(Part two of the above)<br/><br/><hr/><br/>“You are nice.  You’re the only one who’s ever wanted to help me with school.  Everyone else just makes fun of me.  I know I’m not smart, but I’m smart enough to know when people are mean.  You’re not mean.”  She fell silent, then stood up and walked back towards the bed.  Again it was as if she knew just where it was.  It dimpled slightly as she got on it.  “Isolde?  Can we just, you know..  Can we hold each other?  But, in the light this time?”<br/><br/>“Of course.” There was a palpable note of relief to Isi’s voice, “Hangon, I have a bedside lamp just...” Isi put a hand out to work her way over to there the nightstand was, and found a breast. The hand shot back. “Oh! Sorry!”<br/><br/>“It’s okay.  That’s part of why I want the light on.  I don’t mind the dark, but I want to see you.  And, do you think we can get some of your little sister’s clothes?  I want to get out of this leo.  It’s...ick.”<br/><br/>“Oh, yeah, we haven’t unpacked everything yet and a lot of the boxes are in the... There’s this home cinema thing and its huge and I feel kinda bad about it because it feels like we shouldn’t have such things, you know? Anyway, there are boxes in there of Heide’s stuff we can go pick through for something that will fit.” A little more fumbling and the light was found and turned on. Isi found herself on all fours with her belly over Helen’s face. “Oh, hi.”<br/><br/>“Hi,” Helen said back, and reached up to hug Isolde, lifting up and just pressing her face and body into the taller girl’s tummy.  She let go lay back on the bed.  A moment later Helen’s palms settled, one the top of Isolde’s stomach and the other just above her pubis.  “Tense, almost like you have to poop.  Feel it?”  The hand on the top of Isolde’s stomach patted.  “There.  Tense that.”<br/><br/>“Okay.” Unsure what was the point Isi did as she was bade anyway, the electricity running all through her again, if that second hand moved just a little further down...<br/><br/>“Roll,” Helen said, and with a strength surprising for her size, she pressed up, lifting her lower body on strong gymnast’s legs and keeping her arms absolutely straight.  Isolde was lifted up off the bed, or almost anyway. She was still really tall but only her fingertips and a little weight on her knees remained.  Helen’s arms shifted, keeping Isolde balanced, then she huffed out a strong breath and twisted sideways, rolling Isolde along the outside of a circle that would end in the safety of the king sized mattress.<br/><br/>There was a ‘whumpf’ and Isi landed with a smile on her face. “Okay, doing that again later. After clothes and maths lessons.” She leaned over and on a whim kissed Helen again, this time sucking just very slightly on the girls lower lip.<br/><br/>Then Isolde was moving again, up off of the bed and over to the door. “Come on. Lets give you the cooks tour.”<br/><br/>The kiss, that was...wow.  The first one had been surprising because it was surprising. This one.  Helen didn’t quite know what to think about it . It felt good.  Really nice, and made her wish it had been longer.  Now she understood why Mommy looked at Daddy that way after they kissed sometimes.  “Um, only if we can, you know, maybe?  Maybe we can do that later too?  The kiss?”  She didn’t get off the bed.<br/><br/>“That we can. Come.” Isi directed Helen to follow her, “You have to find something that will fit you, and that you will wear.”<br/><br/>“I wanted to wash up,” Helen said, but after a moment she popped herself off the bed and followed Isolde.  “Hey, do you have any of your old things?  Anything that would fit me?  Like, when you were in second grade?”  Helen laughed just a little bit.<br/><br/>Isi shook her head, “Travel light is the order of the day a lot as a forces brat. You leave a lof of stuff behind for others. Its a thing. You can wash up after? This way you don’t wind up with something you will hate. My sister isn’t too much different from your size I think. Should work.<br/><br/>Thought the family room and then through a door and... The home cinema. A large room with a large number of three seater leather sofa’s four rows of three of them. Each row raised a little to the one in front leading down to a large screen. The back part of the room was mostly empty however aside from a good number of moving boxes many of which were open as things were grabbed when needed. Isi located her little sisters stuff. “Here, have a dig around. She mainly wears jeans and frilly blouse things? But she has all kinds of stuff.”<br/><br/>Did all rich people live like this?  Isolde didn’t act like the rich girls at school.  She wasn’t all ‘My golf cart is soooo old.  Daddy needs to get me a new one!’ or ‘This one time, in Aruba...’  Where was Aruba anyway?  But the house was just full of things that Helen thought rich people would have.  Like this theater room.  A room!  Just for movies!  And with real rich theater like seats.  They probably cost more than all the furniture in Helen’s house.<br/><br/>“Isolde?  Do you know where Aruba is?” Helen asked as she knelt down and started to go through a box of clothes.<br/><br/>“I know the name, but not where it is. We can look it up on the computer?” Isi had opened the door to a cupboard at the back of the room and was fiddling with things inside.<br/><br/>“Do they speak Aruban?”  Helen pulled out a cute pair of denim jeans with a grey knit waist, barely worn at all.  She slipped into them.  They were just a little too long, but they’d be okay.  She could roll them up.  Helen went to another box and began looking through it for a top.  “What are you doing?”<br/><br/>“Just seeing what I need to put this place back in action again. I could do it with a media centre computer and an amp looks like.” Isi mused, “Just an old spare computer and an amp, you call them receivers over here. I have an old computer. The amp is the tricky part.”<br/><br/>“I look like I’m nine,” Helen said then laughed.  She’d found a tutu tunic; lime green tutu bottom that flared out a little bit with a tropical teal shirt top.  It fit, which was even more funny, and it made Helen look like a little kid.  The slightly too long pants only enhanced the image.  “Your brother will think you’re babysitting.”<br/><br/>“Perhaps I am.” Isi said coming back out of the cupboard, “Now behave young lady, or I will put you over my knee.”<br/><br/>The giggle was totally real.  Totally relaxed.  It took the tension from everything that had happened in the dark with it, and the relaxation of Helen’s features helped solidify the youthful look.  “Now you sound like Daddy,” she said.  “But I’ll be good, Ms. Isolde.  I promise.”  She giggled again then went over and hugged Isolde.  “You wouldn’t really spank me, would you?”<br/><br/>“Only if you asked me nicely.” Isi smiled and returned the hug. “You are going to wear that?” She was smiling, clearly amused.<br/><br/>"What?  Not cute enough?". Helen turned around, giving Isolde her back. "Do these jeans make my butt look big?"<br/><br/>“No.” Isi shook her head firmly, “I am not sure any jeans could unless they were padded. At least you have a butt. My bum is practically non existent. I have boy hips.” The english girl pouted just a little.<br/><br/>"Do you think boys worry about their looks like we do?". Helen turned back around. "When I'm with the squad, I don't care. I mean, we all look the same. But then I get around the cheerleadrers and they are so beautiful. They have good hair and they know how to wear make up and the have pretty clothes. I just feel so...  so...  Ugh!". Helen threw her hands out a little bit. "You totally don't have boy hips. They're cute. And your legs are like model tall. You could model," she said seriously. "You have that look. That model look. You know?"<br/><br/>“I don’t. I look all androgynous. Not that... Okay.” Isi took Helens hand and lead her back to her room, closed the door behind them and sat Helen down on the bed, “You can wash up in a minute after I tell you this.” A moment, Isi sighed heavily through her nose and let herself fall back on the bed, “I... Think I’m kinda halfway between the two in my head. Like, I don’t mind being a girl, but I think my gender, my mental one? Isn’t quite as far over to the ‘girl’ side as it could be, at all, and I don’t feel like I fit in either box. Online they call it all kinds of things like asexual and stuff, which is inaccurate as it means non-sexual, which isn’t me. Or Intersex, which is more transexuals, which isn’t me, or Other, which makes me sound like one of the undead from the Game of Thrones books. I just like Androgynous, because, I kind of am. In my head, and in what I wear? You can officially hate me now.”<br/><br/>"I don't know what all that means.". Helen turned and drew her legs up on the bed to sit criss cross. "I thought gender was like, if you are a boy or a girl. Penis or vagina.  How can you have a mental penis?  Like, you're a girl, Isolde. Right?"<br/><br/>“Its like, you know how you have transexuals? People who are mentally, say, a girl, but were born physically a boy? Or visa versa. Well, mentally not everyone is either all the way one or the other, just as not everyone is either all the way straight or all the way gay. You have degrees of gender as you have degrees of sexuality. I am pretty much down the middle line on both.” Isi explained with an apologetic grin. “I think. I mean, its not official? But I have taken online tests and they say I’m stuck between the two.”<br/><br/>"That's stupid. How does the computer know?". Helen frowned, trying to wrap her head around what Isolde was saying. She was so smart. So, everything. "Wait.  Isolde?  Like, what if you took the test as someone else?"<br/><br/>“It is the same test, on the answers I gave were different to everyone else.” Isi thought for a moment or two, "The ones I looked at were multiple choice things, I found them because people were posting their results and links to them online. Other people's results were different to mine. I think those things are not all that accurate, but, I don't know, it sort of bears out how I feel? I could be wrong about myself of course, it could just be wishful thinking. I mean, I was always a tomboy and all, but that doesn't make me... You know, other or androgynous or whatever? Its just, that's how I feel when I think about it. Its kept me up at night wondering. All that, 'Am I abnormal because I like boy toys as well as girl ones?' sort of thing."<br/><br/>"Can we try it?  Try something?"  Helen's excitement was obvious in the way she grabbed Isolde's hand and tried to drag her off the bed to the computer. "Come on."<br/><br/>"Okay. Now I will hold your hand. Try to, like be me. Like on the bed in the dark. Then take the test. Because I know I am a girl. Inside my head."<br/><br/>“I... I don’t think it works like that?” Isi had allowed herself to be lead over to the computer, which had started at a tap of the keyboard. “When I was on the bed and, ah, whatever happened there, I still was me in my head?” Holding Helen’s hand did feel really good though. “I am not sure I can find the test again either. Hang on...” The computer fully re-started and Isi googled for a bit, “I don’t... None of these look like the ones I had before.” she was using the mouse and keyboard both with the same hand while still holding onto Helen with the other, which had shrunk down again.<br/><br/>"Isolde," Helen said in a quiet but very excited tone. "Your hand. It's mine again.  Its working."<br/><br/>“Always yours.” Isi smiled a little, not quite understanding what Helen was saying.<br/><br/>"No, it looks like mine. See?"  She lifted it up to her eye level.<br/><br/>Isi glanced at her hand, her little hand, it was freaky, “That’s really weird. Its been doing that since...” History class. “Ah, earlier. Only I wasn’t certain it was really happening? Like it was just going on in my head because I am insane?”<br/><br/>"Like crazy?  But I see it too.   Or did you- look, who cares?  Make it go more, Isolde. Be me."<br/><br/>“I don’t know how that’s happening.” Isi said with a little bit of a frown, “I... I don’t know that its me doing it.”<br/><br/>"You think it's me?  Oh...  But, it's never happened with anyone else. Um..  Could you maybe go see of it works with your brother or something?"<br/><br/>“No.” Isi said firmly. “No bloody way. I am not telling Geoff anything about any of this. And I don’t know that its you or me or anything. I just mean I have no clue what it is and it worries me. Though... In the dark earlier? There was a mole. Right? There really was? That happened?”<br/><br/>Helen nodded, "Yeah. You can...  Okay, no. No you can't.". She looked at Isolde. "No, um, looking at me when you're me. I'm serious," Helen said. "If you...  We.  Us. If we do, then yes. But if we don't then no looking. It's skeevey."<br/><br/>“No looking?” Isi nodded a little, “Okay.” The idea hadn’t really entered her head till then, now she couldn’t excise it. “What if I were in the middle of changing though? Or asleep and I wake up?”<br/><br/>"Then...  Lie to me. Or just don't tell me.  Okay?  It would," she paused to run her hand through her hair. "Do you know how weird this all is?  Everything that's happened today?  Since History?". She sighed. "It's exhausting."<br/><br/>Isi was still looking at her hand, thinking about a mole, she glanced up, “History, yeah. This all started then. Wait, what was that thing in the dark? Where you were touching my hand? It didn’t feel like your skin.”<br/><br/>“I don’t know.  It only started the other day.  Like, in the dark in my closet.  I think it’s darkness.  Real darkness, not just no light.  Like it’s a living thing?  Crazy, right?  But look at this.”  She wagged her hand holding the Isolde/Helen hand.  “Any crazier than this?”<br/><br/>“I was just thinking that.” Isi smiled, “You have weirdness going on too?” She gave Helen’s hand a squeeze, “So, why are we still sitting at the computer?” She glanced up smiling, “We should be over on the bed so I can show you some algebra. Then I can kiss you again you said.”<br/><br/>It was a lip bite instead of a verbal answer, but Helen nodded and, without letting go of Isolde’s hand, went back to the bed.  “Oh, crap!  My homework!  It’s in the gym.  In my bag.  Isolde, I’m, I can’t do my work without it.”<br/><br/>Isi smiled, “Well, we can just teach you algebra and then you can do your work whenever you like.”<br/><br/>“Okay.  I think it was something about-”  The lesson went on for a good twenty minutes before Helen’s concentration, and patience, was exhausted.  She didn’t make any real headway despite Isolde differing her approaches to try and reach Helen.  The gymnast just didn’t have a head for numbers and kept making really basic fundamental mistakes.<br/><br/>“I think my brain just broke, Isolde.  Why is math so stupid?”<br/><br/>“Different people have their brains wired up different ways. Not everyone has the same form of intelligence in their heads. Oh, and I had a hard time with this too. Maths is silly a lot of the time, only its the basis for so much else. Computers and physics and a lot of the other sciences, require it in their way.” Isi offered an apologetic smile, “But yeah, I had to really work at it for it to sink in and I expect I will have forgotten most of it before I even leave school. Especially the stuff like this which has little practical use.” She shrugged, “Kind of makes a mockery of the whole process.”<br/><br/>“Like I said.  It’s stupid,” Helen summed up.  “And you’re smart, Isolde.  You won’t admit it, but you are.  Like, you could have taught History today.  And you didn’t even open your book to finish the worksheet.”  Helen pushed herself off the bed.  “Are there like hand towels and a washcloth in your bathroom?  I really want to get out of this leo.  Oh, and...do you think your little sister has any panties I can borrow?”<br/><br/>“I can go dig some out. Mine might be a little big. I do have panties. I mean, some.” She didn’t even know why she was saying that, it wasn’t as if Helen knew she wore boxer briefs a lot of the time. “Oh, and yeah, towels, use whatever you like.” She smiled, leaned in and gave Heather a hug and stood up, “I knew the answers to the history stuff because I watch a lot of documentaries, read a lot, and well, studied that stuff a couple of years ago up in Canada. Which is kinda cheating. Be right back.”<br/><br/>Isi headed off upstairs to sneak into her little sisters room and steal a bra and panty set for her friend.<br/><br/>The leotard was crumpled into a springy ball on the floor. The little sister's borrowed clothes were more neatly arranged on the counter by the sink. Helen had used a soapy washcloth in the sink to take a quick standing up wash. It wasn't nearly as nice as a shower, but it was good enough to wash off the chalk and sweat. Isolde hadn't said anything but it bugged Helen. A lot. After looking at it and debating, Helen took Isolde's toothbrush and used it. It was kind of weird. But it was clean, right?  And she was using toothpaste and besides, Isolde said she wanted to kiss later. That was almost the same thing?  Still she felt guilty and used the towel to dry the bristles when she was done.<br/><br/>Helen looked in the mirror at the girl looking back. Was that what Isolde saw?  Helen wasn't sure, wasn't the even sure if the girl she saw was the same one from this morning. So much had happened.   Like the bruise on her thigh.<br/><br/>Helen hid it with the towel wrapped around her from under her arms almost to her calves. She opened The  bathroom door and peeked out. "Any luck?"<br/><br/>“I have a cute purple bra and panty set. Only don’t tell Heide because she doesn’t anymore.” Isi smiled and handed over the undergarments. “For the record they will look much cuter on you.”<br/><br/>"Is her name really Heide?  Like the fairy tale?". She took the garments from Isolde and hesitated. Helen stepped back into the bathroom but didn't close the door. But she didn't open it all the way either. With her back to it, she stepped into the panties then pulled them up under the towel.<br/><br/>“Really Heide. I’m Isolde after all, my mum is Rosamund. All good Germanic names.” Isi was trying very hard not to ask for a fashion show. Very hard. “We were all blessed with the preposterous names as part of having a German mum. Its all very Teutonic.”<br/><br/>"I need a dictionary to talk to you," Helen said lightly. The towel dropped and the skin of her back, and her tight little gymnast's ass encased in the purple panties, was visible through the partially open door. Helen slid the bra on, then reached back with an entirely comfortable, flexible movement and slid the hooks together. She adjusted the cups so the bottom wire sat right. The top followed, but Helen left the jeans on the counter and came out of the bathroom.. The tutu like frill cam down enough to cover just to the very top of her thighs.<br/><br/>"Hi," she said in a small voice. "I guess we are down with math so...". Helen fidgeted with her hands.<br/><br/>Isi stood and took it in for a bit, the smile spreading across her face till it was huge, “You look adorable. I could pick you up and spin you around.”<br/><br/>Adorable. That wasn't the same as pretty, but Helen was okay with it. Isolde meant it the nicest way and Helen smiled, feeling the compliment go deep into her heart. "You better not. I'm heavier then I look. Muscle," she touched her thighs. "So...". Helen took a step towards Isolde then waited, her eyes watching Isolde with anxiety and anticipation.<br/><br/>Isi blinked, then smiled, leaned down, and down, then down some more, the kiss was achieved in the end, but it took some getting there. She took Helen’s lower lip and sucked on it, teased it a little with her tongue. Pulled away again, “Can we go to the bed? My back is going to be displeased with me otherwise.”<br/><br/>The bed?  "Can we sit on the couch?  Like, you sit and I can sit on my knees?". Helen took Isolde's hand and led her to the couch, them got on it on her knees. She pulled Isolde to get her to sit, then moved a little closer. Helen pulled her hair back out of the way although some of it escaped right away. "Okay. Um, okay. Just, I want to try it now. Okay?"<br/><br/>Isolde was kissing her again before the word ‘okay’ was really completely finished. Taking a lip and sucking on it a bit,  tracing it with her tongue, hands finding Helen’s face and holding it. “Mmmmmn.”<br/><br/>The toothbrush didn't matter so much now. Helen sighed through her nose and the tension went out of her. This was okay. This was nice even if she didn't quite know where to put her nose. Or her hands. They settled on Isolde's wrists, just like back in History. Isolde's tongue was slippery on her lips, and it felt really funny but Helen liked it.  Slowly she opened her mouth a little bit and let her own come out, tracing along behind Isolde's. Tasting the lips of the tall, beautiful girl. Helen's hands gripped tighter and she pulled back just a little bit. "Was that okay?"<br/><br/>“That was lovely. Tingly and soft and fun and delicious.” Isi informed the other girl. “At least for me.” She took on a slightly worried aspect, nibbling her lower lip, “Was it okay for you?”<br/><br/>Helen nodded, blue eyes huge in her pale face. "Yes. Yes. It, it as really nice.". She took a breath then leaned in and pressed her lips to Isolde's. This time it was her mouth that took a lip into it and nibbled. Isolde tasted like girl. No gum. No fruity lip balm or anything.  Just girl. It was new to her, but Helen knew it was the taste she’d never forget. A little bolder now she let go of Isolde's lip and felt it move back. Helen's tongue followed it and pressed lightly against Isolde's mouth, asking to come inside and play.<br/><br/>Isi smiled a little around the kiss, this was something she had only done once before and it hadn't’ been nearly as much fun last time. Her lips parted and she invited the foreign tongue in to play with strokes and teases of her own, waiting till she had Helen’s near fully extended before attacking. Rolling their tongues together, deepening the kiss, taking big lungfuls of air through her nose one hand sliding down to hold the girl tightly the other moving to the back of Helen’s head. She let out a little moan of enjoyment into the kiss, her chest heaving, fully committed.<br/><br/>“Isolde,” Helen whispered, then went back to kissing her.  Isolde’s hand on the back of her head made Helen feel safe, and the lips on her own made her feel dangerous.  It was hot and cold, and shivery and wonderful scary all at the same time.  Eventually, it was too much.  Helen broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Isolde’s, panting deeply.  She swallowed, then opened her eyes.  Carefully, lest she spook her, Helen slid her hands down Isolde’s wrists, along her arms, and then down the side of Isolde’s ribs.  “This is nice.  But it’s almost too much.  Too...intense,” she said.  “Was it that way with her?  Your friend Alberta?”<br/><br/>Isi smiled, “My friend in Alberta. That’s the province.” Isi told Helen with a smile, “I... Didn’t... Well, I did, I kissed her? But it wasn’t like this, this electric, this... Tingly and amazing and wonderful. It wasn’t you.”<br/><br/>“I think if you had said anything else I would have cried,” Helen said, then smiled.  “Or killed you.  Don’t ever show me a picture of her, okay?  I just want to imagine she has bad teeth and ugly hair.”  Helen giggled a little bit, then moved so she was straddling Isolde’s lap, her knees on either side of Isolde’s thighs.  It put them face to face.  Helen leaned in and kissed Isolde again, but quickly this time.  “It is wonderful.”  She let her hands slide down onto Isolde’s belly.  “You’re wonderful.”<br/><br/>“I don’t have any pictures. I had a hard drive crash and lost a lot of stuff from back then. I keep backups now.” Isi leaned forward and enveloped Helen in a hug, whispering, “It is, wonderful. Unbelievable. How did this happen? How did you happen? To me? I feel so undeserving.”<br/><br/>“I don’t know,” Helen said.  She wanted to tell Isolde she was deserving, but Helen was slowly figuring out that for some reason Isolde didn’t think she was as pretty as she really was, or as good a person.  It was an insecurity, and Helen understood that if not why.  Sometimes you just felt things.<br/><br/>“Well, I don’t care. I don’t have to know. I just have to be here and be hugging you, to feel you sat on my lap and kissing me.” Isi felt something wet on her cheeks and realised it was her own tears, she reached up to wipe at her face.<br/><br/>“Are you crying?”  Helen’s hand replaced Isolde’s own, and gathered the warm tears up on her fingertips.  “Isolde, that’s so sweet.  You’re crying for me.”  Helen backed up, sliding her legs off onto the floor, and stood up, drawing Isolde with her.  “Come on.  Shh, just come on.  Come lay down.”<br/><br/>“Its happy though. Not sad.” Isi allowed herself to be lead. “I’m happy and... Crying. I don’t do that. Its girlie. I’m not a girlie girl.”<br/><br/>“It’s okay to cry.  In here.  Just like it is okay for me to kiss you.  In here.”  Helen stood, on her feet, on the bed and drew Isolde along with her until they came near the headboard.  She sank down, first onto her knees, then to lay down fully and arranged themselves so they were spooning; Isolde on the inside as the the very big little spoon and Helen on the outside as the very little big spoon.  Her arm rested on Isolde’s tummy almost possessively.  “I want you to, Isolde.  I want you to cry?”  She stroked Isolde’s tummy in a little circle, over and over again.  “Cry for your daddy because I think you really need to.”<br/><br/>“I... I was happy because of you. I don’t want...” But she was, she couldn’t help it. It started as a trickle but turned to a flood all too quickly. She had cried before for her dad of course, but had always held something back. With Helen holding her, she didn’t feel that need to deny herself and before long she had rolled over, scooted down the bed and was crying into Helen’s chest. Wracking sobs, a little wailing here and there, but all quiet, almost respectful to the other residents of the house.<br/><br/>It went on for a good twenty minutes before Isi started to come back to herself. “I... Thank you.”<br/><br/>"You're welcome," Helen said gently. "You really had a lot stuck inside you, like you were sticking a cork on your emotions because you couldn't deal with them. I bet you feel better, huh?  Let me see your eyes.". Helen squirmed a bit so they were laying face to face on their sides. "Oh, yeah. They're so red. You look like Jimmy Deacon does when he goes off campus for lunch and hangs around with those kids who smoke weed," she laughed. "Tired?  I know I am when I cry like that. But it's a good tired."<br/><br/>“Tired with a headache yeah.” Isi said with an apologetic smile. “Thanks. Lots. I just met you and you have been so kind to me, so open.”<br/><br/>It was the most natural thing in the world to kiss Isolde. It wasn't erotic, just loving. And it was right. "Tell me where the medicine is and I will get you something for it. Do you want a coke or anything?"<br/><br/>“That.” Isi smiled, kissed Helen again quickly, “Thats the medicine for it.” She smiled, “No soda for me. I don’t drink that stuff.”<br/><br/>"You're so weird," but there was no malice in it, only love. "I mean, I don't drink a lot of them, Coach won't let us, but they really help with my headaches." She stroked a hand along Isolde's cheek and then ran it up into her hair. "I bet you drink tea, right?"<br/><br/>“No. I don’t drink caffeine. Or alcohol or stuff with aspartame, or anything that has been near GMO stuff if I can help it...” She glanced away for a moment, “And now I sound insane. I drink a lot of water really.”<br/><br/>"No, just really, really smart. I don't think you know how smart you are, Isolde. I don't know what half that stuff means and I don't care. I just like you." Helen sighed and sat up. "I don't want to, but I better go home. Can your brother take me?"<br/><br/>“I will go ask him. You...” Isi smiled a little shyly, “You should stay over some time. The sofa over there folds out.” She leaned iin and sucked on Helen’s lip just for a moment, pulling back breathing a shaky sigh from her nose before rolling off of the bed, springing to her feet and bouncing off out the door and upstairs.<br/><br/>"I'd like to," she said. "I have to ask my parents but they won't mind.". And if Isolde thought she was sleeping on the couch, she was crazy. While Isolde was gone, Helen put the borrowed jeans back on and balled up her leotard.  Then she spent a few minutes straightening Isolde's bed cover and making sure things were hung up to dry in the bathroom.  Isolde's hair was stuck in a hairbrush and Helen's fingers plucked a few strands out. She smiled, remembering History. She'd gotten to feel Isolde's hair and answered her question about how it would feel.<br/><br/>Isolde came back a few minutes later, “Hey, he say’s give him ten to fifteen minutes. I think he wants to change or something. He is going into town anyway and I was lucky to catch him."<br/><br/>Helen nodded. "Thanks. I, uh, you don't need to go with me. I mean, you probably have to do something or something. You know. Stuff. I'll see you tomorrow?"<br/><br/>“I don’t have to, kinda want to though.” Isi smiled, “Oh, if that’s okay?”<br/><br/>"No, I mean, I don-". Helen stopped and looked torn. "I'm afraid you'll see my house and laugh. We're not rich like you."<br/><br/>“Hey, I used to live in all kinds of strange places, mostly concrete prefab nightmares on airbases.” Isi leaned forward and hugged Helen, “We only have this place because we were lucky on a government auction. We were the only real bidder and so we picked it up for a fraction of what it should have cost. We couldn’t afford to buy it at market value. I am still amazed things happened that way, but even with all the death benefits and life insurance and Dad’s pension if we cashed it in and stuff? No way. We were looking at buying a more modest place in town when I found the auction online and we just went on the off chance. We picked it up without even having seen it first hand. It was pretty crazy. You have to write a check there and then or your bid is voided. If you don’t actually have the money, you can’t go find a broker and arrange a mortgage. Just no bidding and no house. Not that houses are the only things at these auctions of course. You see all kinds of stuff. I wanted to stay and bid on other things, but my mum wouldn’t let me. We are not as well off as all that and things will be tight till one or more of the family are working.”<br/><br/>"I still think you should stay here," Helen said in spite of Isolde's argument. "So your headache will go away," she seized upon the excuse. "And what if your brother needs to go somewhere later?"<br/><br/>“Yeah, he was planning to go somewhere.” Isi looked conflicted, “Okay. But I want to see your house at some point? And you don’t have to be embarrassed. At all. Ever. Because I understand, really. Okay, we have this place, but we have it by fiat of luck and my dad dying on active duty. So it's kind of a bittersweet thing. I have lived in little places in Scotland and Wales where I had to share a room with both my brother and sister and the wind would come through the gaps under the windows.” She leaned in and hugged Helen tightly, then kept hugging her. “I don’t want you to go. Oh! You need my phone number and e-mail address, you have the internet right?”<br/><br/>"Um, no?  I um don't even have a cell phone.  But you can call the house." Helen gave the number to Isolde then folded herself into a tight little hug. "You better call me."<br/><br/>“I only have the house phone too.” Isolde admitted, “I will call you. And e-mail you and stuff. We have to be all secretive though right? You have broadband?”<br/><br/>"No. I mean we don't have Internet. At all. Or a computer."<br/><br/>"Oh. That's... Oh." Isi nodded, "Phone it is then." She gave Helen a big hug, ran over to her desk and scribbled her number on a piece of paper and handed it over. There was a knock at the door.<br/><br/>"Geoff's taxi service. Leaving in three. Those who aren't ready by the are not going." His voice was deep, friendly and had a good note of humour to it.