The first day or two of suffering through my first period were rough. Thankfully it eased off, and before I knew it I was back to normal. Well, normal plus a little extra. I didn’t tell anyone that I had finally gotten my period, but Erin and the rest of my friends surmised it fairly quickly. Erin had gotten hers months ago, so she was able to sympathize. I never remembered getting any sort of support when I went through Matthew’s puberty in my previous timeline.
It seemed like once my period arrived, the rest of my body went into overdrive. The tenderness in my chest abated, and it shifted into what was definitely growth there as well as in my hips. My mom was pretty well-endowed, and it seemed as if I was taking after her, because by the time my thirteenth birthday arrived in May I was already an A cup, and on my way to a B. While my breasts were very sensitive and felt alien to me, I was utterly fascinated with them. In bed at night I couldn’t resist just holding them.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who was noticing the new growths on my chest. I was still rather slim, and my growing breasts were becoming very prominent. For the first time I was noticing people’s eyes dropping to my chest, and it was embarrassing. It was especially poignant when Jake and I would study in the library, and he would glance when he thought I wasn’t looking. If I caught him, he would shudder and purposely look at something else. They inevitably drifted back, and it was tiring having it happen over and over. I suddenly had a lot more sympathy for women than I ever had as Matthew.
Before the school year ended, I managed to convince my dad to open a custodial brokerage account. He was hesitant, but I told him I wanted to practice stock trading like we learned in class. What I didn’t tell him was that I was planning on pouring my substantial savings from my photo shoots into it. I simply needed his name to authorize the transactions, and everything else I could do over the phone. Ostensibly he was going to supervise, but I wanted to keep him in the dark as to the thousands that his teenage daughter would casually be tossing around. I had been reading that Microsoft would have a stock-split in May, though it was difficult to explain to Dad what exactly that was or why it was important that I have the account ready. Thankfully Dad indulged me and trusted me since I was responsible with my money.
Seventh grade ended in June, which thankfully meant a break from cheerleading until July came around. I was looking forward to focusing more time on practicing my guitar and going over my monetary plans for the future. The catalog shoots began in earnest for the summer issue, and I noticed that I was slightly busier in the pickup shoots than usual. I was also asked to pose in a swim suit for the first time, and what’s more in a two-piece which I had never worn before. Mom made sure I was comfortable doing it, but it wasn’t as if it was a risque shoot. I didn’t assume that my growing chest was a factor in the decision, but I noticed I got paid a little extra. It would all be reinvested in Microsoft in any case.
My parents announced that in July we were taking a family trip to Chicago. I was very excited; I loved living in Chicago in Matthew’s timeline, and not only would it be amazing to see Chicago in 1994, it also meant that I would get to “meet” Catherine for the first time. I had made it a point to correspond weekly with her over the past year, and was eager to finally see her in person. Matthew had only met her when she was an adult, so it would be interesting to see her as a child.
What’s more, I knew that in the other timeline Catherine had a rough time in middle school, where she dealt with depression which resulted in a suicide attempt when she was thirteen. But now she was thirteen just as I was, and the primary reason I was diligent about writing her letters was to hopefully prevent that from happening, and to be a friend for her during this period of her life. It was worth a shot, after all. If I was improving my circumstances with my foreknowledge, there was no reason I couldn’t do the same for her.
The plan was for my family to drive to Wisconsin Dells for a day or two before driving the rest of the way to Chicago. My mom had cousins who lived in Indiana, but I convinced her to allow me to stay at Catherine’s house while my parents and siblings drove to Indiana before turning around to pick me up upon the return drive. My parents called her parents and arranged the whole thing.
I was a nervous wreck during our stay in the Dells. While I enjoyed the rides and the water parks, I wondered what it would be like meeting my wife from my previous life as a teenager. We met in our thirties when we worked in the Loop in the 2010s, so it would definitely be interesting. I hoped it wouldn’t be awkward; after all, she had absolutely no idea that the girl she was pen pals with was actually a gender-bent time traveler who was married to her in a different timeline. The more I dwelt on it the weirder I felt about it, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. The strangeness was only in my head, any way.
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We arrived at our hotel in the South Loop. I was amazed at how different Chicago looked in 1994 than it did in the 2020s; less sky-scrapers, a little more grit, but the most prominent buildings and museums were exactly the same. We had planned to meet Catherine and her parents at the Sears Tower, and as the group of us walked to the visitor's entrance to the tower, I spotted them and my jaw dropped.
Catherine stood there, a miniature version of the woman I remembered from our marriage in Matthew’s timeline. She had a short dark bob of hair and pretty brown eyes, and even as a youth she had a stern disposition. I recognized my in-laws – I mean her parents! – as well, but younger versions of themselves. Her father Richard had a bushy black mustache and her mother Nancy was thinner, but there they were. Catherine recognized me right away and we hugged while our respective parents greeted each other.
I wasn’t prepared for the wave of emotions that struck me when we hugged. This was not the woman I had married as Matthew, nor would she ever be. Yet it was still the person I knew so well despite being a stranger. She looked happy though, and that was what was important. I don’t know if my actions had allayed her depression, or if it hadn’t happened yet in this timeline. I steeled myself regardless, pushing down whatever residual feelings that my memories of Matthew held to meet Maya’s pen pal.
“It’s good to finally meet you in person, Maya,” said Catherine as our hug ended.
“You too, Catherine,” I smiled back.
Richard and Nancy elected themselves as the tour guides for our family, first taking us up to the top of the Sears Tower. Tim and Janie threatened to scatter in different directions on the observation deck while the parents made small talk. Catherine and I held tight though, holding hands and generally chattering girlishly. She was exactly as I pictured her as a girl; serious and a bit aloof, and I was surprised to find that was actually how I acted as Maya. We had a lot in common, and since we regularly wrote to each other we knew the ins and outs of our lives. I was surprised that she was a touch of goth, and she was surprised that I was a cheerleader.
Her family took us around the Loop and the more prominent tourist sites, and we winded down the day at a pizza place that they suggested near our hotel. Weeks ago we planned out that I would go home with Catherine and her parents to stay for a few days, while Mom and Dad took Tim and Janie to the museums before leaving for Indiana. They would come back into Chicago to pick me up on the way back to Minnesota.
It was surreal staying over at Catherine’s house. They lived in one of the far west neighborhoods of Chicago, right on the divide between the city and suburbs. I knew the area well, since this was near where Matthew and Catherine lived in the other timeline. It was strange seeing it all some thirty years in the past. I had brought my backpack and sleeping bag with me, though Catherine had a rather large bed that we could share for our sleepover. That first night I lay awake, feeling odd that I was sleeping next to an individual who I had married, yet I was also sleeping next to a fellow girl as I had done several times since becoming one.
For the next couple of days I spent the entire time with Catherine, and had a great time. She seemed very happy, and I tried to discern whether or not she was experiencing the depression that I knew she had in the other timeline. She showed me around her neighborhood, we watched movies, and we talked about practically everything from our respective schools to our hobbies. At night we privately confided in her about our apprehensions; I talked to her about feeling like I was a fake, and she told me how lonely she felt having few friends and a small family.
By the time my family came to pick me up to return home, Catherine and I had become quite close. There were a few tears when we hugged each other goodbye, as Dad packed my stuff into the idling car that I told her I wanted her to call me any time she felt lonely, and that I would be there for her whenever she needed me. Granted, as much as a thirteen year-old girl two states away could be, but I think she appreciated it nonetheless. Hopefully it would be enough to at least help her through the coming issues she would be dealing with.
We waved to each other for as long as I could see her and we drove away. I was happy to have connected with her, but I will admit it was bittersweet. I had the realization that, while we would be able to be friends, we would not be anything more than that. We would never fall in love, never be married, and never share a life together. But that was okay. As I sat in the back of our family car watching the Wisconsin countryside fly by, I was sad that another piece of Matthew was gone. I couldn’t be too sad though; Matthew may be gone, but Maya had a lot ahead of her. And I was only getting started. After all, I was a girl with a lot of plans.
