I quickly stuffed the box with the wig in the back of my closet and put my books for the day into my backpack. Then I heard my mom's voice coming from downstairs. "I am heading out for work, don't forget to lock the door when you leave!" With that, I could hear her heels click on the tiles in the hallway as she left the house. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and made my way downstairs, where I made myself some breakfast and started cleaning up the kitchen. When I left the house about 15 minutes later, I could see Riley leaving her house at about the same time and locked the door behind me.

Today, she was wearing a brown corduroy overall dress with a white long sleeve shirt underneath it. The dress was showing off her long legs perfectly, while some black ankle boots give her outfit just that little bit of an edge. As she made her way over to the other side of the road, I couldn't help but think about how I would look wearing something like that, but quickly purged that thought from my mind.

"Hey Riley, has your dad said anything to you about last night?" I asked her when we started our walk to school.

"No? He just hung out in his art studio all night, as far as I know. Didn't see him after you left or anything. What's up, did something happen with that workaholic of a mother of yours last night? You look like you have just seen a ghost JJ," she answered.

Lowering my volume and with a certain worry in my voice, I whispered to her, "Well... It turns out your dad didn't buy our Emily act. He must have seen right through it since he dropped off the box with the wig at my house this morning."

While I was still freaking out about this whole situation, she didn't seem to be slightest bit phased about the revelation I just sprung upon her.

"Hmmm, well yeah, that makes sense. I kind of figured he would have noticed. Come to think of it, you were literally wearing a wig he has seen his wife wear before. And a dress he has seen his daughter wear before. I mean, damn JJ. This man has pretty much seen you grow up, it was always going to be a hard sell, and we barely made an effort in the grand scheme of things," she reasoned.

"Well?! What are we going to do about it?" I angrily growled at her under my breath. "He left this weird note with it. Telling Emily to keep it and wishing her a good day."

She read the note and looked at me with a condescending smile. "Do I need to point out that YOU are Emily, my little doofus? He clearly is going along with the act, so why can't you do the same? I can guarantee you, my parents have seen stuff a whole lot weirder than a boy in a dress."

I really didn't want to admit it, but Riley might have a point. It didn't seem like Riley's dad had told my mother because she would definitely have scolded me about it this morning otherwise. And it probably couldn't hurt to have some adult allies in this whole pretending to be Emily project. Clearly, some more work needed to be done if I wanted to properly fool others into believing Emily was real, and maybe Riley's dad could provide that.

"I guess it isn't as bad as I initially thought," I said to Riley.

"Nothing ever is, I remember that week when you were worried about dying in your sleep so stayed awake for 3 whole days. You are lucky you're big sis Riley is there to protect you," she jested back at me.

I glared at her as we continued our way to school.

***

As the day went on at school, I found it incredibly difficult to keep my focus in class. It felt like there were a million thoughts occupying my mind after the events of last night. The weird feelings I felt when I saw myself in the mirror after Riley's makeover. The fact that I had said yes to the girls regarding the bootcamp and figuring out how "Emily" was going to show up there. How Riley seemed to be enjoying this whole project a little bit too much for my taste. Or what her dad was thinking of me after seeing me strut about in his daughter's dress.

Chemistry class had just come to a close, so I had packed my bag and made my way into the school's hallway. At that moment, my classmate Kelsey walked past me and looked at me with an annoyed look. "Don't stare at me, you weirdo!" I heard her say to me when she quickly disappeared into the crowd.

That was another thing, I felt like I couldn't stop staring at some of the girls in the class. But it was not for the reason one might expect a teenage boy to be staring at his female classmates. I was just very jealous of their outfits and how perfectly their bodies filled them out. Comparing the slobbish dress from yesterday with those leather-coated skinny jeans, highlighting Kelsey's very feminine figure, actually made me feel things. And I know these are incredibly unhealthy thoughts to be having, but it is so hard to ignore them.

***

By the time lunch rolled around, I could finally get my mind out of the gutter for a bit. Just having my regular lunch shenanigans with Riley brought me back into that familiar comfort zone. But it seemed this wouldn't last long though.

As Riley eventually piped up. "Your landlord still has her spinning class on Friday nights, right?"

"Yes? Why are you asking?" I responded nervously.

"Awesome, that means we are going to do some shopping with Emily on that night. I will ask my dad if he can drive us to the mall," she smiled at me with that devilish grin of hers.

"What do you mean? I can't just walk into a store trying on girl's clothes and stuff, they will call me a creep. What if somebody from school sees me? Everyone would find out," I shot back at her.

Now she started doing the whole duck face and baby voice thing again she always does to get her way. "Hush hush JJ, you don't have to come shopping with me. I am just asking Emily to come, nobody would give a hoot about a cute girl like her just doing some fun Friday night shopping."

While my initial fear instructed me to say no to her, since I couldn't risk being seen by anybody in the mall. In the back of my mind, there was another feeling fighting for attention. That same feeling I got when I first saw myself in the mirror wearing Riley's old dress. The idea that I might be able to experience that feeling again, that little moment of magic. So before I even knew what was happening, I responded to Riley. "Fine, I will come. Better to get this out of the way as soon as possible so we have everything ready on time for the bootcamp."

"Wow, that went a lot easier than I expected," Riley said out loud. Framed by those long blonde strands of hair, I could see her face resembling that signature grin of hers once again. "Just make sure you get to my place right after class on Friday. I have some special surprises planned to help Emily get ready for our night out."

***

On Fridays, my school day ended one period later than Riley's, so as the day ended, I had to walk home on my own. I quickly dropped off my bag at home, and grabbed the box with the wig before crossing the streets towards Riley's place. Walking around the back, it didn't seem like there was anyone in the living room. It did look a lot more cleaned up, however, but that was probably because most of the stuff that filled up the living room before was now spread around the backyard.

As I stepped into the house, I yelled, "Hello?!" causing a swift response to emerge from upstairs. Riley's voice emerged, "Upstairs!" Entering her room, I could see that Riley had been preparing for my arrival. There was a whole bunch of stuff scattered around the room that I hadn't seen before. It looked like she was still pining over different sets of clothing. Breaking her out of her concentrated state, I said to her, "You have been quite busy, I see."

"With a big smile, she looked back at me and said, 'Oh for sure. I talked with my parents about it last night and they gave so many good tips and ideas. Just look at these puppies!'"

Initially, I felt a bit annoyed when she said that because it obviously means her mom knows the whole story as well. But I guess that was going to happen sooner or later anyway with this family.

In her hands, she was holding two silicone breast forms that looked to be as floppy as raw chicken breast. Seeing her handle them so casually kind of weirded me out, making me have second thoughts about all of this. "That is definitely something you have there. How did you even get something like that?"

"JJ, my Buddy, you don’t want to know about the amount of weird stuff my parents have in this house. It’s not for the faint-hearted. But now, let's get on with it. I'm waiting for my friend Emily to get here. So, you better lose those rags of yours," she said.

Over the next 15 minutes, I followed every single instruction Riley gave me. As I was slowly being turned into Emily, while she had an amazing dress-up doll to play with. There was a different bra from last time and of course, the breast forms she showed earlier. This resulted in a bust that looked a lot more impressive, like that of a 15-year-old girl who had actually gone through puberty.

The outfit I ended up wearing was quite simple. I had on high-waisted blue denim jeans with a bootcut and a white sweater top with a V-neck. I also wore Riley’s mom's Doc Martens from last year. To complete the look, I was given a brown cardigan and a small leather handbag. Riley also did my makeup again, using different products than last time and it was too confusing to remember exactly what she used.

Eventually, the makeup was done and I put on a wig while Riley styled it. I dared to look in the mirror and saw a very normal teenage girl that could have been in my class. But this was not just any normal teenage girl, this was me. Or I guess this was Emily, but I was Emily right.

Yes, this is me. The Emily girl in the mirror is me. But I'm actually a boy named Jason. This was all so confusing. And I'm feeling way too many things right now. But whatever it was, it felt amazing.

Completely at a loss for words, I hugged my amazing friend who had shown me this other side of myself, the biggest and warmest hug I had ever given.