Chapter 7:

I FELT A slight prodding sensation. Something strange was happening in my dream. "Brandon, wake up." Poke.

"Ahh!!..." I woke up to see Amy standing over me.

"Wake up Brandon! Geeze... how long does it normally take to wake you up?" Amy asked me as she kept poking me.

"I don't know... I'm usually never awake for it" I said as I tried to roll back over.

"If I have to I'll tickle you!" She said. I knew she meant it too.

"All right I'm getting up!" I said with a groan.

"Good, why don't you go ahead and take a quick shower. Mom's making breakfast downstairs. Once you're done we'll go eat and then we'll hit the slopes!"

"What time is it?"

"Seven."

Groan... "Way too early..." I said as I got off of my rear end, and dragging myself and my stuff to the bathroom. I showered, but didn't wash my hair. Mom had told me that if I was in a hurry that could save me some time – I got the feeling we were in that hurry. I got out of the shower as quick as I could, and then took care of the rest of the essentials to starting a day. I did brush my hair out really quick after brushing my teeth, and putting my ski clothes back on.

I switched shirts to a Disney shirt I got when we went to Disneyland this past summer. It was a yellow shirt with Mickey on it. I only had one pair of ski pants, so I had to wear those again. I looked at myself and decided I was fairly presentable and went out to the room.

"That was quick. Did you wash your hair out?"

"I didn't think I had time to do that... So I'll wait till tomorrow I guess."

"I didn't wash mine out today either..." She paused before continuing, "I was kind of hoping if we get back early I could get Mom to do it for me."

"Your mom washes your hair?" I asked

"Occasionally. It's such a great feeling having someone else wash your hair!" She replied enthusiastically, "Maybe I can get her to do yours too!" She added. I felt a little awkward and mumbled something.

"Do you have your necklace on?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, you?" I asked. I didn't take it off that night, and left it on in the shower by accident. 'Shouldn't hurt it though,' I figured. I currently had it tucked underneath my shirt – I was experimenting to see if you could see it if I did that. There was a bit of chain around the front inside of my collar visible. I didn't know if I could get away with wearing it to school or not. My hair actually did cover the back of the chain though...

Bringing me back to the moment she said, "Yep! Anyway, I'm hungry let's go eat!"

She dragged me down the stairs and we sat down at their dining table to eat. I'm really not a morning person, never have been, never will be. But I did my best to act civilized!

We drove off to the resort a short while later. At the resort we got to unpack everything all over again.

"Okay guys, we're going to let you go off again on your own today. We'd like for you to meet us at the Timberline Restaurant for lunch at 11:30, okay?"

"Okay," we both answered together. Amy then led me to a different lift than we had used the previous day.

"Hey Brandon, we should do something with your hair again today." She said. Somehow I felt there was something strange going on, like she had been looking forward to this.

"Okay, I guess we can do the headband thing again today. Did your mom mention it last night or this morning?"

"No she didn't, but like I said she suggested it in the first place. Are you worried about forgetting to take it off before we saw them?" I nodded. "It's really okay! It's not that big of a deal to wear a headband."

"I guess I'm not really worried about what strangers think, I just don't want your parents to think I'm a freak or something. You're too good of a friend for that."

"If my parents thought that, do you think my mom would have gotten this necklace set for us? My dad was in the store and I'm sure she told him what she was thinking of doing – so he obviously likes you too. So chill." She said with a smile.

"Okay, I guess I'll wear the headband again." I said smiling back at her.

"Okay, let me get it out." She started digging through her bag. "Uh-oh..."

"What?"

"I think I must have taken them out this morning for some reason... Hrmm..." She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then looked at me before digging into her bag. She said, "Turn around."

I looked skeptically at her for a second, "Trust me," she said. So I did. In a moment I felt her gathering my hair and pulling it back and forth before she said a few seconds later, "Done!"

I felt my hair, something felt odd. It was off of my neck –that hadn't been the case in a while – and my hand ran up to find, "A ponytail?" I asked incredulously.

"Yep! And actually I think you look really cute with it!"

I was flabbergasted... I didn't know what to say. "Okay... If people thought I was a girl yesterday that's probably only going to be worse today... I should take this out."

I started to reach up to pull the scrunchie she had used to tie it up out. But she gave me this sad puppy dog look. "Come on, I'll remind you to take it out before we meet with my parents. I've wanted to do that and so much else with your hair since like a month ago. I didn't know if it was long enough though... Come on. I promise I'll never tell anyone else!" She said practically groveling.

'I was right, she had planned this.' I thought to myself before saying, "Alright. But please remind me to pull it out. I don't want your parents to see me like this."

"Great, let's go!" She put her skis on and we climbed up to the chairlift. I hoped that I had fought hard enough to not make her think I was going along with it too easily. On one hand I really wanted to be a girl... on the other hand it was such a scary road. I was beginning to fear that it was also one my best friend had pegged me as wanting to follow.

"So Amy, why are we getting on this chairlift today?" I asked.

"Well, we're going to meet my parents at that restaurant, and it's on the backside of the mountain. This'll get us into that area. We can make several runs down this side and then we can meet them there. Then we'll be able to ski the front side of the mountain the rest of the day. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that does sound good. So, we're getting really close to the trip to Florida, are you excited?" I asked her

"Yeah I am. Have you ever been there before?"

"No, we went to Disneyland in California last year for the first time, but I've never been east, let alone to Florida. You?"

"Yeah, we've been a couple times. The last time was 2 years ago. I love it there, especially Disney World! You'll have a blast there, it's way better than the one in California. What are you looking forward to most?"

"I don't know." I said thoughtfully before saying, "Actually I think the day at Kennedy Space Center and Space Camp! Have you ever seen that movie?" She shook her head, "We'll have to watch it together sometime. I mean I guess maybe it's kind of dorky but I love science and space. It would be so cool to be able to go up there someday."

"I don't think it's dorky at all. Actually that's the one place on our trip that we've never been – I've always wanted to go there though. The rest of the kids may not realize it, but I'm every bit as much of a dork as you are!" She said giggling as we reached the top on the chairlift.

We made our way to the top of the trail we were going down and started down the slope. The ponytail was a whole new experience – something I'd wanted to experience ever since I'd decided I must really be a girl – and it was everything I hoped it would be. I loved how it bounced a bit every time I hit a bump.

We skied several trails down to the bottom. When we got there I said, "That was fun! I think I like the trails back here better than ones on the front."

"I kind of do too. Tell you what, let's go back up and stop at the bathroom on our way down before we go the rest of the way back here, okay?"

"Sure, that sounds like a great plan." I really needed to go too.

We rode the lift back up to the top, this particular lift was slower and it took us almost twenty minutes to get back to the top. I suppose it's still better than having to walk up though right? We skied down the little bit to a building that had a café, a small store, and some restrooms. She entered the girl's room while I went into the boy's room. When I finished I went to wash my hands and looked at myself in the mirror.

I couldn't believe how much I looked like a girl! I loved the scrunchie that was in my hair. It was purple, and seemed to match everything else I was wearing. I left the bathroom and started to wonder if some guy saw me what he would think...

What would happen if he wondered why I was going into the boy's restroom...? Thankfully no one had been around when I went in, but that was bringing up some questions I hadn't really thought about. I had not even come close to coming out and saying my desires... but my hair and my appearance were causing most people to believe I was a girl without even doing anything else. What problems was that going to cause?

Amy came out of the ladies restroom and we went back down the slopes via a different set of trails than last time. We reached the bottom about forty minutes before we were supposed to meet her parents.

"Brandon, we should head back up and start skiing to the restaurant we're meeting my parents at."

"Sounds good, I'm starving!"

When we got on the ski lift we started talking again. It was awfully hard to talk while we were going down the slope, so it was nice to take the break to be able to talk.

"Brandon, I was supposed to remind you to take out the scrunchie before we met up with my parents."

"Oh that's right," I said as I started to reach up to the foreign object in my hair.

"Wait," she said and I stopped reaching, "why don't you just leave it in?"

"Umm... Because boys aren't supposed to wear their hair in a ponytail held up by a purple scrunchie?"

"Who says?"

"Well... What other guy, besides me, have you ever seen with their hair in a purple scrunchie?" I asked. I wasn't sure where this was going – I was mildly terrified though.

"Well... none... But I don't care, and my parents won't care either." She said.

"Umm... what happens if they think I'm a girl at the restaurant?" I asked.

"Well... they may think that anyway." I raised my eyebrow a little before she suggested, "You could just let it slide?"

"Why are you so insistent on me keeping my hair like this?" I asked.

The chairlift stopped in midair – something was wrong on one of the ends or something. "Umm... Look Brandon I don't think we could ever date, I'm not really interested in you in that way... But I think you feel the same way right?" I nodded "But I think you look cuter like this. I don't know, maybe its more fun having you as a friend if you look like that? You don't have to do it I guess, it's just something I think is cute. And admit it, you like it don't you?"

I stuttered for a moment, thinking about denying it... "How do you know that I like it?" I asked.

"You smiled when you realized what it was at first. I also saw you smiling when you felt it bouncing, and you frowned when you thought you needed to take it out."

"I didn't do that did I?" She nodded. "I guess I do kind of like it a bit... but it's a little weird. You won't tell anyone will you?"

"Of course not!" She said.

"What about your parents, will they tell my parents about my hair?" I asked nervously. The chairlift started moving again.

"We'll lie about it, we'll say that I won a bet against you and this was what I won. Fair enough?" She asked.

"Yeah, I suppose that does work. I hate for you to lie to your parents though."

"Ah... This is something minor, and Mom won't mind one way or another. So, are you going to leave it in?"

"Sure. You're right, I do enjoy it. You promise your parents aren't going to care?"

"Promise."

We reached the top and started down the hill towards the restaurant. We'd been skiing intermediate level trails all morning, so it didn't seem too bad getting down to this restaurant from the top. We made it with about ten minutes to spare and sat down on a bench outside to wait for her parents.

I sat there wondering for a few minutes if I should still take out the scrunchie, but I was committed shortly later when her parents skied up. Her mom came up to us and looked at me, "Cute. Amy, why is Brandon's hair up in one of your scrunchies?"

"He and I had a little bet and I won."

"You're okay with this Brandon?" her dad asked. He didn't seem overly concerned about it, but was checking anyway.

"Well I was okay enough to bet about it, so yeah." I replied. I was glad that no one asked us what the bet was.

We then walked into the restaurant to get lunch. We sat down and had a casual lunch of hamburgers and fries. At the counter I was not surprised when the worker said, "and what would you like miss?" I was really ecstatic about it in so many ways, but I was still so nervous about what was going to come from this. We talked about the day of skiing so far, and when we were going to meet down at the base.

"Amy, Brandon, why don't you go ahead and meet us back down at the base in two hours?" Her dad asked at the end of lunch. That would put it at 3pm.

Amy asked, "What are we going to do when we get done?"

"Well I figured we'd shop a little at the resort and then go to the condo and hang out there for a bit. I figure we can take it from there. Does that sound like a plan?"

Amy and I nodded and took off for the slopes. We took a chairlift up from where we were to the very top of the hill. Then we followed a series of trails to get back to the front side.

"I'm worn out," I said to Amy when we got to the bottom.

"Me too." I looked at my watch, it was only 2:10. "I'll go again if you want to, but right now I'd kind of just like to find some hot chocolate and sit down somewhere."

"No, the hot chocolate sounds really really good." She said. We put our skis over on a rack and then walked into the lodge. It was certainly not a cheap thing to buy there – especially since I insisted on getting both of ours, but her parents had done too much for me to let her pay for that.

The counter guy said, "hear you go miss, enjoy."

'Not a single person I've met today thought I was a boy! I can't believe it!!' I thought to myself, even as I said "Thanks." I took the drinks over to where Amy was sitting next to a warm fire.

"Here Amy," I said as I handed it to her.

"Thanks!" We sat there quietly enjoying the drinks fora while without either speaking. Both ofus relaxing and deep in thought.

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