What have I done? I simply got so excited about the dresses I found in the closet that I totally forgot they were not mine and that the owner, Alice, my new roommate, would maybe strongly disagree that I took the dresses and tried them on without asking permission.

“So?” Alice asked, seeming very angry and upset.

“I am so sorry. I mean, we are so sorry. We got very excited about being here and we realized that there was only one closet for Riley’s stuff, so we checked it out and we got excited about the pretty dresses and one thing led to another and we just want to say, we are so terribly sorry.” Mary said, seeming to ramble a bit.

Alice stared at us and did not move. After what seemed a long time, she finally spoke.

“What about Mr. Snuggles?” Alice wanted to know.

“Oh, you mean the care bear? I’m sorry about that too. I know I shouldn’t have taken him. Please accept my sincere apology. I won’t do it again.” I pleaded with Alice.

I looked at Alice and she still seemed like she wanted to smack me. I briefly looked over to Mary, who also gave her an intense look. Mary seemed close to tears.

“Okay. Thanks for your apology. I will need some time to think about it.” Alice said.

“I appreciate it. I have an idea. Would you like to come to dinner with us? I would like to treat you. We can talk things over and maybe start getting to know each other. Mary and I could leave for a while and let you be by yourself to consider your feelings. If you are interested by tonight, we could meet at the cafeteria for dinner and if not, I would totally understand.” I suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea. I might see you tonight.” Alice responded.

With that, Mary and I left. I still felt so embarrassed and I was sure that Mary felt the same way. We silently made our way back to the Princess suite. We both settled down on Mary’s bed. None of us spoke for a while. Eventually, Mary decided to speak.

“Listen, babe. I am so sorry about my behavior. I just got so excited about those dresses that I didn’t realize that what I was doing was highly inappropriate. I am sorry if I got you into a whole lot of trouble with Alice.” Mary told me while looking like she was about to cry any minute.

“It’s okay. It was my fault too. I should not have let myself get carried away like that. I only hope that Alice will give me another chance.” I said more to myself than to my big sister.

“Yeah, let’s hope that she will.” Mary added not sounding very convincing.

In the meantime, we decided to take a nap in Mary’s princess bed. I snuggled up close to my big sister. Soon I fell into a deep sleep. When I tried to wake up again, the room was dark.

Mary was still sleeping peacefully by my side.
It is crazy that so many things have happened already and I have been here for only about half a day. I decided to not wake my big sister up right away. It felt nice just lying here with her. I listened to her breathing while she was right next to me. I just hoped so much that Alice would forgive me.

After Mary woke up we decided to freshen up a bit. Soon, we were on our way to the cafeteria. We found a booth and got ourselves comfortable. I kept looking for Alice but she was nowhere to be seen. I started feeling sad inside. I felt like beating myself up for not being more conscientious and paying attention.

After waiting a while longer, Mary and I started talking about getting food because it didn’t look like Alice would be eating with us. Suddenly, there she was. I felt relieved because she looked at me with a little smile on her face.

“Hey there. Looks like this time we are meeting under more normal circumstances.“ Alice said, still smiling a bit.

“I am so sorry again! I sincerely hope that you will forgive me.“ I told her.

“Me too. Please don’t hate us.“ Mary pleaded.

“I won’t hate you! I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Welcome, Riley!“ Alice said to me while smiling.

She looked like she tried to shake my hand. I just felt overwhelmed and gave her a big hug.

Alice seemed to be taken by surprise at first and backed up a little. I almost fell because of her backing up. We both looked at each other while the surprise moment disappeared. We had huge smiles on our faces and then started laughing while holding each other, slowly sinking to the floor.

There we were. Two young girls being silly. After we sat on the floor for a second, we both recovered slowly and tried to get up. I looked at my big sister and saw her chuckle.

Let’s get something to eat!“ Mary suggested.

I was on board with that as my stomach was pretty empty. We got ourselves sandwiches and settled back in the booth.

“So, you both like to wear dresses, too?“ Alice inquired.

“I guess you could say that.“ I responded, making the three of us laugh.

“I see. Looking at it from a distance, I have to say that I might have overreacted a little bit. I feel a little flattered that you were so excited about them. I put a lot of work into them when I made them. I just happened to feel very protective of them.” Alice told us.

I was perplexed.

“You made these?” I said while looking at her in disbelief. I looked over to Mary and she also seemed stunned.

“Sure. You seem surprised.” Alice remarked with a grin on her face.

“This is awesome. These dresses are beautiful. They look professionally designed and made. You certainly have my respect.” I assured her.

“I agree with my baby sister. The dresses are gorgeous.” Mary added enthusiastically.

Now Alice looked perplexed. She was actually blushing a bit. I thought that the look on her face was very cute. I could see her beautiful blue bright eyes smiling at me.

“What should we do now?” Mary inquired while interrupting my thoughts on Alice.

“We could go back to the dorm and talk a little bit more.” Alice suggested.

“That’s a great idea!” I said maybe sounding a little bit too excited.

I looked at Mary who seemed to have a little bit of a weird look on her face. She nodded at me slowly which made me remember that I have a girlfriend back home. Oh boy! I only talked to Alice for not even half an hour and I felt something already. I looked over to Mary who gave me a dark look. Then I remembered something else.

“Oh, Alice. I have to tell you something important. I need to talk about that first before we get to know each other more. Are you okay with that?” I asked her.

“Okay. Sure. I hope it’s nothing unpleasant.” Alice responded.

“You will see!” I assured her. Alice nodded and we made our way back to the dorm.

Once the three of us settled back in and got ourselves comfortable, I took charge of the conversation.

“I am not going to beat around the bush. I am a trans girl. I used to be a boy. The school said that I don’t have to tell people but that it would be a good idea to at least tell close friends and especially my new roommate. I hope that you don’t mind. I really want to be your roommate.” I told Alice while feeling emotional.

Alice seemed surprised. A few moments later, she smiled.

“Darling, you don’t have to be nervous. I absolutely don’t mind. I think it’s wonderful that you are brave enough to be yourself. I have a lot of respect for that. You go Riley!”

I was so thrilled and relieved when Alice let me know her thoughts. Mary also had a big smile on her face.

“Riley,? I hope you don’t mind me asking but when did you realize that you are a girl?” Alice wanted to know.

“I think I have always known deep inside. My whole girl adventure actually started with a pair of pantyhose.” I told her.

Alice seemed amazed. Mary and I told her the whole story of how Randy became Riley. We talked about how Sammy “caught” me at Macys with a pair of pantyhose in my hand. We told her about Sammy’s and my first date, about our fashion shows, about evil Michelle and the football player I got to kick in the nuts. We told her about mom and dad discovering by accident that I am Riley when we woke them up with our silly behavior at one of our fashion shows. We talked about our escape attempt and about having fun with Alyssa. I let her know about my Italian dream girl Angela and our visit to the German Christmas market.

Alice patiently listened. Her facial expressions were all over the place while Mary and I told her everything. When we were done, Mary and I were exhausted and all talked out. The three of us sat in silence for a little while until Alice decided to speak.

“What about your girlfriend Sammy. Will you be having a long distance relationship?” Alice inquired.

“Yes, we will try our best. I tried hard to go to my former school as Riley but it was impossible.” I said, feeling a bit sad.

“That’s quite a roller coaster ride you two had. Totally awesome! I love how close you two sisters are. You are lucky to have each other. To be honest, I am actually a little jealous because I don’t have any siblings.”

Alice went on to tell us her life story. It was interesting to learn that she lived the first years of her life in Northern California before her family moved to Boston. She obviously loved fashion and was also interested in reading, music and sports like running or riding her bike.

“I do like to exercise but I am too tiny to play a contact sport like soccer, boxing or basketball.” she let us know.

“Riley believed that too but she did a decent job with her first pick up game here at the school when we came to visit first a while ago.” Mary added to the conversation.

“Wait a minute. That was you two? Now I understand. For about a week, the big sister was the talk of the school. The tall, pretty girl who dunked the ball several times.“ Alice said excitedly.

“They think I am pretty?“ Mary asked, seeming overwhelmed.

“My big sister was the talk of the school?“I asked feeling proud and a little bit jealous all of a sudden.

“Of course! I just can’t believe that I didn’t make the connection right away. We don’t get visitors or new students all the time but it is not unheard of.“

All of a sudden, Alice seemed super excited and started talking fast.

“Riley, you like to wear pantyhose, dresses and pretty clothes, correct?” she asked me.

I was a bit surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, so I nodded slowly.

“This could work. Hold on, let me get my measuring tape. We are about the same size but I want to be sure.” Alice told me getting more excited by the second.

I was too perplexed to speak. Alice soon returned with her measuring tape. She took my hand and slowly moved me into the light of a nearby lamp. The next moment, Alice was all over me and measured my entire body. I looked over to Mary who seemed as clueless as I was. Alice took some notes and finished up.

“Riley, I have a proposal to make. How would you like it to change your name to Isabelle? It would only be for a short time?” Alice asked me while giving me a cute puppy eyes kind of look.

I didn’t know what to answer. This girl must have lost her mind.