Girlish

(A love story)

by Karen Singer

 

Chapter 8

 

Thursday evening Brenda had warned me that Jill was planning to punish me again. I had been expecting it, but for the life of me, I really didn't understand why she hadn't done it already. Just the thought of it scared me a bit. I knew I probably deserved it – by her rules, but hell, did she have to nag me so much? I was trying. I just didn't see the point.

It was late Friday afternoon when it started. I had been working on a paper for school when Jill finally got home. "Take those jeans off!" she ordered me as she was still walking through the door. I turned and looked at her with surprise which quickly started to grow into fear, or anticipation of fear. "In fact, strip from the waist down," she continued. "I know Brenda told you we were going to punish you, and now it's time." Before I could say a word, she threw her purse down on her bed and walked out again leaving the door wide open.

I slowly got up from my chair and sat on my bed to untie and remove my sneakers. Then I got up and slowly walked over to close the door before taking my jeans off. All my actions seemed to be in slow motion. My mind had entered a kind of shock zone. I had been waiting for this, but now that I knew it was coming, I felt scared again. Once my jeans were off, I sat down on my bed again and just waited, feeling very nervous. I must have sat there for about five minutes before Jill walked back into the room again followed by Aaron who was carrying an old backpack. "Oh no!" I thought to myself.

Aaron set his bag on the floor then picked up my desk chair and placed it squarely in the middle of the room facing the still open door. He then grabbed the pillow off my bed and placed it on the chair.

"I thought I told you to strip from the waist down," Jill said angrily to me. "What are you doing with those panties on? Get them off, now!"

I hadn't understood that she had wanted my panties off too. I stood up and as quickly as I was able, which was a lot slower than I could normally move, and slid them off my legs. I was still wearing the chastity device, but that did little to make me feel covered up.

Aaron grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the chair and said firmly, "Lay down on it."

There were tears starting to form in my eyes as I awkwardly tried to lay sideways across the chair. I was grateful for the pillow under me, but I soon realized that it made my butt stick up higher and more exposed. Seemingly from nowhere, Aaron suddenly had more rope in his hands again and I soon found my hands being pulled under the chair legs and being tied to the legs on the other side. As each rope was pulled tightly my fear grew. By the time he started to tie my knees to the chair too, I was whimpering loudly. I was trying hard not to cry yet, but I just couldn't help it. Then, for no reason that I could see, since I couldn't move anywhere, he bent my ankles together from their spread position and tied them together too. I couldn't move anything except my head and I was now crying openly.

"You were bad!" Jill positively yelled at me. "You argued with me, you were disrespectful to me, and you weren't doing what you were told to do. I didn't like it and I don't ever want it to happen again. So you're about to get something that you won't like either!" And with that, I felt that inevitable paddle descend onto my backside with a force that took me totally off guard.

"Oww!" I cried as the searing pain rushed through me. Then it came again, and again, and again. Over and over it hit me. I stopped saying "Oww" after the first half dozen swats and just cried harder and harder with each blow instead. Then, somewhere in the middle of it all, I heard what I thought was someone else crying too. When I turned my head, Brenda was sitting in the doorway with her back up against the door jam. Her head was cradled on her upraised knees and her arms were both wrapped around her head as if she were trying to hide. "Brenda," I cried desperately despite the pain being inflicted on me, "get out of here!"

"No!" I heard her say through her own tears. "I have to watch."

Saying anything more was beyond me at that point. What else could I do?

As bad as the spanking was, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been the first time. This time, only Jill spanked me. I was grateful for that. Aaron could hit a whole lot harder. As soon it was over and I was simply miserable and sobbing. Aaron untied me then helped me to my feet. Unfortunately, he pulled the pillow off the chair and sat me down on it again. Sitting down hurt, but not nearly as badly as it could have. I think my backside was still not registering such things normally yet. As soon as I was seated, Aaron was back with the ropes again and I quickly found my hands tied to the chair behind me. "Now what," I thought to myself.

Jill bent down and put her face right in front of mine. "That was only part of your punishment," she said. "You need to change that stubborn attitude of yours and we thought up something that hopefully will help."

By this time, Aaron was tying a long piece of rope just below my right kneecap. Then he tied another one to my left kneecap. He handed the second one to Jill and said, "Pull it through the bed frame there while I do the same on this side."

I suddenly found my legs being pulled wide apart. Very wide! "Just hold it there while I tie this one," Aaron said to Jill. Then he gave an extra tug on his rope and tied it off. Taking the other rope from Jill, he pulled harder on it till I let out a small grunt of pain. My eyes felt like they were popping out of my head. Aaron looked satisfied and tied that rope off too.

He took some wide leather bands with straps on them out of his bag and laid one across each of my knees. Then he took some small metal boxes out of his bag. He held one in each hand and held them near my knees. I saw his arms give a small jerk. He made some kind of adjustment to each box and repeated his procedure. Again his arms jerked a bit and again he made another adjustment to the boxes. Testing it one more time, he said to Jill, that's about as good as I'm going to get it," he said. "It will give him a little less movement than I would prefer, but he should be fine." He made one final adjustment to each of the boxes as he shoved them into a pouch on each of the leather straps. I watched wide eyed as he fastened each strap tightly just above my kneecaps, then put a small padlock on each one so I wouldn't be able to remove them.

As soon as the last lock had snapped shut, he looked at me with that really cruel smile of his. "I've just locked two shock devices to your legs. If you close them, even a tiny bit, you're going to get a very nasty shock in each leg. And believe me, I just turned them up all the way, so it will hurt a lot! The only way you can avoid getting shocked is to hold your legs as wide apart as possible."

Then as he backed away from me, Jill said, "Since you don't seem to want to sit modestly like a lady, now you're going to have to be very un-modest."

"Ok," Aaron said to Jill, "let's get these ropes off him." He started with my arms. As soon as they were free I rubbed them a bit where the chair back had dug into them. Then he and Jill both started on the ropes attached to my knees. "I'll warn you," Aaron said just before he undid his knot, "if you don't hold your knees wide apart, it's going to hurt!" Then he undid his rope while holding my knee back. He reached over and pushed against my other knee too while Jill finished untying her knot. "OK, ready?" he asked me.

I just looked up in wide eyed fear as I nodded and he let go. He had been pushing against both my knees and the sudden release of pressure made them swing together despite my trying to hold them apart. Instantly I felt a searing zap in both knees as the boxes reacted. Unfortunately, my initial reaction was to close my legs against the pain which only made the boxes produce a constant supply of the searing jolts. In seconds I was thrashing around on the chair in agony, half out of my mind trying to find a way to stop the pain. Somewhere through the foggy panic in my brain I heard everybody yelling at me to spread my legs. It took a while, but I finally got the point and forced my legs apart. The pain didn't stop till I had once again spread them about as wide as they could go. If I thought I had cried before, it was nothing compared to the desperate panicked sobbing that came out of me now.

"Good," I heard Aaron say finally through my intense sobbing. "Remember, all you have to do is hold your legs apart." And with that, he walked out with his lousy bag of tricks.

Jill watched me crying for a few moments then turned to Brenda who had moved from the doorway to sit with her back against the wall. "He's all yours," she said as she started to walk out. She turned in the doorway and said, "Leave the door open. Since you don't want to be modest, you might as well let everybody see you." Then she was gone.

My mind was awhirl. I looked up at Brenda. Her face was a mess from crying. What was I going to do? Brenda got up from the floor and came over to me. She stood right in front of me and leaned down and hugged my neck. My legs must have closed just a bit because I suddenly got zapped again. As my back arched in pain, Brenda quickly let go of me and jumped back. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said worried that she had hurt me.

"It wasn't you," I said still trying to catch my breath. "I must have let my legs close a little bit." I put my hands on my knees and just leaned on them to help hold them apart. I tried to move the leather straps that were fastened to me, but they were too tight. I couldn't even rotate them.

Brenda hovered over me while I tried to move the straps, then she left saying she'd be back in a few minutes. As I sat there, I kept wondering how I was going to get out of my predicament, and just how long was this punishment supposed to last anyway? As long as I sat holding my legs wide apart, I was fine – except for the fact that the muscles in my groin were already beginning to ache from the effort. I just hoped this punishment wasn't going to be too long. Aaron hadn't been kidding, those shocks really hurt!

Brenda came back in a few minutes later carrying a wet washcloth. She had washed her face and looked a lot better. The cold wet washcloth felt wonderful as she scrubbed my face. I could see lots of the makeup I had been wearing on the cloth by the time she was finished. "Better?" she asked.

"Yeah, lots," I said gratefully. She smiled and left me alone again as she took the washcloth back to the bathroom.

When she came back, she sat on the foot of my bed and asked, "How bad is it?"

"As long as I keep my legs spread like this, its fine," I told her. But if I let them slip just a little, then those shocks are really awful." I eased up just a touch on the pressure I was using to hold my legs apart and slowly let them come together. My knees only moved about an inch before I nearly bounced off the chair and was fighting to hold them wide open again. "It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to close them much," I said still trying to control my breathing again. "I think my biggest problem is going to be that my muscles are starting to ache from holding them apart."

"Just try to relax the muscles that hurt as much as possible," she said. "Use your hands to hold your knees apart."

"That's what I'm doing," I said trying to be nice about it. "It's just not easy."

Brenda just sat quietly for a few minutes watching me. "Is that your chastity device?" she asked finally breaking the silence.

I looked down at my crotch. I could only see a little bit of the bottom of it past my breasts. "Yeah," I said.

"Can I touch it?" she asked.

That was surprising. "Sure," I said.

She reached out her hand and very carefully touched the front of it with one finger, then quickly pulled her finger back as if it had been burned. "Does that hurt?" she asked.

I almost laughed. "No," I said, I can't feel a thing there."

She reached out again and touched it further. "It's hard," she said with some surprise. Then she poked at it a few more times. "You don't feel anything?"

"Nothing," I confirmed.

She moved her hand down to the bottom of it and felt the tiny nib where the pee hole was? "Is this where you pee out of?"

"Yeah," I said again. "That's it."

"Is it uncomfortable?" she asked.

"The waist band is awfully tight, but otherwise it's not too bad. My biggest problem with it is that I'm used to having something there, if you know what I mean. I'm used to being able to touch or at least see that part of me, and now, it's like it doesn't exist. I can't even feel it inside there. It kind of frustrating."

The two of us just sat quietly together for a few minutes. Finally she asked, "How long do you think Jill is going to keep you like this?"

"I don't know. I've been wondering that exact same thing myself."

It was at least an hour before Jill came back into the room. "How long do I have to sit here like this?" I asked.

"You really don't have to sit in that chair at all," she said. "You just can't close your legs."

"Oh," I said with some surprise. That had been news to me.

"Well then, how long do I have to wear these things on my legs?"

Jill turned from looking in her closet and smiled evilly at me. "Probably the minimum is going to be twenty four hours. Perhaps till you go back to class on Monday. But that's really up to you."

"Up to me?" I asked.

"Yes, up to you. It all depends on how soon you can convince me that you really and truly want to be girlish. And believe me, you're going to have to want it awfully bad!"

"But I'm trying really hard."

"You may be trying, but not hard enough, and it's not the same thing. I want you really want to act and think like a girl."

I just looked at her in shock and watched as she changed and dressed herself to go out for the evening again. Brenda grabbed one of my knees and pulled it toward her to help me hold them apart. She sat quietly too until Jill walked out the door with a little wave saying, "Ta-ta."

"At least twenty four hours, possibly the whole weekend," I said. "What am I going to do? I'm already starting to get really tired and my muscles are aching something fierce. I don't think I can make it."

"What choice do you have?" Brenda said. "You're stuck."

"I know, I know! My whole life has been like this since I came here."

As Brenda and I talked for a while, my muscles got more and more tired and ached more and more till I finally said. "I've just got to move my legs and close them for a minute. I can't stand this."

"Don't!" Brenda said in alarm.

"I've got to," I said. And with that, I slowly let the pressure off again. Half a second later those twin zaps hit me again and I screamed." I hadn't moved my legs very far at all. I held my legs wide again and simply sobbed.

A little while later, the zaps were coming closer together as I got more and more tired. Brenda, I think in a fit of frustration, went downstairs to get us something to eat. I wasn't the least bit hungry, but she didn't ask my opinion. Eventually, she brought me up a small sandwich and a coke. The sandwich upset my stomach a bit, but that coke really felt good going down. I hadn't realized how thirsty I had gotten. Unfortunately, a short time after drinking it, I had to pee. "Now just how am I supposed to manage that?" I asked out loud.

"We'll just have to get you to the bathroom as best we can," Brenda said simply. She pulled on my arms to help me stand while still keeping my knees spread and bent. I shifted my weight and angled one leg toward the door. Progress, sort of. Then I tried to shift my weight and swing my body in the other direction to move my other leg ahead. Somewhere in the middle of the process I got zapped again and almost fell. If it hadn't been for Brenda I would have wound up on the floor. It took four more zaps to just get to the bathroom door, another major series of them to get through the door, and another one to get turned around to sit on the toilet. I practically peed on the floor before I got there.

Getting back to the bedroom was just as bad. Brenda suggested that I try lying on the bed instead of sitting up. I was crying so hard again that I could only go where she sent me. I wasn't up to making any decisions for myself. Lying on my back was a lot better. Brenda washed my face again and I as able to relax again to some extent, but God I ached bad. We tried stuffing pillows between my legs, but they didn't seem to help much. The gap was just too wide.

Brenda stayed with me all night. She got her pillow and a blanket and when she wasn't holding me, she laid on the floor next to me. To say I was miserable would be an understatement. There was nothing I could do to not hurt – one way or the other. I sobbed all night long. Jill never came back that night.

Early in the morning I had to pee again and again Brenda helped me. I was too far to gone to not get zapped almost continually the entire way. That time, I did pee on the bathroom floor. I cried over that too. Then it was back to bed again where my mind went back into its delirium.

As soon as Jill came home I was begging her, "Please Miss Jill. Please, take these things off me!"

Jill came over and looked at me with absolutely no remorse on her face at all. "Nope, not ready yet," she said simply and turned her back on us. She changed her clothes and left again.

I had not slept all night. My mind was total mush, and I could no longer hold my legs apart for very long at all so I was getting zapped more often. I swore to myself that if I ever got the chance, I'd never sit with my legs apart again. Eventually, I was saying it out loud, over and over again.

When Jill finally came back to the room just after lunch, I told her too. "But you still don't want to be girly," she said simply. "You have to convince me of that."

"I do, I do," I practically screamed through my tears.

"I'm not convinced," she said and turned and left again. I cried so hard.

Somewhere through the tears I think that Brenda was telling me that I had to want to be girly. I couldn't be sure because my mind was not registering anything except exhausted pain. But it was the word girly that I clung to. If it would stop the pain, I would be girly. Girly would stop the pain. "I'll be girly," I started to moan over and over again to myself. By that time I was so tired that I was thrashing around which only made the zapping hit me more often. "I'll be girly," eventually became accompanied by, "I want to be a girl." And later I started to add, "I don't want to be a boy. I hate being a boy." "I want to be a girl. I hate being a boy. I want to be girly. I want to be girly." Over and over again. I wasn't talking to anyone. I was delirious and it was just continually coming out of my mouth.

Eventually, I felt something new. Someone was doing something to my legs. People were talking to me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I moved my legs again expecting that awful shock and nothing happened. It was like the whole world had suddenly tipped over. I carefully and slowly moved my legs together again and rolled onto my side. The pain from closing my legs after holding them apart for so long was awful - and wonderful. I passed out like that, holding my knees together as if in a fetal position. "I want to be girly," was still coursing through my mind as I slept.

It was early morning when I awoke. My legs and back ached and I had to pee terribly. I soon realized that Brenda lay sleeping cuddled up against my back with her arm over me. She had thrown a blanket over us too. As soon as I moved a little bit, she woke up. I rolled over to look at her. Her face was so close to mine. "How do you feel?" she whispered concerned.

"I ache all over," I whispered back, "and I have to pee."

She smiled and got up so I could get out of bed. I saw that Jill was missing again. Every movement I made hurt. Walking was only barely possible.

"Why don't you take a nice warm bath?" Brenda suggested. It sounded like a great idea and I simply nodded my acceptance as I stumbled the rest of the way into the bathroom.

After peeing, I started the bath water running then went to the sink to shave my face. As soon as I looked in the mirror the thought hit me. "Boy is bad!" Shaving my face was a boy's activity, but I didn't want my beard to show so I shaved anyway. The bath felt wonderful and I soaked in it for a long time. While I was in there I shaved my legs. "Girl is good," I thought and felt happy about it. Brenda knocked softly on the door and brought me my nightgown so I'd have something to put on. "Thanks," I said gratefully.

"I'll be downstairs in the kitchen," she said "I'm starting to get hungry."

I suddenly realized how famished I was. "I'll join you as quick as I can," I said prying myself up off the bottom of the tub. Every movement was still an effort. Wow, did I hurt.

As quickly as I could I dressed myself in a bra, panties, pantyhose, a skirt, blouse, heels, and makeup. "Girl is good!" Finally I made my way downstairs.

"Golly, you got completely dressed," Brenda said as soon as I walked in. "I was wondering what took you so long." She was only wearing her nightgown and a robe over it.

"I just felt like I had to," I said. Brenda had already scrambled some eggs that were sitting still in the pan with a lid over them to keep them warm. She had boiled some water for tea and stuck some bread in the toaster. I walked over and put a tea bag in both of our cups as she started the toaster. I looked over at her. "Thank you," I said as meaningfully as I could.

She walked over and hugged me tight. "I'm just glad you're all right." We stood holding each other like that till the toast popped up.

As we sat down to eat, she said, "I talked to your mother last night."

I almost spit out my food. Mom! "What did you say?"

"Don't worry, I told her you didn't get any sleep the night before and was sacked out. She said not to wake you and she'd call back again today. You didn't tell her very much about me did you?"

"No," I said, "only a little."

She smiled. "She said you keep mentioning me, but you won't tell her anything. She said she'd like to meet me."

"You'd like her. She talks a lot, but as moms go, I think she's one of the best." Brenda blew a little kiss at me for that.

 

I'm not even sure how aware of it I was, but my whole life changed. Now, I was suddenly very aware of every movement I made and every expression that I put on my face. Was it girly? Girl is good! I spent a lot more time watching every other girl I saw. How did they move their hands or their body, how did they react to things? What were they wearing? Copy, copy, copy. Oh, and I never sat with my legs apart again, no matter what. When I sat down they were always together before I even started, even getting into the car. Even standing up I kept them together. Besides, it was more girly that way. Girl is good!

The process of reinventing yourself seems to be a never ending one. First I was Stephen, who thought he knew who he was and sort of had at least a general idea of where he wanted life to take him. Then I was Stephen/Stephanie who didn't have the least clue about anything. Now I seemed to be just Stephanie who was willingly trying to reinvent herself. It was very difficult. I often saw that picture puzzle image of me in my head. There didn't seem to be too many of the Stephen images there any more. I no longer seemed to care.

 

Jill and I still went shopping some weekends, but sometimes Brenda and I would go instead. Brenda didn't have much money to spend, but often we could get her a little something. She still stuck mostly to the very conservative, but at least she was looking better, and she seemed to be happy. Both she and Jill loved to try on clothes. The difference was though that Jill could afford them and Brenda couldn't. Also, Brenda still only purchased the very conservative things. She'd try on skirts and dresses, and come out of the changing room to show us, but she'd never buy them. I wished I could enjoy the dress up game as much as they did. There just seemed to be something left from the Stephen side of the puzzle that held me back.

That's precisely what I was thinking one Saturday as I stood looking at myself in a mirror just outside of the dressing room. I was trying on a long colorful skirt. I was waiting for Brenda to come out to show off a similar one. Jill was in the room next to her with still another one. Jill came out first. She walked around and looked at herself in two different mirrors, swishing her skirt all around. She was obviously enjoying herself, but then everything always looked great on her. Finally Brenda came out. She was shyer than Jill, but she still smiled and laughed. The two of them took turns standing in front of the mirrors and turning this way and that. It was obvious how much they were enjoying themselves.

My envy must have showed itself on my face because at one point, Brenda looked over at me and just stopped to ask what was wrong. I smiled at her and said, "I just wish I could enjoy all this as much as you two do."

Jill hardly looked away from her mirror and said, "That's because you're afraid to just let go and enjoy it."

"Huh? I don't understand."

"There's still something inside of you that makes you feel guilty about enjoying the clothes, and until you can get past that guilt and just let yourself go and have fun, you're always going to feel that way."

"She's right," Brenda added, "you're still afraid to give over completely to Stephie and really let her out. The Stephen side of you is keeping Stephie from having a good time."

"So what am I supposed to do about it?" I asked.

Jill finally turned away from the mirror and walked over to me. "You may just have to work harder at enjoying it, despite how you feel. Pretend to enjoy it and maybe eventually, you will."

"Stephie, it's Ok to let yourself have some fun. Believe me, I know," Brenda added.

What could I do except to smile and say, "I'll try."

And I did try. I tried for weeks and weeks. Until one day, the three of us were somewhere else, all trying on clothes again, and I found myself laughing and posturing and showing off in front of the mirror. And it suddenly hit me. I was actually enjoying myself. I didn't say anything to either of them. I was just happy about it. I finally got it. Girl is good. And at that point, it was very good.

 

My hair was one of those huge thorns under my skin that always seemed to bother me. I was always afraid that it was something that people would take notice of as a big tip off that I wasn't really a girl. As it got longer, I worried less and began putting small hair clips in it. They seemed to make me feel better – not to mention they helped to keep it out of my eyes. Jill and I spent a few evenings looking at fashion magazines together and discussing hair styles. But my hair just never seemed to be long enough. Finally, I told her that I was thinking about going to a hairdresser to see if a professional could make it look any better. Jill thought it was a great idea, Brenda did too. I asked for Jill's help and she gladly made the appointment for me. I was listening as she told the shop owner over the phone all about me and what we were looking for. I was surprised and a bit panicked over the fact that the hairdresser would know what I really was, but as Jill said, she would figure it out pretty quickly anyway.

The day of the appointment, both Jill and Brenda came with me. The hairdresser was very polite and professional. She said she had to look twice to see that I was a boy. "And you don't act like a boy," she said. That made me feel good. Girl is good!

Jill told her we were wanting my hair to eventually be long, but in the meantime, something had to be done with it. She fussed with my hair for only a few seconds then said simply, "No problem. I don't think it's going to need too much. Just a little trimming and shaping."

It was the longest haircut I ever had. For just a little trimming and shaping it took over and hour! First it had to be washed. Then she combed it and trimmed a bit here and there. She put clips all over it as she cut it further in different places. That was followed by a session with the blow dryer. Then finally she began brushing it into place and using a curling iron on most of it. Finally I found myself being sprayed with clouds of hairspray to hold it all in place. "There," she said finally as she finished with the hairspray. "What do you think?"

I had been trying to watch myself in the mirror whenever possible during the entire process but somehow the final unveiling took me by surprise. My hair seemed to be much thicker than before. The soft curls everywhere gave it a really feminine shape and made my whole face look different. As much as I had stared at my face in the mirror in the last few weeks, I almost didn't recognize myself. I was almost speechless. "It looks great," I said at last. Inside I was still thinking "Wow." I couldn't take my eyes off the mirror. Was that really me?

"Stephanie, you look wonderful," Brenda said coming up behind me.

"You sure do," Jill said from my other side. "We should have done this a long time ago."

On the way home, we stopped so I could buy a curling iron for myself and a can of hairspray. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I was determined that I should try to learn to keep it looking like it did then. Girl is good!

 

 

INTERLUDE

 

 

Jill poked her head through Brenda and Sharon's door. The two of them were studying together. "I need your help." Jill said to them both as she walked in.

"Sure, what is it?" Brenda asked.

"I'm thinking about putting Stephanie on hormones, but I don't know much about the medical side of things. Is there any way you two can help me do some research?"

Sharon's eyes were wide with surprise, so were Brenda's. Sharon looked over at Brenda for her to take the lead. "Sure, I guess so," Brenda said. "I don't know much about them but we'll be happy to look into it."

"I know a little bit about using them," Sharon said, "but not for the purpose you're looking for. But I think I know someone who I can get some advice from."

"That would be great!" Jill said. "I sure would appreciate it."

Brenda stared out into open space for a second then said, "I think Stephie will appreciate it too."

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stephanie was off at his usual Sunday study meeting when Jill once again walked into Aaron and Mark's room. Mark was staring into his computer screen as usual, Aaron was laying back on his bed listening to his music. Jill knew that Aaron was one of those unusual geniuses that did everything in his head, down to the smallest detail, before he ever put anything on paper – if he ever put anything on paper. Between Aaron and Mark there was probably enough brain power in that room to light up a small city. They had been rooming together for four years now and yet they hardly ever seemed to talk to each other. Weird!

"Hi guys," she said as she walked in and sat down on Aaron's bed with him. Mark didn't act like he had even heard her. He was lost somewhere in computer land.

"What's up?" Aaron asked taking his headphones off.

"I had this weird idea for Stephanie, and I was just looking for your advice."

"Ok, shoot," Aaron said.

Jill took a small breath then went on. "I was out with another guy last night and I got to thinking about Stephanie."

"Must have been a boring date," Aaron jibed.

"It was," Jill said rolling her eyes. "But I got to thinking about sending Stephie out on a date with a guy."

That quickly got all of Aaron's attention. "You know of course how that would affect Brenda?"

"I know, but it's one of those ideas that I just can't get out of my head."

"Who did you have in mind for Stephanie to go out with, your date from last night?"

"No, I wouldn't want to be that cruel to her. It's just something I was thinking about and wanted your opinion."

Aaron looked at his favorite spot on the ceiling again. "It might be fun," he said at last. "Tell you what, I have a certain let's say "friend," right now who might be just perfect for this. It would absolutely humiliate him to no end to know he had to go out on a date with Stephanie, knowing she was really a guy. It would be even better if he were forced to treat her very specially, like perhaps as his most loving girlfriend. What do you think?"

Jill just looked at Aaron in wide eyed wonder. Never in her wildest dreams had she taken this idea that far. "That would be wonderful," she said.

"Now, what kind of date?" Aaron said to himself. "Where shall we send them?"

Suddenly Mark turned around in his chair. "To the Senior Awards Banquet," he said.

Jill was speechless and just stared at Mark. Aaron smiled one of those wicked smiles. "Perfect!"

"Isn't that a really formal event," Jill said.

Mark just shrugged, "Fairly," he answered, "but not too much. It's really just a coat-and-tie event with dinner and dancing and, of course, a few boring speeches and awards, but mostly it's another excuse for a fancy Christmas party. I was invited to attend but I wasn't sure if I want to go."

"So was I," said Aaron. "I wasn't sure I wanted to go either, but now I certainly do."

Jill was amazed. "You both got invitations?" She realized that she shouldn't have been surprised at all. The event was open to everybody, but only the top students in their departments got invitations.

Aaron shrugged, "Big deal, it's just another dinner. But now, it may be a whole lot more interesting if Stephanie is there with my friend."

"So who are you going to go with?" Jill asked him.

"You!"

Jill almost fell off the bed. She had never felt more attraction towards Aaron then she did then. She was suddenly getting wet just looking at him. The butterflies she used to feel every time she got around him were back in full force. She was speechless. Aaron was simply staring at her with those dark eyes and a smile of pure satisfaction on his face. To cover herself she turned towards Mark and asked him, "And who are you going with?"

Mark looked back at her and smiled. "Brenda."

Jill's mouth dropped wide open.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Brenda and Sharon were studying when Jill knocked on their door again. "C'mon in," Sharon called out without even looking up from her books." She was totally taken unawares and also got a bit frightened as not only Jill walked into her room, but so did Aaron and Mark. Brenda was wide eyed. That old fear of boys was still there.

"Hi you two," Jill said as they all trooped in and distributed themselves on whatever furniture they could find.

"What's up?" Sharon asked now really curious about this huge intrusion. Brenda was still sitting in her chair wide eyed.

Jill looked directly at Sharon and asked, "Can you get a boy for a special date?"

Sharon was really surprised at that. "Sure," she said thinking about one boy in particular that she had gone out with a few times now that Brenda was spending most of her time with Stephanie. "Why?"

"Because you're going to the Senior Awards Banquet with us."

"I am?" Jill just nodded. "Maybe I better check with Cory first," Sharon said, "that dinner ain't cheap. At least I don't think it is anyway."

Aaron just smiled and said, "My treat this time Sharon."

Sharon just looked at him in amazement. "Well thank you very much. I'd love to. That is if I can get him to go, and believe me, he'd better go!" She suddenly looked suspicious. "Just what's this all about anyway?"

Jill looked over at Brenda and said, "Brenda, we need to warn you that this is probably going to be something that you're not going to like to hear." Brenda just sat and sort of hugged herself. A small whimper came out of her but she never took her eyes off of Jill. "We're setting up Stephanie for a date with a guy."

Brenda gasped then yelled out in panic, "Stephie… she'll get hurt!"

"No she won't," Mark said as gently as he could to her. "We're all going to be there with her, every step of the way. You too… that is… if you would be so kind as to go as my date? I'd really like it if you would go with me."

Brenda just stared at Mark and tried to shrink back in her chair as far as she could get. Jill went over and knelt in front of her. "Brenda, we're all going to be there together. We'll make sure nothing happens to you. Mark wants to show you that he won't hurt you and Stephie is really going to need your support. This is going to be very new and hard for her too. Brenda, you've come so far in the last few months, don't you think it's time?"

Brenda never took her eyes off of Mark the whole time Jill was talking. He just sat there staring kindly at her. Finally she just nodded her head and managed to squeak out "Ok."

Mark smiled back at her and said "Thank you."

Then Brenda's face clouded over again and she burst out and said, "But I can't afford it. I don't have anything to wear. I'm sorry, but I can't. I just don't have the money for it!

Mark's gentle manner reached out to her again. "Don't worry, I can afford it. Your dress and shoes and whatever else you might need are on me. What's the sense of being born with a little bit of money if you can't help your friends once in a while?"

Brenda's face registered amazement as she stared at Mark. Then managing a lot more composure than she had shown yet, she smiled at him and said, "Ok, thank you."

"It will be my pleasure," Mark said as he stood up.

Brenda looked up at his tall figure. "I think I'm going to need some heels." Every girl in the room laughed.

Jill jumped up off the floor and became a whirlwind of activity. Pushing both Mark and Aaron towards the door she said. "Guys… out! We have planning to do. Girl talk!"

And with that, Aaron and Mark found themselves quickly pushed out into the hall again and the door closed firmly behind them.

"Are you getting an award," Mark asked Aaron as they walked back to their room.

"Yeah, I submitted a design for a problem that some company in Atlanta had and the department loved it. How about you?"

"Yeah, me too. I designed most of the new network they're going to install next year."

"Oh shit!" Aaron said suddenly stopping. "Now I'm going to have to buy a suit and tie. Yuck!"

Mark looked at him with some sympathy. "Me too. I'm sure I've outgrown my last one."

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stephanie's cell phone rang. She had asked Jill to answer it in case Josh called. They were supposed to be working on a project together, but Stephanie didn't think that Josh would call that early, so she was taking a bath.

"Hello," Jill said into the phone expecting Josh to be on the other end.

"Hello," said a woman's voice. "Is Stephen there? Oh excuse me, I think you know him as Stephanie."

Jill was rather surprised to say the least. "Yeah, we all call him Stephanie," she said without thinking. "He's in the bath right now. Can I tell him who called?"

"This is Stephanie's mother. May I ask who I'm speaking to?"

"This is Jill."

"Oh, so you're Jill. I'm so glad to finally get a chance to speak to you. If you've got a minute, I think we need to talk."

"Uh oh!" thought Jill to herself. "Uh oh!....."

  

  

  

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