Due to a case of mistaken identity, a young man gets a Valentine's Day makeover intended for someone else.

Carl was sitting alone in his apartment on Valentine's Day. While he had a very devoted girlfriend, Felicia, she was currently on a business trip abroad, and not due back until February 15th, which ended up being a good thing, because Carl had just come down with a nasty case of laryngitis from cheering on his favorite sport's team at the local pub the night before. Thankfully it's not the contagious type, but it did leave Carl with some throat pain, and made him unable to speak above more than a quiet hoarse whisper, and even then, he had been urged by friends and internet advice to not even attempt that unless absolutely necessary to ensure it passed as soon as possible. So even if Felicia had been around to spend the day with, they wouldn't be able to properly celebrate anyway.

Having taken the day off of work, Carl was tidying up the apartment in his pajamas, and decorating for Felicia's return, so that they could do their makeup Valentine's Day the following day. He was just about to wrap her gift, which was as much for him as it was for her, a red bra and panty set, to go with Felicia's favorite red cocktail dress. He wasn't expecting visitors, which is why it was so surprising to hear the doorbell ring.

Grabbing a pen and paper, Carl headed for the door and opened it, only to be pushed backwards into the apartment by two women and a man, each pushing a small cart into the apartment.

"Sorry we're late, we got lost trying to find the building. Apartment 3C, right?" one of the women, wearing vintage eyeglasses asked, before noticing Carl's appearance. "Are you the only one living here?"

Carl nodded, but his eyes darted to her two assistants, who were quickly taking their carts apart and setting things up in the middle of his living room.

"All right, then. I'm Shirley, and this is Alejandro and Julia," the woman with glasses pointed out the other two. "And we've got you on our list for the Sweetheart Valentine's Day Makeover!"

Carl started to furiously write on the pad, trying to concisely tell them that they have the wrong address, but Shirley quickly grabbed it out of his hands and tossed it onto the counter, before Alejandro and Julia eased Carl down into a salon chair that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, before going back to setting up.

"Your lover signed you up for the full works, so just look over this contract and tell me if everything looks right, okay dear?" Shirley held out a stack of papers to Carl.

Carl scanned the paper, not spotting either his nor Felicia's name on it, and looked up at Shirley.

"Something wrong?" Shirley asked.

Carl pointed to his throat and opened his mouth, hoarsely trying to whisper "Laryngitis, can't talk".

"My stars! You have laryngitis! Don't you worry, Alejandro, go see if there's any painkillers in the medicine cabinet." Shirley ordered.

Carl started to speak, but Shirley put a finger to his lips.

"Don't speak! You could lose your voice forever!" Shirley sternly ordered.

Carl tried to stand to grab his pad, but Alejandro returned and handed Carl a pill with a glass of water. Feeling a slight discomfort, Carl took the pill and swallowed it down.

"Right, Julia, set up the basin and I'll grab the nail kit..." Shirley stated as Carl once again stood up. "It's all right, we know you're a little nervous, with this being a surprise, but don't worry, Carly, we know what we're doing."

Carl tried to walk forward, but suddenly felt woozy, sitting back in the chair.

"Who's Carly? What was that pill I took? Was I roofied?" Carl thought as his eyelids started to drift closed. "No, must fight the..."

"Carly? Carly, dear?" Shirley asked as she shook Carl's arm, but he remained motionless apart from breathing.

"She's probably napping. She seemed tense, probably nervous about the makeover, so I found a Tylenol PM for her." Alejandro remarked.

Shirley shrugged and started to fill the basin with water.

"Let's get to work." Shirley smiled.

While Carl napped, Shirley and her team worked tirelessly. Carl's hair, which he kept long because Felicia liked the length, was lowered into the basin and shampooed with warm water and a fruity, flowery shampoo, while his face was covered with a depilatory cream to handle his stubble.

"Isn't this all a bit weird? I know that gender is fluid, but I was expecting a girl, not a guy." Julia said.

"We're not here to judge, just to make people look gorgeous." Shirley admonished.

Speaking of depilatory, Julia and Alejandro had removed Carl's pajama pants and unbuttoned his flannel, leaving Carl sleeping in just his skivvies, while depilatory cream was spread over his chest, armpits, stomach, groin and legs.

"I know this was a surprise, but you'd think she'd have shaved for tonight." Alejandro remarked.

After enough time had passed, the cream was wiped off, and so was all of Carl's arm hair. While Shirley shampooed Carl's hair, Julia and Alejandro worked on Carl's nails, shaping and buffing them, before matching them to a set of acrylic nails that were glued over Carl's own, being painted a bright shade of red. Additionally, his toenails were also shaped and buffed, before being painted the very same red color.

"This is definitely her shade." Julia said.

Shirley worked with a curling iron on Carl's hair, while his face was attacked by several cosmetics by Julia and Alejandro.

"Jules, he said that her outfit was in the bedroom, go get it ready so we can get her into it when she wakes up." Shirley said.

"Got it, boss." Julia rushed towards the bedroom and started looking around, spotting the box with lingerie, and upon further search, seeing Felicia's red dress peeking out of the closet, right above a set of matching open-toed heels. "Perfect."

Julia gathered everything as Alejandro worked on Carl's face, cleaning up his eyebrows.

Meanwhile, Carl was enjoying himself. Sitting in bed with Felicia next to him, romantic music playing, and Felicia was feeding him strawberries. Though it was rather strange how she kept rubbing them on his lips repeatedly before letting him eat them. And eyes... and cheeks. Felicia put her arms around him and kissed him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, babe." Felicia said.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Carl said.

"Wake up, dear." Felicia said.

"Huh?" Carl asked.

"Wake up..." a voice, not Felicia's, said.

Carl suddenly woke up, finding himself no longer in Felicia's arms, but in the salon chair. His memories started to come back, though he was still slightly woozy from the pill.

"Wha..." Carl muttered.

"It's okay, dear. We've got you." Shirley said as she helped Carl stand up.

Carl was helpless as he felt his underpants being pulled down and some quick, uncomfortable work being done near his groin, before a pair of soft, red panties were slid up his legs.

"This is wrong..." Carl slurred.

"Don't worry, we do work with people of all genders and identities, so we're no stranger to this." Julia smiled as she helped strap the push-up bra around Carl's chest. "Such a great bra."

Carl tried to protest again, but suddenly became aware of strange weight on his head and face. He started moving towards the bedroom to find a mirror, needing to be escorted by Shirley and Alejandro.

"Alley, oop!" Julia said as she helped lift Carl's legs and pulled the cocktail dress up to his waist, letting the skirt fall over his hairless knees, which he became aware of when he felt the breeze on them.

"Wait..." Carl looked down. This wasn't his body. "This is Felicia's dress..."

"Almost..." Alejandro pulled the zipper of the dress up to the top, slightly choking Carl and causing him to stumble back onto the bed.

Carl's vision was suddenly blocked by curly hair falling into his face. He didn't have curly hair... or did he?

"One last touch." Shirley chirped as she helped Julia squeeze Carl's feet into Felicia's heels. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed it all right.

"And let's see the final product!" Julia helped Carl up, as he stared at his hands and their new extended (and polished) nails.

"This can't be happening..." Carl muttered.

"And voila!" Shirley exclaimed. "Your boyfriend should be home any minute, and I'm sure he's going to want to ravish you!"

What Carl saw in the mirror was... well, it certainly wasn't what he'd expected to see. He'd been transformed from a normal guy into a sexy woman! He never felt he looked at all feminine, but his legs in the dress, the hair, his made-up face, he looked more like the sister he never had than himself! He stepped closer to the mirror and touched it, his nails clinking on the glass as he tried to touch his own reflection. His brown hair was shiny and curly in the same way that he'd find sexy on Felicia, the alluring eyes with kiss-me lips, even the dress was slightly filled out with his pecs. He looked the part, but the question was... why, and who did this to him?

"Boyfriend?" Carl asked. "I think you guys made a..."

Carl was cut off by the ringing of a phone, Shirley's phone. She picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked. What do you mean? We're here, we just finished, it was an undertaking, but she's finished!"

Julia and Alejandro looked at Shirley with concern, while Carl was too busy sputtering to even know what to say, or yell, laryngitis be damned.

"But the note said 3C... 8C... I apologize, sir. We'll be up there as soon as we can." Shirley said. "We are so sorry. That's never happened before."

"What happened?" Alejandro asked.

"Wrong apartment. We were supposed to be five floors up." Shirley said. "We've gotta go, the boyfriend is pissed!"

Before Carl could even react, they rushed out of the bedroom and started to gather their things. By the time Carl made it back to the living room, stumbling in the unfamiliar heels, they were already gone, all evidence of their work vanished with them, except for Carl.

"I... What..." Carl sighed and tested trying to pull off one of the nails. No such luck.

And it was about to get worse. Carl heard the sound of a key in the lock of the front door, and before he could dart off or hide, the door opened, and Felicia came in, wheeling her suitcase.

"Carl! I'm home! I caught an earlier flight so we could spend Valentine's Day together and..." Felicia slowly looked up and caught sight of the feminized Carl teetering in his, or rather Felicia's heels with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.

Between jet lag, the craziness of getting through the airport and general exhaustion, Felicia had no idea how to respond to the sight before her.

"What the hell is going on? Felicia asked, hands on her hips.

"Happy Valentine's Day?" Carl shrugged. "It's a long story."

"It looks like it probably is. Better start telling it then... Carly." Felicia laughed.

Five Minutes Earlier...

Felicia checked her phone's clock as the taxi pulled over outside her apartment building.

"Just enough time..." she smiled. "I hope Carl is feeling better..."

Felicia grabbed the door handle and opened it, grabbing her purse off the seat.

"Don't forget your luggage in the trunk!" her Uber driver remarked as Felicia stepped out and he tapped a button, opening the trunk.

"Thank you." Felicia pulled her suitcase out and shut the trunk of the car.

The driver pulled away and Felicia quickly went into her app to tip the driver, before starting to wheel her suitcase towards the door. As she approached, a group of three people, a man and two women pushing carts rushed out, having hushed conversations with each other as they passed Felicia.

"The boss is gonna kill us." one of the women, wearing vintage eyeglasses whispered.

"Shouldn't we go back to you know who?" the other woman asked.

"You heard the boss, she wants us back at base, ASAP. Apparently this was a big client." the man said. "We're getting canned for sure."

"I told you it seemed weird!" the other woman snapped.

Felicia didn't register any of their conversation as she sped past them. She stopped at the intercom, wondering if she should buzz up to let Carl know she was home.

"Nah, I wanna surprise him." Felicia grinned as she put her key into the lock and let herself into the lobby.

After heading up the elevator, Felicia came to Apartment 3C, wondering if Carl would have even decorated. She opened the door and dragged her suitcase inside.

"Carl! I'm home! I caught an earlier flight so we could spend Valentine's Day together and..." Felicia slowly looked up and caught sight of another woman standing in the living room.

Any other woman would immediately go into a rage, to come home on Valentine's Day to find another woman in her home. There would be thoughts of betrayal, of anger and sadness. But Felicia knew two things, the first being that Carl would never cheat on her. The second thing, was that Felicia knew she recognized the girl's deer-in-the-headlights expression.

It wasn't another woman. It wasn't even a woman, although it would have been rather convincing to anyone who didn't know Carl as intimately as she did. It was Carl. Wearing her favorite cocktail dress and the matching heels. Felicia had a lot of questions. Why was Carl wearing her clothes? Was he a crossdresser? Did he do his own makeup? The questions swirled in her head during the split-second that she entered the apartment.

Between jet lag, the craziness of getting through the airport and general exhaustion, Felicia had no idea how to respond to the sight before her. So, she simply shut the door and turned to her boyfriend.

"What the hell is going on? Felicia asked.

"Happy Valentine's Day?" Carl shrugged. "It's a long story."

"It looks like it probably is. Better start telling it then... Carly." Felicia laughed.

A few minutes later, as Felicia sat on the couch, Carl had explained the entire situation, how insistent the stylists had been, how the laryngitis, which seemed to have cleared up, had lessened, and how he'd been unintentionally drugged, leading to his metamorphosis into the beauty Felicia saw in front of her.

"I just can't believe it..." Felicia muttered.

"I know..." Carl sighed, as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position. "I can't believe they mistook me for their client!"

"No, they sound like morons. I believe that. What I can't believe is that you look better in that dress than I ever have!" Felicia exclaimed.

"That is not true." Carl insisted.

"Trust me, babe. You've totally got the legs to pull that off." Felicia giggled as she put her hand onto Carl's thigh.

"That's all I want, to be able to pull all of this off me so that I can look normal again. I'll probably have to shave my head to fix the hair, I have no idea what to do about the eyebrows..." Carl started.

Felicia put her hand onto Carl's shoulder.

"Let's not be too hasty. I mean, let's face it, you're gonna be looking like that until at least tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"It's the evening of Valentine's Day, what salon is still going to be open or taking clients?"

"Good point... It's not like we were going out anyway." Carl scowled.

"Actually..." Felicia started.

"What did you do?" Carl asked.

"Well, in the Uber, I was hoping you'd be feeling better, so I made reservations for eight tonight at Minuit." Felicia replied.

Minuit was a trendy new French restaurant in town, one that Felicia had wanted to try for ages.

"No way! I can't go out like this!" Carl insisted.

"Why not? I mean, if I didn't know you, I'd never know you weren't a gorgeous leggy brunette." Felicia said as Carl blushed at the statement. "Plus, it's sorta sexy, you know? Going out in disguise."

"Maybe for you, you're not the one that's gonna be all exposed." Carl said, pointing to himself. "Plus, what am I going to do when I order? I'll give it away with my voice!"

"We'll figure it out. Besides, I'm the one that's usually exposed like that. It'll be a fun change of pace." Felicia giggled.

"No way. I won't do it." Carl said, crossing his arms.

"Come on!" Felicia pouted.

"I refuse." Carl stamped his foot. "And that's final!"

A half hour later, it was Carl's turn to pout as Felicia put the finishing touches on her makeup after changing from her casual blouse and capris, into a black cocktail dress, complete with matching heels. She checked her earrings in the mirror, before grabbing two clutch purses from the closet, one black and one red, and handed one to Carl.

"I'm not carrying that." Carl stated.

"Well, I don't have room for your stuff in mine, and you'll need your phone, wallet and keys." Felicia said.

Carl rolled his eyes and stuffed the purse with his wallet, phone and keys. Felicia walked over and dropped a tube of lipstick and a compact inside.

"Tried my best to match the shades." Felicia said. "You know, in case you need to touch it up."

"And why would I need to do that?" Carl asked.

"In case I do this." Felicia put her arms around Carl and pulled him into a kiss.

After she pulled away, Carl smiled.

"Then I hope I have to touch it up a whole lot." Carl said.

"Play your cards right, then." Felicia said. "Let's go."

Carl spent the car ride to the restaurant nervous, and tried his hardest to convince Felicia to turn around, but she was insistent that they not let the mistaken makeover put a damper on her Valentine's Day plans. As they entered the restaurant, Carl, who had gotten more acclimated to the heels, trailed behind Felicia, mortified that they'd run into a friend or work colleague that would see through the disguise. Felicia approached the hostess station.

"Hi, reservation for two under Felicia Miller?" Felicia asked.

The maitre d' checked his computer and smiled at Felicia.

"Right here. It'll just be a few minutes, feel free to wait at the bar." he motioned towards the bar.

Felicia and Carl walked over to the bar. Carl fidgeted uncomfortably, causing Felicia to lightly tap his arm.

"What's wrong, babe?" Felicia asked.

"This was a bad idea." Carl said.

"Just relax, all right? Everything's gonna be..." Felicia started, only to get interrupted by buzzing coming from her purse. She pulled out her phone. "Hello?"

"Who is it?" Carl asked.

"Work." Felicia whispered back after covering the phone with her hand. "I have to take this. Wait here."

Felicia stepped away, leaving Carl to idly stand near the bar, alone. He glanced at the drinks menu sitting on one of the stools, not noticing the figure approaching him.

"Excuse me?" a man's voice asked.

Carl turned around to see a nervous man in a suit, holding a single rose.

"Hi." the man said.

"Hi." Carl responded.

"I'm Bennett." the man held out the rose. "This is for you."

Carl hesitated, but Bennett shook the rose, so Carl hesitantly took it.

"Wow... You're even more beautiful than your pictures." Bennett said. "I'm really glad you showed up, I know it's weird doing a date like this for the first one, but it's Valentine's Day, so it made sense to make it nice."

Carl had no idea how to react to a situation like this. He'd never had to endure it before, so the solution wasn't obvious. Does he just stop the guy, does he let him finish and let him down gently? Carl opened and shut his mouth several times during Bennett's speech, trying to figure out the proper time to interject, when he spotted a red figure in the corner of his eye. Mustering up all of his courage, Carl held the rose out to Bennett.

"I... I don't understand." Bennett's face fell.

"Listen, you seem like a nice guy, and I'm sure that your speech will be a hit, but I'm here with someone else. I think your date is back there." Carl pointed towards the entrance, where a woman in a similar dress had just walked in."

"Oh..." Bennett sighed. "I uh... she just told me she'd be wearing a red dress."

"Good luck." Carl giggled. "Now get away before we both get in trouble with our dates."

Bennett walked towards his date, while Carl tried to hold back laughter. He was unsuccessfully hiding a snicker when Felicia walked back over to him.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I'll tell you at the table." Carl replied, giggling like a schoolgirl.

As if on command, the maitre d' returned, holding two menus.

"If you ladies will come with me." he said.

Carl and Felicia followed the maitre d' to their table for two and sat down, with the waiters pulling out both of their chairs. Felicia gracefully thanked them, as Carl simply blushed and made a quick thanks. As they started to look over the menus, the waiter approached.

"I'm Louis, and I'll be your waiter tonight. Can I start you off with drinks?" the waiter asked.

The meal went well, as the two toasted to their love with wine, Carl asked Felicia about her trip, and Carl listened as Felicia regaled him with stories of how her co-worker nearly offended a potential client, and how bored she was during the conference.

"It was such a waste of time. I'm gonna be so swamped back at the office on Monday." Felicia whined.

"Don't worry," Carl said, in between bites of food. "I'm sure you'll manage. This is really good."

"Aren't you glad we came out, now?" Felicia raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, you were right, like always. Just wish I didn't have to cross my legs." Carl shifted in his seat.

"You don't have to, but I don't think you'd want to be flashing your panties, either." Felicia joked.

"You got that right." Carl started to stand up, and steadied himself, before pushing his chair in and picking up the purse. "I'm gonna go freshen up. You want to come?"

"I'm good. Just make sure you use the right door." Felicia warned.

"I will." Carl laughed as he walked to the bathroom.

He considered for a moment, just going into the men's room, just to see what would happen, but decided against rocking the boat, and entered the woman's bathroom and found an open stall. Going to the bathroom wasn't that hard once he figured out what to do, what was hard, was getting himself re-tucked.

After re-adjusting himself, Carl went to wash his hands, and as he did, Bennett's date, the lady in red, walked out of the other stall. Carl dried his hands and looked at himself in the mirror. The only difference between his reflection back at the apartment was that his lipstick was starting to fade somewhat.

"Why not?" Carl thought to himself and started to dig through the purse for the tube of lipstick.

He unscrewed the cap and started to apply the lipstick to his lips, pursing them the way that he'd seen Felicia do countless times. As he inspected his handiwork in the mirror, he was startled out of his reverie.

"I love your dress." the woman said.

Carl turned to see Bennett's date standing at the mirror, checking her face. He noticed that, while from afar, he could see a resemblance, up close, she was very strikingly different than how he looked. Her brunette hair had highlights, and their faces weren't similar in the slightest, apart from superficial similarities in the makeup.

"Thank you." Carl replied, and realizing what women typically did in this situation. "Your's is gorgeous."

"Aw, thanks." the woman replied, before extending her hand. "I'm Sabrina."

"Carly." Carl extended his hand and shook Sabrina's.

"I noticed you talking to Bennett when I walked in... do you know him?" Sabrina asked.

Carl froze. Did Sabrina think that Bennett was hitting on him? Or that... god forbid, he had been hitting on Bennett? He stuttered as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Oh, no... I'd never met him before. I was waiting for my girlfriend by the bar, and he came up to me, cause he thought that I was you, which isn't that hard, given our similar taste in fashion tonight." Carl said. "But I set him straight."

Sabrina's eyes narrowed and she stared Carl deep in his eyes. Carl's heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest.

"Okay!" Sabrina cheerfully replied with a smile. "We'd been talking for weeks on a dating app and we'd never actually seen each other in person, so I get the confusion!"

"Oh, thank god." Carl let out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought you... Oh my god..."

"Don't worry about it, I was just having a little fun. We'd better get back to our dates, wouldn't you say, Carly?" Sabrina said.

"Good idea." Carl replied, putting the lipstick away and closing the purse.

Carl and Sabrina left the bathroom and bid each other goodbyes as they parted ways, and each returned to their tables.

"What took so long?" Felicia asked. "I was about to send a search party."

"You know how it is in the ladies' room, long line." Carl replied.

"A likely story." Felicia joked. "Ready for dessert?"

Once they finished and paid the check, the couple returned home. Carl let out a sigh of relief as Felicia unzipped him from the dress and helped him out of the oppressive heels.

"I have to admit," Felicia said, unhooking Carl's bra and looking it over. "I don't usually get to see how a gift looks before I get to wear it. It's kinda nice."

"Well, don't expect it to happen again. I'm never answering the door when I'm not expecting anyone ever again." Carl said.

"I don't blame you." Felicia handed Carl a packet of makeup wipes.

"Thanks." Carl started wiping down his face. "Do you think you can find a salon that can take care of the hair and do you think my eyebrows can be fixed?"

"Actually..." Felicia started.

"Oh god, what now?" Carl asked.

"Kidding." Felicia smiled. "I'll call the place I usually go to in the morning."

"Not funny!" Carl exclaimed.

"Although I wouldn't mind seeing Carly again when this is all over." Felicia mused.

"Good luck with that, because I never want to see her again after tomorrow." Carl said, as he pulled out a pair of his pajamas from the dresser.

"You're sure you wouldn't rather wear this?" Felicia held out a red chemise.

"I'm good." Carl said.

"I mean, Carly doesn't technically have to go anywhere until tomorrow, if you're still gonna have the hair and the nails until then..." Felicia started.

Carl looked down at his pajamas in his manicured hands, and back to Felicia, who was pouting and batting her eyelashes. After all, what would eight more hours hurt? He reopened the dresser and tossed his pajamas into it.

Felicia tossed the chemise to Carl and clapped her hands as he slipped it over his head.

"Happy?" Carl asked.

"Immensely." Felicia replied as she laid down on the bed. "Now, let's finish Valentine's Day the right way, Carly."

"I like the way you think." Carl said, following her. "But to be clear, this is the last time. Once tomorrow comes, Carly is gone forever."

"If you say so..." Felicia said. "But never say never..."

The End?

After his best friend Billy's jealous ex-girlfriend mistakes him for Billy’s new prom date, Jensen Paganelli finds himself preparing to spend his prom night dressed to the nines as a girl as revenge for the way Billy’s ex broke his heart.

Sometimes, the most important moments in your life can be born from the smallest, most insignificant events. Take, for example, a man bumping into a woman in the hallway of their apartment building, after some apologies and helping to pick up dropped items, it can lead to the two having dinner together, and then lunch, and then dinner again and you skip ahead forty years to find an old married couple with seven grandchildren and one on the way. The cause of the most important moment in my life started out pretty mundane, while I hung out at the mall with my best friend, Billy.

I was trying my best with Billy, but I could tell he was only smiling to make me feel better, which is ironic because the reason we were hanging out at the mall was because I was trying to make him feel better. Melissa Miller, his girlfriend of a year and a half had just broken up with him, two weeks before prom and he wasn’t taking it very well. In fairness, neither would I, especially since it happened with the one-two punch that she’d also been cheating on him with the quarterback of the football team, and now she was breaking up with Billy so she could be with the quarterback full-time and be his prom date, and a shoo-in for Prom Queen.

“I can’t believe that bitch would do that to you…” I’d said when he called me, nearly in tears, after she’d dumped him.

“Don’t call her that, Jensen! Yeah, she did a bad thing, but there’s no reason to demean her like that…” Billy admonished.

“She should be demeaned! Humiliated for what she did to you!” I shouted over the phone.

“Just drop it okay, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore…” Billy sighed.

So a nice trip to the mall to visit the old arcade or the games store was just what the doctor ordered. As we were finishing up our lunch, I continued my quest to take Billy’s mind off the breakup.

“Oh! I almost forgot, did you catch that new episode of ‘Cosmic Expedition’ last night?” I asked.

“No, I haven’t really been in the mood to watch it, cause of you know…” Billy trailed off.

Shoot! That’s right, the show’s two romantic leads were in a pretty tight relationship. Can’t say I’d want to watch something depicting lovebirds in that state either… It was at that point that I stepped away to use the bathroom, and the moment I’ve been setting up happened, I wasn’t there, obviously, but this is how it was related to me by Billy. As I walked away, Billy heard a precise and familiar clicking of heels, and when he turned around to investigate the sound, he found Melissa, looking as pretty as ever (hey, his words not mine), standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

“I can’t believe you!” Melissa exclaimed.

“You can’t believe what?” Billy replied.

“Don’t give me that innocent act, I saw you with that… slut! We’ve been broken up for three days and you’re already with some other girl?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, ‘Liss. And besides, you broke up with me for another guy! Why do you care what I’m doing or who I spend it with?”

“You know what? I don’t even care that you’ve already given that tramp one of your hoodies, cause Josh is twice the man you ever were!” Melissa snapped.

It was at this point, especially with the last comment about the hoodie, that Billy realized what the hell she was talking about. The “tramp” she was so angry about... was me. And I suppose I should explain why she’d think that, you see, I’m fairly short for my age (made worse standing next to Billy who was pretty tall for his), wasn’t blessed by puberty with a lot of body hair, particularly facial hair, and I liked to keep my hair pretty long, trying to emulate celebrities like Keanu Reeves and Adam Driver, so combining all that with the seething jealousy of a girl who thought she was the only one with a new relationship and the fact that thanks to an unfortunately timed ketchup squirt, Billy had graciously offered me his hoodie to cover up the obvious stain on my shirt, I apparently looked an awful lot like a girl.

“Listen, you’ve got it all wrong…” Billy tried to explain, stifling a chuckle. “That ‘slut’ is actually…”

“I don’t want to hear it! But if you decide to bring her to prom, stay away from me and Josh!” Melissa shouted.

Instead of continuing the argument, which he figured would be fruitless, Billy decided to let her leave, and with an “Ugh!”, Melissa turned on her heel and stormed off.

When Billy told me what had happened, frankly, I was pretty offended by the whole situation. After all, I spend a lot of time trying to accentuate my masculinity, but apparently, even to a girl that I’ve gone to school with since we were little kids, I look like a girl! Billy, however, found it absolutely hilarious, and when I got back from the bathroom, he was laughing the hardest I’d seen him laugh since the time one of our Chemistry subs accidentally scorched the chalkboard when his tie got caught on the bunsen burner.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I just saw Melissa,” Billy replied, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

“And you’re laughing about it?” I asked with genuine concern on my face. “Are you okay?”

“She… she… Ahahaha! I can’t even say it, it’s so funny!” Billy tried to regain his composure.

Once he managed that, he relayed the story to me just as I relayed it to you, and while he continued laughing, my face was redder than the ketchup stain on my shirt.

“Me? A girl? Do I look like a girl?” I asked, searching my reflection in a metal tray for signs of femininity.

“To me? No, but with the hair, and the fact that you’re swimming in my hoodie probably didn’t make it that obvious. But isn’t it hilarious? She thinks I’m over her and it’s bothering her! She even asked if I was bringing you to prom!” Billy descended back into a fit of laughter.

“That’s it, at prom, you stay far away from me! I don’t want anyone else thinking I’m your date!” I quickly ripped off the hoodie and tossed it at Billy.

“Relax, it’s just a misunderstanding, a really funny misunderstanding, and she didn’t even realize it was you anyway! The only people who know about this are the two of us… and maybe anyone Melissa tells, but no one else will be dumb enough to believe you’re a girl!”

“Yeah, right…” I hoped she wouldn’t realize too late her mistake and tell everyone, or worse, come back and realize it in front of me. “Why don’t we head out? It’s getting late.”

“Come on, don’t let that ruin the day. I mean, it’s the least I can do to offer to take my… girlfriend shopping!” Billy continued laughing.

“Shut it!” I gritted my teeth and turned away from him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop, I promise! But wouldn’t that be something, showing up to prom with my best friend on my arm and a jealous ex across the dance floor…” Billy quickly regained his composure and put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

With Billy sufficiently cheered up at my expense, we parted ways and headed to our respective homes. As I tried to forget about what had happened, I was inundated by more jokes and pictures from Billy regarding Melissa’s mistake, so I turned my phone off. I should probably explain that Melissa was one of the hottest girls in school, blonde and well-endowed, and while she wasn’t head cheerleader, she certainly acted like she was the queen bee. A lot of people were surprised when she decided to date Billy, they’d hit it off when he’d tutored her and she seemed to really like him. At least until now.

Anyway, then I decided to troll social media, but with prom frenzy being in full swing, all the various posts from girls in our class didn’t make for the best scrolling experience, so I ended up just lying on my bed staring at the ceiling until dinner.

The next day, which was Monday, we were all back at school, thankfully Billy had seemed to calm down with his jokes and everything seemed back to normal, save for Melissa being even more overly amorous with Josh in the hallways whenever she thought Billy would be watching. She deserved to be taken down a peg, but I didn’t have any ideas as to how to do it. But as I found out a few days later, Billy did.

“You’re joking!” I slammed my locker in frustration. “I told you to stop it with those cracks!”

“It’s not a crack! It’s revenge! Living well is the best revenge, right? So if I had a cute prom date and we had more fun than her, then she’d have a miserable prom and the only person she can blame is herself!” Billy said.

“So find a girl to go with! I’m sure there are some girls left who need dates.” I said.

In fact, I knew there weren’t many, a lot of the girls I knew weren’t even going to prom and those that were had strangely high standards. I’d spent the last few days trying to find a girl who’d go with me to prom if only to assuage my fears of being seen as Billy’s date since we’d both be going stag otherwise. But of the girls I’d asked, the common denominator was a big fat “No”. Even given his recent breakup and the pity that there’d surely be, I didn’t imagine Billy would fare much better, even if he was the better-looking one between us. Especially since no girl in their right mind would want to incur Melissa’s wrath, even if it was just for a few more weeks before graduation.

“A girl didn’t make her jealous. You did.” Billy whispered. “Anyone ever told you that you’re cute when you’re angry?”

“Don’t call me cute!” I pushed Billy away and started heading towards the exit.

“I’ve given it some thought, I’ve already booked the limo, so we ride in style either way. But this way, Melissa gets her just desserts.” Billy rushed to catch up with me.

“What about me? I’d love to see her miserable after what she did to you, but what if people realize who I am? What if Melissa does? She’ll ruin my life! The boy who wore a dress to prom! I’d never live it down!”

“Listen, in the first place, it’ll make her so jealous that if she figured it out, she’d never admit it! Can you imagine her telling people that a boy in a dress made her jealous? And secondly, if anyone realizes it’s you, I’m sure we can play it off as a prank on ‘Liss and everyone would understand. No need for embarrassment.”

The more I mulled over the idea in my head as we walked home, the more conflicted I felt. As a man, I should feel the entire suggestion as an affront to my identity, but a small part of me that wanted to make Melissa feel as bad as Billy had felt for three days kept poking its head up. And since it’s only weeks until graduation, how bad could any potential embarrassment be? Nothing from high school matters in college anyway. Especially since Billy and I were both going to the same out-of-state school, a fair distance from our hometown.

“Okay, let’s say I go along with this crazy scheme of yours. And I’m not agreeing to it just yet, but if I did! Where would I even get a dress? And I don’t know the first thing about hair and makeup!” I said.

“You have an older sister, just borrow something from her! She went to prom last year, didn’t she?” Billy remarked.

My mind flashed back to the turquoise taffeta dress that my older sister had worn at her prom the previous year. And I knew we were close to the same size in shoes, to both of our embarrassment, since we’d each borrowed whatever footwear was lying around from the other when we needed to rush to the mailbox in a hurry. But I still wasn’t sure about the whole idea, and in matters like this, one needs an outside opinion. So I decided to go to the person I trusted even more than my best friend, my older sister, Chloe, recently back after her first year up at college. After I got home, I went upstairs and found Chloe’s door ajar, knocking on it as I poked my head into the room.

“Hey, do you have a minute?” I asked.

“Hey, Jens, what’s up?” my sister asked, as she looked up from her phone.

“I’ve got a favor to ask,” I said.

“Anything for my brother. What’s the problem?”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

“You know I can’t promise that. Especially if it’s funny.”

“Okay, so, when Billy and I were at the mall the other day...” I started.

I explained the situation to Chloe and to her credit, while she had to stifle a few giggles, she managed to make it to the end of the story without laughing. As she processed the story, I noticed her lips curling into a smile and rolled my eyes as she burst into raucous laughter.

“Ahahahahaha! That’s fantastic! Serves her right, too.” Chloe said. “And you really want to do it?”

“Not really, but I want to help Billy, and I think he needs a win more than I need my masculinity. What do you think?”

“I think it sounds like a really sweet thing to do,” Chloe said. “So what do you need from me?”

“I was hoping I could borrow your dress from your prom. And you could help me do my hair and makeup and stuff.”

“I can definitely help with the second part, but I can’t give you my dress.”

“What?! Why?”

“Cause we’re not really the same size. You’re as thin as me, but you’re taller, so it’ll be even shorter on you than it was on me, and Mom wasn’t thrilled with how short it was when *I* wore it. Besides, it’s out of date, if you’re going for the full experience, you need a dress you picked out on your own. We’ll go shopping this weekend, and you can bring Billy along to help.”

“Shopping? But I’ll be seen!”

“Okay then, not as yourself. I’ll find some stuff in my closet for you to wear and you can go incognito. Better to look like a girl on purpose, right?”

And that was how I ended up at the mall the following Saturday wearing my sister’s denim skirt and a pink summer top, a pair of ballet flats, and a grimace of fear on my painted face. Despite the hard work my sister had put in, styling my hair expertly into a girl’s style, and using makeup to ensure that my face looked sufficiently feminine, my anxiety was still spiking. I licked my lips nervously and tasted the strawberry flavored gloss on my lips, while as I kept my legs crossed, as instructed by Chloe, I slightly chafed as my body got used to being free of all the hair that I’d managed to grow in all my years of puberty.

“Stop fiddling with that.” Chloe admonished me as I tried to once again adjust the bra strap digging into my shoulder.

“It’s not my fault, it keeps digging into me,” I whined. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Unfortunately, because it’s stuffed, I have to make sure it’s on tight enough that nothing falls out. If they were real, we wouldn’t have that problem… But I might be able to fix that before prom night...”

I really didn’t want to know what she had in mind, so I changed the subject.

“And did I really need to wear a skirt?”

“Sorry, Jens, but if you’re going to be trying things on, you need something easy to get out of and all of my pants are too tight. Besides, if you’re gonna wear a dress, you’ll need practice in skirts.”

“I guess that’s fair…”

“I know this is all new to you, but it’ll get easier once you get some practice in. How’s your girl voice coming along?”

“What do you think?” I attempted to lighten my voice both in tone and pitch as Chloe pulled into a parking space.

Based on Chloe’s face as I spoke, I didn’t need to hear an answer. It still needed work.

“We can work on that too… But I’ll try to do most of the talking today.” Chloe put a hand on my shoulder.

As we walked into the mall, I shivered as the air conditioner was blasting and my exposed legs felt the chill, which only made me feel more nervous. What allayed that was spotting Billy sitting on a bench outside one of the stores.

“Woah! Is that really you, Jensen?” Billy asked.

“Yep.” I nervously smiled as my best friend looked me up and down.

“Now I can definitely see why ‘Liss was jealous the other day if this is what she thought she saw.”

“Shut up!” I playfully punched Billy’s arm. “You don’t need to remind me.”

“Sorry, but I really appreciate what you’re doing,” Billy said.

“Let’s just get this over with…” I sighed.

“Okay, so we’ll start with the dress, and remember, you’re supposed to like it, so pick what makes you comfortable,” Chloe said.

“Okay… But what if we run into Melissa?” I nervously asked.

“I’m counting on it…” Chloe muttered under her breath, likely because she didn’t want me to hear it.

As we walked through the second store, having not found anything remotely to my liking in the first store, I started combing through a rack, with Chloe and Billy not too far behind, idly looking around. I felt them get closer to me as I pulled a sky blue dress off the rack, but I wasn’t sure why until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Well, well, well, fancy seeing you here again,” Melissa said.

I turned around to see Melissa glaring at me with unknowing eyes. It’s a strange feeling when someone who you know looks at you like you’re a stranger. Although in this case, I was very glad she didn’t recognize me.

“Hmph! I guess it’s time we were properly introduced. I’m Melissa,” Melissa started. “Billy’s ex. And just who are you?”

I was still too afraid to speak, but thankfully, my sister spoke up for me.

“Her name is Jenna! And she’s Billy’s new and improved prom date.” Chloe smirked.

“Wait a minute, I know that nose, you’re a Paganelli. Jensen’s sister, right? So that makes this…” Melissa started to trail off as she intently focused on my face.

I froze, hoping that the expert powers of deduction that had led to the initial mistake would win out once again. But I didn’t have to hope, because my sister had my back.

“My cousin. She was visiting for the weekend when Jensen was trying to cheer Billy up and when she heard he didn’t have a prom date, she wanted to help out and offered to take your spot.” Chloe said.

“Okay, now I get it. No girl at our school would go out with you so you had to resort to bringing Jensen’s cousin? And I thought bringing your own cousin was as lame as you could get!” Melissa laughed.

My nervousness began to subside and instead was replaced by anger. I clenched my jaw and felt my fists doing the same around the fabric of the dress in my hands. I’d taken my share of teasing and bullying over the years, but Billy always stood up for me, even when it was just people talking behind my back. And I’ll be damned if I was going to let Melissa get away with saying stuff like that to his face! I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, Billy interjected.

“Wasn’t so lame when you came after me last weekend at the mall with fury over me ‘moving on’ so quickly.” Billy chuckled.

“You… you…” Now it was Melissa’s turn to clench her fists and pout. “Have fun at prom… Oh, and a heads up? He’s a terrible kisser.”

Melissa stormed off once more and I finally took a breath and relaxed both my jaw and fists. Chloe and Billy both put their hands onto my shoulders and looked at me with concern.

“Are you okay?” Billy asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, then turned to Chloe and cleared my throat. “Help me find the cutest dress in this place. Come prom night, Melissa’s going down!”

“I’m very glad to hear that, and that voice is really coming along.” Chloe grinned.

Soon, I was standing in the fitting room with Chloe helping me squeeze into the sixth dress we’d found. The first couple had sleeves, which I wasn’t a fan of, because they had too much fabric hanging from them. The next few were sleeveless, but neither Billy, Chloe nor I liked the colors much. Through much deliberation, we’d all agreed that I should at least try on this strapless pink number with an embroidered bust and a frilly skirt that goes down to my knees, although I wasn’t sold on the length.

“Can’t I cover up my legs?” I asked.

“You could, and I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’ve great legs. And you might as well show them off.” Chloe replied.

“Melissa’s dress is pretty long, so if you show something she doesn’t…” Billy trailed off.

“Message received,” I said.

But all my concerns fell to the wayside once I saw myself in the mirror wearing the dress. I never thought I’d have any sort of emotional connection to a dress of all things, but looking at myself in the mirror, even with the straps of my bra visible on my shoulders… For the first time, I didn’t see myself in the mirror, I saw a girl. A girl that, with the softer features I’d inherited from my mother, some of which Chloe lacked, which she’d always remarked she was jealous of, had a chance at upstaging Melissa.

“Wow,” I muttered as I looked in the mirror.

“I think this is the one.” Chloe smiled. “Let’s show Billy.”

“Right…” Chloe started to walk away, but my eyes were still glued to the mirror.

I didn’t know how to rationalize the feelings I felt, but I knew that there would be eyes on me at prom and not on Melissa, which is all that mattered to me. A loud whistle broke me out of my reverie and I saw Chloe standing near the fitting room’s exit, waving at me.

“Come on!”

“Oh, right.” I nervously chuckled and rushed out of the room.

“Wow!” Billy exclaimed. “You look… wow! And I thought you looked good when you got here!”

“Thanks.” I blushed.

“Is this the one?” Billy asked.

“I think it is,” I replied.

Finding shoes was a much less emotional journey, although I have a lot of respect for women now, in regards to footwear. Finding a balance between what looks good, what matches your outfit, and what you can comfortably walk in is extremely tricky. But despite the pair of three-inch pink open-toed heels being taller than I was used to, having spent my whole life in flat shoes up till that point, they were surprisingly more comfortable than the slightly tight flats I’d spent the day walking around in. And with that, and a quick stop for a strapless bra and panties, since Chloe decided that I’d probably be smaller than she is in the chest department, despite my height advantage, we headed home for the day, sneaking my dress and accessories into the back of Chloe’s closet for the time being, at least until we figured out how to explain this scheme to our parents.

We’d get that opportunity sooner rather than later, since the following night at dinner, after I spent the day practicing in heels and doing vocal exercises, Mom decided to ask me about my plans for prom.

“So, Jensen, are you still going to prom? Because you’ve got to get that suit of your’s dry-cleaned and remember, I want to take pictures of you before you go, even if it’s just you and Billy!” Mom asked.

I would have preferred to not lay all the cards onto the dinner table, but the quick aversion of my eyes and the audible choking of her drink from Chloe set off Mom’s BS detector.

“What’s so funny?” Mom questioned.

“What’s going on?” Dad asked, joining in on the impromptu interrogation.

Chloe and I glanced at each other, her nodding and giving a supportive smile as I took a deep breath and prepared, for the second time in a week, to explain that fateful day at the mall. Once I finished, Mom and Dad were clearly still processing the story, but having known Billy as long as they did, and having encountered Melissa at enough school-sanctioned events like band concerts or football games, they were definitely supportive of the idea.

“And you’re sure about this? I mean, crossdressing seems a bit extreme to me. Why didn’t you just ask Chloe to go in your place? You look enough alike that I doubt Melissa would be able to tell,” Dad suggested.

I opened my mouth to speak but paused. Dad had brought up a really good point that I hadn’t even thought about! It was Billy’s idea, but even he jumped to having me borrow something *from* Chloe instead of asking Chloe herself. Did I shave my legs, dooming me to wearing pants in the blistering heat until prom night, for nothing?

“Unfortunately,” Chloe jumped in. “I have a date that night, and while I like Billy and all, I’m not canceling a date to go to someone else’s prom.”

Well, I suppose that’s as good an excuse as any. Although I’d sort of hoped that Chloe would be available that night in case of emergencies, but I guess if everyone knows now, there’s no reason not to call my parents. Mom was being uncustomarily quiet though, was she lost in thought? Did she have concerns?

“Honey?” Dad asked, snapping Mom out of her thoughts. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just thinking… I still want to take pictures of you! Even if you’re in a dress and heels!”

As much as I didn’t want proof of this endeavor to stick around, it was an easy bargain to make for her acceptance. And with that, I no longer had to hide my training in Chloe’s crash course of being a girl, which made things a lot easier. I spent the next week spending whatever time I wasn’t in school learning the ins and outs of being a woman. How to sit while wearing a dress, how to touch up my makeup, more practice with the voice, and even some prep on creating a plausible backstory for me in the event Melissa corners and interrogates me in the bathroom where Billy can’t defend me. All the while at school, Melissa had started the gossip mill up and both Billy and I were getting stopped in the hall and asked about the rumors. Billy got the better end with a lot of compliments on getting another date so quickly, and how so many people felt bad for him after what Melissa did, whereas I got questions about how hot my ‘cousin’ was, given that she was able to make Melissa so jealous.

The final “test” as it were, to help me get used to being in public, was a date with Billy. But it’s not what you think, they were having a movie screening at the park that we’d bought tickets for months ago, and it was one of our favorite movies, but it was also the night before prom, so I had to be in full girl mode for two reasons, one, because the day of prom was going to be a whirlwind of salon visits and getting into my dress, and two, because Chloe’s solution to not having to stuff my bra had arrived, a set of breast forms that would be glued to my chest to ensure that they couldn’t become crooked or fall out.

“I just don’t know why we can’t put them on tomorrow morning or something,” I whined as Chloe pulled out the bottle of adhesive.

“I told you, I don’t know how good this glue is going to work, so I’d rather find out they’re gonna fall off while you sleep or while you’re getting dressed rather than at the prom. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is to have a nip slip, especially if the nip falls onto the dance floor!” Chloe held one of the breast forms and pretended to drop it. “Now, let’s try this out!”

“Okay, fine…” I started to pull my shirt off. “Wait, you do have the solvent for that, right?”

“Of course I do,” Chloe held up another, similar bottle. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason, I just had a scary thought of being stuck with those for the rest of my life.” I chuckled as I pulled the rest of it off and laid down on Chloe’s bed.

“Come on, gluing them without having the solvent is just asking for trouble,” Chloe said, applying the adhesive to the left form.

I felt a little silly as I held my chest out to show Billy the forms, snugly resting in my bra, but he wasn’t a creep about it. Well, not that much of a creep at least.

“Wow, those look great!” Billy chuckled as he poked the right one. “Are they heavy?”

“You tell me,” I giggled and chest bumped him, pushing him back slightly.

“Ouch!” Billy laughed, then turned serious. “You know we don’t have to go, we’ve seen it a million times. We could practically re-enact the whole movie here.”

“And miss out on seeing the space battle on the big screen? No way! I love that movie way more than I’m embarrassed to be seen like this, besides, I’m gonna be seen tomorrow night anyway, and I won’t get to see any space battles.” I said as I pulled my favorite “Stellar Skirmishes” shirt over my head.

I glanced into the mirror and checked myself, as Chloe had trained me to do. My hair, which was styled as femininely as I could, was held securely with a green headband, chosen by me because it was the color of my favorite character’s costume in the movie, my makeup was subtle, but noticeable, with my features softened, my lips glossy and a little bit of mascara on my eyelashes, my shirt rested over my chest, which was a new experience for me, and my high-waisted shorts rested above mid-thigh, slightly higher than the hem of my prom dress, so it was good practice, as Chloe had said when she helped me pick it out. Rounding it off was a pair of sandals with a slight heel, which were slightly tight since they were Chloe’s. I chuckled as I thought to myself that I’m not making such a great girl if I only actually own one pair of shoes.

Arriving after the short walk to the park, Billy and I chose a prime location for our blanket, and Billy left me to set it up as he went to get snacks. Everyone was pretty spread out, but I was still on the lookout for anyone who might recognize me. Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone who might and Billy was soon on his way back with a large tub of popcorn and two sodas.

As the movie began, we started mouthing lines of dialogue to each other before the characters said them aloud, but we quickly got as invested in the movie as we had when we’d seen it for the first time in Billy’s basement as kids on his dad’s old VCR. So much so, that I don’t think either of us really noticed when we both reached for the popcorn at the same time, but I definitely noticed it the second time it happened. We both quickly looked away from each other, and I don’t know about Billy, but my face was flushed. I wasn’t really sure why I was so embarrassed, it’s not like we were actually boyfriend and girlfriend, and yeah, I liked him, but as my best friend! But there’s something about sitting on a blanket next to another guy while dressed in my sister’s clothes that made it a very different situation than any other time we’d seen this movie.

But it was just one more day and I could put all this behind me, and all I needed to assuage my trepidations was picturing Melissa’s smug face as she watched Billy and I have a better prom night than she did.

When the movie was over, after stretching our legs, we started to pack up our blanket, discussing the film while we did.

“It really is incredible that even forty years ago the sets were so well-put-together that you can’t even see any seams or strings in this remastered print,” I remarked, as I finished rolling up the blanket, handing it to Billy.

“Yeah, it’s crazy how it looks so much better than even the version that’s in the “Stellar Skirmishes” Blu-ray collection,” Billy said as he stuffed the blanket into his backpack. “Oh, hold on.”

Billy walked up to me and stared intently at my face. My eyes widened as he reached his hand towards my hair. I tried to ask him what he was doing, but my mouth was suddenly dry, despite the fact I’d finished my soda. Time seemed to stand still until Billy pulled his hand back and showed me a piece of popcorn.

“Saving this for later?” he asked, jokingly.

“Uh, thanks.” I brushed some hair behind my ear. “You could’ve just told me it was there and I’d have gotten it myself.”

“And then have to play the, ‘No, my left, almost, you almost got it!’ game? Seemed easier that way.” Billy smiled.

“Maybe for you,” I muttered under my breath.

After that uncomfortable moment and a relatively quiet walk back to my house, we stood on my porch talking.

“I should be done getting ready around five, and prom starts at six, so try to get here early. My mom still wants to take pictures.” I said

“And you’re okay with that? Pictures of you like that?” Billy asked.

“Not really, but she promised not to show anyone,” I replied.

“Sounds good. Can’t wait to see how well you clean up.” Billy chuckled. “Good luck with all that tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said.

As Billy turned to walk away, the porch light turned on and the front door opened, revealing my dad. I blushed, still embarrassed to be seen this way by him, although he was clearly finding a lot of humor in the situation.

“I trust you treated my daughter right tonight, son?” Dad asked, emphasizing ‘daughter’ and winking.

“Of course, sir.” Billy smiled.

“God, Dad, stop it!” I tried vainly to push my father back into the house.

“And you’ll treat her right tomorrow night too, right?”

“You know it!”

“Okay, that’s it, leave them alone!” Mom dragged Dad back into the house and smiled at me apologetically.

“Thanks,” I said, then turned to Billy. “See you tomorrow, now get out of here while you still can.”

Billy smiled and headed down the driveway towards the street and I walked into the house and put my face into my hands.

“What? I’m not allowed to have fun with this?” Dad asked.

“One man’s fun is another’s embarrassment, Dad,” I replied in a deadpan.

“All right, I’ll let up. But I can’t make any promises for tomorrow.” Dad walked away chuckling.

“I’ll keep him in check, don’t worry, honey.” Mom said as she hugged me. “Did you enjoy your movie?”

“Yeah, it was great,” I said, not really wanting to bring up the strange feelings I’d been having. “But I’m wiped.”

“And you’ve got a busy day tomorrow, better get some rest.” Mom kissed me on the forehead and let me head upstairs to my room.

I removed all the makeup and disrobed, leaving myself clad in just my t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. A glance in the mirror showed me that with the false breasts and my still tucked male parts, I looked even more like a girl and I was in my own clothes! Crawling into bed, I fell asleep to visions of my walking across the dance floor in a dress and heels as everyone looked on, especially Melissa. Just a few weeks earlier that would have been a nightmare that might have been concerning to have, but it was about to be my real life. What a difference a few weeks can make, right?

The next morning, I was nervous as I walked into the salon, even if my outfit was by and far the most masculine I’d worn as a girl so far, a casual button-up blouse, a pair of jeans and flip-flops. Chloe walked me up to the counter and told the girl working there that I was there for my appointment, though all she’d told me was that I was getting the works, and the girl at the counter cheerfully walked me to one of the chairs as Chloe told me she’d be back to pick me up later. When I got to the chair, I met my stylist, who I immediately recognized, thanks to her very identifiable haircut. I'd know that short blue hair anywhere, it was Kris, one of Chloe’s best friends, and someone who’d surely recognize me in turn.

“So, what are we thinking about for today?” Kris said. “After all, prom is a big night, right Jenna?”

I froze, I hadn’t told her my name, and even if it was on the appointment listing, she said it in such a way that removed all ambiguity from the situation. She knew who I was. I nervously licked my suddenly dry lips.

“I… uh…” I stammered.

“Don’t worry,” Kris whispered. “Chloe told me everything. It takes a big man to do what you’re doing. And don’t worry about telling me what you want, Chloe was very specific about what she wanted.”

“That’s a relief,” I sighed. “She’s been training me to be a girl, but I’m still pretty clueless.”

“Let me handle everything, don’t worry, you’re in good hands.” Kris patted me gently on the shoulder. “And you’re already adorable, so you won’t need much help.”

Although I blushed at the comment, I was glad that I knew my stylist. Finally able to relax, I settled into the chair, kicking off my flip-flops and leaning my head back. Kris started to prepare and I remembered all the times I’d seen her doing Chloe’s hair before dates and dances throughout high school, never thinking that one day it’d be my turn in the chair.

I sat while she washed my hair in the basin, which was a lot more relaxing than I thought it would be, and we spoke a bit, as I filled her in on the parts of the story that Chloe had omitted in her retelling.

“And she really couldn’t tell it was you?” Kris asked.

“Nope.” I replied.

“I mean, I guess I could see it. I don’t know if I’d have guessed that you were you if Chloe hadn’t warned me and showed me a pic of you in your dress.” Kris remarked as she towel-dried my hair.

As I soon found out, the works are a lot more intensive than just getting my hair, nails and makeup done. It was slightly uncomfortable as my eyebrows were threaded, but the strangest part of the experience was the false eyelashes being glued to my regular ones. In seconds, I had a heaviness on my eyes that felt completely different than anything I’d ever felt. I guess I got lost in my own reflection, blinking and watching the false eyelashes fluttering because I felt a sharp tap on my shoulder from Kris, who had been trying to get my attention.

“Earth to Jenna! What color do you want?” Kris asked.

“Color?” I replied.

“For your nails, I know the dress is pink, but there are a bunch of shades to choose from.” Kris showed me a few bottles of pink nail polish, some lighter, some darker, some with sparkles in them.

“I thought Chloe picked everything out,” I questioned.

“She did, but she couldn’t decide between these two pinks, and french tips.” Kris responded.

I vaguely knew what french tips are, having seen them before, but a spot of confusion must’ve been noticeable on my face, because Kris quickly wiggled her fingers in front of my face.

“These are french tips. And here are the pinks,” she held up two bottles, one a very bright pink, the color of Pepto Bismol, which I ironically found nauseating to look at, and another which was somewhat understated and matched the dress better.

“That pink.” I pointed to the softer pink.

“I liked that one better too.” Kris smiled.

Getting my nails done was an interesting experience as well, soaking my feet, it felt like a foot massage as the attendant brushed away all of the callouses. Then she filed and buffed my toenails before she started painting them. I always saw my Chloe and Mom using cotton balls or those foam toe separators at home, but never thought I’d see them when I looked down and wiggled my own toes. The color looked nice, though. Then the attendant turned her attention to my hands, while Kris continued to work on my hair, using an iron to curl it. The attendant worked on my cuticles and shaping my fingernails before applying the acrylic tips. It’s incredible how just adding long nails can completely change how a hand looks. I didn’t think my hands were remotely feminine before, but now, they seemed like girl’s hands, even more so after my new nails were painted with the same soft pink as my toes.

At the end of it, my hair had been styled into what Kris called a Messy Braided Crown, with a braid going around over my ears and joining in the back, leaving several messy locks hanging around. I was appreciative that everything Chloe chose would be easy to reverse come Monday, no highlights or dyes or extensions. Makeup was a slightly different story, as my nails dried, Kris started work on my face. Some foundation to even me out, a brownish glittery eyeshadow, pink lipstick, not to mention the false lashes, all served to transform my face from a boy into a certified knockout!

“Wow…” I gazed into the mirror in amazement.

“I’m glad you like it.” Kris smiled as she started cleaning up. “You make a cute girl. I think, whatever the goal of this plan is, you’re gonna succeed.”

“I hope so.” I said, flexing my fingers and admiring my new nails.

As I slipped my flip flops back on, I heard footsteps walking towards me, which suddenly stopped and I heard:

“Wow!” Chloe exclaimed.

“Seems to be the word of the day here,” Kris giggled as Chloe remained slack jawed, staring at me.

I took a deep breath as I glanced over at the dress laying on my bed. While I’d certainly passed the point of no-return when I let Chloe glue the breast forms in place, it was still pretty daunting. I glanced in the mirror and looked myself up and down, clad in only a strapless bra and a pair of panties, still surprised at how well Chloe was able to help me tuck down the only thing that reminded me that I was still the same boy I was just a few weeks ago. As I turned back to the dress, my door opened slightly and I heard a gentle knock.

“Need any help?” Chloe asked.

“Sure, come on in.” I replied, and Chloe entered. “This is it…”

“You look great! And you’re gonna be fine.” Chloe said as I stepped into the dress and pulled it up to my chest. “I never thought I’d be helping my brother zip up his prom dress, but it’s been nice having a sister for a little bit.”

“Yeah,” I said, thinking about how, despite me only doing this as retaliation against Melissa, I’d had some fun hanging out with Chloe as she taught me the ins and outs of girlhood. I don’t think I’d go so far as to say that I’d miss being ‘Jenna’ when this is over, but I don’t think I’m going to regret what I did.

Once my dress was zipped, I slipped the heels onto my feet, wiggling my pink toes as I took a few steps to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten how to walk in them since my last practice session two days earlier. Chloe headed downstairs to “announce me”, and as I carefully stepped down the stairs, I was nearly blinded by a camera flash when I reached the final step.

“Sorry!” Mom exclaimed. “ Couldn’t resist getting an action shot!”

I rolled my eyes as I blinked and waited for my sight to fully return. As it did, I saw Mom with the camera standing next to Dad who was standing next to Chloe and Billy, who was uncharacteristically early, who’d clearly had a haircut and was wearing a sharp suit with a bowtie that matched my dress.

“Wow, who knew all I needed to do in order to get you to show up on time when we go places was to wear a dress?” I remarked.

“Well, I couldn’t disappoint your parents, right?” Billy replied. “You look breathtaking, by the way.”

“Thanks.” I blushed. “You clean up pretty good yourself.”

“That reminds me, what do your parents think of all this?” Mom asked. “Are they going to want pictures?”

“Actually, they still think I’m going stag with Jensen.” Billy chuckled. “I wasn’t quite sure how to explain all this to them.”

“Maybe you can tell them tomorrow with some pictures.” Mom said. “Now, get together, I need some pictures of the two of you!”

Billy walked over to me and we stood awkwardly next to each other, Billy still a bit taller than me, even with my heels. Billy kept his arms at his sides, no doubt because of my father keeping his arms crossed as he stood next to Mom.

“Come on, you two! Pretend like you know each other!” Mom shouted. “Billy, put your arm on his shoulder! Good, now Jen, put your arm around his shoulder, Billy, move your arm to his waist and Jen, put your hand on his chest… Perfect!”

Billy and I shared knowing glances in between shots as Mom continued to take photos.

“This wasn’t really how I expected it to look, but I’m so proud of you! A shame I won’t be able to post these photos anywhere, but you make such a cute couple regardless.” Mom smiled.

“Mom!” I blushed, while Billy chuckled.

“Oh! How about one where you’re kissing!” Mom exclaimed.

“Mom!” I snapped.

“What? Only on the cheek… Never mind, I think I’ve got enough memories for tonight. I’m so proud of you, baby.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I said.

“Wait a minute! Billy, don’t you have something for Jen?” Dad suddenly exclaimed.

“Oh yeah,” Billy walked over to a table and picked something up.

As he carried it over, I saw that it was a box for a corsage and a boutineer. He opened it up and took out the corsage, and made eye contact with me.

“What?” I asked.

“You need to hold out your hand!” Mom whispered to me.

“Oh… right.” I said, and held my hand out.

I imagined it would probably get worse from there, but this was the girliest I’d felt yet during this whole experience. It felt particularly girly since Mom had resumed taking photos at this point. When he finished securing it onto my wrist, I went to grab the boutineer and pinned it to his lapel.

“Well, I think that does it, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think the limo ought to be here by now,” Billy replied.

“A limo?” I asked. “That’s a bit overkill, isn’t it?”

“I’d already paid for it for ‘Liss and I. But I’d much rather share it with you.” Billy smiled.

“Good luck,” Chloe said, giving me a big hug and handing me a pink clutch purse that held my phone, some makeup and some emergency cash that I’d packed earlier.

“Have her back at a decent hour, okay, Billy?” Dad said, sternly.

“Will do,” Billy nervously chuckled, still not sure if Dad was joking or not.

“Have fun, you have your purse right? And your phone is in there? Make sure you have-!” Mom took a deep breath and started to continue.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve got everything I need. See you when I get home.” I said, giving her a hug.

And with that, we were off, the limo ride was nice, and Billy and I discussed our game plan as we rode to the local hotel whose ballroom would be holding the prom.

“Okay, so we’ll walk in together, go find our table so you can put your purse down, and then we find out which part of the dance floor Melissa is at so we can give her a great view of us dancing.” Billy said.

“I hope I’m good enough, I couldn’t dance before all this, and I’ve only practiced at home.” I said.

“Don’t worry, if you’ve got two left feet and I have two left feet, then that means that collectively we should make one competent dancer.” Billy insisted.

“I don’t think that’s how the metaphor goes,” I giggled.

He really was a goofball, and it’s a shame that Melissa just wanted to climb the social ladder, cause she was missing out. Speaking of Melissa missing out, when we got to prom, after taking some photos in front of a backdrop set up by the student council, looking slightly more comfortable than we had at my house, there were the occasional stares, as people tried to place me, but I don’t think anyone figured it out, and if they asked, Billy and I kept up the charade that I was my own cousin, visiting from across the country.

“Ohmigod, you look just like Jensen!” said the girl who sat behind me in history class as we made smalltalk around our table.

“Yeah, we get that a lot.” I smiled as Billy and I crossed through the crowded ballroom.

“There she is.” Billy said, pointing out Melissa, wearing a purple sequined number, standing with Josh and a few other girls, (cheerleaders I think) and their dates.

Melissa clocked us immediately and her expression went from pleasant to furious in record time. I half-expected her to storm over to confront us, but she just started hanging off her date’s arm and acting overly happy.

“Mission accomplished, right?” I asked.

“Stage 1 is complete, but let’s see how much farther we can push it.” Billy replied. “Care to dance?”

“Sure,” I smiled and took Billy’s hand.

We went out to the dance floor and started moving to the beat. The DJ was playing a fairly well-known pop song, and I managed to hold my own, even as I felt my dress bouncing as I moved. We’d joined a group of our classmates, so the stakes were pretty low, but I won’t deny that I felt pretty self conscious as I swayed in my heels. After a few songs, Billy and I were both pretty out of breath and we decided to take a break.

“Punch?” Billy asked, motioning towards the refreshments table.

“Sounds good,” I replied, and we started to make our way through the crowd.

Arriving at the table, we found Melissa and Josh standing near it, chatting with some other couples as they poured themselves some punch.

“Let’s come back,” I started to pull Billy away, but he resisted. It was fun messing with Melissa, but I didn’t want a direct confrontation.

“No, we have as much of a right to be here as she does,” Billy said.

He continued walking up to the table and picked up a plastic cup, filling it with the ladle sitting in the punch bowl. I stood hesitantly behind him. As he handed me a cup, I felt a presence behind me and jumped slightly, but not enough to spill anything on my dress, thankfully.

“Hello, you!” Melissa grinned and spoke in that fake, sing-songy tone that people use when they’re really angry.

“Hi, ‘Liss… Josh,” Billy said. “You both look good.”

“Thanks, and so do you and your date! She certainly cleans up well,” Melissa smirked.

“Well, when I’ve got a guy who’s worth cleaning up for, I put in the effort.” I retorted.

Unable to think of a snappy comeback, Melissa just stomped her heel and grabbed onto Josh’s arm.

“Come on, Joshie-poo, let’s go dance!” Melissa snapped as Josh helplessly followed Melissa to the dance floor.

“Does that mean I have to call you Billy-poo?” I joked.

“Please, for the love of god, never utter that word again.” Billy chuckled.

With that, we returned with punch to our table, where some of our classmates had also decided to take a break from dancing and we chatted a bit, giving some fake highlights of Jenna’s life, as well as explaining how my ‘cousin’ had graciously given me his ticket so that Billy would have a date. Made me feel really good, since maybe rumors of my gallantness might help me in finding a girl for myself. After some more dancing, some eating and more showing off in front of Melissa, the night was starting to wind to a close, as Billy and I stood on the dance floor as the latest song to play had just faded out and the student council president had climbed up onto the stage with a microphone.

“Hi, everyone! Before the final slow dance of the evening, we’d like to announce our prom royalty! The votes are in, and it’s time to crown our Prom King and Queen!” the student council president exclaimed, waving an envelope.

“Wow, I totally forgot about this.” I whispered to Billy.

“Really? So you didn’t see the nominations list?” Billy replied.

“Nope. I guess it’ll mean Melissa will have a great view of us from up on stage, right?”

“I hope so…” Billy said, nervously.

“Okay, folks, as voted on by you, this year’s Prom King is… Billy Gardner!” the student council president exclaimed.

“What?” I questioned. “How did you win?”

“Maybe a lot of people feel bad for me…” Billy responded. “I knew my name was on the list, since ‘Liss nominated me weeks ago when we were going together, but I didn’t expect to win.”

“I guess Melissa loses either way, because I doubt she’ll be happy standing up next to you.” I remarked.

“And this year’s Prom Queen is… Oh, that’s surprising. Folks, we’ve got an upset this year, but for the first time, the title has been taken by someone who doesn’t even attend our school! But the margin of write-in votes was so huge that we can’t deny that our new Prom Queen is Jenna Paganelli!”

“What?!” I turned to Billy. “H-how did that happen? Why was my name even on the list?”

“Melissa made sure everyone knew that I would be here with your ‘cousin’, but no matter how many friends she has, I know most people were on my side regarding the breakup. I guess she figured Josh would get more votes and never bothered to take me off the list, but it backfired, and everybody voted for me in solidarity, and I guess they also wrote you in so that I wasn’t up there alone.” Billy said.

“Come up to the stage, lovebirds, we don’t have all night!”

I would have been frozen to the spot if it wasn’t for Billy, gracefully guiding me by my hand up to the stage. Looking out at our assembled peers, I stood still as the student council president put a crown on my head and handed me a bouquet, before moving onto putting Billy’s crown on his head. The president tried to hand me the microphone, but Billy intercepted it.

“Jenna, do you want to say anything?” Billy held the microphone out to me.

“I’m… speechless, I really don’t know what to say.” I said into the microphone, so nervous that I wasn’t even sure if I was still doing my ‘Jenna’ voice.

“Then I’ll just say thank you to everyone who voted for us, you really made this a memorable prom night. And I’d like to give a special thanks to everyone who made it possible, they know who they are.” Billy winked out into the audience towards Melissa.

To this day, I have no idea where the impulse came from, but as I saw Melissa glaring up at us, with Josh trying to comfort her, it was like someone took control of my body, and I handed the bouquet back to the student council president and grabbed his face with my manicured fingers and brought his mouth to mine and kissed him. My eyes were closed, but I imagine that Billy’s were wide open, at least until I felt him relax and accept the kiss. I heard the crowd going wild with ‘whoos’, ‘awws’ and ‘oohs’ until I released Billy’s face.

He pulled away, temporarily speechless and touched a finger to his lips as I smiled at him.

“That’s definitely one way to celebrate!” The student council president laughed as she handed the bouquet back to me and went back to addressing the audience. “Give it up one more time for this year’s Prom King and Queen!”

We quickly got off the stage and headed back to our table. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see Melissa’s face as we kissed, but I imagine she was seething, and I couldn’t see her anywhere in the ballroom as we walked. When we sat down, Billy grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes.

“Are you okay?” Billy asked.

“Yeah, why?” I replied.

“That kiss wasn’t part of the plan,” Billy said. “Not that I’m complaining, but…”

“I improvised,” I shrugged. “Felt like the right thing to do.”

“Yeah… It did, didn’t it?” Billy asked. “What does this mean?”

“I… I don’t know.” I replied.

I really didn’t know. Those feelings I’d been feeling as I spent time dressed as a girl, practicing, especially the time I spent around Billy, they’d frightened me at first, but when I kissed him, I felt safe… It felt right. But I had tomorrow to figure that out, tonight was prom, and I was determined to see it through. But first, I had something important to do.

“I’ve gotta use the bathroom,” I said, with all the excitement sending the punch right through me. I grabbed my purse and stood up.

“You sure you wanna be alone with Melissa around?” Billy asked.

“Don’t worry, after that upset, I don’t think she’ll be a problem.” I smiled and patted him on the shoulder, heading out of the ballroom.

I let out a sigh of relief as I walked into the women’s restroom and worked my way around the dress and the tuck job to relieve myself in the stall. As I finished up, I heard a low sob coming from one of the other stalls. I heard the stall door open before I stepped out and saw Melissa, her makeup running down her face standing across from me.

“I hope you’re happy, you’ve ruined my night.” Melissa pouted with crossed arms, leaning against the wall near the sink.

“I’m sorry that you lost, but I didn’t ruin anything. YOU confronted Billy at the mall after YOU cheated on and broke up with him! YOU got all up in my face at the dress store! And YOU spread it around that Billy was taking me to the prom so everyone knew who I was tonight! All I did was exist, so if I ruined your night by spending the evening with a sweet, caring, gentleman of a guy that you just tossed aside like last week’s moldy pizza the moment a better option came along, then I guess I did.” my fists were clenched as I shouted, letting out all my frustrations.

Melissa just glared at me, clearly not moved at all by my display of sheer emotion. But just then, another one of those impulses hit me, and I turned to leave, but hesitated.

“Oh yeah, and just so you know, I let you borrow a pencil in English class last month, I’d really like it back.” I smiled.

I watched as Melissa’s brain began to piece together what that crack meant, as each individual braincell lit up with the revelation that she hadn’t been upstaged by Jensen Paganelli’s cousin. She’d been upstaged by Jensen Paganelli in a dress and heels. I quickly made my way out of the bathroom before she could say anything and headed back to the table, sitting down next to Billy.

“How’d it go? Did you see ‘Liss?” Billy asked.

“We had a few words… But I don’t think she’s gonna come near us again tonight.” I giggled.

“Do I even wanna know?” Billy asked. “You know what? Probably not.”

“You’re probably right.” I said.

As another pop song came to an end, the lights went lower and the dance floor cleared of everyone except those with dates and the DJ began to play a much slower song.

“Sounds like the last dance is about to start…” I tapped my polished nails against the table.

“I think everyone would be disappointed if the Prom King wasn’t out there with his queen.” Billy said.

“I think you’re right,” I smiled as we stood up and Billy led me out to the dance floor.

The crowd opened and gave us a space in the middle to dance. Practicing slow dancing with my sister in her room had been very different, but I think I quickly got the hang of it as Billy had his hand around my waist and my manicured hand intertwined with his. For a moment, it truly felt like it was just us on that dance floor, and as I gazed into Billy’s eyes, I was glad to be in the arms of my best friend, and I wouldn’t have had prom go any other way.

And honestly there’s not much more to talk about, we finished off the night, had a long talk in the limo on the way back to my house where we had an even longer conversation with my parents and Chloe about me. My parents were surprised, but not shocked, nor was Chloe, and they were there to support me through everything, although we agreed it would be easier if I spent the remaining week of high school as Jensen and became Jenna full-time after graduation, and although I was sad to see the acrylics and false eyelashes go, albeit temporarily, I also didn’t want to suddenly become the object of attention.

So, at graduation, while Jensen walked across the stage to receive his diploma, it was Jenna who started college in the fall. It was a bit of a bummer, since Billy and I had schemed to become roommates, which obviously couldn’t happen anymore, but we still spent about an equal amount of time in each other’s rooms, so it all balanced out. Besides, once we save up enough for an off-campus apartment, it’ll be a moot point. And to think it all started because of a case of mistaken identity, but I’ve really got to thank Melissa one day, because that prom night, for better or worse, changed my life. And I definitely think it was for the better.

A trope as old as fiction, in order to gain ownership of an abandoned mansion, a young man must spend one night inside. However, the resident ghost, the spirit of a teenage heiress, has other plans. (Written as a request for a fan over on DeviantArt)

The mansion had been abandoned for close to twenty-five years, after a freak accident left the daughter of wealthy industrialists dead. Instead of remaining in the house that killed their daughter, they instead chose to leave it, and moved onto parts unknown. The house went into the hands of several land developers, but for some unexplained reason, none of them ever chose to knock it down and develop the land. Eventually, one developer got fed up with the game of "Musical Deeds" that they had been playing and decided to make some profit off of the mansion. They held a mail-in contest and handed over the deed to the mansion to one lucky winner. And that winner was James Shelton. He had entered the contest on a lark, never expecting to actually win. But naturally, there was a catch.

The winner, in order to claim their prize, had to spend a single night living in the mansion. Predictable, but James didn't believe in the supernatural, so with sleeping bag and a night's supply of food and water in tow, James made his way through the front doors.

"One night here? This'll be easy..." James remarked to himself.

Sure, the mansion was falling apart, but he was a fairly adept craftsman, even at the age of 18, so he figured he could handle it. After all, who didn't want a fixer-upper?

James looked around the first floor, checking the structural integrity of the floorboards, checking doors and windows, but all the while he couldn't shake a vague feeling that he was being watched. Unknown to him, hovering over James was the spectral form of a teenage girl.

Leighton Vanderport was once the heiress to a vast industrial fortune, but now she was simply an un-departed spirit, still tethered to the mortal realm because of "unfinished business", not that she had ever figured out what that business was. She was only able to wander in the confines of the mansion, and after twenty years, she'd had enough. She had tried to make contact with her parents, but that had only resulted in them leaving in fear. The succession of land developers who had entered the mansion suffered much the same fate. No one could see Leighton, and she was always left alone. Not that she necessarily minded, those developers were always lame old men. But Leighton Vanderport was a girl who was very used to getting her way. When the last developer visited, Leighton learned that she had a peculiar ability, in addition to manipulation of objects, which she used to try to communicate, she could briefly override the consciousness of living people, giving them ideas. She wanted a friend, and she was intent to get one. She wasn't too picky, just wanting someone around her biological age, and only one person in the contest fit the description. James Shelton.

"Time to play..." Leighton giggled.

James walked into the kitchen and looked around. Most of the silverware and plates had been taken when the Vanderports left, but a few scant items remained. James started to browse through the cabinets when he heard sound behind him. He turned around in time to see a plate fall onto the ground.

"Shit!" James jumped.

Leighton giggled as she watched from above.

"Okay, just calm down, there's no such thing as ghosts..." James muttered.

"We'll see about that!" Leighton waved her hand and a kitchen drawer slammed open, causing James to jump once more.

"It's just an old house..." James said to himself. "An old house with creaky counters and drawers that open themselves..."

The kitchen began to shake as the lights started to flicker. Lights that shouldn't work because the electricity was cut ages ago. James had only one thing on his mind.

"This place really is haunted! I'm outta here! Screw the contest!" James quickly rushed for the front door, but found it surreptitiously locked. "How?"

James quickly checked all the windows on the first floor, all the while Leighton followed him, causing mayhem and mischief as she giggled in delight. She hadn't had this much fun in ages. James took notice of the laughter and got even more scared.

"Think, James, think..." James tried to formulate another escape route.

Suddenly, he remembered something he had seen on his way up the driveway.

"There's a balcony upstairs!" James exclaimed. "It's a long way down, but it beats being killed by a ghost!"

James rushed up the staircase and began checking all the upstairs doors, but all of them were locked. The spectral giggling got louder and James cowered at the end of the hall until a door slowly creaked open. James approached it, it was the room with the balcony. On the door was an engraved plaque with the name "Leighton" etched into it in a delicate, elegant script. James hesitantly entered the room.

It was a stereotypical teenage girl's room, untouched by the ravages of age, unlike the rest of the house. Pink wallpaper, four post canopy bed, pink shag carpet, posters for boy bands and women's sports stars, a vanity strewn with various types of cosmetics, and a closet filled to the brim with clothes. This was the domain of a girl who wanted for nothing in life.

And the door to the balcony was open! James started running towards it, but the balcony door slammed shut, followed by the door to the bedroom. James tried to open the doors, even tried ramming them with his body, but it was an exercise in futility. James was prepared to give up when he felt something snaking around his ankle.

James looked down and saw a sweater's sleeve wrapped around his ankle.

"Must've gotten caught in it after the doors slammed..." James remarked and bent down to untangle it, but it wouldn't budge. He shook his leg around, but to no avail.

James's head snapped to his other leg when he felt the same feeling, finding a pair of pantyhose wrapped around that leg. James started to run away, but felt his ankles being constricted, before falling onto the floor. He pushed himself up, but was unable to avoid getting his wrists snagged by a short leather jacket and a pair of tight capris.

"Help me!" James screamed as a scarf wrapped itself around his mouth. "Mmph!"

"Time to play dress-up..." Leighton said as the room started to shake.

The clothes in the closet began to move on their own, as did the cosmetics on the vanity. James struggled against his bonds as a pair of gloves slowly pulled off his shirt and shoes, while a brush and comb started to work their way through his medium-length hair.

Once James was stripped down to the nude, a pair of panties slid up his legs until they rested on his waist. This was followed by a matching bra that was strapped around his chest, as the clothes used to hold him manipulated his arms.

"Hmm..." Leighton said. "Time to get pretty."

James struggled as he felt a headband placed onto his head, but was distracted as he felt his fingers and toes being attacked, feeling the toenails being shaped and painted as pressure was applied to his fingers. He'd have been able to see what they were doing, but his face was suddenly attacked by all manner of cosmetics as he felt sponges and brushes on his cheeks, tweezers on his eyebrows, pencils on his eyes.

Without warning, James was lifted up and placed into a pink, pleated miniskirt and a pair of heeled boots, while a white blouse and pink pullover cardigan were placed over his head. The scarf was even removed, but only to allow a tube of pink lipgloss to coat his lips.

"What is happening?" James wondered aloud.

The ghostly clothing dragged him in front of a full length mirror as Leighton scrutinized her new plaything.

"Something isn't quite right..." Leighton muttered as she observed the feminized boy.

His blonde hair was offset nicely by the pink headband that now rested on top of his head. Moving to the face, the makeup job was impeccable. Perfect contouring, arched eyebrows, the eyes were nicely defined with nude tones, eye shadow, curled lashes, and despite looking like he wasn't wearing much makeup, the effects were staggering. Even with just the lipgloss, his lips were shiny, pink and absolutely kissable. James clenched his fists, stabbing his palms with newly extended pink nails, which matched his toes, safely hidden within the heeled boots. The clothes were nice, a particular favorite outfit of Leighton's down to the boots, but he didn't fill it out quite as well as she had in life, and his hairy legs were a problem.

"I wonder..." Leighton said.

She had been able to manipulate objects, thoughts, perhaps her powers also applied here. Leighton mustered up all her strength and flew through the air into James's body. Leighton concentrated and James could only watch in horror as he saw his body transform in the mirror.

James could feel his breasts expanding to fill the cups of the bra, while at the same time, he felt his bulge disappear. Honey blonde hair exploded out of his head underneath the headband. The tight outfit became comfortable and fitted as his body slimmed down and his body hair fell out. While, thanks to the expert makeup job, the changes weren't apparent, James' nose shrank as his lips slightly puffed and his eyes reshaped themselves with long lashes. James was so in shock that he couldn't utter more than a squeak of amazement.

When all was said and done, Leighton dropped James onto the floor. He falls flat on his face, trying to balance in his new heels, and tries to stand up, gazing at his new, feminine reflection in the mirror, when Leighton finally fades into view, wearing the same outfit as James was garbed in.

"Please let me go! Change me back and I promise I'll leave and never return!" James begged, and he noticed that something was different. "My voice!"

"Let you go?" Leighton asked. "Why on Earth would I do that? You're my favorite new toy."

James groaned as he saw more objects around the room start to circle him.

"I always did want a sister to play with." Leighton giggled. "And I always get what I want."

Days later, or was it weeks later? James had long since lost track of time since he had become Leighton's prisoner. Between constant games of dress-up, where it felt like James had worn everything in Leighton's closet multiple times, to times where Leighton used him as a glorified doll, acting out scenarios in her room, getting ready for make-believe dates, having slumber parties, James was treated to the crash course in being a girly-girl like Leighton. However long it was later, James sat on the bed, dressed in one of Leighton's nightgowns and fuzzy slippers as Leighton brushed his hair.

"I think it's about time we find you a boyfriend, isn't it, Jamie?" Leighton asked, having started calling James that shortly after she revealed herself. "Every girl needs that experience. I might even have someone in mind..."

James had learned not to argue with Leighton, still holding onto the vain hope that he'd one day be freed from this hell.

"Of course, sister." James replied, still un-used to his lighter, feminine voice.

Part of James didn't think that Leighton could use her powers to do that. After all, Leighton had kept the house secure since James' arrival, no one entering or exiting. But there was one thing that James had learned over his time here. Leighton always gets what she wants. No matter what.

The End

When the internet goes out, leaving siblings Dennis and Kylie bored out of their skulls, Kylie comes up with a plan to share some of her favorite girly activities with her brother... whether he wants it or not.

It was shaping up to be a normal, run of the mill day for siblings Dennis and Kylie Stevens. As it was the middle of summer, they were spending their day lounging about their house while their parents were at work. As it was a rainy day, they were spending the day inside.

Kylie strolled up to her older brother’s room and poked her head inside. A loud boom of thunder rang throughout the house, causing Kylie to jump. Dennis didn’t seem to notice it, since he had a pair of headphones on his head as he played a loud shooter game on his TV. Dennis’ room was about what one would expect, relatively messy, with a pile of dirty clothes near the closet, some posters depicting sports stars, and sci-fi fantasy movies on the wall and a TV on one wall with the bed situated on the other, which is where Dennis was sitting.

“Yes, eat it!” Dennis exclaimed as he sat back and took his headphones off to scratch his ears.

“Hey!” Kylie knocked on the door frame.

“Hey, what’s up?” Dennis turned around.

“I was wondering, do you wanna maybe watch a movie together or something?” Kylie asked.

“Maybe another time, I’m in the middle of an important part of the game, I’ve been trying to get here for weeks!” Dennis put his headset back on, turning back to the video game.

“Oh, okay…” Kylie dejectedly walked back to her room.

Kylie sat on her bed, idly scrolling through her phone messages, with several messages explaining how several of her friends were unavailable to hang out due to a variety of circumstances. Kylie sighed and laid back onto her bed.

Just then, a loud crack of thunder boomed through the house, and the lights immediately turned off. Kylie sat up in bed just as the lights returned.

“Aw, dammit!” Dennis shouted from the other room.

Kylie rushed out of her room and ran toward Dennis’, where he was quickly emerging from the door.

“Is something wrong? What happened?” Kylie asked.

“The power went out right before I was about to finish the level… Figures…” Dennis replied.

“Maybe it’s a sign that the universe doesn’t want you to finish that level today…”

“Well then, the universe can shove it, because once everything reboots, I’m doing it!”

Kylie just rolled her eyes and walked downstairs towards the kitchen. Several minutes later, as she was pouring herself a glass of soda, she heard Dennis shouting from the top of the stairs.

“Kylie!”

“Yeah?” Kylie shouted back.

“Can you check the router for me? My game isn’t connecting to the internet!” Dennis shouted.

“Got it!” Kylie replied.

Kylie headed into the family room, where the router was situated and started to look at the router. While she was very adept with technology, when the router went out, it was usually Dennis’ department, so she didn’t know what to look for. She scrunched her face as she tried to figure out what was wrong with it.

“Dennis! How many lights is the router supposed to have?”

“Four! How many are there?”

“None!”

After exhausting every troubleshooting method he knew, all of which failed, Dennis gave up and called their internet service provider, and once the fifteen minute call was over, Dennis sighed and hung up the phone.

“So? What happened?” Kylie asked.

“Apparently the power surge from the storm fried the router, they have to send someone out to replace it.” Dennis replied.

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“They’re not able to get someone out here until the hours of one and three… tomorrow.”

“That still doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It’s just annoying… it means I can’t play my game until then.”

“You need the internet to play your game? I didn’t hear you talking to anyone...”

“It’s one of those games that, even though I’m playing alone, it requires an internet connection to run, it’s really dumb.”

“Oh no, you might actually have to do something other than sit in front of a TV, how dreadful!” Kylie put her forearm on her forehead in mock concern.

“I’m glad you find this all so amusing…” Dennis walked away, heading for his room.

Half an hour later, Dennis was bored out of his skull. His limited connection to the internet on his phone was useless because of their data cap, and the only video game he wanted to play was non-functioning. He considered his options and came to only one conclusion, he should go check in on Kylie, surely she was just as bored as he was.

“Hey…” Dennis knocked on Kylie’s doorframe, poking his head into her room.

Kylie’s room was similarly predictable, Kylie was a very girly girl, and so her room was very girly. Pink walls, a vanity with cosmetics and jewelry strewn about it, a closet overflowing with skirts and dresses and various different types of shoes. At this particular moment, Kylie was sitting on her bed, flipping through a magazine.

“Hey!” Kylie closed the magazine and sat up. “What’s up?”

“You said earlier that you wanted to watch a movie? I guess I’m free now.” Dennis said.

“You’re finally bored enough to want to hang out with me?” Kylie smirked.

“No… Well… Yeah, there’s nothing to do!”

Kylie knew Dennis was right, as the rain continued to beat down on every window of the house, the siblings only had each other for entertainment.

“Let’s watch it down in the living room, the TV is bigger.” Kylie got up off her bed. “Here, go set it up, I’ll be right down.”

Kylie handed Dennis a DVD case, for a film Dennis had heard of, an adaptation for a book that Dennis had never read, since it was geared towards girls, so it was never on his radar. Still, it beat doing nothing.

Dennis headed downstairs to set the movie up, while Kylie grabbed some items off of her vanity, stuffing them into the pockets of her pink-striped pajama bottoms. She quickly went downstairs and sat down on the couch, sitting on one armrest as Dennis took the other. Dennis started the movie, and the two began watching.

For the most part, the movie was entertaining, certainly entertaining enough to warrant the awards that it had garnered. Halfway through the film, Kylie began to empty her pockets of a nail file, some cotton balls, and a bottle of bright pink nail polish.

“What’s all that?” Dennis asked as the noise took his attention away from the movie.

“Just some nail stuff, I was gonna give myself a pedicure.”

“Neat…” Dennis turned back to the movie.

Soon, the movie was getting close to the denouement, and Dennis was invested in all the characters, so much so that he hadn’t noticed that not only had Kylie finished her pedicure, but had moved from her seat on the couch to the floor, at least until Kylie grabbed his foot.

“Hey!” Dennis pulled his foot back. “What are you doing?”

“Just looking… you know your nails are terrible.” Kylie grabbed the foot back. “Look how dirty these are…”

“So what? I’m a guy, we don’t worry about that.” Dennis said.

“Maybe you should…” Kylie sniffed, then made a disgusted face. “How about I give you a pedicure? Just like mine!”

“I think I’ll pass.” Dennis said.

“Come on, I’m bored, you’re bored, besides, no one has to know! Who knows, you might even like it.” Kylie insisted. “The movie’s almost over, unless you’ve got a better idea of what to do?”

Dennis frowned, he didn’t have any better ideas, but doing such a girly activity was an affront to his masculinity! As he looked down at his sister giving him her best puppy dog eyes, he sighed and relaxed his foot.

“Why not? As long as nobody knows, right?” Dennis mused.

“Right!” Kylie smiled as she got to work.

After several minutes of shaping and buffing, Kylie was satisfied and put down the nail file, only to pick up the bottle of pink polish that she’d used on her own toenails. She started to place cotton balls in between Dennis’ toes, but Dennis once again pulled his foot back.

“No way!” Dennis exclaimed. “I don’t mind the shaping, but I draw the line at nail polish!”

“But it’s part of the experience!” Kylie insisted.

“Well, does it have to be pink?” Dennis asked.

“Please? I don’t wanna go all the way back upstairs to find my clear coat, besides, nobody’ll see it, and I’ll remove it later.” Kylie started her puppy dog eyes once more.

“Okay, fine!” Dennis threw up his hands in surrender. He’d lived with Kylie long enough to know it’s better to placate her than to get into an argument. “But no one will know, right?”

“You have my word.” Kylie said.

As she painted her older brother’s toes, Kylie grabbed her phone a few times, making it look like she was texting, but in reality, she was taking photos of Dennis and his shiny pink toes as he watched the end of the movie. With the movie finished, she moved onto his other foot, and as she finished the final brush stroke, she sat back and admired her work on her brother’s newly groomed and polished toes.

“And there... we... go! Honestly, I gotta say, pink looks good on you, bro.” Kylie giggled.

“Are you finally done? I know I agreed to let you paint my toenails but what if Mom and Dad come home and see it?” Dennis made nervous glances towards the front door.

“Relax, they’re not due home for hours and by the time they get home it’ll be dry enough for you to wear socks.” Kylie said, screwing the cap back on the bottle.

“Socks? You said you’d take it off when you were done!” Dennis exclaimed.

“And ruin all my hard work right away? Come on! They’re not going to be getting the truck out to fix the internet for at least a day. We’ll be just as bored tomorrow, so I thought we could do something else. Ooh, maybe I could do your hair!” Kylie started imagining other activities.

“Nuh uh, I'm drawing the line there. I’m still not sure how you convinced me to do this.” Dennis crossed his arms.

“Because it feels nice! Besides, it’d be a shame if these photos I took ended up online once the Wi-Fi comes back…” Kylie turned her phone around, showing Dennis various photos that clearly showed him allowing Kylie to paint his toenails. “I bet both my friends and yours would be very interested in seeing these…”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Dennis attempted to reach for the phone.

“Are you willing to find out?” Kylie stepped back.

“Gimme that!” Dennis started to stand up, but Kylie pushed him back down.

“Bup, bup, bup! You don’t want to smudge them, otherwise I have to start all over again! Now, I’m thinking that I probably won’t send them to anyone… if you do a few things for me.” Kylie grinned evilly.

Dennis didn’t think that Kylie would actively do anything to hurt him, but then again, he couldn’t really be sure, they were siblings, and he cared about her, but they weren’t particularly close enough for Dennis to know how she’d act in this situation. He only had one option.

“...Fine, you can do my hair. Tomorrow.” Dennis said, firmly.

Kylie smiled and started swiping through her camera roll.

“Of course I could probably send one or two pictures out with data if I really wanted to…”

“Okay, you can do my hair now! Just keep those pictures to yourself!” Dennis pleaded. “Please!”

“Yay! And don’t worry, tomorrow won’t be that much worse… Oh, I wonder if we have a pair of heels in the house that’ll fit you!” Kylie started to skip towards the stairs. “Coming, dear sister?”

Dennis held his head low with shame as he stood up and followed Kylie upstairs. As he entered Kylie’s room, she motioned towards the chair in front of her vanity. Dennis complied and Kylie began to play with his hair.

“You’ve always had such great hair, I’ve always wanted to do something to it.” Kylie said.

Dennis’ hair was, like Kylie’s, long and blonde, but while Kylie had their mother’s straight hair, Dennis had gotten their father’s curly hair, so the longer it got, the more unruly it got, so he tended to keep it in a low ponytail. Kylie eagerly removed the hair tie and reached over to the vanity for her already plugged in hair straightener, but Dennis quickly grabbed her wrist.

“Hold on, this is a lot more permanent than nail polish.” Dennis said.

“Not really, if you wash your hair a few times it’ll pretty much go back to normal.” Kylie said. “Besides, you don’t really have a choice here.”

Dennis began to speak, but closed his mouth and scowled instead, releasing Kylie’s wrist. Before grabbing the straightener, she popped over to her bed and picked up the magazine she’d been reading before, handing it to Dennis.

“Here, read this, it’ll help keep your mind off it, and maybe you won’t interrupt me as much. Remember, the faster I’m done, the faster this is all over.” Kylie said.

Dennis nodded and idly flipped through the magazine, there wasn’t much of interest to him in it, pages advertising perfumes, clothing and shoes, a few articles, but even the pages with models on them didn’t really hold his attention. Kylie continued to straighten and brush her brother’s hair, making sure not to miss a single strand. Eventually, Dennis looked up at the mirror and gasped, seeing his curly locks were much longer when straightened, and his short ponytail had given way to hair that was far more similar to Kylie’s than he’d have liked.

“Looks great, right?” Kylie asked.

“I…” Dennis was surprised at how big a change occurred from just straightening his hair.

Truthfully, Dennis hadn’t been endowed with much in the way of facial hair, a quirk of genetics, since their father’s facial hair was perennially patchy as well. Before Kylie could do anything else however, the siblings heard a car outside, and moments later, the front door opened.

“Kids! We’re home!” their mother shouted from downstairs.

“We picked up dinner on the way, I hope you’re in the mood for pizza!” their father shouted.

“Be right down!” Kylie exclaimed, before handing Dennis back his hair tie. “Here you go.”

“Thanks…” Dennis muttered as he pulled his hair back into its familiar ponytail.

“Meet you downstairs, don’t forget socks.” Kylie joked as she headed out of the room.

Dennis headed back to his room and picked up a pair of socks that wouldn’t reveal his painted toenails, and headed downstairs for dinner. As they ate, they discussed their days, with Dennis and Kylie omitting particular details of their day.

“The internet’s out, a power surge fried the router, so the company is sending a truck out tomorrow to fix it.” Dennis said, in between bites.

“Oh dear, how did you kids get along without the internet?” their mother joked.

“It wasn’t easy, it was pretty boring. But Dennis and I watched a movie together.” Kylie said.

“That’s nice, I’m glad you’re doing things together.” their mother replied.

“Yeah, I figured without the internet you’d be at each other’s throats.” their father chuckled.

“Come on, Dad, we’re mature enough to handle ourselves, right, Dennis?” Kylie asked, winking at Dennis.

“R-right!” Dennis replied quickly.

Satisfied with that answer, the conversation soon turned to the rough day at the office that their father had, before dinner concluded and everyone went their separate ways for the night. If either of their parents had noticed Dennis’ hair, neither let on.

Before turning in for the night, Dennis passed Kylie’s room, spotting her digging through her closet. For what, Dennis didn’t stick around to find out, but it didn’t inspire him with confidence about what would happen the next morning. Dennis did make an attempt to find a bottle of nail polish remover, to at least remove the potential for further blackmail material, but it seemed that Kylie had already taken care of that, having anticipated Dennis’ idea.

As such, it took Dennis a long time to fall asleep as his mind raced, wondering just what Kylie had in store for him and just how he managed to get blackmailed by his younger sister.

The next morning, Dennis stirred awake as he felt something touching his foot. He sat up and pulled his foot back, allowing Kylie to pull off one of his socks.

“Wakey wakey, sleepyhead! It’s time to get ready for the day!” Kylie sang. “Mom just left, so it’s time to play!”

“Go away!” Dennis, squinting his eyes, kicked his foot towards Kylie, but she artfully dodged him.

“Well, if that’s how you want to be, I bet I can find a good use for these photos…” Kylie giggled.

Dennis’ eyes shot open and he attempted to make a grab for Kylie’s phone, but failed.

“No, don’t!” Dennis shouted, before sighing. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to take a shower. Use my shampoo and body wash. And my Nair, unless you want to try your luck with a razor.” Kylie said.

“Hold on, nail polish and hair straightening is one thing, but shaving my body? That’s too far!” Dennis said.

“Oh relax, hair grows back! Besides, it’s not like you’ve got that much leg hair anyway.”

Dennis rolled his eyes at that comment, much like his face, the combination of poor genetics and blonde coloring made it patchy at best.

“All right, fine. But can you promise you won’t do anything else drastic?” Dennis begged.

“I think that can be arranged.” Kylie smiled. “Now, ‘Denise’, it’s time for your shower. I’ve left my robe in there, once you’re finished, meet me back in my room and I’ll help you get dressed.”

Dennis did as he was told, going into the bathroom, where indeed, Kylie’s pink terrycloth robe was hanging prominently on the back of the door. He turned on the shower and stripped out of his clothes, his shiny pink toenails taunting him as a reminder of the fact that, at least until the internet came back, he was at Kylie’s mercy.

“Well, let’s get this over with…” Dennis stepped into the shower.

For the most part, the shower was fairly normal, just a different scent than his usual “Clean”, “Fresh” or “Sport” soaps, in this case it was a flowery lilac scent. Using the depilatory was a new experience, but once he read the instructions, Dennis knew how to use it. What really concerned Dennis was Kylie’s behavior. Sure, they were siblings and siblings do stuff to embarrass each other or mess with them, but he hadn’t known Kylie to be as devious as she currently was. A prank is one thing, blackmail is out of character…

Unfortunately, his ruminations were interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.

“Hurry up, dear ‘sister’! I’ve got a big day planned!” Kylie shouted.

“I’ll be right out!” Dennis shouted back.

Dennis quickly finished up the shower and toweled off, shivering due to the lack of body hair combined with the cold linoleum floor of the bathroom. After drying off as best he could, Dennis put on the fluffy pink robe and opened the bathroom door, where Kylie was eagerly waiting.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to look great by the time I’m done!” Kylie grabbed her brother’s hand and dragged him into her room.

Kylie started digging around in her drawers, purely for show, Dennis knew that she’d have already chosen what he’d be wearing by now. As Dennis waited, he shivered again, reminding him of his shaved body.

“Can you hurry it up?” Dennis demanded.

“Ooh, someone’s excited to wear my clothes…” Kylie giggled. “Here, put these on, I’ll turn around.”

Kylie handed Dennis a matching bra and panty set, both pink, much to his chagrin. He turned them over in his hands.

“Is a bra really necessary?” Dennis asked.

“I dunno, is keeping those pictures a secret really necessary?” Kylie retorted.

“Touche…” Dennis sighed. “Turn around.”

Kylie complied and Dennis let the robe fall to the floor, before quickly putting on the unfamiliar undergarments. He fumbled with the bra, but soon figured out how to fasten it. The tricky part was getting himself stuffed into the panties, but with some effort, he figured out how to keep himself contained within them.

“All right, are you happy?” Dennis asked.

“Immensely!” Kylie replied. “Now, let’s see, I like this dress, but this skirt is cute and…”

After a few more minutes of hemming and hawing as Dennis stood in the center of Kylie’s room, with the padded bra providing the illusion of cleavage, which Dennis noted as he glanced in the mirror.

“Okay, okay, I’ve got your outfit right here.” Kylie presented Dennis with a bundle of clothing.

Dennis looked through the bundle, which consisted of a white tank top and a skirt adorned with multi-colored flowers. Dennis grumbled a bit, but only to hide his relief that she hadn’t chosen one of the formal dresses that he’d seen her wear in the past. Once he had gotten the high-waisted skirt and tank top on, he squirmed uncomfortably.

“Almost done…” Kylie grabbed some socks and stuffed them into the cups of the bra. “Perfect. Now, take a seat.”

Kylie motioned to the chair in front of the vanity, and Dennis sat down, sighing. With a blow dryer and brush in hand, Kylie made quick work of getting her brother’s hair into a similar style as it had been the previous day. Dennis watched, slightly in awe, as his wet stringy hair, which he usually didn’t do much with, transformed into soft, shiny locks that reached past his shoulders.

“You know, you’ve got really nice hair, it’s a shame you keep it tied up all the time…” Kylie muttered.

“I guess…” Dennis replied, but couldn’t help but silently agree with what his sister had said.

“Okay, and now for the fun part. Makeover time!” Kylie grabbed her makeup bag and started going to work before Dennis could object.

Dennis, already exhausted from his previous attempts to get Kylie to let up, decided to just let it happen, the sooner it did, the sooner it would be over, so while he wasn’t happy about it, he let Kylie apply a generous coating of gloss to his lips, a bit of blush to his cheeks, and some mascara to his eyelashes. Again, Dennis was thankful, since much like with the outfit, he’d expected a lot worse. While it wasn’t that dramatic, Dennis did realize that he had a lot more resemblance to Kylie than he’d thought previously, enhancing features they’d both inherited from their parents.

“One last thing…” Kylie approached Dennis with a pair of tweezers in hand, but Dennis quickly ducked out of the way. “Come on!”

“You said nothing permanent!” Dennis stood up and backed away from Kylie.

“I’m just going to clean them up a bit, or are you growing a unibrow on purpose?” Kylie motioned to the mirror.

Dennis got closer and looked at his face in the mirror, noticing a lot of stray hairs in between his eyebrows. It wasn’t something he’d ever noticed before, but now that he saw it, it was very noticeable.

“Okay, fine, but just the stray hairs.” Dennis sat down once more.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing…” Kylie moved the tweezers back towards her brother’s face.

Unfortunately, Kylie was a tad overconfident in her abilities, so after plucking a few too many hairs from one eyebrow, she had to repeat the same on the other. Keeping Dennis from seeing the mirror, Kylie assured her brother.

“Don’t worry, it looks fine… mostly.” Kylie said.

“Mostly?” Dennis pushed Kylie out of the way to look in the mirror.

Dennis’ jaw dropped open as he saw that his eyebrows had been shaped into a very feminine style, something that could take weeks to grow back to normal.

“What the hell, Kylie?” Dennis demanded.

“I’m sorry, it was a mistake, but it’s fine, if they notice, I’ll tell Mom and Dad I did it as a prank while you were asleep and if you need to go out, you can just use an eyebrow pencil to fill it in!” Kylie responded, pulling out her phone. “Besides, even if it wasn’t a mistake, you’re in no position to argue…”

Dennis slumped back in the chair and sighed. He desperately wanted to take charge and demand the phone, after all, he was the older brother, but now that he’d let her take it this far… there wasn’t any turning back. He just had to let things happen from here.

“And now for accessories!” Kylie grabbed a few pieces of jewelry off her vanity and handed them to Dennis.

Dennis looked them over, a ring, a few bracelets, and a necklace with a pink crystal heart. Girly, but by far the least of his worries at this point. The ring and bracelets were simple, but the necklace took some work. As he fastened the necklace onto his neck, he spotted Kylie taking another photo.

“Lookin’ good, ‘sis’! I really like how your hair came out after I straightened it.” Kylie grinned.

“Yeah, sure, get your jokes in now, because once the internet is back, this is over! I don’t know how we managed to hide my hair from Mom and Dad, but you’ve gone way too far now!” Dennis whined.

“Looks like you know something I don’t, because I never said it’d be over when the internet was back, just that I can’t really post any photos until it’s back.”

“You said you wanted to do this because you were bored and we had nothing better to do!”

“And I didn’t realize how much fun it’d be, I might want to keep this up… that is if you don’t do exactly what I want without complaining.”

“...What do you want from me?”

“At the moment, I need some better photos, the lighting in here is terrible, I think the next step is to take the photoshoot outside.”

“Outside? But someone might see me!” Dennis’ heart started to race.

Dressing up like a girl and letting Kylie do what she wanted was one thing in the privacy of their home where no neighbors or passerbys might see. But out in the open? That was another matter entirely!

“And as long as you’re cooperative, no one will ever know who that mystery girl on the lawn is. If you don’t, I think my ‘sister’ might start having a burgeoning social media presence…”

Dennis opened his mouth to speak, but again, was completely speechless. After sputtering and stuttering for a minute, he just threw his arms up in frustration.

“Oh, and before we go, make sure to put on your shoes.” Kylie handed Dennis a pair of pink, open-toed pumps.

“Heels?” Dennis asked.

“Not only do they show off your pretty toenails, but they match, too!” Kylie smiled.

After putting on the unfamiliar heels and taking a few cursory steps, Dennis managed to get the hang of it, at least well enough to descend the stairs, while gripping the bannister tightly, and made his way towards the backyard.

While the previous day had been dark and stormy, the sun had finally emerged and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Dennis squinted as he emerged from the house.

“You should consider yourself lucky, I was going to make you pose on the lawn, but the grass is too wet and your heels would just sink, so we’ll have to stay closer to the house.” Kylie said.

“Small mercies…” Dennis muttered as he glanced around, ensuring nobody was in a position to see into the yard.

“All right, now stand there and I’ll tell you how to pose!” Kylie said.

For several minutes, as he stood against the wall of the house, Dennis was forced into a variety of poses and expressions by Kylie, including one where he was to hold the hem of the skirt with his fingertips.

“Yes! Just like that, hold the skirt like that, although it wouldn’t kill you to smile, you know.” Kylie instructed.

“Maybe I’d be more inclined to smile if I wasn’t being blackmailed! How much longer is this going to go on for anyway?” Dennis spat.

“I dunno, I guess until we get internet back, but we’ll see.” Kylie shrugged as she snapped another photo.

“Come on, you’ve had your fun, you made me shave my whole body, you plucked my eyebrows, I’m wearing a stuffed bra and a skirt, and you put makeup and jewelry on me. I think the game’s gotten old.”

“Old? I’m just getting started! It’s fun to have a sister around to do stuff with, way better than some boring brother who spends all his time in his room playing video games…” Kylie trailed off, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Dennis’ jaw dropped. The blackmail, her gleeful remarks as she forced him into the most embarrassing situation that he’d ever been in before, the threats, it was all because she felt he played video games too much? Dennis was confused, angry, and a whole bunch of other emotions that he couldn’t even process at the moment.

“Is that what this is about? You didn’t need to blackmail me if you wanted to just hang out!” Dennis exclaimed, louder than he intended.

“No, but you don’t like the same stuff as me, certainly not any of the girly stuff I like, face masks and pedicures and all that. Besides, you’d have said no when I asked.” Kylie pouted and crossed her arms.

“You don’t know that! You’ve never asked!” Dennis shouted.

“I do! All the time, and you’re always too busy in a raid or something like that!” Kylie shouted back.

“So you force me to dress like a girl by blackmailing me?” Dennis motioned towards himself. “That’s your idea of doing stuff together? You think this is what siblings do to each other? Embarrassing them in sadistic ways? Threatening to release photos that could ruin my reputation at school?”

“Sadistic? I’m sorry… I just wanted to have some fun…” Kylie frowned. “I wasn’t really going to post any of the pictures. I’d never do that...”

“Really?” Dennis’ anger evaporated in an instant as he saw tears starting to well in Kylie’s eyes.

“You can go ahead and get undressed, I’ll delete all the photos…” Kylie sniffed as she held back tears and ran into the house.

“Wait, Kylie!” Dennis shouted, trying to grab Kylie as she ran away. “Stop!”

Dennis, unused to the heels he was wearing, attempted to give chase, but was forced to take small, mincing steps to avoid face planting on the hard concrete. Once he got into the house, he took a few steps before clicking his tongue in annoyance, and sat down on the couch, reaching down to remove the inconvenient high heels from his feet. He massaged his foot for a moment before rushing upstairs to Kylie’s room.

Dennis took a moment to catch his breath and really thought back, trying to remember the last time he spent any time with Kylie that wasn’t just idle conversation at dinner or passing in the kitchen as they each made a snack. Dennis sighed as he realized that it had been a very long time… too long a time. Steeling himself up as much as he could in his feminine get-up, he knocked lightly on the door.

“Hey, Kylie?” Dennis called.

“Go away! That’s what you wanted right, for me to leave you alone?” Kylie shouted.

“Come on, Kylie, I just want to talk for a minute.” Dennis insisted.

“Fine…” Kylie opened her bedroom door slightly.

“Listen, I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was angry, but I get it now. I wasn’t being a particularly good brother, it’s no wonder that you felt you had to blackmail me to do anything with you…” Dennis said. “Besides, I didn’t hate everything you did as much as I said I did…”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better!” Kylie began to slam the door, but Dennis pushed it back open.

“Wait! You were right yesterday, the pedicure did feel really good, I wouldn’t mind doing that again, minus the pink nail polish. You know, if you wanted to hang out together once I’m back in my regular clothes. But while I’m still dressed up like this… what else did you have planned for today?”

“Well, now that you ask…” Kylie grinned, not an evil grin, but a genuinely happy grin.

Once the burden of blackmail had been lifted, Dennis was far more receptive to Kylie’s activities, and they enjoyed a few hours of activities, some sisterly bonding like Kylie teaching Dennis how to paint nails, leaving the siblings with matching pink manicures, with Kylie using press-on nails for Dennis’ for easy removal later, and some just general hanging out, like cooking breakfast together. Dennis was far more comfortable in his new outfit, ditching the tight tank top and skirt for a pair of black shorts and a green collared button down sleeveless blouse. Even the uncomfortable heels had been replaced by a pair of Kylie’s sneakers that fit Dennis.

As Dennis munched on a piece of bacon and Kylie chattered on with her other plans for the day, they were both interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Dennis froze, and Kylie, noticing her brother’s discomfort, immediately shot up.

“I’ll get it!” Kylie ran to the front door and peeked out the window.

An older man in a uniform was standing there, carrying a box. Satisfied that it wasn’t one of either her or Dennis’ friends making an unannounced visit, Kylie reached for the doorknob.

“...Yes?” Kylie asked as she cracked open the door.

“I’m from ISP, we got a call that your router is broken? We’re here to replace it.” the man said, pointing to the logo on his breast pocket.

“Oh, of course! Come on in! ‘Denise’, show him where the router is!” Kylie shouted.

Dennis sheepishly nodded as he motioned for the worker to follow him. After checking the router and doing some routine checks of the system to ensure nothing else had failed, the worker installed the new router, and the internet light blinked on, like a beacon of hope.

“That should fix it, but feel free to call back if you have any further problems. Have a good day, young ladies.” the worker said as he wrote down something on his clipboard, before heading out of the house.

Kylie shut the door behind him, giggling at how her brother had been referred to as a ‘young lady’ by the worker. When she returned, she found Dennis had left the room. Kylie quickly realized the first place her brother would have gone. She bounded up the stairs and sure enough, Dennis was turning on his game console up in his room. Kylie gently knocked on his door frame.

“What are you smiling about, dear ‘sister’?” Kylie asked.

“The internet’s back! I can finally play my game again!” Dennis exclaimed. “I’m gonna kick that level’s ass!”

“Oh… I guess you’ll want to change back into your own clothes, right?” Kylie said sadly, looking at her feet.

“I could… although this outfit is pretty comfortable. Way better than that skirt and heels. I wouldn’t mind wearing it a little bit longer.” Dennis shrugged. “And you said something earlier about face masks? That might be fun to do, since Mom and Dad aren’t gonna be home for a while yet.”

“I’ll go get them! Ooh, and there’s this rom-com I’ve been meaning to watch… And-” Kylie excitedly started to turn around.

“Or, or, or…” Dennis exclaimed. “You could be my player 2!”

“Huh?” Kylie scrunched her face in confusion.

“I mean, you’ve spent the last two days sharing all of your favorite stuff with me, I think it’s about time I return the favor.” Dennis smiled, holding out a controller.

“Nothing would make me happier, bro.” Kylie smiled and took the controller from Dennis’ manicured hand.

“Same here, sis.” Dennis motioned for Kylie to sit down. “Now, the secret to this level is…”

The End

In the not too distant future, a thief tries to steal from the mall, with unintended consequences when he accidentally trips the security system.

As time and technology marches forwards, so does crime and the criminals who commit them. Once most stores went high-tech, to a point where cash became almost nonexistent, there were no longer robberies, since there was no physical money to steal. And once malls invested in the auto-consultants, there was limited staff, and limited merchandise left out. The way most stores worked were that you'd request an item, and it'd be brought to you. Appliances, clothes, pretty much everything was procured through that system. Which made shoplifting extremely hard. However, some criminals just don't know when to quit.

Nate was one of those criminals. His specialty was breaking into the new high-tech malls, and instead of lifting merchandise, he'd break into the machines and steal parts, which went for top dollar on the black market, given the proprietary materials used in their creation. It was easy enough to do, first he'd hack their cameras, since they still had humans monitoring them, and load up the previous night's tape, then he'd go in through the vents, emerge in the targeted store, and with everything deactivated for the night, he'd be able to pop open the machines and take what he wanted. Tonight, he was aiming for a motherboard from the Forge Hill Mall. Everything was going off without a hitch...

Nate dropped to the ground and brushed himself off. He looked around the room, it was dark except for ambient lighting.

"Let's see, where's the main system..." Nate pulled out a flashlight and pointed it around.

He spotted a large device with several ports towards the rear of the room, which is where all the smart-tech was housed.

"Jackpot." Nate smiled and reached into his bag for his tools.

He approached the machine, opened a hatch, and started removing parts, when suddenly, there was a spark, and all the lights turned on in the room. Nate froze as metallic appendages emerged from the ports and immediately seized his arms and legs.

"SECURITY SYSTEM ACTIVE: IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" a robotic voice stated.

Nate hadn't planned for this, Forge Hill didn't have a security system as far as his records went. He had to be smart about this.

"Uh... I'm a... customer?" Nate said.

The systems are usually very binary in thinking, so telling it that he was a customer should force it to let him go, and then he could escape and call this night a wash.

"CUSTOMER... ONE MILLIONTH CUSTOMER! CONGRATULATIONS!"

Happy music started to play. Nate struggled against the appendages, but to no avail.

"Uh, thanks?" Nate said.

"SCANNING CUSTOMER FOR PARAMETERS FOR FREE MAKEOVER!"

"I'm not interested, sorry. I just want to go now." Nate said.

The machine ignored him and continued scanning.

"PARAMETERS SET. COMMENCING MAKEOVER."

The arms pulled him out of the central computer room, and out into the mall proper, bringing Nate inside what he recognized as a changing room.

"NAME, PLEASE."

"My name is Nate." he said.

"USER IDENTIFIED AS KATE."

"Wait, no I said Nate!" Nate screamed as the appendages started to strip Nate's clothes off.

Once he was completely naked, Nate was sprayed down by a nozzle from his neck down. He didn't know what he was sprayed with, but it started to burn the longer it sat on his body.

"Get it off! It burns!" Nate screamed.

At this point, the security video would have been watched, and the authorities would have been sent in to deactivate the system and arrest Nate, which would have been preferable to him, but because he hacked the cameras, no one would ever see what happened to him.

A few minutes passed, and the nozzle returned, but spraying cold water onto Nate. As the water washed off the spray, it took with it all of his body hair, leaving Nate within the grasp of the appendages, shivering and wet. But not for long. Another set of appendages arrived and sprayed him with warm air to dry him off, before most of the appendages then retracted, only to return a moment later with several attachments. The first two appeared to be suction cups and immediately seized upon Nate's chest, as he felt immense pressure being exerted onto his skin.

"Agh!" Nate winced.

Another attachment attached itself to Nate's groin and rear.

"Please, no..." Nate whined.

Body modification had become far more popular in recent years than it had ever been, mainly because technology now allowed one to change their body on a whim. Want to get rid of that beer gut? The machine can reshape your fat into muscle! If a woman wanted bigger or smaller breasts, that was possible as well.

In Nate's case, it was changing his body to match a woman of his shape and size. The attachments released and Nate craned his neck down to look at the damage. He had breasts! They weren't overly huge, but given his previous experience hadn't had any size, this was a new feeling for him. His rear had been swelled slightly as well, likely to compensate for the covering that the machine did of his groin.

"Please release me!" Nate begged. "I'm not a woman! I'm a man! I want to be a man!"

"USER REQUEST: I WANT A MAN." the machine stated.

"No, I want to be a..." Nate was interrupted as the arms dragged him into another area of the mall, a lingerie store.

He was once again scanned, and a set of lingerie was placed onto his body, first a black push-up bra to hold his newly acquired breasts, and then a pair of matching panties were slid up his legs.

Nate was losing the ability to struggle as the appendages dragged him through the mall once more into a salon and sat him down in a salon chair with several attachments. Nate smiled as all of the appendages retracted.

"This might be my chance..." he thought.

Nate started to stand up, and started to run, but was immediately re-seized by the arms. The arms settled Nate down in the chair, before placing his hands and feet into the attachments on the arm foot rests. He felt something happening to them, and pressure being applied to his fingers but couldn't see. A metallic mask was placed onto his face, as the hair dryer dome was placed over his hair.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Nate failed to vocalize his protests, for all the good it would do.

He couldn't see what was happening, but he could feel his hair being pulled in every direction under the dryer. Nate squirmed and pulled, but he was held securely, until all the attachments released at once. Before he could find a mirror, the arms grabbed him, lifted him again and dragged him to another area, another changing room, but of the traditional variety, in a clothing store.

Nate didn't have time to look down at himself, because the appendages got to work immediately, pulling Nate into a tight black dress. Two more appendages quickly pierced Nate's ears, while another placed a necklace around his neck and a bracelet on his wrist. Once they seemed satisfied, the appendages placed Nate down into a pair of 3" peep-toe black heels and pulled a mirror down in front of Nate.

Nate was in shock. His hair had been styled into a loose updo that perfectly framed his face, which had been elegantly made up with smoky eyes, plump, kissable lips, and all his blemishes had been removed by the contouring that the machine had done on his face. His fingernails had been extended and were now painted with french tips, same as his toenails, which peeked out from the peep-toe black heels. The little black dress perfectly showed off Nate's new breasts, and accentuated his rear perfectly, though Nate tried to pull the skirt down, unsuccessfully. A black purse was slung over his shoulder. The transformation was staggering, Nate could scarcely believe that it was actually him, but the woman's movements perfectly matched his own.

"ENJOY YOUR NEW LOOK, KATE." the machine said.

As Nate continued to stare at his reflection, the arms grabbed him once more and dropped him by the entrance to the mall. Nate immediately rushed outside, as fast as his heeled feet could take him. Knowing he'd never make it back to his getaway car dressed like he was, he started to walk down the street, hoping to put some distance between him and the mall. Hearing sirens, he ducked into the first building he saw, a trendy bar.

As he looked for a place to sit down, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, coming face to face with a well-dressed man.

"Hi there, I'm Jason. What's your name?" the man said.

"Uh..." Nate started. "Kate."

"This might be too forward, but would you like to go out on a date with me?" Jason said, holding out his hand.

Nate wanted to tell the guy to shove off, but he had to blend in, at least until he could figure out how to get out of this get up.

"Sure." Nate said, taking Jason's hand. "Lead the way."

After being rude to a hairdresser, a young man finds himself on the receiving end of a rather enchanting makeover.

The salon was empty, save for a single hairdresser, and that was the main reason that Chris had gone inside. There was no way in hell that he’d frequent an establishment named “Salon Enchantress” unless it was an emergency. He was in dire need of a haircut, and his usual barber is on vacation for the next few weeks. Normally, he could wait out the few weeks by wearing a hat, but not this time. It was a fairly standard salon, a small place though, just two chairs and a mirror.

“Hi there!” the hairdresser, a blond woman in her thirties with a name tag that said her name was Erika, exclaimed as she was setting up her equipment next to one of the chairs. “How can I help you?”

“I need a haircut.” Chris said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

“Well, I’d like to help you sir, but if you looked at the sign on the door, you’d see that it says ‘No Walk-Ins’” Erika said, pointing towards the door. “Right next to the Help Wanted sign, you see, I’ve got another client coming in soon, and I don’t like to keep my appointments waiting. You’re free to make an appointment, I think I have a slot open tomorrow...”

“Yeah, but I’ll be easy and quick. I mean, they’re not here right now and all I need is a trim, how complicated can that be? It’s just cutting hair! Not like it’s rocket science or anything!” Chris snapped. “It’s really important, I’ve got a job interview tomorrow and my barber is on vacation.”

“As I’ve said, sir, I have that policy for a reason and it wouldn’t be fair to…” Erika started.

“What isn’t fair is that you’re refusing to serve me!” Chris shot back. “Clearly you’re just not that good if you can’t do a simple trim without an appointment!

Erika’s eyes went aflame at that comment. She clenched her fists and took a deep breath, before instantly releasing it and softening her demeanor.

“You know what? You’re right, I can fit you in right now.” Erika said. “What did you say your name was again?”

“I didn’t, but it’s Chris.” Chris said.

“Chris, I like that name... All right, you’ve convinced me.” Erika said, as she gathered her tools. “Just lie back and relax, I’ll take care of everything from here.”

“Was that so hard?” Chris asked as he settled into the chair and shut his eyes.

Erika simply smirked as she draped the cape over Chris’s neck and began to dunk Chris’s hair into the basin. Chris opened his eyes quickly.

“What’s the deal with the basin?” Chris asked. “You can just start with clippers if you don’t want to miss your next appointment.”

“I always start with a wash, don’t worry.” Erika replied, soothingly. “Just relax.”

Erika began whispering to herself and holding the pendant hanging from her neck. Chris noted how nice Erika’s voice was, and how he felt more at ease the more she spoke. After all, it’s a women’s salon, and they do things differently than the neighborhood barber. If he wanted to ace that interview, he had to put his faith into Erika.

“First things first…” Erika started to run shampoo through Chris’s hair.

As she massaged his scalp, the hair on Chris’s head, which was a slightly unkempt mop of brown hair, began to glow. Chris, naturally, didn’t notice any of this as he relished the scalp massage he was getting.

After rinsing out Chris’s hair, Erika towel-dried it, before she took out a pair of scissors. Keeping the chair turned away from the mirror, Erika cut and snipped the long, shiny hair, working methodically with the scissors. Chris wondered what was taking her so long, and debated telling her to brush the hair off his ears, since it was tickling him, but for some reason, he decided against interrupting her process.

As if sensing his trepidation, Erika put a reassuring hand on Chris’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, honey, I’m almost done.” Erika cooed.

Once she finished cutting, Erika pursed her lips as she held Chris’s newly lengthened hair in her hands.

“Aha!” Erika smiled as she started to blow dry and style Chris’s hair.

Chris smiled as he felt the warm air from the blow dryer hitting his skin, and imagined how his hair must look, given how long Erika had taken doing it.

“And… finished!” Erika exclaimed as she finished working Chris’s hair into a tight bun that sat atop his head.

Erika quickly turned the chair around to reveal Chris’s new hairstyle to him. The moment he saw it, his jaw dropped, and all of the ease and peacefulness was gone. Chris was angry and shocked all at once.

“How… My… What the hell did you do, lady? My hair wasn’t even long enough for…” Chris sputtered as he turned his head, trying to figure out how Erika had done what she’d done.

“Is there something wrong?” Erika asked acerbically. “I gave you a haircut, like you asked. This is one of my most popular cuts!”

“It’s a woman’s haircut!” Chris shouted. “Of course something is wrong!”

“Oh dear… you must be right. After all, I'm just not all that good because I can’t cut hair without an appointment.” Erika sighed dramatically.

“Are you going to fix it?” Chris asked. “I can’t go to my interview like this!”

“I should hope not! And thankfully, I’ve got just the thing!” Erika exclaimed.

Before Chris could react, Erika spun Chris’s chair as fast as she could, before grabbing her pendant once again and whispering. Chris tried to escape the chair, but the force of the spinning kept him stuck in the seat. It was spinning far more than it should be, and Chris started to get dizzy.

Chris was so dizzy, in fact, that he didn’t notice that under the cape, his outfit, a t-shirt and pair of jeans, was changing. As the legs of his pants melted together, the legs began to retract until they stopped at about his mid-thigh. As the spinning continued, Chris’s underwear began to change until it was a pair of panties. His t-shirt merged with the jeans, and the material began to change until it was a burgundy color, as a bra appeared on Chris’s chest.

“Just a few more things…” Erika focused hard as she gripped the pendant.

Chris’s sneakers started to transform, becoming a pair of heeled ankle boots. Inside the boots, Chris’s feet shrank until they fit snugly inside, with the rest of his body quickly transforming to match. Chris’s legs became hairless and slender, his anatomy shifted underneath the panties, with his hips and posterior expanding slightly as well.

While in the bra, two breasts began forming until they’d filled the cups. Chris’s stomach thinned out, as his hands became dainty as they held a death grip on the arms of the chair. His fingernails began to grow as well, becoming polished and manicured as the changes continued to ripple up into his face.

Chris’s nose shrank, his lips puffed out and his eyebrows shaped themselves into a feminine style. Once the changes were complete, Chris could feel a heaviness on his eyes, cheeks and lips, and tasted lipstick on his lips. It was almost too much for Chris to take until the chair began to slow down, and eventually, it stopped, allowing Chris to see the changes in full force as he gazed into the mirror.

“That can’t be me…” Chris muttered, before squeaking out. “That’s not my voice!”

“Oh, but it is, Christine!” Erika quickly pulled the cape away, showing Chris the full extent of the changes.

Chris reached up to his face with his newly manicured hand, staring at the woman in the mirror, who was unmistakably feminine, but also unmistakably Chris.

“Christine! No lounging on the job!” Erika grabbed Chris’s other hand and pulled him out of the chair.

Stumbling in the unfamiliar heels as he stood up, Erika handed him an apron with a name tag attached to it, with the name “Christine” written on it.

“What are you waiting for? Put it on!” Erika shouted.

“But… my interview…” Chris found himself putting on the apron as if his body was on autopilot.

“No need for an interview, I think you’re a perfect fit for the salon.” Erika smirked. “In fact, I can take both those signs out of the window now.”

Erika crossed the room and pulled the “Help Wanted” and “No Walk-Ins” sign out of the window, placing them down onto a counter. As she did, the bell chimed and a woman strolled into the salon.

“Hi, I don’t have an appointment, but I was hoping you could squeeze me in for a cut and blowout?” the woman asked.

“I’ve got a client coming in, but my assistant Christine would be happy to take care of that, isn’t that right?” Erika asked, motioning for the woman to take a seat in the chair.

“I… I…” Chris stammered.

Chris stared into the mirror, taking in the sight of the feminine hairdresser with an immaculate bun mirroring his movements.

“Christine, I know you’re pretty, but now’s not the time to be preening, get to work!” Erika admonished as her client finally entered the salon and her focus was taken by that.

“All right…” Chris started as his hands brushed against the brushes and scissors sitting on the counter.

Chris didn’t know how to cut hair! Despite appearances, he wasn’t actually a hairdresser! Chris watched as once again, Erika’s hand drifted to the pendant once more, and somehow he knew that it wouldn’t be a challenge to take care of this customer.

The End

When she discovers her boyfriend's infidelity, a woman plans a most devious revenge.

In retrospect, Gene probably should have been suspicious from the moment that Ella suggested the spa day. She'd been acting weird all week, but Gene hadn't really registered it. And it seemed like such a harmless suggestion at the time.

"Got any plans for the weekend?" Ella asked as she sat on the couch next to Gene.

"Not that I can think of," Gene replied. "What did you have in mind?"

"Steph from work gave me a gift certificate for a Couple's Spa Day. Her fiancee got it for them for Valentine's Day, but they never used it, and it's only good until Sunday and they have a family thing." Ella explained. "We could both use some pampering, right?"

"I dunno, a spa day? It's not really my thing, I don't like people touching me." Gene said.

"It's not just a spa, they do the whole works, hair and nails too. And don't give me that chauvinist, macho BS, your nails shouldn't look like a coal miner's if you're an IT guy." Ella admonished as she grabbed Gene's hand.

Gene thought it over for a moment, and decided that the most fruitful path would be the path of least resistance.

"All right, I guess I'm in." Gene said.

"Yay!" Ella put her arms around Gene and embraced him. "It's gonna be so much fun!"

"But I'm just gonna do the massage and maybe the haircut." Gene warned.

"We'll see." Ella giggled.

Arriving at the spa, the place was rather nondescript. They entered, Ella went up to the counter to sign them in, while Gene waited off to the side. After some back and forth, Ella walked over to Gene, and they were shown into the back.

"All right, sir, you can use this room, and miss, you can use that room." the attendant pointed out two rooms on opposite sides of the hallway.

"Wait, I thought this was a couples thing. Shouldn't we be together?" Gene asked.

"Yes, but they have separate changing rooms, silly." Ella giggled.

"Right..." Gene replied.

Gene and Ella parted ways, each walking into their designated changing rooms. In Gene's, there was a white robe hanging on a hook, and a series of cubbyholes leading up to a divider.

"Just get undressed, change into the robe, and we'll be right with you." the attendant said. "And feel free to have some of the complimentary water."

The attendant closed the door and Gene started to strip, leaving his clothes in the cubbyhole down to his underwear. He pulled the robe on, and sat down in the chair in the room. He reached over and grabbed a glass, pouring water from a pitcher into it. He took a sip, before recoiling and making a confused face.

"Ugh... that tastes... weird." Gene inspected the pitcher, noticing that in addition to lemons, there were also sprigs of mint floating inside the water. "Lemon mint?"

Gene hesitantly took another sip, then another, until the water didn't taste as strange, writing it off as just a quirk of the ingredients. After a few minutes, the attendant returned.

"All right, the massage is ready, if you'll just follow me to the next room." the attendant motioned and Gene followed.

In the next room, the attendant pointed to the table, and Gene pulled off his robe and climbed up onto the table, laying down face-first and placing his head into the headrest.

"We'll get started momentarily." the attendant informed. "Just wait right here."

As he waited, he started to feel drowsy. His eyes were having trouble staying open, and all attempts to change position were met with resistance, as if all his strength was being sapped from his being.

The door opened once again and the attendant returned with another woman, or at least that's what Gene could tell based on their legs, given that he couldn't lift his head.

"All right, this is our masseuse, Agnes, and she'll be handling you from here." the attendant said, patting Gene on the back.

Gene weakly nodded in acknowledgement as the attendant left the room.

"Did someone spike the water? Is this an allergic reaction?" Gene wondered.

As Gene fought for control of his body, he felt Agnes applying goop to his legs, and then pressure being applied to them.

"What's going on?" Gene slurred.

"Full body wax. Part of package." Agnes stated in a thick accent.

"Wax? I didn't ask for a wax..." Gene started to lose consciousness. "Where's Ella..."

Gene passed out, but not before feeling the intense pain of Agnes ripping the sheet of paper from his leg, his leg-hair with it.

One Week Earlier:

Ella was watching TV in the living room of the apartment she shared with Gene. From the bedroom, she heard a ringtone going off. She ignored it, Gene had run down to the lobby to grab the mail, whatever it was could wait. The ringtone finished its cycle. The ringtone started again. Ella paused her show and stood up.

"Must be important..." Ella said, as she started to walk towards the bedroom.

The ringtone continued and Ella grabbed the phone off the nightstand, checking the notifications, which were several texts simply identified as from 'M Work'. Ella opened the phone and checked the message log. Her heart fell.

"Last night was wonderful." the text read. "When can I see you again?"

Last night, Gene was supposedly working late on installing a new server for the office. Clearly, he had been doing much more than installation for whoever 'M' was.

Ella searched her mind for any co-workers he might have mentioned with the first initial 'M' but she failed to remember any. But in fairness, her mind was scrambled with feelings of betrayal and anger. Ella quickly tapped the contact and called the number. After a few moments, the person on the other end picked up.

"There you are, loverboy. I was starting to get worried." a feminine voice purred on the other end.

"Who is this?" Ella coldly asked.

"Who is this?" the voice on the other end asked.

"I'm Ella. Gene's girlfriend." Ella replied.

"Oh god..." the voice sighed. "I had no idea... I'm Melanie, I'm a temp in Gene's office."

"How long?" Ella asked.

"A few weeks. I swear he never told me." Melanie replied.

Ella heard the jingle of keys coming from the direction of the front door.

"I think we have a lot to discuss. Are you free for coffee tomorrow?" Ella asked.

"Yeah." Melanie responded.

"I'll text you the address." Ella replied and hung up the phone, quickly erasing both Melanie's recent texts, and the record of their phone call, before stealthily sending herself Melanie's contact info before erasing the record of that as well.

She replaced the phone on the nightstand and walked out of the bedroom.

"Hey, babe!" Ella exclaimed as she embraced Gene in a hug.

"Anything happen while I was gone? I was only a few minutes." Gene replied.

"Nope. I just missed you." Ella replied staring blankly at the wall.

Gene's eyes slowly fluttered open as he began to recover from his slumber. He expected to feel raw and in immense pain, given what he remembered from right before he passed out, but instead, his body felt soothed, and could feel his skin softly rubbing against the chair he was now seated in. How had he moved? His vision was blurry, but slowly clearing as he heard Ella's voice ringing in his ears.

"Wakey, wakey, baby." Ella sang.

Gene looked up at Ella, who was still dressed identically to how she had been when they entered the spa, even down to having her black hair in the exact same ponytail. Hadn't she gotten the spa treatments too?

"What's going on?" Gene slurred.

"Karma." Ella replied. "It's a bitch, and so are you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you were cheating on me with a girl from the office."

"What? There's nothing going on, I just fix her computer every now and then."

"Oh it's a little too late for that, loverboy." another voice sang from behind Gene.

Gene froze. He knew who the voice belonged to. Melanie.

"Mel, baby." Gene started.

"Stuff it," Melanie replied as she walked to stand next to Ella.

"How did you..." Gene started.

"Guess you should've kept your phone with you." Ella evilly grinned.

Six Days Earlier:

Ella waited at the table in the cafe, cradling a cup of coffee as she spotted a nervous redhead walk into the shop. Ella raised her hand and waved the woman over.

"Ella?" she asked.

"Yeah." Ella replied.

"Melanie." she replied. "I'm so sorry, again."

"It's not your fault, you had no idea, and we both thought we could trust Gene." Ella said.

"I've already tried to avoid him at work, but I'm probably only around for a few more weeks anyway," Melanie said.

"Truthfully, you could have him, but I figure you're as mad about this as I am."

"Yeah, though it makes sense. He only agreed to meet in the office or at my place, and any time I asked about seeing his, he said that his roommate was really against bringing dates home."

"I guess that's technically not a lie." Ella mused. "I'm surprised he's capable of telling the truth."

"You seem remarkably calm about all this, I was afraid you were gonna murder me."

"Like I said, not your fault. I wanted to meet so that we could both get back at him together."

"Revenge? Sounds like fun. What did you have in mind?"

"Well..." Ella started.

Gene's mind raced as he realized at was entirely at the mercies of the two women.

"I wanted you to be awake for the waxing, but it was just easier to do all the physical adjustments while you were asleep." Ella motioned toward's Gene's body.

"Physical whats?" Gene asked.

For the first time since he awoke, Gene glanced down, and was surprised to see a pair of rather large false breasts hanging from his chest. And while he couldn't see past them, he could feel that his manhood had been hidden away as well.

"I guess I deserve this." Gene sighed. "I'm sorry."

Gene started to push up, but found his arms had been bound to the chair with tape.

"No you're not..." Ella said. "Not yet."

She motioned to Melanie who grabbed a piece of tape off a nearby table and smacked it onto Gene's mouth. Gene tried to scream, but the tape muffled his voice.

"This is just the first step. We're not anywhere near finished." Melanie smiled. "But don't worry, you'll have no problems finding a date when we are."

Gene attempted to thrash his body about, but found that he hadn't yet regained control of his limbs as he was descended upon by the spa employees while Ella and Melanie watched on.

The first thing they did was to lean the chair backwards and started to wash Gene's hair with a flowery smelling shampoo. After drying it, they matched his hair to a set of hair extensions and weaved them into his medium-length blonde hair, then set them in curlers.

Gene was powerless to resist when they started to shape and buff his fingernails, before fitting them with acrylic nail extensions. They started to polish them a bright pink, when Ella leaned in.

"We had such trouble deciding which color we wanted, but I think we made the right choice." Ella said.

"It definitely suits you." Melanie giggled.

Gene whined through his gag as the employees started to shape, buff and polish his toenails in the same shade of pink.

"Don't worry, it won't be much longer." Ella assured Gene.

And she was right, once the nails were done, they removed the curlers and styled Gene's hair, giving him prominent bangs, then started to brush on makeup. Eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, foundation, blush, and to his relief, the tape was removed, but just so Ella could grab his lips and force them into a pursed position so that pink lipstick could be applied to them.

"This isn't part of the spa treatment, but I knew a friend who let me borrow this just for you." Melanie grabbed Gene's left ear and activated the piercing gun in her hand, before doing the same to the other ear.

"Ow!" Gene exclaimed. "Isn't this enough?"

"Not even close." Ella said.

Melanie started to undo the tape on Gene's arms. Gene wiggled his fingers as he got ready to make a run for it, when he heard the click of a phone camera.

"And if you even think about running, I'll make sure all your friends and family see this." Ella said. "And Melanie will share it around the office."

"What do you want? An apology? I'm sorry." Gene said.

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it in the first place." Ella said. "And we just want to make sure you'll never do this to anyone ever again."

Ella and Melanie grabbed Gene's arms and lifted him out of the chair. Gene tried to steady himself, but Ella and Melanie were already fast at work, slipping a pair of pink panties over his hidden manhood, and strapping a matching bra around the newly acquired breasts. Before Gene could even react, they had a pink dress sliding up his torso and zipped it up.

The dress was tight, forcing Gene's legs together in an uncomfortable way, and making it easy for Melanie to slip his feet into a pair of pink platform pumps.

They released him and Gene began to stumble around, trying to find balance in the heels, while coming to grips with his new accessories. He caught sight of his appearance in a full-length mirror on the adjoining wall. Curly blonde hair, kissable lips, alluring eyes, fresh studs in his ears, a tight dress with a killer rack underneath, Gene was a knockout.

"Holy shit..." Gene remarked. "Is that... me?"

"Of course it's you, silly! You know, I can't believe you turned out so hot!" Ella exclaimed.

"Neither can I." Melanie said. "Who knew?"

"All right, you've had your fun. Do I get to change back now?" Gene asked.

Ella and Melanie burst out laughing, and Melanie handed Gene a purse.

"Not even close, meet us outside... Gina." Ella and Melanie strolled out of the room and shut the door.

Gene was forced to teeter in his new heels and due to the tightness of the dress, was forced to mince across the room, where he struggled to open the doorknob with his newly extended nails.

"I'm not gonna be able to reverse much of this with these in the way" Gene flexed his hands, inspecting the nails.

After making it down the hall and to the front door, easier said than done with his new center of gravity as a result of his chest, Gene stumbled out, watching Ella and Melanie climbing into his car. As he approached, they each shut their doors and Ella hit the lock.

Gene grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it wouldn't open.

"What gives?" Gene asked.

Ella rolled down the window and poked her head out.

"We, as in Melanie and I, are going home." Ella said, tossing a pair of keys to Gene that he barely managed to catch. "Those are the keys to Melanie's apartment. You can stay there tonight while we decide what we're going to do with you."

"This isn't enough?" Gene asked.

"I dunno, I think you need a little bit more punishment, but we'll talk that over later." Ella replied. "I figure you already know the address?"

"Aren't you going to drive me there?" Gene begged.

"Nope. That's up to you to handle. Good luck, and don't move any of my furniture around." Melanie chuckled as Ella rolled the window up.

Ella quickly pulled out of the parking lot and drove off, leaving Gene, humiliated and alone, standing there. He opened the purse, finding his ID, a lipstick tube, a compact, and, most humiliating of all, a condom.

"No money..." Gene sighed. "No phone..."

He knew the walk to Melanie's from the spa was going to be long, but he didn't have any other choice, now did he? He started to slowly walk down the sidewalk, trying to keep balance. His face flushed red, as Gene noticed the stares he got from passerbys, men with hungry eyes, women with envious glares, mothers averting their children's gazes. As he walked, a car pulled up alongside the sidewalk and slowed down. The window rolled down, revealing a man inside the car.

"Hey, baby, need a ride?" he asked.

Gene weighed his options, he probably wouldn't get far in the heels, but what price would the driver demand for the ride? But more importantly, what horrors awaited him if he walked, especially once it starts getting dark? Gene took a deep breath as he considered his response.

"Sure." Gene said in his best falsetto as he opened the passenger door and climbed inside.

"Which way you going?" the driver asked.

Gene told him the address, and the man started driving.

Gene didn't know what fate awaited him after the ride. Or what else Ella and Melanie had planned for him. But he did know one thing. Hell hath no fury, like two women scorned.

After a particularly nasty break-up, a young man’s life is changed when his ex-girlfriend gets her hands on a special voodoo doll. (Done as a request for a fan over on DeviantArt)

Sometimes, a relationship just doesn’t work out and both parties split amicably and without any lingering tears or anger. And sometimes a boyfriend, while drunk, cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend, also drunk, and gets caught sleeping together by the aforementioned girlfriend. To say that Amber was furious would be a massive understatement, the biggest reason being that Hayden and her had been having relationship issues recently, but things seemed to finally be looking up. Hayden seemed like he was working on his problems, and then he went and betrayed her so fully. By the end of the next week, Amber had moved out and was living in her own apartment, having cut off contact with both Hayden and her former best friend, while Hayden was left in the one that they’d previously shared.

Amber had spent a week crying and laying in bed, utterly despondent due to the ordeal, but at the end of it, she managed to muster up enough willpower to go into town and do some grocery shopping. As she sullenly walked down a familiar street that she’d walked down hundreds of times, she suddenly noticed an unfamiliar shop. The sign proclaimed that it was the “ Oddity & Curio Shop”.

“I don’t remember what was here before, but this store can’t have popped up in a week, right?” Amber thought to herself.

Despite having no interest in old books or dusty antiques, as she could clearly see through the window, Amber walked inside. It was as if some cosmic force was calling to her, and there were too many happy couples walking the streets, so Amber was glad to go inside for a few minutes.

Amber strolled down one of the aisles, glancing at the items on the shelves, many of them grody looking statuettes or fancy cups and bowls. Amber was about to turn around and walk out, when she heard someone clear their throat.

“Ahem!” a creaky voice exclaimed.

Amber poked her head out from the aisle to see an old woman standing behind the counter, though she definitely hadn’t been there when Amber walked in. Maybe she was in the back?

“Oh, uh, hi…” Amber said.

“Welcome to my shop. See anything you like?” the old woman asked.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t even know why I came in here.” Amber said.

“You look like you’ve been through great trauma recently.” the old woman said.

Amber caught herself in the reflection of a silver mirror hanging on one of the walls. She was wearing sweatpants, a baggy hoodie, her hair was in a messy bun and she wasn’t wearing makeup. Between that and her sullen expression, she’d definitely seen better days.

“Is it that obvious?” Amber asked.

“Matters of the heart usually are, my dear. Care to talk about it?” the old woman replied.

Normally, Amber never would have considered baring her soul and opening up to a complete stranger, but there was something oddly comforting about the old woman, a grandmotherly feeling that made Amber trust her. And besides, talking about it would do her some good.

“It was my boyfriend… ex-boyfriend…” Amber started.

The old woman, to her credit, listened with rapt attention to the story, never interrupting Amber until the story was finished.

“Betrayal always stings the most.” the old woman said. “Especially when it is from those closest to us.”

“I just… I can’t even think about Hayden without wanting to strangle him!” Amber exclaimed. “How could he do that to me?”

“Do you wish to see your former friend punished as well?” the old woman asked.

Amber pouted.

“As much as I blame her as well… I blame Hayden more. From what she told me, he’s the one who made the initial pass, so it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for him.” Amber said.

“In that case, I believe I have something that will help you.” the old woman said, and reached behind the counter, pulling out an old looking box.

She handed the sizable box to Amber, who looked over the retro artwork on the outside of the box incredulously.

“A Barbie doll? Wait, scratch that, it’s a Voo-Barbie?” Amber said. “It’s a voodoo Barbie doll? So what, I take this, smack it around a little and it’s supposed to make me feel better because it’ll ‘hurt’ him for real?”

“Regular voodoo dolls harm people, but violence is never the answer. This is far more humane.” the old woman said. “Just be sure to read all the instructions.”

The old woman winked at her, turned around and walked through the curtain to the back room of the store.

“Wait! Don’t I have to pay for this?” Amber asked, calling towards the back room.

In an instant, Amber felt slightly faint and reached for the counter to steady herself onto, but instead found herself leaning against a window. The sounds of cars and the hustle and bustle of people entered her ears. Amber looked around, realizing that she had somehow made it back outside the store. She turned back to the window to look inside, but found that she was staring into an empty, vacant storefront.

“That was weird…” Amber said, turning away from the window. “I must be more out of it than I thought…”

She suddenly realized that she was still holding the box, and Amber looked warily into the vacant store, before walking away.

Back at her apartment, Amber put down the strange box on a table and immediately grabbed her computer. She searched the internet with both the name of the store and the name on the box, but found no results for either.

“Did I finally snap?” Amber questioned.

Despite it, Amber was curious as to what a “Voo-Barbie” would end up being, so she sliced the tape that sealed the box, pulled the top out and slid the cardboard card that everything was attached to out of the box.

“Wow… that’s uncanny!” Amber exclaimed as she took a closer look at the doll.

At first glance, it looked like a regular Ken doll, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, except that, unlike the traditional version, the hands and feet were on individual joints instead of being molded into the arms and legs. But more striking was the face, because it was a dead ringer for Hayden, down to his five o'clock shadow.

“What are you saying, Amber? It’s just a generic guy mold and Hayden was a generic guy, it couldn’t actually look like him… right?” Amber asked herself aloud.

Then again, that morning, Amber had been sure that she had walked into an antique store which suddenly vanished, so that wasn’t a very convincing argument.

Also attached to the card were several accessories, a long blonde wig, a made up face-mold that went over the original face, a set of replacement hands with long painted nails, and a set of replacement feet with painted toenails of the same color.

In a small plastic baggie were what looked like a set of clothes… and they looked vaguely familiar for some reason.

“Is this an irregular doll? Like it has the Barbie accessories by mistake?” Amber asked.

Amber picked the box up and shook it, causing another accessory to tumble onto the table. It was a pair of doll-sized breasts that could be attached to the chest via a hidden peghole that Amber could see outlined when she lifted the doll’s shirt.

“What was it the shopkeeper said? Read all of the…” Amber looked around and found a slip of paper taped to the back. “Instructions…”

“Welcome to your new Voo-Barbie, revenge has never been prettier. Before you use your new Voo-Barbie, be sure to follow these rules:

1. The doll will only work for the chosen victim, so be sure that you’re absolutely committed to your vengeance.

2. The process won’t be instant, so be patient and see the entire thing through. Depending on the victim’s willpower, it might take anywhere from several minutes to several days.

3. Most important of all, keep the doll nearby at all times. If anyone else touches the doll, you’ll lose your control and they’ll gain it.”

The rest of the page was simply instructions for how to remove/assemble the various parts of the doll, fairly simple stuff.

“This is so crazy…” Amber mused. “Although, it might make me feel better to imagine that I’m making him look like those bimbos he used to ogle when we were out together…”

Amber started undressing the doll, removing the modular parts and replacing the ones that came with feminine analogs, like the hands, feet, face and hair. But she held off on the breasts, deciding to make something to eat before she continued.

Hayden was just settling in for a night of sports on TV and a few beers, when he suddenly felt strange.

“The hell?” Hayden asked himself.

It started like a tremor in his limbs, but very slowly, he realized what was going on. He’d lost control of his body. He stood up from the couch and started walking towards the bathroom.

“What’s going on?” Hayden said. “Why can’t I...?”

With all his might, Hayden scrunched his face as he tried to exert control, any small amount of control, on his body, to no avail.

“Help! Help me!” Hayden shouted, although he wasn’t exactly sure what anyone would do, given that there wasn’t anyone around making this happen.

Hayden’s body walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, before kneeling down and reaching under the sink, pulling out a box, one that Hayden recognized, it was the box of stuff that Amber hadn’t taken with her when she left. Pulling out a half-used bottle of shampoo, a nearly empty bottle of body wash and a pink can of shaving cream, Hayden’s body stood back up and placed all the items onto the sink as he started to undress.

“What the hell is going on?!” Hayden demanded as his body, still running on autopilot, grabbed the items and climbed into the shower.

It’s a supremely unsettling feeling to be washed against one’s own power, but it’s even worse when one’s body is the one doing the washing. After depleting the body wash, Hayden’s body was left smelling faintly of lavender, and after using the shampoo, Hayden’s hair smelled of fruit. Hayden had hoped that the shower was at an end, but unfortunately, he’d unwillingly picked out a third item.

Despite concentrating as hard as he could, Hayden couldn’t manage to dislodge the can of shaving cream from his hand, and his legs, arms, armpits, chest and face were lathered up as he used Amber’s razor to shave himself. If nothing else, whatever was controlling him had great control, since there were no nicks or cuts anywhere on his body.

Hayden’s mind shuddered as his hand ran over his newly smooth legs.

“Why is this happening to me?” Hayden asked no one in particular as he stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his chest and his hair.

Meanwhile, Amber finished having her quick dinner and returned to the doll, still out on the table. She took a look at the clothes, a black lingerie set, a dress, and a pair of heels, scrutinizing them, because they looked so familiar…

“That’s it! Those are… my clothes?” Amber finally realized where she’d seen them before. In her closet, or rather, her closet back at Hayden’s.

There were several items that she’d left behind in her rush, and that outfit had been one of them, unsurprisingly, since it was a date night outfit that Hayden had liked her in, and she couldn’t bring herself to take it with her.

Even after all she’d seen, Amber was still skeptical, but she was starting to believe, the proof was getting very convincing! But she needed to test the theory further, she quickly dressed the doll up in the outfit, before tossing the doll into her purse and heading down to her car.

Hayden returned to the bedroom, clad in just a towel across his chest and a towel on his head wrapped into a turban. He noticed his body’s movement was different, no longer was he just walking, if there existed a word to describe his new gait, it would be slinking, and he slinked towards the closet.

“What could I possibly need from there?” Hayden asked whatever disembodied force that was causing all his problems, but got no reply.

After digging into the back of the closet, Hayden pulled out a little black dress, one that he recognized that Amber wore on several dates, a dress he particularly enjoyed seeing her wear, not that he had any interest in wearing it himself!

Nearby was the corresponding lingerie, which Hayden had been keeping aside on the off-chance that Amber ever returned to retrieve it.

“Please, no…” Hayden sobbed as he released the turban, revealing that his hair had grown while inside the towel, it was now much longer, reaching down his back, and had lightened several shades into a honey blonde color.

After removing the towel from his chest, Hayden pulled up the panties, placed the bra across his chest, and quickly pulled himself into the dress. Hayden and Amber weren’t remotely similar in size, but for some reason, the dress and lingerie fit perfectly, as if by magic.

After adjusting the dress, Hayden walked back into the bathroom. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror and knelt down, retrieving a small makeup bag from underneath the sink, another leftover of Amber’s. Hayden continued to attempt to reassert control over his body, and continued to fail.

Hayden was helpless as his hands expertly applied makeup to his face, coating his lips in a sultry red lipstick, his eyes with a bold blue eyeshadow and an elegant smokey eye, and perfect contouring on his face. His eyebrows were immaculately groomed and his hair perfectly done in a sexy updo. At some point, his fingernails had lengthened and groomed themselves, with Hayden painting them with Amber’s favorite shade of red polish, before doing the same to his toenails.

Hayden lost control of even his face as he saw his lips form a smirk and he winked at himself in the mirror.

“What is going on?” Hayden asked. “How can I stop this?”

Hayden exited the bathroom and re-opened the closet door, retrieving a pair of four-inch peep toe black pumps. Hayden sexily sat down on the bed and started placing his feet into the heels. First his left foot, then his right. Once his right foot was placed into the heel, Hayden’s motor functions were restored. Hayden nearly fell over, before realizing that he had control over his body once more.

He didn’t know how or why, but he was happy that he could finally move. Standing up, he looked at himself in the mirror, wondering how he was going to get rid of what had happened. Or how he was even going to explain the strange happenings.

He looked at his reflection, one of a supremely confused, but very attractive young woman, looking like she was about to head out to the club, if it wasn’t for his flat chest, he’d look exactly like the twin sister he didn’t have. He could barely see any trace of masculinity left.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door that broke Hayden out of his contemplation. Hayden frantically ran out of the bedroom, nearly breaking his ankle in the heels, before finally making it to the door. Standing out in the hall was Amber, smirking and holding what looked like a barbie doll in her hands. But Hayden didn’t have time to consider why she was carrying it around.

“Amber! Thank god you’re here! I don’t know what’s going on!” Hayden shouted. “You have to help me!”

“Oh, don’t worry, Hayden, I’ll take care of everything.” Amber moved the doll’s arm to cover its mouth, and Hayden did the exact same thing.

In Hayden’s eyes, Amber could see him pleading with her to stop what she was doing. But in her eyes, Hayden hadn’t even begun to feel as bad as she’d been feeling.

“I think it’s time to see what these do…” Amber smiled as she pulled out the breastpiece and pulled down the doll’s dress, as Hayden did the same, exposing his chest. “Let’s go inside.”

Amber walked into the apartment and Hayden involuntarily followed behind her, whimpering. Hayden had finally gotten his answers, but his punishment was just beginning.

The End