This is light little story inspired by Xoop's 'Changing for Gym' at Big Closet. It could be considered a sequel of sorts, but is actually more of a stand alone story set in the same place. I do make use of Xoop's setting, and a few of his characters (School officials, Jessica Woodruff(in a supporting kind of role) and of course, Hill Street High School.

I have also, quite shamelessly, taken Xoop's intro verbatim just to maintain continuity, with apologies to the original author. But I just couldn't come up with anything better. The rest of the story is completely my own and I'll take whatever blame or kudos come my way for it.

Now, on to the story....

 

Changing for Gym: Fitting In

by

Maggie Finson

 

Hill Street High School was built in the early 1990's in response to the town's recent growth. Too, the old school was a remnant of the 1920's, and looked it. The town had eventually given in to the inevitable and voted in a new school.

The new building had everything. As befitted area weather, it was totally enclosed (except for the athletic fields, of course). Yet its public areas never felt claustrophobic, for it relied a great deal on glass. The cafeteria was large and clean, the library well-stocked even with fiction, and the gymnasium included an indoor pool.

Perhaps the most unusual change from old to new concerned the lockers. The architect had visited the old school and had been shocked at the students crowding into too-narrow hallways made even worse by the lockers lining each wall. They were nearly impassible, and the man vowed not to carry that over. Instead he placed larger lockers in the gym's changing rooms, and the rooms themselves were much expanded. There was a second, smaller changing room for each gender in case of overflow. Each student would use a single locker there, accessible at any time. In return the hallways would be clearer, quieter, with plenty of room on the walls for announcements, art, or displays. The architect felt the extra space needed for the expanded changing rooms was more than justified, and the students more or less agreed.

The architect put his heart and soul into the school, this community building for the good of all. The workers who built it were the same way. After all, they were a local firm; it'd be their kids going there.

All that care, all that attention, can have an effect.

At Hill Street High School, it did. The place gained something of a soul of its own. It took care of the students -- the computer lab had almost no technical problems and the cafeteria food was unusually tasty. It took care of the teachers -- school supplies such as pencils and books were never in short supply and everyone's drink of choice was available in the lounge.

And it took care of itself. Litter was infrequent and disappeared quickly. The same could be said of graffiti.

Each of the three janitors thought another had taken care of it. Sometimes they were even right. Everything was perfect.

And the school was happy.

But nothing lasts forever. Eventually the growth stopped, then reversed. Families moved away, and the changing rooms were not as full. As chance would have it, far more girls ended up moving away than boys. The secondary girls' changing room became entirely empty.

Other families moved in, but again more boys than girls enrolled. The boys' secondary changing room approached capacity. And then, one day, passed it.

And the school was not happy.

* * * *

Louis Amstead wasn't happy either, and was becoming less so with every passing moment. Glaring at the institutional pink walls and pink lacquered lockers as if that would make them change into a less bothersome color, he shook his head and grumbled, "This has got to be a mistake."

The walls stubbornly refused to change, same for the lockers, and a look at the wrinkled class schedule in his hand told him it hadn't changed at all, either. It was wrinkled because he had crumpled it into a ball after first reading through his assigned classes.

"This is not going to be a good day," he muttered while staring at the offending schedule, mainly to avoid looking at his surroundings. "I need to go talk to someone in the office and get this mess straightened out before I even try going to class."

Without thinking about what he was doing, Louis deposited everything except the awful schedule in the offending locker, slammed it closed and stormed out the door.

* * * *

"I'm really sorry, Louis," Liz Baker, the school secretary sounded as if she meant it, but also looked like she wasn't anxious to change anything in his messed up schedule. "It's really too late to make any sudden changes in schedule in time for you to change classes right away, and if you don't go, you'll probably get picked up for truancy."

"But Home-Ec?" he almost whined, stopping himself once he realized what he must sound like, then pointed at another class he hadn't chosen. "Or what's this Modern Dance Techniques?"

"Oh, some aerobics, some ballet, even some real stage dancing like in a big show, things like that." Liz answered, then soothed. "But other boys have taken that class, too you know. It's really much better exercise than PE, and helps with your coordination. Some football and basketball players have taken it to improve their skills and it really worked well for them."

"Do I look like some football or basketball jock?" Louis questioned while indicating his not quite skinny but very slender form and five foot five inch height. "I have enough trouble with other kids as it is, thanks to my size and build. If I'm taking girl's classes that'll just make things worse for me. Please, all I want to do is fit in here, and these classes won't help me do that."

"I'll work on it, I promise," Liz answered with a sympathetic expression while thinking she could understand the boy's difficulty. With longer hair and the right clothes, he'd make a more than passably pretty girl, she thought, then dismissed that as unkind. "But I can tell you there won't be any changes this week. All the classes you say you want are full, and squeezing you in is going to take some work."

"All right," Louis nodded, realizing that Ms. Baker really was concerned for him and his worries. "I suppose the boy's locker rooms are all full up, too?"

"You wouldn't have been assigned to the girls' overflow if they weren't, Louis," Liz sighed, "but if you want, I can have Mr. Harris talk to you about it."

"Never mind." With the sinking feeling that nothing he said or did was going to change one thing at that stage, the boy steeled himself for the jibes he was going to get over both his class schedule and where his locker was located. "Thanks for the help, and trying to make me feel better about things."

He hadn't even gotten to complaining about the two hour class in the afternoon called Office Skills. According to the information sheet, that one would cover requirements for both English and Math, while some small voice in the back of his mind told him to give up and just go with the flow of things, that it wouldn't be that bad.

* * * *

The school was already working on the boy, in small ways. It just wouldn't do to have a young rowdy slamming its lockers and doors consistently, as this one had been doing all day so far. Then there was the little problem of another boy in the girl's locker room, but that would be taken care of soon enough. The problem was, as already shown, being seen to quite adequately.

But instead of being angry, the School simply sent him soothing little messages. Just to help him make the adjustment to his new surroundings and classes, plus making the transition period for the other changes planned far easier on everyone concerned.

Now, it just had to get to the boy's parents...

Light reflecting off the windows of Hill Street High gave the building an almost smug expression, if a building could be called smug, that is.

* * * *

"Tough break, Lou," Justin Simkins, one of the few guys who had made friends with the newcomer during that first few weeks before classes got started answered as Louis left the office after stopping in to see if his class schedule could be changed yet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lou questioned, still upset by what he had learned in the short, succinct meeting with Principal Harris. "I haven't even said anything about what happened in there yet."

"I can tell by the look on your face," Justin responded with a shrug. "Hey, don't take it so hard, you get to be in classes with some real babes, after all."

"So you take Home Ec and Modern Dance Techniques," Lou grumbled. "And that stupid Office Ed. I don't want to learn how to cook, sew, manage a household budget, ballet, or how to manage a business office like some glorified secretary."

"Hey, pal, lighten up," Justin grinned. "At least no one is giving you grief over the classes you're in, are they?"

"No, that's the weird part," Lou answered with a sigh. "No one, not even the girls in the classes, act like it's unusual at all for me to be in them. The other guys just seem to accept it and leave me alone. In my other school, I got picked on just for looking the way I do."

"Well that won't happen here, my friend," Justin, who was at least six inches taller and thirty pounds heavier than Lou assured his friend. "And if anyone does bother you, just let me know. If I can't take care of them, I know guys who will. Ok?"

"Sure," Lou answered, not for the first time wondering why a popular jock like Justin even gave him the time of day, let alone accepted him as a friend.

"Ok," clapping the smaller boy on the back, Justin grinned. "Hey, have you met your locker room mate yet?"

"Yes, but I haven't seen her in the locker room once," Lou replied, then grinned. "Our schedules are pretty different, so we aren't in there at the same time, but I've seen her around and she knows who I am."

"Hey, Jessica Woodruff is a stone cold fox!" Justin widened his grin, if that was possible. "And she's a really nice person, too."

"I know," Lou nodded with a smile at the memory. "She introduced herself to me the day after classes started, and told me not to worry about sharing the locker room with her, in fact, she said she was happy someone else was in there with her."

"Would be kind of spooky, being in there all by yourself," Justin agreed. "Just knowing someone actually has a locker in there besides you has got to be some kind of relief for her, you know how girls are about things like that."

"Yes, I do know." Suppressing a small shudder, Lou suddenly found himself wanting to be held by his friend, and rapidly shook that feeling off without saying anything about it. "It's spooky enough for me at times, and I'm a guy."

The last part of the comment had been mostly for his own benefit, as Lou wondered what had come over him all of a sudden to even feel something like that. In spite of his small stature and slender build, he wasn't one of those girly boys who liked other boys. The niggling little thought that maybe he actually was surfaced, then disappeared at his outraged internal response.

"Hey, you ok?" Justin questioned with real concern in his voice and face at the expression he saw on Lou's face.

"Sure," Lou grinned, then shrugged. "I just thought about my next class is all. It's still kind of embarrassing, you know."

"Modern Dance Techniques?" Justin chuckled. "Hey, just go with the flow. I know some other guys who took that one, and it really helped them in the long run. They're much better athletes now."

"Like I'm going to be a jock," Lou said for at least the hundredth time since starting his classes. "I just don't see myself as either a big football or basketball player for some reason."

"You never know," Justin grinned at him. "You could hit a growth spurt any time now."

"I should be so lucky," Lou waved to his friend while heading for his next class.

* * * *

The necessary connections had been made, so the boy was no longer a hopeless loner. He had friends who didn't care what he was, and one who would be very likely to become more than just a friend. The little tweak the school had given him towards that had been rebuffed, but not so strongly as it would have been only a week earlier.

The physical part of the campaign would begin later. Giving the boy's bruised ego a chance to adjust for another few days or even weeks before pressing on wouldn't matter. After all, the school had the whole term to make the changes it wished to have in the boy. The school more or less sat back to watch its handiwork and make sure that no real harm would come to its newest project because of that.

His parents would be in the building later that month, for the newly established parent's orientation and tour of the school's facilities. That would be perfect since the couple would meet all of Louis' teachers, see all his classrooms, and begin to get ideas about their son. Ideas that would further pave the way for the soon to begin changes in him.

* * * *

"Now this is just too much!" Lou groaned while holding up the gym outfit he had found in his locker. Shiny, baby blue shorts, that were shorter than his with white piping around the legs, waistline, and up the sides were obviously tighter and a lot shorter than the boys wore in their classes. The tee shirt was still a tee, but with almost no sleeves and a more rounded, larger neckline. It was, at least still white, and made of cotton, but with something in the material that made it kind of stretchy.

After fruitless weeks of attempting to get his schedule changed to less girly classes, he had nearly given up on that as anything likely to happen at all. But this was going way too far. Going to the classes was one thing. Wearing stuff that was obviously made for a girl was another.

Looking around for any sign of the prankster who had replaced his own things with those, Lou found no sign of anyone hiding in the locker room, or of a camera anyone had tried hiding in there. A rapid search through the locker room failed to turn up his own things, and it was nearly time for him to be out in the gym for class.

Grumbling, the boy decided that wearing them wouldn't be too bad, they didn't seem to look overtly girly or anything, but he shuddered internally at the idea of actually wearing those satiny shorts and the stretchy little shirt.

Making a mental note to confront the girl who shared the locker room with him about the switch, he got into his jock strap, then the shorts and shirt. The socks were just as bad, barely covering his ankles, and much lighter than the heavy cotton athletic socks he had brought to school. The shoes were lighter than his own cross trainers too, an immaculate white with a pair of diagonal stripes that matched the shorts and the same color laces.

Once everything was on, Lou gave himself a critical -- and worried -- looking over in one of the full length mirrors set against one wall and with a sigh determined that the outfit didn't really look all that terrible. It just wasn't the one he had been wearing to class up to then.

The warning bell rang, telling him he had two minutes before class started. With stomach churning and hoping no one would say anything, but expecting the still unknown prankster to pop up with some embarrassing comments about what he was wearing, the boy left the locker room for his class.

Surprisingly, no one even seemed to notice anything different about the things when he reached the section of the gym devoted to Modern Dance Techniques. Several other boys, athletes trying to improve their in-game moves were also in the same class and none of them so much as gave him a second glance, let alone said anything. The girls just kept accepting his presence as normal.

Even more surprising, the outfit turned out to be far more comfortable and even practical for the exercises and dance moves he had to do in the class. His old shoes hadn't been nearly so light or flexible, and the large, baggy shorts and tee shirt had sometimes bound up on him at embarrassing times. The new shorts and shirt allowed more freedom of movement and by the end of the class had actually started to feel good on his body as he moved.

* * * *

Several days after that unsettling experience, the prankster struck again. His dark brown boxers were gone, replaced with a pair of white cotton panties.

"Oh, man," Lou held the distasteful undergarment at arm's length for a few seconds while trying to see if his boxers had been left anywhere nearby. No such luck. He thought about just pulling on his jeans without underwear, but shied away from that idea with uncharacteristic fastidiousness. "I can't go out of here without wearing underwear."

Thinking no one would notice, at least hoping they wouldn't, he showered, then put the offending underwear on with the thought that he would change just as soon as he got home.

* * * *

The school was pleased with the results of its latest alterations in the boy's clothing. And with the reluctant, but unresisting manner that the boy had accepted them. With the parent's meetings and open house later in the week, more adjustments to things could be made, and its plans for the boy's transformation would be able to move forward more quickly.

* * * *

"Aw Mom!" Lou protested as Lisa Amstead was telling Ms. Stone, his Home-Ec teacher how she was so glad that her son was going to learn how to do things that would be helpful around the house.

"Now, don't 'Aw Mom' me, young man," Lisa, a very pretty young woman with wavy red hair to the small of her back and deep green eyes warned him. "You know with both your father and I working, that you need to help out more around home than you've been doing. A class like this is exactly what is needed to show you the kind of things that will be most helpful to me."

"It won't hurt you to help your mom out a little, sport,"

Gregory, his father put in much to the boy's further embarrassment. "She works hard and having a little help around the house is something I know she would be very happy to have."

Louis knew better than to pursue the argument just then. Once his father had gotten into it, on his mom's side, there was no way he was going to change things. Not for a while, anyway. Nodding in a show of agreement he had no real intention of following through with, the boy quietly answered. "Ok, dad."

Lisa got a quiet, far away look in her hazel eyes while watching some of the girls in the class happily showing their parents what they were doing for class work.

Gregory saw that, and put his arm around her slim shoulders to hug his wife. "What are you thinking about, honey?"

"Oh, nothing really," Lisa shrugged with a smile for her husband. "Just wondering a little what it would have been like if Louis had been a girl. It's silly, I know, and it would embarrass him a lot if he even suspected I thought things like that. But still..."

"Us with a demure little princess instead of the rowdy kid we both know and love?" Gregory questioned with a grin. "I just can't picture that, I'm afraid."

Both parents watched their son talking with some of his classmates with speculative expressions on their faces for a few minutes after that. And something in their minds shifted just the tiniest bit as they compared the son they had with the girls he was talking to.

* * * *

Success! The school had implanted the wish in the boy's parents, and their acceptance of what was to come would greatly smooth the transition of the rowdy kid into their demure little princess.

The building's satisfaction reached out to touch everyone inside it, making the students, teachers, and parents all feel very pleased about something they couldn't quite explain.

* * * *

A week after the Parent's night fiasco, Lou purposely timed his entrance into the locker room so he would be there when Jessica Woodruff was so he could ask her about the odd things turning up in his locker.

The pretty blonde was just closing her own locker when he entered, and turned to greet him with a warm smile. "Hi."

"Ummm, hi, Jessica," he returned the smile and just didn't have the nerve to ask the questions he had intended to. Instead he moved to his locker and offhandedly questioned. "Hey don't your folks get upset about you sharing this locker room with a guy?"

"Nope," she answered with another wide smile for his benefit. "I guess Mr. Harris talked with them and explained that we wouldn't be in here much at the same time, and our schedules wouldn't have us changing in here together. So they're ok with it."

"Yeah, mine too," he told her with a slight grimace. "The way mine talked about it when I told them, they didn't think it was a big deal either. Mr. Harris talked with them, too. Just before classes started, I think."

"So how do you like your classes?" tilting her head with a little grin, the blonde upper classman asked with an innocent expression that had to be a little teasing.

"I'd rather not talk about that," Lou let out a long, pained sigh. "My schedule got all fouled up and I have to take some really strange classes. For a guy, I mean."

"I heard," actually appearing sympathetic, Jessica shrugged, causing some very interesting motions under her top. Motions that Lou noted, but didn't get overly excited about seeing. "I've known other guys who took Hone-Ec, and Modern Dance Techniques. That isn't so bad, really. No one would think you're weird or anything for taking those."

"Well I sure feel weird taking them," Lou replied with a shrug of his own while briefly wondering why he didn't react as he used to when in the presence of a pretty girl, especially one built like Jessica Woodruff. "Especially that stupid Office-Ed class. Two hours a day of typing, working with files, and accounting. Sheesh, like I'm planning on being a secretary or something? I don't think so."

"Hey, it's an easy class, and covers English and Math for you," Jessica answered, then gave him a wicked little grin. "Besides, you might just make a great little secretary some day, and don't demean a job you don't know anything about."

"Oh, I know about it, all right," Lou gave a sheepish little grin. "I didn't mean to make it sound like that. My mom's a secretary, and I know she works hard. I just meant that I don't think I'll ever want to be one myself, is all."

"You never know," the girl giggled at his pained expression, then moved towards the door with a cheery wave. "Well, I've got to get moving. My next class is in the other end of the building. See you later."

"Sure, later," Lou waved back while he tried to shake the strange, almost warm feeling he had experienced when talking about the possibility of his becoming a secretary like his mom. "Man, this locker room must be getting to me, I almost liked the idea for a minute or so there. Must be all these girly classes I'm taking. They have to be changing the way I look at things."

Getting out the books he would need for the first several classes, Lou shook his head and grumbled. "What next? Am I going to start giggling and talking about boys or clothes? Sheesh!"

* * * *

Not a bad idea, the school thought with amusement, but that would come later on. For now it was still gentling the boy down to the idea of taking all those girly classes and wearing the panties he was constantly finding in his locker.

There were other things to do at the moment.

* * * *

Only one day after his conversation with Jessica, Louis reeled from another blow to his eroding sense of masculinity delivered quite matter-of-factly by his Home- Ec teacher.

"Can't I just make a shirt, or a jacket, or something like that?" Lou questioned almost plaintively after seeing the first term assignment for Home-Ec.

"I'm afraid the standards for this class are quite strict, Louis," Ms. Hansford, the Home-Ec teacher gave him a sympathetic smile. "You have to sew a dress suitable for a semi-formal occasion to pass this class, and you have to model it in the fashion show for the school when its finished."

Some of the girls around him tittered at that, then lapsed into an almost embarrassed silence as the teacher favored them with a reproving glare. "Now leave Louis alone about this, all of you. I'm sure he'll do just fine with the project, if his work in class so far is any example."

That didn't help at all. Lou closed his eyes and fervently wished he could just sink into the floor and ooze right out of the whole building without anyone else seeing him. When that didn't happen, he turned his attention back to the apron he had been hand sewing as the first class project. "Ok, Ms. Hansford, I guess there's no way I could get a special project instead of the dress thing?"

"I'm very sorry Louis, but no there isn't." the teacher gave him an encouraging smile. "But I might be able to arrange a more private showing for you once it's finished."

"I guess I'll have to take that then, and thanks," Lou quietly answered, red to the roots of his hair and for all he knew, clear to his toes at the thought of not only sewing his own dress, but wearing the thing once it was done.

"Uh, Louis?" Celia Carnes, the cute redhead he shared a sewing table with interrupted his descent into misery.

"What, Celia?" he asked without sounding too pained, the girl had been helpful, friendly, and sympathetic about his problems with class and locker assignments and he thought she actually kind of liked him as more than a school chum.

"It'll be ok." the girl informed him with her usual cheerful smile. "I can help you out if you need it, and run interference with the other girls for you about this dress thing, if you want."

"Sure, that would be great, Celia, thanks." he nodded with a genuine smile of his own. "I don't know the first thing about female fashions."

"By the time this term is finished, you will." Celia grinned at him, then poked him in the ribs. "So just take it in stride. I think you've done wonderfully well with things so far. On that note, wanna go to the mall with me after school? We could look at some things and hang out for while."

"Cool, I'd like that," Lou nodded.

"Me, Too," Celia smiled. "It'll be fun, really."

* * * *

Lou was beginning to worry about himself. He had taken to the sewing part of Home-Ec with an ease that shook his masculine sensibilities to their roots, and worse, was secretly proud of his abilities with a sewing machine, needle and thread, and cloth.

He had even stopped wondering who kept replacing his steadily dwindling supply of boxers and male briefs with panties. Or why his parents hadn't mentioned all the girl's panties in his laundry, come to think of it. He'd started helping with the laundry, to hide the panties at first, then it had just become something of a habit for him to take the dirty clothes into the utility room, sort them, and run them through the wash. But he still didn't do it all the time, and knew his mom, at least, had seen the growing amount of girl's underwear in her son's wardrobe. Without saying one word about it to him.

"Now these are nice!" he commented, not half as sourly as he'd intended upon picking up the satiny yellow panties with the bow on their gusset and a white floral print. "What a day, first I get an A on that silly apron I made in Home-Ec, then I get told how gracefully and beautifully I move in Dance class, and now these. And I only have another six hours to go before the school day is over and I go to the mall with Celia..."

He did admit, to himself, once sure that no one was watching as he put the pretty things on, that the silky material was beginning to feel really nice against his skin. Not nearly as rough against his bottom and testicles as the cotton boxers or boy's briefs he had been wearing.

With a loud sigh, he wondered almost idly what would happen to him next.

* * * *

The answer was nothing. At the school, anyway. His trip to the mall with Celia was another matter entirely.

"This one would look nice on you," Celia almost gushed while carefully eyeing Lou's slender form then comparing it to the picture on the packaged pattern she was looking at. "It shouldn't be too hard to do, and would look really great once it was finished."

"Huh," was all Lou could manage for an answer while trying not to imagine himself wearing the little strappy dress with the short, flounced skirt pictured on the package. For at least the tenth time that afternoon, he wondered what had possessed him to let the girl drag him all over the mall, looking at skirts, dresses, and even (gasp) lingerie. Now it was dress patterns in a large department store's sewing department. "I suppose it would be ok."

"Trust me, it's better than just ok," Celia grinned, then handed him the pattern. "I'll even pay for it, if you want."

"Umm, no, that's ok, I can handle it." Embarrassed to the point of blushing again, and wondering just when, exactly, he had started blushing instead of spluttering as he had before starting at Hill Street High, the boy offered a tentative smile to the girl.

"Great!" she enthusiastically pulled him towards an aisle holding displays of different cloths. "Now let's find you just the right color and texture for it."

"Good idea," was his dry response.

Later, carrying a bag filled with yards of a silky material in a shade Celia had named Dusty Rose but looked plain pink to him, a matching zipper, buttons, hooks and eyelets, thread, a wide satin ribbon, and the pattern they had chosen, the boy gratefully sank into a seat at the food court and sipped at the diet drink he had bought without thinking.

Another bag, one with contents he had protested about originally, got placed beside the one holding his sewing supplies. Celia had ensured that he would buy the things with a pouting comment to him, "You have to get the right kinds of lingerie to wear under such a gorgeous dress, after all."

For some reason, he could find no decent argument against that idea. Or for buying the matching sandals with three inch heel and a delicate ankle strap. Or several pairs of pantyhose in suntan and nude. At least she hadn't gotten him to one of the cosmetics or jewelry counters.

Yet.

"I still think you should have got the hat and purse, too," Celia told him as they sipped their drinks. "You might not find them in such perfectly matching colors again, you know."

"Oh, I'll have to chance that," Lou shrugged with a lopsided grimace. "I've spent all the money I brought with me. It'll have to wait until I get some more."

"So I'll loan you enough to put them on layaway," the girl offered with a gleam in her eyes. "Then you won't have to worry about not being able to find them when you have the rest of the money to spend."

Thinking that a girl in shopping frenzy had an unnerving relationship to a shark in bloody water, Lou gave what he hoped was a noncommittal shrug. "I couldn't let you do that, Celia, really."

"Oh, don't be such a putz!" the girl answered, finishing her drink and literally pulling him to his feet. "I want to, and you can pay me back when you get it."

Resigned to more shopping, for girl's things yet, Lou let her lead him back to the department store where they had seen the hat and purse she had been so enthusiastic about him having. But somewhere inside, the boy found that he was actually enjoying himself.

* * * *

"Did you have fun at the mall?" His mother asked when he finally got home, burdened with three bags and a hatbox with logos that would allow no mistakes about where they had come from.

"Yeah," he answered, hoping to get the things upstairs to his room and safely out of sight before she noticed what they were. "Celia and I looked at a lot of things and just kinda hung out,"

"I'm glad you're finally starting to make some friends here, Louis," she responded with a smile, then pushed her long red hair out of her face before tying it back in a ponytail. "Put your things away then come help me get dinner ready, ok?"

"Sure, Mom," Glad that she hadn't asked what he'd bought, the boy didn't even give the token protests he had been used to making over being asked to help in the kitchen lately. "I'll be right back down."

"Good, honey," the answer floated up the stairs from behind him. "You can do the vegetables for us, ok? Then you can show me what you bought after we get the dinner dishes cleaned up, how's that sound?"

"Wonderful, just absolutely, peachy!" he muttered, then called back down. "Sure thing, Mom."

How in the world, he worried, would he explain all the feminine things he had been almost railroaded into purchasing that afternoon?

* * * *

"It's for a class project in Home-Ec, Mom, really." Lou explained as Lisa gave every item he had brought home a very close looking over. "We all have to make a dress, then put together an outfit with it, for our final grades in the class this term."

"Are you going to model the outfit once it's finished?" she questioned, holding a lacy, and strapless, pink bra in her hands while giving him an almost expressionless look.

"Well, I guess, that's part of the project," he stammered. "I tried to get out of it, but Ms Hansford told me I couldn't, because of the way the class was set up. She did kind of promise me that I wouldn't have to model it in front of everyone, though."

"Why that's outrageous!" the woman set the bra down and gave her son a long look. "We'll just have to do something about that, won't we?"

"I think so too," he responded, glad to think that she was finally seeing how awful his position was.

"Of course we will," her answer soothed his jangled nerves until she finished. "After all the work and planning you'll be putting into this, you should be able to show it off like everyone else will."

"Aww, Mom!"

"Don't worry, dear," Lisa promised the astonished, and disgusted boy. "I'll give the school a call and have a talk with your teacher first thing in the morning."

"You don't have to do that." Panic was beginning to edge into his voice, making him sound more girlish than he thought was at all wise under the weird circumstances.

"Of course I do, honey," Lisa responded crisply. "It just wouldn't be fair for you not to be able to show off such a darling dress and the accessories you've bought for it after doing all that work. Don't you worry, I'll straighten this out for you."

"But, Mom!" Desperate for some kind of sanity in his world, Louis stood up to point out one salient fact everyone seemed to be missing. "I'm a boy!"

"Of course you are, dear," giving him a pat on the shoulder meant to be comforting, she pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe I can use sex discrimination to bring them to their senses."

"Whatever," Louis faintly replied, seeing his life rapidly going down the figurative toilet, pulling him right in behind it.

* * * *

Several more days had passed since his mother's promise to fix things with the school regarding the fashion show with nothing said by any of the involved parties. That was a huge relief. It still left the Louis nervously waiting for the shoe to drop and the whole school to find that he was not only making a dress for himself but would be modeling it on stage for all to see.

There were, however, more mundane frustrations he was dealing with at that moment.

"Stupid toilet seats!" Lou muttered under his breath while once again sitting to urinate. The toilet seats in the locker room all steadfastly refused to lift even an inch no matter how hard he pulled, yanked, or lifted. And, crazy as it sounded, they seemed to move when he tried doing it standing up, so that he made a real mess. After three times of cleaning up after himself that way, the boy had just given up and sat down to do his business.

Doing that had become so much of a habit that he had even carried the practice home, and in any other restroom he used. He grumbled to himself. "Well, it is a girl's locker room, so I suppose seats that lift up are kind of low priority in here."

Finishing that, he wiped himself carefully with toilet paper, just to make sure all the urine was cleaned off so he wouldn't smell bad, then picked up the hair brush that had conveniently turned up in his locker and moved to one of the mirrors to brush his hair.

He hadn't gotten a haircut in some time, and the thick, reddish gold hair (like his mother's -- he would think with furtive hints of pride) was starting to get in his eyes during his dance class. The solution to that was so simple he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner.

Pulling it back into a ponytail high on the back of his head, he secured it with a baby blue scrunchy rather than the rubber bands he had used earlier. Celia had pointed out, correctly, that those damaged his hair, and for some reason, the boy didn't want that to happen. "If I'm going to have long hair, I want it to look nice, after all."

Giving himself a quick look in the full length mirror, just to make sure his shorts and tee shirt were sitting properly, and that his hair was right, he frowned at the hairs showing on his legs. For some reason, that just didn't look right to him any more. Hair on his head was fine, great in fact, but on his legs? Yuck! Thinking that he'd do something about that after class when he showered, he left the locker room with a self-conscious hesitancy that had nothing at all to do with wearing an outfit really made for a girl.

* * * *

Progress. The school was pleased at the new attitudes the boy was acquiring, with a few helpful nudges. It was ready to test its next step when he returned from the dance class.

* * * *

Lou rushed into the shower, anxious to get the perspiration from his exertions the dancing he had been doing left on his body. He wondered how he had ever stood smelling so strongly of sweat before while carefully washing with the lightly scented soap that seemed to be all that was provided in that locker room. But that was ok, with him. The soap had a pleasantly soothing scent that reminded him of roses and lemon and he actually liked the way it smelled. And he always felt so wonderfully clean after using it.

There was also a new kind of bottle in the shower room. picking it up for an examination he questioned the empty air. "What's this?"

It was hair remover, and as he read the label, he recalled how self conscious he had been in class with the sparse, but very obvious hair on his legs and underarms showing so plainly. Quickly reading through the instructions, he applied the thick creamy substance to his legs, careful to smooth it all over and not to rub it in, then did the same to his underarms and for good measure, his arms, too. "If I'm getting rid of body hair, I may as well go all the way, right?"

"This way, I won't be embarrassed in dance class any more," he happily told himself while rinsing it off in the shower. His skin without hair was so soft and smooth he felt a thrill of real pleasure while running a hand over one leg. The after bath lotion he had also found made his skin even silkier to the touch. "And I kind of like how this feels, too. It's really nice."

The panties he had worn to school (he'd run out of boxers and boy's briefs last week) hadn't changed. His jeans and shirt, however weren't there any longer. Instead he found a pair of khaki colored cotton slacks, and a silky white short sleeved top.

"Ah, maaan," looking at the pants, and top, Lou considered just wearing his gym clothes and skipping the rest of the school day. But he had promised to meet Celia during lunch period, and Justin wanted to see him during the same time. "Well, hopefully, no one will really notice. They aren't too girly, after all. Besides, they might feel kind of nice against my skin...

What am I saying?" the boy questioned no one but his still nude reflection in the mirror, then grimaced. "Well, there doesn't seem to be much choice just now, I know better than to look for the stuff I wore in here,"

But he did. With predictable results. His jeans and Metallica tee-shirt were nowhere around. Grumbling, he put on the top, struggling briefly with the buttons since they were on the wrong side, then pulled on the pants. Their waist was a little snug, and higher up than he was used to, but otherwise they didn't seem so bad.

"Hey there, Lou," Justin greeted him with a grin as the boy exited the locker room, belatedly recalling that the scrunchy was still holding his longer hair in a girlish ponytail. The bigger boy seemed to either take no notice, or just took it as normal for his smaller friend. "Looking good, today. You change something?"

"Ummm, not really," Lou felt himself beginning to blush and lowered his head so the other wouldn't see that. "I just took a shower after dance class is all."

"I know!" Justin grinned, giving Lou's ponytail a playful flip with his fingertip. "You fixed your hair different. Nice."

With a warm rush that wasn't entirely embarrassment, the smaller of the pair shrugged, then smiled up at his friend. "Yeah, I did kind of forget to take it out of the tail when I got out of the shower."

"Looks good on you like that," Justin nodded with approval. "Nice clothes, too. Great change from that big city grunge you always used to do."

"Well, a gi - guy has to change sometime," Lou stammered. He was furious at himself for nearly calling himself a girl. But he worked to hide that in front of his friend, who didn't seem at all bothered by the almost slip. "I was kind of outgrowing all that, you know?"

"About time, too," Justin nodded while giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Bet more people will want to hang around you now that you have."

"Really?"

"Sure," the other went on. "You may have been clean and all that, but in those dingy jeans and heavy metal shirts you used to wear all the time, you didn't look it. This is a big improvement in your appearance, trust me."

"Thanks," Lou smiled back, wondering why he was so pleased at a compliment from another guy, but still enjoying the warm sensation it gave him.

"No prob, bro." with a light pat to Lou's back, the other boy headed down the hall. "You look really good in that outfit, and the hair, too. Got to get myself to Algebra now. Man you don't know how lucky you are not to have to deal with that."

"I guess," Lou answered to Justin's retreating back while thinking, but accounting and business math isn't all that easy either, you know. Sheesh! Why do guys always think Office-Ed is such a breeze?

Still basking in the glow of the compliments he had gotten, Lou made it to his next class just in time to beat the last bell.

* * * *

His problems at home just got more and more tangled up with what was going on at school. He had routinely started helping out in the kitchen, with only minor protests for his own sensibilities and found that he actually enjoyed the activity. He was also getting very good with doing the laundry and had even started ironing the garments that needed such attention after they came out of the dryer.

It had been over a week since his mom first examined his purchases at the mall when he'd first gone there with Celia.

He had hoped she'd just been teasing him about actually wearing the stuff in front of people. Much to his dismay, she hadn't been.

"Aww, Mom!" his protests fell uselessly out of his mouth while Lou watched his mother going through all the things he had bought at the mall on that first trip with Celia, and a few other things the girl had talked him into picking up. "I don't need to try that stuff on, really!"

"Oh?" Lisa gave him the look, that one that mothers save for really important questions to their children. "Have you already tried them on?"

"No!" Louis swallowed, then realized he had just caught himself in the trap she had laid. "I'm sure they'll fit ok, and it's only going to be for a little while, anyway."

"Whether it's for a little while or for a long while," Lisa informed her child with a small smile of encouragement, "if your lingerie doesn't fit properly, or work right with the outfit, the most beautiful clothes in the world manage to look dowdy. Now come on, lets see how this sits once you're actually wearing it."

Giving the lacy pink confection of a bra his mom was holding out to him a trapped look, Lou gave in with a sigh and decided to get the mess over with as quickly as he could.

It was terribly embarrassing. His mom instructed him on how to put the thing on, adjust the fit to be comfortable, then watched him struggle with the unfamiliar garment until he got it on to her satisfaction.

Standing in front of his own mother, in only panties and a bra, the boy felt something that wasn't the humiliation he had expected. It was actually a good feeling, and he felt closer to her than he had been since he'd been a toddler.

"So what do you think?" he questioned as Lisa examined the picture on the pattern envelope, then held a piece of the material he had purchased up against him for another check.

"It works very nicely, dear. You and your friend made wonderful choices here. It's a good color for your complexion, and the lingerie doesn't show through the material for your dress. Now, let's have a look at that darling little hat on you. The contrast with your dark hair should be really dramatic, you know."

Dark hair? He was redhead, like her. Right? Pulling the scrunchy out of his hair and allowing it to fall loosely around his shoulders, he noticed with a shock that it had become a glossy black. Black hair? When did that happen? Well it does look kind of nice... he thought, then promptly forgot that worry as his mother settled the round brimmed hat on his head and began to tilt it first one way, then another.

* * * *

Things were, in the school's opinion, moving along nicely, but it was time to introduce yet another change to the boy and his perceptions. The awful clothing he had been wearing to school had been patiently and slowly changed into softer, much better looking girl's things over the past months, though without overt femininity. That was about to change.

* * * *

Lou paused while brushing his long, thick black mane and wondered in amusement why he had ever thought he was a redhead. I mean, come on, he'd always had hair that took after his dad's, hadn't he? Just a lot thicker and softer. His looks, though, he noted with a flicker of pride, came directly from his beautiful mother.

He had also taken to wearing his hair down again, and it fell quite prettily to halfway down his slim back. Some guys would have flinched at sporting such a heavy, girlish mane, but he was proud of it. Proud enough to have started taking much better care when he washed it, using conditioners, and carefully combing out tangles from the bottom up. Wouldn't do to get split ends, after all, now that he'd gotten it that long he would really hate to have to cut even a little of it off.

He'd even taken his mom's advice and started brushing it every morning and evening. One hundred strokes each sitting, and the results of spending the extra time were beautiful. His hair was soft, glossy, and shone with good health. After all, there was nothing at all wrong with a guy taking pride in his appearance, now was there?

He even shuddered at thinking of the way he used to dress, and grimaced at the thought of wearing such rough, scratchy things against his soft, smooth skin. Opening his locker to retrieve his clothing, a soft yellow shirt and white linen pants, with a pair of really nice camel colored loafers, he received a big surprise. The clothes were still there, but with an addition.

Recalling the unnerving experience with his mom just a few weeks earlier, he held the butter yellow, lace edged bra that were a perfect match for his panties up with the beginnings of a grimace.

"Ok, so I let mom get all excited about the dress I have to sew in Home-Ec, and let her talk me into trying the underwear on, but really! Boys don't wear bras all the time, and how would I explain the straps showing through my shirt to anyone?"

But he was still holding on to the garment, running a hand along its satiny surface and wondering just how it might feel to wear. His chest had been kind of tender and little 'bouncy' when he moved lately, too. Maybe he'd just try it on to see how it felt, and if it made any difference to his slightly sore nipples.

"So what? It isn't like I haven't worn one of these things before, or won't again, is it? I'll bet no one even notices it's on under my shirt." Lou told himself with a shrug.

Getting it on was easy. He leaned forward, cupping the soft flesh of his chest in the satiny interior of the cups with a small shiver of pleasure. Then with smoothly practiced motions learned under the watchful and loving eyes of his mom, put his arms through the straps and deftly fastened the hooks at his back.

Once it was on, he felt a lot better about himself for some reason. The comforting support of flesh he had started noticing lately was actually kind of a relief and the softness protected his tender nipples, the sensuous feel of the satin against his -- breasts -- yes, breasts, even if they were kind of small, was heaven.

His yellow shirt had developed little gathered sleeves, and flared out at the waist, giving his hips the appearance of being larger than they actually were. And the pants, once on and zipped up fit like they had been sprayed to his lower curves.

"Hmm, these didn't fit like that when I put them on this morning." Giving a worried look to the full length mirror on the wall, he noted with a small thrill of fear and something else, that he actually looked a lot more like a girl than the boy he actually was.

Slipping his delicate feet into the low heeled yellow pumps completed the look, and he twisted around to check out his cutely rounded behind in the tight pants.

Very nice, very nice, he thought with a slight internal groan. The three inch heels added some really great looking tautness to his bottom. "I can't show myself in public this way, I'd be totally humiliated."

He blinked as a slight wash of dizziness caused him to stumble in his heels, then shrugged off his former protests. "Oh, well, I do look kind of nice in this stuff, and it isn't as if I had anything else to wear just now."

Giving his hair one last fluff with a delicate hand, Lou walked out of the locker room with the confidence of someone knowing they looked great.

* * * *

Noting the boy's hip swinging gait and erect posture to show off his newly developed breasts, the school vented a sigh of ecstatic satisfaction. Almost there!

* * * *

Hi, Lulu! How you doing?" Brent Travis, one of Justin's buddies called out to Lou as he strutted down the hallway. "Looking good!"

Thinking of Justin, Lou hurried his pace a little, savoring the rapid click of his heels on the polished tile floor and waved to the still watching boy with a sunny smile. "Thanks, Brent. I have to meet Justin for lunch. See ya!"

"Lucky him!" the other called back with a grin.

Lulu? Had Brent just called him Lulu? Well of course he did, the boy chided himself. I always did prefer being called Lulu to Luanne, after all. He thought the nickname had a much sexier and cooler ring to it than his full name.

"Luanne? Lulu?" he muttered, "those are strange names for a boy. My name is Louis, not Lulu!"

Still, he kind of liked the name, and the way it made him feel when someone called him by it. Maybe the change wasn't a bad thing after all, considering the way he looked in his new clothes. But he did have to meet his wonderful Justin in a few minutes. So worrying about something as silly as what name people called him wasn't the first thing on his mind.

Hurrying down the hall, still enjoying the click of his heels on the floor and the wonderful sensations moving in them gave him, the boy promptly forgot to worry about his name or much of anything else beyond what Justin would think of his new outfit and hoping he liked it.

* * * *

Yes, things were going very well, in the school's opinion. The scruffy young boy who had originally been foisted off on its girl's overflow locker room had become quite different over the past months, now he was really beginning to fit in properly. Into both the locker room, and the student body. The boy had always had problems in relating with his peers, but those were rapidly disappearing along with his rowdier behaviors.

Lulu had friends, unlike the solitary Lou, and was actually blossoming into a sweet, lively young person who was very easy to like. It was no longer necessary to give the boy Justin subtle little pushes to hang around the newly christened Lulu. In fact the older boy looked for the chance to be with the object of the school's latest series of alterations.

Other boys in the school had started looking at Lulu as the girl he would soon become, and liked what they saw. The girls, even those not tweaked into anything but acceptance of what was being done to Louis had treated him like one of themselves from the start of the school year, and more than a few were becoming more than a little envious of the boy's almost delicate beauty and elegant movements.

Except for a few details, Louis had become a very feminine, beautiful young lady named Luanne who preferred to be called Lulu. Pleased with the progress made to that point, the school settled down to get the final details finished before the end of the school year.

* * * *

"Hey beautiful!" Justin greeted Lulu with a wide smile and a possessive arm wrapped around his girlfriend's small waist. "How's it going?"

"Wonderfully!" Lulu snuggled more deeply into the boy without a thought for how weird that would have seemed to him only a few weeks earlier. "My dress is almost finished for the Home-Ec fashion show and I have the greatest little things to go with it. I'm going to be in the dance recital, too, and I got a summer job working with my mom at her office!"

"Hey, good for you," Justin gave a slightly tighter squeeze to the trim waist his arm was wrapped around and allowed one hand to wander down to the enticing globes of feminine bottom below that. "I told you this school was going to be really a good thing for you, didn't I?"

"Yes you did," Lulu gave him a smile and pushed her bottom into his hand for a moment with a glint of mischief in her lovely blue eyes. "I'm really glad my parents moved here."

"You're glad?" Justin grinned in return, giving her a squeeze with his wandering hand to answer the little push he had felt there. "I wouldn't be going out with the cutest girl in school if they hadn't, you know."

"You," Lulu looked up into his eyes with a happy, pleased little smile on her face, "sure do know how to make a girl feel good."

* * * *

All was well again at Hill Street High. Lulu had been the hit of the fashion show with her flouncy little dress and accessories so carefully chosen to compliment it. She had also earned justifiable kudos for her far from amateur performance in the Dance Classes showing of its more gifted students. The new girl was lively, fun to be around, had a great summer job lined up, and had made too many friends to keep track of without a planner. There was one minor matter to take care of, then everything would be quite happily as it should be.

* * * *

Liz Baker shook her head while going over the records for Luanne Renee Amstead. She was almost sure there had been no Luanne Amstead in school at the start of the year, only a scruffy little fellow called Louis.

But that had to be wrong, she thought with a smile while watching the girl in question busily filing the mountain of paperwork that always came at the end of a school year. The stunningly gorgeous young lady who had actually volunteered to help her in the office during study hall periods could never in a million years have been, or be even mistaken for a boy.

Smiling at her own ridiculous confusion, Liz went back to her work.

END

  

  

  

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