Jennifer didn't know what she should do. It'd taken everything she had to bring Lucy in on the truth. And now, faced with having to tell the others, she felt all knotted up on the subject. On the one hand, she thought, if Lucy knew, it only seemed fair the others knew. Yet, at the same time, she wondered if this was something they ought to keep to herself.
Then there was the question of how much the others should be told. Should she tell them she used to be a boy named Jeff and she'd been Lucy's older brother? Or should she keep it simple, and explain she'd been a boy who discovered the Chronivac and gone along with a friend's idea. Suddenly thinking of Felicity, she wondered if she ought to bring her up to speed, let her know the jig was up, as well as make it known what Lucy had done. Thinking it all over, seeing Lucy was still waiting for an answer, she hesitated, then, swallowing hard, she whispered, "I, um, you see, I think, maybe it'd only be fair to tell the others. At least Diana, Natalie and Tanya."
Giving the other a searching look, as if she was trying to determine if Jennifer was holding anything back, Lucy nodded and replied, "Okay," before holding up her hand, instructing, "Wait right here," then heading for the living room.
Nervous, hoping she was doing the right thing, sure the other would reject her, kick her out of the group, yet, at the same, hoping it didn't come to this, Jennifer took several deep breaths. Trying to calm herself, steel herself to what was to come, she flinched at the sound of multiple female voices drawing near. Watching as Lucy and her friends came closer, Jennifer almost had a panic attack and backed out. But forcing herself to remain calm, telling herself, "This is for the best," she waited until they stopped a few inches away.
About start in and tell them everything, Jennifer was caught off guard when Lucy shook her head, hissed, "Not hear," and then herded all of them into the bathroom.
The room large enough to hold all of them, it was Diana who demanded, "All right. What is it you wanted to tell us? And why does it have to be in the bathroom? And why was Felicity not included?" the instant Lucy had shut and locked the door.
Jennifer looked at Lucy for guidance, and when the other girl turned to her and gave her a nod, she began. Faltering at first, feeling like a liar, like she'd start crying, as if she betrayed the others, she repeated everything she'd told Lucy. When she finished, her voice trailing off, she waited a moment for someone to say something, and listened as Lucy explained, "I've already punished these two boys, Alan and Jeff," then furthered this by telling of what she did with the Chronivac.
A silence falling afterward, it was Natalie who broke it by saying, "You are a girl, right?"
"I am now," Jennifer replied. "Because of the Chronivac, everything about my existence is that of Jennifer Grace, a girl, age nine, who just recently moved to town," and her words failing her, she muttered, "I don't know what to do to prove this, short of exposing myself."
"That's okay," Tanya said with a hint of a laugh in her voice. "I don't about anyone else, but I believe you went you say you're a girl."
Smiles shared between the four as the bond they started to form, and had been tested, deepened, it was Natalie who eventually said, "So, it was this Alan, who is now Felicity Blythe, who suggested crashing our sleep over? For what reason?"
Both Lucy and Jennifer confirmed this, and then Jennifer answered, "I cannot remember why. It's one of those things which seems either lost to me or locked away with the part of me which used to be Jeff. I'm sure if I wanted to, I might be able to work out why. Otherwise, the only thing I can suggest is to go talk to Felicity."
"Felicity," Tanya exclaimed, and when everyone looked at her, she asked, "Are we going to do anything about her? Besides what Lucy did?"
Each girl looking at the other, nobody said a word. Lucy and Jennifer both, in their own way, privately thought, for what she did, it was enough of a punishment to have to make Alan remain as Felicity, whilst Diana, Tanya, and Natalie mulled over various ideas of a possible fitting punishment for the new girl.