Once again, Riley was being overly optimistic. "It's the most obvious solution JJ, just keep up the act. Why can't you do the same thing you are doing online, but in person? You just told me you have already been using a fake voice, so what's with deceiving these broads a little more?" Riley said confidently.

I tried to explain to Riley that there are too many things that could go wrong if I showed up there. "Putting on a different voice is one thing. That's relatively easy to do. But there is no way I would be able to make the girls believe I'm a girl in person, for a whole weekend at that," I said.

Riley pressed, "You can't hide from this buddy. You decided to go with this twisted scheme of yours, now you're going to need to see it through. Isn't that whole LAN Lionesses Championship thing an offline tournament in the first place? You must have had a long-term plan when you went into this, right?"

I started sweating and itching all over my body from being so nervous. Honestly, I wasn't thinking. When I made that first mistake of not reading the post properly, I just came up with the losing my voice thing to avoid being called out. But that little lie has grown to a pretty giant snowball at this point, and it seems like it's coming right at me.

"Maybe you're right, Riley. I should just..."

"I'm always right," she interjected. "So you should just come up to my room now so we can work on Emily for a bit."

"Wait, no, that's not what I was trying to..."

"Shhh... Now, Emily, be a good little girl and get that pristine little peach of yours off the couch. And let me show you a whole new world as I paint with all the colors of the wind to make a woman out of you," she said with a wink.

"But..."

"What can I say except you're welcome!" She started singing loudly.

***

Riley's room was a little bigger than mine, which is one of the reasons we would often hang out over here instead of my place. In the center of the room was a queen-size bed with a white headboard up against the wall. The wall behind the bed was painted in an almost neon magenta color, while the rest of the room's walls were painted in a similar broken white as the bed. Against the wall opposite of the bed, there was a double-length desk. On one side of the desk, there was a big desktop computer, while on the other, there was a kind of vanity setup with a big round mirror lined with lights on the edges, and a whole gutter full of makeup in front of it. There were two other doors on either side of the bed in the room. The one on the left went to an en-suite bathroom, while the other one went to a small walk-in closet behind the bed.

Pretty much being pushed into the room by Riley, I was still trying to bargain with her. "There is no way this is going to work, they are going to see right through it."

"Don't underestimate my power, young padawan. Now go into the bathroom and take a shower while I am going to prepare everything out here," she said with a little wink.

"Ugh... Whatever," I grumbled back to her.

Defeated, I made my way into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I took off my clothes and hung them over the heating rail against the wall.

Once again, I looked at my own body in the mirror. I had never really cared about my looks in the slightest. Sure, I tried to maintain good health, but with my stumpy little body, I knew I'd never win any beauty contests. Being only 5'5" as a guy didn't help either. And my face, well, there wasn't much to say about that. Since puberty never really showed up for me, there was only minimal facial hair, leaving me with a baby face forever.

But, I wondered, what was the point of caring so much about how one looked? The only thing that should matter is what's inside. Like, if you can play an amazing carry Anti-Mage, why should it matter what you look like? Just because some people are born with better genes than others, suddenly everyone likes them better. And if they don't have that, they spend a fortune on clothes just to compensate. Spending entire days at the mall comparing clothes that fit like crap. I shoot another look at the black jeans and hoodie hanging over the rail, making me chuckle a little on the inside.

I probably had three or four identical copies of those two pieces in my own closet at home. When I used to go shopping with my mom, she would pretty much pick out everything for me. But walking around in polos and button-up shirts everywhere you go, kind of makes you stand out in high school. So, at some point, I just started buying the most comfortable and basic stuff I could find. And if you know it works for you, why not buy more of the same, right? I just didn't have the mental capacity to be worrying about stuff like this.

As I step into the shower, I decide to use Riley's shampoo that's already lying there, she wouldn't mind. But while washing my hair, I suddenly hear the door open. "Hey, get out, Riley!" I shout trying to protect my modesty.

"Don't be such a prude, ya pansy," She responds. "I'm just grabbing something I need from here."

As I hear the metallic sound of something being grabbed off the heating rail where I hung my clothes, I get anxious. "I'm going to need those," I stutter.

"No you don't," I hear Riley's voice say as she closes the door again. Why do I even put up with her, I think to myself.

After I dry myself off with a towel, it becomes clear to me that it's just my underwear that's left hanging on the rail. I put it on and open the door, taking my first steps into whatever shenanigans Riley has planned for me. Wasn't I supposed to help her with her upcoming math test this afternoon?

The first thing I noticed as I stepped into the room is that she used a plastic bag to cover the mirror above her desk. On top of that side of the desk, there was also a small collection of makeup that had been set apart from the normal mess of products over there. Moving my eyes further through the room, I could see three little piles of clothes sitting on top of the bed, with Riley sitting in between two of them. She looked up from her phone and locked eyes with me.

"JJ, I promise you this is going to be fun. I know you hate doing new stuff, but just let it wash over you, okay? I covered the mirror because I'm pretty sure I can actually do something cool here. You just need to wait for the end result to come together. Don't even view this as us trying to find a solution to that dump truck-sized hole you dug yourself into. You are just having a bit of fun dressing up with your gall pall Riley ” she calmly explained to me.

I let out a little sigh to calm myself down and responded to her. "Yeah, you're right. It's just us anyway. Now just tell me what to do,"

"Okay, so I looked at the sizes of your normal clothes and grabbed some of my old clothes from the back of the closet. These things probably won't fit you perfectly, but I think we can make something work with these outfits. The thing is though, your butt is pretty much non-existent. So that means we are going to need to put the focus on your waist instead. That is why..."

"Just stop talking and let's do this, okay?" I interrupted her.

"That's what I like to hear," she said as she flung a black bra in my direction. "Strap that one on and then we are going to get started with this yellow dress over here."

I managed to get the bra on pretty quickly when Riley clicked the straps together at the back. Then she handed me a long yellow summer dress that had a bunch of white dots across it. I let it fall over my head and put my arms into the holes when I felt there was some sort of elastic band at the height of my waist in the dress. I guess this was supposed to create that focus on my waist Riley was talking about.

"Now we need to create some more womanly shapes and break it up a bit. So first put this in cups of your bra," she said when she handed me four pairs of thick winter socks. Stuffing them into the cups and feeling the pressure of the bra on my chest somehow made me feel pretty weird, but not necessarily in a negative way though. Before I could really make sense of my own feelings though Riley handed me another piece of clothing.

"Now put on this jacket, it should end around your waist while also slimming out your shoulders," It was a cropped denim jacket that I managed to put on without too much difficulty. However, I did notice that the sleeves were a bit narrower than the kind of jackets I would have worn before, making it feel a bit more snug.

Riley looked me over for a second before she said, "Yeah, this works. Now come sit down at the desk." She pulled out the chair below the desk and motioned for me to sit down while she sat down on a chair across from me.

She took a few of the makeup products she put aside earlier and told me, "We are just doing something simple here, something natural that could work as an everyday thing. Now close your eyes and let me get to work." As I closed my eyes, I felt different kinds of brushes paint my face. As I couldn't see what she was doing, I had no idea what products she was actually using on my face though.

"Now open those pretty eyes of yours, cutie," she eventually said.

"Don't call me that," I snapped back at her while opening my eyes.

"Hey, I am just saying what I'm seeing. Just stop being so darn cute, Emily," she winked back at me.

I really didn't want to keep arguing with her right now. But honestly, she was starting to get on my nerves. How long did this whole process take? I am almost starting to understand how she needs so long to get ready herself when I pick her up for school in the mornings.

"Now, the only problem remaining is that bird's nest on top of your head. And since I don't really have the time to find a new home for the little ones, we are just going to need to cover it up. “I got this wig from my mom's and I think it should work perfectly," Riley pulled out a chocolate-brown wig from a small box under the desk and placed it on top of my head. The hair from the wig came down slightly below my shoulders and I felt bangs resting on my forehead.

Riley stepped back from the chair and gave me one final look. "Ah yes, the finishing touch." She quickly ran into her closet and came out with a golden necklace. She hung it around my neck, went through the wig a few times with her hands, and motioned for me to get up from the chair.

"While I think there are definitely some things we can improve, I think this is already a really good look, buddy. Now stand in front of the mirror so you can admire cute little Emily for yourself," Riley said.

I went to stand in front of the mirror and said to Riley, "Sure, let's see what kind of Frankenstein's monster you have turned me into. There is no..."

As Riley pulled the plastic bag from the mirror, I was suddenly speechless.

Standing in front of me was a girl that looked like she could have been my sister, maybe a bit younger than me. In a room that I had stood in so many times, I could see that it was me, but it was a bit different somehow. I felt all sorts of feelings come up and a certain pressure building up in my lower stomach. The longer I looked, the more I could see things that were off, such as my wide shoulders, big hands, and bushy eyebrows to name a few.

But on the other hand, this long yellow dress made it look like I had an hourglass figure. While the jacket and the necklace drew my eyes to my chest, where you could see 2 little mounds resembling a modest pair of breasts. Looking up towards my face I was greeted by 2 brown eyes that were looking a lot bigger than normal, framed by shiny chocolate brown hair on both sides while a cute fringe covered my forehead.

"There is no way you did such a good job? That's what you wanted to say, right," Riley grinned at me.

Somehow, looking at myself right now makes me feel wrong but also right at the same time. With this whirlwind of feelings soaring through my body, I felt that I needed to calm down. This is all way too confusing. I look towards Riley while trying to regain composure. I say to her, "So we are done with this now, right?"

Clearly confused, she says, "Ummm... Yeah, I guess. But what do you think? I'm pretty sure we can make anyone believe there is a girl named Emily standing next to me right now."

Honestly, I love Riley, but I kind of feel like I need to get out of here. My mind is racing in all directions, and I am having all kinds of thoughts I shouldn't be having. Trying to focus my mind elsewhere, away from the chaos, I tell her, "I mean, it's still just me wearing different clothes, right? I guess I'm just blind to these things. Actually, I just remembered my mom needed me to be home before 6 today. So if you can show me that math stuff real quick, I can make sure I get home on time," I lied to her.

"Sure... I have it right here. Are you sure you're okay, buddy? You sound kind of frazzled right now," she said while putting her math papers in front of me on the desk. Looking through the familiar formulas and numbers actually managed to calm me down a bit. It kind of made me forget about the way I was dressed right now in the first place. "Yes, I'm fine, just let me look at this for a minute," I said to get Riley off my back.

I went over her mistakes for about 10 minutes, allowing me to focus on something completely different for a bit. So focused, in fact, that I hadn't noticed the sound of somebody coming up the stairs down the hall

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door and I looked up at the mirror in front of me. In the mirror, I saw a face that felt like it wasn't quite mine; it was the face of Emily. In the background, I saw the door open and Riley's father stepping through.

"Hey kiddo, your mom's not coming home tonight. What do you want for dinner?" he asked, turning his head in a questioning manner. "Oh, I don't believe we've met," he said as he looked me straight in the eyes.

For a split second, I made eye contact with Riley next to me after turning towards her father. I couldn't tell him who I am because if he told my mom or anyone else, it would all come out. Everyone would start hating me. So in a panic, I responded to him, "Uhm... Hi, I'm Emily. I go to school with Riley."

"Cool, you can call me Greg," he said with a big smile on his face. "Always nice to see Riley bringing new friends over. Are you staying for dinner?"

But before I could even respond, I heard Riley's devilish voice come from behind me. "Yes, she's staying for dinner and we would love to have some pizza!"