Nice Girl, Tough Girl, Smart Girl
By M.C. 
My new girlfriend has multiple personalities - or are they really three separate people?


1) I Meet Ginger

Ginger Morris moved into the house across the street from me a month ago.
Because she and her family were new to the neighborhood and the new school
year was about to start (Ginger and I were both seventeen years old and would
be starting our senior year in high school) my mother and I went over to greet
the new family to make them feel welcome. I'm very shy and didn't really want
to go but my mother forced me to come with her. "They're new to the neighbor-
hood Steve and they have a daughter your age. So we're going to bring over a
cake and greet them as good neighbors should, and that's it; end of
discussion!" And so I went.

I have to admit that I was quite taken by Ginger from the get-go. In addition
to being rather pretty with long, dark hair, she seemed to have a very
outgoing and bubbly personality; kind of the opposite of me. She also liked to
giggle a lot. I never had a girlfriend up until then and was, to tell the
truth, quite shy around girls - especially pretty ones. But Ginger seemed to
see through my reticence and was able to make me feel quite comfortable when I
was around her. Where this might eventually lead, only time would tell.

As I left home on the first day of the new school year, I was surprised to see
Ginger outside on the sidewalk in front of my house waiting for me. "High
Stevie (she had taken to calling me Stevie after I told her that I didn't
mind), I thought that we might walk together to school this morning; if that's
O.K. with you." I nodded. "Good. So let's start and you can tell me all about
this new school of mine on the way."

Ginger's first day in her new school was uneventful but, as she explained to
me while we walked home, quite lonely. "My father is an important manager in a
large corporation and every year or two we've had to move to a different area;
which means going to a new school where I don't have any friends. And every
time that I do establish friendships, we move and I have to start all over
again from the beginning. I've been doing this for virtually my entire life
and it really sucks big time." We reached our homes, but before Ginger and I
parted company she took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "This time
however there is one difference Stevie - this time I'm starting off with at
least one friend."

And so every morning for the next few weeks, Ginger and I would meet outside
of our homes and walk to school together and then walk home after school. But
our relationship never went any further than that (except for that one time
when she squeezed my hand). We never invited one another into our homes, nor
went on a single date - which I attribute to my shyness. And then about three
weeks into the new school year an incident occurred that would dramatically
change our relationship forever.

2) Ginger's Transformation

My best friend Greg and I were working out in the weight room. Though by no
means a jock, I did like to work out a few times a week to keep in reasonable
shape. The door to the weight room opened and in walked Larry, Ron and Jake -
arguably the three strongest and toughest guys on our high school football
team. Even though it was still before three - at which time the weight room is
reserved exclusively for the football players - Larry ordered us out. For some
reason I was bothered by that and protested, telling him that Greg and I had
every right to be there until three. And Larry's response? POW! - a hard right
hook to the side of my jaw which knocked me down. "Get the hell out of the
weight room right now you pathetic wimps!" Larry barked; and meekly we did.

I felt my jaw beginning to swell up as I came out of the weight room and
started to make my way towards the place where Ginger and I always meet after
school so that we can walk home together. Naively, I tried to hide my swollen
jaw from her and hoped that she wouldn't notice. Fat chance of that happening
though as Ginger noticed it immediately. "What happened to you Stevie?" she
asked. Ginger also saw that I had tears in my eyes.

"It's nothing Ginger. Let's just forget about it and walk home." What happened
next was something that I'll never forget for as long as I live. Ginger, that
nice, sweet girl from across the street, suddenly began to transform herself
right before my very eyes. Not physically - she still looked pretty much the
same - but everything else about her began to change dramatically. Her face
grew stern and cold, and the sweet voice that she always used around me became
loud, harsh and threatening. "Steve," she said in a strong, forceful tone that
I had never heard her use before, "tell me what in the hell happened to you -
and I mean NOW!" To further emphasize her point, Ginger grabbed me by the
collar of my shirt with her right hand and, after pinning me back against a
wall, lifted my 180 pounds several inches off the ground - with just her right
hand!

"I demand to know who did this to you Steve, and where I can find him? Tell me
this minute!" I have to admit that I was scared, very scared in fact; scared
of Ginger. This wasn't the sweet, kind-hearted Ginger that I had come to know
over the past several weeks. This girl not only exuded strength and toughness,
but she also had vengeance written all over her face. I could actually feel
it. Shaking like a leaf on a tree during a windy day, I managed to blurt out,
"His name is Larry, and he's in the weight room now. Wha-what are you going to
do Ginger?"

"I'm going to do what needs to be done Steve. You're my friend now, and nobody
treats my friends this way - and I mean NOBODY!" Ginger put me down and
released her grip on my shirt. She took out a headband and tied her long,
pretty dark hair back into a ponytail, then she looked at me and said, "You
don't have to come with me Steve. Trust me when I say this, I'm more than
capable of handling this myself. But if you do decide to come, you're to stay
completely out of it. You're not to get involved in any way. Do you understand
what I just told you?" I nodded. "Good." Ginger then began to walk briskly
towards the weight room with me in tow. I was still in complete shock at the
sudden transformation that had just occurred in Ginger; so much so that I had
completely forgotten about my swollen jaw.

3) Ginger Confronts Larry

As we approached the weight room, Ginger asked me, "Are there any other guys
in there besides this Larry?" I told her that there were two more, Ron and
Jake; and all three are big, strong guys. "They're the stars of our high
school's football team," I told her. Although Ginger clearly heard what I had
just said, she didn't appear to be too concerned about it. "That means that
there are only three of them, right? O.K. then, that shouldn't present too
much of a problem for me."

"But Ginger, like I said, these guys are the stars of our football team and
they're like the strongest and toughest guys in our whole school. And you're
just one girl. What can you possibly do against them?" For the first time
since Ginger had transformed herself, she smiled. But it wasn't the warm,
kind, sweet smile that I had seen her display many times when she was in a
happy mood. This was the strong, powerful and confident smile of a girl who
knew what she was doing. "What can I do about it? Just watch me." Ginger
pushed the weight room door open and we went inside.

The first thing Ginger did when we entered the weight room was close and lock
the door behind us. Then she motioned for me to stand against the wall on the
side. "Like I told you before Steve, stay right there until I tell you it's
O.K. And no matter what happens, you're not to move. Understand?" I nodded.
"Good. Now, tell me which one of these rough, tough, macho guys punched you."
After I pointed Larry out to her, Ginger removed her shoes and, without
showing even the slightest trace of fear, began to approach him.

"Larry," Ginger began in a strong, confident tone, "my name is Ginger Morris
and he (she pointed to me) is my friend Steve; the one you just punched.
Nobody treats a friend of mine like that - and I mean NOBODY! So prepare
yourself tough guy, for I'm about to give you the beating of your life."
Ginger then looked over at Ron and Jake who were standing near-by. "This is
just between Larry and me and I'm only going to say this once - remain exactly
where you are and stay the hell out of this!"

I had a sense of trepidation as I watched the scene that was now unfolding
right before my eyes in the weight room. For here was my new friend Ginger (we
hadn't gotten to the boyfriend/girlfriend stage yet) confronting the three
strongest and toughest guys in our entire school - and she wasn't even afraid!
Each one of them stood over six feet tall and their combined weight must have
topped 650 pounds, to Ginger's five-foot seven inch height and 135 pounds. For
a few tense moments Larry and Ginger faced off against one another. Then, in
what seemed like a blur, Ginger whirled around and landed a hard roundhouse
kick to the side of Larry's face, and the fight was on.

4) The Fight

I watched in stunned silence as Ginger, that nice, pretty girl who lives
across the street from me, hurled herself at the much larger Larry and drove
him back with a series of solid punches and kicks to various parts of his
body. And as she pressed her attack, the much larger Larry seemed totally
helpless against her onslaught. After several more hard punches followed by
another solid kick to his jaw, Ginger sent the football star flat on his back.
Then she looked over at Ron and Jake to see if they had remained where she
told them to. Satisfied that they had - at least for the moment - Ginger
turned her attention back to Larry who was now getting to his feet. But he
didn't stay up for too long. WHACK! SMASH! THUMP! POW! And with another series
of well-placed punches and kicks, Ginger drove Larry backwards where he fell
over a bench and landed on his back again.

Seeing that their friend and teammate was being totally outclassed by this
martial arts expert, Ron and Jake moved in to try and help Larry - which
proved to be a big mistake; for them. "I warned you boys not to intervene,
didn't I?" Ginger said as she nailed Ron with a hard kick to his head. "So now
you will also have to pay the price." Ginger became a blur of punches and
kicks as she quickly went from one of her large opponents to the other, taking
turns pounding each of them while her long, pretty ponytail swished around
behind her.

It couldn't have taken Ginger more than two minutes for her to send both Ron
and Jake down for the count (she even managed to put Larry down again with a
hard kick when she noticed that he was getting up). Ginger left Ron and Jake
lying on the weight room floor about six feet away from where I was standing.
Then she winked at me and went over where Larry was to finish him off.
Grabbing the large athlete firmly by his sweatshirt with her left hand, Ginger
began to slap him hard back and forth across the face with her right. And as
she did so, this tough girl also gave him a stern lecture. "As I told you
before Larry - SLAP! - CRACK! - Steve is my friend - SLAP! - CRACK! And
whoever messes with him - SLAP! - CRACK! - also messes with me. Do you
understand?" SLAP! CRACK! SLAP! CRACK!

By now the badly beaten football star was on the verge of tears. Still holding
Larry firmly by his shirt, Ginger dragged him over to where I stood and said,
"Now I want you to apologize to Steve for punching him and promise that you'll
never to do it again. Because if you don't, I'm going to drag you outside,
take you across my knees and give you a good, hard spanking in front of
everybody. Is that clear?" Needless to say, it was. With tears in his eyes,
the largest and toughest guy in our school literally begged me to forgive him.
Ginger turned to me and asked, "Steve, do you accept Larry's apology, or
should I slap him around some more? Either way is O.K. with me."

The thought that I had this this mighty football star completely at my mercy
was something that I was definitely not prepared for and didn't exactly know
what to do. Finally I said, "I think he's had quite enough Ginger, he's
learned his lesson. You can release him." After she did, Larry collapsed on
the weight room floor, sobbing. And then, just as quickly as Ginger had
transformed herself from being the nice, sweet girl that I had known her to be
into this awesome, fearsome supergirl, she transformed herself back into being
the sweet Ginger again - as if nothing out of the ordinary had even happened!
She gently took me by the hand, giggled and said in a soft voice, "Come
Stevie, let's walk home together. You probably have a few questions that you
want to ask me." Ginger put her shoes back on, led me out of the weight room
and began to walk me home.

5) Ginger's Revelation

Despite the fact that I did have many questions for Ginger, I couldn't bring
myself to ask her, so overwhelmed was I by what I had just seen her do in the
weight room. While she sensed this, Ginger decided not to say anything until
we got home; so we walked along in silence. When we stood in front of her
house, Ginger flashed me a pretty smile and said, "Stevie, my parents are away
on a business trip and won't be back for several days. So why don't you come
inside. We need to put some ice on that jaw of yours and then I think it's
time that you and I had a little talk." Ginger led me inside, put some ice
cubes in a dish towel to put on my jaw after which we went straight into her
bedroom. She sat down on her bed and motioned for me to sit next to her. An
awkward few moments of silence followed, and then she began to speak.

"What I'm about to tell you now is something that I've never told anyone
before, not even my parents. So I'd really like you to keep this between us.
O.K Stevie?" After I agreed, Ginger began. "Ever since I was a little girl,
I've felt that there were two other girls sharing my body with me.
Psychologists might refer to this as my simply having imaginary friends or
having a split personality. But for me they're far more than that; for me
they're actually real. We even have names for each other. I'm called the Nice
Girl. Then there's the one that you met today that we call, for obvious
reasons, the Tough Girl. And the third is the Smart Girl; I'll tell you more
about her a little bit later."

"The Tough Girl is, as you saw this afternoon, an expert in martial arts.
She's been studying martial arts ever since we were four years old and holds
black belts in both Tai-Kwon-Do and Jujitsu. She's not afraid of anything -
not even taking on three large, tough guys all at once. Whenever a situation
occurs where I need her - like today for example - she takes over my body and
deals with it. This will probably sound very strange to you Stevie, but I can
actually feel when the Tough Girl takes control. She's very strong and VERY
tough. In fact, had there been one or two more football players in the weight
room, she still could have beaten them all up. That's how tough she is."

"But you should never be afraid of the Tough Girl Stevie. You're our friend
now and she would never harm you. To the contrary, she'll always be there to
protect and defend you when she feels it's necessary. Now it's true that she
did get a little rough with you earlier when she lifted you up and pinned you
against the wall; but that was only because you wouldn't tell her who punched
you. The Tough Girl isn't one to play games or be tactful; it's just not her
style. When she wants something, she gets it. But you also saw that after she
finished dealing with those three bullies and forced Larry to apologize to you
and felt that she wasn't needed anymore, the Tough Girl stepped aside and let
me be back in control of our body."

"The Smart Girl is called that because, quite simply, she's a genius. She's
the reason that I've never received anything less than an "A" in any class. It
doesn't matter how difficult the subject is - it could be Spanish, French or
even calculus - she'll always ace every exam. And if you should ever have a
problem with any subject in school Stevie, ask the Smart Girl and she'll help
you. She has a lot of patience and will explain the subject to you in such a
way that you'll understand everything by the time she's finished."

"Now, if you were to ask any psychologist or psychiatrist about what I just
described to you, they would undoubtably say that I have a multi-personality
disorder or what's now called Dissociate Identity Disorder (DID) - that each
of these girls that I feel are sharing my body with me are either imaginary
friends or simply different aspects of my personality played out as different
girls. That may be true, I simply don't know. But what I do know is that I
don't feel that this is in any way a disorder. These girls are my friends.
They comforted me whenever we moved to a new place and I didn't have any
friends. They also help me whenever I need them. And as I said before, I can
actually feel when they take over my body."

"Stevie, there's absolutely no way that I could lift your 180 pounds off the
ground and pin you against that wall with just one hand. Nor take on and beat
up three big, strong, tough bullies at once, each of which was much larger and
stronger than I am; no matter how pissed off I was at them. But when the Tough
Girl felt my anger and took control, I felt like I had become just a passenger
in my own body. She's the one that beat them up while I watched. She wanted
you to stay against the wall so that you wouldn't get hurt again while she
took care of the situation. And after she finished with them and forced Larry
to apologize to you, the Tough Girl bowed out so that I could return."

Then Ginger looked at me and asked in a soft voice, "So, what do you think
Stevie? Am I crazy? Do you think that I need to seek professional help?" There
was a long pause before Ginger asked me one final question. "After hearing all
of this, do you still want to be my friend? Or is this all too weird for you?"

To say that I was confused at this point would be a gross understatement. But
despite that, I simply couldn't get one thing out of my mind: that this
five-foot seven inch, 135 pound girl, in order to protect me, singlehandedly
beat up the three largest, strongest and toughest guys in our entire school -
and she made it look easy while doing so! So what if it was her alter ego
doing it and not some imaginary super friend that shares her body with her? I
mean, aren't we all a little bit crazy in our own way? And I really do need to
pick up my grade point average if I want to have any chance of attending a
decent university next year. Having a genius friend that could help me with my
courses might not be a bad idea. And, last but not least, Ginger really is a
warm, compassionate and beautiful girl who is a lot of fun to be with and who,
for some reason which for the life of me I can't figure out, likes me too.

After a very lengthy pause (which for Ginger must have seemed like an
eternity) I said, "Yes Ginger, I do still want to be your friend, very much
so. And not only that, but I also want to be your boyfriend; provided you'll
have me that is."

"Yes! Oh yes! Of course I'll have you, you silly boy you. Why on Earth would
you ever think otherwise? And just think of it this way Stevie - you're
getting three girlfriends for the price of one." Ginger put her arms around me
and gave me a monstrous hug, the strongest hug that I ever received - by far.
And when Ginger finally released me, I almost passed out. As I gasped for air
she giggled, "That hug actually came from the Tough Girl Stevie; she's happy
about her new boyfriend too."

"And what does the Smart Girl have to say about all of this Ginger? Does she
also accept me?" There was a lengthy pause before I heard Ginger say in a deep
and serious voice, "I definitely concur with the decision of my companions to
welcome you into our trifecta Steven. Furthermore, if you should ever require
my assistance in any way to facilitate enhancing your academic advancement and
thus enabling you to attend the university of your choice, you have but to ask
and I will gladly comply. It will be my great pleasure to assist you in this
or any other intellectual endeavor that you desire."

A few seconds later Ginger's voice returned to the way that I'm used to
hearing it. "That was the Smart Girl," she said with a grin. "And like the
Tough Girl, she also takes a bit of getting used to. But she'll always be
willing to help you. So never forget this Stevie, all three of us are your
friends now and each one of us has something special to offer you. So, like I
said to you earlier, you're actually getting three girlfriends for the price
of one. Now, if that isn't a great bargain then I don't know what is."