Stephanie’s Deal by Jennifer Brock Steven Brooks was a boy who got in trouble for looking at his Christmas presents and as punishment he was made to dress and live as a girl until school started again. There was an accident and the reopening of school was delayed. More and more it seems like Stephanie will have a difficult time going back. Already she has a boyfriend and a role as a bridesmaid in her cousin’s wedding. Last time, she had her twelfth birthday which didn’t go so well. Her little friend Robin was until recently a boy named Bobby, and when she came over to share Stephanie’s birthday dinner, her father showed up uninvited and yelled and wanted Bobby back, but Stephanie’s father made him go away. In this episode, Stephanie will have a birthday party with her friends from her old Sunday School class in which they attend the movie “Enchanted.” Some slight spoilers of that film are given, but no critical plot points are revealed.

Episode 14

Friday morning at breakfast, Stephanie’s father wanted to make sure she was okay before he left for work. They talked about what had happened the night before, and he apologized to her that her birthday celebration was interrupted. She said that since there was going to be another party with her friends on Saturday, and then dinner at Grandma’s with the cousins on Sunday, it wasn’t like her only celebration got ruined. And it seemed like Robin’s father really needed to hear what Dad had to say, even if it was really scary.

There was something she’d been wondering about. “Daddy, you knew what to do about what was bothering Robin’s father just like I knew what to do about what was bothering Robin. Is that because me being Stephanie makes you as mad as Robin being Robin does to him?”

He put his arm around his daughter. “Honey, I can tell you’ve changed since we started this, and Stephanie really doesn’t seem like a punishment for you. You didn’t seem depressed before, like when your little friend had her girl things taken away, but it does feel like you’ve become more outgoing and friendlier, and just happier in general as Stephanie than you were as Steven. If you need to take some time to figure out who you are, your mother and I are willing to give it to you. We love you and we are your family, regardless of what you’re wearing.”

Stephanie gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy. I don’t think I’m like Robin. I’m not sure I’ll want to be a girl any more than I have to, but it’s nice to know that you’d let me.”

Dad had to get up and go to work. “You have a good day, Kiddo.” He gave her a pat on the head. “We’ll talk some more about how you see yourself next week, after all the birthday hullabaloo is over.” Stephanie got too giggly over Daddy’s silly word that she didn’t really think about what he had said.

Stephanie spent her morning sorting out a décor problem in her room. Her new Angel Barbie, which she got for her birthday from her friend, and her first doll Hannah, that she got for Christmas, did not want to peacefully coexist on her dresser. Angel Barbie was just too pretty, and too important a gift, that she made the old doll look plain and boring. Stephanie moved Hannah to her nightstand, so she’d be closer, but not in her direct view as much as Angel Barbie was. That seemed to be a fair compromise.

She spent most of her afternoon up in her room drawing, but then she got a call from Debbie Washington when she got home from school. She complained that Stephanie was never on the computer ready to chat like she was supposed to. How were they supposed to text about stuff if she was never there? Debbie wanted her to get into the chat thingy right away. It was kind of silly, since whatever she had to text about she could just as easily tell Stephanie while she had her on the phone. She just shrugged it off as something girls must do.

After making sure the computer was available, she hung up and then fired up the chatting program Debbie had recommended. Debbie had to explain a lot of the secret codes and jargons she was using, but she seemed to be very patient with Stephanie. Finally she changed the subject to boys she liked and what makes them cute, and Stephanie started understanding what she was talking about.

She told Debbie about learning to dance with Christopher and how he’s generally a pest but a decent dancer, and talked a little about her boyfriend Brian. Stephanie had heard that it was wrong for a girl to “kiss and tell,” so she tried to keep secret most of the details of exactly what she’d done with Brian. She played it coy but did tell Debbie she liked him and thought he liked her too.

Stephanie told Debbie Brian was going to be at her party, and asked for an opinion on what to wear. Would it be too dressy if Stephanie had on a dress at the cinema for her birthday party? Should she try for something more casual? It was a party, but it was also at a public movie house, so she had no idea what the right dress code would be. She wanted to look nice, but didn’t want to seem like she was trying too hard.

Debbie said that she was going to wear blue jeans and a nice top to the party. It was just more comfortable when you’re going to be sitting in one place for a couple hours. Stephanie had girl jeans she could wear, but she didn’t want to look like a boy. She worried that Brian might not like her if she was in pants. Debbie told her that she was being silly; no one would ever believe that Stephanie wasn’t a girl no matter what she wore. Between her hairstyle, her earrings, her nails, and if she wore a little makeup, she thought Stephanie would look totally girlish, even in jeans.

Debbie did tell Stephanie that as long as she wore a bra and had something filling it out, nobody would suspect that something might be filling out her panties, too. Debbie was probably talking about her padding, but Stephanie gave her chest a little squeeze anyway. She couldn’t feel anything sprouting yet. She had been using those oils for two whole weeks, and still no boobs! Maybe her nipples were a little bigger, but that could have just been her imagination. She wanted to ask Debbie how long it took her to grow hers, but she didn’t want to have to explain why she was asking, and didn’t know if girls really talked about stuff like that, or if it was too private.

She still wasn’t convinced to wear her jeans, so she asked Debbie if a casual skirt would be acceptable, since it would be less formal than a dress, but more girly than pants. She described her various skirts for Debbie. She said the khaki one would look too much like a school uniform, so that one was out. Her black and gray skirts weren’t good either; they weren’t casual enough. Her denim one would be more like jeans, so Debbie thought that one might work, but Stephanie really wanted to wear her red pleated skirt. Debbie said boys liked pleats; they made them think of cheerleaders and Catholic schoolgirls. She warned her that if she really wanted to go with the red skirt to pair it with a very casual top.

So now she had to run all her possible tops by Debbie for approval. Stephanie thought that she could wear her pink t-shirt with the lacy trim, but Debbie said that she’d heard that you shouldn’t put pink and red together unless you want to look all “Valentiney.” Stephanie tried suggesting her white turtleneck instead, but apparently that was just as wrong a combination. Debbie said that a light blue top would be better, but Stephanie didn’t have one. She asked if her purple tank top would be okay, and Debbie said the color could work as long as it was the same tone as the red, but a tank might be too cold in the theater. Stephanie described her cute raspberry top with the edging like lasagna noodles, and Debbie sent her a little smiley face. She said it sounded like a good choice.

Debbie asked her what she was going to wear for shoes, and Stephanie first impulse would be her black patent Mary Janes, but Brian’s friends said they looked like school uniform shoes, which is bad. So she thought maybe her pink sneakers would work better if she was trying to casual it up, but she wasn’t sure if socks or tights would be better to keep her legs warm during the movie. Were tights okay with sneakers? Debbie said that tights and sneakers can look cool together, as long as they were a strong color and not white. Ideally, she’d want the same color as her top, but Stephanie didn’t have raspberry tights. Debbie said black would be fine, so she was all set.

He mother came to get her for dinner, and Stephanie hadn’t realized that she’d been on the computer for an hour. She said goodbye to Debbie, and said she’d see her Saturday. Mom asked her a bunch of questions about what she’d been doing online, and Stephanie explained as best she could how the instant messaging thing worked. Mom looked over at the screen and saw some of the weird code words that Debbie had been using, and it all just looked like gobbledygook to her. Mom’s silly words were almost as funny as Dad’s and Stephanie got the giggles again.

After a really good dinner of pork chops and baby potatoes, Dad surprised Stephanie with a really tasty dessert. He’d stopped at a bakery on his way home from work, and bought some yummy chocolate éclairs! He apologized that Stephanie’s actual birthday hadn’t been exactly a happy one.

Then mom brought out a huge, beautifully wrapped package in pretty paper covered in roses. She said they didn’t think it would have been appropriate to give Stephanie her present after all the tension from Robin’s dad crashing the party, so they waited for a happier time. She said that they’d already gotten her a phone and two parties and that was plenty, but they insisted that she open her present.

Stephanie tried to be as careful with the paper as her mother usually was, and made sure to slowly unwrap her gift. But then inside were a bunch of other little wrapped gifts. They were in several different colors of paper.

Dad explained, “You’ve been through some confusing times lately. There’s a part of you that’s Stephanie, and so we’ve got some special things that you could enjoy as a girl; those are the pink ones. But there’s a part of you that’s still Steven in there somewhere, and the blue ones are things we hoped you might appreciate as our only son. And I think both sides of you could get something out of the purple ones.”

Stephanie wasn’t sure if it was a test. Did they want to see which color she’d open first? She took all the little packages out and lined them up on the table. There were four little pink packages, two medium-sized blue ones, and three flat purple ones. She opened the purples. They were three cool-looking games for the Nintendo Wii system that started this whole mess.

Mom said that they hadn’t seen her playing with it since they set it up, and she said she thought it was because the contract said that Steven couldn’t play with the game he got for Christmas until after school started. But since these were new games, maybe Stephanie would feel comfortable playing them. Dad even thought the race-car one might be fun to play with two players.

Stephanie told her parents she’d save the blue ones for last because there were only two of them and they felt important. The pink ones turned out to be really nice. It was a set of actual jewelry, not just plastic beads but real jewels! They had garnets, which were Stephanie’s birthstone, along with tiny diamond chips in fancy gold settings. She got beautiful drop earrings, a lovely pendant, a delicate bracelet, and a ring with a little formation of baby diamonds around a big garnet in the middle. It was gorgeous, but she wasn’t sure when she’d have an opportunity to wear such fancy stuff. Maybe at dance class, to show off in front of Christopher. She gave her mom a big hug.

One of the blue presents was a cool model kit of a car that had real metal parts! Dad probably had picked this out before he found out Stephanie was going to be around for the birthday. She told him it looked like it would be a good challenge to make, and said that just maybe it would get put together before Steven came back.

The last blue package was very special. It was a special wooden box containing an old jackknife with a fancy handle that had pearly bits on the sides and a brass thing on the end engraved with a cursive letter B.

Dad said that, “I know you never met him, but that knife once belonged to your grandfather. And he gave it to me when I turned twelve. I know you’re not really the outdoorsy type, but I know you like to make things, and in that box there you’ll also see a book that’s the Boy Scouts’ Guide to Whittling. If you’re interested I could show you what my dad taught me to do.” He was almost crying. Steven and his father had never really connected, but he was always trying to.

Stephanie gave her father a big hug and fought back a sniffle of her own. “Thank you, Daddy. I will treasure this, and make sure I take proper care of it. I won’t let it break or rust or anything. We’ve got all those parties and stuff all weekend, so maybe next week you could show me, or Steven, or whatever. He’s supposed to be back next week.”

Mom came and joined in the hug. “You are our child whoever you choose to be, and we will always love you.”

Stephanie left her games in the living room, but took her other presents upstairs. She was really confused as she got ready for bed. It really seemed like Dad was ready to have his son back, but maybe Mom wasn’t. Someone had to have bought that expensive jewelry, and Stephanie was supposed to be going away in three days, and only come back for dance class and wedding stuff. Sometimes they were acting as though Stephanie was like Robin and wanted to be a girl forever. But she didn’t, did she? She shook off the idea and instead went back to massaging tea tree oil into her little pink nipples to encourage them to grow, and let her thoughts stray to wondering what her boyfriend was going to get her for her birthday.

Saturday morning she woke up nervous about her party. It would mean being out in public with a lot of people who knew her secret. At least she didn’t have to be nervous about what to wear, thanks to her chat session with Debbie the previous day. She started with her prettiest padded bra and a nice pair of panties, then pulled on her black tights with the stripes. She stepped into her red pleated skirt and zipped it up, then pulled on her “raspberry lasagna” top.

She wore her hair loose but fluffed it up with her brush. She put in her new garnet earrings, but didn’t want to go too fancy, so left the rest of the set in their boxes and just wore a plain gold chain necklace. She didn’t want Mom to complain, so she kept her makeup really minimal: a couple strokes of brown mascara on each eye, and a healthy coating of Brian’s favorite strawberry lip gloss.

Her morning was pretty much a blur. She was almost too nervous to eat breakfast, but by lunch time she was hungry enough that it didn’t matter. She gobbled her chicken salad sandwich and potato chips a little too fast; it almost reminded her mother of how her son used to eat. But when she finished and dabbed her mouth with her napkin and then refreshed her lip gloss, Stephanie was back.

Mom left first because she had to pick up the cake along the way. Dad was going to the party but wouldn’t be staying for the movie, so they took separate cars. The Birthday Girl got to ride with him. Stephanie was very nervous, and checked her look in the mirror three times to make sure she looked authentic. She also double-checked her purse to make sure she had everything.

The theater had a special room for parties off the lobby. It had a big table and some chairs set up, and there was a multicolored “Happy Birthday” banner on the wall. Mom told Stephanie to stand by the doorway to greet her guests, making sure to thank each one for coming.

Debbie showed up first, wearing a pair of jeans and a tight blue t-shirt with a pair of white doves printed on the front. Her hair was in loose waves across her shoulders, and it seemed like she had just enough makeup to call attention to her striking green eyes. She gave Stephanie a hug hello and told her she looked pretty, and then handed her a small package wrapped in cute polka-dot paper. Mom took the present and set it aside, and showed Debbie the table where there was a big bowl of popcorn and a little one of M&Ms. An usher with a tray of various sodas asked her what she wanted to drink and she picked a Diet Coke. Stephanie couldn’t see any fat on Debbie’s body that didn’t belong there, so it seemed weird for her to be dieting.

Kayla Wright was the next to arrive. Her mother had a quiet conversation with Stephanie’s, probably just about when to come back to pick her up but it made Stephanie feel a little too self-aware. Steven hadn’t known Kayla very well, and she wasn’t as outgoing with Stephanie as some of the other girls. She was tall and skinny, like her bones were growing faster than she could keep meat on them. She wore a pink party dress that was probably a little too small for her, but it’s kind of hard to tell with dresses; when a boy’s legs grow too long for his pants they turn into high-waters and he looks like a dork, but when a girl’s legs grow her hemline just gets higher and she shows more leg like a model. Her dusty brown hair was done up in pigtails tied with little pink bows. It looked cute, but little girl cute, not teenager cute. Her mom probably dressed her. She seemed really nervous.

Stephanie smiled brightly and thanked her for coming to the party. She wasn’t sure how girls that didn’t know each other that well shared a greeting. Should she give Kayla a hug like Debbie gave her? She took the little purple package from Kayla so her hands would be too busy to do anything, and directed her toward the refreshments. She watched and saw that Debbie didn’t give Kayla a hello hug, so that probably was the right call. The present went next to Debbie’s and Stephanie returned to her post as hostess.

Kimberly Stevens and Danielle Baker shared a ride and came to the party together. Danielle looked like something from another world. She had really pale skin, almost pink, and fine long hair the color of straw, but what you really noticed about her was her impossibly blue eyes. She wore a spooky black billowy lace dress, and her slender body moved with the grace of a dancer.

Kimberly was almost the complete opposite. Her parents had adopted her from China or something when she was a baby, so she didn’t have an accent or anything. She was shorter and a little chubbier than the other girls. Her shiny black hair was longer even than Danielle’s, and she wore it pulled back with cute little barrette’s with flowers on them. She wore a purple t-shirt trimmed in white lace, and a pair of blue jeans.

Stephanie greeted them both, (Kimberly went in for the hug) and her mother took their beautifully wrapped gifts. Stephanie was starting to get worried. The room was filling up and her boyfriend hadn’t shown up yet. Had Brian chickened out and decided not to come to her party?

She perked up when she thought she saw a boy walking through the lobby in her direction, but when “he” got closer she saw that it was just Elizabeth Patterson. She kind of looked like a boy since she had a short hairstyle and was wearing a loose t-shirt, faded jeans, and grungy old sneakers. She didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup, and her only jewelry was a tiny pair of gold studs in her ears. Stephanie tried not to look disappointed and smiled at her guest. Elizabeth told her she was very pretty, and handed her a cylindrical yellow package that was heavier than she expected.

It was almost time for the party to start when finally Brian showed up. He almost ran across the lobby, and apologized greatly for being late. Stephanie told him he was just on time, and gave him a little hello kiss on the cheek. He was even kind of dressed up, in a striped sweater over a real shirt with a collar and he had on a nice pair of black slacks and real shoes. He handed her a tiny little pink box, that seemed sloppily wrapped enough that he might have done it himself.

Mom said it was time for the party games, and she went to break out the “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” set she’d brought, but the usher stopped her and said that pretending that she thought the kids would like something that lame was a great joke. He winked at Stephanie and reached into his vest pocket to hand each of them five tokens that they could use in the theater’s arcade.

Kimberly grabbed Stephanie’s hand and led her over to this dancing game that was her favorite. It had a special platform where you had to step on certain spots when the screen told you to. All the girls took turns playing. Kayla seemed a little too shy to try, but Stephanie went out of her way to encourage her to give it a shot. Danielle was the best; she never made any mistakes, but Kayla was a close second. Elizabeth only went once, but it really wasn’t her thing. She and Brian got in these little booths where they could race cars against each other.

When everyone had run out of tokens, the usher escorted them back to the party room, where Mom had gotten the cake ready. It was a sheet cake covered in white icing with little swoopy things and flowers in pink and green and a big “Happy Birthday Stephanie” in red letters. The theater wouldn’t allow candles, but there were a couple of weird battery-operated lights that would somehow still turn off if you blew on them. Stephanie took a deep breath, made a wish (that her botanical oils would hurry up and start working their magic), and blew them out.

She’d expected yellow cake, but it turned out to be chocolate. It was very delicious. The girls were all happy about the chocolate cake, and Brian even said that chocolate was his second favorite flavor, after strawberry. Stephanie knew what he was referring to, and hoped that no one noticed her blushing.

After the cake, it was time for Stephanie to open her presents. She tried to set Brian’s little gift aside for last without calling too much attention to it. That put Elizabeth’s round heavy package on top, so she started with that. The card had a cartoon cat holding a bunch of balloons that popped out when you opened it; it was kind of neutral, not specifically a cart for a boy or for a girl. She had signed it, “Happy Birthday! — Eli.”

The present was a round box that looked to be made from a single piece of wood. If you gave the lid a quarter turn, it opened. The inside was lined with fuzzy green stuff, and there was a mirror glued to the back of the cover. Elizabeth said it was a jewelry box, but Stephanie could just use it for secret treasures when she went back to being a boy. Stephanie didn’t want to think about that, especially around Brian, so she told Elizabeth that it was very pretty and she’d gotten some real jewels from her parents for her birthday and now she had somewhere to put them. Elizabeth smiled broadly and said that she’d made it herself, with just a little help from her dad on the latch. Stephanie was doubly impressed. She hadn’t realized Elizabeth was so crafty. Steven had made plastic models but had never really gotten into woodworking. Stephanie almost started talking to her about making stuff, but then remembered there was still a pile of presents to get through.

Danielle’s card had a photo of some girl on the front singing into a microphone. Stephanie thought she looked kind of familiar, like she was famous. The inside part was a list of Seven Things to Love About Your Birthday, which was kind of cute. The little square present turned out to be a CD of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus in concert. She wasn’t sure who they were, but one of them was the girl on the card. She told Danielle she wasn’t that familiar with them, and asked if she’d know any songs from either of them.

Everyone laughed and Danielle explained that they were the same person, and then she started singing this “Seven Things” song and now the card made more sense. The rest of the girls all joined in, so she really felt out of touch. It even looked like Brian was kind of mouthing the words but pretending not to. Stephanie was kind of left out, but it was cool having a roomful of people singing for her. She clapped when they finished, and told Danielle that did sound like a fun song to dance to. She fluttered her eyelashes at her Daddy said that now she’d need a CD player for her room. Everyone laughed.

Kimberly’s card looked hand-made, like the kind Stephanie’s Aunt Jeannie makes with her stamping and scrapbooking skills. It said “Happy Birthday, Steph! Love, Kim” on the inside, and had a lot of sparkle to it. Her present was a blank book made of really nice paper, and a package of glittery pens in a multitude of colors. Kimberly said that every girl needed a journal, and Stephanie thought that writing down stuff about her life might be a good idea. She thanked Kimberly with a little hug.

Just like her outfit, Kayla’s card seemed aimed at someone younger. It had some cartoon girls with big heads and trampy clothes that said they were the “Bratz” wishing her a happy birthday. Her present was a stuffed animal, a fluffy white kitty. Stephanie actually kind of liked that. She thought it would look nice sitting on her bed between the pillows, and it was really soft to pet. They hadn’t had any pets since Mr. Mittens went away, and it was nice having a cat again. But it was actually more than a toy, as Kayla told her that it was a “Webkin” and Stephanie could go online and enter a code from the tag and create a whole virtual world for her kitty. It sounded kind of cool; Stephanie liked the idea of stepping away from the real world for a while.

Debbie’s card was more grownup. The girl on the front was some kind of funky teenager dancing and the inside told her to “party out on her B-day.” Debbie had enclosed a little credit card thing from the phone company in the card. She said it was so Stephanie could have some more air time on her phone so she could text message Debbie without feeling guilty. Mom seemed to like that, but Dad was kind of frowning. He told Stephanie to make sure she kept track of her minutes.

Debbie’s present present was another CD. It was the soundtrack to “Enchanted,” the movie they were about to watch. She’d already seen the movie, but it was good enough to go twice, and she said Stephanie would really like the music. Of course, now she definitely needed a CD player in her room. Debbie moved so she could get a thank you hug, too.

Brian’s card was kind of mushy. It said “To a special girl” and had roses on it. He didn’t sign “Love” or “XOXO” or anything, just “Brian,” but she knew. The little box had a silver charm bracelet in it. It was really pretty. Brian said that she could add more charms to represent Stephanie’s significant moments. It already had a little angel charm for the Christmas pageant that started it all, and a little tennis racket to symbolize the Nintendo Wii that got her in trouble. The last one was a little birthday cake with one candle, since this was Stephanie’s first birthday party, but before that was a little silver model of the Eiffel Tower. Brian said that was to commemorate Stephanie’s first date. She thought meant that Eiffel Tower was something French like the kissing they did and had a moment of panic about how to explain it to her parents, but then Brian told everyone that they had watched a DVD of Ratatouille, and that made sense. Stephanie would still think of it as representing the other thing. She gave Brian a kiss in appreciation, on the lips but with her mouth closed. He blushed a little, but she saw him lick his lips to taste the strawberries. Stephanie asked him to help her clasp the bracelet around her wrist, even though she probably could have done it herself.

Dad looked at his watch and asked the usher how long they had before the movie started. He said they had about fifteen minutes, so if anyone needed to use the restroom they should go. Debbie said they had to go to the ladies’ room, and pulled Stephanie along. Kimberly helped to herd the others in, too. Elizabeth seemed very reluctant but went anyway. Mom stayed behind to clean up the space. Dad gathered the presents to take them home. Brian went off to the restroom by himself.

In the ladies’ room, Debbie started cross-examining Stephanie. She could believe that she’d kissed Brian like that right in front of everyone. Stephanie tried to tell her that it was no big deal; they hadn’t opened their mouths or anything. That got all the girls’ attention. None of them had any experience with French kissing and wanted her to describe it. Stephanie realized too late that she’d said too much, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She tried to put into words how it felt to kiss with tongues, but she couldn’t really.

Elizabeth seized the opportunity and said that if they wanted to know what a kiss felt like there was an easy way to find out. She planted her lips on Stephanie’s and gave her a big wet kiss. Elizabeth’s tongue touched her lips, and she parted them ever so slightly. It wasn’t quite the same as kissing Brian but it wasn’t a bad feeling either. Stephanie was confused and very embarrassed.

Debbie wanted a turn, but Kimberly kissed her first, and then Danielle kissed Kayla, and it was very weird in the ladies’ room. Some old lady came out of a stall and they had to stop, but dissolved into an explosion of giggles instead. Stephanie commented that Elizabeth looked better with lip gloss, and they all giggled again. They had to wait for Kayla, who actually needed to use the facility, but then they went out to meet Stephanie’s mom and Brian and the usher, who were waiting for them.

The usher brought them into the theater. They had their own row. Stephanie made Brian go in first, then she followed, then Debbie, then Kimberly, then Elizabeth, then Kayla, then Mom. Bags of popcorn and drinks were passed down, and everyone settled in to enjoy the show.

The movie started as a cartoon, sort of a cross between Cinderella and Snow White, and it seemed like it was for little kids. But then the Princess (well, she wasn’t a princess yet, but you could tell she was going to be) started singing about kissing her true love, and that was kind of interesting. Stephanie wanted to sneak a kiss with Brian, but she thought her Mom was watching.

Not long after that the Wicked Queen Stepmother put a spell on the Princess and suddenly she’s in New York and she’s not a cartoon anymore. She was a beautiful girl in a really pretty wedding dress, and it showed off her boobs nicely. Brian seemed a little more interested. Maybe if her herbal oils started actually working, he’d like hers too.

In New York, the Princess ran into that dreamy doctor from the show Mom likes, and she wasn’t watching Stephanie anymore, but now Brian was watching the Princess’ boobs so she still couldn’t steal a kiss. She sang a song and had rats and cockroaches helping her clean the doctor’s (In the movie he wasn’t a doctor; he actually was a divorce lawyer like Stephanie’s dad. It’s too bad they left him at home.) apartment, and that was kind of icky, so Stephanie had to grab Brian’s arm to protect her from the bugs and stuff.

The Prince turned into a real person too, but he wasn’t as nice looking as the Princess. He had a little kind of real / kind of cartoony chipmunk with him that Brian thought was funny. And then this fat weasely guy working for the queen turned into a real person, too.

It was sweet and romantic, and you couldn’t tell if the Princess is going to end up with Dreamy Doctor Lawyer or the Prince, and then the Wicked Queen Stepmother showed up and there was a big dragon and it got all scary, and Stephanie had to hang onto Brian for real, and she looked away a couple times, and one of the times she was looking away he thought she was turning her face to him, so he kissed her quickly and she didn’t think her mom saw. It was nice, and they were talking about True Love’s Kiss in the movie, and Stephanie just kind of melted.

Mom wasn’t looking, but Debbie certainly was. She gaped at Stephanie, and nudged Kimberly, but by the time she looked Brian and Stephanie were no longer lip-locked, although they were holding hands.

The movie had a perfectly happy ending, and it really put Stephanie in the mood to want to snuggle her boyfriend, but the lights came on and Mom started gathering everyone up. The girls all had to go to the ladies’ room again, but this time Mom came with them. Stephanie could tell that Debbie really wanted to ask her about Brian, but she knew not to talk in front of her mother.

It was crowded in the bathroom so they had to take turns using the same stall. Stephanie thought about how Brian had probably already been in and out of the men’s room while she was still waiting in line. At least there would be one positive thing about going back, when she had to.

When they were all done, Mom herded the girls out to where Brian was waiting, and then brought them all out to the front of the theater to wait for their parents. Instead of the traditional “goodie bags” that moms pass out to party guests, she gave each of them a coupon book from the cinema, with free movies and discounts on the snacks and stuff. All in all, it was a pretty good day.