This is the sequel to You Are What You Read. It follows Asuna and her girlfriend Kim now that they are at Whateley.

Masks Chapter 9

*Before…

Brave…?

No Mum If I was really brave I could tell you all who I really am.

And it feels like Stephanie’s little candle was guttering in the dark right now.

I get dressed without looking at myself and slip into bed and pull one of my pillows down from my head like a reflex.

I hug it tight because It hurts.

I just can’t bring myself to turn off the light at my bedside.

Just can’t.

*And Now…

So here I am again. My muse and the other voices in my head are fickle, evil people, and aside from my Halloween contest story
won't allow me a moment of peace till I write this. So here it is, inflicted upon you to show you all that I am in fact, still alive. Standard disclaimers apply of course.

A new epic (and I do mean that in the true sense of the word) whateley style.

Halloween at the Second Story Store

Author's note: The Second Story Store is an open universe, so if you like the idea; contribute!

You Are What You Read Part II Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the Whateley Universe.

Masks Chapter 5

*Before…

“I…” Part of me is wildly looking for an excuse and the other part is waking up like the real me curled up crying inside just say someone open up the drapes inside the dark room I’ve been trapped in and I…I can maybe…maybe just take a chance…look outside…be me…?

“Okay…okay…”

I can do this right?

“Good the bathroom is upstairs and on the left.”

I head up and I’m shaking…I look at myself in the mirror and I take the wig out of my jacket pocket and shake it loose and try to get it to look okay and I get undressed and stare at myself…not at this stranger that only sort of looks like me in the mirror and then mask falls off and I grab a towel and I start crying into it to muffle the way that everything feels right now.

That’s not me looking back at me.

*And Now…

Covered Bridges-10.

I like Frank’s old Crown Vic, back when I was a kid we had a coupe of police officers are neighbors and all the cop cars were the big old Crown Victoria’s. It’s as clean inside as out and the there’s this smell of one of those coconut air fresheners lingering there.

He spends a good deal of time in his car too. I see a small double picture frame of Robyn and Frank and his late wife Mary on the dash. The one concession is a newish stereo in the car with the satellite radio in it.

We drive down to the canal and it’s absolutely pleasant. I love these big old cars they have this feeling when you ride in them like you’re just kind of floating and honestly they’re just nicer.

Masks Chapter 4

Chapter 4

*Before………..

I try a brave girl smile at her…yes girls can smile differently, they have this whole range of stuff that’s guyboden for me to do.

I’m scared actually but I say it anyway. “Girlfriends.”

Mary Jane shakes pinkies with me again. “Girlfriends.”

I really wish I could happy cry right now. It almost fees like my heart’s beating for the first time all over again.

*Now…………

“Because you’re my best friend. I’ve known you forever and I’ve never thought of you as being a boy. Why do you think you’re my best girlfriend? Amanda, you are just being you now. It took something like discovering the game you played with your mom to make you realize you’re a girl. I know you have a reputation for being tough, but being a boy doesn’t make you that way. Standing up to bullies does and a girl can do that too, you just don’t realize it yet. When we’re together you couldn’t be more feminine if you tried. Being feminine isn’t the way you move or talk or any of the things girls do on the outside, it’s what’s here,” Cindy said, pointing at her heart.

Masks Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We went home and I actually spent a lot of the time that week helping out with things around the house.

Getting pumpkins and hay bales and all those electric lights for things and Dad does go all out for things like this and stuff.

And getting the boat garage cleaned up for my friends to come over and the kids that’ll be there because they’re friends of my folks or Aunt Els. They’ll want to have their adult fun and stuff and we get to have our stuff.

I’ll admit that I’m kind of a full on geek with some stuff too.

Glimpses

You can blame Jaci for this one. Its the conversations we’ve had that led to this ...

At first, there were only glimpses.

Lead Shoes-18

Chapter 18

It’s good that he’s in a better mood after all of that as we head to the Bowl ‘N Wash and I go around the back way. There’s lots of room and stuff and while like I said it’s not a bad area out front there’s usually a bunch of kids out there to smoke and smoke up or drink.

It’s the “rebel” teenager stuff kind of place but I park the van out back and we head to out front from there.

I slow down well I can’t really go fast in my crutches anyways but I wait and see if I can see her out front and she’s there.

When I got home from school I heard Mom on the telephone. She was laughing and her mood had changed from the night before. I walked into the kitchen as she hung up the phone.

“Hi honey, oh my God, what happened to you?”

When I’m with my boy friends at school, or anywhere else, no one questions who I am, even with my pretty face. It’s no wonder Frank the bully thought I was an easy mark, looking the way I do. I may be pretty, but I’m still not a sissy, just ask Frank and any of the other kids who look to me for protection.

As I’ve said already, I’m tough as nails, and I’ll do anything, any other boy will do. I’ve had the scrapes to prove it. Maybe that’s why I don’t object to looking like a pretty girl.

Who’s going to tease me about it?

Certainly not Frank or his cronies.