The feel of the nylon tights against his now hairless legs was wonderful. In fact, the whole experience was wonderful, and he stood, spellbound at the vision he had become.
He became aware that Sally was talking to him.
“Eh?”
She burst out laughing.
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”
He grinned, sheepishly, shaking his head. His hair, now lying across his shoulders in waves, swished gently against his cheeks. He adored the feeling.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
Kyle frowned, as he thought about the question. As he thought, the light in his eyes dimmed, and his shoulders started to slump again.
“Well, firstly shocked and surprised. I never imagined I’d look like this. Secondly, I feel as if I belong like this, and it’s right, but I feel amazingly guilty and frustrated that I never will look like this for real.”
“Why do you feel guilty?”
“I guess because I feel I am letting everyone down. My folks, myself and everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because I shouldn’t look like this. I was born something else, so I was meant to be that person.”
“So, you are meant to go through life miserable and in the wrong body?”
“It’s not like that….” He started say, and then couldn’t finish.
“Isn’t it?”
He smiled, and shook his head.
“I’m confused. I know what I should be, but I know what I feel like right now. I just don’t know anything any more.”
Sally saw that her friend was on the verge of tears.
“Oh, Kylie, sweetheart, don’t cry! I spent ages on your makeup, and you’ll bugger it completely if you cry,” she said and he started to laugh.
She took both his hands in hers.
“Kylie, you are who and what you are. If this is the real you, then you have to allow yourself to be who you want to be. You can’t expect to hide it away, and you’ll simply have a breakdown if you try.”
“I can’t, Sal, I just can’t. How can I be like this at school, or with my parents?”
Sally’s expression was one of sympathy touched with a little anger.
“Oh Kylie, don’t you see it? This isn’t about making your parents happy; it’s about making you happy. They have their own lives, so you have to live yours. You have to be honest to you first. Why should you live a lie for them, when you are so unhappy? Don’t you think they actually would want you to be happy?”
“Yes, but this?” he said, gesturing to his now feminine looking body.
“Shit, Kylie, whatever. At least you aren’t gay!”
He started to laugh at that, and she joined in.
“We need to get you some shoes, though. My feet are far too small for you.”
He looked at her, horror on his face.
“I can’t stay like this!”
“Why not?”
“Because…..”
“Seriously, why not?”
“Sally, I can’t. I’m a boy, remember?”
She pointed to the mirror.
“Look there. My eyes don’t see a boy, do yours?”
Kyle stared at his reflection.
The girl stared back. A glint of defiance appeared in those sparkling blue eyes. The makeup accentuated her eyes and with her full lips and high cheekbones, there was no doubt she was stunningly attractive. There was no hint of the boy within. A small smile changed her whole visage. The eyes smiled, as the smile turned into a grin. She tossed her head and her hair swished again. She lifted her chin, and Sally saw the re-emergence of the girl who’d been trapped inside.
Sally suddenly had an idea.
“Don’t go away!” she said, and dashed to her mother’s room. She flung open her wardrobe, looking at the shoes littering the bottom. She found one pair of open-toed, high-heeled sandals and rushed back.
“Try these,” she said.
Kyle did so, and they were slightly small. Not a lot, but Sally could see they were a half size too small.
She looked at her watch. It was two forty, and her parents weren’t due back until after five thirty.
“Let’s go shopping. You need your own clothes,” she suggested.
“Sally, I can’t!” Kyle said, panic in his voice.
“Why not?”
“Like this?”
“Why not?”
“Everyone will see me!”
“So?”
“But, I’m a boy!”
“Not from where I’m standing, you’re not.”
“What happens if I meet anyone we know?”
“Then we’ll introduce you as your cousin, or something. Your Gran’s Swedish, how’s your Swedish?”
“My Swedish? It’s okay, why?”
“You look really Scandinavian, so I thought we could introduce you as your Swedish cousin, here on a visit. You look older than me, so you could be on your year out or something.”
“Sally, this is getting really complicated, do we have to?”
“Look, if you can’t be you, then we must give you a story that is believable, and hard to check. We have loads of people who speak French, German and Spanish, but no one speaks Swedish, do they?”
“Yeah, but neither do I, not fluently, remember?”
“You know more than anyone else. And you know enough to put on the correct accent.”
“What happens if someone does speak Swedish?”
“Then I got it wrong, and you are Norwegian or Danish. Shit, Kyle, I just want you to be able to explain why no one has ever seen you before, and why you will disappear. If you can do better, then be my guest!”
Kyle was silent.
“Okay, let’s try and avoid people, I can’t face that kind of hassle, okay?”
Sally cheered inside. The fact he was willing to go out like this was a small triumph. Now she had to persuade him to tell his parents. That was going to be hard.
3.
Sally had been given a Mini for her eighteenth birthday present. She unlocked it, and immediately observed that Kyle adopted naturally feminine habits in relation to getting into the car whilst wearing a skirt.
She had her shoulder bag, so she persuaded Kyle to carry one as well. He only had his wallet and mobile in it, as the absence of pockets was annoying him.
Sally drove out of the drive and immediately turned left, away from the centre of town.
Kyle frowned.
“Where are you going?”
“Oxford. There are crap shops in Abingdon,” she said.
“Oxford? Shit, Sally, I can’t go to Oxford!”
“Yes, you can.”
“I can’t!”
“Then you sit in the Park and Ride car park.”
“Shit, you can be such a cow at times!”
Sally chuckled.
“And you, darling Kylie, can be a stubborn, spiteful, little bitch!”
Kyle fell silent, and Sally risked a glance at her friend.
He was looking miserable.
Sally said nothing, but concentrated on getting onto the ring road without being crushed by a truck.
“Sorry Sal,” Kyle said, at last.
“Just remember, I am on your side. I know this is daunting, I just felt there was less chance of us meeting anyone we know in Oxford. It’s full of tourists and students.”
“The university isn’t back yet.”
“Maybe not, but all the foreign students will be there. So another Swede is one of a crowd.”
He smiled slightly, having to agree that Oxford was a better shopping area.
Sally parked in the Park & Ride car park and they ran for the bus. Kyle found the shoes awkward, so he was taking much smaller strides. Sally got on first, and the driver glanced at the two pretty girls as they clambered aboard.
The first, darker, girl was more filled out, and was very pretty. However, the taller girl, the slim blonde, had the most amazing smile and superb legs. He watched them in the mirror as they walked down to the back of the bus. He was glad he had two sons; he would hate to think of having a daughter wandering about looking like that. They grew up so damn quickly.