An entire week more of such torture passed in which I had broken my vow not to vomit or faint in front of everybody, although not at the same time — a victory I took little comfort in.

On my third Saturday at Silver Grove I woke up in the middle of the hotel room bed in so much pain that I couldn't even groan. Somehow I had to roll out of bed today and find a pharmacy. I had to douse myself in Icy Hot and drown my sorrows with painkillers if I hoped for a decent night's sleep. It was hard to be simultaneously so tired that I could fall asleep despite the ache in my body, but be woken by it a hundred times in the middle of the night.

I gritted my teeth and dragged myself into the shower, where I had to laugh at the whole absurdity. Everybody on the team must think that I was the dirtiest boy, because I never showered with them. After every practice I dashed back to the hotel so I wouldn't have to shower among them. Well, dashing was a very generous way of putting it. I dragged myself across the streets of town and into my hotel room.

One the other hand, for a whole week I managed to sustain the ruse that I was busy with homework to not meet dad for dinner at the town's diner. We talked several times per day over the phone, or he talked and I grunted in response, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy him for a while. Thanks to those conversations I knew that the renovations for the house were in progress and that in a couple of weeks more we would be able to move in. He didn't tell me much about work and I didn't care to ask. He asked a lot about school and I didn't care enough to respond. Rinse and repeat.

When I was done I gingerly stepped out of the shower, wincing as much for the cold floor as for the shot of pain that travelled up my legs. I wiped the mist from the mirror and looked at the combination of really short hair and the rest of me, which, although not super voluptuous, was definitely female. One day people would find out about this whole mess, but hopefully that would be when I was safely back in Orlando.

There were a few perks about the way my life had turned out to be lately, though. One of them was that I could blow my hair dry in the matter of five minutes, which was exceedingly handy in the dead of Alberta cold. As I slowly put on the warmest clothes I owned, I remembered that there were other perks.

Such as abs. Of steel. Everywhere. Everyday.

Which was as much a struggle as it was a blessing. I was sure that somewhere a puppy died every time I got a delectable view in the locker rooms, especially if it was from a certain Canadian god. This all made me a terrible human being, but as we said in Spanish, ¿qué es una raya más para el tigre? I was a lost cause way before this whole debacle turned me into a voyeour.

I zipped my puffy coat all the way up and stuffed my head in the warmest beanie, grabbed my wallet and opened the door, determined to make it to the pharmacy.

I didn't know I had enough strength in me to jump half a mile, but I did when I saw that Dean and Pace were outside my door.

"Morning," Pace said, smiling as though nothing was amiss.

I put a gloved hand over my heart, willing it to stop racing as I looked at one pretty face and then to the other. "What the hell are you guys doing outside my door?" I narrowed my eyes. "How'd you even know it was my door?"

"We asked," he said.

Meanwhile Dean looked me up and down. "Going somewhere?"

I sighed and closed the hotel room door behind me. "If you must know, I have to go to the pharmacy."

"Why? What's wrong?" Pace asked as he fell in step next to me with the ease of someone whose muscles did not protest with every move. I was jealous.

I glared at him. "I'm in too much pain to function."

"Have you iced?" Dean asked as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his black coat. I resented both that he was absolutely peachy keen, and also that he looked so good that his nearness made me dizzy.

As we left the hotel I motioned at the white shit all around us that had begun falling in flurries, even though the month of September was not done yet.

"Who would want to ice anything when it's like this?"

He snorted. "You have to, even if you're cold. Don't be a pus-"

I held my hand up and cut him off. "Don't finish that sentence." They both raised their eyebrows at me. "Betty White said it better, but pussies are not weak. They sure can take a pounding."

This resulted in the both of them bursting into laughter.

A passersby driver honked twice and waved at them, and the boys waved in greeting. A woman and her kid were walking down the opposite sidewalk when she noticed them waving, so she stopped and screamed, "Go Bears, go!"

Like two kings they waved at her as well, one Bear Captain and one Bear Assistant Captain, before following me down the street as I headed to the town's only drug store. I looked at one boy and the other, squinting to see if that helped me see the reason why the whole town was besotted with them. After a couple of weeks hanging out with them I knew they were good guys, and that like, the two teenage girls in town were smitten with them, but it wasn't like they were celebrities or something.

At least they generally didn't act like they were.

Pace rubbed the top of his head, mussing his brown hair. "What were we talking about?"

"Pussies," Dean supplied helpfully. We all started giggling again.

I pretended to turn up my nose in the air like a snob. "Anyway, my point was that I'm not weak, I've just taken too much of a pounding."

Dean's eyes twinkled and he opened his mouth to say, "Just like a p-"

"Stop," I said as I elbowed him.

We made it to the pharmacy and I bought arnica patches, ibuprofen and Icy Hot in such quantity that the sales woman became concerned. But then she realized who I was with and why I was there, and she gave me half off. I walked out of the store, bag in hand, and I figured that if everybody in town treated Bears like they were kings, it'd be hella easy to let it get to your head. Yet, these two were down to earth. In a way, it was commendable. They could easily let this admiration get to their heads. With one notable exception that started by Dean and finished with when he was being a douche.

"Okay, now that that is done we can do the real shopping," Pace announced.

"Huh?"

"We," he said as he motioned with his finger between Dean and himself. "Noticed this week that you're not exactly well fitted wearing Dean's old pads and uniform. You need your own gear."

"Is that why you showed up at the hotel this morning?"

"Damn right." He threw his arm over my shoulder and I groaned in protest. Pace lifted both hands in the air in the universal sign of coming in peace. "Sorry. But you know, if you have your own equipment it will help you a lot during training."

I looked up at him with hope shining out of my greenish eyes. "Will I hurt less?"

"No guarantee," Dean said.

"Then I don't want anything, thank you very much."

Pace smacked the back of Dean's head, and the motion sent a strand of blond hair flying over his forehead. "Ouch."

"You're not helping." Pace folded his arms. "Anyway, my dad's lending me his truck for today so we can go into the city and buy some good stuff."

"Ah hah!" I pointed at his face. "The real reason has revealed itself. What you wanted all along was to go into the city and buy stuff for yourself."

His eyes shifted from side to side. "Maybe."

"Anyway, it's running late and I do have a list of things I need," Dean said. He looked at me pointedly. "Are you coming or not?"

I mulled it over. I wasn't terribly keen on buying hockey equipment, but on the other hand I had nothing better to do than sit at the hotel and do homework. Maybe catch up on some Netflix and Z's. There certainly wasn't anything else to do to kill time in Silver Grove, so it was a tempting offer.

"It depends," I said. "How big is the city we're going to?"

"I don't know, like a million people?" Pace shrugged.

"I'm in."

We walked a couple of blocks more until he pointed at his dad's red truck. It was an hour and some later when we made it to the city of Calgary and holy shit, I was nearly bouncing with the excitement of seeing the first tall building I'd seen in this country, even though I was still in a considerable amount of pain. I was glad to note that Canada was not all rolling hills leading to white peaked mountains and frosty air. Although, of course, as we got out of the heated car I realized every god forsaken place of Canada was colder than my heart.

"A mall, huh?" I asked as we walked through the door. "I thought boys were not supposed to like going shopping."

As I said this I realized how strange it sounded coming from one supposed boy but it was too late to back pedal.

I was saved by Pace saying, "Who said that? I love shopping."

Dean was giving me a weird look, so I hastily added, "Yeah, well, maybe today's lesson is to not assign stereotypical notions to the different genders, right?"

I breathed out a deep sigh of relief when they left it at that. We waded through the crowd on our way to a sports store. A crowd! How exciting. I looked around me at the people of all shapes, ages and colors and marveled at the fact that nobody knew me. This was how I was the most comfortable. Anonymous in a sea of people, but not alone. It felt like home. Might be one of the reasons why I loved Universal so much.

After a moment I did realize that we were catching quite a few stares, though. It was the combination of the two gigantic boys, their ridiculous good looks and the fact that I was wedged in the middle like a thorn on their side. I guessed it wasn't exactly possible to be anonymous when in the presence of two hot Bears, strange as it sounded.

We made it into the sports store and both boys nearly ran to the corner with all the hockey junk. Dean grabbed me by the arm and started explaining what was best to me. I didn't know there were so many types of sticks and wasn't that what she said? Ha! I had to stuff the desire to giggle at my own joke and frankly everything he was saying was flying over my head. The combination of his deep voice, the clean scent of his skin tickling my nose as he leaned toward me to show me a particular brand, and the heat he radiated turned my brain into rotten mush and everything he was saying sounded like gibberish. Sexy gibberish about handling sticks with appropriate gloves, or something.

After a few times where he had to ask if I was paying attention, I forced my brain to focus on his words and not on him. He was the expert anyway, so I just obeyed and started collecting the items that he selected for me into a cart. Meanwhile Pace was a couple of rows away piling up a mountain of underclothes on his arms. His face positively exuded glee.

I moved to the cashier, who started ringing all my stuff while the two of them examined the pros and cons of a new mouthguard brand. I rolled my eyes as I handed my credit card and paid a whopping sum I hadn't expected. I was going to have to come up with some fictitious school project to justify the expense when dad saw it pop up, but I wasn't terribly worried about that.

What I was worried about was the sudden twist in my gut that had nothing to do with muscular pains.

"Um, sorry," I said as the cashier put all my junk in bags. "Do you guys have a bathroom?"

He jerked a thumb to the back of the store. "Take a left in the swimsuits section. It's across the changing rooms."

I thanked him and left my purchases in his care. On my way I told the guys where I was headed and to wait for me. Again, I hesitated between the Women's and Men's bathroom, but I was committed to my new part, so I headed into the latter. I found a stall and locked the door.

A few minutes later I emerged. I looked at my pale face as I washed my hands, thinking back to the general weakness I'd been feeling, the extra cold, and I could have smacked my head right there and then. I somehow forgot to account for the fact that my period was coming soon.

And the fucker had arrived.

"Shit," I said aloud as I dried my hands. "Think, think."

I had to buy tampons, that was what. But how was I going to accomplish that while tagging along with two boys who thought I also had a peen peen between my legs?

I exited the bathroom, thinking. I had already gone to the pharmacy, so I couldn't use that excuse. I'd seen a supermarket near the entrance, and I could say I needed something in there. But how would I shake them off long enough to go to the aisle with female hygiene products, pay for them and hide them before they saw the tattle tell box? Why couldn't they sell tampons in a more discrete packaging? Why was I actually female? Fuck.

They caught me like a deer in the headlights.

"Ready?" Pace asked. He had as many bags as I did.

I gave him a watery smile. "Yeah."

I picked up my bags from the cashier and winced at another twist and throb of my lower belly. I glared at their backs as we walked out of the store, pissed that they didn't have to go through any of the shit I had to. And then I had a brilliant idea.

A crowd! I could just casually lose them and dash into the supermarket by myself. I made up my mind and executed the plan flawlessly as a large group of girls surrounded them in what looked like a coincidence, and surely not at all because they wanted to take a closer look at the boys. I rolled my eyes but thanked my lucky stars.

I got funny looks from a lady who was also buying female products as I grabbed two extra large boxes of tampons and it took me a second to remember that it was probably because I looked a convincing boy. This was confirmed when the cashier also gave me a raised eyebrow as I paid for my purchases. I said they were for my girlfriend and stuffed the boxes down the very bottom of the bags from the sports store, sighing in relief. Those would last me enough that I wouldn't have to go through this adventure again for quite a few months.

I walked out of the supermarket with a swag in my step and headed over to the area where I'd sneaked away from the guys. And realized that, of course, they weren't there. But no problem, I fished in my right pocket for my phone. It wasn't there, so I searched for the other pocket of my coat. All I felt there was my wallet. I frowned as I set my bags on a nearby bench and started patting all my pockets. And then it clicked.

I'd been so surprised this morning when I saw Dean and Pace outside my door that I forgot to pick up my phone from the side table.

Motherfuck.

from the blessed second i knew i was going to write a genderbender, i also knew that there had to be an arch about periods in my plot bucket list 😂

how are you guys enjoying the story so far?