It all started with Cory’s Grand-aunt. As it turned out she really was Cory’s Grand-uncle if you had a strict legal view of things. Unfortunately she was extremely rich and equally extremely convinced that Cory really was a girl inside. Admittedly Cory wasn’t exactly the alpha-male type and some of his interests, such as ballet, were considered by many as a bit girlish but being a girl? No way!

For years Cory had been able to duck most of her attempts while at the same time avoiding insulting the old lady. That was Cory, ever polite and NICE but always managing to glide around obstacles, like water, and finally get his own way. Then the old lady passed away and Cory found himself the heir of a substantial fortune. Provided he spent one complete year as a girl of course.

No hormones or surgery during that year. The old lady was convinced that Cory would realize his true inner self if only he’d let down his defenses. That’s how it came about that my best friend since we started kindergarten turned into a girl the summer before our junior year in high school. The lure of the money was too great. Besides Cory thought it just might be a lark. How naive he was.

The Grand-aunt had passed away in March but Cory and the Grand-aunts lawyer and testament executor agreed that the best date to commence the “Girly Year” was just after school. There was a number of additional requirements as well. Clothing somewhat girly-girlish. Only skirts and dresses unless under special circumstances. Cory had to wear anatomical breastforms, fortunately only B sized. No going around without a bra though. Hair extensions were mentioned in the instructions but turned out not to be necessary since Cory’s hair was long enough. Swimwear and PE kit as befitted a proper girl.

There they reached a point where Cory had expected the whole thing to founder. The school district was not exactly progressive. Less from ideology than inertia. “Please don’t bother us, let’s just do as we’ve always done” was the normal school board reaction to everything. Surprisingly Cory was re-enrolled as a girl without a whisper of objections. A fully fledged girl without restrictions. The lawyer muttered something about a file left him by the Grand-aunt containing certain information about certain persons. Only to be used to facilitate things for Cory the girl and to be destroyed afterwards.

Regrettably there was one further stipulation: Cory had to have the experience of a boyfriend. That’s where I came in. Cory insisted that that boyfriend would be me. As I said we had been good friends since kindergarten and had done practically everything together (except I didn’t take ballet). Cory and John, two boys that got into trouble practically every day for years before we got a bit more staid. Cory felt safe with me and expected me to respect his defenses, not that I could have breached them even if I had wanted. Cory was an expert in the noble art of self-defense. Intellectual and emotional that is. Me? I thought the whole thing was bonkers, completely and utterly mad so of course I agreed. This could be soooo much fun.

That summer was weird. First of all we usually didn’t spend that much with girls. Not that we avoided them but we weren’t exactly the kind of boys that attracted girls. We had girl friends but no girlfriends. We were liked and respected by the girls in our class but they didn’t LIKE us in that way. Cory quite sensibly realized that he needed full immersion. Since we had girl friends they were prepared to help. To be honest Cory was a terrible girl at first. No sense of fashion. Forgetting to swipe his, sorry her, skirt before sitting. The first pair of heels she got ... well, that was hilarious. At first I was a bit miffed since I was shut out of much of what Cory did with “just the girls”. Of course I didn’t expect to be invited to sleep-overs but telling me not to join them when going shopping was a bit too much, I thought. I felt left out.

As the designated boyfriend I was allowed to join them by the lake. I still don’t know if Cory was conned into buying that sexy bikini or if it was of her own volition. Those breasts were really lifelike. I think that’s when I started to have problems with being the “safe boyfriend”. Not that I let anyone know. As the summer went on Cory the girl got more and more skilled and confident. However, the girl Cory was not really the same as the boy I had known. Duh, of course there were the physical “differences” even if only silicone. No, the character became different. She became more assertive and, when necessary, confrontational.

That became obvious when registering for senior year. The school tried to refuse her to take some classes. They were “Not suitable for girls” and “girls never takes these classes”. Inertia! Cory complained and was refused. The next day the school was surrounded by 400 protesters and two local TV teams. By afternoon Cory had got her classes. The baseball skirmish was settled more quietly. A brief meeting with the Grand-aunts lawyer where only Article IX was mentioned, and not a word about “The File”, was enough to settle that. Cory was allowed to try out. Too bad he didn’t qualify though. Another area where our ways parted. I never even considered to try out for cheerleading. The disappointed Cory did, and to his surprise (and disgust?) was accepted as a substitute.

Then there was a whole month without further incidents. Cory integrated fully as a girl. She used the girls’ rest rooms, participated in girls’ PE and used the same locker rooms. There were only token resistance since most girls had come to know and like the girl Cory already during summer. It helped that Cory the boy always had been respectful and nice towards the girls. I had most classes together with Cory, we studied together in evenings, I “dated” Cory. However, things weren’t the same any longer. I felt that we slowly drifted apart. The “dating” part probably was most to blame. I tried to behave as the attentive boyfriend and outwardly Cory was the loving girlfriend but Cory’s formidable defenses were there all the time pushing me away.

However, September and early October was only the calm before the storm and then Cory got involved in the Student Body School Calendar. Student Body was the key words. I think I’ve already mentioned that the school was somewhat behind the times? Well, the pictures up till Cory got involved had featured the most beautiful girls in school. Think “Swimsuit Issue” and you got the picture(s). The proceeds were used for the senior and junior proms.

The rather lazy faculty member supervising got a chock when he finally had a look at that year’s calendar. You could say it followed tradition, sort of. All the persons figuring in the calendar wore rather skimpy swimwear as usual. Cory featured on January while Tim and Mark were on February. Their kiss was very tender and not really sexual. Mary for March was pure standard stuff. Stuffed was the bikini top of hitherto closeted transgender Marvin. However, the favorite among the girls was June. Cory had managed to get the most desirable boy in school to participate as well. How she had managed to get him into those tiny swim briefs is still a well-kept secret. To make things worse the calendars had already been ordered to be printed. The supervisor really was lazy and had signed-off without looking. The whole print run was confiscated.

Strangely enough all copies disappeared from the locked room the same night. Strangely enough those calendars could sometimes be glimpsed in students’ lockers. Strangely enough there was an anonymous donation to the prom committee more or less corresponding to twice the usual proceeds from the calendars. I later heard that some calendars had changed hands for ridiculous sums.

The calendar brouhaha was the starting shots in Cory’s campaign for equal rights. She had grown tired of how the girls’ facilities always were inferior to the boys’. The school counselor always tried to steer girls into stereotypical female occupations and so and on. The campaign extended to the school board elections. She really shook things up and the election result was another chock for the “inertia” camp. The principal realized what was going to happen and resigned. The school counselor surprised everyone and freed from restraints turned out to be perhaps too progressive, even given the new management.

Cory didn’t stop there. She had noticed the flak Tim and Mark and Marvin had received since appearing in the calendar. Many reactions were positive but enough was bad, even from teachers. Cory became a fanatic LGBTQ+++ proponent. What had happened to the nice inoffensive boy Cory who had been happy to lets problems just gently stream around and past him? Well, “the new and improved Cory” incessantly pushed the new more progressive schoolboard before her. She did the same with the student body. Policies for transgender and gay students were written, approved and implemented. The dress code was made unisex. However, Cory was still constrained by the rules laid down by the will. There were a surprising number of students that came out as gay. Apart from transgender Marvin there was also F2M Colleen. Nobody had expected that a couple of crossdressers would take advantage of the new dress code. At first people mistook Mike for transgender and he had to explain over and over again that he just liked skirts and that he definitely was male and male only and no, he had no interest in dating boys.

As you can imagine the confusion spilled over to the senior and junior proms as well. Cory was the obvious shoo-in for junior prom queen but she recused herself. There went any chance I had had to be prom king. Oh, I was Cory’s boyfriend and I supported her eagerly in all her campaigns but I couldn’t help feeling that I was running all I could and still was lagging behind her. In a way that was an advantage though. It meant I had less time to focus on my problem.

Things got better just before junior prom. Preliminary grades showed that I was ahead of Cory scholastically. As it turned out I was top of the class. Well, I had had more time to study as I spent less time with Cory. I still wish I had beaten Cory with more than a nose-length though.

Cory was ravishing at the junior prom. She had really pulled out all stops. Well, it was only one week to the end of the year and as she explained she intended to go out with a bang. Despite her defenses being up as usual we had a great time.

As we danced a slow dance she told me:

- You know John, I can’t wait to go back to being a boy again. It’s been an interesting year but this is not me. I’m exhausted and I’m really glad it’s all over soon.
- Cory, you DO know that you are the main character in a Bru story?

I’ve never seen blood completely drain from a face that fast. I sensed that Cory’s defenses were down for just a moment. A moment was all I needed. I pulled her closer and KISSED her. Truly kissed. Cory responded and this was the first of many, many kisses.

The next year was much better than I had feared when I started junior year. I felt truly liberated. The groundwork done by Cory the girl during our junior year helped enormously. We went to college together and next month we’ll get married. According to the doctors the soreness from the operation should be gone by then.

Looking back I realize that things would have been much, much harder without Cory and what he did. Marrying someone loaded isn’t bad but what’s even more important is that my husband-to-be truly has an understanding of what I have had to go through. It’s a true comfort that my husband-to-be really has walked a mile in my shoes. Well, at the time they were his.

Love
Joan