Susie's all hot for James Crenshaw. James is a 6’ 3”, 250 pound football linebacker. Of course, Susie’s only crushing on him. James is a BMOC (big man on campus) and Susie’s just Susie. She’s kind of like me; a mousey girl with ordinary looks, an ordinary body and ordinary personality, only just a little more outgoing than me. She talks all the time about how she could set something up so that James would notice her and how that would lead to them finding a dark place to “get to know” each other. I think she’s crazy. If he did notice her and they did find that dark place, she’s gives every indication, without saying it right out, that she’d do the big one, just to keep him coming back. Eewww.

Not me, I’d rather hangout with the girls. Heck, I’d rather kiss Susie, than James. Now, if I wanted to find a boy to take to a dark place it’d be Blake Henderson. Blake’s a nerd, pocket protector and all. He belongs to the chess club, the drama club and he’s president of the science club. Why would I pick Blake? He’s everything the jocks aren’t. He’s quiet, unassuming, polite and shy. Come to think of it, he’s a lot more like me than one of them. If he was just a girl, we’d be best friends. I don’t really have a best friend because, as you can probably guess, I don’t really fit in with the rest of the girls.

So maybe I should get brave and pursue a friendship with Blake. But, God, I’m really not up to making the first move to have any kind of relationship with a guy… if he were a girl, maybe. No pressure there and then, I could explore this idea that maybe I’m a lesbian.

All this was going through my mind as I walked to school on a Friday morning. Then, I saw Blake. I stopped to watch him as he climbed the steps into school. His cute little tush swaying back and forth with each step up; his long hair swishing across his back all combined to scream “Notice me,” me in his nerdy way. I know his long hair was an attempt to be cool, but he’s a generation behind the times. Guys in my father’s age group grew long hair to be cool. Now, it isn’t even a retro style. It just serves to let everyone know just how far out of step Blake is, but I don’t care. Yeah, if I was going to do the big one with anyone, it’d be Blake. If only I could figure a way to get to know him. I don’t play chess, I haven’t got a clue when it comes to science and I sure can’t act enough to do anything in drama.

That got me thinking about school that day. Being Friday, I’d have a science quiz to take and I just knew I’d do terrible. I try, I really do, but all those chemical names and relationships just won’t keep in my brain. I worry, because, I’m sure that I’m going to flunk science, if I don’t put it together.

Sure enough, last period, science quiz, I bombed. I knew I was in trouble because I was still trying to guess or is that second guess my answers on the multiple guess section of the test when Mr. Fredrick announced that the bell would ring in two minutes and we should hand in our papers on the way out. I was the last one to turn in my paper. I’m sure I didn’t look happy. Mr. Fredrick had a concerned look on his face.

“Patty, I was watching you during the quiz. You didn’t do well, did you?” I shook my head no. “Stay a moment, would you?”

He looked over my paper, red pencil in hand. After a few minutes, he handed it back to me. “You only got 40%. How many of those were guesses?”

I looked over my paper, dismayed. “Most of them.”

“Patty, it doesn’t give me pleasure to flunk students. We need to come up with a plan to get your grade up. Have you considered a tutor?”

“My parents couldn’t afford that.”

“How about a student tutor? Someone from school, who’d be willing to help you study, gratis?”

“I don’t know anyone who’s good in science or even would have the time, if they were.” Heck, I didn’t even know anyone who’d be willing if they had the time and were good in science.

“I have a young man in my advanced class that has indicated he would be willing and from what I’ve seen when he presents reports in class, he’d be a good person to explain this to you in a way you could understand. If I had the time to do some one on one with you, I perhaps could, but I have to teach six classes a day and in each class, I have to teach to the median level. I don’t have time to help individual students. That’s why I have advanced classes, so the students with a good grasp can get something extra. However, I don’t have a remedial class; this is the only class you can attend.

“How about I set you up with this young man? I’ve already talked to him about you, without mentioning your name. He said if you’re interested that I should give you his name and phone number. He’s willing to meet with you privately, so no one need know you need a tutor.”

“OK, I need to do something.”

He gave me a piece of folded paper and said, “I’d get a hold of him this weekend if I were you. You only have four weeks to midterm and you need a passing grade on that test to get credit for the class.”

I nodded and left the room. I made my way to my locker where I picked up my coat and my backpack. I was in a depressed mood. Not that I had any great plans for the weekend, but now, if I wanted credit for my science class, needed to let some other student, a boy even, know I was a total dunce when it came to science. Summer school was the only other answer and if giving up a weekend, where I was going to do nothing, was a bummer going to summer school would certainly be the pits.

I got home and went to my room. I unloaded my backpack, not that I was looking forward to doing my homework. I had an English paper due on Monday, but I wasn’t sweating that. I had the bulk of it on my computer. I only needed to wrap up the ending and run it through grammar/spell checker and print it out.

I was beside myself. Just that morning I was thinking in terms of how I could meet him. All I had to do was call him and tell him Mr. Fredrick had given me his number as tutor for science. ‘Oh Crap.’ How was I going to do that? Blanton was only a few blocks over and we live in the 1900 block on our street, so getting together wouldn’t be a problem. He could come over here, or if he didn’t want to, I could go over there. But I had to call him. The vision of him strolling up the steps with his books clutched to his chest and wiggling his little bubble butt while his auburn locks swished across his shoulder blades crossed my mind. ‘God, I could be tutored by Blake.’ Blake was only a little over five feet tall and couldn’t weight more than 140. If it weren’t for that bubble butt, I’d say he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.

I shook myself out of that thought pattern and decided to worry about contacting him later. I’d wrap up my English paper tonight and worry about Blake tomorrow.

I couldn’t bring myself to call him so I walked over to his neighborhood. If I couldn’t bring myself to call him I don’t know how I thought I’d be able to knock on his door. When I got there, I walked right by his house. I kept right on walking, mentally kicking myself for being chicken. After all, I wasn’t going to ask him for a date, I just wanted, no needed, some help understanding my science class.

There was a park in the next block. It didn’t have a playground or anything; just some paths through the trees on a gentle terraced hill side. One path meandered around the edge of the park and another cut straight through the center, using stairs to traverse the terrace. I could see a rest room in the lower portion of the park and decided that I probably should visit it.

When I walked in, I could see one stall was occupied, so I took the other. I sat to do my business, without much thought as to who the other person in the stall would be. I probably didn’t know them. They left without washing their hands, which I thought was unusual. I’m sure all the women or girls I knew, at least rinsed their hands.

I exited the restroom and saw a girl heading up the center path. I followed, vowing this time when I got Blake’s house, I’d go up to the door and knock. The girl ahead of me reached the stairs and I watched her ascend. Visions of Blake on the school steps jumped into my head. This girl had the same bubble butt and auburn hair to her shoulder blades. The wiggle and swish were the same. 'Does Blake have a sister?' If he did, she didn’t go to our school. I studied her as she kept pace ahead of me on the way toward Blake’s house. She was the same height and weight and had the same bounce to her step.

As I walked behind her, I had an epiphany. What attracted me to Blake was he reminded me of a girl. Then another thought hit me as we approached his block. This girl could be Blake in drag. For reasons I didn’t understand, that excited me. I quickened my pace to see if I could get close enough to tell for sure. I was only ten or fifteen feet behind her when she reached Blake’s walkway. She didn’t hear me behind her because I was wearing sneakers while she was wearing clunky heeled sandals that clacked on the pavement as she walked. I realized as I got closer, that her sandals were really too small on her and her outfit seemed mismatched. I’m no fashion guru, but I know that stripes and polka dots don’t go together. Her full skirt was blue with white polka dots and her top was multi-colored vertical striped affair with a floppy bow at the neckline and loose sleeves that gathered with a broad cuff.

I’m not sure if I was surprised or not when she turned up Blake’s walk, but I called out to her.

“Blake.”

She whirled my direction and looked at me with panic in her eyes. She turned and scurried into the house.

‘God, why did I call out to her?’

I should have just kept walking. I know she didn’t know my name, but I’m sure she recognized me as someone who went to her school. OK, so now I knew, it was Blake in drag. I mean, she was wearing only lipstick for make-up and it was Blake's face, but I can’t help but think of her, as “her.”

I pondered what I needed to do as I went home. Blake must be scared out of his wits right now. A girl from his school, a girl who knew his name, had seen him out in drag and called his name to be sure that he knew she knew who he was. I didn’t mean to upset him; I don’t know why I called his name. It just jumped out of my mouth. How would he ever come to school? He probably thinks I’m going to go tell everyone at school I saw him in drag.

‘OK, I’ll just have to call him, only I can’t just tell him I saw him in skirt and blouse. … I’ll just call like I should have in the first place. I won’t tell him it was me following him from the park.’

Oh, I had no illusions that he wouldn’t recognize me the minute he opened the door, but, if I had to, I’d stick my foot in the door to keep him from slamming it shut.

“Is this Blake Henderson?” I asked when he answered the phone, praying he wouldn’t recognize my voice over the phone.

“Ah, yes.”

I could hear him breathe. He was still breathing hard. I must have really shaken him when I called his name.

“I’m Patty Lane. Mr. Frederick gave me your name and number. He said you were willing to tutor a science dummy. And well, that me; a science dummy. I really need your help. So is there any way we could get together today? I really am desperate for your help.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess. I told Mr. Frederick that I’d tutor a girl. I guess that’s you. Where do you want to meet?”

I saw my chance to put his mind at ease. “Let’s see you live on Blanton, is that right?” Like I didn’t know already.

“Yeah, 2215 NW Blanton.”

“Blanton… That’s only a couple of blocks north of my street and a couple of blocks west from there. That’s close enough I can walk. I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Ah, can you make it ah… twenty minutes? I got something I need to do first.”

‘Yeah, like get changed out of those girls’ clothes.’

“Yeah, sure. Twenty minutes.”

I wasn’t taking chances. As soon as he opened the door, I stuck my foot in it.

“Blake, it’s alright. Let me talk, OK?”

There was that panic in his eyes again.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I called you, Mr. Fredrick gave me your name to tutor me… remember?”

He stood breathing through his mouth. He licked his lips. “Before; you were here before.”

“Yes, that was me.”

“What are you going to do?”

I could see tears welling up in his eyes. The panic was gone and fear had taken its place.

“I’m going to ask you to tutor me in science. If you’re any good at math, I could use a little help in algebra as well, but it’s the science that I need the real help in.”

“You’re gonna tell everybody about me.”

“No, I don’t think I need to do that.”

“What if I tell you I don’t want to tutor you? You gonna tell then?”

“No, it’s not for me to tell. If you want people to know, you’ll have to tell them yourself.”

I was playing this by ear. I’d never known anyone like him before. All I knew right then was I needed help with science, Blake could help me and it would give me that excuse to get to know him. Since I was considering if I was lesbian or not, and he was dressing like a girl… I’d have to think about that later.

He blinked. “My mom’s not home. You sure you want to come in?”

“I’ve got my books and some papers that Mr. Fredrick graded. Maybe we could go to that park down the street. There’s some tables and that way…

“Yeah, the park’s probably better, since my mom isn’t here.”

He stepped outside and we walked to the park in silence. There was a picnic table just a little way into the park where we sat.

“I took notes on what Mr. Fredrick said would be on the midterm, and if you look at my papers, you can see I don’t know squat about what he’s talking about.” That was just about a dumb a sentence as I’ve ever strung together. Maybe he’ll think I need help in English as well.

He looked over the papers I’d written and the tests I’d gotten back. He picked up my book and skimmed through it.

“Well, it looks like he’s testing right out of the book, and the papers he’s assigned are to get you to remember what’s in the book.”

“Yeah, well the book seems to be written in some kind of foreign language.”

He smiled; he has a really great smile. I’d never seen him really smile before.

“A lot of the names are… a foreign language… Latin. But they’re just names. Those can be memorized. What’s important to learn is the scientific process. I don’t rely on the text book alone. I go online and there’s plenty of sites that go into the processes you need to learn. Things like background information. What the things that prompted the experiments that were all about and how they devised the whole thing. By the time you read it you’ll be an expert on whatever process they’re talking about. Look, can you come back tomorrow? My mother will be home and I can show you on my computer where I get all the stuff. That’ll help you write better papers and that’ll put the information in your head better for the tests. Speaking of tests, I’ve some books I’ll loan you on how to take tests.”

“OK, I can come back tomorrow.”

We headed back toward his house in silence again, but I had to say something. “Look, about earlier today. I came over here to ask you about helping me. Only I chickened out knocking on your door and walked right on past your house. I came to the park and used the restroom.”

“That was you, in the restroom?”

I nodded. “I saw you walk up the stairs at school yesterday and when I saw you today, I recognized the way you moved going up the stairs. I… ah, look if you want to dress as a girl I’m cool with it. As a matter-of-fact, if you wanted to tutor me as a girl, I would be cool with that as well.”

“I don’t know about that, but thanks for… well your cool OK; I thought you’d be like blackmailing me because you caught me.”

“Oh no. Actually, it kind of makes me like you more. When Mr. Fredrick told me there was a guy who was willing to tutor me, I wasn’t too thrilled. Most guys turn me off. Look I know something about you that you’d rather not everyone knew, so to make us even, I’ll tell you something about me that it wouldn’t be cool if everyone knew. Then we’ll both have something on the other and be more equal. OK?” He looked at me with a concentrating look and nodded his assent. “Like I said, most guys turn me off. I kind of think I like girls… you know, as opposed to guys. So if you have something girly about you then that’s a plus as far as I’m concerned.”

“It sounds like maybe you’re, or you think you might be, a lesbian.”

“I can’t say for sure. I’ve never kiss a girl, or a guy, but girls seem to be more my style than most of the guys I’ve seen. You’re kind of the exception.” ‘Oh God, why’d I say that out loud.’

“Exception?”

I needed to backpedal fast. “You know because of you wanting to dress as girl. It kind of makes you like a girl.” ‘Open mouth, change feet. Oh yeah, just keep saying one wrong thing after another.’

I looked at him fearfully; afraid he’d be offended. But he was just quiet. He didn’t seem mad or anything; just like he was thinking about something.

When we got to his house, told me to wait outside while he went to get the books he’d told me about. I was thinking that was just great. He’s giving me homework. I’d have bet he wanted to be a teacher. I few minutes later, he handed me three books the top on was, “Test Taking Strategies & Study Skills for the Utterly Confused.” Boy did he have me pegged. Then there was, “Test-Taking and Study Strategies for All Students, Including Those with ADD and LD,” and the third one was a simple title; “Test-Taking Strategies.”

“People think I’m really smart, but the thing I’m really good at is something I worked at. How to study and take tests.” These are really easy to read. Short term, they’ll do you more good than the text book. I understand we need to get you by the midterm test. So we’ll concentrate on how to make use of the knowledge you have when you’re setting down for the exam.”

“Patty,” my mother called from downstairs.

“Yes Mom?” I answered coming to the top of the stairs.

“I just got a call from Amanda Henderson. She says her son Blake has been asked to tutor you in science. Is that right?”

“Ah, yeah. Mr. Frederick says the way I’m going, I’m not going to pass the midterm and if I don’t, there’s no way I can get a passing grade for the term.”

“I know Amanda from last year when I was involved with the fundraiser for the new band uniforms. But I don’t know Blake. Do you know him?”

I’d taken band the year before because of my mother’s misguided idea that since she was talented as a clarinet player, I would be too. News Flash: you need a sense of rhythm to play an instrument.

“We’ve met, but I don’t know him real well.”

“What do you know about him?”

I didn’t dare tell her everything I knew about him, especially the most recently acquired information. So I stuck with what was for public consumption.

“He’s in the drama club, the chess club and he’s president of the science club.”

“President of the science club? Well, I guess he must have some knowledge of science then. Is he a nice boy? I mean, is he well behaved?”

“You mean can we trust him?”

Mom stammered a bit at that. “I mean, is he the sort of boy you’d introduce me to as a friend of yours without worrying I might disapprove.”

“Mom, he’s a geek, a model student and he’s on honor roll.”

“Amanda says you’re to go over to his house tomorrow for some tutoring.”

“Yeah, that’s what he said when I talked to him.”

“Something about how he’s going to show you some resources on the computer that will help you in your studies.”

“Yeah, he also gave me some books to read about how to do well on tests. I was just reading one of them.”

“Books on taking tests?”

“Yeah, it seems some people have trouble recalling information when they take tests. These books are supposed to teach you how to do that.”

“Well you mind your manners over there. If his computer is in his room, be sure to leave the door open.”

‘Crud! Right Mom, I just met the guy and I’m going to do something stupid with him. NOT!’

“Hi, come on in,” Blake said when he answered the door. “Mom,” he called back over his shoulder, “Patty’s here, we’re going up to my room. I've got a bunch of web sites to show her.”

“Just a minute, young man,” Mrs. Henderson said, as she came in to the entry from what I assumed was the kitchen. “Don’t you think you should introduce our guest to me?”

“Ah, OK; Mom, this is Patty, Patty, this is my mom.”

“Hello Patty. I know your mother. We worked on the band uniform fundraiser last year.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Henderson, my mom mentioned that.”

She looked at Blake and said, “Alright, now you may show her the mysteries of the internet.”

Blake motioned toward the stairs with his head. “Come on, my computer is upstairs.”

“Has Blake bored you to tears yet?” asked Mrs. Henderson as she came into the room with some cans of soda and two bananas.

“Oh no, Mrs. Henderson. He has a way of showing me stuff I’ve never seen and getting me to understand it.”

Mrs. Henderson smiled and said, “I thought you two might enjoy a snack.”

“Thank you,” I told her as I accepted the snack for both of us.”

“Blake, you’ve been at it for two hours, now and you’ve been up here all morning before that. I really wish you could get some fresh air now and then.”

“We could take a break and go for a walk,” I offered. “I could use a little time to wrap my head around all this.”

“Good idea. You see Blake, not everyone can take in all that information in massive doses. Go out for a walk. Let the poor girl clear her head.”

“I guess we have been hitting it a little intense, haven’t we.”

We walked in silence, it would have been deja vu except we really had done it before, to the same location even.

“Why don’t we sit?” I asked as we neared the picnic table. He nodded his head and climbed up on the table, resting his feet on the bench. I followed suite. We didn’t talk for a bit, but instead, surveyed our surroundings. Finally I broke the silence.

“I spent some time on the internet last night.”

“Did you see if you could find some basic science sites?”

“No, I did a Google search on boys who like to wear girl’s clothes.” I could feel him stiffen without even looking. “From what I found, I’d guess that you don’t have anyone to talk to about that kind of thing.” I left the statement hang. He studied his feet on the bench. I thought for a little while that he’d refuse to talk at all.

“You’d be right. When no one knows what you do, you can’t talk to them about it.”

“You know there’s quite an online community of ‘trans’ people out there.”

“Yeah, I go to the library sometimes and use the public computer and get in on forums sometimes. I don’t dare do it from my home computer. My mom’s pretty tech savvy. She’s old school computer. She started when businesses used mainframes and satellite work stations. She a systems analyst . She specializes in networking. I can’t even use my tablet because I’m afraid she’d be able to find out with some kind of network cache at the house, or maybe in the cloud. She has every computer device we have, even our phones, linked to the cloud.”

“So as a cross-dresser, you’re pretty isolated.”

“You can say that again. When I go to the library, I do everything I can to hide who I am. Can you believe I wear a disguise? I went to a costume shop and bought some plain glass glasses and I wear them. I even use some stage make-up to give the appearance of a five o’clock shadow. Can you imagine me with a five o’clock shadow?

“Did you know that Blake is a unisex name? It can be used for a boy or a girl. But my forum name is ‘BlaineXD’. I can’t use my own name. Blaine cross-dresser, get it? Blaine is a unisex name too. I figure it’s close enough to my own that I won’t forget it. I sure don’t want to write it down anywhere.” Then he clammed up, as if he thought he’d said too much.

“I just want you to know that I think that the fact you cross-dress makes you more interesting as a person. I mean, before I knew, I thought you were interesting. Not at all like the macho jerks all the other girls moon over.

“What I’m trying to get at here, is that when you feel like you need to talk… I already know and I won’t judge you. And well, I’m a girl. If you need to know about girl things, or maybe, you need to buy something, and are too embarrassed to do it yourself, I could do it for you.” ‘Oh God, I’m rambling.’

“Look Blake, I just want to be your friend. I get the feeling that you’re afraid that what you’ve already said is too much and you’re thinking I might use this stuff against you. Well, I won’t. If I’m going to be your friend, then I need to be trustworthy, OK?”

Blake nodded. “So why didn’t you freak out when you realized it was me, yesterday.”

“Well, I was kind of surprised, but like I said, I think it makes you more interesting. After thinking about it, it makes me want to get to know you more. I guess, because it makes you more like me. I mean, I have nothing in common with the jocks at school. But you, well, you like the same kind of clothes I do.” I looked at him a moment. “We’re about the same size. Maybe I could lend you some things sometime.” I smiled.

He blinked. The look on his face was precious. “You’re not serious. You really wouldn’t loan me some of your clothes.”

“Why not?”

“While it’s pretty well hidden in the garage attic and Mom never goes up there, there’s still the danger of losing my stash of clothes, if Mom ever discovers them. If I borrowed something of yours and she found my stuff while I had it, you’d lose it.”

“Well, then, I’ll not lend you my favorite outfits. But I have plenty of dresses that I don’t wear much, and a whole mess of skirts and blouses.” I looked at his feet. “What size shoes do you wear?”

“Eight and a half.”

“Can’t be, I wear an eight and a half and your feet are bigger than mine.”

“Oh, you mean women’s sizes. I’m not sure the sandals I was wearing yesterday were too small. I had to let the straps out all the way and my toes stuck over the front and my heel was over the back a little. It doesn’t make them fun to walk in.”

“OK, I really want to help you explore your feminine side, I think it’s really cool that you even have a feminine side. How about if I help you get some shoes in the right size?”

“How can you do that?”

“There’s a self-service shoe store at the mall. Next Saturday, we can go there together. They only have one or two people working there at any one time, so it’ll be easy for you to step behind one of isles and quickly try on some shoes.”

“I don’t have a lot of money to spend.”

“That’s OK, the prices are really cheap, and I made a ton of money babysitting last summer. If you don’t have enough, I’ll front you some.”

“Why would you do that?”

I shrugged. “Selfish reasons. I want to see if…” ‘Gad, can I tell him I want to try out the lesbian thing with him?’ I… well, I’m kind of attracted to you even as a boy, but I think I’d like to see if you’re more attractive to me as girl, so I want to help you be the best girl you can be.”

“You’re attracted to me?”

“Well, kind of. I think maybe I am, but I don’t know for sure. I’ve never been attracted to a boy before.

“What kind of socks do you have on?”

“Crew socks, what difference does it make?”

“You can’t try on girl’s shoes with crew socks unless you want some tennis shoes.”

“What kind of socks should I be wearing?”

“Well, I always wear knee highs.”

“Knee highs? You mean like knee high nylons? Wouldn’t it look kind of funny for a boy to wear them?”

He had a point. I gave it some thought while the bus ambled on toward the mall. “I know; we’ll stop by Safeway and buy some black trouser socks. They’re the same thickness as nylons and, unless someone has a fetish about the kind of socks boys wear, they’ll look like dress socks.”

“I can’t wait to get back to your house. You didn’t even take time to see what I brought you to wear and I want to see how you look in the clothes I brought.”

“How much stuff did you bring? I mean you insisted that I needed three different pair of shoes to go with the stuff you brought.”

“Not much, just four skirts, three blouses, and two knit tops, that can all be mixed and matched. They’ll all go together, oh, and two dresses.”

“Not much?! I could wear a different outfit every day for a week.”

“More than that, if you count all the combinations. If my stuff fits you the way I think it will, I have more stuff at home.”

“I love all of it. Which one do you think I look best in?”

“I like the pale green dress. It brings out your eyes and complements your hair color, but put on the grey skirt and yellow top.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, you’ll see why and put on the nude pantyhose.”

He came down the ladder from the attic and he looked perfect, well almost perfect. His hair needed some style, and maybe some make-up. At the base of the ladder, he turned to face me.

“I can’t believe you bought me panties and pantyhose.”

“They’re cheap and I didn’t get you that much. Just three pair of nylons and six panties. I have a dozen pair of panties, so you’ve got some catching up to do. Let’s go into your bathroom and let me do something with your hair.

Some serious brushing and a little mousse and he, no she, had some style. Some light mascara and lip-gloss later…

“Looking good; what do you think?” I asked turning as I turned her to the mirror.

“It’s unbelievable. I really look like a girl. I don’t even have to squint.”

“What time does your mom get home?”

“About five-thirty.”

“Let’s go for a walk. How about we go down to that park where I first saw you.” He looked unsure. “You did it before without me. The only reason I could tell it was you was because I watched you from behind going up the steps and your cute little butt and your swishy hair looked just the same as it did the day before when you went into the school. That got me to thinking about you and when you turned to go into your walk… Now… I doubt your mother would recognize you.”

He thought a moment and said, “OK, let’s do it before I chicken out.”

On the way to the park, I told her, “You’ve got to let me help you just one more time.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I’ve been looking on the internet again, and I’ve come across a salon in town that can fix your hair so the style can work either way.”

“Why do I need that?”

“Well, I doubt you could learn to style it yourself very quickly and now that I’ve finally found a girlfriend, I want her to be confident enough to go out anywhere, anytime.”

“You don’t… you don’t expect me to go dressed like this, do you?”

“Not unless you want to. But I would like us to take an outfit with us, so we can go do something after you get beautified.”

“Like what?”

“Something simple, like go to a movie. Someplace you can spend some time out dressed and feel safe, because it’ll be dark in the theater.”

I let Blaine pick the movie, but I paid for the tickets and our drinks, after all, I invited her. She picked a really romantic chick flick. About fifteen minutes in, I worked up my courage and kissed her. She kissed back. Oh boy did she kiss back, and the rest is history. Now we do lot of things as girlfriends, including studying. Oh, by the way, I did get a passing mark on the midterm and managed a little better on the final. And we’ve become a couple at school, much to his mother’s delight. She thought he was gay and was dreading dealing with that. I think my mother is happy that I’m finally showing an interest in a guy. I think she had the same misgivings as Blake's mother.

Now, with summer here, we are together a lot more often as girlfriends. Now that we don’t have to study, that gives us more time to do the things that couples do, like kissing. Blaine is a great kisser. Personally, I’m hoping to marry my high school sweetheart.