Sandy soon arrived, as promised, to take me shopping for a new set of clothes, now that I was committed to spending a lot of my time as Carrie working at the Hotspot most evenings. She was carrying a bag from a lingerie shop in town. “I thought that you could maybe do with a bit more shape so we can judge better how things look on you when you try them on in the shops. There’s a waist cincher to pull you in a bit and some shape wear briefs to pad out your hips and backside, go and put them on and we’ll see if it improves your figure.”

I took off my skirt and put on the new undergarments, dressed again and looked at myself in a full-length mirror. “Wow, these things are so tight, I feel like I am being squeezed to death, but they definitely make the clothes sit better and they’ve given me a much more feminine figure.”

“One thing you’ll soon learn Carrie is that we girls sometimes have suffer for our beauty, you’ll be ok after a while when your body adjusts and gets used to them. You’re good to go, now get your things and let’s go hit the shops.”

“First things first,” Sandy said as we trawled the local high street, “before we spend a fortune in the designer outlets and high street chainstores let’s see what’s in the charity shops, sometimes you can pick up something of decent quality for next to nothing, comparatively.”

She was right, in the second shop we looked in we found a cherry-red sheath cocktail dress which fitted my albeit artificial figure like a glove and a pair of dress shoes to match. That put Sandy and Tara in the mood for hunting for more and we found a few doors away, in another charity shop, a couple of designer brand skirts for about a tenth of the cost new. In the run-of-the-mill national brand outlets who were having sales, as seemed to be permanently happening, we found a few more skirts ‘for day wear around the house’ or for working at The Hotspot, and a variety of tops and blouses and shirts, enough to keep me going for weeks. Of course I needed a drawer-full of bras and panties, in different colours and styles to go with the different outfits we had bought, along with more make up and skincare than I knew what to do with. I was exhausted and ready to go back to Tara’s, but I wasn’t going to be let off that easily.

“Nearly done Carrie, but there is still something missing, look at us and see if you can pick out what is missing on you.” Tara teased and noticed my questioning look. “It’s earrings, I can’t remember the last time I saw a young woman or girl without pierced ears and wearing studs or drops. There’s a jewellers just on the corner there, they do free piercing if you buy a few sets.”

“Ok, but only one piercing in each I hate the look of a run of studs up the ear.”

I ended up with several sets of zirconium studs, gold wedding bands, hoops, and some crystal drops which the girls assured me that I would get used to them swinging about all the time.

Along the road back at Tara’s we stopped off at a wine bar all of us carrying a handful of bags.

“Did you enjoy that then Carrie, your first shopping trip as a girl, I bet it was a lot more fun than when you have been looking for boring bland boy’s stuff. How did it hit the purse?”

“Duncan’s bonus and the bar tips have covered about half of it, the rest is going to hit when my next credit card statement arrives, I just hope the tips keep coming in.”

The girls were not dancing that night, the cabaret was a tribute band Antarctica, so there would be no need for me to appear on stage as Darcy, so it was a case of everyday clothes and makeup rather than anything too dramatic. After rummaging through all the clothes that I had bought, I settled on a plain navy flared linen skirt which showed of my new curves paired with a cornflower silky jersey sleeveless top which looked quite stylish but practical as a working outfit. I knew that Sandy would be in trousers and plain cotton top but felt that I still needed to emphasise my femininity by wearing a skirt.

Wen I arrived at the club, Duncan was just opening up the bar. “Hi Carrie you are looking very smart tonight, I like the style, it suits you. I guess that you have been out today spending some of that bonus I gave you.”

“All of it has gone, along with a big hit on my credit card, you don’t realise how much it costs for a girl to get enough clothes to fit a wardrobe with a decent selection of choices, but then why would you, men can wear almost identical stuff everyday.”

“Ok don’t bite my head off, it hasn’t taken you long to get on the feminist man-criticising bandwagon has it, the girls have really worked a number on you, but I’m not complaining, you do a good job. By the way, you were great as a compère for the Hotties last night, can you do the intro and links for the band tonight, no need for a full wisecracking routine, just a little something as a warm-up, and I’ll slip you a few extra pounds, it’ll help to pay your credit card bill.”

“Good choice Carrie,” Sandy commented as she visually inspected my outfit, “the blue top brings out the colour in your eyes, you make me feel quite drab, I’ll have to try harder next time.”

“Your natural beauty lets you get away with relatively plain choices but I have to make a bit more effort with my image. Anyway, let's get the show on the road, the punters will soon be coming through the door.”

It was a slow start, but there was bit of a rush just before the band was due to come on which Sandy and I coped with until I had to leave her to hold the fort for a few minutes while I went off to do my compère session. As I was working as Carrie, rather than Darcy I kept it relatively simple leaving all the sexual innuendo jokes for another time when doing the show with the girls. I had pulled off from Google a few topical jokes mainly at the expense of the government, local council and the town football team, which got the audience in a lively happy frame of mind for when I introduced the band.

During the band’s first session the audience were fairly attentive so Sandy and I had a bit of time for a chat behind the bar between dealing with the occasional drinks orders.

“I don’t know how you do it Carrie, I couldn’t get up on the stage like that.”

“It’s all down to years of am-dram at school and as part of the degree course, plus watching the acts at the comedy club teaches you how to deal with any comments from the audience.”

“It’s not just that, when you were up there you were Carrie, there was no trace at all of Cory. Even the way you stood and moved and used your hands to emphasise what you were saying along with your voice and the way you talked just came across as female. If I didn’t know better, I would just have assumed that you were a girl, and I’m sure that that is what the audience think too.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. When the girls first suggested that I take Mimi’s place I made it clear that I didn’t want to come across as a drag queen I just wanted to look like the girl next door who could tell a few jokes, even if some of them suggested that I was not all I seemed to be.”

“Well you have certainly pulled off that act, Anyway the band is just finishing off you had better get up there on the stage and do your bit, there will be more time for girly chat during their next session.”

Sandy and I were working well together, keeping the customers supplied with their drinks and having flirty chats with them to keep them coming back. It was another successful night, the bar takings were up and the tips were the best yet, Sandy and I were obviously keeping the customers satisfied.

“You’re doing great girls, I was obviously right deciding that Carrie would go down better than Cory, keep it up girls and there might even be a bit of a bonus next week.” Duncan promised us as he closed the door behind us as we left.

Things just continued for the next few weeks and I got more and more comfortable being Carrie most of the time except when I was in at Uni for classes. As I was spending so much time as Carrie and socialising with the girls I was noticeably getting more effeminate in my speech and mannerisms, and was constantly being hounded by Maggie who was determined to get me to go to her LGBT meetings at uni.

Things took a dramatic turn one night after leaving the club to really hit home to me what I was doing .

“Do you want a lift back to Tara’s, it’s not far out of my way?”Sandy offered.

“No I’ll be alright, it's a nice night, the walk in the fresh air will do me good, thanks anyway, just get yourself off home.”

It wasn’t long before I regretted turning down Sandy’s offer, as I realised the I was being followed by three lads who had been at the club and who had been trying to chat me up all night. I quickened my pace to get away from them but they then came even closer.

“What’s the hurry darling, Carrie isn’t it, let’s have a chat as we see you home.”

“Just leave me alone lads, the chat at the bar was just sales banter, I’m not really interested.”

“That’s a shame, you don’t know what you are missing out on.” One of them was now in my face and trying to put his hand up my skirt, you girls are all the same, giving us come-on signals and then going cold, you really shouldn’t do that.”

Luckily a police patrol car drove past and seeing what was going on pulled up causing the lads to run off.

“Are you alright love,” a young constable asked me.”it might be better if you get in the car and we’ll drop you off at home, they might very well come back when we drive off.”

I was glad to get back to Tara’s, and flopped down on the sofa next to her, trying my best not to look worried.

“What’s the problem, I heard a car pull up and looked out to see the policeman following you to the door.”

I couldn’t hold it back any longer grabbed her in a hug and burst into tears. “I was followed home from the club by three lads who thought that because I had been pleasant serving them at the bar, that they had a chance with me, one even tried running his hand up my thigh, I don’t know what would have happened if the police had not driven past.”

“It’s ok, unfortunately we’ve all been there one time or another, welcome to the world of womanhood Carrie. At least it didn’t go too far, mind you they would have had a big shock if they hadn’t been stopped. That at least stopped the tears and brought a smile to my face.

“Go on get yourself cleaned up and ready for bed, I’ll make the chocolate, I think it’s a time for another sleepover and chat in my bed.”

I was feeling a lot better in the morning when I went to the kitchen for breakfast, finding Tara working on her laptop. “I’ve been thinking, I’ve spent a lot of time working with male dancers and it’s not unusual for them to wear a gaff under their training pants to keep everything in it’s place. I’ve found a more sophisticated version that the drag queens use which if you tuck yourself back between your legs gives the appearance of having a vulva and vagina, apparently you can even wee with it on, although obviously you will have to sit like the rest of us girls. Do you want me to order one for you, at least if the guy’s hand had got to third base he wouldn’t have found anything unusual?”

“I’ve already got the breasts fixed on me, and am dressed as a girl most of the time except when I go to uni, I may as well go the whole hog, press the order key.”

“That’s another thing, what are you doing about your course at uni and the room you rent. You are here most of the time, do you fancy a flat share, then you won’t have to worry about anyone noticing the changes to your appearance.”

“It’s almost the end of term and the end of my time at uni, so I’ll go there one last time, collect all my personal stuff and move in here, if you are sure.”

The gaff arrived the next day and at first it was uncomfortable and I felt awkward, but I soon got used to it, apart from the inconvenience of having no choice but to sit to have a wee, which I was now doing most of the time anyway, and was amazed at how realistic it looked. According to the leaflet that came with it the false vagina even would even allow penetrative sex, although I had no idea how that would work and no intention of trying to find out.

“We are doing our show again tonight so you will be working as Darcy. Since you look quite convincing now, instead of wearing the can-can costume, why not try the showgirl one. The gaff, the false breasts and the waist cincher should should let you squeeze into one. Do you want to try one on to see whether you could get away with it?”

I managed to squeeze into the costume and although it was a high cut style over the hips, and showing the natural fatty tissue on my chest pushed up by the false boobs under the rigid costume cups, I actually looked quite passable and would not look a lot different from the rest of the troupe.

“Do you think that you could manage the heels as well, if you can, you could join the chorus line at the end of the show.” The rest of the day, wearing the showgirl costume, Tara taught me the basics of the last part of their routine which was not too difficult to pick up, the hard part was doing it in heels without twisting my ankle.

I arrived at the club in normal working clothes and helped Sandy set up the bar for the night. Rather than spend all night in the tight showgirl costume I went on to do my compère routine as I was.

“Hello ladies and I see it’s mainly ladies, I suppose all your fellas are in the next bar watching the football. That reminds me of when I was about twelve or thirteen, I was so innocent and naive that when I heard my mum talking to a friend about the menopause, I thought she meant being out with her friends having a pause from their men, leaving them at home.” That took a few seconds to sink in and I thought that it was going to be a difficult audience, then suddenly there was a shout from the floor “Too right girl, we could all do with a break from their drunken groping at times.” And the floor erupted in giggles and whoops . It seemed that I had won them over so kept going in the same vein.

“As I was saying I was so innocent that when my sister was talking to my mum about her monthlies I thought that she was talking about the regular deliveries from Amazon, and I asked when I would be getting mine, they both just looked at me as if I was an idiot, “It’s just a bloody waste of time.” Shouted the same woman, who seemed to want to work as a double act with me.

“Mum then tried to put me in the picture by describing what it was all about, telling me about sanitary pads and tampons. I was confused, I had thought that sanitary pads were things like Elastoplast and band-aid for putting on cuts, and as for tampons I really had no idea, as far as I were concerned they could go where the sun don’t shine.”

I thought that if they realised that I was a man I would get a totally different reaction from them, but they loved it and the follow-ons in the same vein, having a laugh about things that normally affected or depressed them seemed to hit a chord, and when I introduced the girls and was leaving the stage, there was a clamour of applause cheers and whistles.

“You really hit the right notes there Carrie, despite what men think about us as delicate little flowers we all like a smutty joke or two and a bit of double-entendre. Where do you get your material? Obviously those things are a part of our lives, but you haven’t been brought up to just accept them for what they are?”

“It’s life Sandy, but you are right, mention periods and most men change the subject faster than a formula 1 starting grid. Let’s See how the show goes later and I’m sure that you will want another talk."

Near the end of the girls’ final dance routine, which they had changed to being the showgirl chorus line, I left Sandy to run the bar and went to get changed. Taking a deep breath I strutted out onto the stage to be met with a lot of catcalls and whistles.

“Ok calm down guys, girls get you men under control. As a treat tonight the girls have asked me to join in with their reprise routine so hit the music Duncan and we’’ll get going. I joined in the middle of the line and managed to follow their leads with high kicks, sideways knee bends and hip swivels and managed to dance off to the side of the stage in the line without any major mistakes. Back in the dressing room the girls were all over me.’Wow Carrie that was super I’m sure that you will now be seen as one of the Hotties, there looked to be no difference between you and any of us, if ever we need a substitute we know who to ask.”

”We’ll talk later, I need to get changed to go back to the bar to help Sandy. Without thinking I stripped down to the bra and high-cut panties, drawing gasps from all the girls. “What have you done to yourself you look just like the rest of us?”

“Later girls, I’ll leave Tara to give you the details.” I cut them off as I pulled on my skirt and top ready to go back to the bar.”

To be continued.