She cradled the guitar with the neck up by her shoulder, closed her eyes and began to warm up by playing some adlibbed Flamenco. When she got into the flow of the music, she began to play ‘La Malagueá±a’. The girls began to Tango when Angel played ‘La Cumparsita’. Angel just let the music carry her away as she kept on playing and smiling.

by Paula Dillon

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Margarita sat in her big chair and looked at Carmine, her sister, and her two nieces Sierra and Nevada. She really dreaded what she was about to do, but she really needed their help.
 
 
Chapter 1
 
 
Margarita Dolores Ramos-Marquez was a thirty-eight year old woman, and no she wasn’t from Mexico or any part of Central or South America, they all weren’t. Their families and their husbands’ families had all come from the old country, Spain. Her great grand parents were from Madrid and her exe husband Diego’s, grand parents had ties to Valladolid, Spain and had lived there around the rough period of the Second World War.

She had divorced her husband eight years earlier. The divorce had been messy, at least on the financial side, and far from amicable, but she had him by the short hairs and he knew it. The financial split of their marital assets turned out to be sixty eight to thirty two. She had full custody but had to sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement). There was enough money that she didn’t need to do work for them to be comfortable.

In the months after her divorce, life went on; she kept the house clean, did the laundry and shopping and helped her son Angel with his school work. As much as she loved her son, it just wasn’t enough for her. She found herself alone in her large home much of the time. Calls to her sister helped but they were not enough. She felt she just had to get out of the house and get a job.

She sat angel on her lap and hugged him to her, “Angel, would it be alright if momma got a job?”

Angel looked to be deep in serious thought for several seconds, “Yeah Mom, but what will I do after school?”

Margarita smiled at her little boy and said, “Well, you would go to daycare after school and I would pick you up on the way home from work.”

“Ok”

Margarita had excellent computer skills and typing skills. She took a few weeks to hone her skills and re-familiarized herself with many of the business software packages. She then went shopping. She selected a half dozen skirted suits from dark blue, to navy, to charcoal to black, making sure the blazers were well fitted and the skirts touched the top of her knee at least. Along with suits she bought blouses and lots of office appropriate accessories. At her salon she had her hair style, nails and makeup updated.

She then invited a friend of hers over, that worked in Human Resources and together they spent the better part of a week creating, editing and compiling a resume plus the supporting documentation. They copied it to disk and printed it. Margarita took her resume and had it professionally printed and bound. She started with twenty copies.

It took her a month of going to interviews to land herself a placement as an executive assistant. She worked nine to five, Monday through Friday. She was over qualified for the position she had taken; having obtained two MBA’s, one in Marketing and another in Finance. One HR director had asked her why she had not wanted an executive position that she was well qualified for. She told him that she had just not wanted to jump into a position and have to take charge. She just wanted to get out of the house and interacting with other people again.

Her mood had brightened and life at home was good for her and her son.
 
 
Chapter 2
 
 
Margarita worked for an executive named Sam Wallingford. They had a good relationship and he never made sexual advances towards her. The Corporation and Mr. Wallingford greatly benefited from her knowledge and her ability to work with people. All of her co-workers found her cheerful and knowledgeable. She was a great organizer. Sam would give her a project and let her have her head.

Everything sailed smoothly until three months ago, when a business deal threatened to go south. The deal was one of Sam’s key projects and looked to be a very profitable. After Sam and his wife left on a Hawaiian cruise vacation/second honeymoon, the fecal matter hit the rotary oscillator. One of the major concerns they depended on had gone belly up. Margarita informed Corporate of the problem. She then got to work and formed a task group to work on a solution, while Corporate looked over her shoulder.

The Corporation also had a group of executives working on a solution. There were long hours, with days of eighteen to twenty hours of work. In the end both groups presented their solutions. The CEO, CFO, and the BOD went over both proposals thoroughly. In the end, the proposal presented by Margarita and her group was simpler, more elegant and the most cost efficient. Margarita gave her group the credit for the work where it was due, minimizing her part in the process. Her group had just saved their corporation just over seventy-five million dollars.

There had been eyes on her though and they had seen the truth. Yes, she had a group that did most of the work, but she was in there working with them, giving them direction and ram-rodding things along. She had put in the most hours there, and had to have her sister pick up Angel and take him to her place for ten days.

The people up top were very pleased with her work and dedication to the job. They offered her the chance of a lifetime. They wanted her to take an upper mid level executive position.

This was at the heart of the problem she now faced. She explained it to her number one supporter, Angel.

“Go for it Mom,”

“You don’t understand, it will mean that I have to go to corporate headquarters for a month long training seminar, I will also have to spend two to three weeks a quarter in either the European office or the Asian offices.”

“So, what is the problem? I bet you will enjoy the travel. I know you like the people you work for.”

“You are the problem Angel, not you specifically, but what will I do about you. I am not going leave you at home by yourself. You would have to spend your summer with your Aunt Carmine and I would probably have to send you to a boarding school to do this job.”

Angel sat and thought about the implications for a few minutes before answering. “Mom I know it will be rough on both of us, but I know how much this will mean to you. I can hack it if you can, as long as you don’t dump me and forget about me.”

“I could never do that to you Angel. You are the reason I still exist. I have already talked to Corporate and insisted that I have at least two weekends a month and four weeks of vacation so that I can be a Mom. I told them that if they screwed me on this, that I would happily find employment elsewhere. They agreed barring only an emergency.”

“What kind of compensation?”

“I am making mid fifties right now, if I take this job I will be making between one twenty five and one fifty for the first year, with fringe benefits.”

Margarita and Angel spent the next four hours talking about things before calling it a day and heading to bed. The next day they began to research boarding schools till they found a boarding school that fit their criteria and was between their home and Aunt Carmine’s home. That just left one problem, Margarita needed to talk to her sister.

“Hi Sis,” Margarita said, after her sister answered the phone.

“Hey Sis,” Carmen said, almost shouting into the phone. “How are things up there? You don’t have another emergency do you?”

“No everything is fine up here. How are you and the Mountain girls doing?”

Carmine’s mirror image daughters (monozygotic) Sierra and Nevada were affectionately known as the mountain girls. Rodrigo and Carmine named them after the Sierra Nevada Mountains, after Carmine complained that she was giving birth to a pair of mountains while she was in delivery. Rodrigo heard that and laughingly suggested they name one Sierra and the other Nevada. Carmine threw her pillow at her laughing husband, but as she thought about it she fell in love with those names.

The two girls were the opposite of each other. Most identical twins occur when the single fertilized egg splits apart in the first day after conception. Mirror image twins are thought to occur because the egg divides after the first day, but before the end of the first week. This can bring about some interesting differences in the twins.

Sierra was right handed, Nevada was left handed. Sierra had a cute birthmark that almost looked like a dove in flight on her left shoulder, Nevada’s was on her right. Sierra likes bright colors, Nevada likes earth tones. What one girl was, the other was the opposite, except that they both were outgoing, gregarious and rambunctious.

At school they once did a routine where one girl did things like brush her hair and do her makeup, while the other girl did the mirror opposite of her. They were on either side of a window that they were treating like a mirror. Their timing was as close to perfect as any two people could get. This was filmed and the film was shown to the whole school. Everyone got a laugh out of it.

They looked so alike that their teachers often made them sign their names, to make sure they had the right one in class. So they couldn’t easily trade places with one another. They had tried to practice enough so that they could trade places, but neither was ambidextrous enough to get away with it.

“We are doing great.” Carmine said.

“I may have some good news and I was wondering if you and the girls could come down for the weekend next week?”

“Tell me you found some hunk of a man that is going to marry you and I will be there in an hour.”

“Not likely, I haven’t even been looking for one yet.”

“You can’t catch a fish, if you ain’t fishing, Sis.”

“What about you? I mean it has been four years since Rodrigo passed away.”

“I have been fishing, I just ain’t found a keeper yet. Maybe I am using the wrong bait.”

“Ain’t nothing wrong with your bait girl. You are at least as pretty as I am,” Margarita said, teasing her sister.

Margarita at thirty-eight and Carmine at thirty four both looked to be in their late twenties. Both of them had participated in beauty pageants in their late teens and both of them could stop the traffic of passing males. They were now beautiful in a more mature way.

“At least as pretty,” Carmine said laughing. “Nothing wrong with your eyes girl, either. We are both still heart breakers. I guess we can be there next Friday.”

“Just put a leash on Sierra and Nevada, you know how they tease Angel.”

“Don’t kid yourself Sis, he loves every minute of it too. You know they would never hurt him. Embarrass him yes, but never hurt him.”

“Ok then, I will see you next Friday, give everyone my love.”

“Ok Sis, kiss kiss.”
 
 
Chapter 3
 
 
Margarita was nervous and considered forgetting the whole thing. What stopped her was Angel, he was so proud of his momma.

“I have a favor to ask of you and the girls, but first I need to tell you more about my break up with Diego.”

“The girls can go join Angel if you want to talk.”

“They need to hear this to Carmine. First I need to know that nothing I say will leave this room. I signed an NDA with Diego, which is why I got everything that I wanted in the divorce. Do you guys know what a non disclosure agreement is?”

Carmine looked at her daughters and said, “A NDA or non-disclosure agreement is a legal document that says neither party of the document can reveal anything, to anyone about whatever the agreement is about. If Diego finds out that Aunt Margarita has said anything about it. She can lose her home and a lot of her money. You can trust me Sis,” Carmine said. “Girls you have to keep this secret. Can you do this, one hundred percent of the time?” Carmine was a little skeptical about her girls’ ability to keep a secret. Her girls loved to gossip as much as any other girl.

The twins turned and looked at each other, shook their heads and began.

“We won’t say a thing,” Nevada said.

“About anything we hear,” Sierra said.

“If it hurts Aunt Margarita or Angel,” Nevada finished.

Carmine and Margarita just shook their heads. Since the Mountain girls learned to talk they would finish each others sentences and make sense. Like they were different halves of the same brain.

“Ok, I have never told you this before. The reason I divorced Diego was, one day he got really mad at Angel and used him as a punching bag. He hit him with his fist really hard twice, but before he could hit him a third time, I laid him out with a frying pan. Diego was out for ten minutes, I thought I had killed him, but he got back up. I told him to get out and never come back.”

“What could poor Angel do to get Diego so mad?” Carmine asked.

“Was it because.”

“Angel wanted to be.”

“A girl?”

The adults just sat there with their mouths hanging open looking at the twins.

“Did Angel tell you that, girls?” Margarita asked.

“No he didn’t.”

“But we could tell.”

“He played dress up.”

“With us and he looked.”

“So happy when he was,”

“Dressed.”

“So is that it, Margarita?” Carmine asked.

“Yes it is, just before his sixth birthday, he came into the kitchen while Diego and I were talking and announced that he wanted to become a girl for his birthday present. Diego flipped out, I have never seen him so mad Carmine, not even during the divorce. He started yelling at Angel, I won’t tell you what he was shouting though, it was so filthy. He insisted that Angel stop all this non-sense about becoming a girl. Angel refused and all hell broke loose. I’ll be damned if I let him hurt my baby again.”

Carmine felt like she needed to shift this conversation before her sister broke down, “Ok, what was this about some good news, Sis?”

“Well, I have been offered a promotion. It involves a month long seminar. I was wondering about two things, before I accepted their offer.”

“Ok name them.”

“First can Angel spend the summer with you and the girls? Second, Angel has been seeing a therapist and she has given her approval for Angel to transition to a girl full time, if she can do so safely. Angel can be pretty girly when she tries, but I would like Sierra and Nevada to help train her to be perfect. I have tentative approval from a girl’s school to accept her as a boarder.”

The mountain girls excitedly jumped up and ran to Angel’s room.

“She’s in my room girls,” Margarita shouted, as she saw where they were headed.

The girls made a course correction and in two seconds they were out of sight.

“Well, the answer to the first part is, we would love to have Angel stay with us this summer. The answer to the second part is, well do you really have to ask? Tell me more about all of this.”

Margarita told her sister all about what had happened. After Diego left she took Angel to his Doctor. The Doctor checked Angel over and asked her about what happened. She told him about the incident and even told him what she had done. She told the Doctor not to worry about this happening again it won’t. That she would nail that bastard’s scrotum to a wall before he hurts Angel again. She then asked the doctor about finding a child therapist.

She had taken Angel to see the therapist her Doctor had recommended, where Angel bluntly told the therapist she was a girl, no matter what the doctors told her. The therapist made her tell her everything about how she felt. Angel let it all out; Margarita had never heard Angel talk as much before as then. After an hour, the therapist made an appointed to see her once a week for the next two months and made her promise not to dress as a girl unless she was somewhere safe and she was with her Mom.

After two months, the appointments came twice a month and then after a year they had appointments once a month. After six years of therapy, when Angel was twelve, she was prescribed an anti-androgen, so she would never have to suffer from testosterone poisoning.

Physically, Angel was five foot four inches tall and about a hundred and five pounds. She was taller than Sierra and Nevada by an inch and a half but was four or five pounds lighter. She didn’t have any boobs yet, but her nipples were becoming irritated, sensitive and they just starting to peak a bit. She didn’t have an Adam’s apple, but she did have a bit of a bubble butt.

Margarita then began to tell her sister about the school she wanted to send Angel to. It was a well respected girl’s school, about eighty miles from here and fifty three miles from Carmine’s home. The pictures in the brochure showed that the school was in a wooded area with vine covered buildings.

“Margarita, Angel could move in with us and go to school where the girls go.”

“I couldn’t ask that, besides can you imagine what life around your home would be like after your girls have corrupted Angel,” Margarita said laughing. “Seriously, Angel told me that she wanted to see if he could pull this off around ‘real girls’. Your girls love him so much they might overlook something. Speaking of your girls, it is too quiet back there.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Carmine said standing up. “We better go rescue Angel.”

The adults had just left the living room, when the girls came out of Margarita’s room. Margarita had dressed Angel in a lovely knee length print dress, knee high socks and some Mary Jane flats. She had done her face up in a light makeup, just a little foundation, mascara and a bubble gum pink lip gloss. She had combed her hair back and put a hair band and barrettes on her.

Sierra was pulling a worried looking Angel by her left arm and Nevada had her by her right. Angel was now dressed in Nevada’s frilly white blouse (she now wore one of Angel’s T-shirts), Sierra’s black mini-skirt (she was now wearing a pair of Angel’s pants now), panty hose and a pair of Aunt Margarita’s black strappy sandals that had a three inch heel. The girls had curled Angel’s long hair with a curling iron and had even redone Angel’s makeup. Angel now had a pinkish red lipstick, blush, eye shadow and eye liner on. The look wasn’t entirely over the top, but at least she didn’t look like a hooker. Angel was very glamorous now and looked more like a teen going out on a date.

“Go make a large pot of tea, Sis,” Carmine said. “Looks like we have a lot to talk about.”

“Right Sis.”

They all sat around the kitchen table, Margarita had made a pot of chamomile tea to relax everyone.

“Ok Sierra, Nevada, I love you both dearly, but your Aunt has been worrying so much over this that she only has one nerve left and you two are stretching it near to it’s breaking point. Please for the time being can you two answer my questions one of you at a time with a complete sentence.” Margarita asked pleadingly.

The girls looked at each other seriously and shook their heads. They then got up and hugged their aunt.

“We are sorry Aunt Margarita. It is just something we love to do. We don’t mean to cause you any pain,” Sierra said.

“It will be hard for us not to do it, but we promise not to finish each other’s sentences. At least till you are better,” Nevada added, giggling.

“Yeah, after that all bets are off,” Sierra said winking.

Margarita hugged her nieces tightly and cried on their shoulders for a bit. After she felt better the girls sat back down on either side of Angel.

“Now tell me something girls. Angel and I had worked so hard for her to look so cute, why did you two make her over.”

“You said you wanted our help to train her. Don’t get me wrong she did look cute… for a ten year old girl or a going to church girl. No teen we know would dress like that on her own,” Sierra said.

“But that is similar to how she will have to dress in a school uniform,” Margarita showed them pictures of how the girls looked at the school.

“Aunty, did you dress in a uniform for your school?” Nevada asked.

“You know that I did. You have seen pictures of me and your Mom in our uniforms at our Parochial school.”

“Did you like it or did you hate it?” Sierra asked.

“Carmine and I both hated it. We couldn’t wait to get home to change, but our parents were strict and we had to change into similar non-uniform clothes. But I see your point. Thank you.”

“Momma, you should have seen Angel. Her nipples were just like ours were last year, but she has these breast shape pads in her bra.”

“She also has a bit of a tush like ours, too.”

“What did you two do to your poor cousin, girls?”

“Well, we dressed her in my bra and blouse, her own panties, Sierra’s pantyhose and skirt, Aunt Margarita’s heels. I did her makeup while Sierra curled her hair.”

“What was wrong with her bra?” Margarita asked.

“Mine was cuter,” Nevada said, winking, “and we wanted Angel to be cuter in a teen sort of way.”

“Angel, you have been uncharacteristically silent. Are you ok, with all of this?”

“I am ok with it Mom, it was a little embarrassing when they undressed me, but as I saw that they were treating me like any other girl, I loved what they were doing, to me.”

“Where did you get that thing you used to hide your thing?” Sierra asked.

“Mom found a lady who made the breast forms for me and she made the other bits for me too. The breast forms can be glued on just like the other bit.”

“Tell me girls why did you strip your cousin. Was it to torment him?”

“No Mom, if she is going to live in a dorm, she’ll have to get use to seeing and being in various states of undress around other girls,” Sierra said. “It will be like summer camp right?”

“Tell us about the school Aunt Margarita,” Nevada asked.

“Well there is this school about an hour from where you live. They have tentatively approved of her. The girls live in cottages of sixteen girls with four dorm rooms. The headmistress wants her to spend a week there in July for evaluation and testing. She also wants to see how well Angel has adapted to being a girl. If Angel can’t pass as a girl under her scrutiny then she can’t attend. The school has several transgendered girls already there you see. Nobody knows who they are except the headmistress, the nursing staff and the house mothers. All of them are sworn to secrecy. So you see why Angel must be as good a girl as she can be. If she doesn’t pass as a girl, Angel has agreed to delay her transition.”

“Don’t worry, Aunt Margarita. After we get through with her, nobody will know she isn’t a girl,” Sierra confidently stated. “We need to do some shopping though; all of her clothes are just too cutesy. She looks she grew up in a Nunery, wearing them.”

“Well we can go shopping tomorrow I guess. We have to wait till after eleven though, I am expecting a call from the headmistress tomorrow morning.” Margarita said. “Would you like that, Angel.”

“Sure it sounds like fun, as long as we don’t shop near here. I still need to finish out this semester at middle school.”

“How much school do you have left?” Sierra asked.

“I have three more weeks; Mom contacted the principal and told him that she had to go out of town for an extended period of time, starting on the thirty-first. My grades are so good, that he arranged for me to test early. I will need to come to your home Aunt Carmine on the thirtieth of May so Mom can head to New York on the thirty-first.”

“Damn, we will still be in school through the 9 th of June.” Sierra complained.

“Watch your language young lady, your not to big to feel my hair brush on your backside.”

“Yes Mom,”

“Well, I hate to break this up, but if we are going shopping tomorrow we need to get to bed,” Margarita said.

After a round of hugs and kisses Sierra and Nevada headed to their room, Angel into hers and Carmine followed her sister into her room.

Angel undressed down to her panties and her bra. She left her small breastforms in her bra and dressed in her nightshirt; it was one of those long oversized T-shirts that extended to her knees. She then crawled into her bed. She was just about asleep when she heard her door open and close. The twins crawled into her bed and sandwiched the girl. Warm and comfy the three of them drifted off to sleep.
 
 
Chapter 4
 
 
Angel woke up Saturday at about 5:45 in the morning. Sandwiched between the twins she found the only way to get out of bed was to work her way out the foot of the bed. She looked back at the girls as they scooted back together in the middle. Angel got a bra and panties out of her dresser and headed to the bathroom. She knew that her homes hot water heater was going to get a good workout today with five girls wanting to take baths.

Angel decided to just take a quick shower after taking care of her other business. She was just drying off when Sierra rushed into the bathroom. She was moving quickly and clearly in some discomfort. Angel held the towel up to cover her flat chest.

“Sorry Angel, I just couldn’t wait.”

“That’s alright I know the feeling.”

Angel dressed in her bra and panties. Just as she was getting ready to leave Nevada came in doing the potty dance. She was frustrated that Sierra still sat on the toilet.

“Hurry, sis I need to go.”

Sierra popped up, undressed and jumped into the shower, while Nevada dropped her panties, pulled up her nightie and plopped down on the throne. Angel wrapped her robe around her and headed to her room. Just as she entered her room, she heard Sierra shriek. Maybe she should have warned Sierra about the cold water pressure drop when the toilet was flushed.
 
 
Carmine and Margarita were already in the kitchen and making breakfast, when Angel came in.

“Morning Mom, morning Aunt Carmine.”

Angel had dressed in a baby blue cotton blouse, nude pantyhose, half slip, a lightweight cotton skirt in dark blue and a pair of white and pink Nike walking shoes.

“You look nice today,” Aunt Carmine said.

“Thank you, although I am not sure the twins will approve.”

“You’re probably right, but that doesn’t change a thing.”

Minutes later the twins followed the smell of cooking to the kitchen.

“Morning Mom, Aunty and Angel.” The twins said simultaneously.

They too took time to dress. Sierra was dressed in a brilliant yellow and orange print blouse and red mini skirt, Nevada in a light brown tank and tan slacks. Both wore the same running shoes.

Margarita began putting plates of food on the table, assisted by Carmine. The girls sat at the table and after blessing the food, they began to eat.

“So Angel, what is it like being a girl in a boys body?” Sierra asked.

“It is kind of hard to put into words, but picture this. You and Nevada fuss and fight. I have seen it, but you really love each other right.”

“Well… yes, what’s your point?”

“Ok, let say you wake up tomorrow and couldn’t find Nevada anywhere. You ask your Mom and Aunt Margarita where Nevada is and they say “You know where Nevada is, it’s between Arizona, California and Utah. You can’t convince anyone that you have a twin sister, Nevada.”

“Oh wow, I would go crazy. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

“Right. It’s like I look in a mirror before going to school as a boy and I can’t see myself. I see what I would look like as a guy and I don’t like it. When I get home and I can dress like a girl, then and only then can I see what my heart tells me is true. I feel like life has cheated me and is playing tricks with me. I don’t feel real or complete. I know I have to be Angel the boy for right now, because of people like my father, but some day I hope to look and feel like you two.”

“I can sort of see what you are going through Angel. I guess Sierra and I have known in our hearts that you were really a girl,” Nevada said. “I just wish we could help you more, you know like wave a magic wand and make you a girl.”

“Thank you, you don’t know how many times I have wished for that to just happen, but this is the real world.”

They all finished breakfast and their mothers went to get dressed. Nevada cleared the table and set about cleaning the kitchen while Angel washed the dishes and Sierra dried and put them up in the cabinets.

When they finished they asked Angel to play for them. She went to her room and brought out her classical guitar. The girls had brought out a kitchen stool for her to sit on while she played. She spent a couple of minutes tuning the guitar. She cradled the guitar with the neck up by her shoulder, closed her eyes and began to warm up by playing some adlibbed Flamenco. When she got into the flow of the music, she began to play ‘La Malagueá±a’. The girls began to Tango when Angel played ‘La Cumparsita’. Angel just let the music carry her away as she kept on playing and smiling. Nevada danced the male lead and Sierra danced the ladies part. The girls were pretty fair dancers for their age. Both of their Mom’s insisted that they learn about their heritage. Carmine and Margarita applauded as Angel and the girls finished.

Angel didn’t miss a beat and went into playing ‘Mediterranean Beauty’, the girls took to dancing some salsa. Sierra began to lead and Nevada to the girl’s part. Angel thought her sisters were pretty good and they danced well to the music even though it wasn’t strictly salsa music. She would have loved to see the twins in long flouncy skirts and their Flamenco shoes. There wouldn’t be much noise on the carpet they had in this part of the house, but their shoes were just so beautiful. Nevada and Sierra really got into the music and they had some really sexy hip moves. Angel went right into ‘Iluciones’. The girls again switched roles.

Angel the boy, had a Flamenco costume too, a really nice ornate jacket, pants and boots, but she really wished she could dress like her cousins. She had worn her Mom’s outfit before but it really didn’t fit well and didn’t look to good on her.

Angel switched styles after finishing her last piece of music. She played ‘Classical Gas’ and the girls sat down to listen. She wasn’t quite a Mistress of the guitar yet, but she was a very advanced student. She then played ‘Black Magic Woman’, ’Op.60, No.7’, ‘Moonlight Sonata’ and finished with ‘Minuet in G’.

The guitar had belonged to her Grandfather at least till arthritis took his hands. He and five or six of his friends would come over and teach Angel how to play. She usually got at least four lessons a month from these men ever since she was eleven and had several video lessons sets. She would also spend an hour a day playing without being told too by her Mom. The guitar she played was quite old, but had a wonderful sound like no other guitar she had ever heard.

When she finished she bowed and received as thunderous an applause as four people can give, which considering the twins was quite loud. She loosened all the strings, wiped all the finger and hand prints off and carefully put the guitar back in its case. She then took her guitar back to her room.

Back in the living room the girls were talking about what they were going to do. Angel had to live and go to school three more weeks as a boy, so they could do nothing that could lead to an embarrassment. Angel joined in with some of her own ideas.

While they were talking the phone rang.

“Hello,” Margarita answered.

“Hello, this is Ethel Beckman at Sarah Adams’ Academy for Girls.”

“Hello, Miss Beckman, I have been expecting your call.”

“Well have you made a decision Mrs. Marquez?”

“Yes we have. If you accept her, we intend to have Angel attend the Academy.”

“That is great news, then. As we have discussed before we would like Angel to spend a week with us for testing, beginning the Monday the eight of July.”

“We can do that, Angel will be spending the summer with her Aunt and cousins. I can pick her up and bring her by there.”

“Her cousins?’

“Yes, my sister’s daughters, Sierra and Nevada.”

“How old are they?

“They are twelve and will be thirteen in August.”

“Oh wonderful, can they come too?”

“You’ll have to ask my sister, they just happen to be here now.”

“Please do hand her the phone.”

“Hello, I am Carmine Santiago.”

“Hello, I am Ethel Beckman, I am the Administrator/Headmistress at Sarah Adams’ Academy for Girls. We are seriously considering admitting Angel to our school. I know all about Angel so don’t feel like you have to hide anything from me. I was wondering if your daughters would be able to join Angel. We have asked that Angel come down for the week beginning July 8 th. In this evaluation it is important that we see how well Angel gets along with other girls. As a bonus we will test the girls and give our opinion on their educational development too.”

“I couldn’t afford the tuition to send my girls there, but I would like to see how well they are academically.”

“The testing will be on us as is Angel’s academic evaluation.”

“Just a second,” Carmine said. She put her hand over the receiver and turned to her daughters. “Girls would you two like to spend a week with Angel in July at the school she may be going too?”

The girls almost shouted, “Yes,” together.

“I should warn you it means you will be taking Academic tests along side of Angel.”

“Yuck,” came the twins reply.

“If you do this, I will expect you to do your best on all the tests they give you.

The girls looked at each other and then at Angel, and said. “Alright Mom.”

Carmine took her hand off of the receiver and replied, “They would love to.”

“They will need five white blouses short or long sleeved no sleeveless, five knee length skirts, flats or low heels and their exercise kits. They can wear comfortable clothes nothing too revealing, away from the academic quad. Angel will be excused from PE but with your permission we will test your daughters physically as well.”

“I would like that,”

“Ok, let me talk to Mrs. Marquez,”

“Alright I am back.”

“I see by her application that Angel plays the guitar?”

“Yes she plays the classical guitar and does a pretty credible job of it.”

“Good, get her to make a playlist with ten of her best pieces of music and send us a list and have her bring her guitar with her. She should make it as eclectic as possible to show off her talent.”

“I will have her do that,” Margarita then gave Mrs. Beckman, her cell phone number and Carmine’s home and cell phone numbers.

Margarita hung up and said with a wicked grin on her face, “Alright girls, let’s go shopping.”
 
 
Chapter 5
 
 
Sierra and Nevada dragged Angel to the bathroom. All three girls put on lip gloss and mascara. Angel found out that Carmine didn’t let her girls go out made up like they had done her up last night. The twins watched as Angel did hers. It was apparent to them that she had done this before.

“Mom doesn’t let us go out all made up right now, except for special occasions. She can be a bit of a drag at times,” Sierra said.

“Yeah, she doesn’t think we are old enough to wear it all the time the way we like it. She does buy us makeup though so we can practice.”

“And she bought a set of DVD’s that teach us to use makeup. We can use them when you come visit us Angel.”

“Yeah we have to be thirteen at least before we go out with mascara and lipstick, fifteen before we get into foundation, powder, blush and a little eyeshadow and seventeen before we do the smoky eyes thing. Like that is going to happen a lot earlier than she thinks,” Nevada said giggling.

“Just don’t let me be the reason you two get into trouble,” Angel said. She had he hands on her hips and almost looked liked their mother in lecture mode.

The twins couldn’t help but to begin giggling, “Lighten up Angel, this is all for your benefit girl,” Nevada said.

“And yours too I see,” Angel said joining her cousins in giggling.

The troop headed into the garage to Aunt Margarita’s car. They drove cross town to West View Mall. It was bigger and farther away from Angel’s school.

At the mall Angel got a lesson in teen fashion. They first hit the lingerie section. Angel already knew her measurements and sizes; her Mom had taught her just how important that was for a girl. The only plain underwear the twins let her look at, were the T-shirt bras. Angel had to try on all the bras they selected. Everything else was an explosion of colors, silks, satins and lace.

Angel had to admit that she liked the feel of this lingerie better than the cotton she was use to wearing around home, although the underwires in the bras the twins liked, would take some getting use to. The bras seemed to fit a little tighter and made her A cup forms look bigger. Margarita did insist on a few padded briefs that accented Angel’s bubble butt a bit. She wore one of the padded briefs out of the store and liked the way they made her hips look.

The next two hours the girls looked at tops, and bottoms, finding colors and styles that suited Angel. They looked at hundreds of dresses, blouses, skirts, tops, shorts, jeans and slacks. The twins made Angel pick out fashionable clothes that could be easily matched with other things. Angel had a good eye for color, but her cousins helped her make choices that a teenage girl would make. Still she insisted that the mini’s she got were a little longer than the ones the twins liked. The twins choose one of the just below mid thigh skirts and a frillier blouse for Angel to wear.

Margarita and Carmine then led the girls to a part of the store that displayed school uniforms. The twins groaned, when all three of them were told select a half dozen various colored knee length skirts, matched with plain white long and short sleeved blouses. They didn’t look bad when they came out of the dressing room, and they did make the uniforms look good, but they were still less than thrilled.

“If you are going to stay at the school with Angel you have to wear what the others are wearing,” Carmine told them, “and it won’t hurt you two to wear some longer skirts, now and then. You also need to get some PE clothes.”

The twins looked a little crossly at Angel, but when she started to wilt under their gaze, they apologized to her.

Angel was then taken to several shoe stores. The twins made Angel pick shoes that went with the clothes they had bought. Most of the shoes she already owned would go with most of the things she bought. They were all flats though, so the girls had her concentrate on low heel and high heel pumps. Having tried her mother’s heels on, she knew she could handle them. Margarita though put her foot down on any heel that was higher than three inches or so. Still she now had six pair of heels, one pair of calf high, heeled boots and three purses to go with her shoes and clothes. She wore a pair of black patent leather short heeled pumps and she carried her black leather Hobo purse out of the store.

Next on the twins list was jewelry, they hit several jewelry stores whose merchandise leaned toward the teenaged girl. Angel didn’t have time to see everything her cousins picked out, but the girls selected bangles, bracelets, necklaces, metal belts, scarves, hair pins, combs, barrettes, and earrings. Angel didn’t have pierced ears yet but from what she saw, that was just a temporary situation.

Then on their way out of the store, they spotted a sign outside of a major department store announcing that the Estee Lauder counter had a special on makeup kits for teens and a complimentary makeover with the purchase of the kits. Margarita saw that the kits were only seventy-five dollars and there had to be at least three hundred dollars of cosmetics inside the kit and a very nice case to boot. She looked over the contents, everything in the kit was top of the line in quality and the colors suited to teens thirteen to eighteen. They had various kits that suited from fair skin to darker skins.

“Girls, I will treat each of you to a kit and a makeover,” Margarita offered.

The girls had to stand in line, but not for too long. Estee Lauder had extra technicians on to handle the expected flood of teens. While some technicians worked on the girls, others would talk to the mothers. One lady approached Margarita and Carmine.

“Hi I am Janice,”

“I am Margarita and this is my sister Carmine.”

“Which girls are yours?”

“The one in that seat is Angel, my daughter, while the one seated there and the one next in line are Carmine’s.”

“Oh twins, how cute?”

“That’s them cute and twice as hard to handle,” Carmine interjected.

“Yes but you love them, don’t ya.”

“Yes, I just wish that they would settle down a bit though.”

“How can you sell your cosmetics at or below cost?” Margarita asked.

“We can only do that in these promotions. Most teenaged girls buy their makeup at drug stores or grocery stores and such. They wind up with inferior cosmetics, in shades and tones that doesn’t really fit their skin tones well and they don’t really look their best wearing them. We at Estee Lauder know the girls can do better than those brands. We want teens to try and continue to buy our brand. We know that they will see and feel the difference in quality.”

Margarita could only smile as she saw Angel transformed into a lovely young lady by the makeover. She had always been cute and very pretty, now she was becoming gorgeous. The makeover was a little bit much for a teenager, but still tastefully done. The twins even at twelve were both tens, they jut ate up what the technicians were doing to them. They paid better attention to the technicians than Angel who just relaxed, sat back and enjoyed the experience.

After the girls were finished Aunt Margarita bought three cosmetic kits. The two adults had to pry the girls away from the mirrors as they were admiring themselves and each other. They looked closely at what the technicians had done and pointed out the small things that made big differences to their overall looks.

“Girls, we need to eat and get home,” Margarita said.

The twins took out the lipsticks and compacts that contained the pressed powder that was used on them and put them in their purses. Sierra suggested that Angel do the same, so that they could repair their faces after eating.

At the car the girls were afraid that the trunk wouldn’t be big enough for everything and in fact it wasn’t, but they were able to get the girls in the back seat and stack the rest of the purchases they made on their laps.

“Looks like we will have to make the trip home before we go eat,” Carmine said.

“Yes, there is no doubt about that.” Margarita said.
 
 
Chapter 6
 
 
When Margarita turned onto their street, she looked towards her home and got excited. “Oh look, there is Uncle Javier.”

Uncle Javier Ramos was sitting on the tailgate of his pickup, playing his guitar. He and four other men all came over to give Angel guitar lessons at various times. He taught Spanish and Flamenco guitar along with his brother Rolando Ramos and Fernando Ramos, Angel’s grandfather. Fernando couldn’t play anymore as he suffered from arthritis in his hands, but he could be quite a loving taskmaster. Their close friends Pedro Aguilar, and Ricky Montez taught Angel jazz, classical guitar and rock. Sometimes other friends of theirs would drop by for the odd lesson. Angel rarely had fewer than four lessons a month and many months upwards of eight lessons. Angel loved all the men that taught her and she worked hard for them.

Margarita parked next to her Uncle and they all started to pile out when she realized that Angel was still in girl mode. The twins and her sister ran up to Uncle Javier to get their hugs and kisses. Angel had followed everyone and it wasn’t till she reached out to her Uncle that she felt she had screwed up.

Uncle Javier recognized Angel and his brows arched in surprise and his mouth hung open a bit, but he still hugged Angel. He had known for quite a while that Angel was different, but when he saw her this way he began to understand. Angel looked so much like Fernando’s Maria, even more so than Margarita, it almost brought tears to his eyes.

“Angel que usted es tarde para su lecciá³n (Angel you are late for your lesson.)” Javier said in Spanish.

“El Tá­o arrepentido Javier, pero usted no llamá³ (Sorry Uncle Javier, but you didn’t call.)”

“Sá­ perdá³n, yo no fui cierto que podrá­a estar aquá­ hasta hace dos horas. Llamé y nadie estuvo en casa. Esperé que usted consiguiera aquá­ antes de demasiado tarde. Vaya consá­gale guitarra. (Yes I am sorry, I wasn’t certain that I could be here till two hours ago. I called and nobody was home. I hoped that you would get here before too late. Go get you guitar.)”

Angel ran into the house and her room, she never questioned any of the old men who taught her to play the guitar. She had been afraid that if she didn’t do what they said, when they said it, that they would stop teaching her to make such beautiful music.

“Tá­o Javier (Uncle Javier),” Margarita tried to explain as they all walked into their home.

“Usted no tiene que explicar mi Niá±a. Adivino que yo siempre he sabido que Angel fue diferente. No tenga miedo que ella sigue siendo la familia. (You don’t have to explain mi Niá±a. I guess I have always known that Angel was different. Don’t be afraid she is still family.)”

Margarita had been afraid of the families’ reaction to Angel and she was happy that her uncle had been so accepting.

“ ¿Qué tal el resto de la familia, el Tá­o Javier? (What about the rest of the family, Uncle Javier?)”

“Usted permite que má­ preocupar acerca de la familia.  ¿Estará¡ ella como este todo el tiempo ahora? (You let me worry about the family. Will she be like this all the time now?)”

“Ningáºn Angel terminará¡ este aá±o escolar como un chico y entonces ella comenzará¡ en la escuela de una chica privada esta caá­da. Ella tiene mucho en aprender acerca de es una chica. (No Angel will finish this school year as a boy and then she will start at a private girl’s school this fall. She has a lot to learn about being a girl.)”

“Tal vez no tanto. Ella parecerá¡ como esto para todas sus lecciones de ahora en adelante, Margarita, (Maybe not so much. She will appear like this for all of her lessons from now on, Margarita,)” Javier stated with authority.

Margarita knew that when the old men of her family stated something like that, that it was law to the family members. She still felt some trepidation, but maybe she could see some hope at the same time.

Uncle Javier sat across from Angel and they got right into her lessons. He always pushed her to play better, all of her teachers did. They had all agreed that Angel could be a great guitarist. They worked hard for almost two hours.

Angel was famished and her stomach growled that she was hungry. She had been working so hard that she didn’t realize that had pizza arrived.

Uncle Javier made Angel hug him after she carefully wiped her hand prints off the guitar, detune it to relieve the pressure on the neck, put it in its case and took the case to her room. That was the only pay, the old men who taught her, required for their work.

Her Uncle sat at the table with the rest of the family and ate with all his nieces. Angel thought it was odd that he didn’t say anything about the way she was dressed, but at the same time he was treating her no differently than he was treating Sierra or Nevada.

Angel made herself a salad with a ranch dressing her Mom made. The dressing had a zing that most ranch dressings didn’t have. Margarita used low fat buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour cream, crushed garlic, minced onions, crushed dried tomatos, fresh bacon she fried and choped into little bits, salt, fresh ground pepper, minced fresh cilantro and chipotle peppers chopped fine. She had a bread stick with the salad and then a couple of slices from the two large pizzas before she was filled up.

Uncle Javier, Margarita, and Carmine shared a bottle of Abadia Retuerta Rivola, while the girls drank diet cokes. They talked about the family sharing the latest news that they knew. There were about eighty extended family members still alive between the U.S., Spain and various places about the globe. Javier seemed to know of all of them. His memory fascinated the young girls as he rattled off what he knew and asked his niece’s about what he didn’t know. Angel, Sierra and Nevada were able to keep up with most of the conversation which was in Spanish, but the rapid pace of the discussion lost them at places.

It was getting late when Javier made his excuses to leave. Margarita and Carmine tried to convince him to stay the night, but Javier said he had things to do. He hugged and kissed them all on the cheeks. To Angel he said in Spanish, “Usted es una chica muy bonita, Angel. Sonrisa y mantenga la cabeza en alto. Nunca se avergá¼enza de quién es usted. Usted practica esas clases de guitarras. (You are a very pretty girl, Angel. Smile and hold your head up high. Never be ashamed of who you are. You practice those guitar lessons.”) Javier playfully spanked her on her bottom.

Angel screeched and pretended to be frightened, but she broke into a fit of giggles and gave her Uncle another hug. Angel whispered into his ear, “Gracias Tá­o Javier, Te amo (Thank you Uncle Javier, I love you).”
Javier turned away before a tear formed in his eye and waved goodbye before getting into his truck.
 
 
Chapter 7
 
 
The last three weeks of May seemed to take forever. Angel had lessons from Uncle Rolando, Pedro Aguilar and her grandfather. She did as Uncle Javier had instructed her and dressed in a skirt and blouse for her lessons. Nobody said anything about the change in Angel.

She went to school in the morning as Angle Luis Marquez and changed into Angel Louisa at home. She was much happier since her Uncle had found out about her and had accepted her. She had been afraid that they would be like her Father, and beat on her.

Javier, Rolando and Fernando taught her Spanish, Flamenco and while Pedro and Ricky taught her classical guitar, their kind of rock albeit adapted for the classical guitar. Because of her teachers, the music she liked was far different than the average teen. She knew the contemporary groups and she knew enough about the guitar to play much of their music, but she felt that she did not have the time nor did she have the inclination to do so.

The thing that Margarita and Angel found confusing was the mail they received beginning the second week after she had been found out. Many members of the various branches of her family had taken time to stop and write them, addressing the letters Margarita and her daughter Angel.

The letters made no big deal of Angel being a girl now. They shared the latest family gossip and news. Some letters included pictures and requested pictures from them. They obviously wanted to see what Angel looked like as a girl. A couple of the family branches that they had been fairly close too, were conspicuously absent in all the letters. Margarita and Angel didn’t have to try too hard to figure out why. Margarita did make a mental note though to make contact with them before drawing any conclusions.

They did receive two letters that requested that Margarita and Angel not contact them in any manner. At least the letters they sent were civil about it. Uncle Javier must have put the fear of Javier in them. Out of the eighteen branches of the Ramos family tree two responded negatively and they weren’t sure about three.

The last week of May Angel was pulled out of her regular classes and began her testing. Her tests were significantly harder than her fellow students tests would be. Her teachers were confident that Angel would do well despite the difficulty of the tests.

The last week Angel also packed to go to visit Aunt Carmen for the summer and to bag Luis’s clothes till Thursday there was only one set of boy’s clothes in the drawers and closet.

Friday at school there were no tests for Angel. She and her Mom met one last time with all of her teachers, to get her grades and for her teachers to say goodbye to Angel Luis. Angel was flabbergasted at getting all A’s. She thought for sure her grades after the finals would be B’s and C’s. She had not finished any of the tests in the allotted time and she knew she didn’t answer some of the questions correctly. That is until the teachers explained what they did, she had been given a test similar to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). They didn’t want her to be able to tell other students what was on the tests and they wanted to see if she was as good as they thought she was. She had already earned her A’s by her homework, class work, pop quizzes and mid-term tests.

Angel scored higher in Math, Geography, Spanish and History scoring in the top five percentiles for her for a high school student. In English, Science and Government she scored in the top ten percentiles. If middle school had graded on a curve, Angel would have been very much hated by her fellow students. If she had been taking the SAT test, they told her, her score would have been at least 1500 out of 1600.

Angel left her school right before lunch that day. Margarita asked her if she wanted to go out to eat or change clothes first. Angel chose to change clothes. They took all the boys clothes with them and dropped them off at Goodwill. After they ate they packed Angel up for the summer and headed to Aunt Carmine’s place.

---

 
To Be Continued...