By Jasmine Monica

Chapter 6

Veronica learns how to deal with her new group of friends as well as how to interact as a girl during her first sleepover.

Veronica was thinking of everything that had happened over the past month. It had all been very enlightening and actually fun. Then she thought of the dark times when she was Richard. Nothing of that phase of her life was fun. The memories were dark and she had been depressed and hateful. She hated being a boy so much and became a major asshole because of it.

But she was not a boy. She wasn't a boy in any way. After everything she had experienced now, there was really no way she could ever be accepted as a boy. Had she been a boy then these experiences would be extremely humiliating and mortifying. Having her period, experiencing everything that goes with her cycles, and then her Ob-Gyn appointment. Richard would have died from embarrassment. Luckily, there was never really a Richard at all.

Veronica had experienced them all with the grace and acceptance of any girl. The period was embarrassing but not because of the period itself. It was just that she was very unprepared for its arrival. She ignored the warnings and it crept up on her and hit her. It was very messy and embarrassing. But it happens to many girls and it happened to her. Luckily, she had a very kind and helpful sister who took her to the store to get the proper supplies to deal with it. And she would never be unprepared again. She was going to be fully prepared for the seventeenth of every month from now on. But it wasn't any more embarrassing for her than it was for any other girl.

Her appointments for womens health were very uncomfortable but not totally mortifying. It was something every girl must experience. This was the life she chose and her new mother had offered to change her back but Veronica wanted to remain. She couldn't imagine going back to the depressing life of a boy. She loved this life now.

What led to this transformation was traumatic and horrifying. She had done something terrible and she had used all of her insight and knowledge to get to the bottom of it all. She eventually solved it and found out she was bewitched by her sister into doing what she had been accused of. She uncovered it and Saraphine was royally pissed. Her sister was being punished for it and her relationship with Saraphine and her daughter was absolved. Veronica couldn't be a happier girl now. And now she was preparing for her first girls' sleepover and makeover party. What fun.

They went back home and she saw Teresa and Michelle start working on her sister, Crystal's, face and Veronica watched trying to understand what the girls were going with the various items of makeup that she didn't entirely understand yet. Teresa carefully explained things to her.

Teresa started by explaining about the foundation she was using and how to determine the best for a specific skin type. She continued by explaining about lip gloss and blush.

“But, Veronica. Just because you are a girl doesn't mean you have to wear makeup at all,” Michelle explained. “I usually don't and some girls don't bother at all. You don't have to wear makeup if you don't want to. Many very active or athletic girls don't bother with makeup that much. If you don't want to bother with it then it's fine.”

Crystal pointed out, “But my sister wants to be a very girly girl. She loves makeup and hair and wants to be good at it. But I have not really taught her and that's why we are here.”

Veronica smiled and agreed, “Yes, I need to learn about makeup. And no one has had the time to teach me about it.” Veronica frowned as the other girls gathered around her to help show her.

This was another thing she loved about being a girl vs being a boy. A group of boys are always trying to establish dominance over the group. A group of girls are equal and help each other out when one is in need or unhappy. A group of boys wouldn’t care about someone's problems and, if a boy didn’t fit in, he faced being cut out of the group. Girls would never do that to a friend. Girls rallied around the girl to help her as they were doing for Veronica now.

There were the girl cliques that acted like boys but that was different. Those relationships didn't rely on a bond or friendship. Veronica had always hated the macho dominance bullshit that existed in a group of boys. And she had never fit in that well with them. She loved this so much better and resolved to learn how to interact as a friend in a group of girls.

Amy and Karen gathered around Veronica, helping her understand the different types of makeup while they did her face. Veronica got the full treatment and they began by removing the small hairs on her face and doing her eyebrows. They plucked her eyebrows at an intense and determined pace. She did her best to stay still and considered how mortified Richard would have been to be here having this done. Then she remembered Richard was her, he would have adored it. He would have loved to have a couple of girls doing his face like this. He hated being a boy so much.

It was already explained but Amy went into further detail about the foundation and moisturizer she was using to help smooth her skin for the foundation. Then she explained about the different colors and types like a liquid or powder foundation and why. Veronica understood and helped choose the right liquid foundation to use and the right color for her skin type. She was amazed at the difference.

Amy explained that she shouldn't go through this much effort unless there was an occasion to do so. Like a night out or a date with a special boy she wanted to impress. They explained that some girls insisted on looking their best even for regular classes and that was silly in their opinion. Veronica happened to agree.

Then they started on the lipsticks and lip glosses and the different colors or types and what they all mean. There were a bewildering number of colors and types of lipsticks and lip glosses. But Veronica figured she understood most of it.

She found the eye makeup to be the most difficult. Eye shadow, mascara and eyeliner, and working on the eye lashes to even them. That was even more bewildering as they started off with a simple pencil eyeliner to mark the edges of her eyes and then worked on her lashes.

Amy showed Veronica how to first use an eyelash curler. Veronica learned how to hold it and curl her eyelashes and then they proceeded to the mascara and she learned how to apply that and then she learned how about that.

When her face was done, she smiled one of the biggest and warming smiles of joy Veronica ever saw. Then she removed the makeup and tried to do it herself. The girls helped her when needed but it took several tries to get close to what Amy could do.

Then Veronica was expected to apply her new-found knowledge to doing Amy's face with Karen's guidance. Her face didn't need as much work as Veronica's. Amy took care of her face well and Veronica went slowly, making sure to ask plenty of questions before she finally decided on a color or type of foundation and Amy was very satisfied with the results. Then Veronica and Amy did Karen's face.

By that time, Crystal had finished with her group and they watched Veronica do Karen’s makeup and Crystal was surprised that she was doing a reasonable job on Karen’s face. Her little sister was a very fast learner and she was very eager to learn these things.

Crystal didn't care much about makeup or the feminine side of life. She liked learning her magic and being powerful. She also liked sports and was very good at softball. It seemed her little sister was going the other way and was diving into femininity headfirst and enjoying it.

Veronica was going to be a very girlie girl. Amy would enjoy that. Most of her other friends were sports fanatics. Michelle and Crystal liked competing with the boys. Teresa liked martial arts and was close to achieving a master level rank at it. She had studied Goju ryu and shotokan since she was little and had around fifteen years of study. She really enjoyed competing with boys and beating them. She was very good at it too. That interested Veronica too and she would soon want to ask Teresa for help. But she had only been a real girl for about a month now. She was a very girlie girl but she didn’t want to be a helpless girl either.

Veronica had learned a little about caring for her hair from her older sister and now it was time to learn about her nails. The girls switched the groups up and Amy moved to Victoria's group and Teresa moved to Veronica's group. Veronica could see Teresa's ripped muscles and how she moved spoke of some extreme skill. That wasn't to say she wasn’t feminine. Teresa was still feminine and very attractive. And she wore more makeup than most other girls and it seemed to be an odd combination of femininity and strength.

This was another area that Veronica felt she needed some major work on. She knew nothing about her nails and they had not really changed since she was Richard. Her nails were unkempt, uneven and very rough. Much like any other boys and she felt ashamed at their condition. Some girls made it a point and it hurt. Hopefully, that would be taken care of today and the girls started on Veronica first since she needed the most work.

Teresa and Karen started showing Veronica how to begin and smooth out the nail first and clip any part of the skin that was in the way. Make sure the nail is shiny and polished first before they try to decorate it and then Teresa asked Veronica what she would like.

Veronica wanted a hot pink sparkly type nails and Victoria rolled her eyes, and thought, of course that's what she would want: pink. They went to work on her nails while the other two started on Veronica's toenails and she wanted the same look on the toes.

They polished and buffed her nails and clipped them to be even and then applied the color and the glitter to Veronica's nails. Veronica paid close attention and did her part when it was the other girl's turn. She helped with Amy, Teresa, Karen, and her own sister.

This was all a very good day. Then the girls curled up on the sofa and watched a romantic movie while starting to fall asleep.

Teresa snuggled into Veronica, starting to fall asleep when Veronica asked, “Teresa, I heard you are a teacher in Karate, is that true?”

Teresa shook her head no. “No. Karate is Japanese. That’s Shotokan. I am an instructor in Goju Ryu. That's Okinawan. It's much more serious and designed for self-defense and combat than Shotokan. Shotokan is an art that they changed over the decades. Why do you ask?”

“I would like you to teach me,” Veronica said with a smile.

Teresa woke up suddenly and stared at Veronica in shock, “Really? You Veronica? I wouldn’t think you would be interested.”

Veronica giggled girlishly and she rolled her eyes again and said, “Why not? Because I like makeup, hair and nails so much? I like my heels and being feminine. I can still want to be strong and confident and fight with boys.” Then she gave a sly sideways smile and said, “Even super girlie girls should know how to defend herself. I don't want to be helpless.”

Teresa laughed and said, “Sure, I will give you the number and address to the place and we can start any time. You are also learning witchcraft, aren’t you?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Because,” Teresa said. “Your mother and sister taught me. This is going to be great. Come by any time and you can start learning.”

Then Teresa and Veronica started to slowly drift off in the night.

Veronica woke up early enough to start making the girls pancakes and eggs for breakfast. She ran into the bathroom to do her morning rituals and then she went to the kitchen. She was going to make the girls cupcakes later in the day. Veronica made sure she had the supplies.

But for now, she was mixing pancake mix and pouring it in a pan to fry. She was making sure to make enough for four hungry teenage girls. She was cracking and frying eggs in another pan when the girls began to wake up.

Victoria woke up and looked at her younger sister making them all breakfast. “Sis, what inspired you to do all of this?”

Veronica shrugged, “I wanted to. You have all been so nice to me. Could we bake a cake later?”

“Bake a cake,” Victoria said doubtfully. “I don't know how.”

Veronica smiled warmly and said, “I will show you how. How about a thick chocolate cake?” The girls seemed excited by that and ran into the bathroom to prepare for the day.

They ate breakfast with Veronica and thanked her for making it and then they were off for the morning. Amy, Karen, Teresa and Victoria went out for a long morning run. They usually ran several miles in the morning to keep their fitness up. Few of the girls could go as hard as Teresa could. She could for for many long miles and typically ran from five to ten. She went three miles with the girls and barely worked up a sweat. Veronica decided to go with them this morning and she barely made it half way with the other girls. It was a start and they started headed back. The girls showered and rested.

Then shortly before Noon, Veronica was covered in dough and sugar from making cake for the girls. She also decided to make cookies for her new friends. The other girls decided to get behind the counter and help her and they were all making a large chocolate cake and cutting out cookies and putting them on a pan.

That was when Veronica told Victoria a secret. As they were putting the thick cake in the Oven and pulling out a pan of cooked cookies. Veronica said, “Veronica, I really want to tell you something and I hope that you aren't mad. Michelle saw me and she was going to tell you. Friday afternoon I went to the gym to watch the cheerleaders practice. They are missing one cheerleader that got hurt. So they are holding tryouts next weekend and I put my name on the list to try out for the competition squad.”

“WHAT!” Crystal said, picturing her sister as a cheerleader and wondering how she was going to handle that type of attention. “Please tell me you aren't serious,” Veronica gave her sister a hard unwavering look.

“I am serious. It really looks exciting.”

Victoria shook her head and said, “Oh my god. This is going to be very embarrassing.”