John Daniels is a boy that loves to tell stories. He has hopes of being journalist. He has three friends that would do anything they could to help him...
but John has a problem that could sidetrack all his efforts.

by Paula Dillon

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John Daniels, Anna Givens, Vanessa Sebring and Margaret Bradford, sat in the makeshift newsroom, discussing their assignment. They were all journalism students at their high school and called their group JD’s Productions (John’s full name was John Dalton Daniels, although his Birth Certificate and all of his ID’s read J. D. Daniels) over John’s objections. The girls really liked that name. They were to produce, film and edit a news story. They had a selection of six story topics, with accompanying video, to choose from.

Anna and Vanessa were videographers, Vanessa was also good at editing their work, Anna seconded in lighting and did makeup. Margaret was a wiz with sound and operating the control board. That left John, he was a wordsmith. He was exceptional at watching a scene and telling a story about the scene that was both interesting and informative.

After talking things over, John looked over the six taped scenarios and selected one, while the others checked the setup. Vanessa then took the selected tape; she and John then went through the tapes several times, selecting the scenes they wanted to portray. She also did the computer work, adding captions and the credits.

John then took the tape and wrote his copy. Together they had to come up with exactly two minutes and twenty seconds of story, with accompanying video.

John practiced his story, keeping time with a stopwatch, while Vanessa created a time line for the production. They went over the edited tape several times, before coming up with a sequence they liked. He then practiced the story a dozen times. Vanessa finalized the time line and Margaret practiced cuing in the video, in the proper time sequence.

Satisfied with his copy and timing, Anna then came in and did his makeup. He didn’t particularly like the idea of wearing makeup, but Mr. Dawson ably demonstrated the effects of studio lighting on broadcasters with, and without makeup. The bright lights tended to wash out skin tones and make the people appear sickly and pale without it.

Anna had come to the journalism class from the theatrics dept. She learned to stage makeup. The teacher in those classes insisted that everybody learn how to do their own makeup, much to the chagrin of many of the male actors. Anna was already one of the best girls in high school at applying her normal makeup; after all, her Mom ran a string of beauty salons. Stage makeup just came easy to her, as normal daytime, evening, or glamour makeup styles. She was also very good at working with hair.

Anna had John take off his oversized sweatshirt. She wondered why he wore such horrid things. She then combed, styled and sprayed, John’s shoulder length hair, into an acceptable, masculine style. She then set about applying makeup. She used a heavy foundation and added some warm tones; she then touched up his lips with a mauve sateen lipstick, to give them some color as well. Anna then took a red power tie, off a rack (the rack included several green ties, which could have been embarrassing when working with green screens. They were included there just for that reason.) She then tied a perfect half-Windsor knot. She straightened his collar and the tie.

Mr. Dawson kept a rack of coats, ties, shirts and blouses, along with a multitude of accessories. He expected his students to look as professional as possible, when they did their projects. John took a sports coat off the rack. It had been hard finding one that fit. He had actually chosen a lady’s blazer, that didn’t taper too much. It was just a little loose in the chest, but it draped ok and was a tad tight in the waist, but the padded shoulders made him look good. He then took a seat at the news desk for sound and lighting checks. When everyone was satisfied, Vanessa took over.

“Ok, listen up everyone,” Vanessa said, as she ran down the time line, noting where the camera changes, video feeds, and screen impositions went.

They went through the story a few times, on a dry run, checking their monitors as they went. At the end of each run, they checked their work on playback. When they got the results they wanted, they called their teacher in. This story was to simulate a live program.

Able Dawson, the journalism teacher, sat in the makeshift control room with Margaret. He put on a headset and told the crew to begin in ten seconds. Margaret pulled up the first still, and Vanessa counted John down, and a ‘live’ feed light came on.

(PIP to John’s right, still of Parker County Courthouse)

John: “Today there were fireworks in the Parker County Courthouse, as the Jury, In the Norman Bates Trial, took only an hour and a half to return a verdict,”

(John turned to Anna, still shot cut)

“Once all the participants were assembled, the jury was brought in and the verdict was read.”

1st video feed:

(Inside the court room, the camera on the Judge)

The Judge turns to the jury and inquires: “Has the jury reached a verdict?”

Jury: “Yes your honor, we have.”

Judge: “Will the foreman please read the verdict?”

Jury: “We, the Jury, in the above titled action, find the defendant, Norman Bates, Not guilty, by reason of insanity or mental defect.”

(A commotion could be heard in the courtroom, after the people hear the verdict)

(Studio camera on John, PIP, video to John’s left, showing action in courtroom.)

John: “Those words, ‘Not Guilty,’ struck an emotional cord with the crowd that had gathered for this sensational trial. Family members began sobbing, they cried out and shouted at the jury.”

(John turned Back to Vanessa and the PIP cut.)

John: “The judge then handled the dispensation of Norman Bates.”

2nd video feed:

(Inside courtroom, camera on Judge.)

Judge: “Norman Bates, the jury having returned a verdict of not guilty, by reason of insanity or mental defect, I hereby remand you to the custody of Bellevue State Mental Hospital, until such time as they determine that you no longer pose a threat to society.”

(Studio camera on John, PIP still of Norman Bates, being led away in cuffs.)

John: “With the judgment read, Norman Bates was then escorted outside the courtroom and transported directly to Bellevue State Hospital. Norman Bates, if you will remember, ran the Bates Motel, and was on trial for multiple homicides, committed in June of 1960. I am John Daniels and that is the way it happened.”

Able Looked at the clock and saw it took a total of two minutes twenty-two seconds. He stood up and applauded the kids, who ran to each other and hugged.

“Very well done kids, I really enjoyed that piece. You ran over by two seconds, but that is no big deal. Vanessa, excellent direction and good Camera angles. Anna, you did superb on your camera and makeup. Let’s see how the video came out,” Able said.

They gathered by the monitor and watched their production through twice, before making any comments.

“Margaret, good work on the audio and the keying in of the video. Your audio might have been a little hot on the second video feed, but it added a dramatic touch.”

“John, you had good cadence and the copy you wrote, was excellent. I want to thank you kids for your work with an A-. You are dismissed. John, will you stay here for just a minute?”

“Yes sir.”

The kids patted each other on the backs and gave each other hugs. John then waved to his partners and walked over to where Mr. Dawson sat.

“John, you really have a talent for story telling, I just wanted to congratulate you. Unfortunately, your voice would have sounded better, if it came out of Anna, or Vanessa. You present an incongruity to the audience. Such a feminine voice, coming from an androgynous appearance, can be disturbing. I really hope puberty is kind to you and comes soon. You made a good effort to look sharp, and you were well rehearsed. You could be great, as a news anchor.”

“I hope so too, Mr. Dawson,” John said smiling broadly.

“Go on home John and I will see you tomorrow, in class.”

John collected the DVD of their production. They had to present it to their class tomorrow. He then turned away and left. The big smiled faded, to be replaced by a pained expression. He wanted to cry, but he had to be strong, he reasoned. He opened the door to leave and found his three friends waiting.

“Why so grim, poncho?” Vanessa said when she saw him.

“Oh it’s nothing,” John said trying to brush off his hurt expression.

“We aren’t going to fall for that line buster,” Margaret said. “Now spill it! We are your friends, we are JD’s productions.”

Tears started flowing from John’s eyes, and the girl’s surrounded him in a hug.

“Not here please, just not here.”

“Ok, Margaret get your SUV, we will meet you out front in a few minutes. We’ll just give John a minute to collect himself and be right there,” Vanessa said.

Margaret took off, and Anna took a makeup wipe and started cleaning John’s face and drying his tears. It was then she noticed he still had on the Lady’s Blazer and noticed how well it fit him. She started to giggle, but managed to hold it in.

Out front, they found Margaret waiting and piled into her 2004 Mercedes M class SUV. It had been her Mom’s and when she had moved on to a GL class, she had passed it on to her daughter. She started rolling, after they were all seated and belted.

“Where too?” Anna asked.

“My place, the rents won’t be home till after seven,” Margaret volunteered.

“Sounds good girl, let’s go,” Vanessa added.

“Going already, where you been Vanessa?” Margaret said giggling.

They girls kept up their light hearted banter all the way to Margaret’s home. John seemed to brighten up; he was always that way. Whenever he was down the girls invariably sent his doldrums away. He did the same for them too.

The girls liked him, he never posed a threat, or made them uncomfortable with sexual tension. Together they helped each other get better grades. They were, ‘The Four Musketeers’ at their high school. All for one and one for all, the whole bit.

They actually made life much easier for John; their ties to the popular girls at school could make any boys life, who may have had any aspirations of dating said popular girls, miserable. It also helped that most of the yearbook staff, came from the journalism department. The four of them, just happened to be on the yearbook staff. If you wanted a positive spin in the yearbook, angering the journalism department is not the way to go.

At Margaret’s home they all piled out of the van and into her kitchen. Margaret served her guests soft drinks and chocolate chip cookies and they all sat around the kitchen table and looked at John.

“Ok, what gives John?” Margaret asked.

John looked like a rat trapped, in a room full of big toothed, hungry cats. That he was nervous was apparent to the girls there. “I don’t know, it’s just what Mr. Dawson said to me.” John then gave a faithful recount of what transpired.

“Well John that sounded like praise to us. Your voice will change, you will get taller and bulk out; so that won’t be a problem,” Anna said.

“Well, that’s just it; that is the problem.” John said hesitantly.

“What is the problem?” Anna asked.

“I am never going to go through puberty, my voice is never going to get deeper, I am as tall as I will ever be and I am never going to bulk out,” he said beginning to cry.

The girls were startled by John’s declaration and looked like they had been slapped. Finally, Vanessa asked, “What do you mean John, tell us.”

“You remember last year when I was hospitalized.”

“Yes, you were in the hospital for ten days. You went into anaphylaxis, after you received some kind of shot. You nearly died if I remember correctly,” Vanessa stated.

“Yes, you’re right; Vanessa, but you don’t know the whole story. The reason I went to the doctor was, Mom was concerned that I had not started puberty yet. I was finally sent to an Endocrinologist over it. She ran all sorts of tests, blood work and a bunch of other things. Everything came out semi-normal for a pre-pubescent boy. It just seemed that my body just didn’t want to start developing yet. Well the good doctor decided to give me a shot of androgens, those are male hormones, to kind of jump start my puberty.

Anyway after getting the shot, I had just gotten dressed and I left the exam room, when my stomach started cramping, every square inch of my skin was itching like crazy and I had trouble breathing. I was told that the nurse who saw me screamed bloody murder for the doctor. They even had the allergist come in from next door. I had an extremely rare reaction to the androgen and went into anaphylactic shock.

I woke up in my hospital room in intensive care. It seemed that I had turned the corner and was told that no real harm had been done. About ten hours after I had been admitted, I had a second more serious bout of anaphylaxis. I actually went into cardiac arrest.

Afterwards my body started producing antibodies that attacked my own testosterone production. They tell me now that my testicles are dormant and will never develop. They can’t give me androgens, so I am stuck halfway. I will never be a man,” he said bawling like a baby.

The girls were dumbstruck for several minutes. They really didn’t know what to say to John, to make him feel better.

It was Margaret that finally broke the silence. “Are you allergic to estrogens?”

John stopped crying for a few seconds and wiped his face with his sleeves. “The allergist actually checked to see if I would react adversely to estrogens. They concluded that my body might not reject a regime of estrogen. The Endocrinologist told me that it was either remain androgynous for the rest of my life or go feminine,” John said chuckling to himself.

“I got an idea, John,” Margaret said. She dashed out of the kitchen to her Mom’s sewing room. She came back in half a minute with a measuring tape in her hand. Vanessa and Anna seemed to catch on, but John didn’t have a clue. “Stand up John and take off your coat, tie and shirt.”

John was embarrassed but the girls could be an unstoppable force, when they wanted to be. John’s un-buttoned his shirt, then peeled off a very tight t-shirt and the girls were a little startled as they looked at his chest. Since he now had a deficit of androgens, what little estrogen males normally produce was slowly starting to feminize his body. His nipples and areolas were larger and slightly darker than when they had last seen his chest, larger and darker than guys get period. They could see he had the beginnings of real breasts forming, bigger than an AA but not quite a full A cup. Fortunately they were sensitive enough to not point this out to John. He had the genitals of a six year old, although the girls didn’t know this. He didn’t have very much hair anywhere besides his head, brows and his eye lashes to die for. He stood a hair over five feet-four inches, his shoulders were weak and sloping. The girls looked closely at John’s pants; they were bunched at the waist by his over tightened belt, tight at the hips and loose in the crotch. They were amazed that they hadn’t noticed that before, but when changes occur slowly enough, they often go unnoticed. They now understood why John always wore loose fitting shirts, with pullovers he never tucked them in.

Anyway, Margaret measured John in a lot of different ways. Vanessa even took off one of John’s shoes and read off the size. She saw he wore a man’s size six C, but she was dissatisfied with that size, as she had seen how ill-fitting his shoes were. She had John stand on a piece of paper barefoot and drew around his foot with a pen.

John was just too sheepish to ask what was going on. This went on for several minutes and the girls discussed things between themselves outside of John’s hearing. John finally asked, “What is going on girls? What are you talking about?”

“John, just be at Anna’s house, on Saturday at nine. Be there, or we will come drag your ratty ass there.” Vanessa said standing nose to nose with John, smiling so that John knew he wasn’t standing too deeply, in the brown smelly stuff.

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The next day was Friday and it was JD’s Productions turn, to show their production. It went well, for the most part, a few of the Neanderthal sports types made noises and cracked a few jokes about John’s voice. One commented that John sounded a little like a pansy, and that he looked just darling on the screen, a little too loudly.

Mr. Dawson got in front of the class and asked, “Mr. Barstow, would you care to remind the class about the grade you received for your project?”

Clyde Barstow was a sport fanatic and hoped to get into the sports journalism field. He was himself a Jock wannabe, but he could never cut the mustard, but he was good with stats. He knew the stats of all the schools first-string players in all their major sports.

“Ahhhh… No sir.”

“Well, I will remind them for you. I gave you a C- minus. If I remember correctly you read enough dialogue to span a ten minute sports show in about two minutes, leaving you with twenty seconds of dead air time. John’s project was well timed, he had good use of video footage, it was informative and he had a good cadence. If you want to make it in the journalism business Clyde, I wouldn’t start by casting stones at other people you might meet on your way up, or down as it could turn out.”

Mr. Dawson’s comments brought Clyde a few laughs and jeers from the students. Clyde didn’t like being the butt of the joke, but he felt powerless to do anything about it at the moment.

Able then got his students commenting on the production. What was right with it and what was wrong with it. They talked about the content and the editing of the video. The students had some really good comments on the production, and had a few suggestions on how it could be improved. John and the girls took notes on what was said.

One of the course requirements was that all the students had to keep a journal about all the classes’ productions and their comments. It helped them to plan their current and future projects. They could refer back to what worked and what didn’t. It also helped Mr. Dawson see who was paying attention to the details of each production. They had to record what each project was, who worked on it, their impressions of the project, what worked, what didn’t and what the comments were about it. The journal amounted to one fourth of their final grades. More than one student would receive a slightly lower final grade for biased comments towards other group’s projects. They just didn’t get it.

After Class, JD’s productions met up outside and congratulated each other on their work. Quite a few students came by and offered their congratulations too, while a few couldn’t help making snide comments in passing.

The girls all hugged John and said they had to go, so John went on home.

John’s mother, Angela Daniels, was already home and was fixing dinner. John went over to her, gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek saying, “Hi Mom.”

“Well hello John, how was school today?”

“It was great, we turned in our production today and it was pretty well received.”

“That’s good dear, so what are you going to do tomorrow?”

“The girls want me to come over to Anna’s house tomorrow; we have two more productions to do this semester. I guess they want to go over out next project.”

“That’s good son, I am glad you four get along so well.”

“Yeah, they are great. We have been friends like forever. At least since we all started grade school together.”

“Ok dear, try to finish your homework before dinner.”

“Ok Mom,” John said as he headed off to his room.

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John knocked on the door to Anna’s home; he only had to wait about ten seconds before the door was answered by Margaret.

“Come on in John, we are all waiting for you… We were just talking in the Living room.”

John followed Margaret into the living room. She motioned for him to sit in the high-back chair and she sat with the other girls directly across from him. The girl’s were all dressed in jeans, T’s and sneakers.

For several minutes they just sat there looking at him and he just sat there nervously looking at them. Finally Vanessa stood up. She walked over and stood in front of him.

“John how long have you known us?”

“At lest seven or eight years. I guess.”

“Right, have we ever hurt you, made fun of you, or have we set out to intentionally embarrass you?”

“No, you haven’t, you guys are my best friends.”

“Right and you are ours. We love you as a friend. We spent a little time talking about our friend and what we could do to help that friend. Now the question is, how much do you trust us?”

“I trust you guys with my life.”

A wave of relief washed over Vanessa, she smiled and turned to the other girls.

“We want you to try something, John,” Margaret said to him. “We got together and we think we may have found a solution to your problem.”

“We want you to trust us not to hurt you enough to do as we ask you?” Anna added.

“Friends don’t hurt friends John, and we are not out to hurt you,” Vanessa said. “What do you say?”

John was confused but he did love these girls. All three stood side by side, one foot in front of him, arms crossed under their breasts, smiling innocently at him.

John mumbled, “Ok, I guess.”

John then found himself being dragged from the room by three giddy girls. They took him to Anna’s bedroom.

“John, we got together and got some things we want you to try on. Now don’t say no till you try it.” Anna said as she pulled off a sheet that covered her bed.

John’s jaw bounced off the floor at least two times, as he saw what was on the bed. It was covered in all sorts of feminine finery and clothes. John’s mouth formed the word “No” but nothing came out.

“We want you to go into my bathroom and put these on.” Anna said handing him a pair of lacy white satin boycut panties and a padded lycra brief, “and then come out.”

John was stuttering as the girls hustled him into the bathroom. Anna’s bathroom was a private bath and only had one door, or John might have bolted. He stood there looking at what he had in his hands, for several minutes.

“This ain’t going to work out, girls,” John said, loud enough for the girls to hear on the other side of the door.

“John just do what we ask you too, just this once, please?” Vanessa’s voice said.

“It ain’t going to work,” John said taking off his clothes. He could hear giggling on the other side of the door, after that declaration.

John almost always did what the girls asked him to do. That was why John wound up in their journalism class. They liked the way he told stories. The four of them had once been into RPG’s and John had been their DM. The girls continued to play with him, even after they started to lose interest in the game, because of his ability to tell stories. John had wanted to go to a different high school but the girls talked him out of it. They didn’t want their little group to be busted up.

But for all of that, John really liked Journalism. He began to thrive under the girl’s tutelage, and became more outgoing. It is hard to be an introvert as a reporter. John saw that they had made his life better. So when they asked him to do something he generally complied.

John came out of the bathroom wearing the panties and the brief. He finally realized what they were doing, and he kept muttering, “This ain’t gonna work, this ain’t gonna work,” to them or to himself. He just didn’t know.

When the girls turned and looked at him, he was beet red with embarrassment. They had a look of amazement on their faces. They tried not to stare at him, but he looked like a very tall ten or eleven year old girl, even down to his crotch, there was nothing that shouted sixteen year old boy about him.

They then did a survey of the boy. Anna shaved a couple of hairs in his armpits. Margaret couldn’t find a stray hair on his chest, and the hairs on his arms were finer and more transparent than her own. Vanessa had checked his legs and found just a few hairs on them and lopped them off. As they checked his face, they found it as smooth as their own faces.

John grimaced as they worked on him, but kept it to himself. He wasn’t angry at them. He just wondered how their minds worked.

When they finished their inspection, Anna picked up two boxes from the bed.

“What’s in the boxes?” he asked.

“These, my man are gel bras,” she said opening the boxes for him to see. “I can wear these at times when I couldn’t wear a regular bra. They are made of silicone and have these double-sided adhesive pads on them. I can stick them on me when I wear halter-tops, or backless dresses and my nipples won’t stick out. Also they have a hook on them and after I stick them on I can hook them up. That helps control the sway of my breasts when I am braless, enhances my cleavage and increases my bra size, a cup to a cup and half. I want to stick both pair on you.” She handed one of the larger gel bra cups to John to feel.

“These are cold how can you stand to have them attached to your chest?”

“They warm up after about twenty minutes, you won’t notice them, honest injun.”

“Ok, I suppose,” John said in resignation.

Anna took one of the smaller gel cups and removed the slick paper on it. She carefully positioned it on John’s chest, and then she pressed it on for about ten seconds before releasing it.

“They are also easy to remove so don’t worry about that. They just peel off,” she said as she did the other side. “We could have just stuffed them in a bra, but then they could around shift and that wouldn’t be cool.”

“Why two pair, why not just use the larger set?”

“Set one on the palm of your hand pointy side down. See the larger pair are very concave, like a regular bra cup. If I stuck them on without anything behind them they would flatten out and look strange. I wore the smaller pair a couple of years ago when I was just starting to develop. They are less concaved. They will support the larger pair though, I hope.”

“Ok, I can see that.”

Anna then stuck on the larger cups.

“Are you going to hook them together, like you were saying?”

“No, I got something else in mind.”

“What?”

“This,” she said holding up another garment.

John had seen very little lingerie in his lifetime and didn’t know what it was, but he had a very bad feeling about it. “What is that?”

Anna held up a very lacy, white satin corset. This particular corset had built in cups and was heavily boned. “This my man, is a corset. I had to wear it to my sisters wedding. The bride’s party all wore ante-bellum gowns. Like Gone with the Wind type gowns.”

John blanched when he heard the word corset. He had heard some girls complaining about having to wear them, in the theatrical department, for a play.

“No, no, no, this ain’t gonna work,” he said with a trace of panic in his voice.

“Yes,” Anna said, “We want to get you into one of my skirts. I have a twenty-five inch waist, and my skirt will fit a twenty-six inch waist. Your waist is twenty-seven inches. We just need to take in two inches.”

“No, no, nooooooo,” John said. His volume dropped significantly as the girls tightened the corset down.

John’s faux breasts looked like they might pop out of the top of the corset. He also noticed his own skin was bulging up, just above the silicone.

“You baby. I just need to tighten it a little, that is all. There.” Anna took a measuring tape and measured his waist, after tying the corset off. She had been a little energetic as the tape showed twenty-four and a quarter inch waist. When I wore this corset I had to wear it at twenty-two inches. It’s just at twenty-five on you,” she fibbed.

“I can’t breathe,” he complained.

“Just relax your overreacting.”

After a few minutes John began to feel better.

“Okay put this robe on,” Margaret said handing him a short silk kimono type robe. It was a very pretty red, with flowers and humming birds printed on the fabric. “And these mules,” she said putting them on the floor so he could step in them.

John did what he was asked to do. He tied the belt to the robe after putting it on and stepped into the mules. The mules had all sort of feathery things sticking up on the strap over the instep and a little over an inch lift in the heel.

“Mom has a salon in the back she uses for special clients, when she doesn’t want to go into the shop. So follow me.”

The girls led John into the back. They had all been there at one time or another as Anna or her Mom had worked on their hair. There was a salon chair, a shampoo sink, a salon hair dryer and everything they needed to work on hair, face, nails and makeup.

“I am going to add extensions to your hair, John. It will take about an hour to get them in, but they can be removed in about ten to fifteen minutes. Vanessa and Margaret are going to work on your nails. They will give you a manicure, a pedicure and then put some ‘stick on’ fingernails on you. They also come off easily. So don’t worry. You will look like yourself when you go home.”

Anna started by putting a mask on John’s face and cucumber slices on his eyes. While Margaret put his feet a warm tub and set it to massage his feet. Vanessa put his fingertips in a bowl to soak. Anna checked his hair and found that it was cleaned and well conditioned. So she leaned him back a bit, combed his hair into sections and started working a set of twelve-inch extensions into his hair.

The extensions were all natural hair. They were dyed to match Anna’s hair and add highlights. John’s hair was just a little darker brown, and didn’t have Anna’s natural touch of red. So the extensions added fullness, a touch of color and some highlights to his head. Anna worked them in like her mother had taught her. She wasn’t as good as her Mom, but she was pretty good at it. Her mom wanted her to follow her in the business, but she liked working with John and the girls in journalism.

Vanessa took one hand out of the bowl and began pushing the cuticles back a bit. She had a bit of work to do. John, like many boys, just didn’t waste time on his hands, so his nails were not in the best of shape. She was careful not to hurt him, as she trimmed the cuticles and then went on to file his nails. She buffed the ridges off his nails and then filed the nails in a blunt masculine shape. She then applied acrylic nails using the included tape strips, so they could be easily removed.

Margaret took one foot at a time, she dried, hand massaged the feet, filed and painted the nails. She then checked the feet for rough spots and took care of them with a pumice stone. She finished up by rubbing a soothing peppermint oil into his feet.

The girls could hear John purr as they worked. They were glad he found it as pleasant an experience as they did. He was asleep in the chair when Anna finished. She woke him gently, then removed the cucumber slices and peeled off the mask.

She then carefully brushed and styled his hair a little, spraying it down with lacquer to finish the job. Vanessa had brought in the rest of the clothes and the girls helped him get dressed. Margaret helped him put on a pair of pantyhose. Vanessa then took off the robe and Anna helped him into a royal blue silk blouse and a black chiffon skirt that came to an inch or two above mid thigh. They put some black pumps on his feet that had two-inch block style heels.

Margaret put three silver necklaces on him, fourteen, eighteen and twenty two inches. Vanessa put several bangles on his right arm and a lady’s watch with lots of CZ’s (Cubic Zirconium’s) on his left. Anna added some magnetic CZ earrings. Those earrings had powerful rare earth magnets on the earring and the part that went on the backside of the ear, but appeared like pierced earrings.

Anna draped a makeup cape over him and applied his makeup. She was using the professional kit her Mom used and expertly matched foundation, blush, applied eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, lip liner and lipstick. She had pulled out all the stops and had gone for a glamour style. She really wanted to WOW him. He looked incredible when she finished.

All this time the girls had not let John see what he looked like. They were even surprised a little by how good he looked as they worked on him. They were not prepared though for how well everything came together. John wasn’t just good looking, they would be hard pressed to look as nice and they were a little jealous of him. Together they smiled.

Finished, the girls walked him over to the full-length mirror. John’s mouth went wide in exclamation as he looked at himself. He had a hard time putting what he felt into words, because he didn’t know how he felt about it. The girls’ smiles faded just a little at his silence. At least till John started to smile, and turning this way and that to look at himself. Then he frowned a bit and a dark mood took over his face. He turned and walked over to a chair and sat down. He found the shoes a little awkward but not overly.

“Stand up John,” Vanessa said to him “Smooth your skirt under you when you sit.”

“What.”

“Stand up and smooth the skirt under you when you sit, like this,” she said demonstrating. “You don’t want to wrinkle your skirt, or show your under things to the people around you and your skirt will be more comfortable.”

That command seemed to break his funk a little and he stood and smoothed the skirt under him as he sat.

“How do you feel, John,” Anna said, “Did we go too far with you, or are you ok?”

John was again a little startled, “Oh, I am sorry. I was just a little confused, that’s all. I don’t really know how I feel about it, but I am ok.”

“John we did a little research after Thursday, we know how much you like journalism. We think you have a flair for it and we have to agree with Mr. Dawson. If you are not going to bulk out and your voice isn’t going to get deeper, you’d never make it in the field. But since you aren’t fighting the effects of testosterone, this might be a way for you to do what you like. You said that your body might accept female hormones. Those would make you like you are now. We just wanted you to see what could be. We all think you could make it as a girl,” Vanessa said.

“But, I am not a girl.”

“Accident of birth,” Margaret said, “You can choose to be a girl though. We love you John, whatever you do, your one of us forever, so get use to it.”

“Yeah. All for one and one for all,” Anna said.

John started to cry and stood to give the girls a hug. It didn’t take him long to ruing the makeup job that Anna had so carefully applied. The girls all had a good cry and group hug.

When John began to calm down, he wiped his tears and kissed all the girls on the cheek.

“Vanessa, you and Margaret go and make us a pot of tea. I want to redo John’s makeup now.”

Anna gave him a tissue so he could dry his eyes and blow his nose and had him sit back down in the salon chair. She cleaned off all the makeup and redid his face. She worked quickly, since she knew what worked on his face.

When she finished, she led John into the kitchen where Vanessa and Margaret were just ready to pour the tea. They poured a cup for everyone and sat down to drink. John sat properly and took his cup. He spilled a little as one of his fingernails ran into his cup broadside, but it wasn’t too bad.

The girls then began discussing their next project. John jumped right into the discussion and forgot how he was dressed. They had to do a field piece and had a dozen options. Where the studio piece they had done, was a fictional court scene that had been put on by the theatrical department, the field piece was to be an actual event. They chose a Children’s fair that was being held just before Easter break, in three weeks.

John was talking and stopped to take a sip of tea. He was then mesmerized for several seconds, when he saw his own lip print on the teacup. He had felt so natural talking to the girls. The girls all had their eyes on him. After a second he continued with his train of thought. The girls all breathed a silent sigh of relief.

They were so consumed in their discussion they failed to hear the front door open and close. Anna’s Mom, Reggie had come home early and hearing the kids talking in the kitchen, she headed that way. She turned the corner and saw four girls talking.

“I heard John, where did he go, and who is your friend Anna?”

There was nothing but silence for several seconds.

“Mom, what are you doing home, so early?” Anna said, the color drained from her face.

“Things got slow in the shop, so I asked Betty to close. Since my daughter is so rude,” she said in mocking severity, “I guess I will introduce myself to your friend. Hi, I am Reggie, Anna’s Mom.” She extended her hand to the new girl, as girls do.

“Hi, Ms. Givens, it… is… ah… me… ah John,” he said, taking her hand in a like manner.

She didn’t have to be told who it was when he began to talk. Reggie just stared, her mouth hanging open, looking at John.

“Anna, make another pot of tea and have a seat. We need to have a good talk,” Reggie said. She pulled John up and turned him like a dancer turns their partner. She looked at him high and low.

“It is nice to meet you again John, please have a seat. You look very lovely by the way.”

“Thank you Ma’am, Anna is very talented.”

“Yes she is, isn’t she?”

When Anna brought the fresh pot to the table and poured for everybody. She sat and looked at her Mom.

“Now, who wants to tell me what is going on?”

“I will Ms. Givens,” Vanessa said.

“Drop the Ms. and call me Reggie girls, except of course for you Anna.”

Vanessa looked at John, with a question in her eyes. He nodded at her, and she began. She told Reggie the whole story, from the start. John started crying again and Reggie held his hand and comforted him, as she listened. Vanessa filled in all the details of why and how they had done the make over.

When the story was finished, Reggie turned to John. “And you’re ok with all this? They didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do, did they?”

“Well, except for this damn… Oops sorry, corset. I guess I am ok. It has been interesting to say the least.”

“That’s ok John, I feel the same way about them. How do you feel about all this?”

“I don’t know. I love the feel of the clothes and the way I look is incredible, but how should I feel? I am confused, but I feel good right now. What can I say?”

“Well I can’t keep seeing this beautiful girl and calling her John. Do you have a feminine name I can call you?”

John thought for a second and said, “Maybe… Janice, I guess. How is that?”

“I think Janice is a lovely name. Vanessa and Margaret call your homes and ask them if you can spend the night. Then the three of you start chopping vegetables to make a stew with that chuck roast.”

“I am going to fix Janice’s face and then get cleaned up before dinner. Janice, go on back to the salon. I will be with you in a minute.”

The girls just sat there starring at Reggie, like she had a third eye.

Reggie put her hands on her hips and said, “Jump to it girls, get cracking.”

Everybody jumped up and got to doing what they had been told to do. Reggie had to giggle; she still had it with these kids. They were a pretty good bunch too. Reggie went to the bathroom and used her cell phone and made a call.

Reggie found Janice sitting in the salon chair, with her knees pressed together like any other girl. She wheeled her makeup kit over where it was comfortable to her and sat on her stool. She first cleaned off the makeup.

“Janice, the girls didn’t force you to do this, did they.”

“A little maybe…but no, they really didn’t force me to do this. They convinced me to try it.”

“How do you really feel about it? Be honest with me.”

“Honestly, I am confused. I like it, but I think I shouldn’t. It is crazy, but… I think I could get to like it. I just don’t know.”

“That is being honest and I feel it is a good answer. Do you think it could be an answer to your problem?”

“I guess, I don’t know if it would work or not, it probably won’t, I don’t know.”

Reggie giggled. “I am sorry Janice, yes you have quite a conundrum, don’t you,” she giggled.

“You ain’t kidding, ma’am.”

Reggie finished the makeup job and then checked her daughters work. She had done a fair job on pinning the extensions in Janice’s hair. She would have given her a B+ or maybe an A-. The makeup was definitely an A job, along with their choices of clothes. There was no denying, Janice looked great.

She worked with more than a few transgendered patrons at her shop; none looked as good as this girl. But there is one she knew she was going to have to call and talk to.

“Janice, one other thing before we go and join the girls. Don’t ever do what they want, if it makes you feel bad. You can do it to humor them, just don’t do this if you hate what they are doing. Promise me that.”

“Honest Ma’am, they didn’t force me to do it, I don’t hate this, and yes if I did hate it, I wouldn’t do it, just to humor them.”

“Ok, dear. I worry about you and I know your mother does too. I was afraid the girls manipulated you into this, like the other things they get you in.”

“I know… it’s just that the girls have only done what is good for me all these years. I trust them, even in this.”

Reggie hugged Janice and smiled at her. “Let’s go see what the girls are up too.”

Vanessa and Margaret were busy chopping potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and such. Anna had a pot of water boiling and was brazing the now diced chuck roast in olive oil, chopped onions and crushed garlic.

They looked up and smiled when they saw Janice and Reggie reappear, after being gone for so long. They had started to worry, but were too afraid to butt in.

“Do you want to help us chop, Janice?” Margaret asked.

John had never helped in the kitchen; he could fix a few things he liked for breakfast and sandwiches. His Mom just never asked. “Sure, just tell me what to do.”

“Well, what ever you two do, don’t let her chop onions or garlic. She has already had her makeup redone twice today,” Anna said giggling. “Are you sure you’re not a girl in real life? You cry like one.”

“Nope, afraid not.”

Margaret got Janice into an apron and had her start chopping celery for the pot. They talked while they worked, the girls noticed, that while John was pretty talkative for a boy, Janice was absolutely chatty and more outgoing.

When the girls started talking about clothes, Janice joined in and told them what she thought about what they wore. Margaret was the clothes-horse of the group, which was not unexpected, as her parents were both high priced lawyers. Anna though, had the best eye for fashion and she could make Mr. Lincoln run away screaming, when it came to bargain hunting. Janice had real opinions about the clothes they choose to wear, that they never knew about, especially Vanessa. Vanessa, while far from dressing as a ‘Tom Boy’, really didn’t dress as feminine as Janice thought she should. Anna and Margaret knew this and had tried to work on their friend; this was the first thing Janice ever said about it.

“I have one question though. Why am I in a nice skirt and blouse but the rest of you are in comfortable clothes?”

“That is easy, we know we are girls, and you just need to convince yourself that you are a girl, the nice clothes are the way to go. We chose your clothes for effect, Janice,” Anna stated. “They are soft and sensual. Don’t you think?”

“I guess they are, they feel good that’s for sure.”

Anna took everything they had been working on and added it to the pot of water that was boiling. All five of them sat down to talk, while dinner cooked.

“Well, what about you Janice, if you had to choose between our wardrobes to dress in, which would you choose.” Vanessa asked trying to deflect attention from herself.

“I think a cross between Anna and Margaret’s. Some of the things Margaret gets, I don’t really care for. The things you see mostly on the runways in fashion shows. They leave me wondering, what the designers were thinking when they come up with some of those outlandish looks.”

“I get some of those things to make my Mom happy. She label shops and sometimes forgets how they really look. So I buy them and wear them a couple of times and she forgets about them. I am surprised you noticed. You never said anything about it before.”

“I didn’t know if you girls actually wanted my opinions.”

Vanessa stood up and put her hands on the table and leaned towards Janice. “Janice or John, it doesn’t matter to us, we always want to know what you think. You are a part of us, an important part at that. It’s like you complete us. We may not always agree with you, but at least we will listen to you. We value your opinion.”

“Really?” Janice asked starting to tear up.

“Really,” the girls echoed. “And please don’t start crying again and mess up your pretty makeup job,” Vanessa said.

That got Janice giggling and the girls to break out laughing. Reggie just sat back and absorbed things in.

“There is one thing I noticed in all this,” Margaret said, “We didn’t notice things about you John, and you didn’t know we wanted to know how you felt, about things. So it’s like we were failing to be each other’s support. John assumed that we wouldn’t be able to understand the truth of what he was going through, we should have seen there was something not right, and John didn’t know we valued what he thought. As close as we seem to be, this is unfathomable.”

Anna’s brow crossed in deep thought, “You know she is right, I guess even Margaret can have moments of brilliance.”

Margaret stuck her tongue out at Anna. Anna surprised everyone when she turned real fast and caught her tongue with her lips and then slipped her own into Margaret’s mouth. Vanessa and Janice just sat there dumb founded, Margaret’s eyes got as big as saucers, but she made no move to break it off herself, and Reggie started laughing so hard she cried.

“Oh Anna, Anna, Anna, where did that come from,” Reggie said trying to catch her breath from laughing, after Anna and Margaret broke their impromptu French lesson. “Are you starting to like girls now darling?”

“I don’t know Mom, it’s just something I always wanted to do to Margaret, when she sticks her cute little tongue out. I mean she sticks it out like all the time. I still like Joey Martin though, but Margaret is a nice kisser too.”

“I do not stick my tongue out that much.”

“You do too,” Vanessa, Janice and Reggie parroted.

Margaret stuck her tongue out at all of them.

“Back to our original conversation, why don’t you dress nicer? I hardly ever get to see ya’ll dolled up like this,” Janice said gesturing to the way she looked.

“Well, I guess it’s because it takes a while to get ‘Dolled Up’ like you are talking about. At school we want to be comfortable, and we don’t like being stared at all the time. It would be harder for us to operate our equipment in journalism like that. We do dress up for our dates, for Mall hopping and such, but then you are not with us then. John probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable going into dress shops, shoes shops and lingerie shops with us. But Janice could,” Anna said coyly.

“No, no, nope won’t happen. I can’t go out like this. Nosirree.”

“Why not Janice, you look totally convincing. You just need to learn how to act like a girl. We can teach you that,” Margaret stated.

“Nope, not going to happen.”

“We’ll see about that,” Vanessa said giggling.

Their conversations were interrupted by the door bell.

“Anna, please answer the door, Vanessa and Margaret set the table for six, please.”

“Six?” Janice asked. She had a sick feeling about who their last dinner guest would be.

“Yes, I called your Mom, Janice. This is just too important to have her on the outside on. You understand don’t you?”

Janice meekly shook her head and looked toward the approaching form of her Mom. “Hi Mom.”

Angela stopped and looked at her child. A look of confusion and wonder was in her eyes. Even though Reggie had told her what to expect, she was very surprised at what she saw. She saw the familial resemblance and had often wondered what John would look like as a girl after those fateful days he spent in the hospital. She just really wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

“John?” She said hesitantly.

“Janice, Mom, at least that seems to fit better right now,” Janice said, plucking at the hem of her skirt a bit.

Angela came over and hugged her child closely and kissed her cheek.

“Well everybody, I guess it is time to eat.” Reggie said.

Anna whispered in Janice’s ear, “Eat slower, take smaller bites, and take care not to mess up your pretty blouse, please. Just do what we do and you will be ok.”

Janice sat next to her Mom, with Vanessa and Margaret across from them with Reggie and Anna on the ends. Janice swept her skirt under her as she sat. Wearing the corset she had no option but to sit with her back straight. She folded her hands in her lap like the other girls, as Anna served everybody. Janice received a smaller portion than she would have usually gotten, but she didn’t say anything about it. When everybody was seated they began to eat.

Reggie asked Angela about her day, and the girls started chatting as they ate. Janice ate more carefully than she usually ate and joined in with the girls in talking.

“The stew is good,” Angela commented.

“Yes, the girls did an excellent job,” Reggie said.

“Did you help, Janice?”

“I helped chop the vegetables, but Anna did the cooking. She’s the real wiz here. I think she did a great job.”

“Thank you, Mom is the one who taught me to cook.”

Angela watched Janice out of the corner of her eye, while they ate. She saw that Janice was moving a little stiffer than the other girls, and she seemed to be obviously trying to copy their movements and actions. She did a pretty good job, all in all, she thought.

Janice was just glad that she had been able to get through the meal without embarrassing herself by getting Anna’s clothes dirty.

“Well, that was a good meal girls, why don’t you clear off the table and let’s all go into the living room to talk.”

Janice helped the girls with the dishes. She loaded them into the dishwasher as Vanessa brought them into the kitchen. This was something she had done before. Margaret cleaned the table and Anna cleaned the kitchen.

When they finished, they joined Reggie and Angela in the living room.

Reggie looked at everybody and smiled, “Since I am somewhat neutral in all this, I will be our moderator. Vanessa, since you are the ringleader of the girls, why don’t you begin and tell us what this is all about.”

Vanessa then gave the tale of how John wound up in skirts. She started at the beginning, at John’s confession to them and wound it up, with Reggie’s discovery. “Angela, we are sorry. John loves journalism, he loves to be able to tell stories, but Mr. Dawson was right. He probably would never make it in the field because of the way he looks and sounds, at least as a Male. We thought that since he couldn’t go down that road he might make it as a woman. You should see John, as we see him. He seems so alive when we do our projects; he is like a different person, more confident, more forceful and self-assured. So that is why we did it, we wanted to show him another option where he could succeed.”

Angela turned to her son or rather her daughter; there was love in her eyes when she looked at her. “They didn’t force you into this did they?”

“Well, maybe a little, but not really. I guess I always knew that this was an option, but I had been afraid to explore it. I don’t think I would ever have done this on my own,” John said crying again.

Angela pulled Janice onto her lap and just held her tightly. “I think not either, I was afraid to broach the subject to you too. I hoped that you would make up your own mind on this. I have to say, I would never have thought you would turn out this nice though. The girls really did a wonderful job on you.”

Janice wrapped her arms around her Mom’s neck and cried on her shoulder. After several minutes she regained her composure and just rested in her embrace.

Reggie then got up and began to speak, “When I came in, I was kind of shocked. I had seen John’s bike outside and heard his voice when I entered my home. I was shocked to find four girls and no sign of John. That is till Janice began speaking. I got to the bottom of things and decided to call you. If what the girls said was true, and I have no reason not to believe them, especially since John didn’t deny it. I decided that this was too important not to call you Angela.”

“I want to thank you Reggie, for that. I suppose the question now is, where is this going? Do you want to become Janice, or would you rather stay as John?”

“I don’t know Mom. This was fun this once, but I know there is a whole lot more to being a girl than just dressing up, and I can’t go to school like this, I would get creamed. The kids there would never accept me as Janice.”

“I have an idea Janice,” Anna said. “Continue on to school as John, but let’s get together every weekend and teach you how to act like a girl. You can see if you are able to fit in as one of us. We will teach you everything we know.”

“One thing to think about girls, if this goes on too much longer we will also need to inform Vanessa’s and Margaret’s parents about this too. I will not keep this a secret from their parents,” Reggie said.

“I agree, Reggie. If they aren’t told, this could lead to a bunch of problems,” Angela stated.

“Give us two weekends after this Sunday first. Please, Angela.”

“It’s not up to me, It will have to be up to Janice or John,” she said. “This is his life and he is right, there could be problems. There are too many people who would be offended by this type of thing.”

“Janice, please think about this. You know we will always stand by you,” Anna said.

Janice looked at her Mom, in a pleadingly manner. “What ever you want dear,” she said, “I won’t force you one way or another.”

Janice looked at her three friends. They all looked pleadingly at her. “I don’t know where this is going. I can’t say that I will go down this road, or another, but we can try this out for two more weekends, if it’s ok with Mom and Ms. Givens.”

The three girls mobbed Janice in a hug, and Janice cried again.

“Janice is already such a girl,” Margaret said giggling, “Her first day as a girl and she has streaked her makeup three times crying, but we love her for it. Don’t we girls.”

They all agreed with Margaret on that account.

“Ok then girls, as long as Angela consents, you can have a sleepover here this weekend and the next two. Then we will have another pow-wow.”

It was only about six, so the girls planned what they needed to do. They decided that they would go get some movies. Vanessa and Margaret would go and get them, as they needed to stop by their homes and get some things. Anna would stay and work with Janice.

Anna took Janice to her room and showed her how to clean the makeup off her face. She then gave her instructions on how to apply a fresh face. Janice took three or four tries before she began to pick up some on the techniques that Anna was showing her. Anna kept things simple for her, just foundation, blush, mascara and lipstick. She did Janice’s eyeliner, shadow and brows for her.

“Promise you will try not to cry this makeup off, Janice.”

“I will try; it’s just that I get so emotional when I discuss this. It scares me, thinking about the future.”

“You have a right to be scared, but I think you also have reason to have hope. Your mom loves you and so do we.”

Margaret and Vanessa were gone about an hour; they went to their homes and got their sleeping bags and some personal things. Then it was girl’s school for Janice, as they showed her how to walk, sit, hold her arms and talk like a girl. They shifted her to sandals with three-inch heels when she became proficient with the two inch heels. Getting her to walk right took a bit of work, after all girls trained to walk like girls all their lives. Margaret gave Janice a purse to carry and some books for the other arm, this did the trick for that aspect. It also forced her to swing her hips a bit, to compensate for not swinging her arms like a guy. The work on talking was the easiest for Janice; she had spent so much time around the girls, she already talked a lot like them.

At ten, the girls got dressed in their sleepwear, Anna gave Janice a long satin sleep shirt to wear. After taking off her blouse, Anna moved behind her. Janice thought she was going to be released, but she found that the corset was tightened down to twenty-three and a half inches. She was assisted in taking off her pantyhose and padded brief.

Janice joined her friends, after she got her sleep shirt on and taken care of her business. They were already dressed in their nightgowns.

“Well, I guess I will see you girls in the morning,” Janice stated.

“We aren’t going to bed yet; we got so much to do.”

They started teaching Janice how to apply makeup to another girl. Anna would do half a face and have Janice try to copy what she did. This went on for an hour. The girls kept Janice talking as she worked. Her first few tries she really clowned out the girl she was working on, but the more she worked at it the better she became. Anna then taught her how to roll hair.

The girls could see that Janice was enjoying herself by her big smile. Janice loved the closeness she felt. Their group had been tight before, but it seemed to have been taken to another level.

The girls then played a few games, Truth or Dare and charades. They used the first game to really get to know each other. The girls wanted to bare their secrets to their friends, so they wouldn’t keep important things from each other anymore. Janice told her friends how she felt about what had happened to her. She knew that the road she was on now was a possibility, but it was one she had been afraid to broach with anybody.

“I mean how can I just say, ‘hey people, I am going to be a girl for now on,’ after all. I just couldn’t do it, and I am still not sure I can.”

“So is being stuck in the middle any better?” Margaret asked.

“No, Oh I just don’t know.”

“Well, we hope to help you answer that question. I think you can, and we will help you. You wouldn’t have to just do it all now and return to school tomorrow as a girl. I think we can train you now and have you start school this fall as a girl. That would give you five months to learn,” Vanessa stated. “Doing it this way, you could change your mind and go back to being John full time and nobody would be any wiser.”

“This is something I will have to talk over with my mother. She would have to agree to this before I start something like this.”

“I think she will approve, but you’re right springing it on her like what happened is not like having her consent or support. Just keep us in the loop Janice,” Anna said.

They did girl type things the rest of the night and finally went to sleep at three AM.

Sunday till four PM, Janice was put to the task by her friends, learning how to be a girl. At times it was two steps forward, three steps back, other times three steps forward one step back, especially when it came to walking in heels.

At five, Angela picked up her son to return home. John told his Mom all that the girls told him. They talked about it. Angela said, she didn’t know what to do. It was ok with her if he wanted to try this plan out. She wouldn’t tell John which way to choose, but she said she would be there for him either way and would help him once he decided. She just didn’t want to be the one choosing for him.

“I just didn’t want to make you into anything you are not comfortable with.”

“I appreciate that Mom. I’m not sure which way I will go, but it is good to know that you will be there for me.”

“I will always be there for you, that’s what Mom’s are for.”
 
 

*          *          *
 
 
End of Part 1
 
 
To Be Continued...

Author's Note: This is a novel length story and is mostly complete at the time of this posting. Additional parts will be posted weekly.
 
 
And That is the Way it Happened  © 2007 by Paula Dillon