Danny looked toward the mall, with a feeling of revulsion in his stomach. Revulsion. Revulsion at all... all the people in there. The mall was further north from their house, so it was closer to Aspen Ridge High School, but there could still be people coming here from his high school South Bend.

Was that something that people his age did? Going to the mall? He felt like he'd heard people at school talk about doing that, but was that actually real, or was that just pop culture getting in his head?

"It'll be alright Danny," Sammy reassured him as she closed her car door.

He wasn't sure it would. If his experience swimming with his new friends had been an amazing feeling of liberation, this was a feeling of being mentally bound, chained to a wall by his fear.

"I'm afraid Mom," he said. "I haven't been out in public around this many strangers in a while. I'm afraid of people staring at me. I'm wearing a bra now, and it'll be more obvious."

He spoke honestly. It was a bit calming to him, after so much lying. It made him feel a bit like himself before all this. But that wasn't true either. He was lying to himself. Even before he'd devised this elaborate scheme, he had kept hidden away his interest in mermaids.

Mom squeezed his shoulder. "Don't worry sweetie. It'll be alright."

"What if someone from school recognizes me?"

"Not much you can do about that," Sammy said.

Mom turned to face him, putting both of her hands on his shoulders. "Danny, are you sure about this? I can order a suit for you online if you really want me to."

Danny shook his head. "N-no. I... I've got to get better at dealing with this."

"Dealing with this healthily doesn't mean you have to force yourself to go through embarrassing situations," Mom said. "It doesn't make you weak, or anything like that if you avoid difficult situations."

He gave his Mom a brief hug, feeling a bit more confident.

"I can do it Mom," he said. "And... thanks for supporting me."

"Of course sweetie," she said. "Let's get moving then."

He followed Mom and Sammy into the mall, passing through crowds of people. He forced himself not to freak out. Just put one foot in front of the other, like the one song from that Christmas special.

The first thing they did was get Danny some bras more adjusted to his size. He could tell a difference trying them on. It felt a lot more snug.

After that, they went into a typical clothing store so that Sammy could get some new clothes. Although Danny may have looked like a girl, and acted like a girl at times, in this setting, he still felt very much like himself. He waited in boredom as Mom and Sammy looked through clothes.

He just... he just couldn't comprehend girls and guys that could spend hours standing in a store before they bought anything. He understood why they'd like to obsess over fashion, but he didn't get why it took so long.

Finally, Mom and Sammy started walking to the checkout, and Danny sighed in relief. They joined the line, and more waiting began.

One thing Danny did like about these stores was the checkout line usually had a bunch of candy and knick knacks to buy arranged on either side. It was obviously meant to leech a bit more out of shoppers, but for him, it was a slight distraction from is boredom.

As they traveled through the line, he passed a bag of chocolate dipped pretzels.

Danny bent down to look at them. "Someday you will be mine chocolate pretzels," he whispered.

"The gummy bears were always my favorite."

Danny turned around to see a boy behind him, about his age, maybe older.

"Gummy bears are good," Danny said.

"Have you ever seen one of those giant gummy bears?" the boy asked. "I could eat one of those all by myself."

Danny laughed. "I could, but it would probably take a few years."

The boy laughed. "Same."

"Chocolate," Danny said, "plain and simple has always been my favorite. But candy in general is all good. Some people have a sweet tooth, but all of my teeth are sweet."

The boy laughed. "I personally need something like peanut butter with my chocolate."

"Yeah," Danny agreed, "anything Reeses is really good."

Danny stood idly, glancing around. Both of them were silent. Chatting with strangers was always so awkward. This part especially, where you weren't sure whether to continue the conversation or not... and it was even worse because they were still in the same place...

"So," the boy broke the silence, "you go to Aspenridge?"

"Uh, no. I go to South Bend."

"I'm... I'm Matt by the way."

Uh oh. Danny had to say his name. Did this guy think he was a girl? Had he been flirting with him?

"M... my name... my name is... Cindy."

He saw Sammy turn around out of the corner of his eye.

"Nice to meet you Cindy," the boy said. He seemed a bit uncomfortable. It seemed like he was just as socially awkward as Danny was.

"So what are you up to today?" Danny tried to help him out.

"I'm shopping with my Mom so that I can get some camping supplies," he smiled, looking a bit relieved. "We're going backpacking in a few weeks, and I need something better than the crappy one that I've used in the past."

"I've always wanted to go backpacking," Danny said. "It seems like a lot of fun."

"It is," Matt said. "You get off in the mountains away from everyone, and the stars are a lot clearer... I really love it. We do it every year."

"Cool," Danny said. "I've always liked hiking too. Mountain biking is also something I want to try."

"That's a lot of fun too," Matt said. He laughed. "Though, it really hurts my hands because I ride the brakes too much."

"That'd probably be me too," Danny laughed.

"Yeah," Matt said, "I wish I could mountain bike more often, but we borrow the bikes from some relatives, and it takes all the figuring out how to get them around, and all that."

"That's why I haven't done a lot of stuff like that," Danny said. "Outdoor sports like boating, or rafting... they all sound fun, but they take a lot of set up."

"Yeah," Matt said.

"As for me," Danny said, "I don't have much interesting stuff going on this Summer, other than going swimming on occasion."

Danny glanced behind him as he heard his Mom talking to the person at the register. Looking back, he saw a nervous expression on Matt's face.

"Well, uh... uh...," he stammered. "I guess... maybe if you wanted, we... we could get together and do something sometime?"

Danny's mind was wracked with sheer terror. The Jenga tower was dangerously unsteady, and the skyscraper tall tower of luck was now threatening to topple and crush several city blocks.

A boy is asking me out.

Danny had never been on a date. And... and now...

Matt suddenly looked dismayed, and then visibly hurt.

Then Danny felt really hurt inside. In that expression, Danny saw so many moments of his own just like it. Danny had been rejected by a bunch of people because of his breasts, and now this poor guy thought he was being told that something wasn't good enough about him.

Auggh.... what to do what to do???

"S-sorry," Danny said. "I... I'm just not used to being asked out."

Crap. He'd meant to say "asked out by a stranger" or something.

"Sorry," Matt grasped his arm bashfully. "I'll let you go."

"No," Danny said, a little frantic, "I... I... how about I give you my number?"

Matt's face lit up, and he pulled out his phone as his Mom went up to the register.

Danny could feel the stares of Mom and Sammy piercing his backside as he recited his phone number to Matt.

"You said 3201 at the end?" Matt asked.

"Y-yeah," Danny said. "We can... we can talk later."

"Bye Cindy," Matt said, "thanks for talking."

Danny waved bye to him as he walked away, a lead weight in his gut.

Once they were away from the store, Sammy grabbed him by the arm.

"What the heck did you just do??"