The Contest Beginnings

by Sarah Bayen

  

The Makeover

  

The shape through the glass approached the door and opened it.

"Steve!" exclaimed Anita. "You're early."

"Yes I'm sorry," I mumbled. "It's the way the trains ran."

"It doesn't matter. Come on in. Nikki's here already."

I looked longingly at Anita before moving. I didn't often see her out of school uniform. She was wearing an old pair of jeans and a gypsy top that hugged her tight across the bosom before falling loose to her waist. "Come on," she urged.

I stepped into the hall, and she led me off to a room on the right. It had a sumptuous blue carpet, and a leather settee and chairs. Nikki had been sitting on one of these, but stood up as I entered the room.

"Hi Steve! You're keen! It's not even a quarter to yet."

"Yes. The trains." I began to explain, but decided that it was too complicated to bother.

"Well it doesn't matter," Anita repeated. "We can get started early."

"Yes," agreed Nikki with obvious delight.

"We were just going to go through the rules," Anita explained, sitting on the settee. "Sit yourself down Steve," she said, motioning next to her. I did as I had been asked, and we both looked at Nikki, who was holding three or four sheets of paper with the school crest on the top.

"I picked these up on Thursday. After you agreed to enter." She explained. "I put the entry form in at the same time, I hope you don't mind."

I assumed the question was directed at Anita, but she turned towards me as well.

"Err, no." I answered after a delay. Why should I mind? Perhaps I would find out later.

"Good," Nikki continued, "Now let's see about these rules." She arranged the papers she had been holding, and began to read from one. "The contest will be in two parts."

"We knew that!" Anita interrupted.

"Yes," continued Nikki. "A qualifying round, and the final."

"We knew that too!"

"Well here's a bit we didn't know," continued Nikki. "For the qualifying round, contestants will be expected to parade in school uniform."

"Girl's school uniform." Anita giggled.

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "Marks will be awarded for posture, adherence to the uniform rules, and to general beauty."

"Posture?" I queried.

"Yes," explained Anita. "It means how well you walk, and how you carry yourself."

"That's right," Nikki agreed, nodding. "And it sounds as if they intend to be quite strict. Listen. Marks will be deducted for every item deviating from the school uniform rules."

"Wow!" exclaimed Anita. "That is tough. I'm not sure I even know what the uniform rules are!"

"Well I do," Nikki said, smiling. "I got hold of a copy so we can make sure we stick to them."

"Oh well done!"

"But there's a couple of caveats to that." Nikki went on.

"A couple of what?" I asked

"Caveats. It means exceptions to the uniform rules for the sake of the contest."

"Oh, I see."

"Contestants will be allowed to wear modest amounts of make up and jewellery." Nikki continued.

"Oh good!" exclaimed Anita. "It would have been awful if we hadn't been allowed to put some make-up on him."

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "And the other caveat is this. For the purpose of this contest, the rule allowing girls to wear trousers as an alternative to skirts or the school summer dress is suspended."

"I should think so too!" Anita exclaimed. I shuddered. That rule had only been passed the previous summer. "It would be awful if they could get away with wearing trousers for this."

"Yeah," Nikki agreed.

"Well that sounds easy enough to understand. What about the final?" Anita asked.

"Well it says that the top ten contestants from the qualifying round will be asked to take part in the final that afternoon. Contestants will be expected to wear formal outfits, and will be asked a range of questions by the judges."

"What's a formal outfit?" I asked.

"A posh long dress!" Anita explained. "You know, like you'd wear to a really posh restaurant."

"I never go to really posh restaurants." I muttered.

"Well I'm sure we can find you something suitable," Nikki said, encouragingly.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure there's any point. I'm not likely to make it past the first round."

"Oh you will!" they both exclaimed simultaneously. "You must!"

"Yeah. How well you do is going to reflect on Nikki and me!" I looked at Anita with a lack of comprehension. She continued, "Oh honestly Steve! People will know who helped you get ready won't they? If you look a right dog they'll think it's because Nikki and I know nothing about make-up and clothes."

"That's right," agreed Nikki.

"So we're going to make sure you look as good as you possibly can. Aren't we Nikki?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, staring across the room at me. She picked up the papers and began to read again. " In the final, marks will be awarded for general appearance and beauty, poise and deportment, and the ability to answer the questions in an appropriately feminine way."

"Oh well, we'll have to get you to practise answering questions as well then," observed Anita. "Does it say who the judges are going to be?"

"Yes it does somewhere. Hang on. Oh here we are; there's three. Miss Underwood,"

"The games teacher?" Anita asked.

"Yes. Miss Williams, she's a new English teacher I think. And Liz Lee."

"Liz?"

"Yes."

I paid some attention to this. Liz Lee was the captain of the school's athletic team. Tall and blonde, she was somewhere just further down my list of desirable women than Anita. "All women," I observed.

"Well yes," agreed Nikki. "But it's only right really. They're better placed to judge in a way."

"Yes," agreed Anita. "Anyway you wouldn't want blokes looking at you to judge how beautiful you were would you?" Both girls giggled at this, and I shuddered at the thought.

"Well now we know the rules, perhaps we should get started." Anita suggested.

"Well we could go through the uniform rules," Nikki said.

"Maybe, but I thought we should get his make-up sorted first. We can bother about the detail of the uniform rules when we get on to his costume."

"Okay," agreed Nikki, nodding.

I was led from the sitting room over to the dinning room table, where the chairs were higher. This, Anita explained, would make it easier for them to put my make-up on. Nikki produced a large brown bag, which to me looked as if it were made out of some sort of carpet material. She unclipped its wooden handles, and started rummaging around inside.

"Well we'd best start with some foundation," she announced, producing a large white tube from the bag.

"Yes," agreed Anita, and Nikki unscrewed the top of the tube, and squeezed it, producing what looked like pink toothpaste.

"Right," she said, "Let's see what we can do."

I was a little disappointed. For some reason I had hoped, that if I had to wear make-up, then Anita would be putting on for me. This thought was pushed out of my head as Nikki began to smear the pink stuff all over my face.

"You've got quite a nice complexion anyway," Anita said. I was unable to look at her to acknowledge the compliment as my face was squished around under Nikki's ministrations.

"Yes, he has." Nikki agreed, continuing to smear, and getting some more from the tube onto her fingers. "Nice and smooth, and not too spotty."

"No, it's good." Anita said, and I caught a glance of her staring intently at my face. It was almost a dream come true.

"Well that should do for starters," Nikki eventually declared, and both she and Anita looked with critical interest at my face.

"It feels a bit greasy," I volunteered.

"It's okay once you get used to it," Anita said dismissively. "Anyway, it's worth it for the effect."

"Yes," Nikki agreed. "Right, now for a little bit of blusher." She put the foundation tube back into the bag, and after some searching, produced a small tub. "Let's see if we can highlight your cheekbones a bit." She began to rub some dark pink cream into my face, taking some considerable care.

"He's got a nicely shaped faced." Anita observed, still staring intently at me. "Nice high cheekbones, and quite a narrow face."

"Yes. Just like a girl." Nikki added, laughing. Anita smiled too. I can't say I was too pleased to be told I had a girl's face, especially with Anita listening, but I put up with it for the time being.

"How does that look?" Nikki asked, after some more application.

"Wonderful!" enthused Anita. "Steve, you really have got a good face for make-up!"

The girls giggled at this revelation, and I scowled back.

"Don't look like that!" Anita insisted, "It's a compliment."

"Yeah," agreed Nikki. I was a little mollified by the idea of Anita paying me a compliment, and the scowl disappeared from my face.

"That's better," Anita congratulated me. "Now, " she said, turning to Nikki, "What's next?"

"I don't know. Shall we try and do something with his eyes now?"

"Oh yes let's!"

I was a little startled by the enthusiasm this suggestion had generated. I had never been able to animate Anita so much before. I decided it was time to reassert some normality. "Well remember the contest rules said I could only wear modest make up"

"Oh we'll make sure you're modest!" Nikki stated, beaming at me, while she rummaged again in her bag.

"I think we'll start with a bit of eyeliner," she announced, producing a pencil from the depths.

"Good idea!" Anita exclaimed in agreement, beginning to grin wildly.

"Okay let's see what we can do!" With this, Nikki came at me with the pencil, and I flinched away.

"Steady on!" I said, "You could have my eye out with that thing!"

"I'll be careful," Nikki said, barely hesitating. I pulled my face away again, almost in reflex.

"Honestly Steve, it won't hurt!" Anita reassured me. I was not convinced. "Just try and keep still. Go on."

"All right," I mumbled, and Nikki set to work with the pencil, while my eyes tried to blink, or pull away from the pencil scraping around their edges.

"He's got lovely shaped eyes." Anita observed, as Nikki moved from one to the other. "Nice and even."

"Yes," Nikki agreed.

"And not too deep set either," Anita added. I could just see her staring at me through the tears welling up.

"No, he's going to look good." Nikki continued, still scratching away at my lids. "Well I think that might do. How does it look Anita?" she asked.

"Excellent!" Anita exclaimed, with a wide grin. "You look wonderful Steve, doesn't he Nikki?"

"Well it's definitely an improvement."

"Yes. You're eyes look really good in make up. They're such a good shape, and the eyeliner's really brought that out." Her enthusiasm was apparent in her voice. "Let's put some eye shadow on for him as well. That will look even better!!"

"Okay," said Nikki. "What colour do you think he should have?"

Anita looked pensive for a moment, her brows drawing together. "I don't know. It depends on what he's going to wear I suppose."

"Well," Nikki said after a pause, "we know that; for the uniform round anyway."

"Oh that's true!" Anita said, her face returning to its usual form. "Pale blue!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki.

"Well then perhaps some nice pale blue shadow then! That should look good!"

"Okay then," said Nikki, and began to look in her bag again. She emerged with a small pad with three or four blue powder circles of differing shades. "Right, let's see what we can do."

"He really has got nice eyes," Anita observed, staring at me again "They're not heavily set like most blokes."

"No," agreed Nikki. "They're good." She dabbed what looked like a cotton wool bud on a stick into one of the blue circles, and then started towards me. "You'd best close your eyes for this Steve," she suggested.

"Close my eyes?"

"Yes, I need to do your eyelids, so it's much better if you close them"

"Yes," agreed Anita.

I shrugged, and complied, and almost immediately wished I hadn't. Nikki began stabbing my eyes through the lids with the stick.

"Hey!" I objected, pulling away. "That hurts."

"Oh don't be such a baby!" Anita taunted. "It just feels a little uncomfortable. You could hardly say it hurts!"

"No," agreed Nikki. "Just keep still, and be brave."

Reluctantly I moved back into position, and let Nikki prod around again. After the initial shock of having my eyeball poked, the sensation wasn't too bad.

"Nice and dark down here," Nikki said, "And then I'll do some lighter shading higher up."

"Yes," agreed Anita, her voice betraying some excitement at the prospect. Nikki shuffled across, and began work on my other eye.

"I can't get over how good your eyes are Steve!" Anita exclaimed. "They really are perfect you know. Perfect for this anyway."

"I agree." Nikki put in. "A nice shape, and not too deeply set. Just right for a girl!" They both laughed at this, while I grunted. Much as I was pleased to receive this stream of compliments from Anita, being complimented for looking like a girl was not part of my fantasy.

"Okay," Nikki said, after a little while, "Let's try the lighter shade as well now."

"Oh yes. Good idea!" Anita encouraged.

The prodding and poking then continued, as Nikki worked away with another one of the pots. I just sat there with my eyes shut while this went on, occasionally feeling the breathe of one or other of the girls on my face.

"Oh that looks lovely!" Anita exclaimed, as Nikki finished one eye. "Oh yes, I like that. I like that a lot!"

"It doesn't look bad does it?" Nikki agreed, moving around to my other side.

"Wow! You really have got girl's eyes Steve. I'm not messing about, they look gorgeous!" Anita's roundabout compliment stung me like a wasp.

"Well anyone's eyes would look girly with this much make-up on" I grumbled.

"Oh I don't know about that," Anita asserted. "I think you're a natural."

"Me too," agreed Nikki before I could say anything. She then recommenced poking my eyelids, higher up this time, with the stick on the left side. After what seemed an age she announced, "Well I think that'll do."

"Oh yes," enthused Anita breathlessly, "That'll do very nicely. You look lovely Steve!" Both of the girls giggled, while they looked at me from all angles.

"I'll tell you something else as well," Anita said, still looking closely at me. "Part of the reason his eyes look so girly is his eyelashes."

Nikki looked at my eyes again. "Yes," she agreed. "They're nice and long."

"And they curl a bit naturally as well," Anita added. "It's good."

"Well I think we can help a bit there as well," Nikki said, and started rummaging in her bag again. "What he really needs now," she stopped to search further, "is this!"

"Oh yes. Mascara!" Anita exclaimed. "That's a must!"

"Hang on!" I exclaimed. "I thought I was supposed to be wearing modest amounts of make-up. If I wear too much I'll be disqualified or something."

The two girls looked at each other for a second. "I hardly think a little touch of mascara could be taken as too much Steve." Anita explained quietly.

"No, " Nikki agreed. "All girls wear a little bit of mascara."
"Yes," said Anita, backing her up. "It'll be fine Steve. Don't worry. We won't get you disqualified or anything."

"No," agreed Nikki. "Shall we do it then?"

"Yes!" said Anita emphatically, and my willingness to object evaporated in the face of her enthusiasm.

Nikki had brought out a black pencil looking thing from the bag, and she took the lid of this to reveal a long stiff looking brush. She dipped this back into the tube from which it had emerged, and then lifted it to my eye. Almost instinctively I backed away from it.

"Keep still" she said with some irritation. "This won't hurt."

"No. Don't worry Steve. I put some on every day, and I've never damaged myself with it." Anita said with a bit more sympathy.

Grudgingly I held my head in place, while the brush approached my eye.

"Don't blink" Nikki commanded, and I felt the brush tugging uncomfortably at my eyelashes. "Shut them now," she continued, and I obeyed.

"Aw, he's got wonderful eyelashes!" Anita exclaimed. "I'm quite jealous." They giggled together at this.

"Good," Nikki said eventually. "Now try not to blink too much until it's dry. I'm going to do the other one now." She moved around to my left side, and repeated the process. Eventually she was obviously satisfied.

"Well that'll do for now. He could do with another coat, but we can do that when this one's dried."

"Yes, " agreed Anita. "Oh Steve you look adorable!" she exclaimed, giggling. "Once they're dry you can try fluttering them a bit!"

"I don't think so thank you." I responded, but the giggling continued.

"Well, while they're drying, we might as well work on your lips," announced Nikki.

"My lips?"

"Yes!" enthused Anita. "You'll have to have a bit of lippy!"

"Yes!" agreed Nikki.

"Oh God," was the only response I could make.

"Now what colour would be best?" Nikki asked.

"I don't know," Anita responded.

"See through," I suggested.

"Well you could have a bit of gloss later," Anita replied, obviously misunderstanding what I was saying. "In fact that's not a bad idea, to make it last longer."

"Yes. Good idea Steve!" Nikki agreed.

"But you need something with a bit of colour to it first."

"I suppose we shouldn't go for anything too bright," Nikki volunteered. "He is supposed to be a little restrained. For this round at least."

"Yes, " agreed Anita. "We can go to town a bit for the formal costume!"

"If I get that far," I put in.

"Of course you will!" asserted Anita.

"You'd better after all this effort," agreed Nikki. "Okay, well let's see what I've got that's quite subtle." She rummaged around in her bag again, and pulled out what I recognised as a lipstick. "What about this?"

"Let's see," said Anita. "Oh yes, that might do the trick. Let's try it out anyway."

"Okay," agreed Nikki, and she unscrewed the top, and produced another little brush. "Now let's make sure your lips are nice and dry to start with. And remember, don't lick them until it's nice and dry." Obligingly I wiped my mouth, and made sure they were dry.

Nikki dabbed the brush onto the lipstick until it was liberally covered in light pink lipstick, while I looked on horrified. "Okay," she said, "Let's try it." She began rubbing the lipstick into my mouth, and the first thing I noticed was the taste, a sort of waxy, and vaguely fruity flavour. Anita was over to my right, looking on with great interest.

"Oh that's beginning to look much better!" she exclaimed. "He's got a nice mouth, but his lips were a bit thin before."

"Well I'm trying to fill them out a bit," Nikki responded, still working with the brush. After some time, she backed away to inspect her handiwork.

"Well that's probably okay for the uniform round."

"Yes," agreed Anita, "It looks good. What do you think Steve?"

I was amazed to be asked. "I, err, well; it tastes a bit funny."

"Honestly Steve, you're not supposed to be eating it"

"No," agreed Nikki. They continued staring.

"Give us a pout," suggested Anita. "Go on, like this." She pursed her lips out for me. I shuffled uncomfortably; I wasn't sure I wanted to pout.

"Come on Steve, just so we can see what it looks like," encouraged Nikki. I relented, and pursed my lips as Anita had done. They immediately both burst out laughing.

"Oh that looks so sweet!" giggled Anita. "It's lovely."

"Yes," agreed Nikki," do it again." Reluctantly I did so, to be greeted with further howls of laugher.

"You're a natural for this Steve," Anita informed me. "If you were a girl, you'd be a right little flirt!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "And once we've put another coat of mascara on, you can practice fluttering your eyelashes as well."

"Oh God," I said meekly, and Nikki found the mascara brush again. Without further ado she began to reapply it to my eyelashes, tugging upwards with each stroke.

"Oh that's really good!" observed Anita. "They're curling up nicely now!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "Let's see what it looks like." She stepped away, and after a critical pause smiled. "Oh yes that looks really good." Both girls giggled, while I became quite glum.

"Well let's see you flutter them!" urged Anita.

"They may not be dry yet," cautioned Nikki.

"It'll be okay. Come on Steve! Let's see you do it!"

I knew I wouldn't be getting much peace until I complied, so reluctantly, I closed my eyes, and then opened them again rapidly. My eyelashes felt oddly heavy, and a couple of my lashes stuck together. The girls didn't seem to notice, lost as they were in a paroxysm of giggling.

"Oh that's wonderful!" announced Anita, quite breathless from laughing. "I told you, you're a natural flirt!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "If you can do that for the judges you're bound to win." They giggled some more.

"Did you want to look at yourself?" Anita suddenly asked me solicitously. "It's not fair is it? We keep telling you how good you look, and you haven't even had the chance to see for yourself."

Before I had the chance to reply, Nikki butted in. "Well perhaps we ought to sort his hair out first. Then he can get the full effect. That would be better."

"Oh yes I suppose it would," Anita answered, her eyes fixed on me. "Did you bring it then?" she asked, biting her lip in anticipation.

"Yes, it's in the bag." Nikki replied.

"What is?" I asked, sensing something I wasn't going to like.

"Your wig," Nikki told me.

"A wig!" I exploded. "I'm not wearing a wig!"

"Oh Steve don't be silly," Anita pleaded. "There's nothing wrong with your hair, but it is a bit boyish isn't it?"

"Well, I'm a boy," I mumbled.

"Not for the purposes of this contest you're not," Nikki informed me.

"No," agreed Anita. "You're supposed to look as much like a girl as you can, and that means having girl's hair."

"Yes," agreed Nikki.

"We thought about it Steve, but there's not much we can do with your hair as it is to make it look girly."

"No," agreed Nikki.

"So we thought the best thing to do would be for you to have a nice wig. Show him it Nikki. It's not that bad."

Nikki went over to a plastic bag by the settee, and produced from it a long dark wig. I looked at it horrified.

"It's more or less the same colour as your own hair," Anita offered, as if it were some solace. It was true enough; the wig was a fairly dark brown colour, not that that pleased me significantly.

"I'm not wearing that," I spluttered.

"Oh come on Steve, you have to!" insisted Anita.

"Yes," agreed Nikki, "you'll look ridiculous without it."

"Yeah!"

Nikki walked on over holding the wig out. It was at least shoulder length, and fairly evenly cut all around, with a small fringe on the front.

"You're not going to look much like a girl with your own hair," Anita continued, "and we haven't got time to let it grow out"

"No," agreed Nikki.

"At least try it on. It won't be as bad as you imagine I'm sure."

I found that hard to believe. I had imagined that this contest would simply involve playing the fool a bit, perhaps wearing a skirt or something. What was emerging was altogether something different. "It'll weight a ton."

"You'll get used to it," Nikki said, without much sympathy.

"Yes, long hair does weigh more, but you get used to it quite quickly." Anita added.

I weighed up the options. There didn't seem much chance that I was going to be able to get away with refusing to wear the damn thing. There was a kind of logic in what they were saying; my own hair was fairly short, and thinking about it, it didn't look much like a girl's hair.

"Let me try it on you," Nikki said, moving even closer with it.

"Yes go on Steve. You'll look good in it!" Anita said encouragingly.

"I doubt that." I responded. "All right then, but if it looks ridiculous it's coming off again."

"Fair enough," responded Anita, "but I'm sure you're going to look beautiful in it. Go on Nikki, put it on him," she beamed.

Nikki strode over to me, and held the wig out. It looked even longer this close up, although I was reluctantly impressed that the hair on it looked so realistic. Lifting it over the top of my head, she pulled out the elastic cap inside, and pulled this down onto my head. It felt uncomfortable.

"Oh that's lovely!" exclaimed Anita.

My eyes were partly obscured by the hair hanging down from it, Nikki brushed it aside a little, looked at me quizzically for a moment, and then began to laugh. Anita joined in as well.

"I told you it would look ridiculous!" I exclaimed.

"It's not that. It looks lovely!" Anita told me, still laughing, "It just makes you look so girly!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "Her hair is a woman's crowning glory after all!" They both continued laughing, while I scowled back at them.

"We'll need to brush it out a bit. It's got a bit tangled in the bag," said Nikki, and she reached back into the make-up bag to produce a hairbrush. While Anita looked on beaming, she began to run the brush through the wig, smoothing it out as she did so.

"Oh Steve you look gorgeous!" Anita exclaimed, as Nikki finished the job. "Have a look Nikki."

Nikki stood back a bit to get a better view, and began to laugh. "Oh I like that! It suits you!"

"We need to tie it up a bit though," said Anita, "we can't just have it hanging loose like that. It's not fashionable."

"No," agreed Nikki. "What do you think he should have? Bunches?" They both laughed at this, and again I scowled.

"It might make him look a bit young." Anita pointed out. "He needs to look like a fifteen year old girl, not a ten year old one."

"That's true," admitted Nikki. "What about a ponytail then? That might look cute." She walked around to the back of me, and grab a handful of the wig to hold behind me.

"Oh yes!" exclaimed Anita, looking wide eyed at me and smiling, "That would look really good!"

"I still think bunches might look okay though," Nikki added. "Let's see." She gathered the wig together at both sides, and held them out just behind my ears. "What do you think?" she asked.

Anita looked at me critically, and began to smile, "It doesn't look too bad actually; not as childish as I thought it would."

"It might look a bit daring," Nikki suggested, "you know, like a schoolgirl fantasy type of look."

"Yes it does a bit," Anita agreed, giggling to herself. "Shall we try it? We can always go with the ponytail if it does look a bit too young."

"Yes. He might need that for the final anyway; it'd be more sophisticated."

"Yeah,"

Nikki let go of the wig, and started looking inside her bag again. She came back to me with two light blue hair bobbles in her fingers, and began pulling the hair up on one side again. She slipped one of the bobbles on, and pulled the hair through. Anita looked on, with her finger on her lip while this was being done.

"Oh that looks nice!" she declared when Nikki had finished. "He looks sweet."

"Well let's do the other side as well then we'll really be able to tell." Nikki went around to my other side and repeated the process.

"Aw, that looks so cute!" announced Anita when she had finished, clapping her hands together in excitement. "Come and have a look Nikki!"

Nikki went around in front of me, and bent down slightly to look at her work, and smiled broadly. "You look fabulous Steve!" she declared.

"Well I know we said you looked like a girl before," said Anita, "but you looked almost butch compared to now!"

"Yes," agreed Nikki, "I never realised you'd look this good as a girl. You're fabulous!"

"Perhaps we should tie a couple of ribbons in it as well," suggested Anita, "to complete the effect."

"No!" I protested, but they ignored me.

"That's not a bad idea," agreed Nikki, "Let's see what I've got." She started rooting in her bag again.

"I don't want to wear hair ribbons," I repeated a bit petulantly.

"But you'll look cute in them!" Anita assured me, smiling.

"I don't want to look cute thank you!"

Nikki had found a couple of pale blue ribbons. "Here we are!" she announced joyfully. "Blue for a boy!" Both the girls giggled at this. Nikki came over to my chair, grabbed hold of one of the bunches, and began tying the ribbon in to it. Anita looked on with great interest, and when it was done, clapped her hands in joy.

"Oh Steve that looks wonderful!" she announced.

Nikki giggled. "It'll look even better with the other one in as well. Hang on." She turned my head around, and began tying the other blue ribbon into the wig at that side. I stared at Anita while she was doing this. Anita's face was fixed on my predicament, and her eyes watched intently as my humiliation continued.

"There!" announced Nikki, "That's done."

"Oh that's simply marvellous!" announced Anita, circling me like a prowling lioness. "You look really good Steve, I pleased with that."

"Yes, me too" agreed Nikki, who was beaming.

"You're a girl from the neck up now, which is good." Anita observed. I felt myself blushing. I was glad in a way that she was so pleased with something I was involved in, but the fact that it was looking like a girl made me uncomfortable. "All we need to do now is sort out the rest of you."

"Yes," agreed Nikki. "That means your clothes"

"That's right," said Anita. "But first we promised that he could see himself, remember?"

"Oh of course! Hang on, I've got a make up mirror in my bag somewhere."

"Well, it might be better if he looked in the big mirror in the hall. He'll get more of the full effect there." Anita suggested.

"Yes," said Nikki in agreement.

"I'm not sure I'm all that bothered about seeing myself actually," I put in.

"Oh but you must!" gasped Anita.

"Yes!"

"You wanted to be sure that you didn't look ridiculous. I want to make sure that you know that you don't!" Anita grabbed hold of my arm to urge me to stand up. After a moment's hesitation, I did so. Resisting seemed futile at this point. I was led out back through the living room into the hallway. To my right was the front door, and to the left the way to the kitchen. On the wall was a large ornate mirror at head height. I couldn't see myself in it from this angle, but knew that a few steps along the hall, and I would.

"Close your eyes Steve!" Anita said eagerly. "It's important that you see this all at once." I scowled, but seeing her enthusiastic grin, did as she asked. Holding my arm slightly more firmly, she led me three or four steps forward, and then turned me around. "Well, when you're ready then Steve!"

I hesitated for a moment, frightened of what I might see. Then I opened my eyes. I was shocked. Looking back at me was a face, although vaguely recognisable as my own, that was to all intents and purposes that of a young girl. My mouth fell open.

"Do you like it?" Anita asked me, giggling.

"Like it?" I mumbled, still in shock. "I don't know about that."

"But you have to admit it looks good." Anita said. I glanced from my reflection to hers in the mirror. She still looked eager and happy with my state.

"Well, " I mumbled again, struggling for words. "I suppose it's not too bad. But I didn't think I'd look so," I hesitated.

"Realistic?" suggested Nikki, giggling from behind me.

"We told you that you looked like a girl," Anita added smugly.

"Well anyone would look like a girl with this much make-up on." I said, struggling for some sort of solace.

"I don't know about that," said Nikki. "You look more like a girl than I do sometimes."

"Me too!" added Anita, and they both laughed.

I turned my head slightly to the side. I could see that I was blushing profusely at their teasing. To my embarrassment my bunches bobbed as I moved, and I felt the weight and clammy heat of the wig all the more.

"Well I think you're very brave doing this for us," announced Anita, and with that planted a delicate kiss on my cheek. I blushed even more.

"Mind his foundation!" warned Nikki.

"Well he deserves a bit of praise," Anita said, by way of justification. I was in shock; Anita had kissed me for the first time, because I looked so good as a girl. Where was this heading?

"Well if you've finished admiring yourself," Nikki said, with a slight sneer in her voice, "Let's get on with the clothes. We've got a lot to get through you know."

"Yes," agreed Anita. "Come on Steve, let's see what you look like in the girl's school uniform!"

  

  

  

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