Holding her a little tighter, I murmur, “Thank you Mom. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Feeling as if I’m going to cry, I haltingly ask, “Mom, why does Dad hate me so much?”

She gently rubs my back as she tells me, “No, Honey, your dad doesn’t hate you.”

I pull back to look at her with tears in my eyes to ask, “Then why does he treat me this way? I’ve always stayed out of trouble, gotten good grades and done my best to please him. Even before Eris changed me, he acted like I was nothing but a burden to him. Mom, he makes me act like a prisoner in my own home. I hide out in my room because I can’t even breathe around him and the house feels tense, like a bomb could go off at any second, when he’s here.”

She brushes away my tears and caresses my cheek as she says, “Honey, you’re not a burden. Believe it or not, he loves you.”

I shake my head vehemently. “No Mom, you don’t treat people you love this way. This is sick. Before tonight, I just didn’t want to be around him so I wouldn’t set him off or have to listen to his lectures on how anyone who didn’t live exactly as the church demanded was going to hell or mentally ill. Now, I’m deathly afraid of him. If you hadn’t stopped him, I don’t think it would have ended with only a slap. I saw his eyes, they were crazed. I honestly believe he was going to beat me.”

She sighs and pulls me back against her. “I know, I saw. He and I are going to have a long talk when you go to Alla’s house tonight. I told you, I’m not going to let him act this way anymore. If it means that I have to divorce him to protect you, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“Thank you, but I’m never going to be alone with him from now on. I mean it, I’m afraid of him. I have no idea what he might do if you aren’t around and I don’t want to find out.”

“Your dad didn’t use to be this way. Ever since the church got that new pastor six years ago he began changing. He’s gotten steadily worse as time went by.”

“How can loving someone be evil or wrong? Even if they are the same sex, love is love. Eris knows about me and Alla and hasn’t said a word about it. The last time I talked to Eris, she even said in a matter of fact tone that a lot of people were bisexual or their preferences change. She didn’t sound upset about it or say that it was wrong.”

“Hush… Don’t talk about this when your dad is here. I feel the same way, though. If people would mind their own business, instead of trying to force their ideals down others’ throats, this country would be a much better place. That goes for both sides in the battle.”

“Mhmm. I feel the same way.”

She gently pushes me away and says, “I know. Okay, why don’t you go to Alla’s and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you too, and have fun tonight.”

I don’t feel like it, but I force myself to grin at her as I say, “Oh you can bet on that.”

She softly chuckles, shakes her head and kisses my cheek. “Night, baby girl.”

“Night, Mom. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I pick up my bag and head over to Alla’s. It’s close to 9:30 when I get there.

I don’t even make it to the door when she comes rushing out and says, “Andie! What took you so long? I was so worried when you didn’t answer your phone!”

Smiling weakly, I ask, “Can we talk about it inside?”

She nods and wordlessly leads me inside. We head directly upstairs to her room where I drop my bag and plop down on her bed with a huge sigh.

She comes over and kneels down in front of me and says, “Here, let’s get you out of this costume and then we can talk.”

I merely nod and she undresses me, leaving me in only my panties. With that done, she lightly rubs my thighs while looking up at me and asks, “Andie?” When I don’t respond, she reaches up, touches my cheek and gently says, “Andie, please talk to me.”

I look down at her and manage to get out, “My dad” before the dam holding everything back shatters into a billion pieces leaving me helpless to do anything except cry. Standing up, she pulls me against her with my face between her breasts. She simply holds me as I frantically cling to her and sob. It takes quite a while for me to stop, but once I’m calm, she crawls into bed, pulls me up on top of her and holds me while I nuzzle against her neck.

I spend the next half hour quietly recounting everything that happened with my dad. I feel her tense up when I tell her about him trying to hit me. Then I tell her about my conversation with my mom, leaving out the part about Eris. She never says a single word during all of this, she merely holds me as I tell her everything at my own pace.

Once I’m done, I raise up and look into her eyes while pleading, “Alla, please make love to me. I don’t want to think about this anymore.”

She smiles, reaches up and caresses my cheek for a moment. Then slides her hand to the back of my neck to pull me down to her for a kiss. A few minutes later, she rolls over on top of me and I surrender myself to her.

I have no real idea how long she continues to bring me to orgasm or even how many I have, but I do know that she’s exactly what I need and she gives me everything I’m desperately demanding. After she started, she never stopped licking me or massaging my clit. By the time she’s done with me, we’re both soaked in sweat and the sheets are sopping wet, but I’m happy and content for the first time since I went home.

Once my breathing slows to something more normal, I smile at her as she looks at me. Then I pull her down onto me to cuddle, and she buries her face against my neck. Sighing contentedly, I murmur, “Thank you, Alla. Not for the sex or anything like that, but for being here for me.”

She raises up to kiss me softly for a few moments, and then says, “Andie, haven’t you figured out that I’m always going to be here for you? Even if we’re no longer lovers, I’ll still be your best friend.”

I roll over on top of her and ask, “Who says that I don’t want you as both? I never did.”

Leaning in, I kiss her deeply as she pulls me close. I doubt I get anywhere close to giving her the number of orgasms she gave me, but after a while she begs me to stop and come cuddle with her. Reaching over, I pick up my phone, set the alarm and set it down on the nightstand.

She pulls me down on top of her and gives me a soft, lingering kiss. When I finally pull back, I smile as I look at her and quietly tell her, “I’m so happy we met. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” I lay down on her to cuddle and nuzzle against her neck as she holds me while lightly tracing her fingers along my back.

“Andie?”

“Hmm?”

“If you want me to, I’ll talk to my mom and see if you can stay here on the weekends so you don’t have to deal with your dad.”

I kiss her neck and murmur, “That sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure my mom would allow it.”

“Andie, you need to stay away from him. From what you told me he’s crazy and dangerous. This is the exact reason my mom divorced my dad. It took him beating me so badly that I ended up in the hospital for her to finally accept that he’d never change. He’s in prison now and will be for quite some time to come.”

“I’m so sorry, Alla. I didn’t know.”

“It’s alright, that was nine years ago. We’ve been a lot happier since he was arrested and sent to prison. Andie, my point still stands. He was going to beat you over the length of your skirt and that you were spending the night with a friend.”

I raise up to look at her. “You’re far more than a friend to me.”

She smiles and kisses me. “That’s true, but he doesn’t know it. I just don’t want to see you get beaten, or worse, because of him.”

“Trust me, I’m not going to give him the chance to touch me. I’m deathly afraid of him now, so I’m never going to be alone with him again. If Mom has to go somewhere when he’s home, I’ll go with her or leave the house.”

“Good, but I’d still prefer you to spend the weekend here.”

“Same here, but we’ll just have to see what my mom says.”

When I start to get off of her, she says, “No, stay right where you are.”

“Are you sure? I’m not too heavy, am I?”

She smiles and shakes her head. “No Andie, you’re not heavy at all.”

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

[Sunday, Apr 7th]

The alarm wakes me at 6:30. I sit up looking around confused and wondering what the hell is going on. As I look around, I notice Eris sitting on my desk chair.

Smiling pleasantly, she says, “Good morning, Andie.”

Hesitantly, I say, “Uh, hi. Do you want to explain what’s going on? Last I knew I was at Alla’s house.”

She leans forward with her elbows on his knees and says, “Andie, this last week that you remember was nothing but a dream I gave you.”

Confused, I cry out, “What?! Why would you do that?!”

“Calm down, Andie. I did this to give you a chance to get more comfortable with yourself and to give you some perspective on what could happen.”

“Okay, I get giving me time to be more comfortable as a girl, but is this your way of showing me that being a lesbian, bi or whatever is wrong?”

“People are free to choose how they live their lives. Although, truthfully, we Gods and Goddesses are far less concerned with who people love than with how they treat others. That said, there are just some things I can’t overlook: murder, rape and the like.”

Confused and a little upset, I ask, “So, what now?”

“You’ll get up, get dressed and go to church. Tomorrow, you’ll go to school. None of that has changed.”

I shake my head and sigh. “So, I have to start back over. No friends, nothing.”

“Don’t you think it’ll be a lot easier now? Look, I based the people in your dream on their personalities. Andie, you haven’t taken any time to get to know what or who you like. You need to take some time to look at yourself and really look at your preferences. You aren’t a boy anymore and you never will be again. Stop insisting that you’re a boy in a girls body because you aren’t. Andie, think about how you felt when John Bailey asked you out… Please, don’t just dive back into a relationship with Alla. Think about why you were with her. Yes, you liked her, but if you really look at it, it’s because you were comfortable around her and she made you feel good about yourself. That’s something you never had before. Alright, enough said for the moment.”

I sigh again, resigning myself to the situation. I know she’s right. I’m not a boy anymore, so it makes no sense to keep insisting that I am. The rest of it? Well, I suppose that I’ll just have to think about it.

“Okay, I promise I’ll take some time today to think about everything.”

She nods. “Good. I’ll see you again Andie. Have a good day.”

She disappears, leaving me alone in my room with my confused thoughts. Getting up, I walk over to my dresser and pull out a bra and panties, then go to the bathroom to take a shower. I stop and look at myself in the wall mirror and murmur, “Just who am I now?” I shake my head and think, ‘That’s a very good question and one that I’ll have to answer, soon.’