This takes place in Maddy Bell's Gaby universe. Rhod, a 13 year old boy, is best friends with Drew Bond, also a 13 year old boy. Drew sometimes gets mistaken for a girl. Rhod a part time girl himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, finds out that he wants to be Mfawny (Em), a Welsh girl, full time. A foreign exchange program gives him the opportunity to do so. Chapter 1 starts the trip going to America.
Departure
I want to thank all the people that have helped me edit and critique this story. They are Angel O'Hare, Stacy Miller, Karen Page, Robi McKee, Paula Dillon and especially Maddy Bell for allowing me to join her universe and giving me permission to write in it.
Based on the story Gaby, Book # 4 - Once Upon A Time In America By Maddy Bell
All Characters portrayed in the story are copywrited to Maddy Bell for her Gaby series found at Maddybell.com
Scene 1
Departure:
I woke up this morning excited, knowing I was going to be going to the US. I was going to be somewhere other than the UK and this really excited me. Usually my mum and I couldn’t afford such extravagant trips, but it was all paid for by Mr. Peters’s company, Maddy’s dad.
My legal name is Rhodrii Morgan (nicknamed Rhod). I’m a 13-year-old boy, living with my un-married, beautiful, Welsh mother, Sylvia. She is a hairdresser who owns her own salon that used to be her mothers before she passed away. I’m also known as Mfanwy, a 13-year-old Welsh girl. I’d decided I wanted to be a full time girl, and the doctors approved it and I’m on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to help in my transformation. Why do I want to be a girl you ask? Well it all started with my dad.
I was named after my Welsh father, who I’d never met prior to my tenth birthday. He had divorced my mum when he found out she was pregnant with me. He ran off to get away from his responsibilities. My mum never found out where he ran off to at the time.
My mum raised me alone with no support from dear old ex-dad. So it was kind of a shock when my mother received a message from dear old ex-dad, when I was about 10 years old. The letter said he wanted to come and take me away from my mother. Mum was shocked to say the least. The message stated that he married a Welsh woman by the name of Cherys and she wished to have his child returned to him. She had cancer, and the treatment caused her to have a hysterectomy, so she couldn’t have children. The father wanted his son, even though he did not know what sex the baby was. The father exclaimed that an unwed mother couldn’t raise a son up properly and it should be the father to raise him.
Sylvia was livid. She brought up Rhod and there was no way her ex-husband was going to take her son from her.
He was supposed to come in a couple of weeks to collect me.
Mum was upset, and knowing the law, she couldn’t afford the legal payments it would take to keep her ex from taking Rhod away from her. Mum, being desperate, convinced me to dress and play the part of a girl, so hopefully he would be disappointed and leave us alone. She told me it’s very important that I play the part completely and she taught me all there was to know about being a girl. She taught me make-up, styled my hair and taught me how to style it, waxed my body free of hair, taught me how to walk and behave, and got me to understand about clothing. She named me Mfanwy, after my Grandma Jones, which is a very feminine Welsh name.
When dad arrived he was disappointed I wasn’t his son, but his daughter. That made it less desirable in his eye to keep me. However with Cherys insistence, it was worked out that we would be time-sharing me between my mum and my ex-dad so he can get to know me, and she feel like a mum she so badly wanted to be.
Now I’m stuck as a girl for a weekend every month, for who knows how long.
Cherys was a neat freak and a strict, old fashioned, type of woman and demanded I always looked good as a woman, and made me wear only skirts or dresses, never shorts or pants. She taught me how to properly clean a house, to cook, how to behave and look like a lady, and how to shop. I hated it.
Shortly, after about two years of being part time Mfanwy, Ally, my girlfriend, found out about what was happening to me and she became my confidant and promised never to tell the gang. She fell in love with her girlfriend Mfanwy and called me by my nickname ‘Em’. She made my life bearable, when she would come with me to my dads.
This had gone on for two and half years, when Drew Bond, my best mate and I, were conned into dressing like Manga girls, for a costume dance, at the school.
You ask how this could happen? Well Drew and I were very good friends with these girls in our neighborhood. I got to know them, not only through school, but also through my mum’s hair salon. They were Madeline (Maddy) Peters, Drew's cousin on his mothers side; Alison (Ally) Lacey, my girl friend and confidant and Bernadette (Bernie) Rose, a very good friend of ours.
Well Drew was rather effeminate looking and was always mistaken for being a girl. Maddy got the idea it would be wild if she could get Drew into a girls costume to see what he would look like. She came up with an idea and told it to the girls. They all thought it was a great idea. The girls wanted all of us to go as Manga characters to win the group cash prize they were offering, as part of a competition, at the school costume Dance.
They really didn’t tell Drew and I, that they wanted to go as a group of Manga GIRLS. Drew said he would do it trusting Maddy, thinking he would be a male Manga character. They told us roughly what was going to happen, and make Drew swear he couldn’t back out. So Drew agreed, definitely getting tricked into doing it, because none of the girls mentioned that we would be dressing up as girls. They knew they could convince Drew to do it, for they knew he wouldn’t be able to say no. Besides, he looked a lot like his cousin Maddy; they were often referred to as twin girls, much to Drew’s dismay. I believe Maddy wanted to see if he would look good enough to actually be her twin.
I was asked by the girls to do it also. I felt I would go along with it, since I had a good friend sharing the burden. It really wasn’t a burden at this point, since I’ve been dressing and acting as a girl for a while, so it was no big deal to me.
Somehow Juliette (Jules) Bond, Drew’s sister, got suckered into doing it also, after she found out what was going to happen to her brother.
I was surprised how good Drew looked as a girl; he looked just like Maddy. I didn’t feel so alone anymore since they all accepted me dressed as a girl. The girls called Drew, Gaby Peters upon his request and me Pippa Morgan. They taught us how to move, behave and speak in the weeks leading up to the dance and I pleaded innocence that I new any of this stuff, and didn’t let on. Ally didn’t either, but we shared the private joke.
We ended up winning the group prize, Maddy and Gaby won the best couples costume, and Gaby ended up winning the best costume at the dance that night. Gaby was dressed as Chi light, in a beautiful short, cream-colored dress, which Maddy made and Maddy was Chi Dark, in a similar but black version of the dress that Gaby had on. Gaby was ecstatic that night, even though he had his reservations about doing it.
The following summer, we had American foreign exchanges students staying with us for six weeks. Then we would go to United States of America, next January, for six weeks in Grottoes Virginia.
While they were here, they had started up the now known ‘Sherwood Foresters, Warsop College Cheer Team’ here in our school. Drew was conned into it from the very beginning, I guess I would’ve been also, but because of Dan Martin, my exchange student and me having to go to my dad’s by myself during one of the weekends, this kept me from getting involved. Britney Walters from the US, which was Drew’s exchange student, always found some reason to get Drew dressed as a girl, She thought Drew was a girl, and she was just being a tom boy. She easily got him involved with the cheer group.
Shortly after the US exchange students left, I made the decision. I wanted to become a full time girl for real; I found I liked everything about being a girl.
When Ally came with me to my dads, Cherys found out about the cheerleaders from Ally, since Ally was a cheerleader. Cherys found out from Ally, that there where tryouts coming up. Cherys and Ally persuaded me to try out for the cheer team.
Ally told me later privately, “This would be good to see if you really like being a girl.”
When my mum found out about the cheer team, she said I should do it also. Well, I did try out.
I was nervous, because I would be exposing myself to the gang. Even though they know about Mfawny, they just assumed I was doing Mfanwy because I had too, to see my dad. Now they’ll know, that will no longer be the case and there is something more to me being Mfanwy. I was worried they would get upset with me, and not like me anymore.
I was accepted into the cheer team much to my surprise. I never thought I would get picked.
When I told Drew and the gang about my decision to become a fulltime girl and not pretend anymore, they were all initially shocked. Drew especially, he looked at me like I’d lost it, he couldn’t understand why I wanted to be a girl for real. I tried to explain it to him, but he felt betrayed. It took a while, but he finally got around to accepting me, but he didn’t really like it. After a while everyone in the gang got used to the idea, since they saw Em and Gaby at cheer practice anyway.
Drew told me he wanted to quit, but they made him one of the captains of the cheerleaders, before he could do so. So he got stuck; he didn’t want to disappoint anyone.
Miss Cowlishaw, our cheerleader teacher/advisor, as well as Mr. Wood, our headmaster, and Mr. Pilling, our Physical Education teacher, know about both of us being boys, pretending to be girls. I’m not sure if they know that I want to go full time as a girl yet, except for Mr. Wood.
Mr. Wood agreed that to transition in the middle of a school year wasn’t a good idea. My mum and him said it would be better to wait until school was over, then transition and come back as a girl the following season. I guess it’s a good plan.
When we were told that we were entered into a cheer competition over in the states, and Drew and I were asked to be Gaby and Mfanwy for the competition, it was a good excuse to look like Mfanwy, so kids wouldn’t twig I was a boy in a cheer costume. I figured I could use this as the excuse to go as Mfanwy.
I wanted to be Mfanwy during this trip so bad; I packed my suitcase with more Mfanwy things, after my mum inspected it. She really didn’t want Mfanwy to show up on this trip, but I explained to her that I would be in a cheer competition while there. Mfawny would have to do it. She was nervous about it, for she was afraid that I would get into major problems if someone found out about me not being a real female. She knew the psychologist and the doctor approved me to go all the way as a girl, and gave me the hormone replacement medicine necessary to do this, and I had a two-month supply, since the doctor knew I would be in the US for six weeks.
I told my mum that Dan wouldn’t be my host person in the US, because of what happened when he was here. They said my Host would be someone named Sandy Jones. I sure hope he will be ok with things, for I fear it may get difficult if he doesn’t accept me being a girl, especially when I have to become Mfanwy for the cheer competitions. Mum just shook her head.
Mum did my hair yesterday, and I’m not sure what she was thinking. It looked even more girlish than before. Not that I mind. I’d decided I would do my nails also, and put some clear lacquer on them to make them look nice and protect them.
She did Drew’s hair too. I was surprised that she made him look even more like Maddy. I’m so jealous. He looks like a girl, without even trying. I have to really work at it to look like Mfanwy to be comfortable. Funny he doesn’t appreciate how good he looks. I wonder what was up with him? Last night he seemed so down about something. Oh well.
I decided I wanted to look more feminine than usual, but not enough to cause problems with traveling. After all I don’t want problems with customs in the US, I hear they are really tight on security and they scrutinize everything since the September eleventh incident. I really don’t want to get into trouble. I decided I would wear knickers and with no bra, then one of my Mfawny pair of blue trousers and a nice unisex white blouse, covered with a nice warm, pale blue, jumper. This shouldn’t make any problems; I would suspect. I put knee high nylons on, to go with the blue trousers and Mfawny’s white trainers, with light blue highlights. I combed my hair into a unisex style and put some light pink lipstick on. I looked into the full-length mirror and I saw Mfanwy staring back at me, sort of and I could still see Rhod. I put on a unisex gold necklace and decided to skip the earrings. This should do for now. I thought about putting a bit of perfume on me, but I did not want to push it. Save it for later.
I went to the kitchen to get some breakfast, and mum was sitting there. She smiled at me when she saw me, she got up and gave me a hug.
She told me, “Mfanwy I want you to be careful dear, the people in the US aren’t as tolerant of gender different people, so please don’t take any unnecessary risks? Promise me?”
I stated, “I promise mum.” giving her a big hug back.
She said, “When I suggested that you portray a girl to you’re father all those many years ago, I never thought it would turn into this, that you want to remain a girl. Are you happy about this turn of events dear?”
I looked at her and sighed, “Mum if it would never have happened, I don’t know what I would’ve done in the past 3 years. Am I upset? Not in the least! If it wasn’t for Ally, Maddy, Bernie and Drew, especially Drew, I don’t think I could have coped. Their support has helped me survive what I’ve become. Are you upset with me, that I’m not the son you thought I was?”
Mum, looked hard at me and said, “Honey you are my flesh and blood, and I love you so much that what ever you want to be, I’ll support you 100%. I love having a daughter now; we can have so many good times together. I also love Rhod equally. Whichever way you choose to stay is fine with me. I blame myself for what has happened and you’re not at fault, don’t ever think you were dearest,” as she hugged me even tighter.
I cried for the love of my mum, I would do anything for her. I love her so much, I’m truly proud of her, and her understanding. When I pulled away from her I saw she too was crying.
She said, “I’m going to miss you during these next 6 weeks my daughter. Please write me and let me know how things are going OK? If there are any problems you call me, reverse the charges if you have to. It’s getting late dear, so sit down and eat so we can get going.”
When we arrived at the school, there was a mini bus there, just like the one we used when the US exchange students were here. I saw Ally and rushed over to her to give her a hug
Ally pulled back and looked at me and said, “What do you want me to call you? Rhod or Em?”
I smiled coyly and said, “which ever name you want to use, but I do prefer Em.”
Bernie and Maddy showed up shortly after us and we said our hellos. We got our Luggage together, tagged them and put them on the bus. I was wondering were the Bonds were, for I did not see them yet and it was getting late.
Miss C came over to me and asked if everything was going OK? I told her I was doing all right, and she went over to my mum and started talking with her. I could see they were talking about me, for they kept looking my way. Hmmm I wonder what they were talking about? I saw Miss C nodding her head and heard her say she would look out for me. They both smiled at me when they saw me looking.
A short time later, Bernie and Ally came back over to me and we started talking. They both expressed concern at not seeing Drew and Jules. Maddy was off talking with Miss C, if I didn’t know any better Maddy looked worried about something, but I had no idea what.
Finally, I saw the Bond car coming down the road and I felt relief. Drew was really acting strange last night. He didn’t even overreact about the cut of his hair. This was unusual for him, for he would usually complain.
When Drew and Jules got out of the car with their parents, neither Jules nor Drew looked at all excited. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought someone died. They really looked down for some reason. I wonder if they are getting homesick already? After all they have not seen their mum in quite sometime and now getting her back, and then the two of them leaving, it must be rough. It also struck me, with the haircut Drew has and the clothes he is wearing, he looks a lot like Maddy. I wonder if he realizes this. He looks like Gaby today.
While they were getting their luggage checked in, we were asked if we had our passports and flight tickets. We all responded in the affirmative. We were told to say goodbye to our parents and to get on the bus.
I went over to my mum and she gave me a big hug. I’m going to miss her hugs while I’m gone. Being her daughter has made me become closer to her then I could ever remember.
She told me that she talked with Miss C about Mfanwy and being abroad, that if I had any issues what so ever; I was to tell Miss C about it. Miss C promised to look out for me. I felt warm all over for the support I’m being given; I guess I considered myself lucky I have a great bunch of friends and teachers that are willing to help me with my Gender issues. I said goodbye to her.
I got on to the bus and sat next to Ally, who was beaming at me. We smiled and were excited, we saw Bernie and Mad get on, then Jules and Drew. Maddy was saving a seat for Drew. Then I saw the look of concern on Maddy’s face, and Drew and Jules still were not smiling, I wonder what is going on with them? Are they still worried their mother is leaving them?
Mr. Pilling got on the bus and got our attention.
“Now we’re all here” Mr Pilling started, “Mr Wood has a few words to say”
“Thanks Mr Pilling, I’ll keep this short, I want to get back to bed.” He paused for the expected laughter, which to be fair he got.
“I’ve said this before but I’ll repeat it again. You are going to Virginia as representatives of this school, yes it’s a sort of holiday but I expect you all to come back having learned something. What that is will be different for each of you,” I could swear he was looking at Drew and me when he said that.
“If you have any problems, Miss Cowlishaw and Mr. Pilling will be there to help sort them out. So have a fun time, make Warsop College proud and Godspeed!”
He was obviously finished so he got a small round of applause. After a quick word with our traveling chaperones he stepped off the coach and we all turned our attentions to waving to parents, siblings and anyone else in the car park! The door hissed closed and we were finally on our way to catch flight 613 to Washington.
I saw Jules and Drew looking at each other almost in tears, and then saw Drew turn to the window and just look at his parents and waving, I think I saw tears in Drew’s eyes.
It must be hard to leave you’re mother when you just get her back; the breakup was rough on them. I do hope his mum comes to her senses and gives up on breaking up with his father. Shortly after we left I saw Drew turn to Maddy and hug her tightly, they both had tears in their eyes.
The trip to the Airport was uneventful except that we were all rowdy, noisy, and excited. Drew, Maddy and Jules did not seem all that excited. I would’ve talked with them but I was to far away to say anything, and I’m sure they wanted to be left alone for the time being.
When we arrived at the airport everyone was scrambling to get their luggage. I followed Ally and Bernie into the terminal. Drew, Mad, and Jules dragged behind. I swear looking at them they looked like three girls that had their sweethearts dump them. When we got inside, we followed Mr. Pilling to the ticket counter. We were told to wait in line until it was our turn.
We stood in line at the ticket counter for an age, to check in and get our seat assignments.
When I finally got up to the counter the ticket agent said, “Can I see you’re ticket and you’re passport Miss?” I gave her what she asked for, elated that she took me for a girl, I was fearful however when she opened up the passport and checking the name that was on the ticket, to see if it matched with the one that was in the passport.
She then asked, “ How many bags do you wish to check in, Miss?”
I said, “Just the one.”
Then she asked “Miss, has this bag been packed by you?”
I stated, “Yes.”
“Has this bag been in you’re possession at all times?”
“Yes.”
“Has anyone asked you to carry something for them?”
“No”
She then asked, “Miss, do you have any seating preference?”
I asked, “Could I sit with my girlfriend, and possibly sit by a window, please?” Pointing at Ally, who was standing behind me.
She smiled at me and said, “We can do that, I’m sure. Miss can I have your ticket and passport please?” Addressing Ally.
She took her tickets and passport, and asked all the same questions, and reserved two seats for the two of us. She handed the tickets, seat assignments, and our passports back to us, and said, “Have a good trip ladies.” Smiling at us.
We both said, “Thank you.”
I was glad that was over. As we went to get back into the group with Mr. Pilling, Ally turned to me and said “So Em how does it feel to be traveling as a girl?”
I just smiled at her and said, “Fantastic!”
When we got to the group, I turned to see how Drew was doing. I saw he was checking in with Maddy at the same time. I heard the ticket agent say, “My you two look like twins?” I heard Maddy say, “We are not twins, we are cousins.” The ticket agent smiled at them and I heard her say, “Oh, excuse me for calling you Miss, Andrew, I thought you were a girl? Well you kids have a great trip.” Drew never flinched nor tried to say anything to the ticket agent, he is well out of it.
When everyone got through ticketing, we followed Mr. Pilling to the gate. Miss C followed up at the rear so we wouldn’t get lost.
We got to the security gate, where we had to show our tickets and passports. Then we were told to drop our hand luggage off at some sort of x-ray equipment with a moving belt. We put all of our hand luggage on the belt to be picked up on the other side of the metal detector. They also told us to put anything metal in our pockets into a tray, and give this to the security person. I was a bit nervous, for I’ve never seen this type of equipment before. When a detector would go off, I noticed the males that set off the detector, were taken to one side and a male security guard would wipe a wand of some sort over their body, which would screech once in a while. I also saw the same for the females, but they were taken to the other side and a security woman would check them.
When I went through the metal detector, the detector went off, and I started to panic.
A security woman came over to me and asked, “Please come over here Miss.”
I followed her over to where the other female passengers were being checked.
She asked me, “Stand with your feet together please.” I was shaking like a leaf, and did as she asked.
She said, “Relax don’t be nervous, I’m just going to wave a wand over you to see what set off the metal detector.”
She waved the wand in front of me, and when she got to my neck it went off. She asked, “Could you pull your sweater forward please?”
I did as she asked, and she saw I was wearing a necklace.
She then said, “Please separate your legs.”
So I separated my legs, and she waved the wand up between my legs towards my crotch. I was worried it would go off and I would have to strip.
She completed the scan and said, “You can pick up your hand luggage and proceed to your gate. Have a nice day and a good trip lass.”
I gave a big sigh of relieve, and said, “Thank you.”
To be continued.
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