By the time Mark was back to her own dormitory the tears had become a steady stream down her face. She had ignored several girls on the way back who had noticed she was in distress. They clearly knew Anna but she did not know them.
Back in the room she threw herself on to her bottom bunk and buried her head into the pillow. There she exercised Anna's lungs and wailed her heart out. How could this had happened. The summer break Mark had been looking for had turned into his worst nightmare, or should we say her worst nightmare.
Of course she had no privacy in the room and soon had several of her young charges trying to console her. They had no success and Mark remained incoherent. One of the girls raced off to find Mrs Wilson.
10 minutes later Heather arrived. Sizing up the situation she shooed the younger girls out then commanded the still bawling "Anna" to stop burying her head in the pillow and tell her what had happened.
Heather had a commanding voice and Mark, used to obeying his teachers finally got herself under control and rolled over.
'What has happened to get you in a tiz Anna? You are usually so calm and collected'
Mark couldn't exactly tell her the truth. However she decided to stick as closely to the truth as possible. 'I had an argument' she managed to get out.
'Must have been some argument. Can I ask who with?'
There was no denying it was with Jennifer. Heather would quickly find out. 'Jennifer'
'And why were you and Jennifer arguing?'
'I'd rather not say'
'Fair enough. However remember I am a trained counselor. Perhaps I could help you. Let me guess. Was it over a boy?'
Mark supposed it was, just not in the way Heather suspected. She nodded.
'You are not the first girl to end up in tears over a boy and you won't be the last. Males are a strange breed and will always let you down. I can tell you that from personal experience'
'No its not like that. Mark a good guy'
'Mark? And how long has Mark been around for?'
'We've been an item since last year'
'And I suppose Mark has been two timing with Jennifer?'
'No. Mark is faithful'
'Then why did you you and Jennifer argue? I thought she was your friend'
Mark was confused. She blurted out. 'I'm stuck here for 6 weeks, Jennifer is going home in 3 weeks'
'And your concerned that Jennifer is going to seduce your boyfriend in your absence?'
Mark didn't know what to say. She nodded. Let Heather believe that. Maybe she would then leave her alone.
'Well let me say that if Mark is likely to be seduced by Jennifer he is not worth pining over. If you can't trust him, dump him now is my advice. There are plenty of boys out there who would love to date a pretty and talented girl like you. You're too young to commit to one boy. Now how about I make you a coffee. Then we need to unpack your bags. I think I told you I have plenty of wardrobe space in my room. It's there for you to use'
Somehow Mark was very compliant. With Heathers help she did unpack the two large suitcases Anna had packed. The undies, jeans, shorts and other stuff such as a box of jewelry went into the lockable box under her bed. However Heather insisted the dresses and tops Anna had packed should be hung up in the Wardrobe in her own room. Heather made a fuss about the red dress and also about a long pleated skirt 'That will be great for our rockabilly night' There were three other dresses and that wasn't counting the blue dress Mark had worn on the bus, which incidently was the first item of clothing to be delivered to the camp laundry. Heather had Alice, the girl who had voimted on Mark deliver the dress before the laundry closed. Mark was relieved to find a second pair of jeans and three sets of shorts, she decided they would be well used over the next few days.
Mark was embarrassed that the only swimsuits Anna had packed were two pairs of bikinis. Anna did look good in a bikini but Mark wasn't keen on the idea of wearing one herself. She wondered how she get out of participating in the water sports. Then there were the colorful bras and panties - some of them made the blue set she was wearing seem very plain.
However it was coming across a box of sanitary pads that bought the truth home to Mark that he was stuck as a female for the foreseeable future. It was what prompted Mark to tell Heather 'I want to go home'. If he got home he could use the medallion to change back to himself. Bugger Anna and her camp. Mark didn't owe Anna anything.
'I'm sad to hear you say that Anna. I really want you to stay. I think its just your worries over this boy that is troubling you. My advice is to forget him and just enjoy your summer. You will likely get the lead role in the musical this year and I know you have been coveting that opportunity for years. I think you will forever regret foregoing that experience. Sleep on it and make your decision when you are calm. Look we have the opening dinner tonight. We need to help the young ones get ready. I bet they will be starting to worry about being kept out of the dormitory. No doubt a few of them will be wanting to get changed. Which of your dresses were you planning to wear? I think that yellow dress would be perfect' Mark knew that dress. Anna had worn it to his birthday party.
Several hours later Mark was in Anna's yellow polka dot dress. Evidently it was tradition that on the opening night the girls would dress up. As a matter of fact every girl in the dorm wore some sort of dress. Mark had taken a bit of convincing to put on the dress. Only two hours earlier she had thought she might have got away with wearing jeans or shorts for the duration of her time as a female. But Heather must have handed the yellow dress to one of the girls. Who had delivered it to Mark while telling all the other girls in the room 'Look at the dress Anna is going to wear'. Peer pressure made Mark put it on. She was initially self conscious but in reality would have been just as embarrassed had she been the only girl in jeans. At least this way she blended in.
The dinner went smoothly enough. Mark noticed "Jennifer" giving her a wave as she entered and indicated that Mark should take the vacant seat beside her. However Mark felt she had a small win by ignoring "Jennifer" and sitting with some of the girls from her own dormitory.
Mark escaped as soon as dinner was over. She used the excuse of needing to take Alice to bed. The little girl had basically fallen asleep at the table. Heather was impressed at how dedicated "Anna" was at looking after her young charges. Hence she successfully avoided talking to "Jennifer"
She managed to beat the crowd to the amenities block, did her business and cleaned Anna's teeth. Anna did have nice white teeth. Back in the dorm Mark changed into Anna's pyjamas. She had a satin pair in basically the same color as the panties Mark had been wearing all day. Mark preferred them to the pink nightie which seemed to be her only other choice. Mark ended up being the third girl in the dorm to go to bed. It was only 8.30 pm and still pretty bright outside but Mark was physically and emotionally exhausted. When Heather was back in the dorm getting the other girls into bed at the official bedtime of 9pm she was amazed that Anna could sleep through the commotion.