Chapter 25:

IN THE MORNING we were prodded out of bed and herded to an area where they had a continental breakfast for us. We each had a bag with us this morning that had our swimsuits in them since we were going to go to the beach when we got done with going to Space Camp and Kennedy Space Center.

That day I had dressed in a pair of girls shorts and a guy's shirt that could have been a girls. It was actually the ski resort shirt that Amy's parents had bought me on that trip. Essentially there really was no way that someone could tell I was a boy today. Amy and I had both used a black ponytail holder to put our hair up that morning – we were far too tired to do more.

We all gathered together in the lobby when we were done eating to board the bus that would be taking us everywhere now. It was awesome getting on this bus – it had TV's, comfortable seats that leaned back, and even had a bathroom! The bus driver was also really cool and we all settled in for the drive.

I'll be honest; this was the part of the trip that I had been looking forward to the most. I had wanted to go to Space Camp for several summers since I had learned about it. My parents could never possibly afford to send me though, so this would be my one chance to see everything they had there.

The first part of our tour allowed several of us to try some equipment that let us experience how inertia could send us out of control very easily. It was a lot of fun! Amy and Kyle both tried out another simulator that let you feel what a flat spin would be like. I had no desire to go on that one and get sick!

We were shown a bunch of different science experiments and given a short tour of a shuttle mockup that the space camp attendees were able to run shuttle missions through. I was really disappointed that none of us were able to give that one a try.

After a long tour, that I found to be a blast, we were shown to another shuttle simulator that gave us an idea of what a passenger version of the space shuttle might be like. It was a neat experience that concluded our tour. The tour guide then led us into the store where I looked around for some souvenirs.

I ended up picking up a girl's t-shirt and a couple postcards to take home. I also couldn't resist the freeze-dried ice cream. Amy and Nikki both followed my lead on those items before we all went to find a bathroom. Once again, I felt some strange looks on my back as I went into the boys' bathroom. I really wished I could just use the girls!

We left from there a little while later and drove over to Kennedy Space Center. At Kennedy we were given a science demonstration with things like the shuttle's tiles having a blow torch used on them, among other things. From there we got to go on a tour of their museum – seeing some really cool things like the command modules and space suits.

Then they led us to the outdoor area where the rocket garden was located. We all just kind of wandered around aimlessly looking at the massive rockets that towered over us. It was easily enough to keep your imagination in overdrive. Our last structured stop at Kennedy, before lunch, was to the memorial for fallen astronauts. Even at our age we were all moved by the gravity of the memorial. I definitely felt like those astronauts deserved to have their names memorialized for their efforts to bring us to space.

By that point all of our stomachs were seriously growling, thankfully we were taken to a café to eat a lunch of burgers or hot dogs. Amy and I ate quickly so we could grab a cup of "space dots" for dessert before going to see an IMAX film about a shuttle launch. The IMAX film was probably one of the cooler moments of the visit – even though I wasn't expecting it to be as cool as it was. The huge screen combined with the huge sound was a great way to experience a shuttle launch!

We had about thirty minutes inside the gift shop there where we all bought a couple things. I purchased a couple patches, some pencils and pens, and a few more postcards. I had my eyes on one of the space pens that you could write with upside down, but my parents talked me out of that purchase. We ended up leaving Kennedy at about 2:30 for Cocoa Beach.

It felt like a long drive, though it really wasn't more than about forty minutes. In the meantime, I gabbed with Amy and Jennifer. As the day had gone on, I wondered why I had never gotten to know Jennifer. She really was a lot of fun. When we pulled up to the beach our teachers led us to a set of bathrooms, we could change into our swimsuits real quick. Actually, it was pretty much only the boys that needed to change as most of the girls had worn their suits underneath their clothes.

I actually kind of cheated – I changed in the bathroom on the bus really quick when we got on. I hated all of the stares I kept getting whenever I went to the public bathrooms. I was probably honestly drawing more attention to myself by going in the boy's restroom than going in the girl's restroom. Since I was already dressed, I was able to go straight down to the beach with Amy and the girls.

All of us were commanded to put sunscreen on, and told we would need to get out of the water in an hour and a half. That would give us a little bit of time to go through Ron Jon's Surf Shop. It was about 3:15 or so when we entered the water – and the beach wasn't busy at all.

As I got in the water, I found it truly amazing! The water was so warm, salty, and made me float more than I did in swimming pools. I enjoyed swimming in the water and went a little farther out after a bit. Someone had brought a beach ball that we started tossing back and forth at one point.

After a while we all kind of got tired and just floated around and talked.

"So, Amy what are you doing the rest of the summer?" Ashley asked.

"Well I'm going to go to a cheerleading camp in California in a couple weeks. I'm hoping to get some experience before we start the school camp a few weeks later." She told her.

"I wish I could go with you," Lindsey said. The other girls all agreed too.

"How about you Nikki?" Lindsey asked.

"Well there's a music camp that my parents want to send me to in like three weeks. I've heard that it's fun. We'll see though."

Nikki looked around for a second and then asked, "Tiffany what are you doing after this?"

"I haven't really made it that far. I'm just looking forward to being myself when we get back, I guess. Really, I've been planning for this trip so long I haven't made it much past it.... I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of doctor's appointments when we get back."

We moved on to each person, and soon after we were finished were told to go ahead and start heading towards the shore to go shopping at Ron Jon's.

We were first led to some outdoor showers, and then I put on a shirt over my chest so that I didn't feel quite so out of place. I also quickly changed back into my normal shorts in the bathroom. Once I was dressed, I hurried to meet back up with everyone going into Ron Jon's.

It was an incredibly cool store. I really can't do it justice in words. They had an amazing number of cool things all over the place in the store. In particular I saw a couple of swimsuits that I desperately wanted. I whispered that to my mom – but I honestly didn't think she would do anything about it. I did buy a key chain and a few post cards there. One of the guys bought a wave board thing – how he was going to get it back home I wasn't sure.

I had already spent more so far on this trip than I could have imagined spending on a regular basis. It wasn't a lot, but I was trying to hold out for more souvenirs in the Disney parks. I knew that things would be a lot more expensive there. Amy and I walked through the aisles pointing to this or that before we were all ushered out to the bus. It was 6pm by the time we pulled away from the beach and headed for dinner.

We pulled up to a fifty's style restaurant about ten minutes later. I sat down at a table with Amy, our parents, Nikki, and the two teachers.

We had been sitting for a couple moments when the waiter came by and asked the adults, "Does she need a booster seat?" indicating Nikki.

Amy and I couldn't help it – we giggled.

Nikki replied, "sure." I was a little shocked.

"Why did you say yes?" Amy asked.

"I get one at a lot of restaurants. I mean look how high this table is for me. I just hate having to put my arms out like this to eat. I don't have a problem with it." She amazingly didn't look embarrassed.

"Neither do we," I replied. "I'm sorry if I laughed though... it just caught us off guard and seemed kind of funny..." I said carefully, hoping that we hadn't offended her.

"Yes, it was." Nikki replied. "We should have asked for one for you though too Tiff." She said giggling just before the waiter came back with it. I stuck my tongue out at her. Truthfully, she did look a lot more comfortable sitting that way – it was just kind of strange.

"So, are you girls having fun?" Ms. Fitz asked us.

"Yes," the three of us answered in unison.

"What was your favorite part today?" She asked us.

Amy answered first, "The Beach. I love the water."

Nikki said, "Ron Jon's was great."

"I think it was Space Camp, I've wanted to go there for a long time," I replied to her.

"I'm glad to hear you guys all had something you liked today."

We moved on conversation wise to what we were going to eat. The waiter soon came around and asked me, "and you, young lady?"

"A strawberry shake first – and a bacon cheeseburger with fries please." I replied. I was pleased that he had called me a lady - even though I definitely ordered a non-lady like meal. As he took Amy's order next to me, I noticed that Kyle – sitting at a table across from us – seemed to stare at me for a moment. I wondered if he had heard the waiter refer to me as a lady.

I whispered to Amy, "I think Kyle heard me being called a lady. He just looked at me kind of strange."

"What's he going to say? It's not like you introduced yourself as Tiffany to him. He just assumed that you were a girl – Kyle shouldn't be a problem Tiff," she whispered back to me.

"I hope not," I replied to her. Our shakes came shortly after that and my mind went solely to eating that. Every once in a while, I swore I saw Kyle staring at me, but I decided I must have just been going nuts. Food came and went from there, and before I knew it we were heading back onto the bus to go to the hotel.

The bus driver put on a movie while we were going back. I thought that was so incredibly cool he was able to do that! Why couldn't our school buses have TV's on them? I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew Amy was poking me and telling me to wake up.

"Why'd you go to sleep?" Amy asked me.

"I went to sleep?" I inquired sleepily.

"Duh! Come on, we're supposed to go to our rooms and get ready for bed. They said that we can stay up a bit later, but they want us in the rooms." She prodded me to grab my stuff and we went to the room. As soon as I got in there I woke up and started getting hyper. I could actually change back into my girls' pajamas!

As soon as the hotel door opened, I grabbed my pajamas and ran into the bathroom to change. I came out smiling with a huge grin and hopped onto the bed nearly knocking Amy, who was sitting on the edge, off.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry... just a little excited." I replied sheepishly.

"What's gotten into you?" Amy's mom asked.

"I hate having to be Brandon... I feel so scared every time that I go into a bathroom that someone's going to ask why that 'girl' is going into the boy's bathroom? I get stared at every time. If it wasn't for the fact that I've been going in with my dad I think some people would have commented... or worse... I don't belong there, and every stranger knows it..." I told her. A lot of my fears were being stated for the first time tonight.

She came over and hugged me. "Look Tiffany, let me go get your parents and let's talk about this okay?" She said. She looked at me as if she was concerned, I was going to cry, but something was keeping me from doing that. I'm still not sure what.

I just kind of sat looking off into space for a moment when I heard the door open and close again with my parents, Amy's parents, and Ms. Fitz now in the room.

Mom came over to me and gave me a hug, Dad did the same. "What's going on? Is there something wrong?" Mom asked.

"Well, Tiffany was just talking to me about a concern that she's had – and I'm frankly kind of worried about." Amy's mom started off.

"Actually, when she vocalized it a little bit ago I realized I had been kind of concerned about this today too." Amy's dad added.

My parents looked really worried, and Ms. Fitz didn't look like she was looking forward to this next part either. "Tiffany, why don't you tell them what you told us?" Amy's mom asked sweetly.

"I'm worried... Every time I go to the bathroom, I'm afraid that someone is going to comment, or jump me asking 'why this girl is in the boy's restroom.' Even dressed as a boy everyone assumes that I'm a girl. If it wasn't for the fact that people could tell that I went in with you, Daddy, I'm sure there were some boys earlier today that were going to make fun of me... or worse."

My dad responded first, "Actually, kind of like Greg, I'd been noticing this too even before we got into Orlando. I've been trying to keep an eye on you Tiff, but I think this is something we need to address."

"How?" I asked. I was staying calm... I was amazed by that.

"Well why don't we go one day at a time with that?" My mom suggested.

"...Okay... What do we do tomorrow then?" I asked.

"Well tomorrow morning is Discovery Island, it shouldn't be a big deal since we'll be in a group by ourselves," Ms. Fitz answered. "So there shouldn't be any of those issues that we're worried about. We can just keep it as status quo there."

"And the afternoon?" I asked. It was at this point I noticed Mom had a shopping bag with her.

"Well how about wearing this?" She asked showing me one of the swimsuits I had pointed out earlier.

"Really?" I asked. "... but what about everyone else?"

Ms. Fitz answered first, "Why don't you wear it underneath your clothes tomorrow. It may be kind of difficult to deal with in the bathroom in the morning... But when we get to the waterpark we can split off with a few of your friends and you can just pull your shorts and t-shirt off and be ready to go. That should keep you safe enough, and then you all can go off somewhere and enjoy yourselves."

"If for whatever reason you run into a person of our group who doesn't know you can probably hide behind the other girls. It could get dicey, but if you're going to come to school next year as Tiffany anyway there's not a whole lot to lose at this point. I think some of the kids that don't know are already starting to pick up some stuff anyway." She finished.

"It's up to you though Tiffany. What do you want to do?" Mom asked me.

Was that a simple yet completely scary question or what?

I looked at Amy, "do you think we can pull it off?"

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if someone sees us... but if we're careful we can probably make it work." She replied.

"Okay then. I guess Tiffany will be going to Typhoon Lagoon tomorrow!" I replied. I had a large smile on my face when I said that.

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