Chapter 2 Early teens

I was about to spend a special afternoon with my sister, her friend Alice, Mum, and Alice’s Mum.

When they rolled up in their car and we climbed in , Alice and her mum were amazed at how alike Gina and I were, and commented that i looked a really pretty girl., which made me a lot happier and more relaxed. This pleased Gina too, as it meant that she also was a really pretty girl. Mum and Alice’s mum sat in the front and us girls in the back where we gossiped and giggled and planned how we were going to spend the day.

Truro is the capital of Cornwall, and although some other towns have larger populations, it has probably the best selection of shops and things to do, with its old buildings, Cathedral, and busy quayside. We arrived parked up, and made for the main shopping area. We went round lots of the shops, mainly those selling clothes, and mum insisted on showing me dresses and skirts holding them up to me and suggesting that I try them on, she even suggested that I get my ears pierced and buy some pretty studs. I was sure that she was deliberately trying to embarrass me to discourage me from dressing as a girl again, but all the time I had spent with the girls, including going shopping with them, made the comments ‘go in one ear and out the other’ and I didn’t take up her offers or feel embarrassed, I was just enjoying my day out with them all so much.

Our mums decided that they wanted to go off on their own for a while, and having given us a bit of money, told us to go and amuse ourselves, and they would meet us later. We went around a lot more shops, looking at clothes and accessories, but didn’t buy much, the girls got a few hair accessories and bits of cheap costume jewellery, and even talked me into buying some hair ribbon and a bracelet for myself to wear for the day. We wandered into one of the department stores, which like most others had all the beauty counters near the main entrance, and we were all staring at the amazing array of products.

“ Hello girls,” said a really lovely lady behind the counter, who had a name badge naming her as Elizabeth - beauty Consultant, “in a few years time you will be coming back here and buying and using a lot of these products, but you are a bit young at the moment and don’t need make-up to look pretty. If you think your mums won’t mind, would you like it if I I put on a little lipstick for you.” The girls faces lit up with excitement, and so we all left with frosted pink lips, feeling all grown-up, and with a cheery smile and wave back to Elizabeth.

We were now all feeling hungry, so went to a coffee bar for some sandwiches and a drink. Gina nudged Alice “Those three lads over there keep looking over at us, if you notice them doing it again give them a smile and look friendly.” Before long they came over to join us and introduced themselves, as Joe, Bill, and Charlie. They were about the same age as us, but like most young lads they were a bit shy and awkward around girls. We chatted a bit and they soon began to relax with us, they asked us if we knew the town very well and offered to show us around. We spent the rest of the afternoon with them, going down to the quayside and markets, and had a really good time until we needed to meet up with the mums and go home. We thanked the boys for being nice to us and hoped that they enjoyed the afternoon as much as we had, and as they were leaving the each gave us all a quick kiss on the cheek and said they hoped to see us again sometime.It wasn’t much but it was my first kiss other than close relatives, and gave me a strange feeling.

We met up with the Mums, who had also had a good time as they were carrying lots of bags, and made our way home.

When we got settled in mum insisted on showing us what she had bought, a beautiful floral print summer dress, some sling-back sandals with a 2” heel, and some underwear. It was the first time that she had ever talked about underwear in front of me, but dressed as I was she just seemed to accept me as one of the girls. Talking more to Gina than to me, she showed the bras she had bought and explained the different types and how different outfits needed different styles to get the best effect. This was a bit embarrassing to me, how many mothers talk about bras to their sons?

When she had shown us all her buys, she pulled out a lovely yellow sleeveless printed summer dress with a belted waist for Gina, who immediately took off her skirt and top and changed into the dress in front of me, without any embarrassment at me seeing her in her just her panties and bra. Normally she would shout and scream at me and try to hide her body, if I caught her at an awkward moment. It really suited her and in a way I felt jealous.

“ And don’t think I've forgotten you Maria,” she said pulling out the same dress she had just given Gina, only in pale blue instead of yellow, “and I've also got you some underwear and shoes of your own so you don’t have to borrow Gina’s.”

I was shocked, I hadn’t expected that, but I felt strangely excited and I hurried to get changed and try on the dress like Gina had, my first very own dress! It felt wonderful, light and floating, and I loved the swirl of its skirt around my legs. Gina immediately made a phone call to Alice who came straight over with Emma and Katie, and we all went for a walk down to Perranporth to let us show off our new dresses. I loved the feel of the breeze and the brush of the skirt on my legs. Although I normally mostly wore shorts not long trousers, and was used to bare legs, it just felt different , and I really liked it, the dress seemed much less restricting than my usual clothes, and the softness of the material was just so different. My dress got a few more outings that summer, when I went out with the girls, but when the holidays were over it was back in the wardrobe to get ready for school again.

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We were all now 11 years old and it was time to transfer from the local village school to the large secondary school in Newquay, and when we went shopping for the new uniforms, Gina had a good time selecting with Mum, all the daytime uniform and sports wear, but I didn’t get too excited as my stuff was a lot more plain and boring, i actually felt jealous.

As we lived well away from the school, there was a special bus service which went around, the villages picking us all up. As Goonhavern was the bus’s first call. Gina, Alice, Katie, Emma and I all rushed to the back of the bus, which was considered to be the best seat, and chatted while the bus did its tour round the other villages and up to school. On the bus on the way home I tended to sit with the boys in my class. the conversations were totally different to that of the girls, mainly about football, cycling and girls. Getting both sides of the story, I was amazed at the total misunderstandings and misconceptions about what the boys and girls each thought about the other gender, and from both sides there was a lot of childish smutty comments, I just took it all in and didn’t particularly argue with any of them except with the exceptionally ridiculous ideas.

For the first time I was is a masculine environment. Although the school and the classes were mixed the boys tended to hang around and sit together in class, as did the girls. I also tended to meet with the boys out-of-school and often go down to the beach with them at weekends, and my time with the girls was now rare, although Maria did turn up at a few parties and shopping days out over the next couple of years.

In the 1960’s due to influence of the Beach Boys’ music and TV programmes featuring Hawaii and Australia, surfing became very popular in the UK, and Newquay became the surf capital and main centre in the UK due to its sheltered bays which channelled the Atlantic rollers and the comparatively mild climate. Newquay, Perranporth, St Agnes and the nearby beaches all prospered and took advantage of all the new opportunities that this brought.

Mum was a shrewd businesswoman, as well as being in the right place at the right time, and along with her manager, who had become her business partner, made some shrewd purchases, and soon had a chain of small hotels along the Cornish Atlantic coast. These were mainly of the ‘cheap and cheerful’ type catering for the youth market visiting for the surfing and the associated nighttime social life. they weren’t particularly interested in luxury facilities. They spent all their time on the beach or in the bars and all they really wanted was a clean bed to fall into at the end of the days and nights out. The hotels were not expensive, but were very profitable, as for most of the year they were completely full.

When down at the beach with the lads, I had really taken to surfing, and had graduated through the training boards and shortboards onto the longboards and I was getting quite capable of riding the bigger breakers. One weekend the boys were off doing things with their families, so I went down to the beach with Gina, Alice and the others, we were all fairly casually dressed just in shorts and tee-shirts, just watching the surfers. Newquay had the reputation but the waves were almost as good at Perranporth.

“You are always on about the surfing and how good you are getting,” said Gina “ how about showing us how to do it?” The swell wasn’t too heavy and the sea looked looked about right for learning in so we agreed to give it a go. We went up to the Surf Shack, and I went to get some of the lighter shorter training boards whilst Gina went inside to select some wet suits, and some ponchos to cover us whilst we changed.

“Gina, have you all got the right suit, the one you have given me is a girl’s.”

“i didn’t realise there was any difference, what’s the problem, the guy in the shack must have assumed we were all girls and just sorted out matching suits for all of us.”

“i feel daft, Its got pink stripes on it and the logo ‘surfer Girl” all across the front”

“ Oh, stop whinging, it’s not as if you haven’t worn things a lot more girly, and you’re not exactly a muscle-bound hunk, although with the suit being so tight it might look better if you did something to hide your boy’s bits, if you are going to be one of the girls for the rest of the day.”

I just got on with it, took the girls into the water and taught them the basics, and kept a sharp eye on them rather than doing much surfing myself. The light training boards are ok when you are learning, but are quite tame when you have progressed a bit. At the end of the afternoon they were getting on quite well, and after falling off a few times, they did all manage to get to standing up, although their rides were not very long. When we all had had enough we got changed and took the kit back to the Shack.

“I had fun watching you girls, it looked like it was the first time for most of you, hope to see you down here again, it makes a change to see such pretty girls having fun on the boards.” We all blushed at this comment, particularly me.

The girls decided that they would go home to get changed and take the bus up to Newquay to surf the shops, and invited me, as Maria, to go with them. I was still quite slight and about the same size as the girls, so with a quick brush of the hair, and putting on a light summer skirt and sleeveless top, and a bra with a bit of padding up-top, I joined them. I loved the light airy feel of the clothes and the soft feel of the material on my skin as we walked around the town. A gang of young teenage girls in the middle of testosterone-fuelled surf-city meant we got a lot of attention, but the girls were all a little bit young to do anything other than coyly flirt, and I just kept quiet. At the end of the day we sat around chatting, and they focused on boys they had seen, clothes and make-up and I realised that their interests and mine were drifting apart. Although I was normally very happy in their company and loved dressing and going out with them as one of the girls, it was probably the time for me to leave the gang put Maria away, and become a full-time boy.

That’s what I thought at the time, but life was full of unexpected twists and turns.

To be continued.