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Author's Note:And Welcome to Ch.2. I saw it was a rather slow Sunday as far as chapter postings, So I decided to put this up today as a nice treat. We'll get to see some of her friends react to the brand new Christy in this chapter. I think there might be a surprise or two there.

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2:

“Now you’re getting it,” said Sara, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

We were sitting in front of her mirror. She had just spent the last ten minutes giving me another crash course in makeup. After a few do over’s, I was finally getting the hang of it I guess. I’d done this before of course. When they gave me that crash course back for Halloween. According to her, though, that was rudimentary. It was Mom and her telling a boy how to do makeup on a boy’s face. Sure it was a very feminine boy’s face but a boy’s face nonetheless. Things were different now. For one thing, I didn’t need all that concealer and other tricks to make myself look more feminine.

Simple and light was the key.

I liked what I was seeing.

“You sure you don’t need me to drive you?” asked Sara, for the umpteenth time.

“No,” I said, capping the eyeliner and picking up the lip-gloss. “Mr. Duncan is gonna take us”

I applied the gloss like a pro.

Satisfied, I smiled and left the vanity.

My sister followed me back into my room where my new coat was waiting. It was too cold now for the moto jacket which was a shame. It was a funny thing about that jacket. I thought for sure it was a men’s jacket until I tried it on and it fit like a glove. Sara confessed after that. Mom had been too busy with work and asked her to pick it out. Of course, sis knew about my changes and got me a jacket appropriate for my new body. Mom however never noticed. She never really noticed things like that, too preoccupied with herself to care.

My other new coat was something Sara bought me last night.

An item we forgot on our shopping excursion.

It was a lot like my coats I had before with a few exceptions. One it was cut for a slimmer body and two it had a large faux fur lined hood. It was warm, though, with these nice fleece cuffs. I had a pair of these fur lined leather gloves to go with it and one of those bands girls liked to wear just to cover my ears. I’m not sure where Sara was getting the money but I really needed her to stop. She only got minimum wages at the gift shop but I knew she was spending a fortune. I just for the life of me couldn’t figure out where said fortune was coming from. Sara had no money left from Dad; she spent all of it on the car. So where were the expendable funds flowing in from?

Kate interrupted me asking.

“Hey, where are you guys?” she shouted from downstairs.

Once again, she let herself in.

“We really need to lock those doors,” said Sara, rolling her eyes.

We both laughed and met up with Kate at the bottom of the stairs. Well, Sara did anyways. I was still descending when Kate just popped up.

“Jesus” she mumbled as I came down them. “I feel like a shlub now”

She wasn’t a slub, far from it. She was wearing her usual except now her leather jacket was over a hoodie. I did have to wonder how she kept warm in those skirts of hers, though. I mean she was wearing leggings but still she had to be freezing. There was snow on the ground after all now. It had been steadily snowing for the last couple of days. It was official, winter was here. Kate, it would seem didn’t get the memo.
“You’re not a slub,” I said.

“Whatever you say Princess”

“Well if I’m the Princess,” I said, putting on a snobbish tone. “Then peasant you may carry my bag”

I held out my new purse to her, holding it by the strap like I was too privileged to bother.

“As you wish, highness,” she said, giving me an elaborate bow.

We both laughed. I slung the purse over my shoulder and we hugged.

Yeah, I had a purse now. A hand-me-down from Sara but all mine now.

The purse was weird. I’m not sure I was ever going to get used to that. I mean before I just carried things in my pockets. Then again, I never really had to carry much just my wallet, maybe some loose change and my house keys. Now I had to carry all that plus some makeup, tissues and other feminine products, including a brush. I was a little embarrassed though last night when Sara threw a couple of her pads in there. It got even more embarrassing when afterward she showed me how to use one.

I’m a girl now with all the bells and whistles to go with it.

“You have enough money?” asked Sara as Kate and I went to the door.

“Yes mother,” I said in a mocking but sincere tone.

She gave me a shove. I gave her a hug and the two of us left the house. I started down the walk when I noticed her Dad’s pickup a bit full this morning. I mentioned that Kate had brothers right? Well, Sam was behind the wheel, I was used to him. What I wasn’t really used to was Brian. He was a few years younger than us, fifth grade I think. He’d always been a little pest to us before. Following us around, trying to be with the “cool” older kids. Now it seemed things had not changed.

“Sorry,” she said as we approached. “Dad had to work. Sam was the only one who could drive us and we couldn’t leave Brian”

I nodded.

More band-aid time.

When I approached the car, neither boy was really paying attention. Sam was listening to his iPod, Brian was plugging away at his Nintendo DS. It was Sam who noticed first. He turned toward us as we approached the truck. The look on his face was priceless. The last time I saw him had been that day in the kitchen, the first time I’d shown up at Kate’s in a couple of months. I had only really started to change back then but I looked pretty much like a boy then. Now I was all girl and the look of shock on Sam’s face was pretty evident.

“Holy shit,” he said as we got into the truck.

Kate got up front with her brother; I got into the back with Brian.

Brian looked at me and looked confused.

“I thought we were getting Chris?” he asked, looking at me like I was some kind of alien.

“That is Chris, dumbo” his sister said.

Brian looked at me closer. I smiled, his eyes only got bigger.

“Shit,” he said.

“Watch your mouth!” both his siblings snapped at the same time.

I noticed the truck still hadn’t moved, though. Sam kept shooting me glances in the rearview, ones that I wasn’t sure how to react too. Kate seemed to notice though and smacked him. That seemed to break him out of whatever stupor he was in because he started the vehicle after that. I did feel a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, though. Not from Sam’s constant looks, though, it was Brian. He stopped playing his game and definitely wasn’t hiding the fact that he was staring at me.

“So you’re a girl now?”

Kate answered for me. “Not now dumbass, always has been”

I think she was taking the initiative to use my cover story.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“I have a medical condition,” I said, realizing I’d have to get used to explaining it. “When I was born they thought I was a boy but I was actually a girl”

He gave me a strange look. “How is that possible? I mean boys just don’t turn into girls, do they?”

That’s what I wanted to know.

“She wasn’t a boy. She’s always been a girl”

“Doctors are stupid,” he said and finally went back to his game.

He did shoot me a smile, though.

I think I was going to be ok in his book.

I thanked God that I didn’t have a little brother. Not that I didn’t want one, I was just trying to figure out how all of this might have affected him. I was still afraid how it was going to affect my older one. Sara told me she’d been telling Ken everything but so far he didn’t bother to reach out to me. I’m not sure how I wanted to take that. Was it rejection or something else?

The ride to Main Street was fairly quiet after that. Though Kate finally smacked Sam hard because of his staring. The truck swerved. It was not cool.

The brothers Donovan dropped us off in front of this little ice cream shop. Then the two of them headed off to their movie.

“You tell Dave yet?”

“Not yet”

Dave was her older brother. He was the same age as Ken. Ken and Dave were best friends. It was actually through Dave that Kate seemed to come into my life. Like my brother, he was off in college too. Unlike Ken, though, he couldn’t afford to leave the state. He was going to a state school, learning to be a cop I think. At least that’s what Kate said. Kate’s parents were not all that different than mine except they were older. Her folks had Dave in their twenties. Then proceeded to have kids every few years afterward. Then sadly her mother got sick. Kate always used to say she was her “mother’s pride and joy” When her Mom died, I think Kate and Brian got the short end of the stick.

I mean Kate was six, Brian was only three.

One of these days I knew I’d have to get her to talk about her Mom.

Kate was an avoider, though.

“So girl friend,” she said, emphasizing the girl part. “Where do you want to go first?”

I shrugged. “The Princess shall follow her servant”

“As you wish my lady”

We laughed again then hit the shops.

We didn’t really buy anything. At least Kate didn’t. She, however, seemed bound and determined to get me to buy things. We hit a lot of the little boutiques. After the second one, it became very clear to me that Kate had an ulterior motive on this little trip of ours. She wanted me to be her personal doll. I’m not exactly sure how I felt about it either. She kept throwing outfits at me, wanting me to try them on but not bothering to try anything on herself. We were in the third or fourth shop when I’d had enough.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, holding the most recent outfit she handed me.

“It’s a dress,” she said.

It was a nice one too. I’d seen a lot of girls at school wear them. A skater’s dress I think they were called. This one was a light blue.

“I know what this is,” I said, holding up the article of clothing. “I was referring to all the clothes and junk”

“Its two girls shopping?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s one girl shopping and other one taking great pleasure out of said shopping girl doing it. What the hell is going on?”

Kate had been smiling before but as soon as I snapped, her smile evaporated. It was replaced by a look I’d never seen on her before. That look was followed by tears and before I knew what was happening, she was out of the store. Cursing, I threw down the dress and rushed after her. The sales woman shouted something at me but I ignored her. I found my friend sitting on a bench a few stores down, crying. I approached her slowly, dropping down next to her. I put my arm around her, pulling her into a hug. I let her cry it out, waiting for her to tell me what was wrong.

“Its I’m sorry ok,” she said, still teary-eyed. “I…the other girls…they don’t like me”

“That’s not true,” I said, not really believing it myself actually.

Kate came off strong. She’d always been that way, though. It was one of the reasons she got along with the boys so well. Looking at her now something dawned on me. She might have gotten along well with said boys but it was clear she didn’t really want too. Sure, she did the same things we did but I think that’s what happens when you have three brothers and only a father to raise you. Kate was a girl after all and girls needed to be with other girls too. Something else occurred to me too. Us cutting her off, I think it was more her letting us go then the other way around.

At least trying and failing.

“You want to talk about it?”

She wiped her tears. “When you guys ditched me, it hurt. It hurt really bad. I thought there was something wrong with me you know. I cried for days. My Dad didn’t know what to do; my brothers definitely didn’t know what to do. It was Cindy and my aunt that seemed to pull me out of things. That’s why they took me on vacation. I think they thought if I spent some time around them that I might feel better. I did too. Then I met Chloe and she was awesome. Everything was good”

I nodded. “What changed then?”

“I got back to school,” she said sadly. “I thought that I could make new friends, girl friends. I tried but all of them were scared of me. They knew me only as K.C. and I tried to change that. I started calling myself Kate; I quit soccer and other sports. I started dressing more like a girl but nothing seemed to work. Then I saw you at the dance, dressed like that. It surprised the hell out of me. When we started talking again, I thought what the hell why bother. This is where my true friend was. I had you guys back, I had you back”

I gave her another hug.

“When I noticed your boobs growing, I freaked,” she said, sniffling. “I know I’m a horrible person. Then I got to thinking. If you were a girl---like me---then I’d have what I was missing. So I pushed you”

“No, you didn’t!”

She nodded. “Yes, I did. I shouldn’t have but I really wanted too. I was being a selfish bitch about it. I wanted so bad to have a real girl friend I thought that if I could somehow make you into her, even a little bit…”

Wow.

“Then when you started to change…I thought…I thought…”

She started to cry again. I held her, letting her sob into my shoulder.

“You thought you caused this?” I asked softly.

“I prayed to God every night for a friend, a girl friend,” she sobbed. “Then you started changing…”

“Kate,” I said, holding her shoulders gently. “You didn’t cause this”

She wiped her eyes. “You’re sure?”

I nodded. “The doctors don’t know what’s going on but it wasn’t you.”

“You were a boy…”

“And now I’m a girl. I’m happy like this”

“You are?”

“Yes,” I said truthfully. “It was a little surprising at first but I’ve accepted it. Let’s be honest here too besides the soccer and video games, I wasn’t much of a boy to begin with”

She didn’t argue.

Just what I needed.

“I’m still a bitch,” she said finally, though.

“Why?”

“Well after we both realized there was probably no going back, all I could think about was myself and how I got my wish. I had this girl friend now, the one I always wanted. Then I started to get scared you might not want to be friends with me. So I started doing things with you that most girls did together”

I sighed. “That’s why you wanted to go shopping?” She nodded. “You hate shopping!”

“I know!” she said, laughing through her tears.

I hugged her again.

“Kate all girls are different. You don’t have to force yourself to be someone you don’t want to be. You can be KC if you want or you can be Kate or Katie or even Katherine”

She made a face at the last name, which got us both laughing.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” I continued. “I’m still going to be your friend. Your best friend if you’ll have me?”

She nodded then hugged me this time. I started crying a bit after that.

When we were done, I realized we were both probably quite the sight.

“C’mon, we look like raccoons” I pulled her up from the bench.

We went into the nearest shop and made our way to the bathroom. Kate watched me with interest as I reapplied my makeup like a pro. She was stunned a bit, I noticed.

“You really are a girl aren’t you?” she asked with a smirk.

“And proud of it!” I said with a giggle.

“Thanks, Chris,” she said as we left the bathroom.

I realized something else too. I think I knew who Chris needed to be. Sure I was Christy but that was just a nickname after all. It was a name that had also been thrust upon me. I liked it but it still needed something more.

“Christine,” I said with a smile. “I think I like Christine”

“Ok,” she said, stretching the “k” out a bit. “Is it ok if I still call you Christy, though. Because Christine sounds like the name of a bitch”

She laughed, I gave her a shove.

The sales woman in the store gave us a nasty look which only caused us to laugh more.

We weren’t two enemies, though.

We were two best girl friends.

Now and forever.

The shopping trip ended about an hour later in front of Leo’s, a local pizza joint that a lot of teenagers favored.

We were standing outside the door but had yet to go inside. I was seemingly frozen in place. I had one shopping bag in hand and a lot of butterflies in my stomach. We went back to that shop---the one where she had her breakdown. I bought that dress. It was just too damn cute and it looked amazing on me. Surprisingly Kate bought one too. Though hers was black and she planned to accessorize the hell out of it with skulls or something, it was cool she bought one. Maybe together the two of us could find and embrace our inner girly girl.

One thing we also had to face together.

Social situations.

Kate grabbed my hand.

“You want to eat somewhere else?”

I shook my head. “We have to do this eventually,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze.

It was a Saturday afternoon and of course, Leo’s was packed. It was always packed on Saturdays after all. This time was no different except everyone inside. Half of them were classmates, the other half an assortment of kids from Huntington and Prescott. Outside of school and social circles, Leo’s was a good place to mingle. It didn’t matter your social status or standing in there. It was like the Teen UN, all were welcome. I just couldn’t help but wonder how these “ambassadors” were going to respond to me.

Well, Just Roll With it.

Kate went in first, I followed shortly behind.

No one reacted.

I mean some people looked at us but only because they somewhat recognized us but no one said anything. We got into line, ordered our food then managed to snag one of the booths. A real score for us considering how sought after they were. I couldn’t help but feel there were eyes on me, though, like everyones. I glanced over at a group of girls from our school. They were Becky’s friends I think. One of them was Carla Jones; she was in my math class. She caught me looking---gave me a strange one in return---but went back to talking to her friends like I was nothing.

A moment later though, another girl at the table looked at us.

“Ummm, why is the Barbie Patrol looking at us?”

Kate called Becky’s friends the “Barbie Patrol” because most of them were blonde.

Like Carla and the other girl---Marcie---I think her name was.

Like me too I might add.

“I was kinda being nervous,” I said “you know looking around. I saw them, Carla saw me see them and now…”

Carla and Marcie’s looking was apparently contagious because the two other girls at the table were looking too. I cursed and nearly lost it. I could after all only see Carla and Marcie because they were facing me. The other two girls at the table had their backs to us so I only saw heads. However as soon as one of the heads turned, I wanted to die.

It was Becky.

And why wouldn’t it be, she didn’t go anywhere without them.

I locked eyes with her and she knew.

I could see the recognition on her face.

“Let’s leave now!” I said, getting up.

“Why?”

“Because Becky just realized who I was,” I said, trying to bolt but Kate grabbed my wrist.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said “we have to do this. Now or later, you can’t run from these people”

She was right of course.

I sat back down and sure enough Becky was coming over. I wanted to crawl under the table and never come out. Hey, it was a nice restaurant, I’m sure the owner wouldn’t mind a teenage girl living here.

“Hey guys,” said Becky, looking at me strangely.

“Barbie,” said Kate with a sneer.

“Becks,” I said then silently cursed myself.

“Chris” she gasped. “It really is you!”

I nodded. “In the flesh”

“What the hell happened?”

She quickly waved her friends over. Great, more Barbies. Somehow they thought it was an invitation because they slipped into our booth where they could. Kate gave me a look so I knew how she was enjoying it. There wasn’t enough room so two of the girls had to sit at the nearby table. All of them were looking at me. When Becky said “She is Chris” that got them to look even more. Begrudgingly and probably not for the last time, I told them the lie. I was getting pretty good at telling it now though so at least that was a plus.

“Wait so you’re a girl?” asked Becky.

I nodded. “Yep”

“How can that be,” she said then blushed. “We used to bathe together when we were little. You had a little thing, I saw it”

“It wasn’t real,” said Kate “at least not in the sense you think. It was more like an extension of things down there”

She made a gesture to her groin area.

Where in the hell did she learn that?

The girls seemed to nod. Becky nodded too but she was making a face as well. Not a good one either I noticed. And there was the first. I think I saw it as soon as she realized who I was. It was the disgust. Not quite the same as my mother’s---Becky hid hers better---but it was there nonetheless. Her friends didn’t have it I’m surprised to say but she sure did. She kept looking at me then looked away. She was reading me, though, I could tell. I knew then too. I knew from that moment I could no longer consider her a friend.

The girl I once liked now hated me.

Her loss.

Kate and I tried our best to be civil with the Barbies but we really weren’t in that crowd. After about five minutes or so, the novelty of me wore off and they went back to their table. I was glad to have them gone. I was especially glad Becky was gone too. I hated the false way she seemed to be “okay” with me when she clearly wasn’t. Looking at her, I remembered something too, something insignificant until now. Our mothers were friends, did a lot together---including going to that group together.

Unlike me and my siblings, apparently Becky believed the bull.

I felt sad for her.

“Well that was shit,” said Kate sadly. “You had a thing for her right?”

“Emphasis on had,” I said and she gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

“Well fuck her”

We both agreed then and there that if someone couldn’t accept me for me then they weren’t worth our time. I didn’t choose to be like this but I was going to chose to live like this. I was a girl now and if people couldn’t accept it then they weren’t really my friends after all.

Our pizza arrived and we tried to put it past us. The two of us were back to having a good time. I did notice that Becky left soon after talking to us. She was the only one, though. Her friends were still there. Carla looked at me and mouthed “sorry”. I think she knew. It was hard not to. It was nice of her, though, I mean to show some genuine concern. I tried to not think about it. It helped that Kate was distracting me. She already had another trip planned. She wanted to see if someone could take us to the Galleria to do some serious shopping. She’d even let me get her into some things I picked out. I liked the idea of it even if I didn’t really know what I was doing.

We finished our pizza a little after that. Of course, we had to get a box to take the leftovers. We both agreed to give them to Sam for driving us. While Kate was calling him on her cell, I noticed three familiar fools walking our way.

I cursed.

Greg, Brad and John.

Apparently, I was already replaced. I mean I knew Brad was getting chummy with the two of them, I just never thought he’d downright replace me. I was wondering why neither of them had been around much lately when I called. Now I knew why. I was a little pissed. I say a little because I realized I’d been doing pretty much the same to them except with Kate. She and I had been spending a lot more time together, time that I usually spent hanging with them. Not that we really did much together---me and the boys---besides just playing games. Lately, it was a lot of listening to them talk about which girls they wanted to date and that crap.

Nothing I could really join in.

Seeing them now together---the three of them---made me peeved.

It also made me really nervous.

Sure John knew about me but he’d seen me at the game. A me that was a lot different than the me now. Greg and Brad, of course, had no idea.

The worst part was they were heading our way. I was hoping they wouldn’t notice us but of course, John saw Kate. He was still hung up on her, it was sad really.

“Hey Kate,” he said as she finished her call.

“Hey guys,” she said, looking a bit surprised and nervous.

“”Hey,” said Greg and Brad.

Both of them were looking at me strangely.

“Who’s your friend?” asked John, giving me a good look.

I think it dawned on him a second later. I saw it in his eyes. Just like Becky, he suddenly realized who I was.

“Pixie,” he said softly.

Not soft enough though because Greg, of course, twigged on it.

“No fucking way,” he said, giving me a look.

A Becky look.

Shit.

“So this is what you’ve been doing?” he asked, clearly disgusted. “This is why you can’t hang with us anymore. Because you’re out traipsing around in a dress, playing girl with Kate”

“I’m not playing anything”

“Yeah,” said John defensively. “She is a girl”

“She?” asked Greg. “What, he has you calling him a girl now?”

“She is a girl,” said Kate, clarifying.

“I was misdiagnosed at birth…” I started to say, giving Greg the same talk.

“Bull shit,” he snapped, really angry.

“Bull nothing” snapped Kate.

Greg wasn’t buying it. “You’re either a guy or a girl. You can’t be both and you can’t decide you want to be one or the other”

“She didn’t decide,” said John, coming to my defense again. “This was how she was born. She didn’t even know it until puberty started”

Greg didn’t seem to be listening anymore.

“Bull shit” he snapped again, angrier than before.

He started to push past us, really pissed off. In the process, he gave me a shove. I nearly fell over from being caught off guard in my converse heels. Kate reacted of course. She shoved him back, angrily I might add. When he balled up a fist, aiming toward me I was surprised when Brad grabbed his arm. I was even more surprised when Greg was on the ground a moment later, eating pavement. It had been so fast. I never even saw Brad move. Brad was on top of him now too, a knee in the back of Greg’s neck.

“You owe the lady an apology,” he snapped, angry.

“That’s not a lady”

“Apologize now!”

Brad grounded his knee into Greg’s shoulder blades. Sam apparently arrived in the middle of the scene. He saw what was going on and got out of the truck. At the sign of our apparent distress, he got Greg away from Brad. Not to help him up of course.

“Did you touch my sister you little punk?” he asked, grabbing the front of Greg’s shirt and lifting him a couple of inches off the ground.

Greg looked like he was about to piss himself.

“Sam we’re fine,” said Kate, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Sam let go of Greg but gave him a shove, away from us.

“Start walking and if you go anywhere near these two girls again, you better wish my sister is there to stop me”

Greg took off. Brad and John I noticed didn’t follow.

Both of them apologized for how stupid Greg had been. I just wanted to leave. I thanked them and Sam for the help. I was starting to feel the tears though and didn’t want them to see me cry. Kate caught on and told the boys we had to go.

“See you later” I managed as I got into the truck.

Sam was alone this time. I was happy for that because I didn’t want to cry in front of Brian either. As it was, Kate got into the back seat with me. The tears didn’t start to flow until we were pulling away, the boys in our rearview. Kate wrapped me in a hug and held me as I cried.
Two friends.

I’d lost two of them today.

How in the hell was I supposed to Roll with that?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF