Religious Liberty On Trial

by Debbie Lawrence

  Tom smiled "Yeah, I see what you mean. You're not just pretty, you are beautiful, graceful, sexy, and elegant, all at the same time. No wonder I was drawn to you."

  Tina smiled "So that's why I thought it would be a bad idea. If you saw me naked in my bedroom, we'd both be upset."

  Tom nodded "I can see that. I wouldn't have been prepared for a guy. Why would you be upset?"

  Tina winced "I don't like being a guy. I wish I could get rid of all of it, and grow some big beautiful breasts, but I couldn't do that tonight even if it was possible. Besides, I'm a lesbian."

  Tom had a moment of clarity "That girl you were slow-dancing with before, she's your ---"

  Tina nodded "Lesbian lover, yes. We treat each other like women. And I love her very much."

  Tom gracefully bowed and smiled "You should go to her then; you've been away from each other far too long. You are a beautiful couple by the way."

  Tina went over to Alice and gave her a warm passionate kiss

  "The cadet stirred your blood?"

  Tina shook her head "No, made my even more grateful for how much I love you!"

  Alice glanced at the Cadets staring from about 50 feet away.

  "You're getting a lot of attention, and this is making it even more intense."

  Tina looked. "You're right, they look like a pack of hungry wolves."

  Alice grinned "Let's go out and feed them."

  She pulled Tina to the dance floor, and since a fast disco song was playing, Alice decided to do some dirty dancing of her own. She held Tina close, pressed her right thigh into Tina's right thigh and then waited for Tina to press her right thigh. Soon, they were sliding up and down each other's thighs.

  Alice pulled Tina's head close, "I'm so hot I could do you right here on the dance floor."

  Tina winked "In front of all these boys?"

  Alice pressed her close "Especially in front of these boys. I want them to know you're mine."

  Tina smiled "I'll always be yours."

  Alice pressed into Tina's chest, then just gave her a deep kiss.

  "You'll have to fix your lips after this dance."

  Suddenly, they found themselves each dancing with two cadets. The guy with Alice was trying to take control, and Alice was having none of it. If these guys wanted blue balls, OK, but it would be on HER terms.

  She grabbed him by the waist and ground into him with her leg and hip. She bit him gently on the neck. She could feel the wet spot on his pants that said she'd accomplished her goal.

  Tina on the other hand, was having more trouble. Alex had realized that Tina was submissive. He pulled her close and gave her a kiss. She gasped, but there was no melting.

  Still, Alex pressed on. Finally, he danced her into a corner and put his hand up her dress. When he put his hand inside her panties he was completely confused, until the tiny weeny popped loose.

  Alex was pissed "Shit, you're a faggot! Tom bet me a hundred bucks I couldn't get into your pants, but I didn't expect this shit."

  Tina was upset "Tell Tom you won your bet! If you want, I'll go over with him and tell him myself."

  Alex balked "And let him know I kissed a fag, hell no."

  Tina put her hands on her hips. "Until you put your hand in my crotch, you thought I was a pretty girl, didn't you?"

  Alex nodded "Yeah, you were really sexy, but..."

  Tina nodded "But nothing! Tell that asshole he has to pay up. Remember, he kissed me too. You're both very straight men."

  Alex shook his head "I can't"

  Tina pushed him up against the wall. "Listen idiot! It was a sucker bet, he knew that even if you scored, you wouldn't collect. Because he already knew what I was."

  Alex stopped "You mean he set me up!"

  Tina nodded "That's right. So, let's say you and I go over to Tom and collect your winnings. I have a few words for him too.

  Tina dragged him by the hand over to the table where Tom was sitting. "Tom, you owe Alex a hundred bucks, so pay the fuck up. By the way, I DO live on campus and I'm VERY close friends with a LOT of women here, and they will want to hear all about this tomorrow morning, so you will probably find it nearly impossible to get a date of ANY kind if you ever come back. We have ways of dealing with guys who don't respect women, and you wouldn't like it!"

  Tom pulled out the hundred and slapped it on the table. "You really are a girl, you're a full-blown BITCH!"

  Tina smiled "And don't you EVER forget it."

  Tina stepped out to the patio. She was a whirlwind of emotions, and just needed to get away from the music, the noise, and the BOYS for a few minutes.

  Alice, Sherry, and Shannon could see Tina was upset when she didn't come back to Alice.

  "What's wrong honey!"

  Tina started to cry "I just got groped by some jerk trying to win a bet with a guy who knew what I was. I was so humiliated."

  Tina told them what had happened with Tom, then what happened with Alex. Then she told him how Tom had been so cruel when she made him pay up.

  Shannon was pissed "Alex should be charged with rape, at least sexual assault."

  Tina shook her head "Right, what Jury would convict! Tom could even back him up."

  Sherry nodded "The real jerk here is Tom. But I have an idea how to deal with him. Shannon, get all the other girls out here."

  In about 20 minutes they had their plan.

  Sherry came over and sat on Tom's lap. "Hey big boy, you're wasting your time with Tina, she's a dyke. How'd you like to get lucky tonight?"

  Sherry danced with Tom for about 30 minutes, dirty dancing with him, getting him worked up, and sweaty.

  "OK big boy, let's go to my room."

  Tom figured this was a sure thing. "Sure baby. Let's go."

  When they got to Sherry's room, she took off his coat and shirt.

  "Oh God, you stink to high heaven, and you're all sticky. You need a shower."

  Tom nodded "OK, where's the shower I'll get cleaned up."

  Sherry smiled "It's down the hall and to the left. Just be very quiet, this is the girl's dorm and boys aren't supposed to be in there. You can take my terrycloth robe."

  Tom put on the robe and quietly walked down the hall. He quietly hung up his robe, outside the shower, then started the water, and started to wash off.

  Sarah came in and took the terry cloth robe and put a pink chiffon robe in its place. She also removed all the towels in the room.

  When Tom got out of the shower, he saw the pink robe. He looked for the other robe, but it was gone. He heard someone open the door and headed back to the shower. The other girl, went to a stall, and did her business. Tom was practically holding his breath, hoping nobody would realize he was there.

  Finally, the girl finished her business and washed her hands and dried them with the paper towels. Then she left.

  Tom tried to dry himself off with the paper towels. He'd gotten the basic parts done. He grabbed the robe. Maybe Sherry would know what happened.

  When he got back to Sherry's room, he knocked gently. What he didn't know is that Sherry was in Alice's room across the hall.

  Tom knocked harder. When there was still no answer, Tom began to panic. He started yelling "Sherry, open the door!"

  Finally, he started to rage "SHERRY OPEN THE GODDAM DOOR!!"

  He lost it “OPEN THE GODDAM DOOR OR I’LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU WHEN YOU COME OUT!”

  That was the queue for Sarah to come out and blow her rape whistle. All the girls on the dorm had one, and they all knew what that sound meant. It meant that someone was either being raped or about to be raped.

  Suddenly the hall was filled with girls blowing their rape whistles, then giggling at the sight of poor Tom in his pink Chiffon robe.

  Finally, they opened the door of Alice’s room, and Sherry, Tina, and Alice stepped out into the hallway.

  Tom was raging "WHERE'S MY GODDAM CLOTHES!"

  Sherry smiled "I have them to Tina, Tina what did you do with them?"

 
Tina grinned "I gave them to Alice! Alice, what did you do with them?"

  Alice smiled "I threw them out the window, into the bushes. They should be out front. You shouldn't have any trouble getting them. Of course, you'll have to avoid the security team, they've probably already called the cops when they heard those rape whistles. They will be looking for the rapist and stopping anyone who even looks suspicious. You look really suspicious.

  Tom took a swing at Tina. Tina blocked the blow, sweeping his hand aside and into the brick wall. One thing Tina had learned do during 8 years of bullying was block punches to the face.

  With that, ALL the girls went back inside their rooms and shut the doors. Poor Tom was stuck in the hall in a sheer housecoat. He ran to the door and went out to get his clothes and heard the door lock behind him. He did find his clothes, but they were high in the bushes. He tried to get them with a pole, but that caught the attention of the local police, who helped Ted get his clothes, then arrested him on suspicion of rape and called his commanding officer at the Academy.

  Eventually, he was released because no one at the college had pressed formal charges. There were lots of witnesses who had heard him making nasty threats to Sherry, Tina, and Alice. One point of the Rape whistles was to make sure there was no lack of witnesses who could testify.

  For the rest of the week-end Ted was gone. Tina went to breakfast, lunch and dinner on both Saturday and Sunday. She and Alice spent time in each other's rooms, and the sounds could be heard down the halls of both dorms. By now EVERYBODY knew that Tina and Alice were together.

  Of course, what astonished everyone was that even in street clothes, Tina was still a surprisingly pretty girl.

  Sarah smiled "Doing a full make over is one thing, but you're even pretty in broad daylight. I don't know how you do it, but I'm impressed. I believe you really ARE a girl!"

  Alice teased "What was YOUR first clue Sherlock!"

  By Sunday breakfast, it was unanimous, everyone agreed that Tina was the real deal and 99.44% girl. The cubic inch that said "boy" had been outvoted.

  In fact, the girls were so accepting of Tina as a girl that when one of the girls had her visit from Aunt Flo, they were fully comfortable talking about it in front of Tina. Tina wasn't grossed out; she did seem to understand that this was a hard time and let her friend vent.

  Monday, Ted showed up for breakfast. When he joined them at the table, they could see that being Ted was harder.

  Shannon gave him a hug. "Hey baby girl, why the long face. You look like you're going to your own execution."

  Ted nodded "It feels like I'm killing Tina. I was so happy this weekend, I had a great time with all of you and I wanted to be Tina forever. Going back to being Ted just feels like I'm going back to the prison cell, putting on the spiky iron clown mask, and trying to be OK with that. But I'm not OK with that"

  Sherry hugged him too. "The big difference is that now we know that you're really Tina, no matter how you're dressed."

  In Dance class, Ted's spirit's lifted. For one thing, it gave Tina a chance to come out full force for an hour. She picked up the combination and was adding her own punctuations.

  When the teacher commented "Ted, you seem to be picking up some new moves."

  Sasha, who had been at the dance and found out about Tina smiled "You should have seen her Friday night. She was amazing. Tina has some great moves."

  Several of the other girls chimed in. You mean that girl that was dancing with Alice? She was amazing!"

  Terri nodded "Yeah, that was HER," and pointed to Ted.

  Tina blushed. At that moment, she looked like a girl. She had pulled her pony tail higher rather than low against her back.

  The teacher smiled "I suspected, but I didn't want to scare you away. Could you show us some of those moves sometime Tina?"

  Tina smiled and nodded. "Yes, ma'am, that might be fun for all of us."

  Unfortunately, she had to leave early. It wasn't her turn to sing, but Anna and Shelly both did their pop numbers with the mic. The teacher was impressed "That was amazing!"

  Shelly beamed "Tina had some really great ideas on selling the song and making love to the microphone, I really got it.!"

  The teacher was confused "Tina? Who is Tina? Is she in the music program?"

  Shelly shrugged "Sorry Ted, it slipped out."

  Ted smiled, Tina’s voice came out "It's OK Shelly, I don't think it's going to be a secret for much longer."

  The teacher smiled "I think we might have something to talk about TINA, how is that song coming?"

  Tina smiled "I should have it ready by Friday."

  Tina and Nancy

  The meeting with Nancy was at 7PM. Ted ate early so he would have time to turn into Tina before the meeting.

  She kept it simple and easy, a mid-thigh skirt, tan pantyhose, low chunk heels, and the peasant top blouse. No point in going overboard on the first day.

  As she walked to the main building, several of the kids waved and said "Hi Tina, love those shoes". Tina would stop and say something nice about each of them. Tina liked to look for the beauty and brilliance of other people. It was so easy for her to find greatness in others just as others found fault with others.

  Even the straight guys were starting to like Tina. She was cute, but she was taken, so there was no issue of being expected to make a move. Tina treated them with respect and avoided any direct challenges. It was bad enough losing to an effeminate man but being shot down by a guy who looks and acts like a girl was too much.

  Tina knocked on Nancy's door. Nancy opened it and was stunned. She just stood and stared for very awkward 2 minutes.

  "I'd heard about the dance and this girl at the dance, but if I weren't looking at you right now, I would never have believed it. Please come in, we need to talk."

  Once the door was shut Nancy asked if she could take some pictures. Tina nodded. "May I have a copy too? I don't have any girl pictures yet. I wish someone had taken pictures at the dance. I was really pretty that night."

  Nancy was surprised, Ted had always been so secretive, he had tried to keep his secret, but Tina was hoping that others had taken pictures."

  Tina and Nancy talked about the dance, the weekend as Tina, and the difficulty of going back to Ted.

  Nancy was curious "How did it FEEL going back to Ted?"

  Tina looked wistful. "Horrible, before I felt like I was in prison, in solitary confinement. Even when I clowned around for others, I was still alone because nobody knew ME.

  This week-end, I was given a "Weekend Pass" and got to experience being truly free, truly authentic, for a few days."

  "Going back to being Ted was like going back into that solitary confinement cell, not knowing whether or IF I will ever be free again."

  Nancy had to know "What if you could never go back?"

  Tina shook her head slowly. "I don't know! When I thought, I could never be a girl, that I would never pass, I wanted to kill myself, and tried more times than I can count. Now, with the possibility that I COULD live as a girl, I want to live, but I want to live free!"

  Nancy nodded "So if you had to live ONLY as Ted, you would eventually kill yourself?"

  Tina nodded "Yes, eventually, one way or another. It might be an accident, or I might try to kill myself, or I might just be self-destructive, smoking, drinking, overeating, or just falling asleep in a hot car in the summer, or a cold car in the winter."

  Nancy was concerned "You wouldn't just shoot yourself in the head?"

  Tina smiled "Too obvious. Buying a gun tips people off, you can miss and blow off your jaw and still live, and people will know it was suicide."

  Nancy was worried now. "Sounds like you have planned this out a few times. Have you ever actually tried it?"

  Tina nodded "Uh huh. Too many times. I've tried to overdose a few times, well a few dozen. I combined booze, over the counter drugs, pot or opium, and prescription drugs like Valium that they gave me for epilepsy."

  A surprised Nancy asked, "
You had epilepsy?"

  Tina shook her head "No. I was just using so many drugs in weird combinations that I was having the DTs when they did the EEG."

  "So when was the last time you tried to hurt yourself?"

  Tina looked sad "This summer. I went to the mountains with my family and my dad wanted me to cut my hair. He has never supported Tina. I don't think he likes me."

  "You talk about Tina and Ted as if they are two separate people. Are they two separate people?"

  Tina smiled "I once thought so, but once Daisy and Alice started letting me be me, I realized that Tina was always the real me. Ted was created to protect me. Teddy the clown, and Ted the intellectual. Both designed to keep the bullies from beating me to death, and to keep them from finding out about ME, Tina."

  "Do you ever lose track of time? Friends tell you that you did things you don't remember?"

  Tina smiled "Yeah, in high school. I would drink and drug myself into blackouts. It put Ted to sleep, but I remember what I did. When I hit that point, it's like everything designed to protect Tina was gone. I would become a flirt, and usually end up giving head to anyone who wanted it."

  Nancy smiled "Most people don't remember their blackouts. You seem to have no trouble."

  "I think TED couldn't remember what he did in those times, because he couldn't deal with the shame and guilt, the fear of discovery. If the mask had discovered it was no longer needed, it would simply shatter."

  Nancy was puzzled "Wouldn't that set you free?"

  Tina smiled "Yes, but as what? As a gay boy? As a guy who only gave girls head but had a teeny-weeny peeny?"

  Nancy couldn't help herself, she started to laugh uncontrollably. "I can't believe you just called it that, how small is it really?"

  Tina held up two fingers. "That big"

  Nancy was still laughing, "The length of your fingers? That's not so bad."

  Tina shook her head slowly "No, it's as LONG as the WIDTH of two fingers."

  Nancy suddenly stopped laughing "I see. That is pretty teeny."

  Tina grinned "See, that's why it's my teeny-weeny peeny"