Drea hugged the girl into her chest to protect her from the cruel world. She felt her tears fall down her face into the hair of the young girl in her arms. She wanted to make the entire world go away. She still could not believe what had just happened. How could any parent ever do something so...

BUZZ

Drea looked up in annoyance as the buzzer from the kitchen stove started to buzz.

Lil Jaci shook herself and disentangled herself from Drea's arms.

"My cookies!" she exclaimed.

Drea watched the girl, no not just some girl, this girl deserved more than that, her daughter. Yes her daughter, how that hurt to admit, just turned and went back to the kitchen to save her cookies. Drea went to the blue velvet couch that was nearby and collapsed into it, tucking her feet behind her, and buried her head into the armrest. The sobs came, she tried to stop them but they came anyways. She knew she should be strong but..

She felt a small hand on her arm. She looked up from the edge of the couch to see a very scared little, no Dottie was just as much her daughter as Jaci.

"Tante?" asked the scared little girl before Drea hugged her tight. The two sobbed into each other arms while Lil Jaci was busy in the kitchen taking out her last batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Jaci was satisfied with her cookies. She had made a very small batch of maybe twenty cookies. For her first cookies she was rather proud of how they turned out. For a fleeting moment she felt the buried tears come close to the surface. She swallowed them back, she had more important things to do today.

It did not take her long to pack up the hamburgers she had made nor the cookies and two soft drinks into the wicker basket she had found under the sink. She wasn't sure what it was for originally as there was cellophane in the bottom but with that removed and a blanket over top it made a suitable picnic basket.

Her basket done Jaci headed to her room and quickly removed the clothes she had thrown on that morning. Sitting at her vanity she spent quite a few minutes playing with her makeup, interspersed with rereading articles from copied Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and other teen magazines. Black,brown and blue eyeliner made her brown eyes pop while three coats of black mascara, and the same amount of curling, made her lashes look full and lush. The earth toned mix of eyeshadow across the lid and going up to her freshly plucked delicate eyebrows was subtle. So was the tiniest bit of blush on her now flawless skin.

With the makeup done aside from lipstick she attacked her hair with a vengeance. By the time she was done her once flat naturally wavy hair was a mass of curls on her head with tendrils down the front of her face on the sides just before her ears. There was also two longer tendrils that went down either side of her neck touching her bra. For earrings she chose simple hearts with a matching chain and locket for her neck.

With the makeup done she sauntered over to her closet and pulled out an outfit she had never worn before. The black leather skirt was not tight but flared just a bit. It was not the most warmest of outfits. The skirt only came to mid thigh. Paired with it was a red tank top with tiny spaghetti straps.

Examining herself in the mirror she knew she looked hot, really hot. The girl in the mirror looked far older than her meger twelve years. Too much in fact. With a sigh Jaci removed the outfit and put it away before searching her closet for just the right dress. Not too fancy, not too little. In the end she chose a floral pattern dress with a v neck. Tante had never let her buy anything too revealing so the bottom of the neck barely reached her cleavage.

The waist of the simple A-line purple dress hugged her waist while the skirt flared out quite a bit. She put a simple white laced edge slip on and grabbed her open toed pumps for the dress. She sat at her vanity to put on the shoes as well as put on her lipstick. Glancing at the time Jaci cursed as it was later than she wanted to be. She hastily packed her purse and left her room to swing by the kitchen for her basket before leaving via the back door.

The day was beautiful and sunny. She had feared that it would be overcast and rainy but for once it seemed that things were going good for her. As she walked she looked around and anything and everything keeping her mind blank. At the end of the block she spotted a girl in a simple red skirt, white hose or tights, and a black top. However something about her seemed off.

Jaci stared at the girl as she came closer and closer. At the point where they passed each other the girl looked up and she saw that it was Rob. Why Rob was dressed as a girl was beyond her. He looked okay but now that she knew he was a boy she could see it. In his body language, the way he walked and held himself all said boy. Not for the first time she wondered if she gave off that impression. Still Rob was done up rather well. At a guess his mother had helped him get dressed up as his motions gave away that it was not comfortable for him. But why?

Shrugging she hurried on to the bus stop. The entire bus ride to the park where she was to meet with Keith was nerve racking. The park was a small one about a block from the mill pond. They would meet up and spend the day together. Jaci had originally thought about maybe fishing in the pond but looking down at herself she realized that she had chosen to do something else. What that was she had no idea.

As the bus pulled up she saw that Keith was waiting for her at the bus stop near the park. He looked quite nice in his simple black plain t shirt and denim jeans. Even from the window she could see that he was nervous and she giggled. In his hand was a simple flower arrangement. From the looks it was a few dandelions, some wild daisy's, wild sunflowers, and what looked to be a yellow rose of some sort. She knew he had no money to buy flowers and yet he had gotten these for her.

Jaci descended the bus in a rush and ran up to Keith and the flowers. The wicker basket was on her arm as she grabbed the fresh flowers and gave them a sniff. A smile spread over her face as she smelt the fragrance.

"I kinda sorta got them for you."

"They are lovely. Thank you."

"I kinda stole the yellow from a trashcan near a graveyard but I picked the rest myself on the way over." Really it was too much information. Jacilynn laughed at how silly the boy was being. Did she really make boys this nervous just being a girl?

"You uh..."

"Oh do you like my dress?"

"Yes you look so darn beautiful." it was a corny comment that caused Jaci to raise an eyebrow and Keith to duck his head as if he had done something awful. Having pity on the poor boy she smiled.

"Thank you." with that she tread her free arm into his and they walked to the nearby park. The part had cement or paved pathways through it. It was a proper park unlike their final destination. Every tree, flower, bush, mound or bench, while very nice, was made to someones ideal. There was no real wildness to the park. It was just a park dedicated to some dead person, with a fancy brass plack and all, and neither of the two cared a wink about it.

The strolled along the pathways slowly making their way across the park oblivious to the stares of other people. Jaci was lost in his gorgeous blue eyes. She felt her breathing going up and down the entire time they walked. So engrossed just being in his presence that she was surprised to see that they had left the park and arrived at the edge of the mill pond.

Their only immediate company was a mother duck and her small mostly grown goslings. She could see that these goslings were already shedding their grey feathers for the more adult black,white, red and dark blue feathers. At another clearing at the edge of the millpond she could see a couple but couldn't make out what they were doing from this distance.

Snapping out of her reverie she apologized to Keith and knelt down to set up the blanket and the food she cooked. She hoped it was good enough to impress him. Keith almost interrupted her as she kneeled but stopped. When it was as set up as she could manage she stood up again and settled down on the blanket.

Keith had wanted to prevent Jaci from spoiling her dress but the smile on her face as she started to lay things out stopped him. It was so beautiful. She was so beautiful. Yes she was a year younger than him, and he knew that she constantly tried to pass herself off as a boy, nobody believed her at all. But even the girls that were jealous of her had to admit that she was already quite pretty. He could only imagine how she would look when she tried and here she was.

She seemed so... homey as she set about doing such a simple thing. He could easily see this woman setting a table up for him and his children. All the while with a smile on her face from her heart. He knew that women were supposed to be treated the same as men and all that but there was just something about this girl that said she would be happy, truly happy, as a stay at home mom.

He also knew he would never be worthy of such a woman. Unless he could make himself sucessful. He started to think of ways to do just that as the girl of his dreams stood up, brushing imaginary grass from her shapely legs before she glided over the blanked and settled down like an angel landing.

Jaci looked at Keith and smiled at him.

"Well are you gonna eat?" she asked while she held out a hamburger for him.

Keith shook himself just a little causing her to worry that he didn't want to eat her cooking. However from the moment he bit into the burger she made his eyebrows shot up in surprise followed by pleasure in his features. She knew he liked it even before he asked.

"Did your mom make this?"

"Tante and no. I made it. I know it's awful but really I tried." why she felt the threat of tears she had no idea.

"No! God's no! It's wonderful. I wish my mom cooked this good!" he choked out around his burger.

"Your just saying that. It's the first time I've cooked so I know it's not that good." Jaci nibbled on her own burger to shut up and kept her eyes cast down. She did not see the shocked look on Keith's face before she shoved the burger back in.

The two sat and ate the burgers. Keith had two while Jaci barely finished half of hers. She just wasn't that hungry for some reason. When she saw he was finished she unpacked the brown paper wrapped cookies and offered him one. Keith took it and looked at her.

"I .. .I made... well tried to make them anyways. I followed the recipe but they are not as stiff as Tante's." and again she looked down at her lap twisting her hands.

Again she did not see Keith bite into the soft chewy golden brown chocolate chip cookie.

"Ssss goot!" he managed to get out.

Jaci smiled and continued to pick at her burger. She was surprised she she felt Kieth move closer to her. She had been leaning on one hand with her feet tucked under her dress on the one side. She saw Keith's hand next to hers.

"Did you even try one of your delicious cookies?" She looked up while shaking her head. Again those eyes of his caught her and she smiled as she saw him break off a piece of the cookie and approached her mouth with it.

It was like slow motion as his hand came into contact with her lips. She pressed down savoring the taste of his fingers. She didn't know why she was doing this but it felt right.

As she savored the after taste of his fingers she knew what happy was and just as suddenly remembered how it was wrong for her to feel this way.

'No son of mine is gonna be some freak'

"I can't do this Keith. I'm sorry."

'Where did you get this skirt from? Did you steal it you little freak?'

"What did I do wrong?"

'Excuse me young.... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BOY?'

"It's not you. It's me.. I ... I.. " she started to cry it wasn't fair!

'You can't hide my boy forever.'

"Please tell me Jaci." Keith moved even closer and pulled her into his arms. She felt herself collapse into those arms. Arms that felt like they could take away everything and protect her.

'We will get our SON back! Mark my words freak!'

"I ... I... My parent's want me to be a boy. I ..I..." she sobbed into his shoulder. She could hear the yelling of her fathers voice in her head. Her mother and her shrill voice.

It was therefor a complete surprise when she felt his lips touch hers. It was like the touch of his lips made all the voices in her head telling her to be a boy go away. She looked deep into his eyes and knew in that moment, more than anything else in the world, she was a girl.

"I think your a girl. I... I... wish you could be my girl. Not that I want to own you or anything but.." she used a finger to shut those wonderful silencing lips.

"I'm too young to date yet."

"We are on a date right now."

"I snuck out of the house."

"So did I"

With a smile on her face Jaci raised her arms around Keith's neck to pull him in for another kiss.

At their house about eight blocks away Dottie had just finished getting herself untangled from Tante on the couch. Tante, still in her red housecoat, was now sleeping on the couch. She heard a knock on the door.

Straightening her dress as best she could she went to answer the door wondering why the person didn't press the doorbell. Opening the door she saw a girl. She wanted to go find her sister so she was going to tell her to go away and come back later.

"Uh Hi Dottie."That got her attention.

"Rob?"