The Blossoming of Ciri

Chapter 5- The Shopping Spree

“Hi my full name is Alex Damion Marteau and I’m. Well currently I’am 18 but in this story I will be telling you about when my life got turned upside down and changed both me and my family forever...” Chapter 5...

***

“What the fuck?! How the hell do I look this good?” I asked with astonishment.

“Genetics little sis. And my awesome makeup skills of course...” Allison said proudly.

“Wow I look almost like Mom, but like a really young Mom. Freaky...” I said, completely shocked at the resemblance.

“OMG! You could almost be twins you two!” Amber said while looking back and forth between me and Allison.

“Yeah. Wow! We really do look similar! It’s almost uncanny. The only real differences are the eyes which are green like Mom’s, her freckles are in different places, Ciri has a slightly smaller nose and she has slightly darker brown hair. While I have brown eyes and I have blonde highlights in my hair. Other than that we look like we could be twins, well in the face at least. My body is obviously more developed than her’s.” Allison said while studying both of our faces in the mirror.

“And wow! Do you look cute! That outfit is amazing!” Amber exclaimed happily.

“...Thanks.” I said, blushing.

“Yeah it is! That’s why you are totally wearing that outfit tomorrow when we all go shopping!” Allison declared.

***

“Wait wha...” I said bewildered.

“Oh yeah she totally should!” Amber blared out with excitement.

“Uh,uh. No way in hell am I wearing this tomorrow!” I shouted adamantly.

“Um yeah you are!” Allison bounced back at me before taking on a serious tone. “I know it might feel like we are making you go through all of this on overdrive. And that you want to slow down, and take things at your own pace, but. Honestly? We don’t have time for that. You will need to go back to school in a weeks time, and if you want to definitely make sure that no one knows who you are, or more accurately, who you used to be. We need to get you acting, looking and preferably thinking like a girl as soon as possible. So like it or not you are wearing this outfit! Or would you prefer a dress instead?” Allison finished with a smirk on her face.

“...Okay. I’ll wear this...” I answered meekly, silently seething angrily at the truth that Allison just revealed.

“Hey at least she let you have pants. If it was up to me to choose, I probably would have given you a dress. Or something with a skirt.” Amber said honestly.

“Plus I saw how you were earlier. Wearing all of that black clothing on a day like today? I’m surprised that you didn’t burst into flames! And tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.” Allison added.

“Fine. Fine. I already said I would okay? Now can I get changed please?” I asked angrily, starting to get annoyed and increasingly anxious at what I was wearing.

“Okay... jeez. Here!” Allison said frustratedly while chucking me a pair of leggings and a workout top that she seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

“Really?” I asked with slight distain in my voice as I looked down at the very feminine clothing that she handed me.

“Just put it on and stop fucking fussing already!” Allison snapped at me, starting to get really annoyed herself.

“Woah! Woah! Everyone calm down!” Amber said suddenly while stepping between me and Allison and blocking both of us with her arms.

Me and Allison both suddenly realised what we were doing and we both stepped away from each other. As I stepped back I noticed just how tense I was and a moment ago I felt like ripping someone’s, preferably Allison’s, head off. What the hell is going on with me? I could see that Allison had a similar thought by looking at her face but she didn’t look surprised.

“Oh My God! I’m so sorry!” I said with tears welling up as I pushed past Amber and gave Allison a huge hug.

“I’m sorry too. I really shouldn’t have snapped like that.” Allison said as she returned the hug.

We both stood there for a minute in each other’s embrace, with silent tears running down both of our faces.

“I’m sorry if I was pushing you too hard.” Allison started. “If you want to wear trackies or something I won’t stop you.” She finished while taking a step back.

“No, no. It’s fine I don’t mind. I don’t know what came over me, I just felt so angry all of a sudden. And all of my frustration from this whole past week had just fuelled that anger.” I said as I wiped my eyes, confused at what just happened.

“Okay... Yep. It’s official. You two are definitely on your periods.” Amber said as she looked back and forth between me and Allison completely dumbstruck before continuing.

“That was probably one of the weirdest period reactions I have ever seen before. And I know a girl who usually cries almost nonstop at the most stupid things, like the shape of a random rock that somehow looks like a dead puppy or something when she is on her period. And then there is this other girl I know who likes to continuously eats a fuck ton of ice cream and drinks lemon juice when it’s her time of the month. As for you guys? You went from being perfectly fine to suddenly wanting to tear each other apart to then hugging and bawling your eyes out in a matter of moments.” Amber said stupefied.

“Okay. We’re weird but not that weird! The other two though? Yeah no arguments from me.” Allison said while drying her eyes.

“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on every time I’m on my period?” I asked worriedly.

“Probably.” Amber answered.

“Great...” I said as I took off my top.

“It’s not that bad. You will get used to it over time.” Allison said with a shrug.

“I hope so...” I said as I continued to get undressed.

I pulled my jeans down and placed both the crop top and the jeans on top of a nearby chair. I then pulled on the workout top which felt really soft and cool. I then put the leggings on and pulled them up... wow these things are comfortable! Holy shit. I am totally going to be wearing leggings a lot from now on.

“Ok I don’t know why I was complaining a minute ago. These leggings are super comfy, honestly I wish you got me to wear these sooner.” I said happily as I adjusted my bra.

“Well I’m glad that you like them. Now you know why I wear them all of the time! I will make sure to add several pairs of leggings to the list for when we go shopping tomorrow.” Allison said while pulling me back in for another hug.

After me and Allison had completely calmed down from our sudden... moment. I decided to put my new underwear away. I opened my pants draw and picked up all of my old boxers and chucked them across my room to the door. I’m pretty sure I won’t need those anymore. I then proceeded to put the bra’s and panties in the same draw for now. While I closed my drawer I suddenly decided that I should do a little clean out of my wardrobe while I’m at it. Amber and Allison must have picked up on what I was going to do as they followed me into my massive walk in wardrobe, both me and Allison both have one which I forgot to mention earlier.

Next thing you know, we were all pulling clothes off racks, hangers and out of drawers and chucking them out of the wardrobe. We debated on some items and others we just chucked like it was obvious that it wouldn’t work. In the end we ended up chucking out about 90% of my jeans/trousers, except for the few girly jeans that I already had due to Amber sneakily buying them and placing them in my wardrobe. Honestly in the past I was completely oblivious when I wore them but now I can obviously see that all the jeans she got me were in fact tailored for girls.

As for my t-shirts, what happened to them was completely the opposite of the jeans/trousers. We kept almost all of them except for a few that were outgrown or ‘way too boyish’ like Amber would say. Same with my hoodies, kept most of them except the ones that were too small or wouldn’t work. I had next to no hats, as I’m definitely not a hat guy... or girl I guess now. So the, like two hats I had, we kept for ‘just in case’. I had only five pairs of shoes currently, which both Amber and Allison said would definitely change as of tomorrow. We only chucked out the one pair of shoes, they were a pair of semi-fancy dress shoes that I only worn once before, to a wedding a year ago and haven’t touched since. The rest of my shoes were a couple pairs of vans and a couple of trainers that I wore when working out.

When we were finished with everything I looked outside of my, now significantly more empty, wardrobe at the massive amount of clothes that were now piled by the door. Satisfied with our work we pulled some spare boxes from out of the attic and filled them with my old boy clothes. Except for my old undies, we chucked those away obvs. Once we were finished we labeled them as Alex’s old clothes and shoved them into the old clothes section of the attic.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Me, Allison and Amber all hung out in the massive sitting room, they ‘forced’ me to watch a few chick flicks with them to help with acting and thinking like a girl, and corrected me on certain things like fiddling with my hair properly, (which I didn’t even know was a thing), sitting like a girl, which I already was doing most of the time anyway. And finally using the correct gestures and expressions etc. I really enjoyed the movies, when I wasn’t practicing to act like a girl that is. I have always been into romance stories so they didn’t technically ‘force’ me to watch them.

After dinner, which Amber stayed for, I bid farewell to Amber as she needed to get home, and not too long afterwards I went to bed as well, because I was bushed. As I was getting ready for bed I thought about dinner, it was a really good supper, we had my Mom’s homemade cottage pie with peas and carrots. Mom and Dad both noticed that I was wearing obviously female clothes but neither of them cared about that. I’m really lucky to have parents who are really open and accepting. They are both big supporters of the LGBTQ community, unlike some others in our neighbourhood like the Donovan’s.

Ugh, the Donovan’s... they are horrible people, they’re the stereotypically rich white bad guy trash that always pop up in stories like mine. There is always this one person or family that are the bane of everyone’s lives and the Donovan’s are no exception. Like us they are rich, but unlike us they flaunt it around like they are better than everyone else. They are very openly racist homophobic bible-thumpers who hate anyone who isn’t white, Christian, rich and ‘normal’.

I once saw a black kid who was just casually walking past their house, when suddenly both Mr and Mrs Donovan burst out of their house screaming at him claiming that he walked on their lawn when really he was nowhere near it. They then proceeded to belittle him and call him such offensive racist names that I dare not repeat them. They then started to rip into him because he happened to be wearing a pink hoodie, calling him all sorts of things like “faggot” and I think I heard “twinkie sissy fuck slut” in there as well. Then they proceeded to shove the word of God down his throat declaring that since he was going to hell anyway that he should do the world a favour and kill himself so that at least there was one less of his ‘kind’ in the world.

That was when my Dad intervened and got into a massive verbal fight with them. It finally ended when my Dad threatened to call the cops on them for disturbance charges and other things. He then proceeded to invite the kid back to our house while he went to go talk to his parents about what happened. I learned that the kid was called Jeramy and that he and his parents moved in a week ago a few houses down. Although after the incident they moved away a few days later, I heard that they tried to sue the Donovan’s, but even with my Dad as a witness the Donovan’s somehow won. My parents think that they paid off the judge but couldn’t prove it.

While Mr and Mrs Donovan are horrible people their children are another story. They have three kids, the eldest who is a 18 year old girl called Cindy is not very different from her parents, she is a completely spoiled bratty bitch who is just as bigoted, racist and homophobic as her parents. Then there is Jake Donovan who is the same age as Allison, 16, he is actually a relatively nice guy, a bit full of himself but is still 100% times better than his parents and older sister. Word around school is that all of the girls find him very attractive. And then finally there is Abigail, she is considered the black sheep of the family, she is the same age as me and is also a very quiet person and quite the outcast like me. We both have a few of the same classes and although she is a really nice person and we talk to each other occasionally, we never got past the friendly acquaintance stage, she tended to prefer staying in the corner and keeping to herself most of the time. I always felt really bad for her because she was always bullied by the rest of her family. Anyway I digress, I’m starting to get carried away again, back to the story.

As I was saying my parents are big supporters of the LGBTQ community so they are like super cool with everything and everyone, except bigots like the Donovan’s of course... as I finished getting dressed into my pj’s I continued to think about dinner. The strangest thing happened during dinner, this was the first time that the twins have seen me since the accident. Mom and Dad didn’t really tell them what happened other than I was in the hospital but I was alright, so when we all sat at the table Jasmine and Jack just ate like they usually did until Jasmine saw what I was wearing. She had a really confused look on her face, but instead of saying anything she shrugged and smiled at me happily before continuing to eat, Jack didn’t notice anything about me until after dinner when we all left the table but he too didn’t say anything.

There is something you should know about the twins, they are very curious and inquisitive kids and ask about things like clothing trends, why people do the things that they do, how the world works, and pretty much every other subject under the sun, all of the time. Once they even asked our Dad to explain quantum physics to them, which left all of us gobsmacked, as we were surprised that a couple of six year olds could even know what quantum physics are. So for them to notice me but say nothing was really freaking me out.

As I lay in bed pondering this I suddenly realised that I really needed the bathroom. So I quickly jumped out of bed and ran to the toilet and proceeded to take my bandages off. After I had finished doing my business I washed my hands and then put another pad and a pair of panties and went back to bed, I fell asleep quickly after that.

***

“Ciri...”

...zzz...

“Ciri?..”

...mmmhh...

“Ciri!”

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” I screamed out loud. I looked up angrily at Allison who had given up trying to wake me up gently and had decided instead to jump on top of me.

“Oh good you’re awake.” Allison laughed. She had a big smirk on her face.

“Allison! You know I hate it when you do that!” I shouted as I hit her with a pillow repeatedly.

“Okay! Okay! I will get off!” She laughed as she semi-blocked my attempts to smack her with my pillow.

“Why can’t you ever just, gently shake me awake, like a normal person would?” I asked with a sigh.

“Because it’s not as fun! Obviously.” She laughed before continuing. “By the way, that was a really nice, loud girly scream that you just let out a moment ago!” She continued to laugh. She stopped suddenly though, as I had thrown my pillow in her face.

“Ha! Serves you right!” I said as I started to giggle as well.

“Okay! Okay! I did kind of deserve that. But seriously, get a move on now. We need to leave in just over an hour.” She said as she started to back up out of my room and into the bathroom.

“Fine. I’m going.” I replied.

After Allison entered her room, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my towel and quickly ran into the bathroom. I then hopped into the shower and quickly washed my hair, then followed by conditioning it and letting the conditioner soak in for a bit, while I washed the rest of my body. After that, I rinsed my hair off and jumped back out of the shower, wrapped the towel around my waist and started back towards my room. But just before I opened the door to the hallway part of the bathroom I remembered that I was a girl now, so I re-wrapped my towel around my chest. Satisfied, I got back to my room and quickly got dressed into the outfit that Allison gave me yesterday.

After I was completely dressed I grabbed my white vans and put them by my door so that I can put them on when we’re ready to go. Then suddenly my bathroom door opened and Allison walked through. She then walked over to me and grabbed me by the hand and dragged me into the bathroom with her. She then proceeded to do my hair and makeup while showing me how to do it so that I could fix up my look if I needed to. After that I plopped on my shoes and Allison practically marched me downstairs.

We had a very quick breakfast, like inhaled our cereal, and ran out of the door. Amber just jogged up to us and gave us all a quick hug before we all jumped into the family car and then we were off.

Next thing you know and we’re at the mall... yay... this was going to be a long day. Allison and Amber burst out of the car at a million miles per hour as they dragged me along with them, (imagine it like those cartoons that have a character just in the middle of the air as they are being dragged along by whatever’s pulling them.) Mom had to run to catch up as we were now at the mall entrance. So we waited for her before we entered.

“Ok it’s now 8:30 am. That means that it has been half an hour since the mall has opened. So unfortunately that means we only have fifteen and a half hours to do everything.” Allison said slightly sadly.

“Unfortunately?!?” I asked shocked.

“Yeah well considering how much we need to get done today, I hope that it all gets done in time.” Allison explained.

“Ugh! Can we at least get lunch this time? Last time we had a shopping spree you guys didn’t stop ALL DAY!” I pleaded.

“Oh yeah. Don’t worry, we will make sure to get lunch. The only reason we didn’t last time was because we had a massive birthday dinner when we got back.” Allison said reassuringly.

“Okay girls let’s get our shopping faces on! And get, READY, TO, SPREE!!!” Amber shouted out dramatically.

“Really?” I asked.

“Sorry...” Amber mumbled meekly.

“Anyway. Let’s go.” Mom said as she started to walk into the mall.

After we all got into the mall Allison pulled out her phone and went through the list that she made for me. Our first stop would be non other than Victoria’s Secret, honestly we didn’t particularly need any more bras for me as we had a fuck ton of old ones at home, but we did still need panties so we got like a couple dozen. While we were there we also went to their sport section and bought like 10 pairs of leggings, a few of their hoodies, several million variations of crop tops, a few more leggings and finally several bikinis. We made a quick pit stop where we got several sleepwear items, (mainly pj’s), and to my great discomfort a couple of babydoll nighties, for “in case I bring someone special home...” (edit puking noise into here)

After we finally checked out of VS we headed to... you guessed it Forever 21... typical. That whole shop was just a complete blur of clothes. I tried on, I have no idea how many clothes. There were shirts, blouses, crop tops, tank tops, jackets, jeans, other various trousers, skirts, dresses, shorts, shoes, the list just goes on and on. We ended up carrying massive piles of clothes to the counter, I saw a girl about our age just gawk at us as we carried them. She looked ‘slightly’ jealous.

As soon as Forever 21 was over we hit Vans next, this was one of my favourite shops that we went into that day. Although we weren’t in there very long, as soon as my feet were measured, turns out I’m a woman’s size 6 in shoes, we picked out several pairs, bought them, and left. We then headed to Superdry, another of one of my favourite stores, we stayed in there for quite a while.

We bought several hoodies, jackets, a couple coats, several shirts, some sporty shirts, more leggings, (what can I say? I really love leggings now), some... dresses? I didn’t even know that Superdry did dresses before now. We also got a few pairs of sporty shorts and several tracky bottoms.

After that we hit Macy’s and got pretty much a bit of everything again. By the time we left Macy’s though we had so many bags that we could barely walk anymore so we decided to take what we have so far back to the car. It was a struggle but we managed to get back and put everything in the car. I personally wanted to leave then and there but knowing Allison, Amber and even Mom, we were nowhere near finished. Fortunately though we did take a break, considering how it was lunch now.

“Wait it’s already one?” I asked as I munched on my cheeseburger.

“Yeah. I guess time flies when you’re having fun right?” Amber asked laughing.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this. But honestly? So far I’m really enjoying this, I never realised trying on cute outfits would be so fun.” I admitted.

“See? I said it before and I will say it again. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!” Amber said with a knowing and satisfied look on her face.

“Anyway what’s next on your infinite shopping list?” I asked Allison.

“Let’s see...” Allison said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket before continuing. “Ah! Of course. We have an appointment booked in for you in 20 mins at John and Prudence.” She finished happily.

“Wait why are we going to the salon?” I asked curiously.

“Girl! To get your hair done, duh!” Allison said as she stared at me like I was an idiot.

“What why?” I asked defensively. I was very protective of my hair.

“Well while your hair is really lovely, it could look a ton better with just a little tidy up and a bit of styling. Plus you have quite a few split-ends. Amber explained.

“No I do not!” I shouted, outraged at her comment as I I took a handful of my hair and examined it closely. “Oh... Okay. Maybe I do have a few...” I admitted after closer inspection.

“Plus a feminine hairstyle will totally sell you completely as a girl.” Allison added.

“They’re right sweetheart.” Mom jumped in.

“Okay. I guess a touch up couldn’t hurt.” I said, giving in.

“Great! While we’re at it we can get your ears pierced too.” Allison said excitedly.

“Okay.” I said nonchalantly.

“Wait really? I was expecting more resistance with that suggestion.” Allison said surprised.

“Well honestly 99% of girls I know have their ears pierced, so it would look slightly off if I didn’t have them pierced. Plus I always toyed with the idea of having piercings.” I explained.

“Well in that case we should get your tongue pierced as well. That would definitely make you come across as a girl.” Allison said while just managing to keep a straight face.

“Um okay?” I said unsure.

“Yeah...” Amber said as she stifled a giggle before continuing. “If you got a tongue piercing it would totally help you pass as a girl. Plus if you ever got a boyfriend you would be able to give amazing blowjobs.” She finished while barely containing her laughter.

“What? Eww no.” I said disgusted.

“Or a girlfriend.” Allison butted in. “I bet it would feel great to get licked by a tongue with a piercing.” She finished, almost bursting at the seams.

“Well I... Hmm. I guess if you think it will help, I guess I could get one.” I said still a bit unsure.

“Okay girls. That’s enough. Stop messing with her.” Mom interceded.

Both Allison and Amber both burst out laughing while I just sat there confused.

“Sorry, sorry! It was just too difficult to resist. The best part was that we practically managed to convince you!” Allison laughed out.

“Wow Cirilla, you are so gullible sometimes!” Amber said still laughing.

“I don’t understand.” I said visibly confused.

“We were just messing with you!” Amber said still laughing.

“Yeah don’t worry we weren’t really going to make you get a tongue piercing. It was just a little prank to see if you would say yes to our every suggestion.” Allison explained with a giggle.

“Wait how long have you been doing that?” I asked shocked.

“Not long, me and Allison made a bet earlier to see how many piercings we could make you get. I betted that we would be able to convince you to get your ears, and navel pierced. While Allison betted that we could get your tongue pierced as well. It seems we both lost, but I don’t care.” Amber explained enthusiastically.

“Yeah. We weren’t originally going to make you get your ears pierced, but you made a good argument about all the girls your age already having their ears pierced, so why not?” Allison added.

“Oh. Okay. Well I guess you’ve had your fun then! I will admit if it was someone else who was going through this and not me, I probably would have tried to prank them at least once as well.” I reasoned.

“Yeah exactly! See this is one of the reasons why we’re friends. We can throw banter and pranks around and still be besties.” Amber said happily.

“Just know that I will be getting both of you back... and you will never see me coming...” I said menacingly.

“Uh oh. You girls better watch out, you’ve woken the beast now!” Mom said jokingly.

“Yeah maybe we shouldn’t have done that...” Allison said, suddenly regretting her little joke now.

“In any case. You wouldn’t have been able to get those other piercings anyway, your school does have a strict policy on piercings.” Mom said suddenly, changing the subject.

“Yeah what’s up with that? Our school is like super lenient on everything. But for some reason there are these stupid little rules that are like super strict about the most random things. Like that one on coats, where you can’t wear them indoors at all. You can wear anything else, like hoodies, jackets, jumpers, whatever. But if it has a plasticky, waterproof look to it, then you have to take it off. It’s things like that, that I really don’t get.” Amber said, starting to slightly rant off.

“Or that one about toenail polish.” Allison said while pointing at her feet before continuing. “You can have painted nails on your hands, you can even wear shit like flip flops and high heels around school if you want to, but if you have nail polish on your toenails? Nope. Nada. Instant detention. And god help you if you are caught by Vice-Principle Rickshaw.” Allison finished with a shudder.

“Ugh. Strict Rick. What an asshole. I remember how he once gave detention to this guy just because he didn’t take his waterproof coat off quick enough when he entered the building. Even though there was a storm going on outside.” I said bitterly.

“That’s not even the worst of it.” Amber started slowly, taking a deep breath before continuing. “There is another name that he is called by. Which only the girls call him. Creepshaw. He is the most sexist pervert ever. If you get caught breaking the rules and you’re a guy, you still get punished but it’s way more lenient. If you’re a girl though? He cracks down super hard on you, I heard that this one time he caught this girl breaking one of his stupid rules. And gave her a week of detentions, in which he oversaw, and apparently for the whole time he just stared at her like a piece of meat.” Amber said disgusted.

“Oh I heard about that. Although I heard that she was told to write lines on the board until her arms gave way from exhaustion. And while she was doing that, Creepshaw stood behind her breathing down her neck and groping her ass.” Allison said while visibly shuddering.

“I also heard that this one time, a few years ago, he apparently berated this one random tomboy who did like nothing wrong. He apparently dragged her into his office and shouted at her for not dressing like a ‘normal’ girl for like an hour, and when he finally finished and she left his office, she apparently just ran off home crying her eyes out. No one knows what happened to her though.” Amber said angrily.

Mom and Allison gave each other a sad knowing look between them. Amber didn’t pick up on it, but I did.

“You know what happened don’t you?” I asked them both.

Allison paused unsure for a moment but then nodded sadly in admission. “Yes we do...” she paused sadly for another moment before continuing. “The tomboy’s name was Beverly. She was one of my friends. And she wasn’t just a tomboy, she was transgender. She was very depressed with herself and her body and wanted to transition to a boy. So she dressed up like a guy almost all of the time. But one day, she came in more depressed than usual and Vice-Principal Rickshaw came across her. I’m not sure exactly what happened but I think he realised that she was a girl and literally dragged her into his office. He then berated her for over an hour until she finally burst out of the office crying her eyes out. I tried calling after her but she completely ignored me and ran off home. And then the next day when I came into school I heard that she... she... she killed herself.” Allison burst out crying, so I got up and ran over to her and hugged her.

“What the fuck!” Amber shouted loudly, good thing there were no other people around us currently. “Why the fuck wasn’t Rickshaw fired?” She asked furiously.

“Beverly’s parents tried to.” Mom spoke up, as Allison was still heavily crying. “They tried to get him fired and to sue him as well. But he never did get the sack and the lawsuit never went through. Apparently he got away with it because Beverly was medically declared depressed and suicidal and was on medication for it. And Rickshaw got plausible deniability for it, as he apparently didn’t realise that she was suicidal and that she was only told off because she broke the school rules and was wearing a coat, which she wasn’t, according to Allison here, and that she just randomly blew up crying and ran off.” She explained, with a look that was somewhere between anger and sadness.

“So that asshole caused a girl to commit suicide and he got away with it?!?! Wow okay, I hated him before, but now? I want to shove a sword up his sexist ass.” Amber said with so much venomous hatred that it was dripping out of her mouth.

“Well at least Principle Lepton keeps him in check, otherwise he would pretty much run the school.” I said, still hugging a crying Allison.

“Yeah...’sniff’... at least we have Principle Lepton. She is one of the most nicest people in the world. She really had a go at Rickshaw, she couldn’t fire him but she could make his life a living hell. He’s still a sexist perverted pig, but at least he is a lot better than he used to be.”

“How come I never heard of this story before now?” I asked curiously.

“You were too young honey. We didn’t want to concern you, plus you had your own problems going on at your old school. I just wish we realised before it was too late.” Mom said annoyed, obviously disappointed with herself.

“Yeah me too...” I said sadly.

We continued to eat the rest of our meals in bitter silence. Afterwards on the way to the salon, everyone started to perk up again, as if the further we walked away from the table, the more everyone shrugged off depressing thoughts and started to get excited about the shopping spree again.

As soon as we arrived at John and Prudence, the best and most popular salon in the area, everyone had completely cheered up again. Well except for me, I was still really nervous about getting my hair styled. Worried that they would chop it all off, or mess up somehow. Which may sound slightly ridiculous, but I’ve been really protective of my hair ever since Amber persuaded me to keep it long.

As soon as we entered we were greeted by the receptionist. Mom greeted her back and announced that we had arrived for my appointment. As soon as that was done I was sent to a salon chair where both John and Prudence came and greeted me.

“Well hello there, who do we have here then?” Prudence asked me curiously. While John set up something behind me.

“Prudence! So great to see you!” Mom said as she wandered over to me.

“Angela? My goodness, I didn’t see you there.” Prudence said with a happy surprised look on her face.

Mom and Prudence hugged each other happily. If you are wondering how they know each other, well wonder no further. Mom, Prudence and John all went to college together, John and Prudence studied Hair and Beauty, and Mom studied Business, but was originally studying Hair and Beauty before she switched Majors, they all met while studying together and became best friends and remained that way even after Mom switched to a different course. After college John and Prudence got married and opened this here salon, while Mom went to work at that Carpet and Curtain store that I mentioned earlier in the story.

After they finished hugging, Mom went and hugged John as well.

“Hello you two! How have you both been?” Mom asked curiously.

“Good as you can see, we’re a bit slow today, but the business is booming.” John said happily.

“What about you? How’s the family?” Prudence asked kindly.

“Ah good. We had a bit of a scare recently, but everything turned out alright in the end.” Mom said nonchalantly.

“Oh yes! I heard something about that. It was Alex wasn’t it? He got into some sort of accident or something? How is he?” Prudence asked with a worried look on her face.

“Heh. Well yes Alex did, have an accident. As to how he is? Well you could ask her, she is sitting right there.” Mom said with nervous excitement.

“Hmm?” Prudence said as she looked at me for a second before realisation dawned on her face. “Oh! Oh my god! Alex? Is that really you?” She asked with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“What... what happened?” John asked with complete shock on his face as well.

I then took the next few minutes explaining the events of the past week to them as they stared in disbelief, astonishment and then finally content.

“Wow, so you go by Ciri now then?” Prudence asked, astonished.

I nodded yes.

“Well, you’ve been through quite a lot this week. Don’t worry, once we’re done with you, you will be the most beautiful girl in the world. No one will recognise you, I promise.” John said reassuringly.

I felt a bit relieved after he said that, and my nervousness that I felt earlier evaporated.

“Let’s get started then.” Prudence stated energetically.

And get started they did. The whole process lasted a couple of hours, John worked on my hair, trimming the spilt ends off, snipping here and there while Prudence worked on my nails, filing them, buffing them, and painting them in a pale pink colour, then did the same with my toenails. Afterwards when they both had finished, John started fiddling with my hair, no longer trimming it but shaping it, moving it around, brushing and straightening it, twisting it this way and that. Honestly I had no idea what he was up to. Prudence, meanwhile was applying makeup to my face, explaining what she was doing to me as she went. She probably thought that I should learn how to apply makeup, and she was right, I really needed to start to learn about it. When she finished with the applying of my makeup, she tapped all of my nails gently, testing if they were completely dry yet, they were, so she started to carefully apply another layer of nail polish but this time it was the clear stuff.

John when finished with my hair asked me about piercings. I told him of the little prank that Allison and Amber tried to pull earlier, he laughed at that, claiming that if I really wanted he could give me a tongue piercing but he didn’t recommend it due to school, I agreed. So after a little bit of a discussion I decided to get 2 in each ear, so 4 piercings in total. The first one he did hurt slightly but afterwards was fine, I barely felt the other three. As soon as it had started it had already finished, and that was that. I had pierced ears. He said to rotate them regularly and to not take them out for the next few weeks or I might get an infection.

When John finished he stood back to see his and Prudence’s good work. Satisfied with what he saw he turned me around so I could finally see what I look like. ...error...error... does not compute. Warning! Hotness overload! Repeat. Hotness overload! ...Rebooting...

Holy mother of god, my goddess above, my lord of time and space, WHATEVER! ...I, I, I’m beautiful! This was beyond what I thought was possible. My face was angelic, like I might need to cover my face to stop people becoming blind by sight of my beauty. Okay I might be slightly overreacting. But not really. This might just sound incredibly vain of me but I am the hottest, cutest, teenage girl I have ever seen... EVER! My hair had been trimmed and styled to fit my face perfectly, it bounced and fell into waves and waves of dark brown hair that cascaded down my body, my makeup, while pretty good earlier, was now fucking flawless, I am definitely going to learn how to put on makeup to the best of my ability now, I wanted to look like this everyday for the rest of my life. Surprisingly there wasn’t actually that much makeup on me. But what was there emphasised my natural beauty, my deep green eyes almost glowing from the smoky darkness of my eye makeup, my high cheekbones pointing out my obvious femininity, my eyebrows, were now professionally shaped into thick high arches. All in all I had a slightly emo look to me, but if fit me perfectly. I felt... complete.

“So what do you think?” John and Prudence said at the same time, they must do that whenever they have finished working on someone.

“What do I think? WHAT DO I THINK?!? I THINK I’M FUCKING GORGEOUS!!! You guys work miracles! Da fuck? How do I look this good? I mean I thought I looked good before, you know passible. But this look knocks my previous look way out of proportion. I’m, I’m, Oh My God thank you sooooo much!” I said, completely blown away at how I look. OMG, I felt so happy I could cry.

“And that’s why I always use waterproof makeup.” Prudence said knowledgeably.

“Huh?” I said to Prudence, confused until I saw myself again in the mirror. Whoops! Okay, never mind, I’m so happy that I am crying.

“Here dear.” Prudence said while gently dabbing my eyes, making sure not to damage her hard work.

“Thank you guys so much! This is the best day of my life!” I said, radiating with pure happiness.

“You are very much welcome!” Prudence said happily.

“I told you you would be the most beautiful girl in the world when you left here, and I was right.” John said proudly.

I hugged them both tightly for a moment before Prudence started talking again.

“Okay, are you ready to go show the Marteau’s and friend the new you?” Prudence asked quietly.

“Hell yeah I’m ready!” I said excitedly.

We walked over to the front of the store, we were previously behind a corner before as to give people a bit more privacy from the outside world. As I approached, Mom looked at me and smiled happily, while Amber and Allison just stared at me with their jaws hitting the floor, is that a crack? I approached them with a nervous smile on my face.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD! You look so cute!!!” Amber said, squealing so loudly that it hurt my ears.

“Wa? Wow! Ciri! You look amazing! Like I’m totally jealous right now. And your hair! ‘Gasps’ Oh my god! It’s to die for!” Allison exclaimed with amazed jealousy.

“Holy shit, I think that I may have just become gay... you look so unbelievably good! Wow you really were too pretty for a boy! Oh jeez... every boy and half the girls in school is going to be on you like flies on crap.” Amber said while staring at me with a weird mixture of astonishment, worry and, horniness?

“Do you really think I’m pretty?” I asked softly.

“Seriously? Ciri, a blind man could see how pretty you are! And that voice, oh god. I need to stop looking at you. You are actually turning me into a lesbian, and I’m completely straight!” Amber said with a slight quiver in her voice as she turned to look away from me.

“Really? I know I look good, but not that good.” I asked slightly mockingly.

“Honey. I’m going to be completely honest here. The way you look now? When you’re older you are going to be prettier than I was.” Mom said honestly.

“I hate to agree with Mom but. If I’m being honest as well, I think that you will end up even prettier than me as well. Hell! You already do!” Allison admitted.

“I... Thank you. It’s so nice to hear all of this...” I said while my eyes started to tear up, and I started to sniffle.

We all hugged for a moment while I did my best to hold back tears. After we finished our little explosion of happy emotional hugging, we decided to carry on with the shopping trip. Mom tried to pay John and Prudence, but they insisted that it was on the house. That caused me to hug them again and thank them for what they did for me. After everything was done we left the salon. I would definitely be coming back here every time from now on.

The next shop we hit was Nordstrom. We got everything we even remotely liked there, and I mean everything. Hats, beanies, all kinds of shirts, skirts, dresses, jumpers, jackets, shoes, trousers, shorts, lots of different jewellery, handbags and accessories. Any type of clothing you can think of? We got it. We even bought Prada. We left there carrying a fuck ton of bags again. Almost the same amount as we were earlier, and they were made up from several different shops! We made a quick run back to the car and dumped everything again. The car was starting to get really full now. But we still went back for more stuff.

The next shop we went to was this super fancy jewellery shop, that is specifically tailored to really rich people and celebrities, the name of the shop escapes me. But in it was everything from cheap but pretty, plasticky bracelets and stuff, to diamonds, rubies and emeralds, embedded in 24 karat pure gold and platinum. This was probably one of the more memorable shops from the trip. What can I say? I like shiny things. I’m probably a dragon who has been reincarnated as a human... maybe. Anyway, we browsed around for a bit and eventually bought a fuck ton of items again. Some crappy plasticky stuff, because it will be good for everyday accessorising, and some really expensive royal family shit, like diamond necklaces and earrings, pearls, a few bracelets made out of gold, silver and platinum. Etc. In a moment of weakness I bought a kind of crown/tiara which was made out of 24 karat gold, engraved with silver and inlaid with diamonds, some rubies, a few amethysts and a big chunk of... meteorite? Cool. Do you want to know how much it’s worth? Well let’s just say that there are many 9’s and there is a familiar quote from a certain president who has weird yellow hair that, may or may not be a very close number to the amount that it was. That’s all I’m saying.

After I secretly bought it, with Mom’s permission of course. I went over to a nearby mirror to put it on. Amber and Allison were both too busy to notice as they were also neck deep in jewellery on the other side of the room. With a level of excitement that I have never really felt before I carefully put on the crown/tiara thing. Oh wow! I look like a princess! A really pretty princess! Well a modern day princess but still.

All of a sudden the crown started to glow with a magical energy and then I was suddenly outside. Wait what!?! Where am I? How are there trees everywhere? And, is that a castle in the distance? Why the fuck are my clothes all medievally now? What the fuck just happened? OMG! It must be the crown! It must somehow be magical! I’m, in a different world or something! I can’t believe this is happening! I, I’m...

...Just kidding! I didn’t get magically transported to another world. I’m still here in the shop admiring myself in the mirror. I completely fooled you didn’t I? I have a very active imagination. I quickly but carefully took the crown/tiara off and put it back in it’s super secure box that it came in, and placed it into the shopping bag without Amber or Allison noticing. I’m going to surprise them later...

After browsing some more and buying a ton of rings, necklaces and bracelets. We very warily took our new bought treasures and stashed them in the car hiding them so no one could see them. After the events in the jeweller’s the rest of the day was a bit boring, we visited several more shops and bought. You guessed it, more clothes. Honestly, after today I could probably never shop for any more clothes ever again and still not be able to wear all of the different combinations of clothes that I got today in my lifetime. Or several.

When we eventually left, we had so many bags in the car that Amber had to literally sit on my lap. And we were in a 7-seater car! We left at 7:30 pm which was way earlier than Amber and Allison wanted. Honestly? I kinda wanted to stay longer as well but I was also bushed. Not to mention we couldn’t fit anymore bags in if we tried. So we headed home. On the way home Amber kept shifting around in my lap and playing with my hair, she would occasionally stare at me for long periods of time when she thought I wasn’t looking. I thought it was odd, but kind of nice in a way. A few times when she shifted around she rubbed up against me. If that was intentional or not I couldn’t tell you, but every time she did it sent tingles throughout my body and I started to get ahem, wet. In places... hopefully she didn’t notice because otherwise that would be awkward...

I was relieved when we finally got home, I quickly ran upstairs to go to the bathroom, did my business, changed my pad and washed my hands. Then I quickly ran to my bedroom and propped both my bedroom door open and my wardrobe door open. After that I ran back downstairs and me, Allison, Amber and Mom all put my new clothes away. Which took ages! Ugh. I was so relieved when we finished. I put my new valuables into my hidden safe. Which Dad got all of us to make sure that if our house was ever somehow broken into, we have really good security, no one would be able to steal any of our valuables. The safes are protected by biometric locks which are only accessible by the person that it belongs to and a 6 digit password which only we know. If the safe is attempted to be broken into, which is almost impossible to do so, it sets off an alarm that calls the police and the owner, if the safe itself is moved or stolen, which is also hard to do because it is really heavy, will be able to be found super easily because there is a tracker in it. So pretty much it is 101% safe. Anyway. After putting everything into my safe and popping the hidden wall closed I went downstairs to finally get some dinner.

Amber ate with us, the twins were mostly quiet, although Jasmine was constantly staring at me and declaring that I was super pretty and that I looked like a princess. (Jasmine has a slight obsession with princesses) Sounds a bit stereotypical I know, but she is a little girl. Funnily enough Jack is into princesses as well, but he tends to like warrior princesses and super heroines more than the typical frilly dress princesses that Jasmine’s into. Anyway. We had vegetarian sausages, mashed potato and cauliflower cheese for dinner. Which was pretty good, I’m more of a meat ma... woman myself but I don’t mind vegetarian meals every now and then.

After dinner, Amber went home with her spoils from the day, we didn’t just shop for myself. Allison and Mom took theirs to their rooms and I went to mine, I did my usual nighttime routine, very sadly wiped off my makeup, but not before taking a picture for future reference. Pulled on a pair of my new silky pyjamas. Which felt soooo good! And then finally, finally, collapsed into bed and passed out, with the happy memories of today drifting in and out of my psyche as I slept.