By the time Piper arrived back at the boy’s group home, it was late in the afternoon. She was tired, sore, and thirsty. She had switched over to the motorized motor that Officer Sterling’s uncle installed on her bicycle. Her legs were cramping up from the long ride.

Piper knew she was going to have to face the music after running away as she did. The group home had strict rules. She secures her bicycle and heads inside, and towards Freddy’s office. She takes a breath and knocks on the door.

“Enter!” Piper braces herself as she enters the office.

Freddy looks up towards the door as it slowly opens. He has been trying to find out where Piper Welch disappeared to. Piper hasn’t been answering his cellphone.

He is surprised to see Piper walking into his office. He stands up and points towards the chair in front of his desk, “Sit!”

“Ye, sir.” Piper walks over, sits down in the chair, and watches as Freddy sits down.

Freddy looked at Piper and could tell he was tired. He wonders where Piper had been and why he didn’t come back.

“What happened to you yesterday, young man?” Freddy had gotten a phone call from Mr. Hogan over at Piper’s high school.

Piper looks at Freddy’s face, “I, I got mad and upset at what Mr. Hogan told me yesterday.”

“And what did he tell you?” Freddy knew it took a lot to upset Piper. He’s been observing the boy since the boy arrived at the home.

“He said that this moronic, backwater state wouldn’t allow me to join the cheerleaders, after I performed for them at the Halloween party.” Piper’s voice had some anger in it.

“So, it's about being a cheerleader, again? You need to realize, Piper, that you’re a boy and you have to follow the rules the state has establishfor you. Nothing you do is going to change that.”

“Do I look like a boy? Do I sound like a boy? No, I don’t. I have breasts that I have to cover up under my clothes. I have the body and the skeleton of a girl. Plus, the emotional state and temperament. I’m forced to live in this damn place because I have a useless piece of flesh that resembles a penis between my legs. Do you know how that affects me? How much of a lie I am living because of the stupid laws of this damn state and the morons who are running it?” Piper had let out how she was feeling.

Freddy could see how upset Piper was. True, Piper wasn't your typical boy. He and director Wilkerson had thought Piper was taking hormones to look like a girl. But after looking through Piper’s medical record, that theory had been proven wrong.

“Look, Piper, your birth certificate says male, so you have to follow the law in that aspect. As for hiding who or what you are. It’s for your safety here. Mr. Wilkerson and I have tried several times to get you transferred to a girl’s group home, but because of your congenital disability and your birth certificate. The agency isn’t going to budge or break state law. So, you're stuck here until either someone adopts you or you age out of the system.”

“It sounds like I would be better off dead. Because what you and the state are saying, you fucking don’t care how it affects me.”

Freddy tries to keep his cool. “Look, I do care about how it affects you, Piper. It’s that my hands are tied, and all I can do is try to protect you as much as I can while you are under my care here. I think it might be best if you see a counselor about how you are feeling and what happened to you. I’ll have Mrs. Chapman arrange a visit with a counselor to help you with how you are feeling. As for your punishment for last night and running away from your school. I’m grounding you for a week. You’ll be allowed to go to work, school, and come home; that’s it. I will check on you and make sure you are here. You’ll also have kitchen duty for a week every morning before going to work.”

“Fine.” Piper was still angry.

“Now, go and take a shower to cool down and be at dinner. By the way, we are having sloppy joes, French fries, and a chef salad for dinner tonight.” Freddy figures it might cheer up Piper. He knew Piper didn’t like the food served lately.

“Yes, sir.” Piper gets up and leaves Freddy’s office.

She goes upstairs to her hotel room and opens the door. She starts undressing and removes the tight sports bra that flattens her breasts so that she can look like a boy. She rubs under her breasts to relax them as she steps into the bathroom to take a shower.

After taking a shower, Piper dries off and checks her hair length in the mirror. She notices she’ll have to get her hair cut, so she doesn’t look so girly. She hates having short hair, but if she were going to pass as a boy while living in the group home and attending school. She needs to keep pretending to be a boy.

She takes a pair of scissors and trims her hair until she gets to a barber shop to get a real haircut. Her room phone starts ringing, signaling that it's time for dinner. She throws on a pair of sweats that will hide her breasts and hips.

She heads down to the dining room and gets in line to be served dinner. Piper looks at the sloppy joe being served and can already tell she doesn’t want it. The fries looked soggy and undercooked, and the salad was premade. It was just like the salads they served at school.

As hungry as she was feeling, she ate everything. She hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday morning. After Piper finished eating, she went back to her room and checked her cell phone. She saw that several people tried to contact her yesterday, including her boss. She’ll have to explain to them tomorrow about why she didn’t show up for work.

Since she doesn’t know which assignments she missed today, she reads several chapters from the different classes she has and practices her French and Spanish. Since she doesn’t have anything to do after practicing her Spanish and French, she watches a few episodes of Yellowstone until she slowly falls asleep.

Freddy does his daily bed check, and when Piper doesn’t answer the door. He uses his master key to enter her room. He spots the television on and several of her schoolbooks open. He spots Piper, sound asleep, in the clothes she wore to dinner. He turns the television off and turns her overhead light off, leaving the lamp on the nightstand on for her.

He leaves the room and checks on the other boy’s room to make sure everyone is in their hotel room. Freddy makes his rounds and then heads to his own room after completing his room check. He looks at all the records he has to double-check and make sure they are in order.

Piper is woken the next morning and shows up to help prepare breakfast. Today it was scrambled eggs, bacon, frozen sausage patties, biscuits, and grits. She was put in charge of the dishes and cleaned the dishes that had been cooked in. During the morning rush hour, she helped out on the line, serving everyone. She was instructed on how much everyone was supposed to get.

After breakfast was served and the dishes were done. Piper heads up to her room and changes her clothes. She hurries to get ready for school. She rushes downstairs, mounts her bicycle, and pedals to school.

Even in November, she rides her bicycle to school. She still avoids riding the school bus. She prefers the freedom she has with her bicycle. She planned to ride her bicycle to school, even if there was snow on the ground.

Once Piper arrives at school, she goes to her classes and gets the work she missed the day before. She plans to work on it during her lunch hour and later in the evening after work. She avoids the cheerleaders and doesn’t want to attend the winter festival dance the school is planning. She plans to avoid anything that involves school pride or school spirit.

During her lunch hour, she hides in the library and works on her schoolwork. She wanted to get as much done as she could before she left for work. After lunch, Piper goes to her next class and does as much as she can.

By the time her classes end, she has most of her schoolwork caught up. Piper heads down to her bicycle and mounts it. She pedals towards work and thinks about everything she still needs to do.

Piper wasn’t looking forward to the holidays this year. Normally, she loved Christmas and Thanksgiving, but she has to work on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and maybe Christmas Day as well. The restaurant manager wasn’t sure whether they would be open all day as usual or just in the evening for Christmas dinner.

She went ahead and volunteered to work the day. Normally, she would fight to have it off, but living a lie in the group home has turned her off to the holidays. She didn’t blame her last foster parents, but she does blame being born and looking like a girl.

While Piper is riding to work, she receives a text informing her that she has an appointment with the counselor Freddy said he would set up for her. She adds it to her cellphone calendar. It was in two days, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Piper shivers as she peddles her bicycle in the November cold air. She was bundled up and wearing gloves. She makes it to school and chains her bicycle up. She covers it with a custom cover she made for it to keep it dry when it snows or rains.

When Piper enters the school and goes to her locker to change out her school books. Several folded pieces of paper fall out, asking her if she would go to the winter dance with them. She tosses the notes away because she doesn’t feel like going.

The first half of the morning goes without a hitch. Around lunch time, while Piper is getting her lunch. She spots one of the guys who bullied and attacked her that day in the lunchroom. She was sure the judge would throw the book at everyone. How did Mike get early release? How was he able to be at the school as well?

Piper made her lunch selection, which was tacos. She grabs a small salad, but nothing else. She had her sports jug with her, filled with a single packet of Cool-Aid.

Piper walks over to her normal table and sits down. She watches where Mike sits down and with whom. Some of the guys she knew, but the others she had no idea who they were.

Piper watches them as she eats her lunch. She wasn’t looking forward to gym this week. She’ll have to change in the gym teacher's office and put her clothes in the lockers near the office.

After lunch, she heads towards gym class. Piper heads into the men’s locker room without anyone seeing her. She makes her way to the gym teacher's office and changes into her gym uniform: shorts, a school t-shirt, and matching tennis shoes.

During gym class, after they did their warm-up exercises. The boys and girls separate into teams to play basketball. Piper is picked last for a team, which she doesn’t mind. She hates basketball.

During the game, she gets elbowed and tripped on purpose by a few of the girls on her team and by a few of the guys. Mike and two of his goons corner her and ram her into the bleachers, folded up. Another student trips Piper, and she lands on her knees.

Coach Lesser walks over and helps Piper up off the floor. She looks at Piper, “Are you okay, Piper?”

“I think so.” Piper looks at Coach Lesser when she answers.

She tries to put some weight on it, but winces when she feels pain. She grips Coach Lesser’s hand when she feels the pain.

“Let’s escort you to the nurse.” Coach Lesser motions to the male gym teacher to let him know she was escorting Piper to the nurse.

Piper spends some time with the nurse and is sent back to class. She makes it through the rest of the day. When school is over, she bundles up and rides her bicycle to her part-time job at the restaurant.

She spends the night popping aspirin for the pain she was feeling coming from her knee. She works through the pain, and when it was time to close for the night, she could barely stand anymore. Because of the weather, her knee pain, and the road conditions. She arrives back at the group home later than normal. She texts Freddy to let him know she arrived.

Instead of taking a shower, like he normally does. Piper fills the tub with hot water and soaks her leg. She popped two more aspirin into her mouth before lying down to sleep.