Not One Of The Girls - Part 4

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I struggled to correlate my physical actions with those of my reflection, I mean, I knew logically that it was me in the mirror, but the rest of my brain was refusing to accept the fact though. The style the girls had settled on, actually made me look a couple of years older. My skin looked very ‘porcelain-like, but it was so well blended it looked almost natural and my lips shimmered with the ruby-red lipstick the girls had decided on.

My sapphire blue eyes were outlined with just enough liner to make them ‘pop’ without drawing away from the overall look and the eye shadow was a blend of pink and blue that tonally matched my outfit. My lashes looked long and thick, Emily had taken the time to brush them out properly so that they weren’t ‘clumpy’ and as I turned my head from side to side, I could see that she had also done some very light contouring along my cheekbones to give them a bit of definition.

She had cheekily stated that they didn’t need much emphasizing, but it would add to the overall effect. My eyes caught on to what Chloe had been doing to my hair. My thick brown waves were pulled up into a full braid and she had interspersed it with clips and ornaments that gave it a ‘flower-child’ aesthetic. I turned my head to the left and the right, awed by the amount of work and effort the girls had put in. “So, what do you think?” Chloe chirped as she appeared in the mirror beside me. “Uh, is there a word stronger than overwhelmed?” I stammered causing a couple of the girls to giggle.

“I think ‘terrified’ might work in the situation” Kat purred, speaking for the first time since the whole transformation began. I nodded. “Yeah, that will do it” I grumbled. I was hit by the same odd feeling from earlier. My brain told me that I was a guy, that it was wrong for me to be dressed like this, but as I looked at my reflection, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that it felt somehow, right. Something of my internal struggle must’ve shown on my face as Kiera stepped forward and pulled me into a light hug. “You held up your end of the deal, you took it like a champ too” she murmured “but if it’s making you uncomfortable, we can take it all off” “Ooh, not before I get some pics” Chloe interjected quickly as she ran to grab her phone. “Chlo” Emily hissed. But Chloe was too busy prattling as she was fiddling with the settings on the camera on her phone. “Chloe” Emily growled a bit louder. Still, the mousy girl was in her own world as she made her way over to me. “Chloe!

If Alex isn’t comfortable with this. Don’t be pushy” Emily snapped as she pushed herself quite forcefully between Chloe and me. Chloe looked stunned for a second before taking on a dark look. “Fine. It was only supposed to be a bit of fun” she huffed as she strutted off and sat down on the bed beside Kat, she then began scrolling through her social media and pretty much-ignored everyone. I had to admit; although there was a friendly level of banter between Emily and myself, I never expected that she would defend me quite so fiercely, especially against one of her actual friends. I smiled wanly as Emily turned and beamed at me. “You really are beautiful you know.

I can kinda see why Kat has a thing for-” She faltered and suddenly turned violently red as Kat shrieked, “EMILY!” before jumping off of the bed and strutting over to us. “You have no right…that’s my business” the blonde squealed indignantly. “Um, am I missing something?” I asked Kiera, who just shook her head sombrely as Emily tried desperately to apologize for Kat’s tirade. “Only that since you started at our school, Kat has developed a bit of a thing for you. It was a real kick in the crotch when she found out you’re a guy” Chloe purred without even looking up from her phone.

The look on Kat’s face was priceless as she turned her anger on her. It took every effort from both Cass and Emily to prevent Kat from braining Chloe. Wow! being told ‘no’ really did bring out the bitch in her. I caught sight of my reflection again, as Cass and Emily wrestled with the incensed Kat. I really did look quite striking. I thought about my family’s reactions if they saw me like this and I started to giggle. Kiera looked at me oddly for a second, but as my giggling turned into full-on laughing, she began to laugh too.

Surprised and confused, the other girls turned to see what the hell was going on, I tried desperately to explain through my laughter; where my thoughts had strayed to, and somehow, between the laughing and the struggling explanation, the other girls got what I was getting at and began to laugh too. Within a minute, all six of us were in hysterics, it was a couple of minutes before we all calmed down enough to talk. “Kat, I never realized you felt that way” I murmured, causing her to blush furiously, “wait! Is that why you’ve been so cold toward me?” I demanded.

There was a pause before she nodded slowly. “I’ve known for a while that I like girls” she sighed “when you started at Ryden, I was like, oh she’s cute, and then you didn’t show any interest in trying to ingratiate yourself within any of the cliques. You were simply happy to do your own thing, I thought that was so cool, you were so different. “Then Kee told us you’re a guy and it kind of freaked me out a bit, I felt so confused, I’m really sorry that I was a bitch”. There were a couple of tears running down her face as she apologized. There was a light coughing sound.

We all turned to look at Chloe; still sat on the end of Kiera’s bed. “I think I should apologize for being a bitch too” she whispered as she looked directly at me. “You guys know what I’m like-” she insisted energetically as she looked from one girl to the next “I get a bit carried away is all” she mumbled the last part, as she looked down at her lap. I walked slowly over to her and held my hands out. Looking up at me, the girl reached out and took them warily, she then gasped as I pulled her to her feet and into a hug. “It’s ok, really, it’s just kind of a lot to take in, and all at once you know?” I said softly. “I really am sorry” she whispered.

I got the feeling that she was looking at Kat over my shoulder as she spoke. It was my turn to gasp in surprise as suddenly Chloe and I were wrapped in a group hug. There were some chuckles as my stomach started to growl from hunger. “What is the time anyway?” I inquired as we all separated from the hug. Kiera looked down at her watch. “Hell, it’s quarter to two, it’s no wonder you’re hungry” she gasped. “Yeah, because being pampered is such tiring work” Emily teased as she smiled wickedly at me.

I poked my tongue out at her as Chloe turned to Kiera. “Do you think Ari will have anything for us to eat?” she asked. I was a little confused until Cass leaned over and whispered, “Ari is the Fellows’ private chef”. I frowned as I inquired, “Private chef, how much money do these people have?”. Cass just chuckled coolly before mumbling, “A lot”. We stopped our mini conversation as several sets of eyes turned to look at me questioningly. “Uh” I garbled as my ears turned pink. “How do you feel about going out for lunch?” Kiera asked cautiously. “It’s totally your choice, no pressure” Chloe added adamantly. I couldn’t help but smile, she did genuinely seem to feel bad about being pushy before. “I’m not sure-” I murmured. The girls looked a little crestfallen at my hesitation.

The idea of going out dressed like I was, really did make me nervous, the more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I was kind of buzzing, I looked good, and I was feeling pretty confident. “You know what, let’s do it. It’s not like I look like a guy in drag. So, who’s going to know right?”. The girls cheered before going into full-blown getting ready to go out mode. Jackets and shoes were grabbed and before I knew it, I was being dragged out of Kiera’s room and down the grand staircase.

I did get that horrible feeling of ‘You’re going to be figured out’ in the pit of my stomach as I was herded through a massive, ornately decorated dining hall into the kitchen/dining area. “You’re a bit late for lunch girls, Ari has gone on his break” Mrs. Fellows purred without even looking up from her magazine as we approached. “Actually, would you be able to give us a lift into town?” Kiera asked before adding, “we can grab some food while we’re out”.

Mrs. Fellows slowly lowered her magazine and looked from one girl to the next when she saw me, she beamed, causing me to blush furiously; not that you’d know through all the makeup. “So, there was a young lady somewhere under those baggy clothes. You look beautiful” she stated as she climbed to her feet. A couple of the girls stepped aside as the woman appraised me. “A real Cinderella story, I see Kee has been into my jewelry box though” she feigned annoyance but it was Kiera’s turn to blush. “Allie doesn’t have her ears pierced so none of mine would be any good” she muttered by way of explanation. “I’m only messing around; they really suit you miss” Mrs. Fellows smiled as she turned her attention back to me.

“Um, thank you, Mrs. Fellows, I’m glad you approve” I heard myself mumbling, not sure of what else to say in the situation. “Let me just tidy myself up a bit, meet me at the van in a few minutes” the woman decided, she then disappeared out towards the stairs, whilst I was dragged out through a large conservatory and round into a huge garage that sat on the side of the house. There were several expensive-looking cars in the garage along with a large nine-seater family van. It was that van that we were all hovering by; with the girls gushing about the shops that we were going to visit on our outing when Mrs. Fellows arrived and unlocked it.

The girls all bundled into the vehicle, leaving me to bring up the rear. I faltered for a second, unsure of how I should get into a car whilst wearing a fairly short skirt. Fortunately for me, Cass happened to be wearing a similar length skirt, so I just mimicked her motion of sliding onto the seat and turning my legs into the van, my obvious unfamiliarity with the motion naturally caused the girls to giggle. I scowled at them and murmured, “Assholes” which just caused the girls to laugh harder as I closed the door. Once we were all safely clipped in, we pulled out of the garage and were away.

I felt an underlying nervousness in my stomach as we left the residential area of the town and pulled up in the main town center. I knew logically that I was pretty much unrecognizable as I was, but my nerves were wreaking havoc on me as I hopped out of the van followed by the girls. “I assume you want me to come and pick you up later?” Mrs. Fellows called as Kiera jumped out of the front passenger seat.

“We can walk it if you’re busy” Kiera determined, to which her mother shook her head fervently, “No, it’s fine, give me a call when you’re ready to come home, just give me enough of a heads up; that you aren’t waiting around too long”. Kiera bid her mother farewell and the girls thanked her for the lift before the woman pulled away into traffic. I looked around at the girls who were all; including Kat, looking at me like they were sharks, and I was the bait, God, I was going to regret this. To be fair to the girls though; although they clearly had a lot of fun dressing me up and getting me to try different items of clothing on, they weren’t pushy or disrespectful in any way. In fact, they would urge me that if I found something too much then I should say, but me being my usual shy self; I just kind of went along with it.

The only real awkwardness was when we entered the lingerie section of a few of the clothing stores. I felt very self-conscious being there as I ‘didn’t belong’. It didn’t take long for Emily’s natural charisma to cut through my shyness though. As we moved through the racks of bras and panties, she would make crass comments about whether they would suit me etcetera, it made me feel skittish, to begin with, but after about the second or third store, I was joining in with the banter; much to the girls’ delight. “I would say this bra would look nice on you, but you lack the tits to pull it off” Emily teased as she held up a fancy lilac piece.

I walked over and looked at it for a second before smirking, “Tell you what, buy the set, you can keep the bra, the panties will look better on me anyway” I winked as the rest of our group laughed.

Emily feigned a frown as she jokingly hissed, “Bitch” before wandering off to look at something else. I couldn’t say how much time we spent in each of the stores that we entered, but after about the sixth one my stomach growled violently, reminding me of why we had come out in the first place. I told the girls that I needed to eat, and we then spent a further ten minutes, debating on where we should do so. “I really fancy a burger” I mumbled, causing the girls to glare at me as though I had sworn at them. “What? ” I grinned playfully “It’s not like I’m watching my figure”. The group stared at me indignantly as I made the argument that they were always eating healthily, surely, they were entitled to a ‘cheat’ day occasionally, right?

So, after a slight disagreement, in which Chloe called me a manipulative bitch, we headed towards a local burger joint. I think in my short time on this earth, I’d probably had better burgers, but given how hungry I was; it tasted like the nectar of the gods. The girls luxuriated in their burgers too, though we had to collectively put our foot down when Chloe; the hypocrite, went to order another burger. After we finished lunch, we headed out for the second round of shopping, this time, being as comfortable with the girls as I was, I was able to really enjoy the experience.

The girls genuinely treated me as an equal, they listened when I offered opinions on the various clothes that they were trying on. Not that I’m some sort of fashionista or anything…it was just a case of if they looked good, then they looked good…or not. We had just exited maybe our ninth store of the day and were walking along the winding road that ran through the center of the town; I was laughing at something that Cass had said when I felt a hand on my shoulder. My laughter died as I turned and came face to face with my brother Jake. “Uh” was all I managed as Jake stood staring at me, he looked confused and a little angry. “Alex, what the hell are you doing dressed like that?

And out in public too” he growled. I was genuinely curious as to how he had recognized me, but given the situation, it was only really a secondary concern. “These are the girls that I was tutoring” I mumbled as I half-turned to indicate the girls behind me. There were a couple of nervous half-waves as the five of them stood watching the awkward exchange between me and my older brother.

Jake just leered at me in a way that clearly stated ‘that wasn’t an explanation’ so I sighed, “I had a bet with the girls about the grade they got on the last assignment, and I lost…this is my penance” I murmured, not able to bring myself to look up into his eyes. “What the hell got into you to take that kind of bet?” he demanded; I couldn’t help but half-smile as I said, “I thought it was a sure thing, they’re not the brightest bunch, turns out they’re quite tenacious though”. I turned to see a couple of the girls hiding smiles behind their hands.

I finally managed to look up into Jake’s eyes, he seemed to be trying to work out if I was actually telling him the truth. “Um, Jake?”. Kiera had taken a half step forward, he looked round at the redhead as though surprised that she knew who he was.

“Alex has told us so much about you, he really admires you, you know?” she said softly. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing, Kiera was trying to stroke his ego. “We made a bet that if Al had won, we would’ve doubled his tutoring fee, but we won, so he was a good sport and allowed us to give him a make-over. As to why he’s out and about like this; it was also part of the bet, Al had to join us as ‘one of the girls’”. She looked at Jake earnestly. “Honestly, it was just a silly bet” she murmured. Jake looked thoughtful for a moment before his demeanor shifted. “You should think yourself lucky it was me that saw you-” he said softly “can you imagine how embarrassed Mom would be? not to mention Dad’s reaction if he caught you.

He’d likely blow a gasket”. I nodded stiffly, he was right of course, I hadn’t been thinking about those kinds of consequences when I had agreed to come into town. I found myself feeling very self-conscious again as I tugged at the hem of my skirt, not that it could sit any lower than mid-thigh anyway, “You get back to” Jake looked over at Kiera questioningly as they hadn’t actually been introduced. “Kiera” she offered helpfully. “Hm…you get back to Kiera’s and get this crap off” Jake growled. I nodded stiffly before whispering, “You won’t tell Mom and Dad, right?” to which Jake let out a cruel bark of laughter. “Like I want to be the one to tell either of them about this” he sneered, as he indicated to me.

He then turned around and walked over to where a pretty blonde stood, apparently waiting for him. As the two left I heard her asking, “Is she your sister? She’s really pretty”. My heart was still beating madly as I watched my brother and his girlfriend walk away into the crowd. I actually felt a little choked. As any person with a sibling can attest to, sibling love is hard to define, a good friend once told me that true sibling love can only be defined, thus; Siblings would burn the world to ashes ‘for’ each other, but only after burning the world to ashes ‘because’ of each other.

I’d had many confrontations with Jake over the years, but I’d never seen such anger and embarrassment in him. He would often tease me for being misconstrued as a girl and would always revel in a chance to inform our parents of it happening again, so for him to say that he didn’t want to be the one to tell them of this, cut me in a way that I wasn’t ready for. I stood silently for a couple of minutes just watching after my brother, as I turned back towards the girls, I felt tears trickling down my cheeks.

It took several minutes for the girls to calm me down, it wasn’t like I was hysterical or anything, but the run-in with my brother had clearly shaken me. I was pulled into hugs by several of the girls, after which I was guided numbly into an ice cream parlor. I must’ve looked in a sorry state as Kiera wandered off to buy the ice cream, whilst the rest of the girls just comforted me. “Jake has always poked fun at my femininity, but that was something else, he seemed angry and embarrassed” I mumbled after Kiera had returned, carrying a tray of glass dishes.

“Um…Allie, I just got you chocolate” she informed me as she placed the glass bowl before me as the other girls all took theirs. “You were too busy crying to get a clear order out of you” Emily teased. I poked my tongue out at her before digging into the ice cream. “You shouldn’t read too much into it, I think he was just surprised-” Cass said sagely, to a couple of curious looks from the other girls “well think about it, he’s so used to teasing you for looking like a girl, then here you are, actually dressed and made up like a girl.

It was probably a proverbial slap in the face” she concluded. “I think he needs an actual slap in the face” Kat growled, making the rest of us chuckle. There were a few choice words chosen to describe my brother; I don’t really believe he deserved all of them, but it did make me feel better. As we were finishing our ice cream, it was decided that we should head back, so Kiera called her mom to collect us.

As we were waiting, Kiera stood up and did a salute that was apparently part of their cheer routine. “To Allie” she recited cheerfully “Always for the Sisterhood”. I couldn’t help but smile as the rest of the girls joined in, in a chorus of, “To Allie”  After we arrived back at Kiera’s, we spent a couple of hours in her room just chatting about anything and everything, at some point, the conversation turned to boys. I made the mistake of admitting that I could understand why the girls would be attracted to guys like Kyle and Carter, I was then teased mercilessly when I mentioned that Damien Lynch had that bad-boy reputation that was intriguing.

“Ooh, Miss Evans likes a bad boy, does she?” Emily teased. I blushed as I tried defending my position, “No-” I gasped “I just meant I can understand the appeal, some guys just don’t have any depth…no personality” I tried back-peddling, but I just dug myself in deeper. “Are you saying Kyle and Carter don’t have personalities?” Emily demanded as she and Kiera looked at me with feigned anger. “No that isn’t what I-” I frowned, shaking my head as Emily indicated as though she was digging with a shovel. “I hate you so much” I laughed.

There was a moment of quiet before Chloe grinned at me. “Allie’s brother is quite cute, isn’t he?” she stated confidently. My jaw just dropped as Kat made a comment about it not being appropriate, she looked at Emily and Kiera for support, but after a moment it was Cass that said, “Actually, I think Chloe has a point, taking out of it his small-town reaction to Allie he is quite gorgeous”. Kiera nodded her agreement and so did Emily, I shook my head disbelievingly. “God, you girls talking about my brother like that is gross” I murmured as I crossed my arms sulkily. “It’s only gross for you sister, for any other girl, he’s a wet dream in jeans” Chloe simpered as she chewed playfully on her bottom lip. “You know; you’d put a therapist in therapy, Chloe Granger” I insisted to raucous laughter. “Speaking of my asshole brother though, I should think about heading home, I’m really surprised I haven’t had a call from my mom; I’ve been out all day” I grumbled as I climbed slowly to my feet.

I was quickly joined by the girls who each hugged me before I got pulled into a group hug, Chloe then cleared her throat, and I looked at her quizzically. “Can I get a picture? -” she asked shyly “just the one, I want to be able to look back on today with fondness. I mean apart from a couple of minor hiccups, I think it was a really fun day” She looked so earnest as she spoke, almost as if she was still embarrassed about her behavior from earlier. “You did have fun, didn’t you?” she asked softly.

I looked at her thoughtfully before nodding, “Fine, you deserve at least a couple of mementos” I agreed. We then spent almost fifteen minutes with the girls talking me through various poses as well as all bundling in for a group photo. By the time they were all done, I was really beginning to feel like one of the girls, as my brain locked onto that piece of information, I suddenly felt really uncomfortable. “I really should get going” I mumbled before swallowing hard, I was about to walk over to the door when Kiera cleared her throat, and I turned back to face her confused. “You should probably think about getting changed first” she smirked, causing the others to laugh.

I looked down and groaned as I turned beet red, I guess I had gotten so comfortable in their company that I’d completely forgotten what I was wearing. “That would have been extremely awkward” Emily sniggered as Kiera handed me the makeup wipes on my way into her bathroom. I closed the door and set about cleaning myself up.

I removed the jewelry and vigorously wiped my face to get rid of the make-up, I then begrudgingly removed the clothing, I got down to the lingerie and a little rebellious part of me tried getting me to keep it on under my normal clothes, the logical part of my brain told me that was probably a bad idea. I looked around to find my ‘boy’ clothes and sighed lightly when I saw them folded up neatly on the chair beside the bathroom door. After hesitantly pulling them on, I exited the room carrying the female clothing and the borrowed jewelry.

Emily took all of the stuff from me with a wink as Kiera approached me with a foul-smelling fluid that she called ‘nail polish remover’. I had to hold my breath as she attacked each of my fingers with the stuff, she couldn’t do my toes as I had already put my sneakers on, and she warned me that it might take some time for it to come off without the solution, I relayed that people didn’t generally see my feet anyway.

Then with another quick round of hugs, I was ready to leave. The girls all followed me down to the entrance hall where we happened across Mrs. Fellows, she looked at me with a warm smile. “Oh, Cinderella is home from the ball then?” she teased to a few giggles from the girls. “Yes ma’am, um…thank you for allowing me to use your jewelry today” I mumbled, flushing pink. “Of course, darling, I should very much like to see more of the beautiful young lady that was here today, though,” Mrs. Fellows said kindly.

Still blushing crimson, I shrugged weakly. “We’ll see” I murmured as I walked over to the door. This time as I left; all five of the girls were hanging out of the doorway waving to me vigorously as I made my way along the garden path and onto the street, they were still waving to me when I reached the end of the street.

I couldn’t help but grin as I turned the corner and made my way home. It was quiet when I arrived, I assumed for a moment that the house was empty as I closed the door behind me and kicked my shoes off into the unit behind the door. I then heard noises from the kitchen, so I followed the hallway through; to find my mom bustling about, preparing dinner.

My Dad was sat at the breakfast bar, reading a newspaper, and swigging occasionally from a bottle of beer on the counter in front of him. “Hey, folks” I chirped as I entered the kitchen and dropped onto a stool a couple of seats along my dad, my mom was smiling as she turned to greet me. “Hey sweetie how was your day?”.

There was a delay between the last words as her smile slid from her face to be replaced with a look of confusion, her losing her ability to speak made my dad look up from his paper, he took one look at me and spat the mouthful of beer he had just taken across the room. “Alex what the hell is going on with your hair?” he barked causing the bottom of my stomach to fall out. My hands shot up to my scalp to find that I had completely forgotten to take my hair down during my ‘de-transition’ I looked from the surprised look on my mom’s face to the annoyed one on my dad’s and muttered, “Son of a bitch”.