Chapter 12 - Tales Of Boobs and Bubbles

By Sunday my wonderful, fabulous, womanly new breasts had me in a sticky situation. Really. The things kept sticking to my chest. I had to look around and if nobody was looking I kind of stuck my fingers in my bra and tried to adjust them to be more comfortable.

Having pieces of plastic in intimate contact with your chest was not so fun if it's warm. I still liked how I looked with my new breasts, but they weren't so comfortable sometimes. No way I was going to admit it, though. I guess I was enough of a girl to suffer for fashion's sake. Looks trumped comfort every time.

Monday at school I got several close looks but nobody said anything until lunch. It wasn't until Janine rolled up in her chair and sat at the table that anyone had the nerve to say anything.

"I see someone got tired of waiting for her boobies to come in, eh Annie?"

"Uh… Janine…" I stammered. "Just blurt it out, why doncha?

Maybe you could get it announced over the PA so everybody knows," taunted Kelly.

"Yeah! Not everybody has honkers like yours, Janine. Give us a break."

"You going to start pointing out who has her period next?"

"Hey guys," I said. "They're falsies, OK No big deal. I can't do home grown."

"Jeez - you can't? How come?"

"Genetic condition."

"Jeez yourself, Allie. Want I should ask about your boobies?"

"When I get some go right ahead."

"And why don't you have boobies, then?"

Can we talk about something else? I'm trying to eat lunch here."

"Awright! Sorry I asked," Janine apologized. "It's not like random strangers don't ask what happened to my legs all the time. You kinda get used to it."

"But boobies are sort of personal."

"Yeah, it's not like you can share them, is it?"

"That's not what he said!"

"Gross!"

"I'm trying to eat here, darn it!"

"Good thing they don't have Jello today. It kind of wiggles like…Ouch!"

"Guys! We're attracting attention."

"Isn't that what boobies are for?"

"You want to explain to Old Dragon Breath what we're talking about?"

"I'm just an innocent child who's fallen in with bad companions."

"Annie? Any chance you can talk to my parents and convince them I need a little help up top?"

"As if. Some acting jobs are beyond even my professional abilities."

"So how did you convince your folks you should have boobies?"

"I didn't have to - the next part I'm playing is a girl who should have a better figure than I do. The Periactus Players furnished my endowments."

"Annie got a boob job! Annie got a boob job!"

"Shut up. Here she comes!"

"Good afternoon, Ladies," spoke Old Dragon Breath. You seem to be having a voluble discussion. Would you fill me in on the subject?"

"We were discussing the new part I'm going to be playing. We're doing The Secret Garden this spring.

"I didn't know the drama class was going to be doing that show."

"Not the drama class. I'm with the Periactus Players. I'm going to be Mary Lennox."

"Indeed! That's a very challenging role."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Well, I can hope the audience is as enthusiastic as your compatriots at the table. Try to finish you lunch without disturbing anyone else, please girls?"

There was a chorus of 'Yes, ma'ams' all around.

 

I didn't know it at the time, but this was going to be one of the most memorable days in my young life - and not just because I had those new curves. After lunch we all returned to the classroom and Mrs Solis. (remember I was in the 5th grade and we stayed in the same class all day. It wasn't until 7th grade that we got to change rooms for each class.) There was something new in the back of the classroom, as tall as I was and swathed in bubble wrap.

Mrs Solis was one of those teachers who let her students have fun, so she had us remove the bubble wrap to see what was inside. We happily did so and when we finished we had a big pile of bubble wrap and a new computer kiosk. We were all ready to use the computer but had to wait until it could be connected by the IT people, which was disappointing.

We were consoled when Jenny popped a bubble on the bubble wrap with a satisfying sound. Mrs Solis, perhaps realizing we would get absolutely nothing done until we satisfied our primal urges, let us pop away. Janine told us to put one of the big pieces on the floor and she would show us something cool. We did and she proceeded to run her wheelchair over it and it sounded like a war movie as the bubbles popped beneath the wheels.

Harmless fun, right? The only problem was every school official was hyperaware of school shootings and the sound of gunfire coming from a classroom caused chaos. Not only that, but the Headmistress, Mrs DeVoss just happened to be passing the classroom when the wheels hit the bubble wrap.

Say what you like, Mrs DeVos cared for her students far more than her personal safety. She opened the door to the classroom and ran in ready to tackle a gunman before any more of her students could be harmed, and was followed by Mr James who dove in low and rolled to a stop to spring up ready to attack, only to be confronted with a pack of giggling girls.

There was sudden silence and Mrs Solis turned white as she realized her mistake in letting us pop with abandon. The chaos quickly resumed as everybody tried to explain what was happening at the same time. I'm sure that Mrs DeVos and Mr James were relieved that there wasn't a gunman, and when they recovered we spent a half an hour or so discussing how actions can have unplanned consequences.

We all, teachers and students alike, had a learning experience. It wasn't until some years later that I realized how lucky I was to be going to Ursuline where the staff had the wisdom to take advantage of the unexpected opportunity to show the students how to think and behave in such a crisis situation.

 

Now that I was at Ursuline, I got home just about the same time as Kate did. Kate and I seemed to be getting along a bit better as sisters than we did when I was her brother. Not that we were bosom buddies (even with my enhanced bosom) but she was easier to talk to. She still wouldn't let me borrow her hair dryer, though.

I had hardly walked in the door before she pounced.

"OK, little sister! I want to know your secret."

"Huh?"

"Just how did you convince Mom and Dad to get you falsies?"

"Oh? These?" I waved my hand in front of me in what I hoped was an innocent gesture.

"Yeah, those! I groveled and pleaded with Mom when I was your age because I didn't have anything up top. Nada! Zip! Zilch! 'Just wait until you're older, sweetie!' "

Kate could be pretty darn sarcastic.

"I didn't even ask for them."

"I hate you! You're a little twerp."

"Nah, that was your brother. He's gone away. It doesn't look like you got shortchanged in the boobie department, so why complain?"

"Because I had to wait and you just got them overnight!"

"Well, there you go! I can't grow my own boobs - genetic condition, y'know - and you can. I'd rather have the real thing, these things feel sticky when I get hot."

"Poor, little baby girl! I'm gonna cry you a river."

"Hey - I've got to wait even longer than you. Doctor Phil won't even prescribe me the stuff that will keep me from turning into The Hulk until I've been a girl for six months. I have to wait until I'm sixteen until he will give me the pills so I can really start to look like a girl all by myself. How would you like it if you had to wait another whole year until you could start to grow your own boobs?"

"When you put it like that… You're really serious about wanting to be a girl, aren't you?"

"Well duh!"

"I know you're into the whole girl thing, but like… forever?"

"I think so. 'Course nobody is going to let me do anything permanent until I get older. What do kids know?"

I could be sarcastic myself.

"Tell me about it!"

"Once upon a time there was a teenage girl who knew…"

"You want to get that operation right now?"

"There is such a thing as too much help. So, since Mom wouldn't let you have falsies you couldn't tell me how to make them more comfortable."

"I suppose you could always Google it. I haven't got a clue."

"Not a bad Idea. Thanks, Kate."

"You're still a twerp and I hate you for getting falsies when I couldn't."

Sisters!

Chapter 13 - Questions

I was a busy girl, what with studies and activities, but I loved it. I gradually changed my bedroom to a place more suitable to a girl, but I wasn't in a great hurry. I decided that girls can like some of the same things that boys do, so I kept a lot of what was already there.

Doctor Phil was impressed by how easily I adopted a girl's mindset. I think that part of it was my acting experience, where I had to think myself into being someone different than just me. Part of it was that I liked being a girl in a girl's school a whole lot. Dad says part of it is my general cussedness. He says I may have gotten my looks from my birth mother but I got my dogged perseverance from my birth father. He should know, they were his friends.

I may have been a little disappointed that nobody at school got too excited that I had breasts, but Doctor Phil spotted it before I even sat down.

"Well Annie, I see you have blossomed since our last meeting."

"Aren't girls supposed to be flower around my age?" I teased.

"Indeed they are. I suppose you aren't the first girl to need a bit of help in filling her form."

"Hey Doc! It's a professional necessity."

"You don't say. That's the first time I've heard that explanation."

"Seriously. I'm playing Mary in the Secret Garden. She's a bit older and farther along the developmental path than I would be, even if I had the right genetics. The wardrobe mistress supplied my - uhm - enhancements."

"And have they enhanced anything besides your figure?"

"Well, they make me feel more like the other girls."

"Not something to sneer at, Annie. How do you fit in with the other girls?"

"Pretty well. I have a few new friends and most of the other girls just seem to think I'm OK. My friend Aileen and I are still dancing together and my friend Janine is real interesting. She's in a wheelchair and…"

So we talked about me and the four months that Annie had been part of my life. The details don't matter for this story, but Doctor Phil seemed satisfied I was doing well.

 

The major complication of life at home had nothing to do with me being a girl. The problem was that since Ursuline was so advanced, much of my homework required a computer. Kate, as a high school student needed computer time. Sam wanted to play games. Mom used the computer for research or to log on to her company's servers when needed and Dad liked to just troll the net. In other words, we had a high-tech traffic jam.

Dad grumbled about how nobody ever used to need a computer and how high tech was ruining the nation. I don't think he was serious because he kept swiping Scrooge's lines from Dickens' Christmas Carol. With five people wanting time on two computers, Mom and Dad finally broke down and bought Kate and me our own laptops. Naturally, Sam was miffed the he didn't get one, but somehow our parents didn't put the same value on computer gaming that he did.

Kate and I got the "we trust you so don't abuse the computer" lecture and were allowed to keep them in our bedrooms. We were also told that there was parental spyware on them so don't try to pull a fast one. My parents weren't completely trusting.

Naturally, I wanted to find out about other people like me. As I look back, I'm glad my parents installed some filters on my new computer. Naturally, the primitive filters of the time cut out a lot of information just because of the prejudice against transfolk, but I certainly wasn't ready for the plethora of porn an innocent search would return.

What I did find was often beyond my twelve-year-old comprehension, but I did manage to get some useful information. What sticks most in my mind was the incredible range of pictures of men who wanted to be women. They ranged from disgusting to stunningly beautiful, and I began to have an inkling I wasn't the only one who wanted to change. Sure, Doctor Phil and my parents had assured me that I was unusual but not completely unique, but actually seeing pictures was reassuring.

Well, some of them, anyway.

What wasn't reassuring was reading about what happens to boys at puberty. Despite how quickly it had all happened, I was sure that I felt more like a girl than a boy. I didn't want to go through puberty as a boy. Suddenly those 'birds and bees' talks from Mom and Dad had a very personal meaning. The whole 'you're going to start getting hairy and your voice will get lower and you'll get more muscles didn't sound too bad when I was thinking like a boy, but now that I was thinking like a girl…

'But wait! There's more!' as those annoying ads say on TV. Reading online made me remember that Doctor Phil had mentioned that there were medicines that could put off puberty for me. I had kind of buried that under all the other stuff I was going through learning how to be a girl at a girl's school, but now I got interested. The next time I saw Doctor Phil (in three weeks) I would have to ask some questions. Then I realized I needed to ask Mom and Dad those questions, too.

"Dad? I need to ask you something."

"Is it going to mean I need my lawyer present?"

"Dad!"

"Go ahead and ask, Annie."

"I've been thinking about what will happen to me when I start growing up."

"Ah, I see. I suppose you're just about to the stage where that will happen. I don't think that Annie would be happy to have a mustache and bulging biceps."

"Daddy!"

"Y'know, kid? Teasing Annie is a lot more fun than teasing Danny."

"Now I know why girls talk to their mothers about serious stuff!"

"I suppose it is serious stuff. I'm beginning to think that you really are Annie and that isn't going to change."

"Me too. Daddy?"

"Go ahead… I'll try to stay serious."

"Remember when we first talked to Doctor Phil he said there were medicines that would stop me getting all macho? I think I want to talk to him about stuff like that."

"That's right. They're called anti-androgens. You know what a androgen is?"

"I think so. The hormones that tell your body to be a boy."

"Close enough. Sometime in the next year or two your body will start producing more testosterone and you would develop the usual male characteristics. The drugs can stop that for a while until everybody is convinced you really want to grow up a girl."

"Of course I do!"

"You do now. But a year ago had you even thought about being a girl?"

"Uh… A little bit."

"But not much, right? It wasn't something that you absolutely, positively needed to do?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Don't worry, most boys wonder what it would be like to be a girl, and girls wonder about being boys sometimes. Only a very few ever start to think about it seriously. That's why Doctor Phil needs to know you for a while before he thinks about prescribing anything. Those are powerful drugs and there are side effects."

"Oh."

"Annie, there's always side effects and unintended consequences to anything. Like you may get some breast growth once you start taking the pills. I know, you won't be all that upset about that, but you might have some cramps or dizziness or diarrhea as well while your body gets used to the new hormones."

"Jeez - it sounds like Kate when she has her period sometimes."

"Well, you do want to grow up to be a woman, it's only fair."

"I guess…"

"Relax, kid. You shouldn't have to put up with the bad stuff for long. Just remember that your voice will be good for singing woman's roles for the rest of your life. I don't think that Miss Mary in Secret Garden would be convincing as a baritone."

"Have they decided who else will be in the production?"

"Some - your sister will be Martha, your mother is going to be Mrs Medlock and I'm going to be grumpy old Ben."

"Type casting?"

"Certainly! It looks like Dickon is going to be played as a mystic type and not as a kid like in the book - we couldn't find anyone the right age we thought could handle the part. Sam gets to be one of the ghosts and the Wilson twins will be the Craven brothers. Mrs Gold gets to be the ghost of Lilly."

"Sounds good. They sure took some liberties with the book for the musical."

"Don't they always? Anyway, I think the musical does capture the spirit of the book but leaves out much of the overblown prose from the time period."

"Yeah, some of it was pretty thick."

"Everybody's a critic."

"Hey - you're pretty good, Dad."

"Of course."

"No, I mean you managed to change the subject from me getting hormones."

"Didn't mean to. I'll give Doctor Phil a call and see if he can fit us in early to talk about it. Wouldn't want you voice to start changing in the middle of the show."

"Ouch!"

Save the ouches for when he sticks a needle in you."

"Daddy!"