A Sweets Life- Chapter 1

A Sequel to Sweets for Christmas (by semi-popular demand!)

Candy sat at her desk, painting her nails and continuing her conversation with Robin, her best friend. The conversation was mostly about trivial stuff like boys, movies, music, more boys, school, clothes and of course, boys. Her vanity/desk was covered in makeup, her laptop, and several angel figurines. In fact, if you looked around her room, there were angels everywhere! The bright yellow walls were covered in angel pictures, posters, white painted shelves that held angel dolls and figurines, and most interestingly, a Christmas card with an angel on the front, that had been framed very nicely. There was even a snow white teddy bear with golden wings that sat upon her bed.

Candy had her medium length blonde hair in a light blue “Alice” headband, and she wore a sky-blue T-shirt over a brown floral patterned “broomstick” skirt, which almost covered her not-so-white boat shoes. A golden friendship necklace hung around her neck, a gift from the aforementioned Robin. She looked like any other perfectly normal, very pretty young teenage girl, and she was obviously a very happy child. No one would guess that Candy’s real name was Andrew Arthur Mason.

Candy’s mother Jenna was fully aware of her son’s choice of clothing and lifestyle. She accepted and supported it, so long as “Candy” never left the house. She was very afraid of what might happen if Candy was exposed as Andrew. In her research to learn more about Andrew’s choices, she had learned how dangerous it was for a transgendered child. Many had been beaten and even murdered, simply for their choice of clothing. She wanted to protect Candy from any chance of falling to that sad fate.

Andrew had been attacked before. Just before last year’s Holiday break, the Brooks twins had beaten Andrew badly. If it hadn’t been for the three girls who had become Andrew’s closest friends and a brave substitute teacher, it would have been even worse. After that incident, Andrew had confronted Jenna and explained what he was going through. Jenna had been horrified to learn that Andrew had expected her to institutionalize him! He had believed that he was insane and perverted and abandoned by God himself! Something had happened to help him, and Jenna was very grateful that they had insisted Andrew talk to his mother. They had become closer than she would ever have believed.

Unfortunately, as Candy grew more accustomed to her new life, she wanted to spend time with her friends, doing “girl” stuff. She wanted to go to the cinema, or the ice cream parlor, or even shopping with her friends. Jenna had known this was going to be a problem. Candy’s therapist, Karen Bascom, had discussed the fact that Andrew wished to begin his full transition, and that Karen believed it might be necessary for Candy’s mental health.

Of course, Andrew would have to wait for his gender reassignment surgery. At 13, he was too young to consider that yet. He had been put on blockers that would prevent a male puberty, and had been asking to begin hormone replacement therapy so that she could experience a female puberty, in order to begin to prepare her body for the eventual surgery. Jenna knew that once that happened, Candy would need to dress as a girl full time, and this is what caused her hesitation.

She was glad that Andrew’s father would never be able to meet his “daughter”. David DiVenne was a jock and outdoorsman, a “typical” man’s man, who would never have accepted Andrew. He had never even known that Jenna was pregnant, and had been killed in action while serving in the Army. Jenna had known that she would never marry David. She was just a little bit of fun for him, too poor and plain to make a good wife for him.

There was very little about Andrew that reminded Jenna of his father. Jenna was petite, slim and intelligent, and Candy was very similar to her. Apparently, the combination of David and Jenna’s genes was a good one. While Jenna was plain, even possibly cute, Candy was beautiful, and would be a stunning young woman. She was also very intelligent, and was well aware of the dangers involved with her transitioning.

Jenna knew it had to be done, and her thoughts drifted constantly to finding ways to protect her daughter. It was something she would bring up during tomorrow’s meeting with Karen. Jenna worried that the school would not be able to protect Candy, but she did not have the time to home-school her, and changing schools would mean removing her from her friends Robin, Jennifer and Tina. That was simply not acceptable. There was something almost magical about the three girls who accepted and helped Candy to understand what it meant to be a girl.

“Candy!” Jenna called. “Can I get your help with dinner?”

“Of course, Mom! I’ll be right down!”

It really wasn’t that much of a chore, Jenna just enjoyed the time she was able to spend with her daughter. She had been teaching Candy to cook, and they both enjoyed the lessons. Tonight’s dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables would be fairly easy.

“You know you have an appointment to see Karen tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Mom. Umm, we’ll be talking about my transition, and I know that bothers you, sometimes . . .”

“Candy, I will admit, I am very worried about what will happen to you, especially if you start high school as a girl next year. How will the other kids handle it, not to mention the teachers? I am just so afraid that you are going to be hurt, or worse!”

“Mom, Robin and I have been talking about this for a long time. All four of us have some ideas; in fact, we want you and all of our parents to meet with us this Saturday at Robin’s house. Her parents volunteered to host a meeting where we can talk to you about some very important things, please?”

“I’m not working that night, so we can go over there, sure.”

Candy hugged Jenna with joy.”That’s wonderful, Mom! I want to see if Karen will come to, so that she can help us talk to all of you.”

Karen? Why would they want Karen there? Would Andrew really reveal . . . ? Jenna’s heart began to beat wildly. How was she going to handle this?

End Chapter One! Comments are more than welcome