Stealing himself Mikey pulled up his panties and jeans, washed his hands, and rejoined the rest of the girls who were tie-dying t-shirts. He caught Diane's eye as he approached the picnic table but she blushed and looked away from him. I was obvious that she was embarrassed by what he'd done so he avoided looking at her as best he could the rest of the morning.
Heather and Molly help Mikey get his t-shirt ready for the tie-dying since he was late joining them after taking so long in the bathroom. After it was dyed and untied Mikey realized that he hadn't even thought about it when he was choosing colors and he'd dyed it purple and light blue. It wasn't the girliest color combination, but it didn't look like something that a boy would want to wear. Of course, he might not have to worry about what a boy would or wouldn't want to wear ever again.
After the girl's cleaned up from their tie-dying it was time for lunch. It was a simple meal of sandwiches so their wouldn't be much clean-up; they had to pack up their camp to go home right after lunch. Mikey saw wear Diane had sat and chose a seat at the other table to give her some space. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had kissed her in the bathroom, but it had felt like the right thing to do at the time. It had felt good to him, but then Diane had run off, so obviously he had done something wrong.
Once they were done with lunch Mikey couldn't avoid Diane anymore: they had to pack all of their stuff in their shared tent. The silence in the tent was awkward as both girls began neatly folding their clothes and putting them in their backpacks.
Finally Mikey couldn't take it anymore and apologize "I'm sorry I kissed you."
At first Diane didn't say anything and he thought wasn't going to. Finally she replied. "It's okay. You just surprised me. I always thought my first kiss was going to be with a boy."
"I am a boy." Mikey said temporarily forgetting his predicament. "Oh... wait." he said when he realized that his previous statement wasn't true.
"Yeah. Look Mikey... I like you, I like you a lot in fact. I liked you kissing me." Diane said turning a brighter red than Mikey had ever seen on anyone's face before.
"You did?" He asked in surprise. "Then why did you run away?"
"I was confused. I mean obviously I wasn't expecting anyone to kiss me today and I never really considered kissing a girl before."
"So you're not mad at me?" Mikey asked in relief.
"No. I'm not mad at you. Next time though, you should ask before kissing me." Diane said.
"You mean you want to do it again?" Mikey was flabbergasted. Just a minute ago he was sure that Diane hated him for kissing her, now it seemed like she wanted him to do it again.
"Yes!" Diane exclaimed, then more quietly, "I mean if you want to."
Their second kiss was nearly as short as the first, a simple pressing together of their lips, but this time neither of them ran away.
After the kiss, Diane looked Mikey up and down. "It's kind of too bad that, without the necklace, you can't be my boyfriend, but if you want... you could be my girlfriend."
Mikey was shocked by that statement. He'd again momentarily forgotten that he was a girl. He also suddenly realized that Diane didn't know that he'd found the necklace. He reached into his sleeping bag and pulled it out.
"I found it right before Krista's mom came in. I didn't want her to know about it. I guess I forgot to tell you."
"You found it!" Diane said excitedly. "Have you tried it on yet? No, of course not, you just said you hadn't. Try it on. Try it on!"
Mikey lifted the necklace up and looked at it. He knew this necklace was his only way back to being a boy, but he didn't know if it would still work for him.
