Disney Princess - 3 Final

 

Kelly faces successes and failures as his trip to Disney World comes to an end.
Read on as we reach this story's conclusion!

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Author's Note: I hope you all do enjoy this particular tale. Let us see where things take us! Please toss me a review? ~Clara.
 
This version of Disney Princess - 3 Final has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
 
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

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Chapter 3
 

The hotel room phone rang at 7:00am on Monday morning, pulling Cathy and Kelly out of the tangle of sheets that they had been sleeping in. Cathy pushed her hair out of her eyes and tried to focus. Kelly was closest to the phone, so he sat up and picked up the receiver in a panic. 'What was wrong' he thought. It had been a very short night. It had taken forever to get the girls back into their rooms and calmed down after the awards ceremony. They were almost impossible to wrangle, their adrenaline was so high.

Once they'd accomplished that, Cathy and Kelly talked for several hours about what might happen when the newspapers got word of Kelly being the Disney Educator of the Year. It had all gotten so complicated. They'd finally fallen asleep after 3:00am and expected to sleep till 8:30.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Is this Ms Kelly Powell?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yes. Can I help you?"

"This is Renee St Pierre from The Disney Corporation and first, let me apologize for the early call, but one of my colleagues had a brainstorm and we wanted to talk to you about it asap. Do you think you'd be able to have breakfast with me in my office at the Disney Casting Building? I'll send a car for you. It's a very special opportunity I'd like to offer to you and your Chorus members."

"Umm... I guess so, sure. When?"

Cathy asked what was going on, but Kelly held up a finger indicating he'd tell her when he was off the phone.

"As quickly as possible. I will send my assistant, Rhonda, to pick you up. She'll be driving a grey Lexus. She'll be waiting right outside of your building, not the main desk."

Kelly was just gaining full consciousness. "Ok. Umm.... Can I bring my wife?"

"I'd rather you didn't, Ms Powell. If we go ahead with this, you may need your wife to organize things on that end for you."

"What things?"

"Please, Ms Powell, we are wasting time. I need you to trust me. It's a very big opportunity, but time will run out unless you come, now."

"Ok. Give me time to do my hair and makeup..."

"Oh, don't worry about that, we'll take care of that."

"Oh... Ok.... I'll be down as soon as I can."

Kelly explained the conversation to Cathy and hurried to get ready. Cathy handed him a grey romper covered in delicate white lace for him to wear.

"Where did this come from?" he asked.

"Jean Abuja loaned it to you. She said that her mom bought it for her, but it was a little small for her. She thought you'd like it. It is very pretty."

Kelly pulled it on and Cathy zipped up the back for him. It fit well and it was very pretty. It was youthful without being childish. It was supposed to be a comfortable outfit for a casual day, but now he didn't know what he would be doing.

'Oh, well,' he thought. 'This should be fine.'

10 minutes later, Kelly was climbing into a Lexus driven by a very attractive, if somewhat heavy, woman who introduced herself as Rhonda.

Rhonda drove as if she were driving an ambulance and, before he knew it, Kelly was being escorted into the Casting Building, across from Disney Springs. This time, his escort was a little blonde woman in her 40s who offered no name, but said more than once that Kelly should hurry; Ms St Pierre had been very specific about that.

After what felt like a 3 mile jog through the corridors, Kelly was escorted into Ms St Pierre's office where a cart with coffee, juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, rolls, cereal, milk, etc, was laid out for Kelly's breakfast.

"Ms Powell! How nice to meet you!" She gushed. When she stood, Kelly was immediately struck by how tall she was. She was impeccably dressed in a business suit with astonishing makeup and heals that had to have been at least four inches high. Kelly guessed that she must have stood over six feet tall when they shook hands. Despite the fact that his hair and makeup were not juvenile in any way, between her height, her power suit and makeup, and his shortness, flip-flops and romper, he, nevertheless, felt like a child in her presence. "Please, have some breakfast. We need to talk quickly."

Kelly poured a cup of coffee and nibbled on a sweet roll while Ms St Pierre presented her idea.
 

 

"Ok, babe," Cathy said into her phone, "11:30 at the Castle with everyone in the shirts that will be delivered. I'll have them, there, but..."

"I know this is weird, Cath, but I can't tell you why," Kelly said. "Have Ericka warm them up before they come and tell them that we'll be singing one song when I see them. I'll see you during the show, ok? I have to run. I love you with all my heart, you know that, right, Cath?"

"Sure, babe, I know..."

"It's going to be great, Cath! I'll see you there! Bye."

"Bye," Cathy said as the connection went dead. It was 8:10. Better get the girls up and moving. Whatever this was, it had Kelly revved up.
 

 

Audrey was on the phone when Cathy knocked. "Hang on, Frank," she said as she looked to Cathy.

"Everything ok?" Cathy asked. Frank was Audrey's husband and headmaster at St Mary's.

Audrey sighed. "I don't know, Cathy, but I'm trying to deal with it. What's up?"

Cathy gave a quick explanation and Audrey said, "Wow! I wonder what's going on? I'll be dressed and knocking on the girls' doors in 5." She closed the door and resumed her conversation while Cathy moved on to the next door.
 

 

'Inadequate.' That is how Kelly would have to describe his feelings at the moment, as he walked beside this beautiful, statuesque woman through the halls of the Disney Casting building. Simply 'inadequate.' He was used to most people, men and women, being taller than him, but he'd never let that bother him. It was the way she held herself - strong and in control, like Cathy did, but different, too - and her whole demeanor. Her clothes, Kelly estimated, must have cost several hundred dollars and they were perfectly tailored for her. They definitely didn't just come off a rack and fit this well. Good lord, her shoes probably cost $600!

Meanwhile, Kelly was wearing cheap white flip-flops with Minnie Mouse bows and a lacey romper that Cathy had borrowed from a student for him. Most likely it came from Target or Old Navy and probably cost less than $20 on sale.

Yep - inadequate.

"You know," Ms St Pierre said, "I've been with the company for nearly twenty years and not once has it ever been suggested that we do something like this. You must have made a helluva impression, Kelly."

"I guess..." Kelly said. How was he meant to respond to all this praise?

"Well, this is really something. It should be amazing. Your students will be blown away, I bet. Decades from now, it'll be something for them to tell their grandchildren when they bring them to Disney World. You should be a very proud young woman. How old are you, Kelly!"

"27."

"Really!? I would have guessed much younger."

There it was, again - inadequate.

When they reached a door marked "Character Actor Design," Ms St Pierre knocked and, without waiting, entered. Kelly followed into a large room filled with costumes and wigs and swords and flowers and books.

As they passed through the room towards the rear, several women turned and said, "Good morning, Ms St Pierre," as she passed. Their greeting was returned with a little nod from their boss.

The rear wall had three stations that looked like the chairs and sinks you'd see in a beauty parlor.

Ms St Pierre went to the closest chair, looked around the room and said, "Is Maria here?" Then she turned to Kelly and said, "just sit down here, dear, while I find Maria."

Kelly did as he was told, just as a woman appeared from the clothes racks.

"Here I am, Ms St Pierre. Sorry, I was just fixing a rip on an Evil Step Sister who needs to be at the gate for the rope-drop in a half hour. Sorry."

Despite her apologies, Kelly could see that this woman was not as intimidated by Ms St Pierre as the other women were. Kelly estimated that she was in her early thirties. She was pretty and well dressed for physical work.

Ms St Pierre smiled and met Maria with a hug. "Thank you, so much, for doing this. I know that you're out straight, but who else could help us pull this off?" She said.

Maria laughed. "Happy to do it," as she glanced appraisingly at Kelly, sitting in the chair. "Oh, she's pretty. This will be fun!"

"Excellent," Ms St Pierre said. Then to Kelly she said, "Kelly, this is Maria. She is one of our top makeup woman here at Disney. I'm going to leave you in her capable hands. I will see you in about an hour and a half." Then she smiled as she walked away.

"Hi, Kelly," Maria said with just a slight Cuban accent, "I hear that you are an impressive lady. This should be fun for you and your students. I'm just going to turn you around and I'll get started with your hair and makeup. Think of this as a spa day and relax."

"Ok," Kelly grinned. "I'm all yours."

Maria set about taking out Kelly's braids, he had not had time to do it in his rush to get here, then she brushed his hair with a soft brush and said, "I'm afraid that we'll need to start with a wash. The curlers will work better with wet hair."

Maria spun Kelly's chair again and lowered the back so that his head was now in the wash basin. She started the water running and tested it with her hand until it was ready, then she wet his hair, thoroughly. Then, she poured a very fragrant shampoo into her hands and began massaging it into Kelly's hair. She dug her nails into his scalp to work the shampoo in. It felt wonderful. Audrey had washed his hair on Saturday, but this was so relaxing and wonderful. He closed his eyes and enjoyed it.

"That feels wonderful," he said.

Maria laughed, "Don't go to the hairdresser much, sweetheart? I know what you mean. I love having my hair washed."

After she rinsed his hair, Maria took another floral-scented substance and rubbed that into his hair, again. Kelly assumed that this was a conditioner, so he just enjoyed it all.

Again, a rinse and then, yet another scented potion was massaged in.

"That's a lot of shampooing you're doing, Maria. Was I really that dirty."

"Not, darling, we're going to be using a lot of heat and hairspray on you, so we want to be sure that we don't damage all that pretty hair of yours. Trust Maria. I'll make you beautiful, princess."

'Princess' Kelly thought with a chuckle. People keep calling him 'Princess' lately. Why didn't that bother him? He really liked being called 'Princess' and he was really enjoying this pampering, too. 'Ok, I'll be a Princess if that's what they want me to be,' he smiled.

Maria shut off the water and wrapped his hair, turban style, with a towel and sat Kelly's chair back up straight. Then she rubbed his hair with the towel to remove the excess water. When she was done, she turned Kelly towards the mirror so that he could see himself. His damp hair was a mess and it was hanging everywhere. As his mother liked to say, he looked like a 'drowned rat.'

"Joanne!" Maria called to a woman across the room. Joanne came over.

"Yes, Mrs Ramirez?"

"Umm, Kelly?" Maria asked. "I don't want to embarrass you, remember, we're all costumer's here and we deal with all kinds of body types, but I noticed that, when you we reclined, well, your breasts stayed about the same size. Normally, a natural breast would flatten out a bit. So, I'm assuming that you're wearing a padded bra, right?"

Kelly was a bit embarrassed. "Yes, a little bit of padding."

Maria smiling soothingly. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, honey," she said. "What are you naturally, an 'A' cup?"

Kelly sighed. "Yes, just barely."

Maria laughed at his discomfort. "That's fine, baby. You'll get bigger when you get pregnant. We all do, right Joanne?"

"We sure do." Joanne joined in Maria's laugh.

"Ok, Joanne. Please add a little padding to costume number SW-18668. She's wearing a padded B, right Kelly?"

He nodded, wet hair bouncing around his head and shoulders.

"Let's shoot for a smallish 'C' look, ok? Thanks, Joanne."

When Maria turned back to Kelly, she had a very wide-toothed comb in her hand and she proceeded to cut a part down the center of Kelly's scalp. After running the comb through all of his hair, she pulled over a cart that looked vaguely like a machinist's tool cart, but this one had cubby holes filled with curlers of varying different sizes.

"Your hair is a little long for this look, honey, but we'll take care of that for you."

Kelly started to speak, but Maria stopped him, "Don't worry, love. I wouldn't cut any of that beautiful hair! I'm going to give you some curls and then we'll hide some of them to create our look. Now, relax. Maria's done this a million times. Heck, I've already done it twice today."

Maria took some of the medium sized rollers and started rolling the top sections of Kelly's hair. When each curler was rolled to his head, Maria placed a large, red pin in to hold it in place.

When the top of his head was completely rolled, Maria switched to a smaller roller and started rolling the middle sections of his hair towards his scalp.

"I know this may sound stupid, Maria, but I usually just wear my hair in a pony tail or down. Why are you using different sized rollers?" Kelly asked.

"That's how I'm going to hide some of your hair, sweetie. I need the medium curls on top for volume and I need a few big, under-curls at the bottom, but I don't need all the hair you have in middle. I'm going to make that hair into small curls and Bobbi-pin those under the other curls. You're going to have so many pins in your hair that you'll set off a metal detector before I'm done with you."

They both laughed.

As Maria continues rolling his hair, she said, "Not married, honey?"

"No, I'm married," Kelly replied, a bit confused. "Why?"

"No ring, lamb. I assumed you were single. I don't wear mine when I'm working, either. What's your husband like?"

"Well... actually, I have a wife."

"Nice," Maria said, unphased. "A lot of our cast members are gay. What does your wife do?"

The conversation continued until Maria was done. Then she held up what looked like a shower cap. "Usually, I'd put you under a hair dryer for a while, but we have to keep working, so I'm going to use a bonnet dryer so I can keep you in the chair and keep working on you. Ok? Did your mama ever use one of these on you when you were a little girl?"

"No," Kelly said truthfully. "My mother kind of treated me like I was a boy. My sister was the girly one back then."

"Really!? What a shame," Maria said as she put the cap over his head and curlers. "Were you a tomboy, back then."

"I was," Kelly said, "until my wife insisted that I get more feminine."

"Oh, but you love it now, don't you, princess?"

"I kind of do," he had to admit.

With the dryer on, Kelly couldn't hear much, but Maria continued to work officiously while he watched in the mirror.

First, she spread a very pale, cream-based makeup on his face. Then she called another woman over to work on Kelly's fingernails.

When she was sure his face was ready, Maria went back to work on it. First it was his eyes. She spent several minutes on each one and, when she was done, Kelly could see no sign of any color on his lids, but his eyes looked huge.

Then she worked on his cheeks, creating high cheekbones and babyish lines where none existed before.

She lined his lips with a pencil and then pulled out a tube of the richest, brightest red lipstick he'd ever seen and spread it across his lips making them a full and rich and glossy candy-apple-red.

By this time, Kelly's nails were done and they had been painted the same bright red that adorned his lips.

As he admired them, Maria indicated for him to close his eyes, again. He could feel her working on them and when he opened them he saw the long lashes she had glued on. They seemed impossibly huge on his eyes and seemed to create what he would describe as 'doe-eyes.' He was mesmerized as she shut off the bonnet-dryer and removed it from his head.

"Nearly there, honey." She smiled. "Let me finish your hair and we'll get your costume worked out."
 

 

At 10:30, Rhonda returned to the resort with several boxes of purple tee shirts. She and several men from the resort brought the boxes up to the third floor, where Cathy and the other chaperones met her.

Cathy pulled out one of the shirts to see that there was a photo on the front - a closeup of Kelly from last night holding the trophy high over his head. There was sheer joy expressed on Kelly's face and the faces of the girls behind him. It was a monumental moment for all of them. "Oh, wow! These are great!" she said.

"There's at least one for each choir member and chaperone," Rhonda said. "There's probably extra, too. We made quite a few."

Cathy handed the boxes to the chaperones to organize and the she turned back to Rhonda. "What is all of this about? Why all the secrecy?"

Rhonda smiled. "You're going to love it. I promise," and she walked away.

Some of the girls were a little peeved at missing out on their time at Animal Kingdom and not knowing why, but when they saw the shirts, they were thrilled. Whatever was going to happen was going to be awesome.
 

 

Kelly was afraid to move too quickly for fear of messing up the hair and makeup, but Maria handed him a stretchy bodysuit and told him to take off his romper and put it on. It went on like a woman's leotard, opening at the neck and pulled up his legs so he could slide his arms into the large, puffy sleeves. The bodice was a rich blue, velvety material with a thin gold line down the middle. The sleeves were just a shade lighter and puffed out around rich red inserts and ended in a band of stretchy gold that wrapped around each arm making them look even smaller and less well developed than he already knew they were. The scooped neckline was also lined in gold with three red jewels centered at the top of the cleavage created by the combination of the bra and the padding that Joanne had added.

Maria had Kelly sit on a stool while she rolled a shear, flesh toned stocking up each of his legs. There was a large, elastic, lace band at the top of each stocking to hold them up. Then she placed a soft, tan slipper with a yellow bow decorating the toes on each of his feet.

Maria offered Kelly a hand to stand up. "Up we go, beautiful. Step into your skirt."

It was a bright yellow, full-length skirt with several layers of lacy, but not voluminous petticoats sewn into it. The waist had the same gold trim as his sleeves and neck line, but this was shaped almost like a heart to create a feminine, maidenly line around his midsection. Maria laced up the waist and had him sit again.

Now, she attached a high, stiff, lace covered collar to his top. It tucked in just under the collar and ran from one collar bone, around the back to the other. Then she took a red headband with a large bow at the top center and carefully placed it on his head.

"Well, princess," Maria grinned, "you truly are the 'fairest of them all.' Now, let's get you over to your character-coach so you learn how to act like a princess. Be careful, though. When you walk, you should always hold up the skirt, just a little bit, with your right hand. It's necessary in a dress this long, but it's also a character attribute that you'll need for the show."

Kelly, who'd had to learn to do a similar maneuver in the choir gown on Saturday, did as hie was told.

"That-a-girl!" Maria praised him. "Now, let's go."
 

 

At 11:25 that Monday morning, all the women and girls of St Mary's moved towards Cinderella's Castle. Each was wearing a new purple tee shirt with Kelly's image on it. When they reached the square at the foot of the castle stairs, they were meet by a beautiful woman who was dressed very well. Cathy immediately realized that the woman had to be at least six feet tall.

"Mrs Powell?" She asked, but did not wait for an answer. "I'm Renee St Pierre. I'm afraid that I'm the one that woke you in the middle of the night and hi-jacked your wife." She smiled and shook Cathy's hand.

"Hello, ladies," she called to the girls and chaperones. "Come on inside and we'll go over the logistics of this performance."

As they walked, Cathy said, "Um, Renee, where is Kelly? The girls need him to perform anything and we have no idea what you want them to sing."

Ms St Pierre stopped and opened a door. "Let me get the girls in here, Mrs Powell and I'll talk to you in private." Then she looked at the girls, "This way, ladies. Take a seat and I'll be right with you."

When the last chaperone had entered, Ms St Pierre looked at Cathy and said, "May I ask you a question first, Mrs Powell?"

Cathy nodded.

"How long has your husband been living as a woman?"

Cathy was dumbfounded. "How... how could you tell?"

"Little things, really. The way she nods or turns her head, nothing big, but for women like me, it's obvious."

"Women like you?"

Ms St Pierre smiled broadly. "Yes, Mrs Powell, women like me. When I was a child, I was Richard St Pierre. I've been living as a woman for 27 years and I've been a complete woman for 10. My guess is that Kelly has been living as a man just about as long as I've been a woman. I can tell that he's pretty new to this. He's very brave to be so open about his transition. Here is my card. I understand these things and, if I can be of any help to you and Kelly, just let me know. I'm very happy to help if I can."

Cathy just stared at the card for a moment before saying, "You didn't tell Kelly you knew, did you!?"

"No, no. I need her to bring her best game to today's show, so I wouldn't want to have her being self conscious on stage. Here's what we have planned..."
 

 

At noon, the princess show began at Cinderella's Castle. Mickey and Donald came out as usual and the actors in the character suits did their pantomime with the voice-over telling the story of damsels in distress. A huge crowd had gathered and, had the actors been looking at the audience, they would have noticed that they were all clad in purple tee shirts with a picture of a young woman on the front.

Most of the audience knew the show, but loved it anyway. Suddenly though, the script changed when a very Disney-sounding announcer came over the speakers announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen. We have an interruption in today's performance. It seems that the Evil Queen has made a new poison apple to give to Snow White." With that, an actress playing the Evil Queen disguised as the beggar woman ran on stage right with an apple while an actress playing Snow White ran on stage left.

The live-narration continued while the actors and actresses continued to pantomime the scene. The Evil Queen offered Snow White the apple which she took with Disney-esque exaggeration in all of her movements.

"Poor, trusting Snow White accepted the Evil Queen's gift and took a bite of the poisoned fruit!" Despite Mickey and Donald's signals to not eat the apple, Snow White took a bite and collapsed to the ground with more exaggeration than necessary.

"The Prince arrived to save his beloved." A very handsome young man took the stage and ran to the collapsed Snow White. He knelt and held her lifeless hand and feigned grief. Then Mickey and Donald ran to him and whispered into his ear. "Mickey reminded The Prince that true love's kiss can save the young princess." The Prince indicated that he understood and kissed the lifeless Snow White, but she did not awaken. "Oh, no! The Princess did not awaken! What can we do!?"

Mickey suddenly indicated that he had and idea, which he then whispered to Donald. They both ran to the castle doors. Each grabbed a door and pulled it open allowing the girls from St Mary's to run down the stairs and make a half-circle around Snow White, the mourning Prince and the cackling Evil Queen. Mickey ran around to the front and center and raised his hands as if conducting. Stage hands in medieval-courtier clothing ran across the stage to place microphones disguised as banners on stands in front of the girls.

"Mickey has a great idea! Maybe the magic of music can undo the Evil Queen's evil spell! To help him, he has recruited the members of the Saint Mary's High School choruses from Seattle, Washington to help him make that magical sound!"

With that, Mickey signaled Ericka, who, in turn, played an E-flat on a pitch pipe and the girls in the Show Choir started singing one of their pieces entitled "Soul Fire." The girls who were not in Show Choir did a simple step-touch behind the performance and joined in on the refrain of the song while Mickey continued to conduct.

As the music began, Snow White placed a limp wrist upon her forehead. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's working. Snow White is waking up! Yes, girls, it's working! Keep on singing!"

The crowd was loving it and screaming in applause for the Princess and for the girls. Snow White sat up and The Prince picked her up with one arm under her knees and the other behind her back and her arms around his neck. He spun her several around several times as the audience continued to cheer.

The girls were loving the performance, but were wondering why Mr Powell wasn't there. As they approached the transition to the slower section, the strangest thing happened. Suddenly, Snow White picked up her skirt with her right hand and danced, just as Mr Powell always danced, into their routine and stood before them to conduct the slower section.

Snow White smiled and raised her hand to conduct, just as Mr Powell always raised his hand to conduct.

Then, where there usually was a brief pause before the slower section, the realization hit them all at once: IT WAS MR POWELL!!!! He was gorgeous and looked just like Snow White! His make up was perfect. His hair was perfect! His dress was perfect!

The brief pause grew longer as the announce said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an announcement to make. We have deceived you. Instead of the real Snow White, the role of "The Fairest of All" was performed by Saint Mary's choir director and Disney's Educator of the year, Miss Kelly Powell." The girls and the audience all cheered. "Miss Powell and her choruses earned perfect scores in this weekend's Disney National Choral Festival and as this year's winners, Miss Powell and the members of Saint Mary's Choruses will be returning to Walt Disney World on July 4th weekend to perform live on the 'Disney Salutes America' TV special and an all-expenses-paid stay at the Disney Grand Floridian Resort. Congratulations to Miss Powell and the choir!"

The girls were shocked and the crowd cheered!

Kelly quickly made eye contact with each of the girls and shouted above the din, "Come on, ladies! Let's get this road on the show!"

The girls' eyes were huge with excitement and joy as Kelly led them into the slower section of the song. Their voices stilled the audience and they sang through until the tempo picked up speed again and Kelly danced back to his Prince.

As the girls performed the rest of the piece, all the other Disney Princesses and their princes joined them on the stage and, as if in a wedding's receiving line, each congratulated Kelly with a hand shake and a kiss on the cheek.

When Kelly finally had the opportunity to look at the audience, he realized that almost everyone was wearing the same purple tee shirts that the girls had been wearing and, again for the first time, he realized that the image on the shirt was his own. He pointed to people in the audience, indicating the shirts, and applauded for them. This seemed to increase the audience's appreciation and the applause grew as the girls finished.

They had all been told to take their cue for a bow from Snow White's Prince. The Prince, though, decided to ad lib for a moment, and he grabbed Kelly, spun him around and pulled him backward across his own body, lowering him until he was parallel to the stage floor. Then, in a very grand manner, he leaned down and kissed Kelly full on the lips. The girls and the crowd cheered and the Prince raised him back up and spun him into his original position. Even the strangeness of being kissed by another man could not interfere with the joy of the moment. Kelly's candy-apple-red lips smiled so broadly that it could be seen clear across the square.

They bowed and bowed, then Kelly turned and ran to the girls and they kissed and jumped and embraced and screamed with joy. It was 12:20 and it had been an amazing 20 minutes and they were all coming back in July to sing on national TV!

When they were finally able to get off the stage and into the castle, Kelly caught sight of Cathy running up the stairs to join him. He daintily lifted his skirt, revealing the beautiful petticoat underneath, and he ran as quickly as his costume would allow to Cathy. He leapt into her arms and she leaned back to hold him aloft and squeeze him while she whispered, "Oh, my God, you were amazing."

She put him down in front of her and took in the whole vision of Snow White before her. "Look at what they did to you! You're Snow White! You're so beautiful!" Then she hugged him to her breasts and said, again, "I love you, so much and I am so proud of you!"

Then she looked at the girls who were looking on, "And I love each of you and I am so proud of each and every one of you!" She kissed Kelly's head and went to kiss and hug as many of the girls as she could.

Rhonda, who had driven Kelly to the castle and now held a small bag with his romper and flip-flops within, said, "Congratulations Ms Powell. You were amazing and so were the girls."

"Thank you, Rhonda." And he curtsied just a bit. His grin was so wide and gleeful that Rhonda could not help but smile back.

"Oh," she said, "your phone vibrated quite a bit in the last few minutes. It looks like your school calling and someone named Frank called once, too."

A wave of concern crossed Kelly's face, "Thank you, Rhonda." he took his phone and the bag with his clothes. He listened to his voicemail.

"Good morning, Kelly," the voice of the school secretary, Jennifer, came through. "Please call Mr Menard as soon as possible. He needs to speak to you. Thank you."

Kelly felt a shiver of fear as the second message came on. It was Frank's voice. "I need to hear from you, NOW, Kelly. Call me back." His voice wasn't necessarily angry, but it definitely wasn't friendly.

The final message was Jennifer, again, "Kelly, you need to call Frank, immediately. He's really riled up."

Kelly turned and saw the girls being hugged by Cathy and the other chaperones. He didn't want to interfere with them, so he stepped around the corner and pressed the 'call back' button on his phone.

"Saint Mary's," Jennifer said.

"Hi, Jen. It's Kelly Powell. Is Frank available?"

Jennifer let out a frustrated sigh as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't. "I'll... I'll put you right through."

There was a moment of silence, then Frank's voice, "Kelly?"

"Hi, Frank. What's up!"

"What's up!? Goddamnit, Kelly, what the Hell are you doing down there? I'm seeing pictures of you in one prissy dress after another and now I'm seeing Facebook live feeds of you all dolled up like Snow White. What the Hell are you thinking!? Do have any idea who you work for!? You work for the Archdiocese of Seattle, Kelly! The Roman Catholic Church! Don't you see how bad this looks!?"

Frank stopped for a breath and Kelly tried to speak, "Look, Frank, I..."

"No explanations, Powell. Just shut up and listen! I woke up this morning to a call from the Seattle Times asking for information about Ms Kelly Powell. 'MS' - Kelly! 'MS' Powell. Not Mister - 'MS'!!! I can't return that call, Kelly! I don't know what to say."

"Frank..."

"Enough! It's 9:31 here, right now and I have been called to an 11:00 meeting with the Archbishop and I am not going to go in there and have my ass and my career handed to me because of you! Here's the deal and it's not negotiable: You're fired. I'll have Jennifer clean out you desk. Anything else that's here will be thrown out. You understand? You threw all that away. You are NEVER to set foot in this building or on this property again. If you do, I'll call the police. And you stay the Hell away from those girls for the remainder of the trip, you get me!? You go lock yourself in your hotel room and keep away from them before we have a scandal that will destroy this school. If I see one more picture of you with your arm around one of my students, I'll call the police and you will be someone's pretty little bitch in a prison cell for the rest of your pathetic, perverted little life!"

Kelly was numb. He couldn't even respond.

"That's the deal, Powell. You made your bed, now you lay in it! And I don't care if you're wearing pajamas or a babydoll nightie with fuzzy trim while your laying there!"

The phone went dead.

Kelly felt like he should cry, but he was too shocked to make tears. His knees bucked out from under him and his skirt inflated as he fell to the floor and onto his bottom. He leaned on the wall and stared at the ceiling.

'How could it have gone so wrong?' He thought. Then his mind went blank and his vision narrowed to the light fixture in the ceiling.

Rhonda glanced around the corner and saw Kelly seated on the floor with his skirts spread around him. She called to him but got no response, so she went to Cathy and pulled her away from the girls.

"Kelly! Oh, God, Kelly, what happened? Are you ok!"

He just stared at the light fixture.

"Kelly, babe! Can you hear me, babe!? Kelly! Kelly! KELLY!" She shook him and his eyes rolled to her, but he still said nothing. Then, his eyes came into focus and his lids narrowed as the tears started. Cathy pulled him to her breasts, "What's wrong, babe, what's wrong?" But he just sobbed and handed her his phone.

She looked at the last call and saw it was St Mary's. "Oh, shit." She hissed. "They didn't, did they?"

He nodded while shaking with sobs.

Audrey came around the corner and stopped when she saw Kelly and Cathy. "Oh, lord!" she gasped. "What happened?"

"What happened!? What do you think happened!? He was fired! Your husband fired him, Audrey! You were on the phone with him this morning, weren't you! Jesus, Audrey!"

"No... I mean, yes, I was on the phone with him and he was mad, but, Cathy... no... I never..."

"Well, call that jackass back and tell him that I quit!"

"No, Cathy!" Audrey started, but everyone turned to Kelly as he raised his head.

"No, Cath. You can't. I've already failed us. You can't quit."

Kelly wiped his eyes carefully and pulled himself to his feet. He straightened his skirts and looked sadly at the costume that, just minutes ago, he'd found so beautiful.

"Ok. Enough. We can't discuss this in front of the girls."

Audrey tried to reach for him, but he held up a hand and shook his head. "No. I'm fine for now," and he held back his tears, "but there are over a hundred girls to deal with."

Cathy stood and nodded agreement.

"As of a few minutes ago, I'm not allowed to be with my... the girls." He choked back more tears. "And we can't tell them about this. So, you two need to take them to Animal Kingdom and I'll go back to the hotel and try to sort myself out."

"Babe, I don't think..."

"Please, Cath. I've lost my job and my dignity. Don't make me face them right now." The tears burned his eyes and he could taste his sorrow in his throat. "Frank was very clear. I need to stay away from them, so, please, just take them and tell them I had to deal with something. Just, please, smile and don't let on, ok?"

"Ok, babe. Ok."

"Rhonda, would you mind driving me back to the resort? I think it may be easier if I leave quickly and get changed there."

"Of course, Ms Powell."

"Thank you." he kissed Cathy's cheek. "Bye, Cath. I'll see you later. Remember to smile and show them a good time. They deserve it. They deserve better than me."

"Kelly, babe..."

He turned and left with Rhonda.
 

 

Rhonda parked illegally at the entrance to Kelly's building and rode the elevator up to the third floor with him. Neither had said a word during their ride. Kelly dug into the bag and found his Magic Band, touched it to the door-lock and opened the door. Rhonda entered with him.

"Ms Powell, I have no idea what is going on..."

"Mister, Rhonda."

She was confused. "I'm sorry?"

"It's MISTER Powell. That's the problem. Please help me with this costume."

Rhonda shook her head to clear her thoughts as she moved to help him. "Really? I have to say, Mr Powell, you sure fooled me."

She untied the back of his skirts and lowered them to the floor so that he could step out.

"I'm an idiot, Rhonda. A little, insignificant, ugly little idiotfailure. How could I have been so stupid?"

"Mr Powell..."

"Kelly, please, Rhonda. Just call me Kelly."

"Ok, Kelly. I don't know what this is all about, but I saw your show today and I saw how you and your students interacted. They love you, Kelly and how can that be a bad thing?"

Kelly took off the slippers and rolled the stockings down each leg. As he thought about that. Then he stood and turned so that Rhonda could pull down the zipper on his body-suit. As he pulled down his top and looked at the pretty little bra that was strapped to his chest, his eyes watered again as he said, "I'll never be with them again, Rhonda. I'll never teach children again. How can that be good?"

"But you just won..."

"No," he said, "I just lost. I just lost everything." he handed Rhonda a neatly folded pile of clothes and said, "Thank you for everything, Rhonda. Bye." he crawled onto the bed and rolled away from Rhonda. He could feel the dozens of Bobbi-pins in his hair, but he didn't care. He heard the door close as Rhonda left.
 

 

He heard his phone vibrate, but ignored it and it finally stopped. Then it vibrated again. When it began the third time, he hit the 'accept' button and spoke without looking at the caller ID.

"Yes?"

A woman's voice said, "Mr Powell?"

"Yes"

"Please hold for his eminence."

'Oh, God,' he thought, 'not the Archbishop.' He sighed. 'Just leave me alone.'

"Good morning, Mr Powell. Well, I guess it's afternoon, there, isn't it?"

Kelly just grunted, "Uh-huh," in reply.

The Arch Bishop seemed to sense that Kelly wasn't exactly keen to chat, so he changed his approach.

"Alright, Kelly, if I may call you Kelly?" No reply came, so he continued, "I'm here with Mr Menard and I think we need to work out a few things, right now. As I understand it, you were not public about your transvestism until this weekend, correct."

Irritated, Kelly sat up and took a breath. "Sir, with all due respect, I've known Frank Menard for a long time and he knows that I never wore women's clothes before this weekend." Kelly went on to explain the reasons he had stated dressing and why remained dressed in women's clothing. He also explained how he'd come to be Snow White that day.

"I see," said the Arch Bishop. "Well, this all puts us in an awkward position, Kelly. Here's the breakdown of the situation from my point of view:

We, the Catholic Church, have no real stance on transvestism, but, because it is a 'compulsion' rather than a physical manifestation of your true sexuality, there is a general feeling that cross dressing is an indication of antisocial behavior. Even if it is not truly a sin, it conjures up associations with perversions such as pedophilia and, being a Catholic high school, we can not possible allow one of our teachers to be so publicly flaunting this behavior. So, if you are claiming to be a transvestite and plan to announce that to the world, then, I'm afraid that your dismissal will stand.
But, if

B) You are, in fact, a transsexual, then we find ourselves in a very different situation all together."

Kelly's attention was definitely piqued, now. Was there a way out of being fired? Losing his home? His livelihood? Possibly his marriage? The Archbishop had his attention.

"I have worked very hard to welcome members of the LGBT community into the church, as you know, and having a teacher who is a trans-person achieve so much for our students and then finding herself dismissed because of her orientation... well, that just wouldn't look good for the diocese as a whole, or for me personally. Are you with me Kelly?"

"I'm with you, sir."

"So, it comes down to this - A) If this was a weekend lark in dresses while you were in charge of our students, then you're fired. B) If this is a coming-out, in a sense, as a transsexual, then, legally and ethically, I can not fire you. Do you understand what I am about to ask you?"

Kelly's heart was racing. He knew this was a huge decision, but he also knew that he didn't want to leave St Mary's.

"May I ask you a question, sir?"

"Of course."

"If I answer 'B' to your question, would I be expected to follow through with complete gender reassignment? I mean, surgery, the whole nine-yards?"

"Kelly, transitioning is a long, slow process for each individual. If a person needs to present himself as a woman, that can take many forms - outward appearances, living full time as a woman, identifying as a straight woman or as a lesbian - all of these are different levels of transsexualism. Complete genital reassignment surgery may or may not be the ultimate goal of a transgendered woman, such as yourself. Are we still on the same page, Kelly?"

"I think so, sir, but I still need to be sure. If I admit that I am a transgendered woman and that I came out to the world about that this weekend, then my employer, the Archdiocese of Seattle, would support me and allow me to remain employed at St Mary's and remain married to my wife without expecting me to have myself altered surgically?"

"Well..." the Archbishop thought, "We would not put pressure on you to do anything, but we would expect you to seek medical and psychological help with your transition and it would probably be best if we concocted a viable timeline that included previous discussions with Mr Menard, your family and, of course, me prior to your departure on Friday. One in which your decision to be open about your sexuality appears more, shall we say, level-headed than just, 'I lost my clothes and became a girl.' Understood?"

"Yes, sir. So, I could keep my job and remain married to my wife, but I'd need to continue to wear women's clothing to the rest of my life?

"That's the long and short of it, yes."

"Then, I think I'm ready to answer your question, sir."

"Ok. Then, Mr, or possibly Ms, Powell, which is it?"

"Sir, I want to remain at St Mary's and I want to remain, as I have been this weekend, living as a woman for the rest of my life."

The Archbishop gave sigh of relief, "Well, then, we seem to have no more problems. I do suggest that you let your loved ones know quickly, before they read about it in the papers, but I will leave that to you. We will talk when you return, Ms Powell. Thank you for calling me back."

Kelly wanted to leap for joy. To shout to everyone that everything was going to be ok, but what he needed more than anything right now was to be held by his big, strong, powerful wife. He needed to get to her as quickly as possible.

He grabbed the bag which Rhonda had left on the table and pulled out the romper and flip-flops. He unzipped the back of the romper and stepped into it, pulling it up, over his shoulders, then he reached around to pull up the zipper. This was the first time he'd had to do this without Cathy here to help. What a pain the butt! He struggled and eventually pulled it all the way up. 'I'll get used to that,' he thought. 'If half of the world's population can do that themselves, I should be able to learn how to do it, too.'

He grabbed his Magic Band, put it on his wrist and headed to the door.

He stopped and remembered his makeup.

He ran back to the mirror to check himself.

The first thing he realized was that he was still wearing the red headband with the bow from the Snow White costume. 'Oops! I'll send it back to them.' He was about to remove, when he realized how cute it actually looked on his face. 'I'll send it back them... tomorrow.'

He smiled and looked himself over. His eyes were puffy from crying, but that would pass. The makeup, which he recalled Maria mentioning, was meant to stand up to sweating in the Florida heat, didn't look half bad. Maybe a little over the top, especially his candy-apple-red lips, but so what. He was a beautiful, young woman, why not attract some attention?

He turned and ran out the door, didn't even consider the elevator, but took the stairs, jumping down each half-flight with the energy of a child of fourteen, and ran, full out , to the bus stop at the front of the resort.

An Animal Kingdom bus was waiting and he ran on to it without slowing down.

"Good afternoon," the middle aged, mustachioed bus driver with a Central American accent said, "and how are you today, princess?"

Ahh, princess! There it was, again! How he adored being call, 'princess.'

"I am fine, today, my lord," he joked in return. "Will your carriage be departing, soon?"

The diver beamed at the response. Usually, people were so self involved that they just shrugged him off or gave a one word answer. Here was a beautiful young woman who truly appreciated the magic of Disney. "It appears that you are my only passenger on this run, your highness, so I shall roll up the red carpet and we shall depart this realm for the Kingdom of the Animals."

Kelly bounced into the first seat across from the driver and clapped his glossy, red-tipped hands together in joy and excitement.

As the bus pulled out, the driver saw in his mirror, a family sprinting to try to catch the bus. Normally he would have stopped, but this time he pulled ahead just a little quicker than normal. If this beautiful little woman didn't deserve a little bit of attention, than who in the world did?

They chatted happily the whole way there. His name was Hector and he said that he was from Costa Rica, to which Kelly said, "What a coincidence! That's where my luggage is!" They talked of their homes and Hector's three boys. The oldest, he said was 17, "Just about your age," which made Kelly laugh. He told Hector he was 27, which Hector refused to believe, which made Kelly laugh even more.

When the bus reached Animal Kingdom, Hector hurried to exit the door, then turned to offer Kelly his hand as Kelly stepped out. As he took Hector's hand, Kelly lingered in the doorway for a moment and said, "Thank you, Hector, for the best ride of my trip. God bless you and your family," and he kissed Hector's cheek.

Hector's grin was wide and handsome. "Thank YOU, Princess Kelly. God bless you and your family, too." he paused and then returned to his Disney script saying, "and have a Magical Day!"

"Oh, Hector," Kelly smiled, "it truly is a Magical Day! It truly is!"

With that, Kelly jogged off towards the gate.
 

 

Animal Kingdom is probably the hardest place in Disney World to find someone. High foliage and huge distances between attractions make it difficult to keep track of people that you were walking with, let alone trying to find someone without knowing where they may be, but Kelly wanted to at least try to find Cathy and surprise her before texting her, so her ran into the park, glancing at each face as he passed. It didn't help that several people were wearing the same purple tee shirts with Kelly's face on it that had been passed out at the show.

As he approached The Tree of Life which marked the place where Kelly would have to decide whether to head to the 'Africa' or 'Asia' exhibits, he spotted something that stood out like a sore thumb. There, amongst the tourists in garish tee shirts, the impeccably dressed and coiffed, six foot tall visage of Renee St Pierre stood talking to someone that Kelly could not see. Kelly never expected to see her here and he hurried towards her to say thank you for setting up everything, but he was even more shocked when he spotted to whom Ms St Pierre was speaking.

It was Cathy!

"Cath!" he hollered. She did not hear him, but he began running toward her while calling her name and waving. "Cath! Cath! Cath!"

When she saw him running and waving, the confusion on her face was obvious, but Cathy shook that off and ran, slowly at first, but then with more intention, to meet him.

When they did meet, Kelly leapt into her arms, wrapping his legs around her hips, forcing Cathy to hold him up by his posterior.

"Babe, what are you doing here?"

"Cath, I love you, I love, so much, Cath!" And he covered her face and neck with kisses.

She put him down, but continued to hug him, and said, "Babe, what happened? Why are you here? You told me that Frank banned you..."

"I got my job back, Cath. The Archbishop called me and rehired me, but there are stipulations..."

"Such as?"

He smiled and he saw Renee St Pierre approaching, "I think you'll like them, but let's talk about those when we're alone."

"Well," Ms St Pierre said, "this is a much prettier picture than I expected after Cathy told me you'd been fired. It looks like your fairytale may have had a happy ending though. Did your Prince Charming come to your rescue?"

Kelly laughed and hugged Cathy even tighter. "This is my Prince Charming right here, Ms St Pierre."

"Renee, please," she chuckled. "I have never seen a prettier Snow White, nor a prettier Prince. And I've worked for Disney for a long, long time. Congratulations, you two. I hope that everything works out and that you have years and years of happiness. Cathy, you have my number. If I can help, please just call."

"Thank you, Renee," Cathy said and, while she continued to hug her little husband, she accepted a goodbye-hug and kiss from Renee. "Bye, bye."
 

 

That was all back in April when the girls returned to interviews with local radio stations and The Seattle Times, even a local TV talk show featured the girls. Kelly was very sly in always saying 'yes' to a performance or interview, but then being very careful to keep the girls in the spotlight and himself in the background. It was a strategy that had worked well to this point.

Today was the last day of the school year and just a couple of weeks before the return to Walt Disney World for the 4th of July performance.

As Hillary entered the music classroom with a white dress with a China Blue pattern printed on it hanging in a plastic bag on a pink flocked hanger, she smiled at the beautiful, dark haired, young teacher who was wearing a knee-length, yellow, pleated skirt and a sheer, coral-pink, loose fitting, sleeveless top who was sorting through a pile of paper that was piled on the grand piano in the center of the room.

"Hi, Ms Kelly," Hillary beamed, "thanks for letting me borrow the dress. It was a huge hit at my cousin's baby shower. Everyone told me how pretty I looked in it. I kept telling them, "Oh, you should see how pretty it is on my teacher, Miss Kelly. I can't do it justice.'"

Kelly smiled and took the dress from Hillary and draped it carefully across several chairs. It's funny how he became 'Miss Kelly.' It just sort of started that last day in Florida. After they told the girls that he would be living as a woman from then on, the girls just sort of started calling him 'Miss Kelly.' He liked it. It seemed right.

"So, Miss High-School-Graduate," Kelly teased, "are you well rested after after sleeping in for a week since graduation?"

"Are you kidding!?" Hillary said in her girly way. "I haven't slept a wink! I had the baby shower on Sunday and I flew to Rhode Island for orientation at Brown on Monday and Tuesday... Oh, Miss Kelly, you've got to come visit, it's so cool! Providence is great, but have you ever been to Boston? It's so amazing!! Everything is, like, either brand new or so old... and I went to a ball game at Fenway Park... you have to come!!!"

Kelly laughed. "Well, Miss Hillary, if you tell me when your chorus is having a concert, I'll see if I can, ok?"

"AWESOME! Thanks Miss Kelly! I'll see you next week for rehearsal," and she gave her beautiful teacher a hug.

When Hillary had left, Kelly hung his first dress from a closet door and looked at it as he reflected on the last nine weeks since Disney World. It was odd that things had gone so smoothly at the school. No one acted like anything weird had happened and there was no extra tension, except between him and Frank and that was soon resolved.

Kelly hadn't worn a pair of pants since that Saturday back in April. Much of his current assembly of clothing were hand-me-downs from students, but it was all pretty and he had functional clothing for nearly every professional and social situation now.
 

 

Since they lived less than two miles from the school, Kelly had always ridden a twenty speed bike to school while Cathy drove - her late days of coaching made cycling dangerous in the dark. Kelly found that he could not be very lady like on his men's style bike, but after a week of commuting with Kelly (a week that included dinner later than usual and an unclean house due to Kelly's late return home), Cathy bought him a new, sea-foam-green, women's fixed-gear bike. He loved the freedom he felt when pedaling back and forth to school in a skirt or dress.

Cathy had put Kelly in touch with Renee for advice and pointers that would help him pass more completely, although he did have his mother and 20 year old sister, who both lived less than a block away, at his house nearly every afternoon or evening drilling him on being a woman. They loved it and he got a kick out his sisters enthusiasm and his mother's approval.

Renee had suggested that Kelly begin a regime of low doses of estrogen to help keep his features soft as he aged, but would still allow him to function in his manly areas. The estrogen was making his skin softer and his nipples were definitely much more sensitive, so, after long talks with Cathy and a recommendation from Renee, Kelly had made an appointment with a surgeon that would be performing a minimally invasive breast implant procedure on him at 9:15 tomorrow morning. The thought of taking that step made him excited and a little apprehensive, he wanted to be able to go swimming and wear pretty, summer dresses, so it seemed like the best thing to do - not only that, but he wanted them -'he wanted pretty, perky, feminine breasts. Part of him couldn't wait.

Kelly closed up his room and headed to the parking lot with his yellow skirt fluttering in the breeze as he carried a few books under his right arm and his white dress with the China-blue print draped over the other.

There were still some girls loitering in the parking lot, and they greeted him with shouts of "Bye, Miss Kelly! Have a good summer!"

Kelly called back, "Bye, Miss Emma, Miss Nicole! Thank you! You have a wonderful summer, too!" and she smiled at how pleasant everything was, today.

When he reached Cathy's minivan, he opened the back door, placed the books on the seat and hung the dress from the hook inside.
 

 

As he closed the door, he felt a hand rub his back and slide familiarly towards his somewhat more plump rear end.

"You don't need to lock it, babe. I'll be headed home now, too." Cathy said as she turned him and planted a kiss on his glossy, candy-applered lips. "You know, when Audrey suggested them, I didn't think I'd like you with bangs, but I really do. They're a little playful, but still very grown up. It kind of makes you look like Zooey Deschanel on that show, 'New Girl.'

Kelly laughed and kissed her again. "Well, how appropriate. 'New Girl.' You're a riot, you know that?"

Cathy laughed, too. "Ok, I'll see you at home. I'll go home, shower, throw these sweats into the hamper and put on something pretty, so when you get there we can go out to celebrate the last day of school. Remember, you can't eat anything after 7:00, so we need to go out early."

"What about me? Can't I shower before dinner, too?"

"Babe, you're always beautiful. You'll just need to brush out your helmet-hair after your bike ride. Look at how cute you just are, now. You'll be the prettiest girl at Guiseppe's and you know it." Another kiss and Cathy opened the drivers door and got in.

Kelly stepped back so Cathy could pull out. He blew her a kiss as she called out the window, "Bye, babe. See you at home. Love you."

"Love you, too, Cath!"

Kelly walked to his pretty bike, pulled on his helmet and started his ride home. As the breeze blew into his skirts and around his lace and silk -enclosed penis, he thought that this must be what it is like to to ride on a magic carpet, like Jasmine and Aladdin. That made him smile and "A Whole New World" ran through his head. He'd always loved that song and now he, too, was living in a whole new world. Maybe he'd always been a Disney Princess. He just never knew it until he'd been exposed to the magic of Disney World.
 
THE END