"Not bad make-up but I think I need to touch up your eye-liner, have a seat and let me finish you off," she replied," and you need to pull the zip of the top down a bit."       "But I feel so exposed like this, Taran," I said after my sister had revealed a little of my boobs," do I have to?"       "It's a precaution, I explained yesterday," she replied," in case we meet any of my friends from school today who knows you as a boy." The Price To Pay - Vol. 2.10 - Make Up! by Alys

I applied a last layer of lipgloss and then studied my makeup in the desk mirror. I hoped my sister would be satisfied with my latest attempt. She had insisted on a casual style for our trip.

"You almost ready Celyn?" Taran called from her adjacent room.

"Yep, be there in a minute or two," I yelled back as I took one glance in the mirror quickly deciding that my face looked as good as I could make it. I found putting on make up to be such a chore. I hoped when I went full-time next year I would be able to avoid wearing it too often.

I got up from my chair in front of the desk, slipping off my thin dressing gown and hanging it up in my wardrobe. I took out the plain white sloggi bra and pants set and was about to put them on when my sister, as if reading my mind shouted out," Celyn, remember to wear your matching push up!"

I smiled wryly at the demise of my plan of being ready at the last minute and avoiding having to wear the sexy underwear. I took out the pale blue bra and panties and put them on, taking a little time to get the padding as comfortable as possible.

Then I walked over to my bed and put on my blue Nike short-sleeved hoodie and matching skirt, followed by my socks and trainers. I really liked the feel of the soft terry material and the the sporty look of the outfit. I had been a little apprehensive about not wearing a t-shirt underneath the top but had been persuaded by my sister's insistence on us wearing similar clothes, even if her preferred colour was, surprisingly, pink.

"What do you think?" I asked Taran as I walked into her room a few seconds later.

"Not bad make-up but I think I need to touch up your eye-liner, have a seat and let me finish you off," she replied," and you need to pull the zip of the top down a bit."

"But I feel so exposed like this, Taran," I said after my sister had revealed a little of my boobs," do I have to?"

"It's a precaution, I explained yesterday," she replied," in case we meet any of my friends from school today who knows you as a boy."

"Why should we meet them? I thought you said you weren't going to meet your friends to celebrate until tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah but maybe some of them will get down to the bay early and we may bump into them, but that's not likely for a few hours because in case you hadn't noticed it's morning now. EARLY MORNING, Celyn. I don't know how you persuaded me to get up at eight o'clock the day after finishing my A'levels*," she complained good heartedly as she finished the final adjustments to my make-up.

"Cos you love me?" I suggested.

"Nope don't think that's it, sis," she responded.

"You don't want me to be in danger when I meet Mr or Ms Stalker?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied," but on the other hand with you out of the way I get more attention at home."

"You'd get so many more chores though," was my riposte as I stood up, looked in my sister's full length mirror and studied the change in my appearance after my sister's expert improvements," come on, spill, what's your real reason for coming with me this morning then?"

"Mum made me an offer I couldn't refuse to take you, on what she thinks is our shopping trip," Taran replied as she stood behind me giving my hair a final brush.

"What?"

She moved closer and whispered in my right ear," a hundred quid today and a lift home tonight."

I poked my tongue out at her in the mirror and then went back to my room to collect my things.

I stood for a moment, in hesitation, looking at my little pink phone and my little girly shoulder bag. It was really going to make everything about me shout 'girl' today. "In for a penny......," I muttered to myself and quickly picked up my accessories for the day.

"That looks nice," commented my Mother as Taran and I walked towards the car a few minutes later," you could almost be two sisters with those matching outfits"

We both stopped in our tracks and Taran gave our Mother a strange look before responding," Mum, we are sisters NOW!"

"Oh yes, of course, sorry," she responded in a fluster," come on then or I won't find anywhere to park in Caerdydd."

Almost an hour later, after a slow crawl into the city, we were jumping out of the car as Mum pulled briefly into a bus-stop opposite the Millennium centre in the bay area.

"Meet you here in three hours girls," she yelled before pulling out just in time to avoid the ire of a bus-driver wanting to drop off his passengers.

We crossed the road and walked towards the piazza outside the dramatic looking centre for arts and opera.

"Well Taran," I said after we had stopped by the central fountain and touched the shining metal surface that the water was running down, " what do we do for two hours until I meet my fan?"

"Dunno, there's not many good shops here and we don't have enough time to get up to the city centre and back," she replied.

"I suppose we could just wander round a bit," I suggested.

"Yeah, what time did you say you were meeting again?" Taran asked.

"Eleven thirty." I answered.

"Which café?" She asked.

"The middle one, we should be in time for the lunchtime music, you know the recital," I replied.

"OK, why don't we wander down to the Norwegian church and have a look at the exhibition there," she suggested," and I know I can show you the strangest restaurant in the whole area."

"What's so unusual about it," I asked.

"You'll see," she responded mysteriously, before turning away and walking in the direction of the National Assembly and the path that led to the Scandinavian arts centre.

It was already a warm day and I was glad my skirt and top were made of fairly thin material. At the same time there were the unfamiliar feelings as I walked. The stretch of my skirt against my thighs and the slight tug of my bra straps, at every stride, were constant reminders of the change in gender I would one day have to embrace on a continuous basis.

I looked around at the well populated concourse of fellow Saturday morning visitors to the premiere bay leisure development in South Wales. Hundreds of people of all shapes, sizes, ages and nationalities milled around. Suddenly I thought I recognised a face. I stopped and grabbed Taran's arm.

"Look sis," I said, urgently.

"What?" she responded trying to make up what had caught my attention.

I pointed towards a small group of people gathered around a smaller group who appeared to be filming something.

"Over there, near the tunnel, can you see?" I said.

"What, oh yes, that crowd, what is it?" she asked.

"Do you know who I think it is?" I said.

"It's not is it?" she responded.

"I think it might be." I said," let's go and see."

We walked quickly over to join the audience, about a hundred metres away. As we neared we noticed that there was a small circle of crash barriers around the film crew.

"Oh, yes it is him and her too," exclaimed Taran.

"Yes and doesn't he look even more cool in real life," I said, as we stood and watched John and Eve from Torchwood** TV serial going through a scene.

"Yep," said Taran," and I bet there's lots of girls who were disappointed when he got married to his boyfriend."

I nodded my head in assent and then there was a call for everyone to be quiet as the short scene was acted out and filmed.

We watched in rapt attention for quite a while as the filming was repeated a number of times and then the crew packed up while the stars signed autographs for their fans.

I turned away to resume our stroll towards the Norwegian church and was a little surprised when Taran touched me on the shoulder and gestured me to wait.

"One minute Celyn, I want to see if I can get Eve to sign this," she said before taking out her address book and making her way towards where the two actors were standing.

I stood and watched with interest as my sister edged forward to meet her heroine. Luckily for her most of the attention from the crowd was towards John Barrowman and so she succeeded in accomplishing her mission quickly.

"Look Celyn," she said, holding out the page. I looked at the greeting.

'Dymuniadau gorau i Taran oddi wrth Eve xx' ***

"That's sweet," I commented," I didn't know you were such a fan."

"Oh yes, I think she is so h..........nice," my sister responded with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes.

An hour later we were making our way back towards the Millennium Centre. It was only a few minutes before our allotted meeting time and I was feeling very nervous. I was also feeling a little tired after walking around for almost two hours in my brand new girly trainers. I was beginning to really want to revert back to boy mode and my well worn, comfortable casual clothes.

The strange cafe had turned out to be a small trawler, permanently moored by a dock and now taken over by an evangelical church group for their services, a book shop and a small cafe which had tables and chairs bolted to the steeply sloping deck. The various little posters about fishing and Christianity had seemed pretty lame to my atheist sensibilities but the ice-cold strawberry milkshake had been worth suffering the gentle proselytising.

I felt my phone rumble inside my bag. I flicked it open. I looked at the message and my stomach churned as I recognised the number.

'hi celyn be there in 10'

'ok' I replied

"Is it stalker?" asked Taran.

I nodded, we hurried on in silence.

The string quartet were just starting up their recital as we took separate seats a little away from each other in the agreed meeting place.

As the pleasant, peaceful strains of Mozart's String Quartet No. 1 echoed around the concourse of the centre my mind wandered a bit. My sister showing an interest in Eve Myles was quite a surprise. Although she didn't have a boyfriend at the moment, she had been out with a number of different boys since she had been in the sixth form. I wondered if it meant anything.

A sudden movement to my left caught my attention.

I looked up to see Taran holding her hand to her mouth in astonishment as she looked over my shoulder.

"Hello Celyn, I'm glad you came," said an all too familiar voice.

I turned round to see the face of my stalker.

* Advanced Levels - academic exams at around 18
**UK TV Sci Fi series set in Cardiff www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood
*** Best wishes to Taran from Eve