Return of the Sister: Part 5

Bobby had been fully prepared to rip Beverly and the other cheerleaders a new one the next day at school, but his ex-girlfriend had nipped that idea in the bud, assuring him it would just make things worse. To his bafflement, the girls greeted him at his locker as though nothing had happened, fawning over his outfit and asking him his opinion on DeShawn’s biceps. But as the day went on, he realized the cheerleaders didn’t need to do anything else -- they’d gotten the ball rolling, and now the gossip-hungry organism that was Jefferson High was happy to do the rest.

By the time the final bell rang, Bobby was ready to snap. He’d endured non-stop staring and giggling in the hallways, at least a dozen different people whispering “she’s a lady?” as he walked by, and being obviously excluded from a new “cheerleaders only” group chat during lunch hour. To top it off, someone had hung a jockstrap in his locker. And Kimmy was being no help at all, claiming she didn’t want to get in the middle of things since the cheerleaders were her friends, too -- what a load of bullshit.

As he headed for the exit, he couldn’t help but check on the online situation. The video had originally been posted anonymously on some throw-away Twitter account, and from there Ally, Beverly, and the other cheerleaders had shared it like crazy. The original Tweet was still racking up replies, mostly crying-with-laughter emojis. One particular response caught his eye.

You all need to grow the fuck up. Plus, who films someone in a bathroom?

Bobby felt a rush of vindication -- not everybody was laughing at him -- then frowned as he recognized the Instagram handle. It was Josh Delacroix. He hadn’t thought about his former basketball rival in weeks, and now here he was, defending his honor online. He didn’t like that, but he couldn’t help but notice several dozen people had already piled on to agree with Josh’s post, starting to turn the tide of opinion. Bobby reasoned he’d probably just done it to look magnanimous, or whatever. He had that squeaky clean image to maintain, after all.

Lost in his thoughts, Bobby didn’t notice his mom’s Range Rover parked outside the school until she honked the horn. He jumped, then looked up. His mom was waving cheerily from behind the wheel, and beside her in the passenger’s seat was, of course, Serena. Bobby braced himself, then walked over. Maybe Serena was cancelling bootcamp in favor of a shopping excursion -- she would probably try to embarrass the hell out of him, but as long as their mom was there, she couldn’t do anything too drastic.

“Hi, sweetie,” his mom said, rolling down her window. “I thought you were working on your walk?”

Bobby frowned. “Um, what?”

“Barbie, please don’t tell me you’ve been tottering around like a secretary all day,” Serena chided from the passenger seat. “You’re a model, and you need to walk like one. Go back to the door and try again, okay?”

“I’m not going to try again,” Bobby spluttered. “It’s school, I’m not on some freaking catwalk.”

“The whole world is your catwalk now, sweetie,” his mom said. “Come on, please? I want to see what my girls were working so hard on yesterday. For me, Barbie?”

Bobby’s mouth swung open and shut as he tried to come up with an excuse. Finally, he dropped his bag, walked backward about a dozen yards, and placed his hands on his waist in approved fashion model fashion. Then, doing his best to ignore the curious onlookers, he sashayed up to the car with the bouncing, sexy strut he’d been forced to learn yesterday. Several guys catcalled, and Bobby couldn’t get to the safety of the Range Rover fast enough.

“Much better,” his mom said proudly as he slid carefully into the backseat, smoothing his skirt. “How was school?”

“Fine,” Bobby said automatically, still blushing. “Um, what’s with the ride?” He shot a suspicious look at Serena, who just smiled back. “Not that I’m complaining. The bus smells like armpit.”

His mom wrinkled her nose just imagining it. “Bootcamp, remember? I’m just dropping you two off at the gym for your workout.”

Bobby blinked in surprise. He’d been expecting another round of high heel torture at home. After all, the gym was his thing. Sure, he had stopped working out once the gynecomastia thing got worse, but he was still stronger than any actual girl. If Serena thought she could scare him off with physical exercise, she had another thing coming.

“It’s for me, too,” Serena explained casually. “I have a swimsuit show coming up, and I need to stay in shape.”

“Sweetie, you look amazing,” their mom chided. “Although, yes, that show is definitely top priority.”

“Um, I don’t have my gym stuff,” Bobby said. “Can we swing by the house?”

His mom wrinkled her nose yet again. “Oh, Barbie, those raggedy old shorts you used to wear? Don’t worry, I tossed them. Along with everything else in your gym bag.”

Bobby blanched. “Wait, you didn’t throw out my Tomcats jersey, did you?” he demanded.

“No, no,” his mom said. “I think you’re supposed to return it to the school? So I put it in the laundry. Anyways, sweetie, Serena and I did a little shopping and picked up some brand new gym wear for you.”

Bobby gave a small sigh of relief that his old school jersey had escaped the trash, even if his workout shorts hadn’t. He knew he wouldn’t like whatever the Vickerson women had picked out for him as a replacement, but at the same time, he reasoned it couldn’t be worse than stilettos and a miniskirt.

And now that he was taking the male hormone pills Dr. Skito had provided him with, maybe a trip to the gym would boost his testosterone levels and help him finally put on some muscle. At the very least, it was a chance to show up Serena for once. His older sister probably still remembered him as a wimpy little twelve-year-old. But things had changed, and even if he’d been out of the game for a while, he was still the athlete in the family.

Bobby smiled grimly. The gym was his territory, not hers, and Serena was going to find that out the hard way.

#

Kimberly was at home, trying to catch up on all the homework she’d neglected in favor of inventing a fake doctor, when the doorbell rang. And kept ringing. Someone was hitting the button like their life depended on it, and, since her mom was still at work, Kimberly grudgingly made her way to the door to answer it. She peered through the peephole, blinked and looked again to be sure of what she was seeing, then swung the door open.

She was met with the full view of her ex-boyfriend decked out in incredibly skimpy gym wear and drenched in sweat. His hair was a tousled blonde mess, his makeup was running, and he was practically hyperventilating, breasts heaving prettily in the confines of a tiny pink sports bra that matched his skin-tight bottoms.

“Did you run here?” she asked, genuinely taken aback.

“My mom dropped me off,” he said, gesturing to the Range Rover on the street with a painfully fake smile. “Because we’re, uh, having a sleepover! Remember? Just let me inside.”

“It’s not a great time,” Kimberly said, though on the inside she was dying to know what had gotten Bobby so agitated.

“Come on,” Bobby pleaded. “I texted you!”

“When?” Kimberly asked, frowning. Her phone buzzed. “Oh,” she said, seeing the message. “Two seconds ago.”

She looked at the Range Rover and saw Bobby’s mom behind the wheel, while beside her was a girl she recognized only from photos -- a lot of photos. Serena was also in workout attire, and had a healthy glow about her, but in sharp contrast to Bobby, not a single hair was out of place and she wasn’t sweaty in the slightest.

“Alright, come in,” Kimberly said. “Try not to, like, drip everywhere.”

Bobby darted inside, dumped his gym bag on the carpet, and slammed the door behind him like he was fleeing from a serial killer. “She was going to make me work on my ‘angles’ again at home,” he said. “She never stops! She’s like the freaking Energizer bunny, if the Energizer bunny was evil.”

“What happened?” Kimberly asked, trying to disguise her curiosity as concern.

Bobby gave a moan of frustration, and she was surprised to see tears welling in her ex’s eyes -- as if the sweat hadn’t done enough damage to his makeup. “Everything happened!” he choked. “All the worst, most embarrassing, most…” He nearly sobbed. “I mean, first off, she made me wear this freaking outfit.”

Kimberly had zero doubt as to why Serena had chosen it -- the bra crammed Bobby’s growing boobs together into an enticing slice of cleavage, while the short shorts clung to every curve of his increasingly feminine butt with latticed panels to show even more skin. It was definite “gym bunny” wear, the sort of thing Instagram fitness models paraded around in to get guys drooling, and with his styled hair and full makeup, he would have looked like a hot blonde who was more interested in muscly men than actually working out.

“And I had to get changed in the women’s change room,” Bobby muttered. “But of course, Serena asks to make sure if it’s okay if her trans sister uses the women’s change room, because she doesn’t want any harassment. Freaking bitch. She made sure everyone in the place knew I was a guy! Or, you know, that I was trans, or whatever.” He switched to a screechy high-pitched voice that was probably not a very accurate Serena impression. “Make sure you’re tucked up really tight, we wouldn’t want anything flopping around! Now that you’re taking estrogen, your booty is going to totally fill out!”

“Wow,” Kimberly said, impressed, despite herself with Serena’s viciousness. “I mean, wow, that’s awful.”

“I had all these MILFs looking at me like I was some kind of circus freak,” Bobby said miserably. “I thought it would get a little better, like, once we were actually working out? I was planning to kick her ass, actually.” He looked like he was on the verge of tears again. “But I can barely lift a freaking dumb bell anymore. I don’t get it. I thought the pills Dr. Skito gave me…”

“It’s only been a few days,” Kimberly said quickly. “Nothing takes effect that fast.”

“We were doing mostly resistance band and body weight stuff, anyways,” Bobby muttered. “Like, squatting on balance boards and all that. I don’t know how she does it, she barely broke a freaking sweat. Of course she had us do it right in front of the free weights section, so every single roid monkey in the whole place was staring at my ass. And she wouldn’t shut up. She kept saying…” Bobby flushed and trailed off. “You know, stuff.”

“Like what?” Kimberly demanded.

Bobby’s face was screwed up to keep from crying. “Like, telling me which guys were hot, and asking me which guys I’d like to take me out,” he babbled. “As if just because I’m, you know, just because I’m dressed like this... I’m not… I don’t like guys, okay?” He put his face in his hands and spoke in a small, shaky voice. “But when I was in the changing room, and all these hot girls were everywhere getting undressed, it was like… I didn’t even get turned on, Kimmy. At all.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, right?” Kimberly asked bracingly. “A hard-on in the women’s changing room is kind of a vibe changer.”

Bobby just gave a miserable shrug.

“Look, Serena can’t stay in Green Lake forever,” Kimberly said, deciding she needed to give her ex some emotional support, but not too much. “All you have to do is outlast her. Just hang in there for a week, and she’ll probably be flying off to Milan or whatever.”

“I wish,” Bobby said darkly. “She says she’s planning to stick around as long as it takes to ‘help’ me find my ‘true self.’ She’s serious about this.”

That much was becoming clear. Kimberly had always thought Serena was probably just a grown-up version of Beverly, or some other stuck up but generally airheaded girl. But from what Bobby was telling her, she wasn’t just catty -- she was downright devious, in a way that reminded Kimberly of herself.

In fact, while she didn’t particularly need a selfie, she was increasingly curious to meet her ex’s big sister. She’d turned Bobby into a quivering mess with one little trip to the gym, after all, which was something Kimberly could really appreciate. She was okay with letting Serena play with her doll, but she also had to make sure she didn’t break anything. Kimberly had worked way too hard to let an interloper mess things up.

“Maybe I can have a little talk with her,” Kimberly said casually. “Girl to girl.”

#

It was Friday after school, and Bobby was seriously considering fleeing the country. Every day seemed a little worse than the last: now that the cheerleaders had turned on him, lunch hour had become an exercise in playing dumb as he tried to ignore the subtle and not-so-subtle jibes Bev and Ally were constantly throwing at him. And the final bell offered no respite, since it meant he was in his sister’s clutches for the next three hours.

When it came to finding new ways to make him miserable, Serena’s creativity was boundless. After running him ragged at the gym on Tuesday, she’d followed it up on Wednesday with a three-hour intensive on makeup, forcing him to start over from scratch after the smallest mistake. Thursday had been the worst yet, a simulated “boudoir” style photo shoot, cranking up the A/C in the studio while she had him wriggling into and out of various sets of skimpy lingerie, with his dad once again playing photographer.

And now here he was on Friday afternoon, attending his first barre class. They had barely started the warm-up, and he was already wishing the Earth would open up and swallow him.

“You are going to love what this does for your ass, little sis,” Serena said, gripping the ballet bar and swinging her leg back and forth in a graceful arc. “A few months of this and you won’t be able to fit it in your tights. Of course, the boys will love that, too.”

Bobby flushed, but he managed to maintain the fake smile that had become his default expression whenever Serena taunted him. “Cool,” he said. “I can’t wait.”

He could guess why Serena had picked this particular barre class: the back wall of the studio was made of glass, and across the hallway Bobby had a clear view of a basketball court where a pick-up game was underway. Of course, the guys hanging around on the bench also had a clear view of a bunch of hotties in skin-tight Lululemon whenever they “happened” to glance over. It was excruciating, being so close to his old domain but instead being forced to practice flexing his butt and thrusting his pelvis with the girls instead.

“It’s amazing how fast you’re filling out,” Serena continued. “Of course, I don’t know if your boobs will ever get to ‘Barbie’ proportions without a little help. Maybe I could suggest that to Mom and Dad as a little present for their new daughter?”

Bobby’s stomach plunged at the idea, as ridiculous as it was. “Go ahead,” he said flatly. “They’ll tell you you’re nuts. I’m a freaking minor.”

Serena smirked. “Oh, you are so naive, little sis.”

Bobby grimaced. “If you seriously think Mom and Dad would ever…”

“Hey, Barbie, sorry I’m late!” Kimberly said, appearing with her towel and water bottle at the ready. Bobby looked up. Once he would have gotten some enjoyment out of the sight of his ex wearing a pair of painted-on yoga pants, but it wasn’t quite the same now that he was decked out in even skimpier attire. She leaned in for an air kiss, which Bobby grudgingly returned.

“No problem,” he chirped. He shot a defiant look at his sister. “Serena, this is my friend Kimberly. I told her she could come join, hope that’s okay.”

Kimberly had insisted on coming, claiming she might be able to get Serena to back off, but Bobby didn’t buy that one little bit. She hadn’t even been able to get Beverly and Ally off his back, so how was she possibly going to get Serena to do it? She was doubtless just in it for a selfie with a fashion model, just like the other cheerleaders. The only reason Bobby agreed to play along was because he knew Serena couldn’t be quite as horrible in front of a witness.

“No problem,” Serena said, and she looked Kimberly up and down with a surprisingly icy smile. “I think our mom mentioned you. You’ve been helping our little Barbie doll adjust to girlhood, right?”

Bobby grimaced at the “doll” addendum, but Kimberly was unperturbed. “I guess you could say that, yeah,” his ex said, returning Serena’s smile with one that looked every bit as fake. “Just kind of looking out for her, you know?”

“Don’t be so modest,” Serena said. “I heard you were really supportive when she, um, ‘came out.’ In fact, it kind of looked like you two planned that whole thing together?”

Bobby couldn’t contain a derisive snort. His “coming out” had been the work of an anonymous hacker obsessed with “Barbie,” and everything since then had been damage control. He knew Kimberly was probably thinking the same thing, judging by the flicker of disbelief that crossed her face.

“Like I said,” she repeated slowly. “Just looking out for her.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Serena said. “But now she’s got her big sister here to look out for her, so it’s not really, you know, necessary.”

Bobby wasn’t sure what was going on, but suddenly Serena had shifted her laser-like focus directly onto Kimberly, almost as if he wasn’t there at all. It was a welcome reprieve. The class was getting underway, but both girls were completely ignoring the teacher’s instructions, observing each other closely as a strange tension started to mount.

Suddenly, Serena clapped her hands together. “Oops, looks like we’re starting,” she said, in a tone of cheery surprise. “Let’s kill those glutes, girls.”

Still slightly baffled, Bobby turned questioningly to his ex as they started doing lunges. She just gave him a terse shake of the head. She had a distracted look in her eye, and seemed oddly worried. Bobby couldn’t guess why -- after all, he was the only one here with something to lose.

#

Kimberly spent the whole barre class mentally preparing herself, and during the break it finally happened: Serena sent Bobby scurrying off to refill their water bottles, then came over for a private chat. Even though she felt a huge sense of foreboding, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit of awe, too. Serena’s hair was immaculate, and her body was perfect, with flat abs and an incredible ass obviously sculpted by years in the gym.

She and Bobby had the same great genetics, clearly, but Serena had been working with estrogen for a lot longer. Not only that, the way she carried herself was on a whole different level from Beverly or any snooty high school queen bee. She somehow managed to exude cunning, regal power and sex appeal all at the same time.

“So, Kimberly, I’m just going to cut right to the point,” Serena said, flinging her towel over her shoulder. “How the fuck did Bobby rope you into this?”

Kimberly blinked. “Into barre class?” she asked, snarky by reflex even as she scrambled to figure out how she was going to play this situation.

“Into helping him pretend to be trans,” Serena said casually. “I know he didn’t learn all this shit on his own. Somebody helped him, and that somebody was you.”

Kimberly drew a breath, glancing around the dance studio. The other girls were oblivious to the importance of this conversation, chattering in small groups about the instructor’s amazing body, and she answered in a loud voice.

“You know, misgendering someone is a really bad look these days, Serena,” she said.

“Misgendering, my ass,” Serena shot back, seemingly delighted. “If you know Bobby at all, you know he’s always been jealous of me, to the point of, like, pathology. First he tried getting Mom and Dad’s attention with his basketball. That obviously didn’t work. So he decided to try something more radical. Now he’s in over his head and too stupid to find a way out.” Serena crossed her arms and cocked her head. “You, on the other hand, don’t seem stupid. So why are you playing along?”

Kimberly was suddenly regretting coming to barre class. She’d wanted to meet Serena and get a clearer idea of who she was dealing with -- watching Bobby do a bunch of exercises designed to improve the female orgasm was just a bonus -- but she’d underestimated just how quickly Serena would suss out the partial truth. She knew Kimberly was in on the fact that “Barbie” was bullshit, but for now still believed Bobby was the instigator of the whole thing. If she were to find out the whole truth, things would get very messy, very fast.

“Okay, fine, don’t answer that,” Serena said, raising her hands in mock surrender. “I’ll guess. You’re pretty, flexible, and in decent shape, so that means you’re probably a cheerleader.”

A small part of Kimberly was delighted to have Serena Vickerson call her pretty, but a much larger part of her was approaching panic.

“I know from Mom and Dad that Bobby mostly used his basketball talents to get laid, since he’s a horny little shit with a very fragile macho ego,” Serena continued. “So I’m guessing he pumped and dumped you at some victory party, right?”

Kimberly felt her face growing red. “He didn’t pump and dump me,” she blurted. “We dated for three months.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. You dated.” Serena smirked. “Even better. So, you dated for three months, which was long enough for you to realize he gave exactly zero fucks about you, and then he dumped you.”

Kimberly held her breath. She had to get control of herself. This was getting to be very, very dangerous territory. She could practically see the wheels turning in Serena’s head.

“So when he came up with this crazy plan to be ‘Barbie,’ just to piss me off and get some attention, he knew he needed someone to show him the girly ropes,” Serena continued coolly. “So he went to you. And you agreed to help him, and to keep it all hush-hush, because…”

“Because I’m still in love with him, okay?” Kimberly snapped.

Serena blinked in surprise.

“There, I said it, I freaking said it,” Kimberly babbled, pushing the emotion in her voice to the limit. “I’m still in love with him, and I’d do anything for him, no matter what it is, even… Even…” She shut her eyes briefly. “Even helping him turn himself into a girl.”

Serena stared at her. Kimberly clenched her fists at her sides, waiting for Bobby’s sister to narrow her eyes and call bullshit. But then, to her mingled pride and embarrassment, Serena gave a derisive laugh.

“Jesus,” she said. “And here I thought you were smart, Kimberly. He dumped you after three months, and you’re still running after him like a puppy dog? Still letting him pull the strings? I hate to break it to you, but if he’s on hormones much longer he won’t even be able to give you that pity fuck you’re clearly after.”

Kimberly didn’t have to fake the blush on her cheeks. Serena had bought the story, but it was hard to feel victorious about it. In fact, she thought she felt an inkling of what Bobby had been experiencing these past few days.

“Well, lucky for you, I’m going to straighten all this out,” Serena said casually. “I don’t expect you to help me, since you’re still acting like a thirsty little thot. But I expect you to stay out of my way. Clear?”

Kimberly swallowed. “Clear,” she replied, in a small voice.

“Good,” Serena said coldly.

At that very moment, Bobby reappeared, pony-tail bouncing, with the refilled water bottles clutched in his manicured hands. Judging by the dark blotch on his sports bra, he’d managed to spill a bunch down his cleavage. Despite that, he had a bright smile on his made-up face.

“The line was super long,” he said. “Did I miss anything?”

“Not a thing,” Serena said, accepting the water bottle without so much as glancing at her little brother.

The instructor returned to her spot at the front of the classroom, and Kimberly went back to her spot on the ballet bar. She knew she’d bought herself some time by throwing Serena off the trail, but it was only a temporary measure. She needed to find a way to get Bobby’s sister out of the picture before she blew everything up.

Just before Kimberly put her phone away, it buzzed with a new message from Bobby showing several water droplet emojis, a barfy face, and finally, just to make it completely clear: Totally spat in Serena’s water bottle, get on my LEVEL.

Despite herself, Kimberly’s mouth twitched in the direction of a smile. Taking Serena down was going to require a lot more than just saliva, but she supposed you had to start somewhere.