Chapter Two:

Max asked "Is something wrong with your voice, Rae? It's kind of higher than usual."

John agreed. "I noticed but decided not to say anything."

"No! This voice is more natural for me!" Rae argued.

Rae suddenly remembered what Jamie said yesterday.

'I'm going to assess you from afar. After school I'll visit your house or you can visit mine and I'll tell your results for how well you acted as a girl!'

Max said "Alright, whatever you say."

Henry asked Rae "Where's that girl that was with you yesterday?"

"Oh she's somewhere. Hee hee!" Rae did her best to giggle.

All three guys stared at her like she was some sort of alien.

"So, I painted my nails..." Rae said trying to change the subject.

Once they saw her nails were actually painted and pink they got up and dragged her outside of the cafeteria.

Max slapped her face a few times and asked "Have you had any talks with Lonnie recently?"

"Umm... no, except for that one time at the party yesterday, but why are you guys suddenly dragging me out here? Our food could be stolen." Rae pointed out.

Henry ran back while John asked Max "Is she gonna be okay? Nothing's possessing her or anything right?"

Max asked Rae "What do you think about love?"

Out of habit, Rae stuck her tongue out but then remembered her goal and said "Well that's my usual reaction but love is actually a beautiful thing. A necessity of life!"

Rae felt so embarrassed saying that but she didn't want to see bad results from Jamie.

Max sighed to John "I'm afraid it might be too late. She's been devoured by the evil spirit of a girly girl."

John gasped melodramatically "No!"

"Yes..." Max replied sullenly.

Henry said appearing with our lunchboxes "It's never too late! We must change her back! She's still wearing the same T-shirts and jeans she usually wears. She's not a full girly girl yet!"

John and Max nodded determinedly.

Rae found her hands twitching to punch the idiots but she held herself back and asked innocently "Can you guys not accept me for who I really am?"

They stared at me in shock.

Max shook his head and said with a smile "No, it's not that. We just couldn't resist your shining beauty."

He put his arm around Rae and asked "You wanna go out sometime?"

This time Rae had to punch him. She gagged over a trash can.

Max said triumphantly "And that is how you do it."

Henry asked "And how far would you have gone with that act?"

Max paused. John coughed a few times and walked back into the cafeteria.

Max replied "I knew Rae wouldn't have been able to go far with that act anyway. If she did then I'd bring her to the nurse."

Henry nodded and followed John into the cafeteria. Rae punched Max a second time.

"Max, you asshole! That scared me!" She roared.

Max laughed "It was you who was asking for it! Stop with all the girly stuff. I can see Lonnie rejecting you is taking affect."

"Lonnie's rejection didn't affect me at all!" Rae exclaimed.

"Then what's with the girly act? You think I didn't notice when you spoke? You sounded like a girl instead of a normal guy! It was weird!" Max said.

"Oh great, so now I always gotta be a normal guy." Rae said.

"No..." Max mumbled something else Rae couldn't hear.

"What?" Rae asked.

"Nothing." Max said as he walked back to the cafeteria.

"Wait! That was definitely something!" Rae exclaimed.

Max shook his head. Rae noticed Jamie watching and sighed.

"Max, you can tell me." Rae said with her girl voice.

"Rae, if you do that again I might go farther than just asking you out on a date." Max snorted.

Rae bit her lip and said "Fine, whatever. I'll stop."

At her next period, Jamie said "I guess you can't be a girl around Max or he'll do that lovey dovey stuff on you."

"He is my childhood friend so he knows me well but I'm sure he wouldn't go as far as kissing me." Rae remarked.

Jamie said "Maybe we should try something else."

After school, Jamie and Rae dropped their bags off at their houses and went to a mall to look at clothes in the girl's section.

Rae said "I just can't see myself wearing any of this."

Jamie pulled out a cute dress and said "Let's go to the dressing room! I'll be waiting outside for you."

Rae asked "Why can't you wait inside? You look like a girl anyway."

"But I'm a guy so I can't." Jamie said and he pushed Rae to the women's dressing room.

Somehow Jamie finally got Rae to get into the dressing room so she went into an unoccupied room and changed.

"I look gay." Rae muttered.

She went out of the dressing room to let Jamie look. Some people were glancing at Rae.

Rae blushed a little and asked "Can I change back now?"

Jamie said "Um... J-Just ignore the looks people are giving you and think if you like this dress. Do you like wearing it?"

"No. My legs are too bare and although the design is nice it isn't my style." Rae replied.

"That's because you think your style is just T-shirts and jeans." Jamie insisted.

"I still hate it. Being able to just throw on some clothes is easier than figuring out how to put on skirts and dresses and all that." Rae grumbled and hurried to the dressing room to change back.

When she was out she said "Now it's time for you to dress like a guy, Jamie."

"Wha-" Jamie began, but before he could reject Rae pushed him to the men's clothing.

Rae picked out a shirt that seemed adequate for Jamie and handed it to him. Jamie blinked a few times at the shirt.

"It looks weird for me to wear that." He said shyly.

"I said the same thing but you've got to start looking more like a guy. Baggy clothing might make you look bigger since you're so small." Rae said.

Jamie stared at the shirt for aa while and said "I guess..."

He took the shirt and went into the dressing room. When he came out he still looked like a girl but the shirt did make him seem a bit bigger.

"Should we find you baggy jeans or something?" Rae asked.

"I'll just look like a girl trying to dress as a guy." Jamie said.

"So what. That facts are you're a guy trying to dress like a guy." Rae said as she looked for some jeans that would work.

Jamie said "I have cargo pants somewhere in my closet. It's pretty baggy."

"What are cargo pants? Never mind, I found some jeans that seem your size." Rae said.

Jamie went back into the dressing room to try them on.

When he got out he said "I don't think this fits me. The jeans are a little airy."

"I think it looks good. The problem is your face. You still look like a girl with your face." Rae commented.

"We can't do anything about my face-"

"So we'll just buy these clothes for you and see how things go. Try not to be too shy." Rae said.

They bought the clothes and left for Jamie's house. A girl older that looked a bit older than Jamie answered the door. She stared at Rae in shock.

A voice inside the house shouted "Who is it, Sharon?"

The girl called back "Jamie... and he's with a friend."

There was a silence.

The girl added "...that's a guy."

This time there was a crash and three guys appeared beside the girl.

Rae raised and eyebrow and said to Jamie "And I thought my parents were the only weird ones."

Jamie said "These are my siblings. They're all older than me."

The girl exclaimed "Please come in! You didn't wait long did you!?"

They entered the house.

The girl said "I'm Sharon. That's Darren, Erik, and Matthew."

Each guy raised a hand when their name was said.

Darren said "Our parents are sleeping right now but we'll let them know you're here when they're awake. Stay as long as you'd like."

"O...kay. I'm Rae." Rae greeted.

Jamie pulled on my sleeve and said "Let's go, Rae. I don't want you to hold those clothes too long."

Rae chuckled "I can actually see you in your siblings."

The four's eyes sparkled as they said at the same time "We are all proud of our little Jamie!"

Jamie pulled Rae upstairs to his room and said "They aren't proud of me at all! They just ignore me at school!"

"So that's why I never notice them. Wait, what about your first day of school? I didn't see you with them." Rae said.

"That's because they ditch me and go to school early all the time." He explained.

"Are they like that because they think I'm a guy?" Rae asked.

Jamie nodded and said "Because I usually make friends with girls. Guys only ever approach me because they think I'm cute or something."

"And they don't see that you're actually a guy." Rae said.

"Some even know I'm a guy but still hit on me! It's disgusting!" Jamie exclaimed.

Rae said "Same for me except with girls. Well at least my situation is less troubling since people in Kemper think I'm just trying to be a guy and the girls all don't care about me."

Jamie bit his lip and said "At least you have friends. I'm too shy to make any that I really trust."

Rae ruffled his head and said "We're friends. I don't think I've ever seen two people go to each other's houses and to the mall together that aren't friends."

Jamie pushed her hand away and fixed his hair. Rae's phone vibrated.

She checked it and realized Sophie had sent a message.

It said 'Rae! Im booooorrrred!'

Rae replied 'You're always bored.'

Jamie asked "Who was it?"

"Just a friend. She's annoying to me though. She'll ask me stuff like 'what color should I wear today?'" Rae said.

"But she's a girl! You should try becoming closer friends with her! Your goal will be to have her see you as a girl!" Jamie said.

Rae sighed "We'll get to that later. You're the one that's progessing better than me. You can try hanging out with my friends since they're guys."

Jamie said "B-But they seem so... energetic! I can never keep up!"

Rae said "It's not like I'm gonna have you go over to them and leave you. I'll help you get into a conversation with them."

"I still don't want to!" Jamie squeaked.

Rae's phone vibrated again.

Sophie replied 'Let's hang out tomorrow at the mall or something, im seriously bored.'

Rae asked Jamie "What do you think you're doing tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. I usually have nothing to do on Saturdays." Jamie replied.

"You can come with me to the mall. I'm gonna hang out with Sophie." Rae said as she replied to the text.

"Is it okay for me to come?" Jamie asked.

"Of course since you've got to be there to tell me if I'm acting as a girl properly." Rae replied.

Jamie nodded happily.

The next day Rae and Jamie met up with Sophie.

She asked "Oh? You brought a friend?"

"Oh I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you!" Rae apologized with her girl voice.

Sophie gave me the same look Max and the others gave me when I did the girl voice.

"Do you have a cold or something?" Sophie asked.

"No. I'm fine, don't worry." Rae replied.

Sophie looked at Jamie again and asked him "What's your name?"

"J-J-Jamie..." He said as if he was out of breath.

Sophie smiled at him and said "I'm Sophie. So when did you become friends with this jerk?"

Jamie stammered "J-J-Jerk?"

Rae sighed "Quit it, Soph. She's just my new neighbor."

"Sh-Sh-She!?" Jamie exclaimed.

Sophie asked "Why does she stammer so much?"

Rae said "Jamie's really shy."

Jamie pulled Rae's sleeve.

Sophie commented doubtfully "You two seem pretty close to me."

Rae sighed "Let's just get this over with... I meant...! I can't wait to get started! Where are we going first?"

Sophie said "I'm leaving."

"Wait! Why?" Rae asked.

"You're acting really weird!" Sophie replied. "If Lonnie rejecting you really hurt you that much you shouldn't try to change yourself. You'll just have to get over it!"

"What!? Who told you about my confession to Lonnie!?" Rae exclaimed.

"Max did." Sophie replied.

"I'll kill him! Anyways, why do you all conclude Lonnie is the reason I act weird? I've been rejected by many guys for the same reason!" Rae said.

Sophie said "That's not how I see it."

She walked away.

Jamie said "Maybe we should have you become friends with one of the girls that think you're just acting like a guy."

Rae growled "Forget it. She'll just spread rumors about me or something. I think being a girl is impossible for me."

Unfortunately for Rae, Lonnie appeared when she said that.

"Rae!" He exclaimed.

"Oh... hey Lonnie. What are you doing here?" Rae asked.

"Umm, Sophie invited me." Lonnie said.

Rae sighed "What is with that girl?"

Lonnie said "Anyways, Rae. You don't have to change who you are."

"I know, I know. By the way, Sophie just set us up. She's not here so I'm leaving." Rae said.

Lonnie stopped her and said "Let's just talk. We're here already so we might as well.

"Sure. You talk with Jamie. I'm gonna take a nap." Rae said.

"Jamie?" Lonnie looked at Jamie who hid behind Rae as always.

"Hi, I'm Lonnie. How did you make friends with Rae?" He asked.

Jamie replied "Um... I'm his new next door neighbor."

Lonnie asked in surprise "Is that it? Rae actually made friends with you like that?"

"No, he wants to be more like his own gender so I'm gonna try helping him." Rae explained.

Lonnie gave Rae a look of concern and said "Well I just wanna make sure you're okay since I feel you might be trying to hard on something."

"I don't like trying hard so I don't. If you're just here to fuss about your rejecting me then I think I'll go. Stop worrying and learn I'm over it." Rae said as he left.

Jamie said when we were out "So it was a fail?"

"Obviously. Sophie wasn't planning to stay from the beginning so I could meet with Lonnie and have whatever problem she thinks we're having settled."

"Well do you have a problem with him?" Jamie asked.

"I don't." Rae said.

"But you liked him didn't you?" Jamie asked.

"I did, but he doesn't like me back so why should I stay heartbroken?" Rae asked.

"If you can just let it go easily, doesn't that mean you really didn't like him?" Jamie pointed out.

"I guess so." Rae replied. "But right now we should concentrate on you. You're still acting like a girl."

Jamie mumbled "I think this is kind of tiring."

Rae said "I guess you probably want to get home now."