Return of the Sister: Part 16 (Book 2 Complete)

Kimberly hadn’t been able to get close enough to hear what was said, but judging from the speed at which Bobby was fleeing the gym, Serena had just played her trump card. The realization triggered an emotion Kimberly didn’t feel often: genuine fear. She’d thought she had it in the bag. She’d thought that Bobby was humiliated but sticking it out, that Jan was thrilled with his results and ready to wrap it all up.

But clearly Serena had kept one last trick up her sleeve, and now Bobby was trying to ditch the photo shoot. If he did that, he would get the LiveJournal. If he got the LiveJournal, it was all over. Her plans for “Barbie” would be shattered, not to mention her plans for her own life -- if Bobby’s parents pressed charges once the whole story came out, things would get very, very ugly for her.

Absolutely ruing the day she created that stupid LiveJournal account, Kimberly threw down her pom-poms and took off after her ex at a full run, not caring if Serena saw. Bobby was sashaying down the gym hallway as quickly as he could, fumbling with the sash of his robe, when she caught up to him.

“Hold on!” she called, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Barbie, what’s going on?”

Her ex spun around, and she almost expected him to throw a punch. Instead, he just stared at her with a look of complete detachment. He didn’t look angry, or humiliated, or distressed. He looked downright tranquil, and she knew that couldn’t be good.

“Hey,” he said. “I think I’m leaving.”

Kimberly tightened her grip on his arm. Glancing around, she opened the door to the girls’ locker room and pushed him inside.

“You’re going to be okay,” she said, partially trying to reassure herself as well. “Sit down, take a breath, tell me what happened.”

She maneuvered Bobby onto one of the benches. He stared down at it for a moment, then took a graceful seat, automatically crossing one long toned leg over the other. She waited for the outburst to arrive, but instead he seemed to be barely aware she was there. There was a mirror on the wall across from them, and Kimberly realized he was staring at his own reflection, still with a dazed expression on his face.

She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. “Bobby?” she demanded, hoping his old name would shake him out of it. “You with me, Bobby?”

Finally, Bobby looked up at her. “It’s not worth it, Kimmy.”

“What’s not worth it?” she asked. “What happened?”

“They wanted me to kiss Jan,” he said, sounding almost amused. “I told them all to go fuck themselves. Even my parents. I’ve never said that to my parents before, Kimmy.”

Kimberly took a deep breath. So that was the trump card: showing Bobby that Jan Van Antwerp wasn’t just a silly, grabby, light-in-the-loafers photographer, but a creep who was eager to stamp his claim on a hot new model in more ways than one. Kimberly could guess something similar had happened on Serena’s first shoot with him, and now Bobby’s sister had set herself in a win-win position.

Either Bobby agreed to the kiss, and had to experience the same kind of humiliation Serena had, or he refused, and Kimberly lost the bet.

“Look,” she said softly. “It’s just a kiss, right? You kissed a dog once on a dare. I remember that distinctly.”

“You don’t get it,” Bobby said, shuddering slightly. “He’s been touching me all day, and the whole time I thought it didn’t matter, because, you know, he was gay and just messing around, but the real reason he was touching me was because I’m just…” His face flushed. “I’m just, like, meat to him. This stuff gets him off. He’s going to have these photos of us kissing, and the whole time he’s doing the editing and photoshopping and whatever, he’s going to be thinking about…” He trailed off, then looked up at Kimberly with defiant, tear-filled eyes. “About fucking me.”

Kimberly was temporarily struck speechless. She sat down beside her ex on the bench, not knowing what else to do, and put her arm around his shoulders. He was trembling, and not from the cold. Part of her wanted to snap at him: welcome to my life, Barbie. Welcome to the life of every girl on the planet. But another part genuinely wanted to just hug him, because, whether he liked it or not, he was a girl now, and girls needed to stick together.

“If you walk away now, it means Serena beats you,” she said slowly.

“I know,” Bobby said. “I don’t care. I did the math, and nothing is worth kissing that creep. Nothing.”

Kimberly had only one move left, and it was a desperation move. She licked her dry lips, then spoke. “What if it was Josh?”

Bobby startled. He blinked at her. “What do you mean, what if it was Josh?” he demanded.

“I’m the reason he hasn’t been messaging you,” Kimberly said, using a truth to spin the next lie. “A couple nights ago he called me, freaking out, and told me everything. About, you know, you two hanging out. He said that he’d just blown it. He was scared that he hurt you. He kept begging me to talk to you for him.” She took another deep breath. “I told him you probably needed space, to think it all through, and that he shouldn’t message you. But the idiot’s been messaging me non-stop, trying to check up on you and see how you’re doing. I guess he knew today was going to be stressful for you, even if he didn’t know why.”

Bobby gaped at her. His mouth opened and closed several times, then he swallowed. “Show me,” he demanded.

Kimberly handed over her iPhone. For once, there was no fakery required: Josh had been asking about “Barbie” constantly the past couple days, and what Bobby saw now, as he took her phone in hand, was a series of messages from somebody who genuinely cared about him and wanted to know if he was okay. Not somebody who thought of him as a piece of meat.

She watched her ex’s face as he scrolled through the messages, and she knew she’d pulled it off when a shaky smile appeared on his lips.

“He’s such a dumbass,” Bobby muttered. “He’s acting like I got kidnapped, or something.”

“I can message him right now,” Kimberly said. “He’d be here in a freaking second. You know that, right? He’ll pick you up and drive you home, or to his place, or mine if you want. Somewhere you don’t have to deal with all this bullshit.”

“That sounds really good,” Bobby said in a small voice, still staring down at the phone.

“Or if you want, you could get the best of both worlds,” Kimberly said softly. “I can ask him to sub in for the final shot. You could kiss him instead of Jan.”

Bobby recoiled, flushing. “Are you kidding?” he demanded. “That’s practically worse!”

“How?” Kimberly challenged.

“I can’t kiss him in front of everyone,” her ex protested, red in the face. “Everybody in our school, all my teammates, I can’t...I can’t kiss a guy.”

“Look, that ship is past sailed,” Kimberly said flatly. “As far as everyone out there is concerned, you’re a girl, Barbie.”

Her ex grimaced, opening his mouth to argue.

“As far as Josh is concerned, you’re a girl,” Kimberly continued. “One he cares about. Like, a lot. And if you kiss him in front of all those people, well, I honestly can’t think of a bigger middle finger to Serena and Jan. You take all the power back. They don’t get to pick who kisses you, like you’re some kind of mannequin. Only you get to pick that.” She looked off into the distance. “I can picture the look on that creep’s face already.”

Her ex was still blushing, but she could tell from the gleam in his eye that he was imagining it, too. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Yeah, it’s like, look at this! You can’t have this, creep! It’s only for…” He halted, looking mortified. “Um, only for nobody?” he finished, in a slightly higher voice than usual.

“And it’ll drive Serena crazy,” Kimberly said, placing the cherry on top. “It’s the thing she was trying to torture you with, and you flipped it right back on her and enjoyed it. She’ll freaking hate that.”

“She totally will,” Bobby said, excited. He paused. “Except, how are you going to get Jan to agree to it?” he asked. “You’re only my social media coordinator, Kimmy.”

“I’m not going to do it,” Kimberly admitted. “But I know somebody who’s finally ready to stand up to him.”

There was a knocking sound as somebody rapped their knuckles against the locker room door. Bobby looked up. “Barbie, sweetie, are you in there?” came his mom’s voice. “Is it okay if I come in?”

Kimberly gave Bobby an encouraging nod. He looked at his reflection in the mirror again, adjusting his hair, and answered in a high, tremulous voice: “Yeah, Mom, you can come in!”

Kimberly took her phone back from Bobby’s limp hand and scrolled all the way down her contacts to Phone Repair Guy. She hoped Josh wouldn’t mind wearing a Jefferson High jersey for a little while.

#

Bobby sat quietly while Jan’s assistant touched up his makeup, only half listening to the argument going on around him. He didn’t exactly like the way his mom was framing it -- that Josh was his boyfriend, and Bobby found doing steamy scenes with other guys made him feel guilty and uncomfortable -- but he definitely liked seeing the shocked expression on Serena’s face as their mom held her ground.

“She’ll do it with Josh, and nobody else, and that’s final,” she said firmly, ignoring her husband’s pantomime that made it clear he had just sent her an urgent text message.

Jan stared at her for a moment, then turned his gaze to Bobby, who couldn’t help but squirm a little. “So, first you tell me to fuck off, and now you tell me how to do my own shoot?” he demanded. “Is that it, Barbie?”

Bobby looked up at him. “I guess so?”

“You already used your diva card earlier today, honey,” Jan said. “An average model does not tell Jan Van Antwerp what he can and cannot do.” The photographer broke into a wide grin. “And that means you, Barbie, you are going to be a star. I can’t remember the last time I had a filly with this much spirit! We’ll do the final shot with your boyfriend -- I assume he’s at least passably handsome?”

Bobby nodded, blushing.

“But I’d better see real passion, understood?” Jan demanded, peeling off his jersey. “No good girl bullshit! I want my toes to curl.” He tossed the garment aside. “And the next time we work together, honey, you better be single.”

Bobby smiled through gritted teeth. With the male hormones he was taking, he knew “Barbie” would be long gone by then.

“What about your vision, Jan?” Serena cut in, looking as flustered as it was ever possible for Serena to look. “You’re really going to compromise on this?”

“You’re the one who keeps adding to the vision,” Jan said, with a dangerous glare. “Why do you want me to kiss your sister so badly, anyways, ‘Rena?” He clapped his hands together. “Someone come help me herd the adolescents into place.”

Bobby exchanged a glance with Kimberly, who was hovering over by the clothes racks. She looked so happy for him that he was almost touched. It seemed like she’d really made his battle against Serena her own -- which was kind of weird of her, but he appreciated the support.

By the time his makeup was deemed perfect and he was released from the chair, the scene was all set. The students were milling around half-court, as if they’d just descended from the bleachers in a triumphant wave, pretending to congratulate Bobby’s former teammates, who were pretending to celebrate a victory. Right in the center logo, Jan had cleared a space and set up his camera.

And standing sheepishly beside the photographer, already wearing a Jefferson High jersey for the first and most likely last time in his life, was Josh. Bobby froze momentarily as he caught sight of him -- why hadn’t anyone told him Josh had arrived? The St. Ceylan’s star locked eyes with him, looking almost as startled as Bobby felt, then broke into a smile. He gave a casual wave, as if he were here to pick him up for some NBA2K or a dumb movie, and Bobby couldn’t help but wave back.

For some reason, as his mom made a last-minute adjustment to the bow in his hair, Bobby found his heart was beating double-time. He knew he had overreacted to what had happened with Josh -- after all, everybody got horny, right? And Josh wasn’t just horny. Josh had spent the past three days thinking about him and hoping he was okay, and messaging Kimberly to make sure of it. That was something only a really good friend would do.

It was totally irrelevant that Josh was also a boy who thought of him as a girl. He was a friend, and a boy, and someone who made him feel extremely tingly. Nothing wrong with any of those things, except for the fact that when they were all combined it would almost make Josh his…

“Action!” Jan called.

Bobby’s classmates started bouncing around, making the most of their opportunity to be on camera, whooping and hollering as if Jefferson High really had just won a game. Josh was busy dapping up DeShawn, but as Bobby got closer, feeling like he was moving on autopilot, the St. Ceylan’s star turned and grinned at him. Bobby knew he was doing this to piss off Serena, and to stick it to Jan, but for some reason his stupid stomach was full of butterflies.

He swished his way up to Josh, tossed his pom-poms aside for the second time that day, and threw his arms around the taller boy’s neck, inhaling the smell of his cologne. “Hey, J-dog,” he said. “Um, you got here fast?”

“Might have broken a few speed limits, yeah.” Josh looked slightly embarrassed. “I was really, uh, hoping to hear from you.”

“Cool,” Bobby whispered. The tingling sensation was back in force, and feeling his breasts pushed up against Josh’s muscled abdomen wasn’t helping.

“So,” Josh said, glancing around at all the extras. “I guess we should…”

Bobby was already more-or-less on tip toe, thanks to the wedges, but he managed to stretch a little higher. Forgetting about all the craziness around him, he wrapped his fingers in Josh’s hair and kissed him as hard as he could. The taller boy responded by lifting him into the air -- Bobby couldn’t contain a squeal of surprise -- and kissing back with equal ferocity, thrusting his tongue inside Bobby’s mouth.

Lightning bolts were shooting through Bobby’s whole body as Josh maneuvered him, holding him under his bottom and letting him wrap his waxed-smooth legs around the taller boy’s waist. Josh deepened the kiss and Bobby felt like putty in Josh’s big arms. It was all so weird, and wrong, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. The crowd was cheering like crazy, cheering for them, and it honestly felt like winning a basketball game.

It was only when the kiss finally ended, and Josh set him down, that Bobby remembered Jan’s camera. A wave of shame washed over him and he flushed. Even after he went back to boyhood, this moment would be immortalized forever: him playing the part of the adoring girlfriend, a sexy little cheerleader fawning over her man. And Jefferson High was never going to look at him the same way again.

But he couldn’t think about that right now. He couldn’t think about the past, and present, and future. It was too much to juggle. He had to just focus on the now.

“So,” Josh said, clearing this throat. “You, uh, catch the Lakers game last night?”

Bobby swallowed. “Um, yeah,” he said. “That call on the in-bounds play was garbage.”

And he had to admit, the now wasn’t all bad.

#

Kimberly was so relieved she could almost cry. She’d done it. She’d snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and won the bet. Bobby had stuck it out through a day designed to be his own personal hell, despite Serena’s best efforts, and Jan was a combination of grudging and ecstatic about how the final shot had turned out -- he’d taken what seemed like a hundred photos of the moment between Bobby and Josh.

Kimberly could hardly wait to see the results in a magazine spread. Until then, she could be content with the memory of seeing her prick of an ex throw himself into another guy’s arms. Whether he was fully aware of it or not, Bobby had just become his own lowest opinion of womanhood in front of everybody he knew, a vapid bimbo of a cheerleader eager to show the world just how devoted she was to her man. In other words, the exact kind of girl Bobby had always wanted her to be.

And he hadn’t just committed to being that kind of girl, he had committed to being Josh’s girl. The guy who he’d bested on the basketball court was now, as far as Jefferson High was concerned, “Barbie’s” boyfriend. The extras were emptying out of the gym, but judging by the excited chatter and waving phones, Bobby’s little display with Josh was going to spread far and wide by the time Monday came around.

Speaking of the happy couple, both of them were now being shepherded towards a woman with a notebook computer and wire-framed glasses. Kimberly vaguely remembered Bobby mentioning the interview that was supposed to accompany the shoot, and she vaguely hoped he wouldn’t say anything too ignorant when trans issues came up. It was lucky he was a blonde.

“Congratulations.”

Kimberly turned around to find Serena, also watching her little brother and his beau. “Thanks,” she said cautiously.

“It looks like you got everything you wanted,” Serena said matter-of-factly. “You won the bet, and you got to watch your ex suck face with another guy. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Bobby had it in him.”

“Oh, you know, it’s a confusing time,” Kimberly said. “All those hormones floating around.”

Serena snorted. “So now what, Kimberly?” she asked. “You spend the rest of your life making sure Bobby never puts on a pair of pants again? Big dreams.”

Kimberly bristled slightly. “Actually, you inspired me to dream a little bigger,” she said. “I think I’d make a pretty good manager. Barbie’s going to need one when this photo shoot does that ‘famous overnight’ thing for her.”

“Same shit, different name,” Serena said curtly. “You might not be dating him anymore, but your whole life still revolves around him. You understand that, right? Even if you’re not in love with him, you might as well be. He’s your whole identity. Your only fucking identity.”

Kimberly clenched her fists at her sides. “And you’re a really sore loser,” she said. “I guess it runs in the family.”

Serena narrowed her eyes, then flashed a cold smile. “You got that right, Kimberly,” she said. “Why don’t you go see how Barbie’s interview is going? You know, since you’re her manager and whatnot. I gave the reporter some extra reading material to work with.”

Her ex’s sister walked away, leaving Kimberly frowning, still processing what Serena had meant by…

“The LiveJournal,” she whispered.

It felt like the world had just flipped upside down. Suddenly faint, Kimberly looked to where the interview was now underway, Bobby and Josh sitting side-by-side in folding chairs while the reporter smiled and made notes on her computer. Even from here, she could see a look of confusion spreading across her ex’s face.

Her heart began to race. Serena was the one who had played dirty, and now Kimberly was left with only two options: fight or flight.

#

Bobby was desperately ready to get changed, but the fashion reporter insisted the interview would only take a few minutes, so he found himself still wearing the skimpy cheerleader outfit as he took a seat to answer her questions. All the guys exiting the gym slowed down significantly on their way past, eager for one last look at “Barbie” in all her glory, but none of them whistled or made comments.

Bobby would have liked to think it was because he was radiating a “don’t mess with me today” vibe, but he suspected it was more likely because Josh was sitting in the chair beside him. The reporter seemed to think they were a couple, or something. The St. Ceylan’s star looked almost as awkward as Bobby felt, which was kind of nice to see.

“Before we start, I just have to say, you two are adorable together,” the reporter beamed. “Talk about chemistry on camera! How long have you been dating?”

Bobby somehow managed to choke on a breath of air. “We’re not!” he blurted. “I mean, we’re just, like, good friends?” He glanced over at Josh, blushing furiously.

“What she said,” Josh said, smiling a little nervously.

The reporter raised her eyebrows skeptically. “If you say so,” she said, smiling. “Now, Barbie, let’s talk about you. You made quite a splash on social media with your ‘coming out’ a few weeks back, but that wasn’t the first time you shared your real self with world, was it?”

Bobby grimaced. “Um, there was the makeover thing at the salon, I guess,” he said.

“Right, as a result of a ‘lost’ bet,” the reporter said, making air quotes. “I’m sure you tried very hard to avoid that makeover.” She winked. “But even before that, you were keeping fans up-to-date anonymously, isn’t that right? With your journal?”

Josh’s leg jumped so noticeably Bobby and the interviewer both looked over. “Sorry,” he said. “Cramp.”

“Maybe if you’re lucky, Barbie will massage it for you later,” the reporter said slyly. “Since you two are such close friends, I mean. Now, Barbie, about this journal?”

“What journal?” Bobby asked, annoyed by the “massage” remark and genuinely confused by the question. He had never kept a journal in his life -- as far as he was concerned, that diary shit was for girls.

“You don’t have to play coy about it, Barbie,” the reporter said, handing over her notebook computer. “The LiveJournal where all those marvelous hashtags got started? Princess in hiding, boy to babe, all those?”

Bobby accepted the computer, frowning down at the screen. He was pretty sure he didn’t have a LiveJournal account, and he definitely hadn’t written the entries he now saw captured in screenshot format. He scrolled down to read the first one, slightly distracted by Josh’s heavy breathing -- the guy obviously did not do well with interviews.

“Your sister shared it with me just before we got started,” the reporter said. “She thought it might be a good conversation starter.”

Bobby looked up, suddenly unruffled. Obviously his sister had typed up some embarrassing fake bullshit for the interviewer to spring on him, but after what he’d gone through today, he figured he was all but embarrassment-proof.

“Right,” he said, handing the computer back. “My secret LiveJournal. Totally.”

“I’m sorry if that’s how you wanted it to stay,” the reporter said, clearly not sorry at all. “But I think plenty of your fans will have put it together by now, Barbie. I love this quote, by the way, from your very first entry: ‘I’m living this total lie, pretending to be a tough manly jock when I wish I was a cute sexy cheerleader.’ Wow.” She gave Bobby’s outfit an obvious up-and-down. “Well, Barbie, can I just say, you made it? I mean, did you ever think your dream would come true this fast?”

Bobby felt his face grow red hot -- embarrassment-proof had maybe been wishful thinking. “Um, I guess not,” he said.

“And what about the name you chose to create this account?” the reporter pressed. “Bboy2003?”

Bobby rolled his eyes. Serena had really phoned this one in. “Yeah, it’s my birthday,” he said. “And when I was younger people called me ‘Bobby Boy,’ so it makes sense?”

“People called you ‘Barbie Boy,’ I see…” The reporter made a note before Bobby could correct her, and continued. “Did you face discrimination growing up? I know you made a big show of acting manly, but surely ‘Barbie’ was peeking through all along, right?”

Bobby glanced nervously over at Josh -- the last thing he wanted was to dig up all this stuff with him here listening -- but Josh seemed to be off in his own world, staring over the reporter’s shoulder with a vaguely terrified expression. If he was this bad sitting in on someone else’s interview, he would never make it through a post-game presser in college.

“Sure,” Bobby said. “Um, just like it says in my journal.”

“So it was very brave of you to start taking hormones all on your own, before you even came out of the closet,” the reporter said. “That must have been exciting and terrifying all at the same time. There’s another quote here, so adorable, I just can’t resist reading it: ‘One of my teammates slapped my butt today, and I swear it jiggled. I don’t know if he noticed, but I couldn’t stop blushing after. The weirdest part is, I kind of liked it?’ And then your hashtag was ‘booty incoming.’” The reporter shook her head, smiling. “Oh my God, Barbie, you’re so sassy.”

Bobby gaped at her. It was exactly the kind of fake journal entry Serena would write to embarrass him, but there was one very strange thing about it: Bobby distinctly remembered being at his locker one day, feeling incredibly self-conscious about the effect his gynecomastia was having on his body, and DeShawn walking over and slapping his ass. It had jiggled, and he’d been miserable about it all day.

“That’s me,” he said, smiling weakly. “I’m really sassy.”

“I hope Josh here can handle it,” the reporter said, winking again. “Now, you’ve obviously inspired a lot of young trans women around the country, maybe even around the world, but you haven’t been particularly active online since your ‘coming out.’ Why did you decide to stop journaling?”

“Can I see it again?” Bobby asked. “The, um, LiveJournal?”

“Sure thing,” the reporter said, handing her computer over.

Bobby shot Josh a look -- his friend was now chugging water from his water bottle like his life depended on it -- then scrolled through the entries. Most of them were pretty vague, stuff Serena definitely could have come up with, but he still had a weird feeling about the whole thing. The feeling intensified when he finally saw a photo. It showed a hand with painted pink fingernails.

Bobby held up his own to compare. His skin had gotten smoother and his nails had gotten longer, but it was definitely his hand. And if he needed more proof, he could see his Tomcats team jacket in the background. His hand, his room, and there was only one person who could have possibly taken the photo.

“You know, it all seems so long ago, now?” Bobby said faintly. “I can hardly believe I even wrote all this stuff.”

“And now you’re living it out,” the reporter said, beaming. “The princess has emerged from hiding! Isn’t that right?”

Bobby looked over the woman’s shoulder and caught sight of Kimberly, standing there with a worried expression on her face, that smug fake concern she wore so well. He clenched his fists as hard as he could, not caring if his nails snapped off.

“I have to use the girls’ room,” he said. “Long day on camera, you know? I’ll be right back.” He got out of his chair before the reporter could protest, and headed straight for the source of all his problems.

#

Kimberly managed to get Bobby into the empty gym hallway before he exploded, but it was a close thing. She had never seen her ex this angry. Even dressed up as a slutty cheerleader, the fury coming off him was almost frightening. His blue eyes were burning holes in her.

“Nails did?” he shouted. “Nails did? You took that fucking photo, Kimmy, don’t lie to me! You took that photo, you wrote that fucking journal!”

Under any other circumstances, Kimberly would be trying to calm him down. She would be trying to stay relaxed. But the time for that was long gone. She had to commit to the contingency plan now, and that meant she had to match his emotion. She tapped into all her fear of getting caught, all her anger at her ex, and used it.

“I’m sorry, okay?” she screamed, twice as loud. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have helped him! I shouldn’t have fucking helped him, and I’m sorry!”

It was enough to make her ex pause. “Wait,” he said, panting. “Helped who? Who’s him?”

Kimberly stared at him, wide-eyed. “Who do you think?” she demanded. “Josh.”

All the wind went out of Bobby’s sails at once. His lipsticked mouth fell open. “Josh?” he echoed.

“Of course, Josh,” Kimberly said, trying to sound puzzled. “Who else would want to make you look bad? He was pissed after you sank that game-winner over him. Remember? Two months ago?” She stared guiltily at the floor. “He messaged me right after the game and told me about his idea for the makeover thing, at the salon. He said he would put up the five grand for our bet. And I thought if you lost, it would teach you a lesson, okay? I didn’t know things would get so crazy. I didn’t know some fucking blackmailer creep would show up out of nowhere.”

Her ex’s face fell. The feeling of betrayal was written all over his features, but Kimberly knew that Josh was the only person he would ever willingly shift the blame to -- not just because they’d been rivals, but because now he genuinely had feelings for Josh, and knowing Bobby, that scared the shit out of him. Her ex was staring past her, a haunted look in his eye, and it was only when Kimberly turned that she realized Josh had followed them out into the hallway.

"It was your idea?” Bobby choked, addressing him now. “Seriously?” He had a pleading tone in his voice, almost begging the other boy to deny it.

Kimberly locked eyes with her partner-in-crime. She could see the wheels turning in his head. At any second he could ruin her: all he had to do was play dumb, deny everything, and Bobby would think that Kimberly was just lying to save her own skin.

Except there was more to it than that. If Bobby thought the LiveJournal was Kimberly’s doing, he was going to keep looking at it. He was going to dig deeper. He was going to start wondering about the gynecomastia showing up right around the same time his fictional self started taking hormones. He would start questioning the pills Skeeter was providing him.

Before long, “Barbie” would be history, just like Serena had intended, and if Bobby was driven enough, he might even figure out Josh had been the one to blackmail him. But if Josh shouldered the blame for the LiveJournal right here, right now, when Bobby had just kissed him in front of everybody he knew, those faked entries would suddenly be too painful to ever revisit.

And that meant “Barbie” would stick around for at least a little longer.

“I just wanted to embarrass you,” Josh said slowly. “You know, take you down a peg. I wrote the journal entries and put it online, hoping somebody would put two and two together, and, you know, make a big deal out of it. Then you came out as actually trans, and I felt like a complete asshole. That’s why I deleted it.”

“I’m not fucking trans,” Bobby snapped. “Didn’t you hear that last bit? About the psycho blackmailer?”

Josh’s eyes flickered. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “Kimberly said…”

Kimberly held her breath. Josh would either sell it now, or wreck everything.

“She said you’d tell me when you were ready,” Josh finished. “I know it’s complicated. But I really care about you, Barbie. It was stupid of me to write that journal. I know that’s not the real you. The real you isn’t just some princess, she’s…she’s better at Call of Duty than any dude in school, and she knows more about basketball than my coach, and she’s not waiting around for some dumbass like me to rescue her.”

Kimberly didn’t think she could have written Josh a better speech herself. Bobby’s face twitched as he swallowed a sob. He stared at the floor for a moment, almost hyperventilating, but when he looked up he was glaring daggers at Josh. Kimberly realized that if Josh had been hoping to win Bobby back on the spot, it was too little, too late.

“Get the fuck out of here, Josh,” Bobby said, voice breaking. “I never want to see you again.”

Josh stared at him for a long moment, completely crestfallen, then he turned and walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, Bobby sank to the floor. Kimberly waited for the sob he’d restrained earlier to spill out, but it didn’t. Bobby sat there silently on the polished floor, his legs tucked gracefully underneath him, trembling but dry-eyed. When it became clear he had no immediate plans to get up, Kimberly slowly lowered herself down to join him.

“I get it if that goes for me, too,” she said softly. “The never wanting to see me again, thing.”

Bobby looked across at her. His blue eyes were still burning. “It should,” he said, voice clipped. “But I need you for something.”

Kimberly put a tentative hand on her ex’s shoulder. “Anything you need,” she said. “Anything I can do to make things right.”

Bobby snorted. “It’s called revenge,” he said.

Kimberly blinked. “On Josh?” she asked.

“Not on Josh.” Her ex gritted his perfect white teeth. “On the person who flew all the way from Rio just to make my life hell. Who made me strut around like a hooker in front of my own dad, who made me wear stripper heels for a week straight, who humiliated me every chance she got…” Bobby was building up steam, almost shouting the words. “Who made sure every friend I ever had now thinks I’m some slutty blonde bimbo, and tried to make me tongue a pervy photographer on camera, and then saw that somehow, somehow, in spite of her doing all that shit, I was happy for a second…” His face twisted. “And she decided to ruin it by giving that reporter the LiveJournal. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have ever known. And you know what, Kimmy? Not knowing would have been so much fucking better than this.”

Kimberly drew a deep breath. Going after Serena was a tall order, but Kimberly knew a thing or two about payback. And most importantly, Bobby had someone to take his anger out on. Someone who wasn’t her.

“You got anything specific in mind for this revenge?” she asked.

“Easy,” Bobby said blankly. “I’m going to make everybody forget she even exists. I’m going to crush her so bad she won’t even show up on the last page of search results. I’m going to beat her at her own game. And if that means being ‘Barbie’ for a while, I’ll do it.” He glared at the gym entrance through his mascara-rimmed eyes. “I’ll hate it, and I’ll do it.”

Kimberly just nodded. This was the closest she’d ever come to Bobby learning the truth, and she’d escaped by the skin of her teeth. She hated sacrificing all the work she’d done to get Bobby and Josh together, but maybe it was for the best -- now, once again, her ex had nobody to turn to but her. And so long as Bobby wanted revenge, “Barbie” would stick around. Kimberly could definitely, absolutely work with that.

She sat beside him in silence for a while, only reminding her ex about the interview when he got to his feet of his own accord. He nodded, brushed off his miniskirt, and fished his phone out of his top. Kimberly watched him scroll down through his contacts, deleting someone named “J-dog” from his phone, and most likely from his life, forever.

For the briefest instant, her ex had an expression on his face Kimberly had never seen before. If she didn’t know better, she’d think it was heartbreak.

THE END

#

Hope you guys enjoyed Book 2! The PDF and Look Book will be ready soon, and Book 3 will kick off shortly after.

KK