Don't Drink The Gene Juice

18

"Just... stay in here for a bit," Jenna told Cathy. "Maybe we can find an opportunity to sneak you out. Or maybe you can hide in here, and I can say that you're taking a nap because we stayed up late. Then you can wait it out until you change back."

Cathy nodded, but her head was down. She looked very dejected.

Jenna closed the door behind her, and calmed herself. She was going to protect her friend, and her secret.

Jenna came down the stairs to see them wheeling their baggage into the family room.

"You're back early," Jenna said.

"Yeah," Dad said, a bit saddened. "Lily's team didn't place as high as we thought they would."

"Yeah," Lily fumed, "how on Earth was I supposed to know that they kept changing istabul's name?"

"Istanbul," Jenna corrected.

"Shut it," Lily said.

"Why don't you go have a sandwhich dear," Mom said. "She's just a bit upset. Her team apparently wasn't told that the questions would be assigned at random. She'd trained for all the science questions and they assigned her a lot of history ones."

Lily growled, angrily slapping pieces of a ham sandwhich down on top of each other. "This is a war crime."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Mom said. "You and Skylar have a good time?"

"Yeah," Jenna said. "But... we did kind of stay up late."

"How late?"

"Unimportant," Jenna dodged the question. "Cath - "

She pretended to cough to cover her slip.

"Skylar is taking a nap right now," Jenna said.

"I thought you two were going to sleep in the living room," Mom said.

"Skylar's been having back problems, and I let him sleep in my bed. I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor. Is that alright?"

Mom sighed. "Jenna... I know... I know that Skylar is a good friend of yours. But..."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "It's not like I wasn't bi before Mom. Is it really different because I'm a girl now?"

"Well...," Mom looked away from Jenna, thinking. "Yes. Because you've been dating Tommy now, and to my knowledge, your friends are straight."

Well, technically right. Straight for which gender though?

"Are you gonna be like this if I go to a sleepover with some girls? I'm just as attracted to them. Am I going to have to sleep in some empty room any time I stay at a friend's house?"

"Jenna," Mom said sternly, "I don't like this talk from you."

Jenna noticed Lily slink off to another room, getting away from the tension.

Jenna stood silently.

"I'm going to ask it flat out," Mom said. "Did you have sex with Skylar?"

"No," Jenna said with an agry, wrinkled brow.

"Are you telling the truth?" Mom asked.

Jenna paused for a moment, almost saying "no." Mom liked to switch it up between "are you telling the truth" and "are you lying" to throw her and Lily off balance.

"Yes," Jenna said.

"You better Jenna," Mom said. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I felt the need to accuse you. And I'm sorry that this is complicated for you, but I really don't feel comfortable with you sleeping in the same room with him alone. A party with friends is different. There's multiple people."