As Girly As It Gets - The Drama Queen - Part 5

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My Friday meeting with Lori was done and over in like a second flat, but then again, there wasn't much new save to tell her about Rachel. She got a kick out of the nose dive incident, as I told it to her, and soon after, Lori was back to her mother role, as it were.

"Why the heavy makeup?" She asked. "It looks great on you, and you would never know it unless you got real close," she added.

"Two reasons," I stated. "I'm not sure you will believe me when I tell you, but I will tell you anyway. For one, it is kind of like a mask for Mark. Nobody has seen me without makeup on since the day you walked me home. I wanted to say, and they never will till my parents come to their senses, but I skipped that part. Second, is that when I don't have it on, even with my boobs and other stuff still there, I still see Mark, and that makes me afraid other people will, too," I said and then hung my head.

Our time was up for that day, and she had to go to her last class. I started to go home like I would on any other day but realized there was a PTA meeting tonight at the school. Parents, don't ever think your kids don't know how or can't get around campus security, especially if the security, that is, has all the brains of Barney Fife.

I wanted to eavesdrop on the meeting, but first, I had to get inside, and our one campus cop was standing by the door. I walked in every shadowy area I could till I got to a car that looked new enough to have an alarm system. I gave the quarter panel a good hip bump and set it off so he would come to check it out, and he did. I swear the guy was brain dead. I got close to the building so nobody would see till the last second and ducked in the door while his back was turned.

I followed the sounds of some not-so-happy voices and found them in the room we used for a study hall. I didn't have a study hall, as I took an extra class, so I got the extra and was working on my own plan for graduation in a few years. I couldn't hear all that good from the hall, but there was a janitor's closet around the corner, and it had a door that opened to it from the study hall as well. The best part, no glass in that door for someone to see me there standing and listening.

I moved quietly. When I could really hear, they were talking about the school budget and how they wanted to drop the B team basketball squad in favor of a better-funded Jr high and varsity squad. They passed that after the varsity coach said he would take the B team boys on as his second-string players.

School uniforms were next, and Ms. Addison must have bumped her head if she thought that would ever pass. There were far too many parents from the hippy era for that to ever fly, and my mom and dad would be eyes deep in that debate. As for the level playing field concept behind uniforms, my dad would beat you silly, mentally, with how stupid that idea was and then run you out of town for even thinking like that. Part of his life is unfair speech, so I had already heard it.

After that, Ms. Addison dismissed the meeting but asked that the parents she had spoken to before the meeting to keep their seats. Mom and dad must have been standing close to the door as Mom told Dad he already knew what this was about. I didn't, and she didn't say what it was. I was betting I didn't really want to know in one way, and yet, I was sure I did in another.

"Since you were all at the midterm meeting last year, I won't rehash the information again," yes, the floor recognized Mr. Jacobs.

"First of all, I was not here at that meeting, and if you are about to go off on us again about our so-called out of control boys, let the record show I had no part and took no part in that meeting and will be doing the same here tonight," Dad said, with some real disdain in his voice.

I know my dad when he talks and how he talks. He was not a happy camper. I mean, not in the least. I wasn't going to be either in about ten minutes so pay attention as the punchline to the tail is coming.

"Very well, Mr. Jacobs, the record will reflect as you have said. Now, all you as parents had boys who were getting more and more out of control as the year went by. The boys were tested for something other than the normal style of punishment as it was obvious none of that was working," she paused as some of the parents groaned in disapproval, and some sighed as if they approved.

"It was never intended that anyone boy be singled out for punishment alone. The idea was to punish them all in a way that they feared the most. Some of the boys feared the idea of reform school, while others laughed it off. For some, just telling them they would be transferred to another school if their behavior didn't improve was enough; for others, we actually had to transfer, as you can tell. So now that some of the boys are gone, and the rest are laboring under the idea that their worst fear might come true, we are left with Mark Jacobs. An obstinate young man if ever one walked this planet," she paused again, to the groans of the parents.

That was one comment too many, and I could hear the tears in Dad's head going through the door. Ms. Addison was about to get the horns, as she had long ago pissed off the bull.

"The chair recognizes Mr. Jacobs," Ms. Addison said, sounding exasperated.

I heard a chair go sliding across the floor, so I figured dad was sanding now. He only did that when he was really ready to let go on somebody, and he paced the floor while he was at it.

"Just a few blocks from here, I have a son that spends most of his time sequestered in his room. You bunch of idiots have tried to turn him into a girl as you saw that as his biggest fear."

Dad had to stop to clear his throat, and I knew he was crying, too.

"He's scared and alone, not sure that his own parents still love him. Well, I love my son, and nothing any of you can say or do will ever change that."

His voice was getting louder as he went, and if I knew my dad before he was done, Sis would be able to hear him in her bed at home.

"You say you mold the minds of the future here, well, I don't think so. I don't think there is a single person here that has the intestinal fortitude to do what my son has already done and try as you may; I have a crisp one thousand dollar bill for the person who thinks they can break his will. It will never happen. Not as long as there is air in his lungs, it will never happen."

Apart from me wanted to jump for joy, but that ended the meeting, and I still didn't know just how or who had decided I would get volunteered. I watched and waited till I could get out of the building unnoticed and just did make it before security came to lock the doors. I walked behind the shrubs that were just a few feet from the building, and I saw Mom and in the car with Dad, probably trying to calm him down.

I know how my mom works. Sure she had in a way said she signed my name on the volunteer part of the form, but when Dad tried to excuse what she did, I realized she was just taking the blame for someone else. True, she did sign the last part of the consent form, but if she thought I was willing, just not ready to admit to it so I could go to college for sure, then I could see how my pushing her buttons had affected her the way it had. Still, somebody had signed my name, and I wanted to know who. Heck, even Sis had tried to take the blame for all this, but no way she was to blame.

I got home before they did and quietly went to my room, careful not to alert Sis that I had been out past curfew. I undressed and stood where the moonlight held me in silhouette on the wall by one of my posters. My determination at wearing the waist cinch had paid off, in a manner of speaking, as my nude body now held the shape of my favorite pin-up girl. No, I'm not telling you who she was. I am allowed a few secrets, am I not?

My occasional burst of anger, coupled with my flamboyant way of expressing my female persona, didn't allow anyone to see that in a way more than I had realized I loved being the girl I was. I knew after what dad had said tonight there was a father-son meeting soon to come. Dad thought, in a way, that I was really brave, and yet I knew I couldn't tell him that I really didn't want to be his son again.

I'm going to jump ahead again, and I hope this doesn't ruin the story for you. The choice to become a boy would be taken from my hands before I ever really confessed to anyone. I should have known the way Ms. Addison went after me and kind of slapped all the other boys on the wrist that there was something more going on here. It would come out, and our small town would be shaken to no end. But there is still some good stuff to read about yet.

Saturday morning, I hugged and kissed daddy when I came to the table for breakfast. He was shocked, but he was my hero now and always would be. He and Mom both saw that the chip I had been carrying on my shoulders had gotten some more minor, if not all, but disappeared. After breakfast, I picked a really lovely dress that wasn't quite as sexy as was my norm and tried to go for the pretty look more than the sex kitten look. I heard Dad tell Mom that he would talk with me today and try to clear some things up, so I was sure that was coming.

How can I say this? Being as upset as I was when mom handed me off the way she did when Lori left me alone in the room with the papers, I checked some of the optional treatments. My red skin when I first awoke was from the laser they used to remove all my hair, and, yes, I checked that box and included all the private areas as well. I didn't know that when I awoke the first time. I had also checked the box for the time-released hormones, and from what I had found on the web, I was pretty sure there was no going back now. I'll say this once and never again; I haven't even once missed my boy's parts since this started.

Dad knocked on my door right around lunchtime, and I saw a pleased look on his face when he saw a girl dressed more befitting her age. He asked if I would go to town with him for a while, and I was all too pleased to say yes. It made him smile again when he realized I was just being me, not the brash, sexy girl I had been pushing on him and Mom.

Dad treated me just the same as he had before opening the door and tell Mom we would be home for dinner like always. Under the smile he was showing me, I could see the man that had cried over me last night, and it hurt me to know the pain he was feeling. If ever a child had felt the need to console a hurting parent, I did, and the sooner, the better. He had no clue how much I loved and respected him for what he said.

He parked at the same place we had been to before, and we took a booth in the bar. He actually ordered a white wine for me this time, and I thanked him before he began to try to talk. He was too close to crying so, so I just spit it out so he could breathe. Just so you know, since I was with my father, the law in our town allows me to be in the bar and even have a drink so long as he is the one paying the bill.

"You can keep that thousand dollar bill in your wallet, Daddy. It's safe, trust me," I said, as he realized in a flash I had somehow found out what had been told that night.

"Well, from what I'm told, none of your male teachers will be getting crossways with you for a while, unless they just want to suffer, and just so you know, nobody took me up on the bet either," daddy said, as we both began to laugh together.

Now that the pressure was off him and me, there was a question I just had to ask.

"Daddy, what if I couldn't or didn't want to be Mark again when this is over?" I said in a musical kind of voice.

"Well, in whatever form you are, you are and will always be my child. More importantly, I will always love you no matter what choice you make, even if I disagree with it." He said and then smiled like the daddy I knew again.

We almost missed dinner again as we stayed and danced to several songs on the jukebox. It was just a girl and her daddy dancing and holding each other with nothing but love in their hearts. It's a memory I will always cherish, knowing that was the day that Dad probably knew he had a second daughter.

At home, later that night, I listened after they had gone to bed.

"What happened to our pin-up girl?" Mom asked, with some concern in her voice.

"She's fine. No, she's better than fine; she's my daughter," he said to mom in a calm, very relaxed voice.

Of the conversations they had had about me over the last few months, that had to be the shortest of all. What can I say? Not many girls or boys, for that matter, have a dad as good as mine. Early Sunday morning, Daddy slid a note under my door.

"Mom's looking for her pin-up girl, and it's okay, you and I know what's real and what's not.

That was just short of Dad giving me his stamp of approval to carry on being the girl that I had shown everyone I could be. Like any real father, he wasn't all that happy when I was showing a lot of skin or went a little overboard on the makeup. Still, we had an understanding now, and I knew just how far I could push and when to back off.

Dad, Sis, and I spent most of the day by the pool and in the tiny bikini I had on; even Dad looked at me longingly a time or two. I didn't really see it happen. It was Sis that said something like Dad had wandering eyes or something. Becoming the girl, I had put a big maturity gap between me and Sis. I asked Dad about it first and got his approval to bring her under my wing as it were.

I already knew she was going to be every bit as pretty as Mom. I started right then, teaching her the things Lori had taught me. Not the whole picture and not all at once the way I had gotten from Lori, but enough to bring us back together and to be the big sister she had wanted.

While tension in our house had been so thick you could cut it with a knife, Even mom now knew for the most part that was gone. I knew she wouldn't back off, that was just not her way, and the trip that next week to the salon was proof that I was right. I came home with the same glamour-length nails, only now I was a platinum blond.

I felt sure Dad probably deducted a few IQ points when he saw me, but that was okay. If anything, the blond hair just added to my persona.

The tension at school was far from gone and, if anything, might have gone up a little when I arrived sporting my new color. Rachel and her best friend, Shelly, soon were attached to my hip. It was kind of cool in a way. Mark would have never had friends like these two. In school, the chip on my shoulders was ever-present, and the pin-up girl earned her reputation every day.