Princess For Hire: The Second Semester

Part 3
By Melanie E.

Beck enacts his plan. Or does he?

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(Beginning of Part 3)

Part 3:
A Princess's Princess

-7-

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning , Mr. Johnson."

"I trust everyone had a good Christmas break? Very well then, let us return to our books. If you can all pass the reports I assigned you over the break up to the front of the class."

The first school day of the year started almost identically to any other day, a fact I fully welcomed. It's weird, isn't it? You always find yourself wanting school to end as soon as possible, but when it does you're always eager to return.

Of course, it being our first official day back all of us Princesses found ourselves wearing our girl's uniforms. I was thankful for this, too, since it made the first stage of the plan I had worked out the night before that much easier.

My plan? Well, it was simple.

I had tried to be a guy. That didn't seem to be working out, even in a school with only a single female student.

So if I couldn't be a guy, and there was no way I was going to hurt myself, that really only left one avenue to explore.

"Miss Henderson? Mister Uchiha has requested your presence in the auditorium."

I thanked the teacher and followed the student who had given him the message to the auditorium, where I found Sarah and the headmaster already waiting for me, as well as a person I had never met before.

"Ah, Becky, at last," Mr. Uchiha said, standing up and gesturing toward the other person, a short, round black woman with a brilliant smile. "This is Sandra Kahn, the photographer who will be in charge of the shots of you and Sarah for the pamphlet. Sandra, here is your other model, Becky Henderson."

"Great to finally meet you," she said, holding out her hand to me to shake. "I've heard a lot of good things about you from this galoot, if half of them are true I'm sure we'll have fun during the shoot."

"I'm sure we will," I said, liking the woman right away. "Are we starting today?"

She laughed. "Eager are we? No, but I did want to get a chance to meet the two of you," she pointed at Sarah and me, "before shoots actually started. Now, I hate to ask, but are you like Sarah, or are you just a crossdresser?"

I gave her a curious look. "Why does it matter?"

She looked me up and down, calculatingly. "You know what? I don't think it will. If all of this," she waved up my body, "is you, then we should be alright. I wanted to know because I've got a few outfits I'm thinking about seeing the two of you in that, well, let's just say they wouldn't hide a lot of masculine features."

I glanced at Sarah, who had a nervous expression. "You're not talking bathing suits or something?"

The shock on Sandra's face was obvious. "What? No! Just a few casual clothes and dresses."

"Oh," I said, the relief I was sure evident in my voice. Even Sarah seemed to be regaining her color. "The breasts are glued on, but everything else is me."

"Okay, I can work with that."

Sarah looked at me strangely at the mention of gluing the breasts on. Since tomorrow would be our first day back in boy mode, I was sure she was wondering why I would waste the glue and solvent for such a short time, or why I would use them at all given my past objections. I shook my head at her, though, and mouthed "later."

"Thank you girls, you can go back to your classes now," Sandra said, giving us each an unexpected hug on our way out.

We were barely out the door before Sarah asked me with concern, "you used the glue?"

"Don't worry," I said, smiling at her. "I've got a plan."

She didn't seem reassured.

"I'll tell you tonight, okay? After classes. Tell Leslie to join us in my room, and I'll get hold of Andrew, since this kind of affects all three of you. Maybe the rest of the Princesses, too, but we'll wait to tell them."

"...alright." She grinned, bouncing a little. "NOW I'm really curious! I won't be able to pay attention in classes all day now, you know that, right?"

I shook my head. "Just do your best, it will all be explained later."

She giggled, and we split up at the next intersection, each of us heading to our own second period classes.

-8-

Of course, things can never go to plan, can they?

It seemed that mid-semester was schedule change time for a number of the students at the school, and as a result Andrew had been nowhere to be found all day. I grumbled to myself about unreliable boyfriends as I trudged through the halls on my way to lunch.

*thud*

"Ow! Watch where you're... oh, there you are!"

The wall of meat I had walked headlong into just happened to be the person I had been looking for all day. He stood and rubbed his sternum with a grimace. I guess I had run into him harder than I thought.

"Sorry?"

He grinned, then leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Eat lunch with me to make up for it."

"Alright," I said, taking his arm in mine and dragging him toward the cafeteria.

"Hey! I need to drop my books off first!"

"Oh! Sorry."

With a laugh he pulled his arm out of mine and mussed my hair before turning and heading back the way I had just come. "So what's got you so preoccupied you didn't even see me waiting for you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I asked teasingly as I followed him.

"Yup."

Now was my chance. "I'll tell you this afternoon. Sarah and Leslie should be there too."

"Where?"

"My room, after classes are over. It's important."

He looked worried. "It's nothing serious is it?"

"Uhh, maybe?" His look didn't improve. "It's nothing bad, I promise, but it can't really wait, and I'm going to need all three of you to help me out." I looked up at him pleadingly. "Please just say you'll be there?"

He stuffed his books in his locker before looking at me, blushing when he saw the pout I had put on. "Alright, just don't look at me like that, okay?" He had gotten a lot more comfortable around me, but it was kind of nice to know I could still throw him off balance if I needed to.

For the moment, though, I had more interest in food than teasing him, so as soon as he was ready I grabbed his arm again and began to drag him toward the cafeteria.

"Are you okay? There's something different about you today."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling.

In truth, I was a bit surprised at how liberating I was already finding my plan. Not worrying about making people see the difference between Beck and Becky meant I didn't have to think about how my actions would be seen when I switched roles, so I was free to do things I had been afraid of before. Beyond that, I also felt less afraid of pushing the boundaries a little bit more by flirting a little bit more openly with Andrew, something I still felt weird doing.

As we walked I felt him pull his arm out of mine again and wrap it around my shoulder. At first I thought I would be uncomfortable with the contact, but reminding myself of my dedication to giving the girl thing a shot, I made no move to change it. I guess he could feel my acceptance, because he gave me a small squeeze.

Perhaps I can handle this.

At least, that was what I thought until Jules saw us.

"Getting mighty comfy together, aren't ya?"

I felt myself stiffen, and I could feel Andrew's arm starting to shift. Wait. If I'm going to be a girl, then...

"And why not?" I asked, reaching up and pulling his arm back around my shoulder. "He IS my boyfriend, after all."

The smirk that had begun to form on Jules's face quickly died as she realized that her teasing wasn't having the desired affect. Rather than giving up, though, she shifted her target.

"Andrew, I'm surprised at you. You used to always be so nervous around Becky. What changed?"

Again I felt his hand shift, but I held it tightly in place until I felt him begin to relax. I smiled, and looked up at him.

"Would you get my tray for me?"

"Sure, what do you want?"

I told him, and once he had set off to get our trays I sat down next to Sarah with a look of triumph for a very vexed looking Jules. Sarah just looked amused, as did most of the other Princesses.

When Andrew returned, I took the chance to wind Jules up even further. "Thanks, sweetie," I said, taking my tray and giving him a kiss on the cheek. I heard Sarah snort, fighting down a laugh while Andrew burst out in another blush, but I ignored both and instead quirked an eyebrow up at the flabbergasted Jules.

Yes, the next few months were going to be quite fun.

-9-

"Ohmygod, I can't believe you DID that!"

I laughed along with Sarah as we sat on my bed waiting on Leslie and Andrew. She had followed me to my room after Drama, too eager to talk about the events at lunch to wait on them.

"I know! Did you see the look on Jules's face when I didn't let her teasing get to me?"

Sarah fell back on my bed giggling. "I think this is the first time she's ever been speechless like that! She's usually so in control of things."

It felt good getting my own back against Jules. I was sure she'd pay me back for it later with some kind of prank, but I was feeling too empowered to worry about that for the moment.

When her laughing finally calmed down, she looked at me sideways. "You did seem to be getting pretty cozy with him for the middle of the day though."

"Is that a problem?"

She shook her head with a grin. "Nope! Just saying. I don't think the teachers liked it much though, no PDAs and all that."

"None of them tried to stop us, though."

She giggled again. "I think some of them were just as happy to see Jules get what was coming to her as we were."

Jules hadn't said another word after my teasing back at her, simply looking at Andrew and I curiously. I liked her, and I knew that she liked me even if she did like to pick on people too much. I was just hoping I hadn't taken things too far.

"Knock knock," Andrew's voice said from the other side of the door, interrupting us.

"Come in."

Andrew came in, followed closely by a freshly showered and boy-ified Leslie.

"Not going to dinner as a Princess tonight?"

"Well, if he gets to hang out with his girlfriend," he punched Andrew in the shoulder hard enough to rock him sideways, "then I only thought it fair if I hung out with mine," he said as he sat down on the bed next to Sarah, grabbing her hand.

Andrew took my desk chair and straddled the back, facing the three of us. "Alright, so what is it you wanted to tell us?"

I stood up, going over in my head yet again the speech I had prepared for the three of them. "Alright, it's like this. You know how no matter how I dress and act people are always getting things mixed up? It's like even when I'm obviously trying to be a guy people see me as a girl." Leslie snorted, but a glare from Sarah shut him up. "Thank you. Anyway, I think I've come up with a plan to stop it."

A beaming smile began to grow across Sarah's face, while the color drained from Leslie's, and Andrew simply sat there, his brow furrowed in confusion. "You're quitting the Princess Program?"

I shook my head, biting my lip. "Not exactly."

Sarah jumped up and wrapped me in a hug, nearly knocking me down. "YES! Yesyesyesyesyes!"

I laughed. "I guess you approve then?"

"No."

Sarah released me, and as one we turned to Leslie, who looked far more upset than I would have expected.

"Why not?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He looked at me in disbelief. "You don't really think this will stop the confusion, do you? If anything, it will make it worse. Or were you planning to spend the rest of your time at the school as a girl?"

"No, just this year. Over the summer I'll be Beck full time, and when next year starts maybe I'll have developed enough that people will be less confused."

Now it was Sarah's turn to step back, looking worried. "Uh, Becky? I don't think that's likely to happen." She sighed. "As much as I'd like to have you around like this all the time, as long as you're part of the Princess program I don't think there's much you can do about how people see you."

I looked between the two of them, at their concerned expressions, and thought about what they had said. They were right, in a way, but....

I made a snap decision. "We'll see how it goes, then. If I can deal with it for one year, and what ya'll say is true and next year isn't any better than last semester we'll know if I can deal with being considered a girl all the time. If I can't, then I'll quit the Princess program." I turned and looked at Andrew, who had been quiet so far. "What do you think?"

He looked at me, not saying anything for several seconds, before standing himself and hugging me much like Sarah had. "It's up to you. I like having you around as Becky, but I like being around Beck too. Though, uh, I don't know how well everyone would react if you acted like you did today while dressed as a guy."

I fought the urge to laugh again as I pushed him away. "Don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you."

He smiled. "I told you before I liked you either way. I dunno, maybe that makes me bi or whatever, but you're still you."

"Alright," Leslie said, regaining my attention. His eyes were scrunched closed and he was rubbing his temples like he had a headache. "So you're gonna go through with this. What exactly are you going to do?"

I shrugged. "Well, just what I did today, mostly. I'll dress as a girl all the time. Since most people see me as one anyhow it should make things easier, and keep me from being frustrated when people call me Becky since that's who I'll be."

"And who all are you going to let in on this plan? Or were you just going to let everyone figure it out on their own?"

"Everyone thinks she's like me already," Sarah said, looking at me apologetically, "so most people probably won't think anything of it."

"You at least need to let the headmaster know, though," Leslie said, ever the voice of reason. "That way he can field any flack that might pop up with teachers and such. And they might make you change rooms, too."

That confused me. "Change rooms? Why?"

Sarah grinned. "To the one on the other side of my bathroom. They don't have a lot of rules in place for transgendered students, but one they have set up is that we're not to have paired rooms with anyone who isn't. Even though Leslie's a Princess, he doesn't count, but if you're dressing as a girl full time they'll probably decide that you do, even if you still identify as a guy."

I thought about that for a bit. Leslie looked annoyed by the idea of me sharing a bathroom with his girlfriend, though I wasn't sure which of the many possible reasons was bothering him. "Leslie, I really don't want you to have a problem with this. I'll need your support, not just as my big sister in the program, but as my friend."

The look on his face changed quickly from one of annoyance to one of abashed regret. "Sorry. It just seems so sudden, and after all the talk you've made of NOT being like Sarah, and your argument during the sleepover, I'm still not sure this is a good idea. Don't worry, I'll support you, though, whatever you do."

"Thanks."

Sarah poked Leslie in the side. "You're not worried about the room thing, are you? She never made a move on me when we shared my bedroom at my house, I doubt she would here."

"What!"

And that was the opening of a whole new can of worms.

(End of Part 3)

NOTES:

Alright, after some delay here's part 3! I hope everyone likes where it's going.

As usual, if you comment, more will come!