Small Problem -12- Gym by Melanie Brown

Small Problem

Part 12

“Well, you sure sold out easy. What Mom did to you was unforgivable.”

Mom had just dropped us off at school for our first cheer practice. And I fully admit that I’m scared to death. I’ve never done anything like this before. I hated having to give presentations at BioSynthIndustrialMedical about my nanite progress.

I shrugged. “I had to, Cathy. Yeah, what she did was terrible and thank you foiling her plan.” I waved at Chad across the field who was already at football practice. “If I hadn’t ‘sold out’ as you put it, what would we wind up with? The animosity would have festered and boiled over and would have damaged the family. I let her off the hook easy, but she still has to forgive herself, which may take a while. Plus, I like Mom’s chicken fried steak.”

Cathy shook her head. “You could have at least cashed in on her guilt. You could have milked that for much more than just dinner.”

I sighed. “I could have. But now it’s over and behind us and we can now move forward. You have to admit, I did give Mom a lot of grief. She felt she had to do something.  But she chose poorly.”

“You’re a teen,” giggled Cathy. “It’s your job to give your parents grief!”

I held the door open for both of us as we entered the back end of the school to get to the girl’s gym. “Well, I hope when I have kids, they don’t act like me.”

Cathy stopped us as we entered the hallway. “Whoa. You don’t think you’re going to have babies, do you?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “As everyone kindly keeps pointing out, I’m a woman now. I don’t necessarily want children, but isn’t that a function of being a woman?”

“Mom doesn’t think you’ll have children since you are basically a manufactured female,” said Cathy earnestly. “Me. Mom and pretty much every girl is born with a lifetime supply of eggs. You weren’t born as a girl.”

We both nodded to three of the cheerleaders heading for the gym. We should probably have this conversation elsewhere.  “I was told I was fully functional.”

Cathy bit her lip. “I know Mom had you start wearing tampons. Have you started your period?”

I shook my head. “No. I’ve been dreading it.”

With a wry grin, Cathy said, “Switch to pads just in case, but I bet you won’t have a period. Lucky bitch.”

Frowning, I said, “Okay. I’ll switch to pads. In a way, it’s disappointing to not be fully female.”

Cathy shook her head at me. “You know there are women who can’t have babies, right?”

Nodding, I said, “Yeah. But it’s still disappointing.”

Grunting a laugh, Cathy said, “Hey, just be happy you won’t have to deal with the monthly visitor.” She lightly patted my back. “Let’s get to practice.”

We joined the other girls sitting in a circle on the gym floor. We were still waiting on two girls to arrive. About a minute before they would have been considered late, they finally arrived and joined us on the floor. The girls sat around and chatted about how their summer had been going while we waited for the coach.

The coach finally strutted into the gym from her office, looking at a clipboard. She stepped near the circle of girls on the floor and looked up from her clipboard.

She grinned and said, “Good afternoon you guys. Looks like everyone remembered to show up. Welcome to a new school year. I’m Coach Renwick as most of you know. We’re going to have fun this year, but we’re also going to work hard. We’re going to start with a run around the field.” There were groans around the girls. The coach grinned. “Come on girls. Let’s shake out that summer lazy. We have a busy semester coming up.”

Pointing at the floor, Coach Renwick said, line up here, in this order.’ She then read off the list on her clipboard. When she got to Cathy and me she stopped and did a double-take. “How can you two not be twins? You look just alike.” She looked at me and said, “I do hope you’re the good sister.” Grinning, she said, “I don’t think I can handle two trouble-makers.”

Cathy laughed and said, “Amanda was arrested this weekend on sex charges.”

Frowning, I whacked Cathy’s shoulder. “Will you knock it off?” I looked around, and everyone’s eyes were wide and staring at me. “It was all a mistake!” I exclaimed. “The charges were all dropped.”

Sandy gasped, “Cat’s not joking? You really were arrested? Like fingerprinted and everything?”

I rolled my eyes. “It was a big mess. The charges were all dropped.”

Wendy shook her head. “None of my business, but your boyfriend Owen is bad news. He’s such a troublemaker.”

I sighed. “Owen isn’t my boyfriend!  Sheesh!”

Ariel pulled her phone from her pocket and started to punch buttons. “I gotta see her mug shot! It should be online. You said Hereford, right?”

Coach extended her hand towards Ariel. “You know the rules. Hand me your phone.”

Looking shocked, Ariel said, “I just wanted to see her mug shot!”

Still extending her hand out, Coach said, “Give. No phones during practice.”

Ariel reluctantly handed her phone to the coach.

Coach Renwick smirked. “We’re going to have another wild semester.”

Marcia winked at me. “Looks like we have a real-life Bonnie and Clyde going to our school!”

I’m going to get dizzy from rolling my eyes so much.

If we hadn’t done so already, all of us fixed our hair into a ponytail as we walked briskly towards the track. I didn’t look forward to running, but my energy surprised me. My forty-seven-year-old brain expected to pass out from a coronary, but I was just winded from a lack of exercise. The return of my youth is just wonderful.

We started running, and I began to pass Cathy. She glanced over at me and said, “Pace yourself, Amanda. This isn’t a race.”

I looked over at her and grinned. “I know. I’m just enjoying all this energy. This time last month, I’d already be wheezing.”

Cathy laughed. “Yep. You’re definitely not an old any more!”

I slowed down slightly. “Did you think of me as an old man?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. You were Dad. You know, the old man.”

I frowned. “I was only forty-seven. That’s not old.”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “You were graying at the temples.”

“I thought it made me look distinguished.”

Cathy shook her head. “It made you look old. Sis, it doesn’t matter anymore! You’re fourteen! Stop being a butt.” She increased her speed and started to pull away from me.

Cathy’s right. I need to stop dwelling on the past. That’s over. My company even gave Mom a candle in my memory. I think a free dinner at Gladstone’s would have been better. I have seen Mom sitting in front of the lighted candle and crying. I can’t tell if she’s crying for the old me, the one that’s dead and gone, or the new me that’s being a pest.

“Hey, watch it!” shouted Wendy. Lost in thought I apparently drifted into her.

“Sorry!” I called out. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

Sounding a bit pissed, she said as she passed me, “Dream about Owen on your own time.”

“Owen? What are you…” and that’s when I noticed Owen sitting in the bleachers watching us. When he saw me look in his direction, he waved. I stupidly waved back. Why won’t he leave me alone? He knows I’m dating Chad. I turned my focus back on running.

After arriving at the gym, Cathy said in a disapproving voice, “You need to tell Owen to buzz off before you get arrested again.”

I punched her in the shoulder. “I didn’t ask him to show up.”

“Well, I think Mom might actually kill you if you’re caught with him again.”

“She won’t,” I growled as we entered the gym.

The rest of the afternoon, we went over all our yells and routines. I still remembered them from the tryouts, and Coach was impressed. When we finished, she had us all sit in a circle on the gym floor.

Coach Renwick smiled as she said, “Great job today, girls. I think we’re going to have a great season. From what I’m hearing, we have a good team this year with a chance for State. That means out-of-town trips for us. I should have a schedule in a couple of weeks. I’d suggest not making any plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know that’s a problem for some of you, but there’s always that chance we’ll be out of town those days. Three years ago, we had a state play-off the day after Christmas, and that was across the state. See you tomorrow,”

We all started to get up and then Coach said, “Oh! I almost forgot. Everyone needs a uniform before Friday. Uniforms are available at Buck’s Sport Shack at Eastside Strip Mall. See ya tomorrow.”

While changing our clothes in the locker room, I grunted a laugh and said to Cathy. “It’s funny. When I was in high school, I tried a couple of times to sneak into the girl’s locker room to get a peek. And now I’m here, it’s all kinda meh.”

Cathy shook her head. “My dad, the perv. I don’t think you should repeat that.”

“Well, duh!” I grinned. “Who’d believe it anyway?”

Ariel walked by, hefting her gym bag on her shoulder. “Believe what?”

Cathy laughed. “That Amanda was once a man attacked by an army of robots and changed into a girl.”

Ariel shook her head. “Do I look stupid? Nobody would believe that. See ya.” She walked out of the gym.

Feeling the blood drain from my face, I snarled, “What the hell are you doing?”

Cathy shrugged. “You’re right. It is unbelievable.” She giggled as I took a swipe at her.

*  *  *

“The uniforms are back here, Mom,” Cathy called out as she ran through the store.

“Come along, Amanda,” said Mom. “Let’s hope they still have uniforms left.”

“I was just looking at stuff,” I said.

“You don’t need any of that.”

I sighed and then sped up my pace.

Cathy was already looking through the uniforms when I caught up. “Why can’t I just wear one of your older uniforms?”

Holding up a uniform in front of me, Cathy said, “For starters, after my first year, they switched from a uniform that looked like a mini-dress to a two-piece. And then the next year they decided they didn’t like the color scheme. Plus, your girls are a lot smaller than mine.” She grinned.

“Cathy,” asked Mom. “I think this is the correct size. What do you think? We can’t go too late. I want to take this uniform over to Ms. Naherin to get your name sewn on.” Mom grinned. “You’re going to look adorable.”

I took the uniform from Mom and held it up to look at it. “Holy crap, this thing is skimpy. I didn’t actually let Cat go out in public in this?”

Cathy laughed. “You weren’t around then, Amanda. As a girl, you would have found them to be totes adorbs.”

I grunted a laugh. “I doubt it. But when I was a teen before, I’d find these pretty hot.”

Cathy pointed at me. “Did you realize Dad was such a perv when you married him?”

Mom held the uniform and chuckled. “That’s how I met your father. He was trying to look into a window of the girls’ gym.”

Cathy laughed. “It must be kismet or something. Shoes, Mom. She needs some shoes. And don’t forget the pom-poms.”

Mom looked at Cathy with a curious expression. “Kismet?”

Grinning, Cathy said, “You know… a divine retribution!”

I frowned. “I really don’t think looking in a girls’ gym warrants a divine retribution.”

Laughing, Cathy said, “I don’t know. Becoming a teen girl definitely fits the crime!”

As I tried on a pair of shoes, Cathy continued. “I mean, think of it. The nanites could have just as easily made you some muscle dude. But they didn’t!”

I shook my head at Cathy. “Subtracting mass was their only option. The bots had no way to add mass. So knock it off.”

“Just admit it, Amanda. It’s fate!”

*  *  *

End of Part 12 of Small Problem