Gradual Change – Part 14

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Heather and Carol walked out of the store with six shopping bags, all of them full of shoes only. Joshua smiled at them as they walked out of the store and turned to do his job. It was then that Carol finally realized his feminine waist and hips, which was different from Carol's first judgment. She was even more confused right now, and she was sure that she had seen a bra through his blouse.

He was curvy in a way a male shouldn't be. Also, his voice seemed to be soft and clear; she was curious about Joshua right now. "So, what's the story behind Joshua, I mean his face and body don't say he's a male at all, but still, with the short hair and Adam's apple, I must say he confused me a bit," Carol explained as they both headed to the van.

Heather shook her head and let out a sigh, remembering the case where she had represented Joshua. It was painful; Joshua could barely walk at that time.

"It's a long story, Carol, and I will tell you about it later.  Joshua has a female body due to an unlawful gender reassignment surgery conducted on him two years ago.  He's just slowly feminizing gradually," Heather explained to Carol, who looked a bit apologetic for her question.

She liked the way Joshua dressed.  She knew that Oliver would never want to wear anything like that, and he was more than happy to stay away from any feminine clothes. It was outrageous and unethical that someone had forcibly changed another person's gender. She knew that Heather must have won the case, and she was glad it was Heather since she had never seen her lose.  As a prosecutor or a defense attorney, Heather had never lost a case.

They walked to the van and put the bags with all the other bags.

"We did get her a lot of new clothes," Carol commented as they closed the back doors of the van.

"Yes, she still needs more clothes, however," Heather commented with a smirk.

Carol just shook her head and smiled.

"The movie should be over by now; let's go join the kids in the food court."

Carol nodded in agreement. Both of them walked to the food court.

Everyone came out of the theatre excitedly; they all liked the movie. Erinna had consumed two cans of juice since she wasn't allowed to drink soda. Both her and Dakota were not allowed to drink soda which their coaches decided. Knowing that Erinna was not allowed to drink soda, Oliver decided to get juice as well. Out of habit, Erinna had finished her juice almost immediately and only had popcorn. Oliver, who made sure to take his seat next to Erinna, realized that and handed Erinna his juice.

Now, Erinna was regretting not going to the bathroom during the break before the movie resumed. She urgently had to go to the restroom. After informing Nancy, Erinna dashed to the lady's room. She stopped in front of the bathrooms, almost entered the men's restroom by mistake, and Erinna entered the lady's room with a sigh. The last time she was in a lady's room was when she was four.

Entering the lady's room, Erinna was nervous, and she could hear the sound of two women inside. She was expecting to receive the same look she had received in the men's restroom. Erinna pushed the door and entered the lady's room, and there stood two ladies fixing their makeup. They briefly looked at her when she entered but then turned back to what they were doing.

Erinna walked to one of the empty stalls and pulled her tights and panties down. She pulled her skirt up as she didn't have the time to unbutton it and lower it down.  Erinna then sat down to finish her business. Once she finished, Erinna walked out of the stall to see a teen girl fixing her makeup. Erinna let her mind wander for a moment and imagined herself in the teen girl's place fixing her makeup. She immediately shook her head, dismissing the idea. With a sigh, she walked to the sink and washed her hands before drying them.

Before she left the restroom, Erinna observed no urinals there; it was nice not to be reminded of her disability as she saw it. After all, Erinna still thought of herself as Ryan, the 10-year-old boy. While all the other boys her age could pee standing, she couldn't, so she saw it as a disability. Walking out of the lady's room, Erinna didn't realize the eyes that followed her.

She was suddenly aware of the company when she found herself surrounded by boys from three sides. Erinna just gave them a blank and a confused look. The three boys looked like nothing special. She thought that Oliver looked way better than the three of them since he looked cute. Erinna was shocked; she couldn't believe that she just thought Oliver was attractive.

"Hi, baby, going somewhere?" said one of the boys. He was tall but was very skinny, nothing like the boy she was comparing him to. He didn't measure up, and he was no way near Oliver's level.

Dismissing her thoughts, Erinna just kept walking, ignoring the group of boys. The boys didn't leave her, and they stood in front as one of them blocked her way. Erinna rolled her eyes; she was getting annoyed and was ready to fight them if necessary.

"Come on, baby, don't be like that; at least give us your number," another boy said. He was of average height but seemed to have a slightly fat belly, he looked normal, but his attitude told Erinna he was an idiot.

Erinna was not ready for what came next. She felt a hand on her butt, and she squealed in surprise. She quickly reacted, punching the boy in his face, making him groan, and hold his bloody nose.  Erinna was surprised at her reaction, but the boy deserved it.

"You bitch!" one of the other boys said, grabbing Erinna's hand. She was new to all of this but was already fearless enough to cause much pain to these boys.

Before Erinna knew what was happening, the boy was roughly pushed away. She saw Oliver standing between her and the two boys as the third one was too busy trying to stop his nose from bleeding.

"Leave her alone," Oliver shouted with confidence that surprised Erinna and even surprised him. Oliver was never that confident, but when he saw the boys surrounding Erinna, something inside of him clicked, and he wasn't about to stand aside.

"I believe he said leave her alone. Maybe I didn't hear it right," came the voice of angry George from behind the boys. He put one hand on each of the boys' shoulders and squeezed hard, causing the boys to moan in pain. The boys turned their heads to see George's face. He had a smile on his face, but it was not a pleasant smile at all. "Now, why don't you boys piss off and leave my sister alone?" George said, squeezing their shoulders harder.  The boys tried to remove his hands, but George's grip was way too firm for them to remove it.

"I will release my hands, and you will take your friend and get out of my sight, or it will be your heads, not your shoulder, next time.  I don't want to see your faces anymore, and stay away from my sister," George growled in his developing but a deep muscular voice. He was trying so hard not to hurt these boys; he didn't appreciate someone messing with his sister, and he wouldn't deal kindly with anyone who did. Both boys nodded, frightened by George. George released his hand, and the boys quickly took their friend and walked away in a hurry.

George let out a sigh as the boys walked away. He tried so hard not to lose his temper. George could've made them scream and easily broken their bones, but he didn't want to cause trouble. However, if they had laid their hands on Erinna, George wouldn't have been able to hold back and would have seriously hurt those boys. "Are you both ok?" George asked.  Both Erinna and Oliver nodded as George let out a sigh. "Let's go back then."

They followed George back to where everyone was sitting. They had all been sitting around a table in the food court when Heather and Carol joined them.

Heather could see that Erinna was bothered about something and that George looked a bit angry. She feared that something had happened between the two of them; her heart broke just from the thought. They were always good together, and she didn't want to see them fighting for any reason. George was always the protective older brother, and Erinna adored and loved him more than anything. She had to find a way to talk to these two; she couldn't let them stay like this. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head,  and she was glad they gave Erinna a phone.  Quickly, Heather pulled her phone out and texted both George and Erinna. <Meet me near the restrooms, right now.>

Both George's and Erinna's phones chimed as they took their phones out. They both read the text messages and looked at Heather, who stood up and pointed to them with her eyes. The three of them made an excuse and walked away. Both George and Erinna were confused; they didn't know what was going on since they rarely got in trouble, and when they did, it was nothing serious. Both of them followed Heather and stopped near the restrooms.

Heather turned; she looked disappointed. "Did you two fight?"

Both George and Erinna looked at each other confused, fighting was out of the question for both of them, and they didn't understand why Heather reached this assumption. "Mom, why would we fight? Everything is good between us; besides, I would never fight my little sister," George stated confidently.

Looking into his eyes, Heather could tell George was not lying, but she knew her children very well. She could tell something was not right; something was bothering them.  She didn't know if she would interrogate them for more information or not. In the end, Heather decided to push for information. "So, what exactly happened?"

Heather saw a flash of anger in George's eyes for a second; he was usually calm and wouldn't easily get angered. It told Heather whatever happened was very upsetting for George. "Some boys were bothering Erinna, and I told them off... Gently," George explained as Heather's eyes grew wide.

Her fears for the second time today came true, but at least George was there. Now, it made sense why he was angry,  and she was hoping that the boys were not seriously injured. Knowing George, he wouldn't have hesitated to protect Erinna. "Are you ok, sweetie?" Heather said, kneeling to face her daughter. She could see the tears forming in her eyes. Heather immediately scooped her into a hug as Erinna started to cry.

Erinna didn't even understand why she was crying; she was ok a couple of seconds ago. Yes, what the boys did, bothered her but she didn't feel like crying a second ago.

"It's alright. Did those boys do anything?" Heather pulled Erinna to arm's length, trying to assess if she was ok or not; she could see that Erinna was physically ok. "If anything happened, don't be ashamed to talk to me about it, ok, sweetie?" Heather wanted to teach Erinna a lesson for the future. If she told her mom about incidents like this, then she would avoid keeping it locked away. Heather hoped that Erinna wouldn't have to tell her about any future incidents. Just like any good mom, she only wished the best for her daughter.

Erinna nodded a bit, sniffling. "Th-they. They touched me," Erinna said, sniffling. George's face started to turn red from anger upon hearing Erinna, and he clenched his fists. Angry was an understatement for what George felt, and he was ready to explode.

Heather had seen this look before; it wasn't good. She had known Jeff before college, and Heather didn't know him that well and babysat his little sister Madison. When Heather was in her second year in high school, an incident occurred where Maddison was attacked and almost raped by a group of boys. She remembered Jeff's expression that day. It was like he was ready to explode. He ended up fighting with the boys; it was brutal, and all the boys had received severe injuries.

Fortunately, he didn't start the fight. He was smart enough to make the boys start the fight. Although, all the boys ended up in the hospital, where they had put his sister like Jeff used to say. His mom, who was a very well-known lawyer, bailed him out. Heather used to look up to her. She was the one who inspired Heather to be interested in the field of law and eventually become known as the iron lady.

Heather reached and held George's hand. While she did appreciate that he was angry for his little sister and that he was ready to help her, she didn't want him to do anything he may regret. "Calm down; we will solve this rationally," Heather commented, calming her son down. She wouldn't mind doing the same as Jeff's mom did, they were family, and they take care of each other.

Looking back at Erinna, Heather wiped a tear from her eye. "Tell me, what did they do with details? Can you tell me?" Erinna sniffled and nodded. She started to tell her mom about everything that had happened.

Hearing what Erinna was saying, Heather couldn't help but laugh when Erinna said she punched one boy in his face.

"Not fair," Erinna whined a bit and huffed. She was suddenly in a much better mood, and she didn't understand why.

"I am sorry, sweetheart, it's just that I did the same thing to the first boy that went too far while hitting on me," Heather said, making Erinna giggle while George smiled.  You didn't mess with this family.  She couldn't help but think how Erinna took a lot after her. She was a kind girl, but she wasn't the girl who would stand and let things happen to her.

Heather looked up to George with a broad smile. "I am very proud of you, not only because you protected your sister but also because you held your temper and didn't act rashly." Heather's eyes turned again to Erinna and kissed her forehead. "Next time, aim for the eyes. It will leave a good mark," Heather joked, making Erinna giggle. "Now, as an excuse for our absence, we should buy everyone a drink. What do you think?" Both George and Erinna agreed to their mom's plan and followed her to the food court.

As they walked back to the food court, a name pulled Erinna's attention. It was a store showing a goat's head on a green sign. The store's name was 'Kilo Kebab.' It was the name kebab that attracted her attention.  A display of Mint Lemonade cups was on a stand at the front of the store. "Mommy, mommy look," Erinna said, pointing to the restaurant.

It took Heather one look to understand what made Erinna so excited. "I haven't seen this store before. Maybe we can buy food and drinks for everyone, you know, and share this experience with the others." With that, the three of them ordered food and drinks for everyone. They decided on Kofta wraps and a small Tahini salad for everyone and Mint Lemonade for drinks.

Ten minutes later, the three of them returned with the food and drinks; Carol looked at them quizically as they approached the table where everyone was sitting. She was confused since they had been gone for so long, and she was beginning to get worried. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, nothing. Princess spotted a restaurant similar to what we had yesterday, so we decided to bring food and drinks," Heather announced, showing everyone what they had bought. Erinna blushed a bit as Heather called her Princess, but she couldn't protest. She was the family Princess, and so far, she was enjoying her new nickname.