Chapter Four: What to Wear?

I was nervously awaiting what Kelly and Sophie were going to bring back. I would say that I'm afraid to look too girly, but then again, here I am sitting in a chair with a flowery updo meant for a girl on her prom night.

"Having fun?" Jenna asked politely.

I laughed. "Well it's certainly an interesting life event. Not sure if I'd say 'fun' though."

"Well you're doing great, and I appreciate you playing along. Kelly, Sophie, and I are certainly enjoying it. Maybe if you think a little more openly, you'll enjoy it too!"

She had a good point. Maybe I just have to let myself go a little. But then again, what I've been doing is so out of the ordinary, it's hard to accept it as normal.

"Hey Sammy!" Kelly yelled from across the room, "We picked something out!"

She was holding a gray shopping bag, so I could not tell what was in it. She walked up next to me.

"So everything was really expensive, so we just got this plain pink top." Kelly said.

Phew! I was thinking they'd come back with something really girly. I don't think I'm ready to take that step. However, she did manage to throw me for a bit of a curve after that.

Kelly pulled the top out of the bag, it was what she called a 'slouchy crew'. It was a light pink color and had the brand name PINK on the front (appropriately matching the color, I guess). Not the typical shirt, but what she said next really threw me off.

"So we think it'd look really cute if you wore this. It dresses down the hair a bit, which should look really cute and flirty. However, we bought you this as well, because without it, the off-the-shoulder look would look weird. I mean we only need it for the straps, mainly."

It was then that Kelly pulled a bra out of the bag and casually handed it to me with the top.

"A...a bra?" I said uncomfortably. I put it down on the chair and stepped away, "I don't know… maybe we’re taking this whole thing too far..."
"Oh c'mon, Sammy," Sophie said, "You already have your hair in an updo. This is only one more small step."

Jenna then briefly pulled me aside, "Listen Sam, you don't need to do this if you really don't want to. Nobody is going to make you. I just thought that when people act more openly, everyone has more fun, that's all."

I sighed. "You're right."

Jenna looked up, "I promise to be more open. Because hey, maybe we might all have a little fun in the process."

I forced a confident look on my face and walked over to the chair, grabbed the bra and top and walked into a nearby changing room. I took off my t-shirt, careful not to mess up my hair, and held the bra. I fiddled around with it in the mirror for a little while until I finally got it adjusted correctly.

Boy, did this look weird. Very few guys get the chance to look at themselves with a prom updo and a black bra. I thought that I might as well finish the job. I slid the slouchy crew over my head and hung it slightly off one of my shoulders, as I was told to do. This was easily the girliest I've ever looked.

I walked out of the changing room and the girls all go huge smiles on their faces when they saw me. They all walked up to me and complimented how well the top matched my skin tone, how it looked good with the hairstyle, etc.

"You literally could be a model...from behind," Sophie said jokingly. We all shared a laugh. I do wonder what she meant though. Did she think I was unattractive, or just because I didn't look like a girl from the front? I'll assume the latter.

The girls sat me down in the same chair where I got my hair done. Jenna took some shots from the sides and the back. A couple of the shots were really cool because it had my hair and shoulders, but also tons of people walking behind on the convention floor.

Jenna showed them to us and then uploaded them to 'my' Instagram account.

"Hey Jenna, by the way, what did you name the Instagram account?"

She giggled, "I actually used your name...kinda. It's Sammi_Jaclyn32."

"Wow. Hilarious," I said with a deadpan face. The pun was obviously off of my name being Samuel Jason."

She uploaded the three best pictures to the account with #FashionExpoChicago tagged.

At this point, we weren't really sure what to do. We'd already been around the full convention center, and now with my hair dolled up, I’d get a lot of unwanted attention walking around. So we decided to leave. I figured since it went with my hairstyle, it might arouse less suspicion and weird looks. I changed my shirt and took off the bra when I got back to the car, but kept the hair as is.

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We returned home about an hour and a half later, around dinner time. The girls stuck around with Jenna and went back to our house with us. When I got home, we were greeted by our Mom.

"Hey guys! How did the…woah woah woah!" my Mom said, interrupting herself, "Va-va-voom! Is that my little Sammy?"

I blushed and got very embarrassed. Jenna stood up for me though.

"It was our idea. There was a chair with products and other hair stuff we could use to style his hair, so we thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

"Well, regardless of how it happened, it really looks great!" She continued with her praise, "I can't remember the last time my hair looked that pretty...I don't even think ever!"

"Yeah it was a lot of fun!" Sophie chimed in, "We even got him some clothes to add to his Instagram account!"

Now I was REALLY embarrassed. I didn't really want my Mom knowing all about this feminine stuff going on. She'd seen my hair before, but that was the extent of it. It's like she's completely involved now.

After Sophie told her about the Instagram account, my Mom looked confused, so they filled her in. They showed her the account, and told her the whole story: everything from how Jenna originally said it was her cousin's hair, to the post made an hour and a half ago.

"Well, that's quite the journey! And how are you enjoying this so far, Sam?"

"It's been...okay I guess. I don't know, it's not really my favorite thing, but I enjoy being involved in something."

"Well I'm glad it's not too hard on you," she said. Mom then whispered in my ear without the others noticing, "and the girls seem to really enjoy spending this time with you!"

She backed away and smiled. I smiled back. It really did feel nice to be spending this time with my sister, even if it meant putting a little femininity into my look.

Jenna proceeded to ask if the girls could stay for dinner. My mom said yes, and we got ready to eat. My Dad came home, and of course, they had to fill him in on the whole story too. He seemed surprisingly okay with it. Basically my parents' opinion was if I’m okay with it, then so are they.

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The girls hung out at our house the rest of the day but pretty much stayed together. I went to my room and stayed there.

Sunday went by as well, and was pretty boring. The only thing worth mentioning is that Jenna at some point put the clothes from Saturday (the shirt and bra) in my room, folded on my bed. I don't know what she expected me to do with them, but I just put them in one of my drawers. It's not like I'd need them again, right?

On Monday we were back at school and the day went by quickly. Class was boring as usual. But when I got home, Jenna shocked me with an update.

She ran up to me, "You would not believe what just happened!"

I was startled by her feverishness, "What? What?"

"Remember that Instagram post from the expo? I tagged it with the hashtag of the convention, and now it has been shared on the convention's twitter!"

"Uhh...is that good news?" I asked awkwardly.

"Umm, YES! Because they shared it out, we now had a huge boost in followers! When I last took a look, we were at 317. Now, we're at 2,506!"

Holy crap! 2,506? That's absurd! Why are people so interested in my hair? I mean, honestly.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"We're getting a lot of positive responses. Everyone wants to know who this mystery Sammi Jaclyn is."
I started backing away. "No no no no no we are not revealing my identity to two thousand-plus people. Especially since a bunch of those followers are people at school."

"Well it'd mostly be people I know. So seniors, not freshmen."

"I don't care! We are not revealing my identity."

Jenna was getting flustered, "So what're you saying? You're just going to stop this whole thing? No one is forcing you to do this Sam, but if you hate it, why are you doing it?"

"I...I don't hate it."

"So you like it?"

"Well I wouldn't say that. I do like the idea that people appreciate some aspect of me, but..."

"But what?"

I took a seat down on the couch. "Look, I've never been popular, and nobody has ever paid attention to me. I've always been that kid who's kinda in the background; never stood out as anyone who mattered because there was nothing in particular I was good at."
Jenna sat down next to me and listened.

"But I'm also a really shy person. I don't want to be well-known for something. But I'm working on overcoming that fear. Right now, in a perfect world, I'd want to know I'm appreciated but without getting the attention. Do you know what I'm saying?"

"I know exactly what you're saying," Jenna said as she put her arm around me, "and I think the situation you're in right now is exactly what you want."

"Yeah, I guess," I said, sighing, "And I guess that's why I'm actually okay with all this. It's just super different, you know?"

"I totally understand," Jenna replied. She reached out and gave me a nice hug. It really is great to have her as a sister.

"Hey listen, I don't know if this is the best time to bring it up, but I actually got another assignment in my fashion class."

"You want to do my hair again? Because I might take the day off, to be honest. If you need me to read through a paper or something else I'm happy to help."

"Well... that works out. It's not really a paper, but more of...trying stuff on."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Like what?"

"We're starting a clothing unit and our assignment was to take a picture of us wearing something casual. I thought maybe instead of me wearing the clothes... you'd want to model something 'casual' for me?"

That didn't sound so bad. I've been enjoying spending time with Jenna and she's been so nice and understanding. The least I could do was help her out.

"I got you."

She smiled, and then led me up to her room.

It's just casual clothing...how bad could it be?

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The first five chapters of this 33 chapter novel are available here, but the remainder has been moved to my Kindle page. Thanks as always for reading and supporting me! :)

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPZCV3KT