Ever since I was a little kid I've known I was... different from other boys. Known that deep down, I'm not what I appear to be on the surface. My name is Nick Thomas, and every day of my life, I wish I'd been born a girl.

As if my life wasn't difficult enough with this thought constantly going through my head, it's not helped by the fact that I'm also 14 years old and just starting my GCSEs. Every weekday I get up, pull on my trousers, shirt, tie and blazer and have to go into school to be confronted by girls wearing flimsy blouses, dark tights and every style of skirt under the sun. Not to mention make-up, long hair, even sometimes some nail polish.

I don't have many friends- most boys I know are just meatheads I can't open up to, and the girls all have their cliques that I obviously won't be able to get into, being a boy and all.

All this changed in September 2011, at the start of Year 10, when the new girl started at school.

"This is Sarah Phillips," Mr. Holmes, our form tutor, announced. "Her family's just moved here from Bristol, I want you all to make her very welcome." If I was a normal boy, I would find Sarah very attractive- her long, brown hair and cute dimples made her quite the looker. However, it was her knee-length pleated navy blue skirt, translucent black tights and tiny black ballerina pumps that immediately drew my attention.

Needless to say, the seat next to me was the only empty chair in the classroom, so much to the giggling of the other girls in the room, Sarah nervously parked herself next to me.

It was later on that day, during lunch, that I first plucked up the courage to talk to Sarah, who was sat on her own in the corner of the dinner hall.

"Hi," I said nervously, distracting Sarah's attention from her food. "Anyone sitting here?" Sarah shyly shook her head, so I tentatively sat down opposite her.

"I'm Nick," I said, taking tiny bites of my meal.

"Sarah," the brown-haired girl replied.

"Yeah," I stuttered, "I know." The second the words left my mouth, I grimaced- here I was, trying to be cool in front of the new girl and I came across like a goofy idiot.

"I mean-" I spluttered, trying to recover- "we didn't get to talk much in form. Which GCSEs are you taking?" Much to my relief, Sarah briefly smiled.

"Biology, chemistry, psychology," Sarah said. "I really want to be a doctor when I'm older." Inwardly, I beamed- she was opening up to me!

"I dunno what exactly I want to do when I'm older," I said truthfully.

"What GCSEs are you doing?" Sarah asked.

"Physics, music, German, computer science," I answered, audibly unhappy that none of my lessons coincided with Sarah's.

"I can kinda tell you don't know what you want to do, going by that list," Sarah joked, causing me to let out a goofy giggle. "We're in the same Maths and English classes, aren't we?"

"Yeah," I replied, leading to an awkward pause. "Do you- do you want to- want to maybe study together?" Sarah smiles a small smile, to my intense relief.

"I'd like that," she answered, prompting us both to grin widely.

Over the next two weeks we became closer as friends. We'd study together in the library after school and collaborate in both Maths and English homework. Then, three Saturdays after I first met her, Sarah came to my house for the very first time.

"Hi!" I near-yelled as I opened the door to the girl who had very quickly become my new best friend.

"Hi Nick!" Sarah said as she let herself into my home. I ushered her into the living room and parked myself on the sofa next to her as I took in the sight of her. Much to my disappointment- and slight relief- she was wearing jeans rather than a skirt, and a very plain t-shirt. However, my heart rate began to increase again when I saw that she had painted her fingernails a pale shade of pink.

We chat for a while about school- I warn her about which teachers to avoid and which girls are known to be trouble. Within half an hour, it was like we'd been friends our whole lives. It was then that she dropped the bombshell on me.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Sarah whispered, to which I hastily nodded. "I don't really want to be a doctor when I'm older. I'm just saying that as that's what my mum wants. She's the big-name shrink and expects me to go into medicine, so that's the path I'm being forced down."

"What is it you really want to do?" I asked, curious and excited by the revelation.

"I really want to work in fashion," Sarah explained with a smile. "Preferably as a designer, but even as a photographer or model would be cool. I sketch designs for clothes all the time when I'm bored, but we don't even own a sewing machine at home, so they just keep being sketches." Sarah then stared deep into my eyes with a firm, serious gaze. "Obviously, I'm trusting that you will NOT tell anyone about this. If my mum finds out... I don't even want to know what she'd say."

"I promise," I said, my voice quivering as I prepared for my revelation. "Can I tell you a secret?" Instantly, Sarah perked up.

"Sure!" She said with a smile. I took a deep, hesitant breath and leaned in close to her.

"Obviously," I began, "you can't tell anyone about this, especially not my parents." Sarah nodded, concern for me seeping into her eyes.

"I... Am a crossdresser," I said, almost hyperventilating from saying aloud what I've wanted to say for years upon years. "I like dressing up in girls' clothes." Sarah's jaw drops as she sits, stunned from my revelation. Well, this is it, I think to myself. It's going to get out at school, I'm going to be beaten up every day for the rest of my life...

"Oh. My. God," she said stoically, before emotion began to flood into her voice. "That is so COOL!" Almost immediately, all the negative emotions drained from my body, replaced by confusion.

"Really?" I asked.

"Of course!" Sarah exclaimed. "How long have you been dressing up for?" Immediately from looking into Sarah's eyes, I could tell I could trust her implicitly.

"A few years," I explained, a wide grin creeping onto my face at finally having someone with whom I can share my secret. "Just my mum's clothes, never any underwear or anything I think I wouldn't be able to get away with. I always wished that just for one day, I could go into school as a girl."

"Would you like to?" Sarah asked, to which I simply laugh.

"If only it was that easy," I snorted.

"Well," Sarah said with a knowing smirk on her face, "it may not be easy to go into school dressed as a girl, but you DO know a girl who owns a school uniform that she'd be willing to lend you, if just for a day..."

No words came out of my mouth for at least 30 seconds. Not only was my new friend supportive of my 'hobby', but she was willing to help me and even lend me some of her clothes to wear!

We spent the rest of the day planning how I would be turned into a schoolgirl. Sarah was understandably reluctant to lend me any of her underwear- including tights- but she said that if I gave her some money she'd go shopping for some additional underwear I could store at her house whenever I wanted to 'dress up'.

All this bring us to today, 22nd October, mere weeks after I first met Sarah. Today's the day she's going to help me realise my dream- she's going to help me finally be a girl, in my own little clique.

I knock on Sarah's front door with a massive sense of anxiety and excitement pulsing through my body. She answers the door with a wide, beaming smile and ushers me upstairs to her room. I've never been in a girl's room before but it's basically what I was expecting- posters of boy bands on the wall, books and fashion magazines cluttering her shelves, and a large dressing table with a mirror opposite her bed.

"My mum won't be back until late evening," Sarah explains, "so we've got the house to ourselves!"

"Cool!" I say a little too loudly, as Sarah pulls two large shopping bags out from underneath her bed.

"Are you ready?" Sarah asks with a smile as I nod nervously. Smiling, she empties out the shopping bags onto her bed and sorts through all the items.

"I couldn't get too many of each item, but for £25 I think I've got as much as you'll need." She takes out two packets and shows me them. "I've got you five pairs of ordinary briefs, just lycra and cotton, and 3 cotton thongs. I haven't got any thongs myself yet so you'll have to save these for special occasions, unless you want to wash them at home yourself, of course!" I grin as I open the packet of flimsy, thin-backed panties and hold one up against my stirring crotch. "I wasn't going to get any thongs but I had some money spare and figured you'd like it!"

"I do, this is so cool!" I enthuse as Sarah holds up two white cotton bras.

"These are the same size as my bras, so it'll be easy to hide them in my drawer without arousing any suspicion," Sarah explains. "They're also adjustable in case your chest is a little bigger than mine." Sarah then pulls out a few packets of tights.

"I got two pairs of clear tights and three pairs of black tights," Sarah says. "Obviously you can't shave your legs so we'll stick with the black tights for now. These won't last long so we'll need to buy more eventually." I nod enthusiastically, wanting to get to the actual dressing itself.

"Last, but not least, is this!" Sarah pulls a long, brown wig out of her bag. "I matched it as close to your hair colour as possible. Go on, let me see how it looks!" Giggling girlishly myself, I slip the wig over my head, whilst Sarah brushes it smooth with her hair brush.

"I always wished I had a little sister," Sarah teases as I allow her to play with the wig. "Want me to give you some privacy so you can get ready?"

"Please," I quiver, trying to regain my composure and get my excited groin under control!

"You gonna go with briefs or thong?" Sarah asks jokingly. "It is a special occasion, after all..."

"Wow, I don't know..." I breathe as I admire my new hair in Sarah's mirror. "Maybe next time..."

"Okay," Sarah says with a smile. "It's your afternoon. Put your panties on then I'll show you how to do your bra." Sarah skips off into her en-suite as I strip completely naked and take a few deep breaths to keep my excited groin under control. Once I'm happy I'm under control, I step into the plain white panties and ease them up my legs, happy that they're tight enough to keep me under 'control'.

"Ready!" I yell, calling Sarah back into her bedroom. I playfully cover up my bare chest with my hands, making my new best friend giggle.

"Raise your arms, it's nothing I've never seen before," Sarah chuckles as I comply, prompting Sarah to slip a bra over my arms and fasten it behind my chest.

"This fits you really well," Sarah says as she hands me some old socks to pack into the bra cups. "That's good, the rest of my stuff should fit you well too!" I playfully cup my new 'breasts' as Sarah pulls off her socks and jeans and takes a pair of tights out of her drawer.

"I'm sure you've worn tights before, but this is how you're supposed to put them on," Sarah explains as she rolls the clear garment up and sticks one pointed toe into one of the legs before stretching it up to her knee and repeating on the other leg. I mirror her actions with a new pair of my black tights before mirroring her in stretching them up across my waist until they're snug against my crotch. Sarah pulls her jeans back on and motions for me to sit back down in front of her mirror, which I obediently do, tying my new 'hair' back into a tight ponytail.

"I'll do your make-up for today," she explains, "but I'll show you how to do your own in the future!" My heart begins to race as Sarah rubs foundation into her hands and smears it all over my smooth face, before brushing some powder over me (making sure to keep it away from 'my' hair). Sarah then moves onto my eyes, carefully outlining them with her pencil and filling my eyelashes with mascara before brushing a silver colour onto my eyelids. Lastly comes the lipstick- a thick red colour that causes my heart to beat even faster at the sight of the gorgeous teenaged girl staring back at me from the mirror!

"We won't bother with any nail polish this time," Sarah says, much to my disappointment. "I'm not wearing any, it's school next week and the smell of the remover would be a dead giveaway." Disappointedly, I nod my head as Sarah sits down and makes her own face up the exact same way as mine, making sure I pay attention as she does so. Once she is made-up- and looking stunning, she strolls over to her wardrobe and hands me a plain white blouse and a straight navy blue school skirt.

"You said you wished you were a schoolgirl," Sarah says with a beaming grin, "now you can be one!" I nod happily and start with the shirt, wanting to save the skirt for last. I struggle a little with the buttons but Sarah is on hand to help out, even cheekily grabbing a feel of my 'breasts' as she does! Last, but not least, is the skirt. It feels so good as I slide it up my legs, getting tighter the higher up it gets until the hem stops just a few inches above my knee. Sarah zips the skirt up at the back as I tuck the blouse into it and present myself to her, putting my hands on my hips to prevent them from shaking with excitement!

"Wow," Sarah enthuses, clapping her hands. "You look soooo good!" I giggle as Sarah holds out a pair of her ballerina flats for me to put on my feet. I take the time to walk around her room a little, loving the feeling of the skirt pulling on my legs with every stride.

"All you need now is a name! I mean, we can't call you 'Nick' now, can we?" Sarah asks as I sit down confidently on her bed, untie my hair and cross my legs.

"Call me 'Nikki'," I explain as Sarah grins and sits down next to me. "N-I-K-K-I."

"N-I-K-K-I it is!" Sarah says, giving me a quick hug. "God, this is the best school move ever! I've got a new male friend AND a new female friend all rolled into one!"

"You've moved around a lot?" I ask, subconsciously brushing a stray hair out of my face.

"A bit," Sarah explains. "My mum's this fancy, expensive psychiatrist. You'll love this- she specialises in 'gender dysphoria' of all things."

"What's that?" I ask, intrigued by what I think it means.

"People who were born the wrong gender," Sarah explains. "Transsexuals. Maybe you have a case of 'gender dysphoria', who knows? Anyway, I've been at four different schools in the last five years. Mum's promised that we won't move again for a while- not until I've finished my GCSEs, anyway- and she's always wanted to work in London so who knows? Maybe this is where we're going to stay."

"I see," I say, half-listening to Sarah's story but really more interested in this 'gender dysphoria' she mentioned.

"Anyways," Sarah says with a smile, "you haven't told me about yourself! I want to know all about Nick- and all about Nikki!"

"Nick," I say with mock contempt, "is a boring only child, the son of a taxi driver and a shop worker. He likes watching TV and pretending to be his twin sister Nikki, who is much more interesting, funnier and cleverer than he is. Her likes consist of being a gorgeous, girly girl."

"Well then," Sarah says with a wide grin, "I'm glad it's 'Nikki' and not 'Nick' who's sat on my bed right now!" I smile and uncross my legs, frowning at the feeling of my tights sagging around my thighs.

"'Nikki' also wishes that tights lived up to their name," I say, getting a tingle of excitement as I pull the thin garment up my legs, the same way I've seen girls do hundreds of times. Sarah smiles wickedly as she grabs at the bottom of my tights.

"Some girls actually prefer them a little looser," she says as she starts to pull down the leg I had just straightened.

"THIS girl doesn't," I say, pulling the tights back up. My attempts to straighten my clothing quickly turn into a tug of war until a particularly forceful pull from me inadvertently pulls Sarah off-balance, causing her to fall into me, her arm wrapped around her waist and her face mere inches from mine. For a second, I stare in horror at her expressionless face, worried that I'd just hurt my new best friend, the only person who knows my secret, before Sarah does something that shocks me.

Sarah kisses me.

It's just a brief, quick kiss, her closed lips against my closed lips, but it's enough to cause my heart to beat twice as fast, and cause an uncomfortable stirring in my panties. Sarah starts to blush- as do I- at what just happened.

"Umm," she stammers, her voice cracking as she catches her breath. "Umm, that was- that was- umm, you do like, you know, girls, right?" I smile as Sarah's facade starts to crack and I begin to see the real girl- and I like what I see.

"Do YOU like girls?" I ask with a big smile on my made-up face. Sarah nods hastily, widening my smile as this time, I lean in for a kiss, a kiss she happily accepts and reciprocates.

"So, umm," I stammer, "do you, umm, want to be my girlfriend?" Sarah smiles and stares at me, fanning herself a little with her fingers.

"Do you want to be MY girlfriend?" She asks.

"More than anything," I reply. "Just... I doubt we'd get away with being 'girlfriend and girlfriend' in public."

"Well how about in public," Sarah says, "we can be boyfriend and girlfriend, and when we're alone, boring old Nick can take a backseat to gorgeous, girly Nikki?"

"That sounds awesome," I say, finally fully straightening my tights. "Well, apart from the 'boring old Nick' part."

"Awesome!" Sarah says, leaning in and giving me a quick hug. "So I've got a new male friend, female friend, boyfriend AND girlfriend, and they're all the same person! You're, like, the perfect friend!" I smile as I return the hug, giggling a little as Sarah plays with my bra straps.

I stay as Nikki for the rest of the afternoon, changing out of Sarah's uniform after a while in favour of one of her t-shirts and her knee-length denim skirt. After a while, though, I'm forced to change back into my boring boy clothes and remove all my make-up before Sarah's mother returns. I contemplate keeping my panties on underneath my boy clothes, but Sarah needs to put them in her washing, so I reluctantly strip them off. Eventually, all traces of Nikki are gone and I'm back to being boring old Nick again. As Sarah sees me off at the door, though, she surprises me with another quick kiss.

"I'll see you on Monday okay, Nikki?" She says with a beautiful sparkle in her eyes. I grin and happily nod my head.

"See you then," I reply. Suddenly I'm not too disappointed about having to go back to being 'boring old Nick' again- not when next Saturday- and my next 'Nikki day' is just 6 days away, and especially not when I'll have Sarah to help me through those days!

After a Sunday spent mostly messaging Sarah on Facebook, I head back to school on Monday, and for the first time in a very long time, I go to school with an eager smile on my face. A smile that just widened when I see Sarah, and what she's wearing.

"Look familiar?" She says quietly to me during form. I simply nod in reply.

"You don't know how jealous I am right now," I whisper with a wink. There, wrapped around my new girlfriend's body, are the same blouse and skirt I had worn on Saturday. Next Saturday can't come soon enough!