Author's Note:Well the muse is still plugging right along, three chapters in a week... Wow, sometimes I impress myself... Actually that's not that hard to do LOL. Well your wait for the {dramatic music ensues} costume reveal is finally over. Thank you all so much for not only following along but also for your patience and my erratic posting, much love to you all. Hope you enjoy.~Rebecca

The next morning as we sat around the breakfast table, I told my parents what I had finally decided on what costume I had decided on. Mom was immediately ecstatic thinking that I was suddenly embracing my femininity, Dad though wasn’t quite as excited. He was mostly concerned that I was being pushed faster than I was ready. It took quite a bit of convincing him that this was entirely my decision, and even how Sam had specifically told me that she wouldn’t force me. When I told Mom about how Shelly was going to help me with my costume, you would have thought someone had shot her favorite pet. It took me a moment, but I realized she was only upset because I didn’t ask her to help me. Of course, I quickly told her that I’d like her to help too. She immediately jumped out of her chair and hugged me and quickly started listing off everything we needed to get done. I looked over at Dad and he just rolled his eyes at me as if to say, you’re on your own with this bud. Thankfully the doorbell rang a few minutes later and before I went to answer it, I quickly reminded them to keep quiet about this as it was supposed to be a surprise to Sam.

There really wasn’t a whole lot to say about practice that morning, other than I did pull Shelly off to the side before we started to tell her about my idea. She actually squealed loudly when I told her my idea which got everyone’s attention. I just groaned and had to calm her down and let her know that this was secret. With what I had seen so far, with Mom’s, and now Shelly’s excitement with this, I was seriously starting to reconsider what I had gotten myself into. Unfortunately, I had already made my mind up on doing this, and as stubborn as I was, I wasn’t going to back out now.

I did confess to Sam on the ride home from practice that Shelly was giving me a hand with my costume. That really piqued her interest, and I could see the wheels turning in her head why I had asked Shelly. I told her that every idea I had come up with was lame, and now it was only a week to go and I just didn’t have time to do it by myself. She just grinned and told me how much she was looking forward to the dance. I told her that I was too, but then when she explained how this was the first dance that she was going to as, well, her… It made it clear to me how much it meant to her, I silently promised myself that I would do whatever I could to make the night as good as I could for her. Since she had already said she would like to see how I could look dressed as a girl, it just strengthened my resolve to try and be the best girl I possibly could be, at least for the dance. I still couldn’t see me ever doing the ‘be a girl’ thing every day, but I could easily do one night. Especially for Sam.

Shelly dropped Sam off first and then drove to my house. Before I got out of the car, she told me to get cleaned up and to try to at wear something slightly more to the feminine side of androgynous. When I asked why she just told me we were going to be getting stuff for a girl’s costume and it would be a lot easier on me if I dressed more the part. I just sighed and agreed, and she’d be back in about an hour and a half to take me shopping. I just groaned and headed inside. I was starting to understand the saying, a penny in for a pound.
Mom became entirely too excited when I told her what we were going to be doing this afternoon and she also agreed with Shelly that I should dress more like a girl. She quickly herded me upstairs to the bathroom and handed me this gel to put on my legs to removed what little hair that was growing on them. I started to complain, and she fussed at me and told me I’d be trying on dresses and shoes and it would look suspicious if my legs weren’t smooth. After she left me in the bathroom waiting for this crap to do its thing on my legs, I was ready to scream. After a few calming breaths I thought about how long Mom had been gently nudging me trying to get me to accept my impending girlhood. She had never been forceful and until now I had been thankful for that. I sighed knowing how little time I had till the dance and everything I had to get done. She was excited for me because I did choose this step on my own, I just wasn’t prepared for what all would come with it.

Half an hour later I was finishing drying off in my bedroom and I had just slipped on my bra and panties when Mom walked in the door. That’s when I realized I had slipped on my thongs without thinking about it. I blushed and tried my best to cover up.

She came up to me and hugged me, “Baby you don’t have to feel ashamed. I promise you. Now hand me that towel so I can see my daughter okay?”

I groaned, “Mooooom… Please don’t…”

She gently shushed me, “Jordan I know, but please humor me okay? Just for today?”

I sighed, “Fine… I know you’ve been wanting me to do this ever since my boobs started coming in good… I’m just…”

She interrupted me, “I know Jordan. Trust me on this though. If you’re going to be trying on girl’s clothes it will be a lot less embarrassing if you looked like a girl.”

I pointed at myself and said, “Too late Mom, I already do.”

She sighed, “It takes more than that to be seen as a girl Jordan, you’re smart enough to know that. A tomboy wouldn’t have ever picked out the costume you’re trying for. It will be a lot less awkward if you acted the part even just a little.”

I leaned forward and bumped my forehead on my desk and sighed dramatically, “Okay… I’ll do my best okay… What did you have in mind?”

She smiled and then kind of frowned slightly and asked, “Please don’t be too mad at me okay?”

I glanced up at her and asked, “Why? What did you do?”

She gently leaned over and picked up a shopping bag that had been sitting unseen next to my bed. She said, “Over the last few weeks… I’d occasionally see something that I thought would look good on you if you ever…Just in case you ever were ready to give it a shot… I kind of hoped that you’d be at least ready to try some of it out today, after all you’re going to be in a dress and heels in seven days… I thought you could start getting used to it some… That way you wouldn’t feel so awkward at the dance… Look we’ll go a few towns over so nobody you know will see you, it’ll be okay. Please?”

I blurted out, “Wait… What? What do you mean we? Shelly was going to be taking me.”

She grinned timidly, “Umm. She kind of called when you were in the shower… I kind of told her that I wished I was going with you two… She thought it would be a great idea. Please? I’ll mostly behave.”

I groaned, “Oh God…” I tried to glare at her, but she was looking so hopeful and excited. I really didn’t want to disappoint her, so I sighed, “Okay fine… Whatever is in the bag, just do your worst…”

She almost bounced like she was ten years old or something, “Okay. You picked out some good underwear, so first thing is this.”

She then handed me a soft cotton shirt, I thought it wasn’t that bad until I put it on. I blurted out, “Mom this doesn’t even come to my belly button!”

She told me as she handed me the next item, “I know, it’s supposed to be like that. I’ve seen girls your age wearing things like this. I know it’s a bit bold but so are you. Now here put this on.”

I looked at the offending item and could tell it was a skirt. I wanted to throw it but then glanced at my reflection and paused. I’ve seen girls wearing a top like this before, I think it’s called a crop top. It actually didn’t look too bad on me, maybe even pretty good on me once I thought about it. I easily stepped into the skirt and pulled it up fastening the button and zipper behind me and looked back at my reflection. I softly muttered, “Oh wow!”

Mom sat there silently as she watched me twist and turn while staring at my reflection. I almost didn’t think that girl could possibly be me, even though logically I knew she was. I was admiring how the skater skirt and crop top hugged my curves when she spoke up, “What do you think?”

I blushed as I admitted, “It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be… I just can’t believe that it’s me… After everything that’s happened… Wow…”

She came up behind me and brushed my bangs with her fingers and looked at me through the mirror, “You’re beautiful you know that?” I didn’t say anything and after a moment she asked, “Are you okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah I think so… I was just thinking about… Hang on let me grab my phone…” I quickly reached over to my dresser and grabbed it, moments later I had it up and pulled up my photos. The many that I had taken to track my progress, I finally stopped at the first of the ones I had taken. The last month I had been so busy I hadn’t taken any new pictures documenting how much I had changed. Comparing that emaciated seventy-pound boy to the slightly curvy one hundred and twenty-five-pound girl I had just seen in the mirror caused me to feel slightly weak, so I sat down softly on my bed.

Mom looked concerned and asked, “What are you looking at?”

I held up the phone for her to see and said, “This… Dr. Byrnes told me it would be a good idea so when the changes started happening, I could compare them to this… He knew I wasn’t looking forward to this. I guess he thought that it would help accept the changes only because I’d remember how much worse off I had been.”

She gasped, “Wow… This was from six months ago?” I nodded. She stepped back and compared the picture and me sitting there. She told me, “I hadn’t realized how much… You know what I see though?” At my raised eyebrows she said, “Jordan this picture of you was still angry. Even though you knew you were going to survive you were so upset at what you thought you had lost…”

She wasn’t telling me anything I hadn’t already figured out on my own so all I could mutter was, “I know Mom. I really was pissed off.” I glanced down at what I was wearing and said with a lot of snark, “And look at me now.”

She frowned, “Jordan… Do you honestly want to know what I see?”

I sighed, “A pretty girl who used to be your son…”

She rolled her eyes at me, “Jordan, firstly I see my child, my beautiful child who I thought I was going to lose. You’ve been through so much but with everything you’ve gone through you haven’t let it change you. And before you make a smart-ass remark, I’m not talking physically. You’ve always stood up for your friends, you’ve always stood up for what was right. Even at times I want to beat you for the way you do it, that’s still a core part of who you are. You’ve always had such a strong and beautiful light about you… Even if it is feminine is it a bad thing that your outside is finally starting to reflect your inside?”

I couldn’t help but smile at her, “You know that’s pretty corny… But thanks…”

She laughed and came over and kissed me on the forehead and told me, “If it works then corny is totally okay.”

I laughed, “It did Mom… So, what’s next?” She grinned and held up a few things of makeup. I just groaned, “Fine… Let me guess… If I didn’t wear any it’d look suspicious…”

She just nodded, and it honestly wasn’t that bad. She only put some mascara on and this cherry flavored lip gloss that reminded me of a slightly slicker version of Chap-stick. It was when she came to shoes that she realized her mistake. She had gotten me dressed up and realized she hadn’t bought me any shoes to go with the outfit. She finally suggested maybe I should just put on my other clothes again, only problem was I knew how much she was looking forward to me going out like this. I took another look in the mirror and had an idea.

“This is called a skater skirt, right?”, I asked. At her raised eyebrows I blushed and admitted, “I’ve been hanging out with Sam and the girls a lot. I hear things occasionally… Do you have a pair of black leggings with all the stuff you’ve gotten?”

She looked at me curiously and said, “Yes I do have a pair that are like capris. What do you have in mind?”

I said, “I had an idea. Get them out.” I then dug into my closet and found an old pair of black chucks that looked well worn. Then I dug in my sock drawer to find a pair of bright blue socks mom had bought but I’d never worn. Finding my stash, I quickly slid up the leggings and worked the skirt back over them. Then I slid the socks on, and then my Chucks. I unlaced the upper few pairs of eyelets, so the uppers could flop over a bit. I then slid the socks down, so they bunched above my shoes.

Turning around I faced Mom and asked, “What do you think?”

She frowned at my choice of footwear and said, “I really don’t think those go with the outfit sweetie…”

I turned back around to look in the mirror and I actually sort of liked what I saw. Wearing the black crop top, white skater skirt with some sort of geometric designs, black capri leggings, and my Chucks with the bright blue socks I couldn’t help but smile. I tried a few poses and said, “I don’t know Mom… I kind of like it. If I do decide to end up going this route being a girl, can’t I figure out the kind of girl I’d want to be?”

She sighed, “Of course sweetie… I’d just never think to ever pair that all together.”

I scrunched up my face a bit and made a few more poses. I was standing there with my hip slightly cocked and my arms crossed in front of me when Shelly’s voice startled both of us, “Oh Damn, work it bitch!” Looking in the mirror I saw her turn her head and see Mom standing there in surprise and Shelly tried to apologize, “Mrs. Taylor I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there!”

Mom giggled and told her, “I was thinking the same thing but wasn’t going to actually say it?”

Shelly tried to stifle a small giggle then she spun back towards me and asked, “So what gives with the outfit?”

Mom told her, “Since we were going shopping, I thought I could get him to try out one of the outfits I’d bought, he fought a bit but decided to give it a shot. Then I remembered I hadn’t gotten any shoes… The leggings and footwear were all his idea… I’m trying to dissuade him…”

Shelly gave me a critical look, so I crossed my arms and cocked my hip again smirking. She then laughed, “I don’t know… I’m sorry for saying it this way, but that outfit just screams ‘Sassy Bitch’… It fits her… Him… I meant him! Sorry Jordan… You just look…”

I sighed, “Shell it’s okay… I know I look like a girl.”

She smirked, “Let me finish, First I was going to say hot… Second… That look actually works for you… I like it. It screams attitude, and Jordan you have that in excess.”

I glanced back towards Mom, who was giving me a raised eyebrow, and smirked, “So are we going to do this or are we going to stand around admiring my keen fashion sense?”

Shelly giggled, and Mom actually laughed hard enough to snort once. Then she glared at me for a quick second for making her laugh that hard, and then threw one of the pillows that were on my bed at me. Once they both recovered and quit harassing me over my remark about my fashion sense, they both argued about if I should carry a purse. Neither of them would take anything I had to say into consideration. Shelly won the argument saying that I probably wouldn’t utilize a purse, but one of the cutesy tiny backpacks would be right up my alley… So, I ended up with a tiny ass black leather backpack equipped with a tiny mirror, wallet, mascara and lip gloss. I really wasn’t surprised in the least that Mom had just been able to ‘scrounge’ all this up in under five minutes, that and everything she handed me was all brand new. I think they expected more a fight from me to carry the silly thing, but I’d already heard Sam and some of the other girls complain about lack of usable pockets with their clothing. This outfit didn’t even have a false pocket, so I knew the backpack was required to carry anything at all.

The first few steps out of the door I hesitated for a quick moment at the way I was dressed. I started rationalizing that technically I had been wearing mostly women’s clothes now for a few weeks, although the skirt and crop top was the hardest to rationalize. Thankfully with the leggings and my chucks I could almost convince myself that it was close enough to my normal attire. I had thought that this afternoon wouldn’t be too bad, after all I only needed a dress and shoes that would work for my costume, and then a run to the craft store for my accessories. I thought it wouldn’t take as long as it did. Unfortunately, the evening consisted of three shoe stores, four second hand stores, two consignment shops and two separate craft stores to get everything. With Shelly helping Mom I ended up with a lot more things than just my costume. Mom just kept telling me, it was for when I was ‘ready’.

That Sunday and the rest of the week when I wasn’t in school or at practice was spent getting the costume ready, and Mom’s lessons in girldom. Mom had gotten me a pair of heels that was a little taller than the ones for my costume and made me wear them around the house all week. She told me that it would make the dance that much easier for me with the slightly lower heels. Mom also made me learn how to do my makeup for the costume. She thought it would be better if I knew how so I could touch it up myself and not have to depend on Sam or one of the other girls to have to do it.

Throughout the week, even school had been going surprisingly well. With all the preparations for the upcoming dance, the teachers had been nice enough to not overload us with homework. Except a few of the jock’s, everyone had actually been really great with me and Sam. The guys that didn’t care for us at least just limited their disapproval with glares and looks, no one said or did anything to either of us, or at least where we could hear it. Life was surprisingly and eerily calm, at least if you could overlook the frenetic efforts to get ready for the dance.

Lyndsey and Brett had kept a tight lip on what they were going as, but I could tell that the closer we got to Saturday and the dance the more excited Brett got. Sam and I managed to keep our costumes secret as well, other than she had told me that I’d really like hers. I told her the same, but she was still pretty sure my idea was going to be just as lame as as my original idea of going as a professional athlete. I made sure that Shelly promised not to even hint to her or anyone else what it was. Thankfully she also kept her promise to also not let anyone else know about how I was dressed during our shopping trip.

The plan we had ended up making was for Shelly to help me get ready, and she’d also get ready at my house and then give me a ride to the school. Rachel would be picking up Sam and meeting us there. Of course, Lyndsey and Brett would be getting ready together and Lyndsey would drive them to the school. So that’s why Shelly was at my house just after eleven AM that Saturday morning…

The entire afternoon Mom and Shelly tag teamed me with my transformation. First thing they did was to attack my hair, they said was just to ‘shape’ it and removed the homeless look to it. Then it was my eyebrows, I’m surprised that I had anything left of my brows after they spent entirely too much time plucking. While Shelly was plucking hairs, Mom was filing away at my finger nails and gluing on these extension tips to them. I tried to complain they were too long, but mom just smirked and showed me where it said “sport length’ on the package… As if that made it okay, my disapproval still didn’t stop her though. Mom had just finished filling in the nails to make them smooth when Shelly started putting this foul-smelling stuff in my hair to lighten it, so it would match the little hairy blonde ball looking thing that was going to be clipped in when it was all to be finished. Mom had me stick my hands in this weird light contraption to cure my nails, while we waited for my hair to finish processing. I was then rushed into the shower to wash, shave, and condition my hair twice. I wasn’t even able to see my reflection when I got it of the shower from the steam, and I was rushed into my bedroom before I could clear the mirror, so I could see.

Once I dried off and put on my underwear, thongs and this weird strapless bra that had these rubber inserts in it. I was told so that would hold lift and squeeze everything into place. When I glanced down my boobs looked huge and they both laughed their asses off when I complained that I could lose things in my cleavage. Shelly then blow dried my hair and Mom started painting my nails a frosty pink color, she even started painting my toes although I complained they wouldn’t be seen with my shoes. She just smiled and cryptically told me that I’d know and continued on. Shelly then started gluing on the ear pieces to give me pointed elf like ears. Once she was done, she begged and pleaded for me to let her pierce my ears. She had brought her starter set of earrings over in case, and was trying to convince me that it would totally complete the look. I sighed acceptance, or maybe it was defeat. Right now, I didn’t know if there was a difference. Besides I could always let them close up after tonight.

Once that was done Shelly left to start getting ready in the bathroom and Mom started on my makeup while my nails were drying. I looked at the clock and realized that not counting the breaks we had taken, we had been at this for almost five hours. I just groaned as dramatically as I could and complained how long it was taking, much to Mom’s amusement. Once she finished with my face, she checked my nails and declared that it was time to get the rest of my costume on. First, I had to put on the pantyhose, which Mom had to help me with to keep me from ripping them with my ‘new’ nails. Then Mom pulled the dress out of the garment bag that Shelly had brought. When we found it at one of the second-hand places it had two shoulder straps that held it up, and when I tried it on it almost drug the ground. I found it hard to believe that this was the same dress we had bought. Even with all the fittings I’ve had over the last week I didn’t imagine that it would look so different. Originally it had fit me pretty snug across my chest and hips but was loose around my waist. Shelly’s mother did the alterations for me, thanks to Shelly asking her. She was almost as excited as Shelly and my mother was about project fairyfy me. It’s funny how all this originally had been my idea, but I had ended up with next to no say so in how we went about it.

Mom was zipping me into the dress when Shelly came back into my bedroom decked out in the dress she was wearing. I was in awe, I had never seen her in a dress or even makeup before and she was gorgeous. She was going as a princess from this old movie her and Rachel loved, while Rachel was going as the swashbuckling pirate love interest. I almost laughed, as uncomfortable as I felt in my dress Shelly looked far more uncomfortable than I did. Of course, with her being a lot more butch than Rachel, I don’t know how long its been since she’s had to wear a dress. Butch probably wasn’t the right word, I mean Shelly had long hair and was definitely a girl and acted like one. She just never really wore makeup and always wore jeans and stuff like that. Realizing how she felt actually helped me feel a lot better about my situation. At least I wasn’t alone in this.

Shelly exclaimed, “Holy crap Jordan! You look amazing!”

I blushed, “Shelly… Thanks… I doubt I look anywhere near as good as you… You are beautiful… I never thought I’d see you all dressed up like this.”

She rolled her eyes, “This is entirely for Rachel… She’s always the one that takes the effort to dress up… When she asked me to do this… I sort of felt like I owed it to her.” She glanced over at where the sheet still covered the mirror and said, “Oh wait! You haven’t seen yourself yet have you?”

I shook my head, “Duh?!? You two wouldn’t let me see until you were finished… Seriously though, how ridiculous do I look in all this?”

Mom told me, “Not ridiculous at all… Shelly put on his wings okay, so he’ll get the full effect.”

Shelly nodded and then grinned, “Yes Ma’am, good idea. I kind of want to see how they turned out too.”

I muttered, “Just get on with it okay?”

Mom had helped me create the required wings, and Shelly’s mom had made some sort of reinforcement on the back of the dress, so they could be mounted without some obvious harness that would be visible and ruin the effect. I fidgeted a bit while they were securing them and then Mom directed Shelly to stand next to me while she did the unveiling.

Mom started to do her Vanna White impersonation before pulling the sheet off the mirror and I groaned, “Will you just hurry up and…” She then whipped the sheet away from the mirror.

I had been expecting an over the top caricature of the animated version of my character, which was not what I had been aiming for. Other than the blonde hair, that was my only likeness to that image. The rest of what I saw though. It took several long moments to register that it was actually me in the reflection. From the top down, I saw the blonde hair pulled into a bun, but it all wasn’t pulled in neatly. I had a lot of wisps of hair falling down around my face and neck and gave a much better impression of a wild untamed fairy like I had imagined from the novel. Mom had used the makeup to make my cheekbones stand out and had used a mix of greens and blues around my eyes that made my blue eyes stand out like sapphires. The light pinkish red lipstick almost matched the color of my nails, and my mouth was frozen in a look of surprise.

I then glanced down at the green dress and how it had been modified to fit me. Shelly’s mom had removed one of the straps and the dress was held up by the one strap over my right shoulder, and also how it hugged my every curve from my breasts all the way to my hips. It was a satiny like materiel, but Shelly had treated it with some sort of glitter spray and the dress shimmered as I moved in it. I also tried to not notice, but failed, how the dress showed my cleavage but not bad enough for me to get kicked out of the dance. I hope not at least.The wings I had made from wire but covered in a cheesecloth materiel that was also treated with the glitter spray. She also had removed most of the length but had hemmed it where it went from my left knee to just below my right hip diagonally. It was also hemmed to look almost like a leaf, and then my shapely legs encased in the opalescent hose all the way to the silvery sparkly strappy three-inch heels. I looked almost exactly how I had always imagined she would had she ever jumped directly out of the book.

I don’t know how much time had passed, as I was so entranced by my reflection. Shelly finally snapped me out of it when she asked, “Jordan are you okay?”

I blinked and looked at her, “Huh?”

She laughed and repeated, “I asked if you were okay? You looked like you were in a daze… Is this too much?”

I shook my head gently, “No… It’s just… I never imagined that I could ever look like this… Do you think Sam will think it’s okay?”

Shelly laughed, “Jordan, you are beyond gorgeous. Sam will be blown away.”

I giggled, “I hope so… You know Rachel will be the same with you, you know that, don’t you?”

She waggled her eyebrows and said, “That’s what I’m counting on. So, you ready to blow some minds?”

I nodded and smirked, “You betcha!”

Mom blurted out, “But first things first! Let’s go downstairs for pictures!”

 
 
To be continued.