience as a high school senior. It at least makes me popular in this class.

* * *

At lunch time, I found Linda McIntyre at her locker and asked if she wanted to organize the Junior Powder Puff squad. Well. I think the person I talked to was Linda McIntyre. Whomever it was - She agreed. Now I just need to finish this flyer.

I let Ron know that I wanted to devote some time to working on the student council stuff. We agreed to stop at a sub shop and get some sandwiches to go.

After we got our sandwiches we stopped by the band room to just sit. Often band members would choose to hang out in the band room instead of the cafeteria. There were several other band students there. Some ate lunch. Some practiced their music. My plan was to eat this sandwich, grab my stuff for the rest of the day and make my way to the library to finish these flyers, then head to the gym to run with Julie.

"How was last night?" Ron finally asked.

"It was great. We went swing dancing" I replied. "So much fun. You should come out some time."

I was never able to get Ron and his wife to come dancing with me. Hell, I was never able to get any friends to come dancing with me.

"Me dancing?" Ron said. "Not my thing."

"You're in the school Jazz band, you'd at least enjoy the music."

"Speaking of," he said. "You coming out tonight?"

"Yes I am." I said. I remembered Ron's ska band was playing tonight. I always tried to support his various bands over the past 20 or so years.

"We start at 7" he said.

"Sweet". I replied. I finished up my lunch. "Alright, I'm going to head to the library. Later."

"Peace out" he said.

I walked to the Libraries computer lab and took out my disk. It took me only a few minutes to add Linda's info to the flyer and print it out. I made 25 copies. Enough for the high traffic areas. I returned the flyers to my backpack and headed to Gym.

* * *

After changing into my gym clothes I met Julie on the field before the rest of the class got there. It was nice to get out of those heels and into sneakers again.

"Lets go." Julie said, starting to jog around the softball field.

I followed her pace. I figured I'd make small talk and see if I could get some answers at the same time. "Julie, why are you doing this? We barely spoke 2 words before yesterday."

"For the past two days I've seen incredible swagger and confidence in you. There's a fire in your eyes I just can't describe."

"Well, I have experience playing softball on a... fun league. Not school. But when I learned to play I got competitive with it."

"Well why didn't you say that." she said. "I bet you know more about softball than most of the people in our class."

"I guess." I said. "I was still a nerd in my league. I did sabermetrics for the entire team and had a long Excel spreadsheet for it."

"You're right. That is incredibly nerdy." she said. "I bet you were thinking about that spreadsheet of yours the whole time we've been playing softball in gym class."

"Are you mocking me?" I asked.

"No. I want to see what makes you tick. You were shy and reserved, and put minimal effort into gym class last week. So stats and analytics floats your boat?"

"Well. Kinda. Since I barely played the past two days I certainly watched and made the same mental notes with our gym class I did with my compa- I mean fun league."

"That's good to know." she said smiling. "Honestly, you remind me of myself freshman year. I too needed a nudge in the right direction."

Our classmates started slowly trickling onto the field.

"If you want we can do this every day. If not before Gym, we can do it after school."

"I suddenly have a lot going on after school these days." I said "Let's stick to before Gym class."

When the rest of the class got the softball field Julie and I joined them. I waved hi to Fay as I stood beside her.

The gym teacher said. "We're going to pick new captains today. Who wants to be captain?" Julie raised her hand. "Julie". She scanned the rest of the class. "Let's choose another girl - Fay." Fay looked like a deer in headlights. Clearly getting called on by the gym teacher was a complete shock. "Julie picks first. Fay's team will field first."

Julie looked over the class and said. "Christina."

What? Me? Picked first?

I joined her and whispered to her. "Seriously? I've never been picked first in my life."

"Stop being so modest. You clearly know what you're doing."

Fay picked a classmate who was saying "Pick me!"

Julie turned to me. "Who should I pick next?"

I sighed then looked over the class. "Take Bill. He's a power hitter." Bill joined us.

Fay picked again.

Julie to me again. "How about now?"

Bill spoke up and said. "How about my friend over there?"

I interjected. "No. Pick Carl. He's the fastest guy in in the class."

"Carl." Julie said.

Fay picked.

"Tim. He's a smart hitter."

"Tim" Julie echoed.

Fay picked.

"Amber's a solid outfielder." Julie said. "What do you think?"

"Well, it'd be nice not to have her as an opponent for once."

"Amber." Julie said.

When the teams were set, we were set to bat first.

"I bet you know the right batting order." Julie said.

"I do." I said confidently. "Carl to lead off. Me second. Tim third. Bill cleanup. Paul fifth." Julie beamed at my confidence.

Amber spoke up. "Why are you letting the nerd choose the batting order? That's not how we've been doing it all week."

"We're trying something new." I responded, defending myself.

"You heard the co-captain." Julie said. "Carl, you're up!"

Co-Captain?

Carl went up to bat. He hit a clean line drive into left field and safely got into first base.

It was my turn - batting second In gym class. I hit a grounder into left field. Carl sprinted it to second base before the fielder's could scoop it up and throw it to second. I made it to first base safely.

Tim hit a fly ball into right field, but the fielder dropped the ball. Carl and I immediately tagged up from our bases and took the next base. Tim was safe at first.

Bill came up. He crushed the ball into center field and it went over everyone's heads. All 4 of us ran home to complete the grand slam.

Julie gave me a high five as I crossed the plate. "Great job Demarco!"

The gym teacher looked at us. "Do I need to change these teams?" It was an idle threat as she didn't stop the game.

Four more runs later, Amber was at bat with one out.

She swung and missed. "Don't worry about it Amber!" I yelled. "The next one is yours!"

Amber swing and missed again. "Shake it off." I said.

Amber struck out. As she walked by me, she purposely bumped into my shoulder. "You embarrassed me."

"But I-". I said but she kept walking.

The third out happened on the next batter so we all took the field. We let everyone choose their own fielding position. I opted to take third base.

The first hitter popped a ball right up to me. "I got it" yelling as I positioned myself under it. Before the ball could land in my glove, Amber from center field came from behind me, pushing me out of the way and catching the ball.

"Amber, what the hell?" I said.

"Stay out of my way!" Amber sneered and threw the ball back to the pitcher. I looked around. Didn't anyone see this?

The next hit was a hit to short left field. I was closest to the ball so I ran to get it, as Amber slammed right into me and I fell to the ground.

"Ladies, knock it off" the gym teacher yelled.

I brushed the grass off my shirt as I looked at Amber. She was staring daggers at me. "Yo, we're on the same team today." I said. My first were balling up like they did on Tuesday. Chill Tony. Deep breath.

The next hit was caught in center field by Amber, but the runner on second decided to make a run for it anyway. "Amber, here" I said, putting my glove up. Amber aimed the ball right at me. I put my glove up and caught the ball. I feel like it was aimed at my face. Plus it had some zing to it. I briefly took off my glove to shake out my hand.

Is this how she wants to play? Another hit came to short left field. I yelled "I got it." Amber yelled "No, I got it." I back-peddled in front of Amber and caught the ball. I returned Amber's death stare to her.

Julie who was at second base gave me a look and mouthed "What's going on?"

I shrugged back to her. All I know is that my blood pressure is spiking. Amber has found a way to get under my skin again.

The guy behind me in left field yelled at us. "Ladies we'd like to play too" It's not my fault the other team keeps hitting balls to us.

Another out later, we started jogging back to our dugouts. I did my best to run up to Amber and make conversation. "Amber, do you want to talk? What's going on?"

She looked at me and said, "I want you to stay out of my life Demarco."

Well at least she called me by my last name instead of calling me degrading names. Maybe I'm making progress?

I did my best to avoid Amber the rest of the game. I decided to play another position on the field. When gym class was finally over, my team had won by a lot. Everyone was seeming to have fun except of course the other team, and Amber.

On our way back to the school, one of the guys ran past me and gave me a high five. "Good job, captain!" I could get used to this type of attention.

Fay was the next one who sought me out. I spoke up first. "I'm so sorry, Fay. I wasn't my intention to beat the crap out of your team."

"It's OK." she said. "That game felt like it went on forever."

Julie came up behind us and squeezed me. "We make a great team Demarco!" she said. "Sorry Fay. You were an innocent bystander in this. I hope there's no hard feelings."

Fay laughed. "I didn't even want to be captain. I clearly had no idea what I was doing."

"Christina, what's the deal with you and Miss Cheerleader over there? Did you steal her boyfriend or pom poms or something?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Maybe she's annoyed that you're getting all the attention now." Julie surmised.

Was that it? Did I upset the balance of power at gym class?

Just then Brittany ran up from behind me. "Christina. I heard you were organizing the powder puff game."

"I am" I replied. Wow. This the first time Brittany has said a word to me.

"Can you sign me up?" she said.

"Sure. I haven't yet created a signup sheet, but you can be the first person on it!" I smiled.

"Great! Thanks" Brittany said as she ran past us and joined Amber who was at least 30 yards ahead of us.

"Powder Puff football?" Julie asked. "Sign me up too!"

"Sure." I said. I then glanced at Fay.

"No not me. I don't know the first thing about football" Fay said.

"Are you playing Christina?" Julie asked "Do you know as much about football as softball?"

"I am just organizing it." I said. "But I'm a huge football fan. I just never played it at any level."

"Now's your chance! You so have to play with us!" she said.

"Maybe." I said. "Only if we don't get enough players."

Just then, Tim came running up to us. "Hey Julie, Christina, Fay" he said. "I'm having a party tomorrow night after the game. You three should totally come. My brother is home from college this weekend and is inviting some of his friends. It's going to be an awesome party!"

"I'm totally there." Julie said.

"I can't tomorrow." Fay said. "I have to be up early Saturday morning"

They looked at me. A party? "Hell yeah, I'm down!"

"Sweet!" Tim said running up ahead.

That's awesome. I can check off another item off my list.

I saw Tim run up to Amber and Brittany and ask the same question. I saw them smile and nod and Tim say "Sweet!" to them. Oh that can't be good.

Here's what I do know. Amber is lashing out at me for some reason. Stress? Jealously? Something else? I also know that my life as Christina would be a cake walk without her ruining my fifth period. Now I'm invited to the same party as her.

We made our way to the girls' locker room. I found my favorite empty aisle I've been getting changed at for the past 3 days. I took off my t-shirt and sports bra when Julie came around the corner with all of her clothes in her hands. She starts getting changed right next to me.

"So Chris, what are you going to wear?" Julie said, taking her shirt off.

"Wear?" I asked, quickly fastening my bra.

"To the party." She said removing her sports bra. "You're not going to show up in your marching band uniform are you?"

"No. I uh. I just realized I don't really have party attire." I slipped off my gym shorts and pulled my dress out of the locker.

"Oh - I have a great little black dress you can borrow!" Julie said holding her bra. "We're about the same size. You have better boobs though."

I do? I looked down then looked back at Julie. I blushed.

"You're going to look hot!" she said, fastening her bra.

We both finished getting dressed and exited the locker room. "See you tomorrow Demarco!" Julie said walking the opposite way.

If I didn't know any better I'd think that Julie is auditioning to be my BFF. I mean. I guess technically the position is open seeing as I can't really do or talk about girl stuff with Ron. "Make more friends." I said to myself as I smiled. "I guess I can check that box too!"

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