“Aw come on Mark, I really need your help” my older sister whined at me as I sat watching TV in the family room. Julie was using her world famous helpless little puppy dog eyes look on me, which she always used when she wanted to get her own way with either me or our parents. But this time it wasn’t going to work because what she was asking ME to do for her now was totally insane, even for her.

“If you'll do this for me just this once, I promise I'll never ever ask you for anything ever again” she said. “Cross my heart, hope to die. It's so important to me and I wouldn't even ask you to do it for me unless I wasn't so desperate. Our team's always had plenty of reserves before, but with the long weekend coming up, all our reserves made other plans to go away for the weekend and now none of them can help us out. Aw come on, won't you do it for me just this once, pretty pleeeeaaassse little brother.”

“You've got to be crazy Julie” I shouted, fed up with her. “There's no way on earth I'd even consider doing it. For starters I'm a BOY and you’re talking about me playing for your girl's netball team. Secondly there's the little problem of my 6’2” height and no one in your team must be over 5’8”. Ahhh, don't you think your opponents might smell a rat, hmmm. And I think it's pretty safe to say that I'd be sure to stand out as a dude wearing a net ball skirt for pity’s sake.”

“Look Mark, Jenny and I have the whole thing worked out. All you have to do is trust me and just agree to do it. The other four girls in our team have said they agree to your playing.” The look of contempt on my face must have been what inspired my sister to play what she thought would have been her ultimate trump card. “Just think about this then little brother, you’ll get to see five 17 year old girls naked in the showers after the game. Wouldn’t THAT have to be the ultimate fantasy for any 14 year old boy?”

I knew my sister far too well to know that THAT wasn’t going to happen. After all what type of self-respecting teenage girl would ever consider letting me see them showering. “Sure Julie, I can just imagine your teammates doing a sexy striptease for me in the dressing room after the game and inviting me to join them in the showers. Yeah that’s going to happen, sure” my voice dripped with sarcasm. But as outrageous as my sister’s request to help her out seemed, my mind was quietly racing with thoughts of just what it would feel like to try on girl’s clothing.

“Look Jules the answer’s no, N.O.” I told her and turned back to watching the television and heard her groan disappointedly, before the same thought I’d just had popped back into my head. “But I’ll reconsider it if you can get just one small simple thing done” I told her with a huge smile, as I saw her eyes light up in expectation of me changing my mind.

“IF you can get mum and dad to allow it, I’ll agree to play for your team this ONE time. BUT only if you can get both mum AND dad to tell me INPERSON they've agreed to it” before smiling sweetly at her knowing that although mum and daughter were as tight as an oyster, there was no way in hell that dad was ever going to agree to something like this.

My sister, (at least to her credit) paused for a few moments as she realized that my only condition was also one she’d never be able to make happen. But Jules finally must have worked out something in that mind of hers though. “O.K. just so as we both understand what you’re telling me Mark, you’ll agree to play for my team this weekend as long as I can get both mum and dad to say that they agree to it, correct,” and I nodded my head with a broad smirk on my face. “Fine” my sister said, “then just make sure that you leave Saturday morning free to play” before walking off to let me get back to chuckling over the antics of the Coyote and Road Runner cartoon she’d interrupted.

Around 4.30 I saw my sister answer the front door and then watched as her and some of her teammates headed back towards her bedroom and closed the door. Several minutes later I heard loud indignant female voices objecting and my sister’s voice shouting out for quiet. From then on I didn’t hear anything else and decided to go to my bedroom to do my homework, but not before pausing at her door to see if I could listen in to what they were saying. But all I heard was a few whispered unintelligible words before I crept off to my own room. Sometime later I heard my sister’s friends saying goodbye to Julie and then her calling out for me to come and help her get tea ready.

When mum and dad came in together from their jobs Julie informed them about what was on the stove for tea. Mum and dad happily agreed before heading off to their bedroom to get changed. With my part of the cooking done, I headed back to the TV to let Julie wait for everything to finish cooking. Dad came out of the bedroom five or so minutes later on dressed casually and joined me in front of the TV while a few minutes later Mum passed the pair of us headed for the kitchen.

Now here we are about 1,050 or so words into this story and all you know about me or any of my family is that I’m 14 (almost) and unusually tall, while my sister Julie (Jules) is 17 and that both our parents work, but not at the same place I hasten to add. NAH, I don’t suppose that’s not enough information for any of you, is it. It’s really none of your business, but Julies just reminded me, since she’s also looking over my shoulder reading this story as I key it into my computer, because of what was to happen over the next few days, perhaps it might be for the best if I do describe my family to you.

DAD is in his early 40’s, 6’9” tall, smart, an ex UCLA graduate and was, according to all his friends I’ve been introduced to, a wicked point guard for the college until in his senior year he blew out his knee. He even had a letter of intent to join the “Jazz” but that fell through after he got injured.

MUM is in her late 30’s about 5’3” and still drop dead beautiful according to dad. After he graduated and I guess because both my sister and I are here today, when dad asked her she and dad got married. They’re both still madly in love with each other and although because of their size disparity as well as my sisters and mine, family portraits are a hoot to look at, they’re fantastic parents. It’d be fair to say that while usually dad rules the roost and his word is law, mums a canny lady who generally can get her way when she wants to. Both our parents are quick to ground either my sister or me if we get cheeky or disobey her (or dad for that matter).

My sister JULIE or JULES can be a right royal pain in the neck to me, which doesn’t do her the justice that she’s earned over our years together. Elaborating further, I’d say she’s sneaky, ruthless, evil, cunning, the devil incarnate and so much more. (Jules is saying I’m a big poo and that she’s the most wonderful sister in the world as she stands behind me laughing). Jules is 17, 5’4”, has quite a large bust, and long auburn hair. Unfortunately for me too, she’s brilliantly smart (4.0 grades) and a gifted athlete who excels at swimming and track as well as netball and softball.

And as much as I hate to admit it Julie’s is also very pretty as well, or so all my friends keep telling me (my sister is loudly agreeing). If you looked at photos of her and some of mum when she was younger, you’d have to say that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Julie’s quite partial to telling me “boobs and brains runt, you can’t beat it” whenever mum looks at my report cards in front of my sister (laughter behind me). But for all of that, IF you can forget about all of our arguing and fighting, she’s actually a sort of best friend, after dad and mum of course (I just got an “aw bruz” and a huge hug). She started calling me “runt” after I suddenly started growing dramatically at 11 and by the time I was 12, instead of looking down on me, had to look up to look me in the eye.

ME. Well I’m 13 (almost 14) now, 6’2” and still sprouting. Thin as a rake handle and both mum and Jules say my body moves in a gangly gawky fashion. I’m also pretty smart (3.5 grades) just not as smart as my sister, love swimming, playing baseball and basketball (which makes dad extremely happy and my biggest fan). I tower over everyone in my year at school and because of my height, I’m point guard and top point scorer for our U14’s school team’s that I play in. Since most boys my age are only about 5’0 to 5’6”tall, there’d been a number of complaints lodged against me by other schools teams about my playing in the U14’s. But because my height’s hereditary, everyone’s just had to accept it. Even from when I was small, dad was determined that I’d play basketball and we often spent hours in the dark under the backyard’s spotlight practicing my shot play.

Anyway dinner that night tasted its usual great and after stacking the dishwasher (part of the chores I had to do, as well as keeping my bedroom clean and mowing the lawn for my weekly allowance) I headed to my room to finish my homework off. About an hour later I headed back to the kitchen for some munchies and before the door was closed, overheard mum and Jules talking in the laundry next door to the kitchen. Jules was asking mum about me playing for her netball team that weekend and by the sounds of it, mum wasn’t too keen about the idea. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying, (although I was straining my ears as much as possible) I thought that mum must have finally said no to Julie’s proposal when I heard her firmly tell Julie “there’s NO way I’ll allow that to happen young lady.”

I had a huge grin on my face when I heard mum say that, guessing it was about me showering with her girlfriends after the game, and then heard almost nothing again for several minutes until I heard mum’s voice humorously giggle then say, “Yes I guess any teenaged boy would wish for that, but it’s NOT going to happen Julie. If your father ever found out you’d offered to let Mark join your team in the showers, he’d skin you alive. So I need you to go and tell Mark that his fantasy’s going to have to wait until he grows up. After you’ve done that, come back and we'll discuss the matter further and what to say to your father when you ask him. I’ll even stay with you while you ask him, but I’m not so sure that your fathers going to be too crazy about the whole idea.”

I hung around in the kitchen hoping to hear more but had to quickly scramble out of the kitchen and head for my bedroom as the laundry door started opening, which is where Jules found me when I heard a knock at my door round about an hour later and her asking if she could come in.

Once in my room she told me about mum’s response to her idea and had the honesty (at least) to tell me about mum saying that I’d never be allowed to watch her or her teammates showering after the game. “That’s tough luck for you Julie,” I told her with a smirk, but as quick as a whip she said she’d phoned her teammates about the original offer being cancelled and asked me if I’d play if her teammates offered to give me a set of their underwear each!

“Nah not good enough Jules. Why in the name of all that’s holy would I want four pairs of girl’s underwear for anyway” I asked her.

“Well think about it this way dummy” she said. “When you get old enough to actually date and if you could actually find some girl who’d be stupid enough to go out with you, then if any of your friends called round the following day and asked how your date went, you could always say you had a great time and show them a pair of the panties or a bra and say something crass like the girl gave them to you as a trophy.”

“THAT should do wonders for your future reputation don’t you think? I’d like to hope though that you at least spare the girl (whoever she may be) from being ridiculed by your friends later on by not telling them the name of the dumb girl, JUST in case she lets others know what really happened on your date.”

Jules thinking made a lot of sense to me. Most of my friends DO think I’m a dorky beanstalk, so if one day when I actually do ask a girl out and she says yes, well perhaps then I may just be able to use her cunning idea. What she did next quickly agreeing to play for her team this Saturday.

“I can just imagine your “wall of honour” next to your bed with several pairs of girl’s underwear pinned up on display for your goofy friends to gawk at.” With that Julie proceeded to hold up a pair of her sexier underwear items against the wall next to my bed to emphasise her point. Well, I’ve already told you in this story that my sister’s smart and her suggestion to me about the underwear made a lot of sense to me.

But after thinking about it for a minute, I decided to suggest some minor variation so I told her what she needed to do. “OK Jules, I’ll play for you, PROVIDED each of your teammates agrees to write on their underwear “Thanks for a great night Mark,” AND they sign their names on each bra......and the panties too. Otherwise forget it. Oh and you still have to get mum and dad to tell me that their OK with me playing for your team” I told her.

“When did you become such a little shit?” Julie sneered at me before thinking about something for a few moments then quickly saying “OK runt, it’s a deal” and walking off.

I laughed out loud because this was the ultimate win-win deal. I was certain that dad would say no to me playing anyway and if by some chance “hell actually did freeze over”, I’d have signed female garment trophies saying that a girl(s) and I had mind boggling sex to someday show my friends and leave them all jealous. I was silently applauding my cunning, when a sudden thought about how Julie could get out of our agreement came to mind and I flew out of my room and barged into hers. “And you have to make sure I have your teammate’s signed underwear in my possession before the start of the game. Otherwise no deal Jules,” I smugly told her which earned me the fingered bird as her reply to me for figuring out the loophole.

About an hour after that at around 10pm, I heard my dad’s voice furiously shouting “As long as my arse points to the ground Janice, there’s no way in this known universe that I’m going to let THAT ever happen” and I was in stitches from laughing so hard at dad’s comment. Then about ten minutes later on I heard him shout “you’re telling me your brother’s actually agreed to this Julie”. Then several pairs of footsteps hurried towards my room.

“Mark, I want to know if what your sister has just told me and your mother is the truth or not?” dad demanded having barging into my bedroom without knocking. Mum was just behind him and Julie stayed cowed behind mum.

“Ah um, dad, just exactly what DID Julie say to you and mum, because I did talk to her this afternoon and eventually agreed to help out because her team needed another player on Saturday” I answered not wanting to infuriate dad any more than he obviously was. Dad’s reply and its tone left me in doubts that he was pretty pissed off.

“Yeessss, your sister did say that to me and even explained how this half brained idea of hers was going to work. I’ve got a number of questions about the matter, the first of which is, are you aware of the fact that males aren’t allowed to play in Julie’s competition?” and I nodded my head showing I knew. “Then tell me Mark, are you really that eager to prance around in a girl’s netball outfit in front of everyone, because no son of mine is going to be caught dead parading around in public wearing women’s clothes and have mine and your mothers friends laughing about it behind our backs.”

“Dad, it’s not like that” Jules remonstrated. “I’ve told you already that our game is almost twenty miles away and the chances are pretty slim that anyone there will even know or recognise anyone. The girls in the team are going to dress him up with a wig and makeup and if we do it right, no one will even know he’s a boy. Mum’s agreed to drive both of us to the game and back, so there’s very little chance of him getting into any trouble” Julie said.

“Julie I’ve already grounded you for a week this evening. Would you like to try for the jackpot?” dad said venomously before turning back to me. “Mark unless you’ve just been declared mentally insane today, would you mind explaining to me why in the name of all that’s holy would you want to dress up in girl’s clothing” then suddenly switched track on an impulse. “What is it that Julie’s using to bribe or blackmail you with?”

“It’s not like how you think it is dad” I told him. “When we spoke earlier on today Julie asked me if I’d play this one game next Saturday for them because a girl got injured and all their replacements are away for the long weekend. Julie said that the girls in the team agreed to allow me to shower with them after the game and that was fine by me…….” At which point dad started roaring with laughter and mum made some comment along the lines of every schoolboys dream.

“Yes I did hear about that and your sisters been already grounded over that little matter” dad said. “But she also told me that she’d already spoken to her mother and been told to forget about that small piece of pornography to a minor and that you’d both agreed to a new deal, is that correct” and I nodded my head again. “And would you like to tell your dad Mark just what DOES it take to get my son to willingly go out and humiliate himself in public.” So I told him.

“The other four girls playing in Julies’ team this Saturday have agreed to give me one of their bras and pairs of panties each” I said less confidently as I was slowly watching dad’s face turn almost purple after I said it.

“I’ve got news for you kiddo. You may need to get yourself a new agent if it only takes some girl’s underwear to make you go and humiliate yourself” dad informed me. “If I’D have been you, I would have asked for money and lots of it too,” dad told me through gritted teeth.

“It wouldn’t have worked if I’d asked for money dad” I offered back, “None of Julie’s friend’s parents are rich,” at which point mum burst out in laughter while watching how furious the expression on dad’s face turned. “But I did tell them they had to sign their underwear for me and give it to me before the game started” I added quickly, hoping that dad would see my smarts. Instead my father turned around and told my sister she was now grounded for two weeks and no pocket money either.

“Besides dad I got Julie to agree that she’d need to have both you and mum tell me that you’d both allow me to do this and I know for a fact that you’d never let me, so I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about actually having to wear girl’s clothing,” I calmly told him with a smile to show that there were no hard feelings.

Dad surprised me by not saying a word for about twenty seconds or so, then quietly asked mum through clenched teeth to follow him so that they could have a little talk about their two darling children. After dad and mum left my room, Julie told me that she’d talked mum into letting me play with her team. I told her that I had a pretty good idea of that as I told her about overhearing the two of them talking in the laundry, but I knew that dad would nix the whole idea now anyway since he looked so angry.

About five minutes later we heard mum and dad walking back towards my room. Although both of us had heard dad talking to mum in the kitchen, neither of us was brave enough to try getting closer to actually listen in. As they walked back towards my room Jules came over and sat down on my bed beside me as we watched dad and mum walk back in.

“I have to say that the pair of you sadly disappointed me this evening” dad said. ”Julie, this little stunt of yours is one of the most dishonest things I have ever heard of and what’s worse, it’s bought about antics which have left me disgusted in the pair of you” which suddenly made me feel, both ashamed and nervous.

“I’ve discussed this with your mother and we’re both in agreement that punishments need to be handed out so as to discourage anything like this from ever happening again in the future. Julie you’re now grounded for three weeks and you lose your pocket money for those three weeks as well. You can thank you mother afterwards that I’m not going to contact any of the other girl’s parents to tell them about this disgusting episode.” I silently thought that my sister deserved it because she usually won most of the arguments between me and her with our parents.

“As for you Mark, I have to say that you’ve slipped down a lot in my estimation of you. I don’t know why you’d even considered agreeing to your sister’s request in the first place and I’ve got nothing but contempt for your arrogant thinking that I’d say NO to the entire matter. That’s the sort of arrogance that I despise in others and I wouldn’t have thought that my son would ever practice it.”

“So you’re grounded for three weeks as well as the loss of pocket money for three weeks too, the same as your sister.” I was about to mouth a protest when my father looked savagely at me and said “want to try to throw for doubles” which quickly made me shut up. “Further to that, for also showing such disgraceful arrogance I’m actually going to agree with your mother and allow you to dress up like a little girlie on Saturday and go play netball with your new girlfriends. And if I hear just one humiliating word from anyone outside of this room about next Saturday, I’m going to strap you till you can’t sit down for a fortnight, so help me god.” As dad walked out I mentally shouted out to myself SHIT that’s just bloody great.

I considered it a wise move to stay in my room for the rest of the night instead of coming back out to watch TV. Jules probably did the same thing although I didn’t ask her the following morning when I saw her. Later on mum came in and said goodnight to me but I suddenly realised how pissed off dad must have been with me when he didn’t. Except for when I went off somewhere on holidays, I’d never known that to happen before so I intended to keep a very low profile around dad for a while.

The next morning I decided to wait until my parents had left before going downstairs for breakfast and heading to school. Jules must have thought the same way and although we didn’t say much, she offered to drive me to school with her, an offer that perhaps must have been some sort of olive branch, that I didn’t knock back. Although we didn’t speak on the drive to school, as I got out of her car Jules told me that mum would need to see me tonight and not to plan to go out anywhere after school, because of dad’s grounding. School that day was its usual dull boring humdrum and I mustn’t been my usual self as several of my mates asked me if I was sick or something.

That evening I did my best not to make myself a target for dad. I dreaded the evening meal but found that neither of my parents seemed to want to say anything further about last night, although dad made it apparently clear he wasn’t happy with me when he asked aloud if “Cynthia” could pass the gravy up the table.

After tea and I’d loaded the dishwasher, I again headed straight for my room. About 8pm a knock on my bedroom door saw my mother asking to come in and when she did she was carrying a plastic supermarket bag with her, which she placed on my bed while asking me to stand up. Once I’d gotten up from my desk, mum told me that Jules had dug out an old netball uniform for me to try on and mum wanted to see if it fitted me. Mum then said something I hadn’t heard from her since I’d turned about four years old and could dress myself. “Strip down to your undies and try these for size.” Not wanting to cause a scene and possibly face dad’s wrath again I meekly did what mum said.

Mum proceeded to take out of the bag a faded piece of bottle green fabric and what appeared to be a white top and handed them to me. She then reached into the bag and threw another much smaller green item onto the bed telling me that I wouldn’t need to try those on just yet. Reaching for the white top, mum told me to put the skirt on first. So I gingerly took the green fabric from her and with mum’s hint “the zipper goes at the back dear” gingerly stepped into the green skirt and slid it up my legs to my waist. Mum worked her way behind me and fastened the clip and raised the small zip and told me to stand up straight. As I did so mum gave a quiet chuckle then told me I had legs to die for if I were a woman!

Mum then proceeded to pull and tug my skirt every which way. “OK now you’ll know that your skirt won’t fall down on you during the game” mum said. “The bottoms on the bed go over your underwear, understood” and I nodded my head. “Now I’ve tried to find you the largest top I could at a second hand store I passed during my lunch break. Put this on and we’ll see if it fits, or I’m going to have to try and find something else.” I tried it on and found that although it seemed somewhat baggy, it at least came down far enough to allow me to tuck it into the skirt. I suggested to mum that I had several white tops I could wear and she smiled at me and suggested I try not telling her how to suck eggs.

“Stand right there and don’t take a thing off” mum ordered as she left my room. As if I was going out somewhere dressed like this I thought. Instead I decided to see what I actually looked like and went over to look in my wardrobe mirror. Looking back at me was a pair of skinny legs wearing a very short green skirt and white top. My short man’s haircut only completed a picture of complete silliness and aped how dumb a man must look dressed in girl’s clothing. It looked totally ridiculous and there was no way that I wouldn’t have been seen for being a male. The sound of the door opening saw me turn around quickly to see who it was.

Mum walked back in carrying a small cardboard box along with my sister who had dashed in behind her before closing the door. On seeing me Jules started laughing, “Welcome to the other side Megan”. I looked daggers at her while mum started to giggle as well.

“Don’t you dare call me that” I quietly threatened and started moving towards her to make her apologise to have my mum tell me to stop it and behave myself.

“Megan, Meg? You know I kind of like that name Julie” mum remarked as I started to complain about Julie even being here in the room. “Perhaps you’d prefer to be called the name your father mentioned at dinner Mark. What was that name again, Oh yes….. CYNTHIA.” Mum then sternly told me “You’ve made your own bed sunny Jim so you’re just going to have to lie in it now.”

By that stage I was totally fed up with everything, so I decided to say no to the whole idea of playing for Julie’s team. “Oh come on mum. I looked stupid dressed like this. No one in their right minds going to think I’m a girl looking like this. I’m not going through with it and Julie’s team is just going to have to play one person short on Saturday.”

“Ahh mum,” Julie said. “I hate to agree with the runt but seriously, look at him. There’s no way he’ll pass for a girl looking the dork that he is right now. I’ll just have to ring the other girls and tell them we’ll have to play one short.”

“Oh yea of little faith, fruit of my womb” mum remarked with a knowing sort of smile. “I brought you in here Julie to offer me suggestions and the first thing you want to suggest is surrender. NEVER” mum said loudly then chuckled. Mum then started talking like a wise Chinese monk. “Ah my grasshopper, you must learn to walk before you can fly. So I will teach you what I have learned from my own wise mother and her from her wise mother and her wise mother before her as it has been done for a millennium,” and then laughed at what she’d said. “Now, just for being so negative my daughter, I hear by sentence you to remain seated at your brother’s desk and not to say a word, while your old mum has all the fun with Megan.”

“NOW as for you” mum said pointing to me, “YOU need to grow a bust, so take off the top and sit on the bed so I can make some magic happen.” Mum then took a photo of me and told me that she’d take several more during the entire make up process to remember this evening for when she grew old and lost her memory.

I quietly sat back on the bed and took off the top before mum thought it might be better for me to change places with my sister and told Julie to swap places with me and for me to wheel the cheer over to the mirror and sit on it while Jules flopped onto my bed to watch. “Julie be a dear for me and go to my bedroom and bring back my cosmetic’s case please” and my sister raced outside.

Mum then went over and got a thick sort of white coloured bra out of the plastic shopping bag. Now Megan,” and as she said that name I bristled again. “What you’re just about to put on is called a sports bra,” and with a little bit of assistance from mum I managed to put on my first bra. “You’ll feel it’s quite tight on you, but any girl playing sports usually wears one to help lessen their breasts bouncing around and getting sore.”

“Now I’m going to blindfold you so that you don’t see what I’m doing and try arguing with me” mum informed me. “When I’m all finished with you in about thirty minutes, if both you and your sister think you still look like a boy in a skirt, then you have my word of honour that you won’t have to play for Julie’s netball team on Saturday. But regardless of what eventuates, you’ll still be grounded as per your father’s orders.” The next I knew was feeling mums warm hands as well as some type of jelly that was cool being placed against one side of my chest to be quickly followed by something similar on my other side.

“They’ll warm up quickly with your body temperature” mum assured me, before telling me to stand up and wave my arms around. As soon as I stood up I felt a weight on my shoulders that hadn’t been there before and as I waved my arms around felt that whatever mum had put inside my bra was moving around slightly. “Now Jump up and down for me a few times” and as I did I felt my bra moving up and down along with me. “Now pretend you’re passing a basketball for me and tell me if the bra’s pinching you anywhere under your arms.” After a few tries I told mum there didn’t seemed to be any sort of pinching anywhere although I told her that I could feel the things she’d put into my bra and that the bra straps were digging into my shoulders a bit.

“Can’t be helped Megan. Every girl complains about the exact same thing. Ask your sister if you don’t believe me and she’s got a pair of D cups to contend with” my mother cheerily told me. With the blindfold over my eyes, I heard rather than saw Jules come back into the room. Her timing was lousy as she came back in as I was putting my top back on before mum helped me to sit back down again. I then heard mum say “smile” and through my blindfold I thought I could see another bright flash.

“Aw mum that’s not fair” Julie whined. “I didn’t get to see my little sister try on her first bra” and mum laughed back at her telling her that it was no different from when she and mum had gone and bought her first bra. I could smell Jules’ perfume and realised that she was now standing quite close nearby.

What I wasn’t expecting next was to feel a hand quickly finding its way under my top and squeezing my bra before I heard her astonished gasp. “Mum she can’t wear those. They’ll fall out when we’re playing.” Mum told Jules to go back and sit on the bed and keep quiet because she was going to have some fun and prove to my sister that she shouldn’t be so quick to give up. Julie sat back down complaining “Aww mum can’t I help you just a little bit, plllleeeaaaasse” only to have mum chuckle and tell her “NO, serves you right for not believing in your old mum.”

Julie’s gasp of excitement was my warning that something bad was probably about to happen to me. I felt mum put some things into my hair but had no idea what they were. I did however feel her start to place something onto my head which seemed to need whatever she had put in just a minute ago. I then felt some tugging and what might have felt like a brush going through my hair, but it wasn’t quite touching my head but then again it kind of was, before it stopped and I heard mum sigh in satisfaction.

“Oh that wig suits you honey, it really does” mum said admiringly before I heard another flashing sound in front of me. “Stand up for me and turn around slowly a few times” and as I did, mum asked me to slow my turning around a bit more and I assumed by the several flashing sounds that mum was taking some more photos of me. All the while I heard Jules prancing around and excitedly whispering with mum to let her help.

“Now temporary daughter of mine, I’m going to give you a chance to see what your mum has done to you so far. I’m certainly not finished with you yet and you’ll always be able to look at the photos, but I need to get a cup of tea first. OK now One, Two, Three,” and mum took the mask off from over my eyes and I was looking in the mirror at a tall type of girl in a short dark haired wig wearing a netball outfit.

“Take this as a word of warning not only to you Megan but for your sister as well. I’ve called in a few favours from friends to allow me to use not only a very expensive set of silicone breast forms but also an expensive professional wig for you to use this Saturday. If their damaged or ruined your dad and I are going to have to pay for the replacements and I think you both know that’s something that NEITHER of you wants to have happen. Am I clearly understood,” that had both of us solemnly nodding in reply.

Once mum had left I took the time to look very closely at my reflection. I could still very obviously see Mark looking back at me, although you had to look a bit harder to clearly identify him. Julie was going crazy behind and saying that that it just might work. She suggested that I might like to try on the green bottoms and offering to get me drink, literally skipped out of the room to get it for me. With the saying “in for a penny” running through my mind I grabbed the briefs and pulled them up my legs until they were covering my tightie whitey undies.

On now looking at my reflection in the mirror, the short length of the skirt became very apparent. I turned to one side to see how I looked in the mirror from side on, before casually bending over slowly until I could see the green pants underneath the skirt. Unfortunately it didn’t take much bending over to flash them and I tried seeing from behind me how much of them you could see when I bent over, to go rigidly still as I heard my sister’s voice humorously say, “Oh you’re just SO sprung checking out your butt little brother” as I quickly stood up straight and turned towards the door to see both my sister and mum looking at me with huge grins on their faces.

Jules came over and handed me a glass of soda and a straw before again pleading with mum to let her help. But mum was adamant telling my sister “NO, you just sit back on the bed and watch your mum have fun and just keep quiet” before telling me to sit back down as she tied a bib to the front of me. With mum’s suggestion I take one last sip of drink, mum turned the chair away from the mirror and proceeded to start changing me from Mark into Megan. As she did so, she’d explain each step and was constantly having to tell Jules “NO” or “that WON’T work” as Jules offered suggestions at a mile a minute. But the best put down to Julie by mum was “will Megan be charging 50 or a 100 dollars a time Julie”.

After about twenty minutes mum proudly declared that she was finished and took my bib off and said I could go look in the mirror. I stood up slowly and turned towards the mirror while mum and Jules silently watched. “Bloody hell is that ME” I said, stunned at what was looking back at me and trying to see Mark, but instead seeing someone who might have been called Megan looking at me. I didn’t look drop dead pretty but I did at least look feminine and definitely not like some boy in a netball skirt.

“This type of look is quick and easy” mum proudly told me. “It’s not a glamorous look I’ve given you because after all, you’re going to play a game of netball and not socializing around the town with friends. Now let’s just take a few last photos of you to remember tonight when I’m in my dotage and then we’ll start getting you back to my son again.” Julie whispered something into my mum’s ear I couldn’t hear and was told that mum would fix that up during lunch tomorrow.

After mum had finished cleaning my face off and had helped me get out of the bra and things, I scurried off to the bathroom for a shower before going to bed. And just like the previous night mum gave me our normal goodnight kiss on the cheek but dad didn’t instead shouting goodnight from outside.

The next day being Wednesday saw me doing Gym for my last two periods and so I got to take out my frustrations on the basketball court with an unusually high number of slam dunks into the basket. Actually gym basketball didn’t need that much effort since none of the other guys in this class was more than 5’8” or so. The team that had me playing for them usually won and today was no exception. When I got home I finished off the rest of the homework I hadn’t already done so as to ensure an uninterrupted night of TV viewing and since Wednesday nights was usually pizza night, knew that I’d only have to set the table, eat pizza and then load the dishwasher. Jules had other plans for me though and had phoned mum to get approval for her and me to go to the nearby local park, so she could explain and show me some of the rules for playing netball which we did as soon as we got home.

At the park she told me that I’d be playing Goal Shooter/or Scorer this Saturday and showed me a bib with large capital letters showing G S which I’d have to have tied onto the front of my top come the start of the game. After trying to explain some of the rules to me, she eventually gave up on nitty gritty details and told me my main purpose on the court was to simply shoot for goal and not to take more than half a step if I was holding the ball and shooting. We practiced throwing the ball at the hoop directly after I learnt there was no backboard in netball to rebound the ball into the basket. I adjusted my shooting to the need to make more pin point throws since there wasn’t a backboard.

We ended up practicing for almost two hours including quick passing to and fro, which I learnt from Julie was another way to beat a defender. Unlike basketball though hand contact with your opponent was frowned upon and I was told to try to keep it to a minimum, or otherwise our team would lose control of the ball. By the time we were finished practicing there was just enough time to get home, clean up and set the table for tea. Jules oven baked the pizzas in the fridge and with very little table chat the family ate dinner and went our various ways. Yes you guessed it, dad said nothing to me other than “good evening, have you done your homework yet, if not, no TV until you do” before going into his study to do whatever he did in there.

Mum simply suggested I wait until dad thawed out again and everything would go back to normal, but reminded me not to do anything stupid to make him angrier with me. Mum then asked if she and I could go to my room so she could get me to try on something I’d need. Once there mum handed me a cellophane packet with what appeared to be a micro sized pair of white undies in it and asked me to try them on, explaining they were a dancer’s gaff and I’d have to wear them during the game or else someone might spot I was a boy. Mum then told me try them on and tell her if they fit and that she’d just be waiting outside the door for me to tell her.

When I actually opened the packet and handled the garment they seemed to be ridiculously too small for me but on trying them on and pulling the gaff up, found that they stretched although I couldn’t get them to fit me all the way up to my hips. I wrapped a towel around my hips and opening the door fractionally to tell mum they were way too small for me and I’d need a larger size. Mum said she needed to come in and barged past me into the room telling me to go online and Google underwear gaff.

Once I had mum looked at the possible sites and finally found one and after a quick perusal told me to read it while she went and sat on my bed. After I’d finished reading mum asked me to unwrap the towel from around me and with my hesitation to do it, exasperatedly told me that she’d birthed me, raised me and seen everything I had changing my nappies as a baby, through to my streaking naked in the house when I thought no one was home the other week, as she told me that she needed to see if I’d even put the gaff on correctly in the first place.

Once I dropped the towel and mum had come close enough to see, I then suffered the ultimate indignity of having my own mother gently manhandle my private bits carefully into the gaff correctly, before pulling the gaff up till it was correctly in place. Humiliation for those interested in improving their vocabulary is spelt in capital letters M O T H E R.

Mum then put the cherry atop my cake by telling me that she’d bought four pairs for me to wear and I was to wear one each day to school on Thursday and Friday so as I could get use to wearing them and I was to try and practice down at the park tomorrow with Julie wearing one, because I’d have to wear one during Saturday’s game. After that mum told me, I was free to either throw them all out or donate them to charity although she suggested I might like to keep a pair in case I ever started wearing tight jeans. Remember you spell the word humiliation M. O. T. H. E. R. and I just knew that one day I'd be explaining all of this to a psychiatrist!

Mum then asked me to stay where I was and left the room to come quickly come back with Jules towing along behind her. Standing with nothing on but a small white gaff in front of my sister, Jules simply looked at me and turned to mum. “Thanks mum that should prevent anything unusual standing out.” before mum explained to her the same thing she’d just finished telling me, except Jules was to make sure I was wore the gaff to school tomorrow morning. “Mark, you really do have a cute tush you know” Jules said as she quickly raced outside to her room. Mum simply laughed telling me to ignore my sister…… (If anyone out there should wonder why I might appear to be slightly crazy, it’s hereditary, just look to my mother and sister for the reasons).

The next morning, mum woke me up early and made me show her I could get dressed in the gaff to be certain that I had could put one on correctly. To put the cherry on the top of the new cake Julie made sure to ask me to drop my trousers down just before we left for school to prove I was wearing one.

If it’s alright with all of you, I’d like to skip what happened on Thursday and Friday except to say that surprisingly I actually found after a while on Thursday that I didn’t even notice I was wearing the gaff. Oh Yeah……I also had some last minute practice down at the park with Jules and the other girls in the team. They even decided to pay me as per the agreement with my sister and each of them gave me a bra and pair of panties signed with a personalised message on each pair of panties and bra. …………….Double Oh Yeah, dad was still pissed off with me.

Mum woke me up early on Saturday saying I’d need to exfoliate, whatever the hell that meant. If she’d just said I had to have my legs shaved, I'd have immediately understood and bolted out of the house and headed for my grandparent’s house to hide. Instead mum told me that the cream she was rubbing onto my legs was meant to soften the hair so that it would be easier to shave off LATER if I needed it!

So, wearing my gaff, after ten minutes and with my legs feeling as if they were on fire, mum told me to step into the shower and she turned the cold water tap on. She handed me the shower wand nozzle and left as I moved the nozzle close to my legs. Once my legs were hit with the cold water jets almost all the hair on my legs started washing off and started to clog the shower drain.

Mum must have obviously known this was going to happen and been standing around just outside the bathroom door waiting and hearing my shout for her. Almost immediately she opened the door and asked me what the problem was. After explaining the situation by simply pointing at my legs and then the shower drain, mum almost magically (I thought so anyway) produced out of thin air a face cloth and telling me to step out of the shower, proceeded to rub it over my wet legs, which had whatever hair was still there being rubbed off onto the face cloth. Now stark naked and surprised at what had just happened, I meekly allowed my mother to run a hand up and down both my legs to pronounce they were now as smooth as a baby’s botty, before telling me to rub some of the moisturiser she had in the vanity drawer on them after I had my shower and patted them dry. Oddly enough the shower water felt really strange on my bald legs after I stepped back into the shower to finish getting clean, and the water on my now smooth legs actually felt quite nice…….Strange but kind of nice.

I found on trying to get dry that mum’s words about patting your legs dry was actually better than if I’d been trying to rub them dry. I then put the moisturiser on that mum had told me about and with a towel round my waist walked back to my bedroom where mum was calmly sitting on my bed waiting for me. Mum seeing the look on my face tried to relax me by telling me that she just needed to help me with my bra and make up, suggesting I’d better get rid of the towel around me, which I did to stand in front of my mother as naked as the day I was born, and powerless to do a thing about it.

Mum suggested putting the gaff on first and then I could put on my undies. So as she watched and with a blushing red face I worked a black gaff up onto my hips. “Sorry pet but you’ll need to wear these under the sport briefs too in case you end up showing some panty while you’re playing” as she handed me a pair of girl’s white panties with playful kittens printed all over them, that had white lace on the leg openings. Once that was done mum handed me the green bottom briefs of the uniform and then after I’d put them on and pulled them into place was directed by mum to get on the bed and lie on my back.

Julie was using the shower now, so I knew that I wouldn’t have to suffer her for a while as mum told me that she was now going to glue the two breast inserts onto me and asked me if I had any questions about it. I asked mum if the glue was strong enough not to become brittle and be useless during the game which mum assured me that it wouldn’t, adding that she’d need to use a special solvent afterwards to remove them. Mum then went and applied a soft gluey like paste to my chest in several places before taking one of the breast forms and after aligning a particular area of the form, placed it right on my right nipple and pressed down firmly with a loud count to thirty before then counting another ten while quietly telling me that she wanted to be extra sure. I shivered at how cool the breast form felt against my flesh but quickly found it warming up as mum’s counting came closer to thirty. Mum then did the same thing again with the other breast form and I now found myself lying on my back with two flesh coloured objects that appeared to look like two squashed flat, wobbly pieces of bread dough.

Mum then told me I could sit up slowly and as I did, I felt the weight of the breast forms tugging down on my chest. It felt really odd as I got up off the bed and find the weight of the forms tugged down on my chest. I just hoped that the solvent to get them back off me would work just as well as the glue to stick them on had worked. Mum told me that she wanted to test out the glue to see if it cured and told me to jump up and down on the spot quickly three times. It felt really weird feeling myself jumping upwards while my boobies were tugging my chest downwards before they too started to rise upwards. But by this time my body was actually dropping back down again so the forms behaved exactly the same way BUT in reverse, tugging my chest upwards this time. After the third jump I was starting to understand what mum had been telling me about the awkwardness of breasts bouncing around and how painful it must be for girls, when both I and then my breasts finally stopped bouncing.

Mum then helped me into the sports bra, which I found quite tricky to do because of the need to fit the bra over the breast forms now glued to my chest, while at the same time trying to also place them inside the bra, whereas the other night mum had only needed to slip the two loose breast forms into empty bra cups with little manipulation. Finally with mum’s assisting hands, it was done and I realised I now had my own set of breasts…..For a few hours anyhow.

I guess I must have had some sort of silly look on my face thinking about that fact. “Penny for your thoughts right now pet” mum said with a giggle, but being embarrassed at having been caught out again, I lied and told her I wasn’t thinking about anything before reaching for the white top to put on. Mum suggested I put my skirt on first instead, telling me with a giggle that it was better to show off a bra instead of my panties, in case a strange man walked in unannounced!

When I was dressed and decent (yeah, on reflection I thought the same way about that last statement too) I sat down for mum to start the final transformation process. After the bib and wig, mum was able to get most of my face done before Julie came crashing into the room excited and bubbly, dressed in her own uniform keen and eager to help.

Mum told her that she was almost finished but hearing Jules’ groan of disappointment said if she wanted to she could paint my nails a soft pink for me, “and while you at it, do your own again as well since the polish on them looks chipped.” Nails painted… soft pink?

Within moments I found my hand being gripped firmly and being placed on a towel draped over Jules’ knee as I watched her use a file to try and smooth one of my teeth chewed nails to a smoother edge instead of the jagged ones on my fingers. Mum looked over and sighed loudly before walking over to my desk and coming back and replacing the bottle of nail varnish that Julie had selected with another, while telling her that fingertips and lips should almost match, before finishing off my face by adding a discrete pale pink lip gloss!

With our bags packed and a change of clothes for Jules, mum hurried us to her car for the drive to the playing fields. Trying to sneak out to the car without dad seeing me, mum called out that dad had had to go somewhere, which had me breathing a sigh of relief. During the car drive there mum and Julie sat in the front and talked to each other, while I sat in the back and listened to my iPod while staring at the passing suburbs.

The grounds that Julie’s team was playing at had a myriad of courts scattered everywhere and the car-park was filled to overflowing, so it took several minutes to find a parking space. Jules was quickly out of the car saying she’d come and get mum and me at the grandstand pointing to one about 100 yards away before racing off into a crowd that I guess may have been as many as up to a thousand players and supporters. Mum took note of where we were parked and with me carrying both Jules and my bags, we headed over to the front of the grandstand to wait.

It was kind of usual when I went to a crowded place somewhere, that my height made me a bit of a standout, much the same as when dad was out with us, but he towered over most people anyway. Wearing a girl’s short netball outfit in public for the first time was definitely making me very nervous. With almost each step I was trying to pull the short skirt down in a vain attempt not to show of my bottoms which finally had my mother whispering to me telling me to stop doing it.

I felt like dad so to speak, and with my diminutive mum walking beside me I felt that everyone was staring at the back of my skirt as we strolled past groups. About a minute after we had stopped in front of the grandstand, Julie and the rest of her teammates appeared and the other four girls stopped dead in their tracks and looked at me utter shock before realising who I was and coming over to welcome me.

While the rest of the girls stood around me quietly kiddingly me about whether I liked walking round showing my legs off and every so often quietly lifting the back of my skirt up on me to see me react. Jules meanwhile went and confirmed my registration and then came back to lead everyone over to our playing area where Jules said everyone could leave their stuff and that mum would watch over everyone’s bags, then herded all of us over to a vacant pitch where a number of teams where practicing. After spotting an empty patch in the middle we went over with two balls and started warming up.

A loudspeaker announced that our team along with the opposition were to be at court 28 in ten minutes so we finished up and headed over. Once we got there I saw two things that made me nervous. The first was that our court was a badly cracked bitumen one and not a grass court. The second was seeing our opponents for the first time. They were wearing bright yellow tops and matching skirts over the other side of the court, as Julie left us and headed over there to meet their captain as well as the two umpires before coming back over and making sure everyone had their position bib on.

As the game already playing on our pitch was blown to a finish the girls and I casually strolled onto the court at one end while the yellow girls did the same at the other end. That allowed Gail (GA) to practice shooting with me (GS) and in the few minutes left to us, tried to create some type of unity and understanding with me while Jules as our centre player (C) organised the other girls last warm up. Finally the two umpires signalled for the teams to take their positions, then one of them handed Jules the ball and blew for the game to start.

The yellow team girl marking me must have been about 5’7” and was looking up at me with a look of absolute hatred on her face, probably hoping my legs would drop off. Everywhere I moved though she went with me and after several short fast throws by Jules and our two wings (WD) and (WA) the ball was finally tossed to Gail. Gail had a huge grin on her face as she deliberately lobbed the ball high into the air at me and well over my short opponent’s outstretched hands for me to gather in. I caught it above my head and tried to stop and not move forward before turning slightly and gently tossing the ball into the ring 1 -0 and the umpire blew a short sharp blast signalling a successful goal. My opponent gathered the ball quickly and hurled it to her Centre and in seconds I watched their (GS) doing exactly the same thing for them 1 – 1.

The netball seemed to move from one end of the court to the other in what always appeared to be a matter of seconds to my way of thinking. Gail was moving around and shouting at me to do the same and by half time our team was leading 23 – 11. I’d scored all except two of our goals since the girl marking me had no way of being able to reach up high enough to try and intercept Gail’s passes to me and I was able to out manoeuvre Gail’s opponent twice that allowed Gail to score as well.

By the break all of us were sweating although I was probably doing so the least. Poor old Sis (I must be delirious?) along with our two wings were soaked through and guzzling water quicker than a thirsty camel. Of course, exhausted as they all were, it didn’t stop most of the girls lighting up ciggies and puffing away. And a look at our opponents saw the same thing happening there. Jules kept telling everyone to just make sure I got the ball as often as possible and I’d make the goals because my opposition marker was far too short to reach up and stop me from shooting.

When we walked back on court for the second half though, the yellow girls had made some player substitutions. I now found myself looking at a girl, (if you could call her that) marking me who was about 5’10” and quite stocky (read that for BIG). She had tattoos on her arms and a mean look on her face. I found out what just how mean she was when as I manoeuvred to get free, she used her solid body to check me and I fell onto the bitumen grazing my hands.

At the next restart Gail suddenly realised she could no longer just throw high lobs to me, when I fell to the bitumen again after a strategically placed elbow left me double over and winded. That did cause the cow to be penalised but I missed the throw as I’d missed the previous one too. I hated the sneaky smile she gave me as we paired off for the next restart.

The next time the ball came into our sides third of the court my “Godzilla” opponent made sure to impede me as much as possible by forcing me well away from the goal post. In the end she managed to find a way to again have me end up on my hands and knees on the ground and more gravel rash on the palms of my hands. The score board now showed 23 – 17 and I could see that Julie and at least one of our wings were now starting to lag behind the play breathing quite heavily.

Gail tried some fast positional passing with the others so that she could take some scoring shots, since I now seemed to be nullified by Godzilla, but their opposing captain found a way to quickly smother that tactic as the score moved to 25 – 22. During a short injury pause to one of the yellow girls I dashed over to Gail and asked her if it was legal to do something and on hearing it was OK, hurriedly swapped my bib over with her and with a broad smile told her just to try and grab any of my shot throws if I miss.

The next time the ball came up into our third I dashed well away from my new marker (GD) to catch Mindy’s (WA) throw. Since the opposition thought I was too far away from the net to think about shooting for goal, I had an uninterrupted throw which I lobbed straight in the hoop and bought gasps of shock from the opposing team and spectators watching.

From then on, as far as I was concerned it was just basic basketball 101. Every time I got the ball thrown the ball I simply treated it as if it were a free throw from the charity stripe, especially because of the rules about a marker only being allowed to hinder a shot in specific ways. To break it up I made quick throws to Gail several times that allowed her to score too and as the final whistle blew, the scoreboard read 52-31 as we lined up to shake our opponents hands.

After the game, Julie and the girls all wearing winner’s grins cheekily asked me in front of my mother if I wanted to join them for a shower. But I didn’t get a chance to say “yes” because I heard DAD’S voice somewhere close nearby saying “THAT isn’t going to happen Megan” and as if by magic there he suddenly was, right behind me! So the car trip home following dad’s car, saw me sitting in the back all sweaty while mum and a showered Jules sat in the front as Jules excitedly retold the entire game in minute detail to mum (who’d watched it all anyway).

When we walked into the house on arriving home I headed straight to my bedroom to get stripped for a shower. Mum came with me to help unfasten the wig and unglue my boobs, which turned out to be quite unpleasant as it felt like my skin was being peeled off of me as each breast form was gently pried from my chest. The shower felt fantastic afterwards though, especially on my smooth legs, before I went into my room and got dressed in shorts and tee before ambling into the kitchen to have lunch with everyone My knees and elbows were grazed and the palms of my hands were sore but that didn’t stop me from devouring the KFC dad had stopped off for on the way home.

Dad even congratulated me both for helping my sister out and for the game I played, as he told me he admired my way of using my basketball ball training to advantage. In a gesture of how pleased he was, he waived Julie’s and my punishments, BUT only on the condition that I never wore an article of female clothing ever again