Tara sat book in hand, though for the moment forgotten, watching out the kitchen window, her two children playing in the yard. It was a bright sunny day in late July and the twins were enjoying the heat of the Michigan sun. Tara's two children were alike in many ways often being mistaken as identical twins. While certainly an easy mistake to make, Tara herself often had difficulty believing how similar they were, almost everyone who knew them for any length of time knew that that just simply couldn’t be the case. Jack was as alike to Macy as could be was in fact male, definitely not a boyish boy but one nonetheless and Macy his twin was a girl but for all that, they were often indistinguishable as alike as any two people ever could be. As thick as thieves and often remarked by others as inseparable the twins did everything together, liked and did the same things. There constant companionship made it even more difficult to tell them apart even for their parents which seemed to cause the twins endless amusement. From the moment they were able to dress themselves the hijinks had started, even to this day they remained still very close to identical both had long flowing gold locks that came down to the small of their backs and was immaculately groomed. For almost as long as they had been causing confusion both had decided they wanted long hair, Tara had spent countless hours teaching them how to care for their hair and getting them both into hair care routines. Consequently, neither twin’s hair was ever greasy or unkept but shone in the sunlight and fluffy. For sports which both seemed to enjoy, excelling at most sports because of their athletic build, were equally prone to either put their hair up in a high ponytail or braid it into one long braid with could they be tucked inside a Shirt or rolled up under a cap.

Jack only currently distinguishable from Macy by his light blue t-shirt, Macy was wearing a similar one in light purple, was trying to persuade Macy to play some game or other with him, Tara from this vantage point couldn’t be sure what, Macy seemed disinterested in the idea. Tina chuckled to herself, disagreements between them seldom seemed to occur between them and were usually quickly settled she had no doubt this one would be as well. In a way, while it was probably the wrong reaction for a parent to have Tara was sometimes glad to see minor disagreements like this, with the united front the twins often displayed it was comforting to know they still disagreed like any other siblings. Tara settled back down to reading her book again, unlike her children, she preferred the cool of the indoors to the heat of the outdoors.

*********************

Only three days later, to all three equally sunny, Tara had arranged to go shopping with her friend Bethany. Bethany and Tara had known each other for many years, having met at university quickly becoming best friends consequently, they had thought it no small wonder when, after having children at around the same time, at the age of four their two daughters had become best friends. The two women found themselves shrugging it off and even becoming better friends because of it, they had drifted apart somewhat over the intervening years. Sharing a mutual love of shopping they often found that their get-togethers revolved around that love. They often spent countless hours shopping, mostly windows shopping and it gave them lots of time to converse. Since they both had daughters that were about the same age and size, when shopping, they had developed a system whereby if one of them saw something that would look good for either of their children they would direct the other's attention towards it.

This time June had directed Tara over to a blue sweater positively enthusing that it would look so pretty on Macy and that Tara simply had to get it for her, looking at it Tara had to agree. She considered the cut and the fabric for a moment, light but not insubstantial, the top was not obviously feminine, Tara grabbed two off the rail.
"It's unisex, enough." She said by way of a simple explanation.
June let out a slightly bewildered laugh.
"Do they still dress identically?”
For large swaths of their childhood, Jack and Macy had found immense pleasure in trying to trick all the of adults around them, by dressing either identically or as each other.
"Yes, but not as often." Tara replied with a slight giggle.
"Is Phillip…" June began to ask, Phillip was Tara's husband and Jack, Macy's father, but was cut of midsentence by Tara.
“Still blissfully unaware that any such thing carried on after the age of four yes, not that he seems to be home long enough for that to be an issue recently."

June gave her friend a sympathetic hug. She, Tara, and to a lesser extent several of their friends had taken great pains in the past to hide the twin's dress up from Phillip. Phillip was a manly kind of man who would be unlikely to react well to that kind of thing especially when it came to his son.
"Is he still working out of the state then?" June asked not wanting to further upset her friend but undeniably curious.
“Yeah, he was working in Texas inspecting some building project or other, he was supposed to be back by now, in fact, two days ago, but he rang me several days back telling me he had just been offered this massive oversight role in by a major construction company in Canada. Before I could even begin to respond he told me that he had already accepted it. I don't even know when he will be back." Tara responded bitterly.
Jane expressed her indignation and anger at Tara's husband on her friend’s behalf as well as her righteous frustration at his thoughtless actions while also desperately trying to calm her friend down. Eventually, they moved on to another clothes shop once emotions at had settled down somewhat.

"I don't know how the twins do it." Jane almost screeched in dismay as Tara showed her a recent picture of the two of them dressed in identical matching outfits only a week or two before. If their own mother had not told her which was which, June was fairly sure she would not have been able to tell one apart from the other, they even smiled identically.
Tara just giggled with a wry smile twinging her lips, she was used to her children’s antics by now even though it was sometimes difficult even for her to remember that one was her son and the other her daughter, especially when looking at a picture like that one where Jack looked for all the world like he was her daughter.
"I think that they may be making the most of it while they can, if Mary grows anymore up top it will soon become impossible not to be able to tell the difference." June giggled readily agreeing with her friend.

"Look at that." June, only just recovered from her giggling fit, was already directing Tara towards the rack of sports tops that had caught her interest. Only slightly cropped the tops were a lightweight wicking material that could either be worn as an outer or underlayer. Feeling the material Tara couldn't help but agree with June that they would be perfect for the girls. Both Bethany and Mary intended to do cheerleading next academic year and such tops would be perfect for when they exercised. Both women in agreement they each got their respective daughters multiple such tops. The tops came in four colours blue, light green, red, and pink, so Tara resolved to get two of each colour knowing her daughter she suspected that Macy would love the colour variations.

***************

"Come on Jack, it will be fun, and you have got to admit that, that top is really cute." Mary begged her twin. They were getting ready for a neighborhood BBQ party; a yearly event had been a staple of the neighbourhood for much of their lives and had a fun party atmosphere. The event that occurred at least once but depending on the year sometimes occurred more than once was always well attended drawing families together to enjoy the festive summer spirit. The tradition had started when Jack and Macy were little children with their parents inviting a few friends and neighbours to their not-insubstantial property for a BBQ during the summer. It had only grown from there both in terms of scope and guest list, almost everyone who lived close by were coming. As the children of the host, most of the guests knew Jack and Macy, they were far from the only children in the area though, and since many of the parents at the twin’s school were friends with Tara, most of Jack and Macy's friends would be going, something that was made even more likely as it was the first such BBQ of the year.

It was this extensive guest list that was giving Jack pause, while he was happy to be mistaken for his sister by most people, this would be a lot more people all at once than usual. Not to mention, that Jack, while never appearing even to his friends as much of a boy, had always taken pains to never appear girly in front of them and if he did this, he would most definitely be breaking that rule. There was no mixing that top up as a boy’s top, Macy was right though, Jack reflected the top really was pretty and he told Macy this.
“I know right," She beamed. " Mom got me this one a few weeks ago, I don't think she realised I already had one just like it, anyway it's perfect for this."
"Macy," Jack tried again, almost whining now. "I can't wear it, you definitely should, you will look great in it, I can’t though, it’s clearly a girl’s shirt." This at least was true, the shirt in question was more of a blouse with little sequence on the arms. I know, that's why it's perfect for this, we both wear boy’s jeans and this top with our hair lose. It will confuse everyone; no-one will know which is which. It will be so fun Jack looked at the top again, indecision evident in his eyes, he really wanted to do this and the shirt was so cute but he couldn’t get over the issue of all his friends seeing him like that. Jack knew they would not understand, and their potential reactions worried him greatly.
"Please Jack, for me. " His sister begged and reluctantly Jack found himself agreeing wondering what he had just agreed to.
“Great, this is perfect, we are going to look totes adorbs!” Macy screeched, grinning wildly she was practically jumping up and down with excitement at Jacks's acquiescence.

The party was already in full swing as Jack and Macy made their way down in their identical outfits. Bethany's Dad was substituting for Phillip who not even a full day before the event had finally called to tell his wife that he couldn't possibly get back for something as unimportant as this after only just taking over this latest project. Bethany's Dad therefore was leading the four Man, four grills BBQing effort.

Jack and Macy walked around conversing with several adults, neighbours they occasionally spoke to and other such individuals, all of whom tried to size the two up wondering which of but the two was which. After the fourth such Interaction, Macy pulled Jack aside.
“Lighten up, stop being so self-conscious, you look pretty or handsome or whatever. Just act normally, the top looks good on you own it.” She told him firmly, walking around, talking to people they knew Macy had begun to notice his stiffness and slightly pained expression.
Nodding Jack tried to do exactly that, loosening his shoulders and trying to relax a little.

As Jack was relaxing his shoulders and posture trying to destress, Bethany came racing up. She had the same athletic build as Macy but was slightly taller with than either Jack or Mary, who were about the same height, she also had rounder checks and short brown hair.
“Hi Macy, Jack." Her eyes swing between them unsure who to rest on, after a few initial seconds of indecision she settled on a rather comical head swivel double take.
“Hi Bethany." They answered in unison, causing a stifled chuckle.
"Don’t do that, you know it freaks me out, it’s like some horror movie scene. Come on, I have Ellie, Victoria, and Leah with me come and sit with us.” Bethany didn't wait for an answer before turning round and walking off, Mary and Jack quickly followed her.

Ellie was a short, quiet girl with dark blonde hair, she never said much but very much held the friendship group together. Victoria was much less meek, an opinionated redhead a lot taller than any of the other girls, she was never afraid to voice her opinion on something, a trait that more often than not got both herself and her friends in trouble. Leah was a blacks haired girl who was also talker than Macy, best friends with Victoria she spent most of her time trying to mediate between the opinionated redhead and the rest of the group. All three were good friends of Macy and all three were hoping to do cheerleading next year alongside Mary.

After studying the pair for a few minutes, they begged Jack and Macy to tell them which one of them was which. "Can you not guess." Jack asked with a wink suddenly having fun with this.
"Yeah, you're Macy, right." Grace stated with total conviction.
“Ha, no moron it’s the other way around," Leah looked to Bethany who had known Macy longest.
Bethany shrugged non-committal, lacking conviction on either answer.
“Leah's right, " Macy seeing their impasse, put them out of their misery. "Could you seriously not tell?"
"You look pretty much identical." Leah admitted, Bethany nodded vigorously.
"It's pretty hard to tell you apart Macy, even when you’re not both trying to make it difficult.” Victoria opined in Macy’s direction before wincing as she realised what she had just said.
“Sorry Jack." Victoria immediately apologised realising that Jack as a boy might find it insulting and emasculating to be continuously mistaken for a girl even when he was not attempting to look like one. Looking over at the twin she now knew to be Jack, her brain rebelling slightly at that knowledge as right now he looked every bit a girl from his body language to his top, and not just any girl but one of if not the prettiest girls Victoria had seen. Was that a slight lip gloss he was wearing Victoria wondered silently.
Jack blushed in the cutest way Victoria had ever seen, as he mumbled something about it being ok.

They all sat down together, and it took seconds before the girls were excitedly chatting together with lots of gesticulating. While the girls were very welcoming to Jack pulling him into their conversation, he could not help but feel like a fraud siting there in a girly top looking to all the world like one of these girls. He was a guy, wasn't he, he shouldn't like this, should he?

Jack got up and made as its to leave the group, they were Macy's friends really, he knew they were only really tolerating his presence for Macy's sake so he figured he would leave them to talk. He had only gotten a handful of paces before Victoria with her much longer legs was in front of him, towering over him and baring his way.
“Just where do you think you’re going, like that?” Victoria asked him a fierce protective note in her voice, she led Jack back to sit with the girls again, this time making sure she positioned herself next to him.

Victoria had never noticed Macy's twin brother before, he had a tendency to blend into the background as did Macy, both were quieter than a lot of other people and therefore were easily overlooked. Now sitting beside them, Victoria had to admit he was sort of hot especially looking all cute in that little outfit. When Jack had moved and just left on his own, fear seized Victoria and her protective instinct had kicked in.
“For today you can't just go off alone." She warned him.

Jack made as if to argue but before he could even form the words to do so he was cut off by Bethany.
"Look Victoria is being a little harsh but she is right, dressed like you are and with your long hair, it looks gorgeous by the way, you look to anyone who doesn’t know you like a girl. That means for the moment, for your safety, you need to take the same precautions the rest of us do."
"Jack, even at family events like this, especially if there are a lot of people none of us go anywhere alone. It invites danger. For today you can't either. Most people know you and probably it would not be an issue around them but others don't know you and there are always a few people at something like this that no-one knows that well. It’s just best not to take any unnecessary chances." Leah broke in as they all looked at Jack earnestly.

Jack felt bewildered and a little set shocked, he usually didn't think about such things. Jack didn't know if he should feel a loss of masculinity being told not to go anywhere alone like this, was he a failure because of it, or should he just reject their advice as being too cautious? It was a little late to go back to the house and change but it did enter Jack's mind, still reeling he turned to Macy for support but found none in her glance as he met her eyes.
“I didn't really think about it before this, but I think the girls are right, if we are so easily mistaken for each other even by people who know us. It could be dangerous for you to go off on your own. Please Jack stay here with me, it’s only for today." Macy begged. Knowing he was beaten by popular opinion Jack reluctantly acquiesced. He still did not see the necessity for him to stay with the girls, but he would go along with it for now, especially for his twin’s sake.

The afternoon wore on like this and Jack found himself seated in between Macy and Victoria included in all their discussions as its he were one of them, it was not even a little bit awkward. Conversation flowed easily between them all and Jack was surprised to realise he was enjoying this far more than he would have if he had left to find some of the other boys. Jack often found he had very little in common with them and worse often didn't understand their more boisterous behaviours. He almost never felt included like he did now nor the ease of communication.

“Boy alert." Bethany quietly whisper shouted to them.
Sure, enough one of the more confident boys, Jack recognised him as Daniel, was strolling towards their group. Jack suspected he had been elected by the boys as their spokesman. A suspicion that was confirmed as soon as Daniel reached them. With an amiable smile, that seemed to Jack to be at least a little insincere but maybe that was just nerves, he began.

"Would you girls care to join us by the fire?”
This too was tradition, as early evening began some of the older boys would make a small campfire a little ways off from adult supervision and once an adult, usually Jack or Bethany's father, had ensured that it was not especially dangerous, most of the teenagers would congregate around it.
“We would love to especially when invited in such a charming way by such a curious man as yourself." Bethany purred accepted on behalf of the group, Daniel suddenly becoming very red and taking a great interest in both his shoes and the ground next to them. Before Jack could even think or question anything he was being herded along with the rest of the group to join the boys by the fire.

Upon joining then it became immediately apparent that none of the boys recognised Jack and further that all of them thought he was a girl. There was even a hushed debate or at least a debate that was supposed to be hushed between the boys as to who the hot new girl was. Jack was considering telling them all the truth, he didn't want to mislead them it felt wrong to do so, when he received a look from Victoria and then from Bethany, that warned him not to. Sighing Jack resolved to keep the truth to himself at least for now. The two groups interspersed and soon several of the girls were sat next to or on the laps of various boys, Jack was surprised to see his own sister sitting snuggly rather close to Sebastian and Jack resolved to ask Mary about it later. All thoughts like this were quickly driven from Jack's mind When he found himself sitting rather close to Theo. Jack had known Theo for several years and he was shocked Theo hadn't figured out who he was by now, more than ever Jack wanted to tell them all the truth but he didn’t dare to.

As time went on and stories and laughs were shared, Jack began to feel cold finally he let out a small shiver almost unnoticeable but definitely a shiver. Theo must have felt or seen it because just moments later Jack found himself pressed tighter to Theo an arm wrapped about him. Jack's felt butterflies in his stomach and marvelled at the secure feeling of being wrapped up like this before realising that he probably shouldn’t feel this way. A sense of fear at his own feelings gripped Jack and the embrace that had felt so comforting and secure just moments before now felt confining and suffocating. Jack began to hyperventilate in Theo’s arms. Theo must have noticed that too because the tight embrace loosened considerably immediately.
"It's ok Jack, I know your you although you even had me fooled you for a bit. The others don't know though, and I promise I am not going to tell them." Theo's voice was low and barely audible even to Jack so that only Jack would hear his words.

Jack slowly began to relax once his breathing had reached a steady and pace without reservation, he relaxed back into Theo’s body content in the knowledge that Theo knew and did not mind. Jack still was not ready to face his conflicted emotions though, he just pushed those thoughts off for the moment so as to be able to enjoy his evening with Theo.

Across from both Theo and Jack, Victoria, who was one of the only girls to not partnered up with one of the boys, sat watching them jealousy. Her jealousy surprised even herself, Victoria was not usually the sort of person to be this kind of jealous and she had never taken much interest in Jack before but curled against Theo's much broader frame as if he belonged there Victoria could not help but feel incredibly envious of Theo.