I have come to enjoy times being with Jane and sometimes with Aubrey doing aerobics. Most of my hesitancy was in learning the moves, I was gaining some grace and it took time and effort. My waist was becoming more flexible and narrow while my hips tightened to look more round. I noticed the difference in how my dresses and slimmer blouses sat on me. I wasn’t pleased when my friend Matt as he said my waist felt and looked more like his sister and girlfriend.

I have seen Debbie from the church I have been going to. We haven’t often talked, but she said I’m becoming more girl-like. She giggles when I tell her it is just for the wedding.

When I went with Aubrey, Serena, Jane, and the other bridesmaid Susan to pick up our gowns, we had to try them on. I learned I needed another bra. Susan had apprehensions about a boy being a bridesmaid and changing with her. That changed as she became enchanted when I had to undress down to my panty and try on bras. She was giggling when she said, “You look so cute in your transformation.”

The visit to get the gowns was coordinated with a time to a salon for manicures and pedicures. My manicurist said, "I needed to take better care of my hands and fingers." She gave me a lotion and instructions to do so.

Sue insisted on my getting a vagina gaff; which found agreement, if not pressure from Aubrey and others, including Jane. The fact that my mother, as well as Mrs. Brewer, were there; led to my acceptance that this was known all along. Jane had talked to me about the possibility of a surprise. So by the time I was asked/told, I had even kind of accepted it as a good idea.

I’d wear it for a few days and then the week before the actual rehearsal and wedding service. We were now two weeks away. It was Sunday evening and the bridal party went out to eat. The Howling Moon, where we went, also had dancing, and Aubrey was going to dance with others of us in the group. The rest of us were approached by guys to dance with them. That included me; since I knew I needed to experience the first dance not with Jane was the hardest part.

I didn’t remember meeting Jeff, but he was from my school and we had met. I was for some reason comfortable dancing with him. Jane said it was because we knew some of the same people and places. He had attended our school only one year; his family was one of those that moved often.

Changing back to Lee for school was harder and I was now self-conscious about looking more like a girl. It was the last week of school; so most of it was for exams and handing back books and computers, I had one from the school.

It was Thursday and we stopped at one of the after-school meeting places. I was with Jane, Lisa, Mai Li, Marcy, and Chase; when I slipped into character as Lela. It happened before for a word or two, but this time I was two sentences into a conversation. The eyes of everyone else lit up, but no one was totally surprised. Lisa and Marcy had met me as Lela and Mai Li already accepted what I was doing. It was Chase and while he knew of Lela, everyone was surprised this happened out in public.

It was Sara and Kaitlyn coming to know that outed me more fully. Kaitlyn asked, “Does this mean you’re coming out gay? Your changes have been noticeable and had me wondering?” She made a small scene of my manicured hands, fingernails, and complexion. Before we could excuse ourselves, we ended up sitting and being part of four tables and a group of more than a dozen people. Two acted like they were creeped out about a guy acting like a girl. Over half of the group wondered if I was coming out as transgender. A friend, Nick, was a little upset that I hadn’t told him. He agreed with Jane that there wasn’t an easy way to say it or keep it quiet.

My family and the Brewers were accepting and both were pretty sure it might happen at the reception or after. All of Aubrey’s grandparents coming to the wedding already knew about me. The Willes were only surprised that Jane hadn’t previously feminized me.

I had one final exam on Friday morning and my last exam at 1:00 in the afternoon. I was distracted before each with friends or other classmates wanting to know about me as Lela. I’d have to wait for my final grades, but I was fairly sure I didn’t do as well as I might in either exam. My trigonometry and pre-calculus grades had been on the border of an A or B. I had hoped for a good exam to obtain an A for the class.

My Advanced Environmental Studies needed to be a strong B to get college credit. I was fairly sure I’d get the grade, but I was upset that the distractions caused me some doubt.

Jane had acknowledged to some that I was going out Friday night with some of them to unwind. Between us, there were over a dozen suggestions that I would be Lela going out with the group. It was a tradition that there was a good dance at the Italian-American Club for high school-age students and recent graduates the next community to ours. I had planned to go for part of the dance, but I had not planned it as Lela.

I got a message from Debbie Myers from church to Jane and myself, ‘She’d like to meet us at the dance.’ Since Arlen was to be with Jane, and Debbie was with her date Travis; she wanted to know if I’d be open to her friend Kyle. I knew of a Kyle Hammon from her school. He and I had met through forensics and math competitions. Debbie told me that Kyle had seen me at church and, “Kyle had asked me if Lela Scott was somehow related to Lee Scott as you looked like you could be related. I haven’t told him about you, but he did acknowledge an interest in going out with you. He is likely to be at the dance tonight and he is likely to be looking for you.”

It was likely that it would be Lela meeting Kyle; the remaining question was if he was going to know about me. It was a moot point as others from my school would probably know about me either way.

My mother questioned my going out as Lela, but we agreed that I needed and had earned time to relax and celebrate. Mom knew Arlen and said, she had met Travis at church and was glad there would be two guys there whom she could trust to watch out for me. “Mom, I’m a guy too, I can watch out for myself.”

She said, “I wasn’t inferring you couldn’t, but it is helpful to have another guy around. You, Chase, and Matt have watched one another’s back. That’s all I’m saying.” She asked, “Are Matt or Chase going to be there?”

“I don’t know Mom; some of the guys were freaked out that they hadn’t known about this before.” I said, “I put Matt off about playing some of his new games. I’ll talk to him, but it won’t be tonight unless he or Chase is there.”

Jane asked, “So are you open to being with Kyle part of the time if Chase isn’t there?”

I said, “I don’t want others getting the wrong idea if Kyle and I are like together.”

She asked, “Well then do you want to reply to Debbie and tell her, ‘No’,”

I said, “Then I would be the odd one out with either of you. If he’s comfortable knowing me, then he might as well come.”

Jane had gone home to get ready; I heard from Cami that she and her friend Jeff would be there. I told her which outfit I was planning on wearing and she agreed it would be cute, though ‘cute’ wasn’t the term I wanted to use.

I showered and was comfortable in brushing out a more feminine hairstyle. I was wearing a mauve pink, satin print blouse. Between my padded bra and cutlets; it would give me enough curves to differentiate from Lee. I went with minimal eyeshadow and light on the blush. Mom questioned if Jane was going to be tempted to redo my makeup.

I responded that it was my choice and that I wasn’t telling Jane what to do. Arlen had picked up Jane and had me ride with them. Arlen thought the idea of Kyle coming was going to be interesting as he heard Chase was coming.

I commented, “Why hadn’t Chase told me?” The truth was he wasn’t sure what I’d say.

The dance started at 8:00 and it was after 8:30 when we got there. Chase had already arrived and was dancing with a girl from our school. She and Chase came over to say hello after they saw us. By that time Deb, Travis, Kyle, and two others were there. We were standing around in an extended group that grew and shrank as the night went on.

My first dance with Kyle was a dance he treated as a slow dance. Kyle said, “I was surprised when Deb told me you and Lee were the same person. It sounded interesting the way she said it came about. But she was glad that I hadn’t freaked out or told others.” He said, “You probably already knew our church is an open church.

He asked, “So how likely is it this will be part of you after taking part in the wedding?”

I told him it would be ending, and he questioned me if it would be that easy. I said, “It isn’t very easy to perpetuate my being a girl.”

He took a half step back and said, “Why you could have fooled me, but then again I never thought I’d dance with a transgender person.”

I asked, “Is that what you think I am?”

Kyle said, “You are at least a very good crossdresser.” He said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m just going to treat you as Lela tonight.”

Chase pretty much stayed with Sarah; though he and I talked and danced twice. Sarah was about a year behind us in school. She was amused enough with me that when Jane, Deb, and I went to use the women’s room she went as well.

Other classmates and new friends from the church saw us. I readily got into conversation with the girls in girl talk about the coming wedding and being part of a wedding party. It felt strange when I saw Arlen, Travis, and the other guys talking. I didn’t feel welcomed into their conversations. Arlen even said, “I don’t mean to discount you but dressed as Lela, you don’t feel like part of our group.”

It was after 10:30 when Kyle took me for a walk and we talked. His hand was around my waist like when we danced. He said, “I told Deb that your waist feels more like a girl’s than another boy's… She said it was probably because you dieted and were doing some aerobics before the wedding.”

I said, “It probably doesn’t seem any stranger than my acting like a girl and dancing with a guy.” He chuckled.

He said, “If you don’t mind, there is one other thing I want to try and see if it feels like it would with a girl.” He took me in his hands and stepped forward asking if he could kiss me while we were alone. I know we both looked around with our eyes, and there was no one else there. His kiss was at first like two lips meeting and then parting. I was about to open my eyes when I felt him pull me to him and he kissed me again. The kiss was more passionate and lasted longer. Neither he nor I was ready to say anything when it ended. We hugged and that meant for me that we both liked it.

Come time to leave, Arlen asked, “Kyle, if you wouldn’t mind; would you give Lela a ride home; I’d like time with Jane.” Kyle had his car and was willing to drive me home and then go back to where he lived. It was a bit uneasy when he stopped to let me out. His hand touched mine and he leaned forward to kiss me.

=^_^=

The next day was Saturday and Mom wanted my help around the house. Greg took to the outside chores. We had done two loads of wash and had them dry, folded, and put away. Mom said, “Get your purse, we’re going to get some flowers to plant outdoors?”

I smarted back, “Greg should have to do that as they’re for the outdoors.”

Mom said, “Yes, but you’re the one who generally likes to do it. Don't you want to do it?”

“You’re right, I prefer doing it.” I asked, “If we get a rose bush, can I tell Greg he needs to dig a hole for it?”

Mom said after we bought it, “You should put on shorts and garden gloves. But, I’ll ask Greg to dig the hole as I don’t want you roughing your hands this week.”

Sunday, Greg went to church with us to our new church. It was good to see Debbie as well as others there. Debbie said, “Denise would have been here as she regularly has this weekend off. But she’s taking off next weekend for the wedding. Thus she had to work today.”

Marcy asked, “Are you looking forward to the wedding being over and done; so that you can change back to Lee?”

I paused long enough and then acknowledged, “Yes, I want to get back to being Lee, but it might not be as easy as I thought…”

To be continued...