Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Death by Chocolate
Paid publication
Book #1	Welcome to Dorley Hall
Chapter	4
Free publication
Date posted	Dec 9, 2021
Word count	5,641
Points of view	Christine, Stefan
AO3 Scribble Hub
Chapter 3 ← Previous	Chapter 5 Next →

Chapter 4: Room and Bored is the fourth chapter of the first book of the series. Stefan is finally moved to the common room. We get a look at Christine's life at Dorley as a third year student, including femininity inspections as well as the personal lives of Vicky and Indira. Christine also has complicated feelings about becoming a woman. Abby and Christine bond, and Abby recognizes Stefan as Melissa's friend.

The title describes Stefan's situation as being roomed and bored.

Plot

2019, Stefan

Stefan is suffering after the session with Pippa. He feels more dysphoric than ever. Christine, who has hacked the intercomm once more, tries to tell Stefan about what to expect from the next few days of the Programme.

2019, Christine

Christine continues her plans to set Stefan free. Unfortunately, he's already seen some of the technical crimes they commit in the process of turning men into women, which means she has to convince him not to turn them all in. Aunt Bea comes in for a regular inspection. She asks questions about her outfit and whether it's suitably feminine, and pays interest to Christine's classes. Aunt Bea is the intimidating patron of Dorley Hall and Christine feels intensely judged by her. Although Christine still isn't fully used to having a feminine body, she prefers it to who she was before. But the process of getting to that point has left its mental scars.

2019, Stefan

Pippa decants Stefan to the common room. She reminds him of the fact that all of the guards are armed with tasers, and informs him that if he doesn't behave, he will be washed out and never be seen again.

2019, Christine

Eventually, Aunt Bea decides that Christine is satisfactory and leaves. Abby and Christine relax and commiserate over being held to a high standard of femininity in order to be allowed to graduate the programme and leave Dorley Hall. Christine thinks about her friends, Abby, Indira, Vicky and Paige and is grateful that she was able to meet them. They discuss Indira being allowed to visit her family under the guise of being a trans woman, and how her family embraced her wholeheartedly and that her mom has become a minor trans activist. Christine's family doesn't care for her, while Abby's family is still looking for her via private investigator. Abby is thinking of reconnecting if Aunt Bea allows it.

They talk about Abby's job at the Almsworth Gazette. Abby asks Christine to check the restricted files she knows she can access because she wants to learn about the new boy and keep an eye out for any missing person reports. Abby recognizes Stefan as Melissa's friend and is shocked that the sweet kid became bad enough to be swept up into Dorley.