Nicki fell back into a deep depression. Her increasingly difficult-to-ignore female hormones were conflicting with her recently-revived male psyche. She became bitter and hateful, acting consciously like a 14-year-old girl might, if filled with stereotypical teen angst, magnified by 100. She painted her room black and took on a dark wardrobe. She wrote angry poetry on her walls.
Her friends, the ones she'd amassed since becoming Nicki (minus Katie,) had no idea what was going on with her. They were clueless as to what was happening to their friend and how they could help. They would ask Megan, and she'd explain, "Nicki's going through some things at the moment," without ever specifying what.
Her grades started to slip. When Megan called her on it, Nicki blamed "my inferior young mind." They got into a fight over that, because as a young girl, Megan (whose body Nicki essentially had,) was a good student. They fought much more often.
Then she fell in with the wrong crowd. By the time she was 17, she was out every weekend at parties, drinking and getting high. "Yes," Nicki would snap upon returning home sometimes, without even being asked a question, "I'm still a virgin." The idea of losing her virginity by this point repulsed her. Although, unbeknownst to Megan, she was getting a reputation for getting tipsy and "experimenting." Although she absolutely refused to engage in anything sexual, she was known for being a wild child.
Then one night, she arrived at a party with her friend Carrie. The boy, Chris, who was hosting, brought over another boy.
"Hey ladies," he said, "I want you to meet my good buddy from out of town, Keith." Carrie flirted a little, but Nicki completely ignored him in favour of Jeanelle Shepherdson, who was dancing in the corner.
But wherever Nicki went in the crowd, Keith was not far behind.
"WHAT is your problem?" she snapped.
"I wanted to talk to you," he said, offering her a drink.
"I'm not interested." She accepted the drink, however, as a show of good will. "I don't like boys."
"I'm not surprised," Keith laughed, "Nicki, it's me. It's Katie."
