"If ya need anybody to...taste test, I can help ya with that, too. Okay?"

Her response to his comment about cooking and baking was immediate. The offer of her further help came with very little forethought. Even if she failed at carpentry, she excelled at eating. If only that would get her far in life.

She finished hammering in the first nail and moved onto the next, grinning at Quin like a fool. Billie was obviously enjoying herself, but her smile faded suddenly when she heard what he'd called her. A girl. While she didn't mind that Gideon had filled Quincey in on their secret, she was less than pleased that her father had informed him about everything.

Part of her wanted to shout that she wasn't. That she didn't want to be. The truth of her gender stung. She knew the facade couldn't last forever, but she didn't want to be a girl. She didn't want to be proper. Or frowned at when she tried to climb trees or ask questions. Or wear terrible, uncomfortable dresses and play with dolls instead of sticks that she imagined to be swords.

Originally, she had transformed from Wilhelmina to Billie for her safety, out on the streets alone. It was more beneficial to be male when it came to landing odd jobs. The longer she'd embarked on the masquerade, the more she'd realized she enjoyed it. The more she felt like herself.

It took her a few moments of quiet hammering to speak again. Quin's comment about school brought about more worries since she wasn't academically at the same level as many children her age. And she feared having to re-enter the world as a girl at that time.

"That's a long time 'till then, though!" She couldn't stand having to wait to learn everything! School wasn't for another 2 years. Her usual cheerful demeanor returned, and she hammered away, energetically, the nail going in slightly slantways. "Miss Potts says it's fun. She let me look at some of them books they have 'bout plants. Do ya get to learn 'bout makin' sweets there? That where ya learned it?"