Daisy Plays Dotty
Act I: Is this how I'm going to start my new Life?
A sequel to “Daisy and the Phantom Nurse”

I'll be honest with you I've lived a pretty eventful life since I moved in with my uncle and aunt here in Benton. I've fought two major bullies, and stood toe to toe with an evil nurse who's spirit haunts a large regional hospital. I consider that normal. What I do not consider normal is the fact that I may, or may not be transgender. I have never really entertained the idea of transitioning from being a guy to a girl. Not because I'm afraid of being rejected by my family. My family is pretty open minded. But because I never have felt the urge too.

I have, though, found myself more comfortable in presenting myself as female. I shift the roles pretty often. Mostly when I'm around my friends. It's hard to put into words. At school, I present myself as male. I wear the uniform of a male, and use the guys bathroom to take care of my personal business. On the weekend and when I'm around friends I sometimes present myself as female. Like for trips to the local coffee shop, or to the mall.

My friends seem to accept this and nobody has raised so much as an eyebrow. As for the rest of the town. Benton is pretty much an open and accepting place. My cousin Kayla is going to be running for Mayor soon, and she firmly supports the LGBTQ+ community. She part of the town's land owning gently if this town ever had that. She owns something like four hundred acres of prime bottomland.

Next on the list I'm now the honorary little sister of Jamie Sarah Potter. The Potter family is connected by marriage to my family The Bell Family and for several generations we have maintained close ties. Indeed it's my family that makes Jamie and Madeline cousins. The Potter family is a family of merchants. Jamie's mother and father own Potter's Mercantile, a large general store located downtown. Her older sister Lily and her best friend Robin own Sweet Magnolia. A Japanese maid inspired cafe and bakery also located downtown.

What am I driving at? Well because I seem so interwoven with this town the town has adopted me. So when word broke that I'd volunteered to play Dotty, the fabled Dotty, the Dalmatian Princess. People poured forth sweat, toil and treasure to see that I raised the most money possible. And boy did I shatter all the records. Twenty five thousand dollars had been freely given to me.

And what did that mean for me? It meant that Daisy Isabella Bell would be required to wear a pink and white Dalmatian costume that was more like a dress complete with a headband that had dog ears sewn onto it, trot across stage. Make a total fool of myself before getting seven buckets of chili poured on me? Why chili because the highlight of the act or this whole stunt was watching the poor person who volunteered getting covered in chili because slap stick was good for the soul! Or so I've been told.

“Why did I volunteer for this!” I yelled as I spun around and fell on the floor. “This is so embarrassing!” I cried. I was wearing the dress now, and normally I would be happy wearing a dress. This dress right now was not the kind of dress you would want to wear. The fabric felt like plastic and it smelled like plastic and felt collar and neck had this fake kind of fur that felt weird and made the tiny hairs I could not shave off with a razor stand straight up.

“I look!”

“Adorable!” A chorus of girls said as they broke into the room.

“No!” I said blushing a little as I turned my head to the side causing the blonde pigtails to flop around my head as I did so. “I look like a plush doll reject.” I said, sighing a little.

“Look on the bright side.” Jamie said, smirking a little.

“I get to bite you?” I asked in a hopeful manner.

“Nope! Nobody is going to bully you now. You're going to save thousands of puppies this winter with the money you raised. And now you have clout. Like, think how bad it would look if the guys back at school started to bully the person who volunteered to play Dotty and raised a boat ton of money doing it! Plus, you've just gotten out of the hospital too! Daisy, you have no idea what happened when you were in the hospital those four or five days. The whole town kind of closed ranks around you.” Jamie said grinning as she pulled up a chair.

“It true! Kayla got Jason Patterns to run a special about it in the paper. Jamie's Dad and Uncle threaten the School Headmistress. With her job if she did not straighten out the school. The Kayla had Jason highlight the fact that you'd gone to her directly with proof and the by damn girl you got the 'Prefect' system abolished because you showed it for what it was.” Cerridwen said smiling. “Plus you look adorable. Your Facebook is going to explode after this!”

“Yep! Like also this is a perfect event to get those Instagram points! Who knows you're just a Sophomore now, but like in time you could become internet famous! Like you could even use your family connections to become Benton's first real influencer!” Jamie said smiling.

“Or y'all could be y'all. And don't get caught up in all this. This coming Spring I'm going to walk across the stage and get my diploma so I guess I need to leave some meaningful advice to you. Girl, you do you. You got a double name, and most Southern Belle's I know are double named. Look at Jamie for example her full name is 'Jamie Sarah Potter' double named.” Madeline said smiling. “So you're southern and you have southern roots. You're also my first cousin and stuff, so take my advice and go easy on yourself and remember that each day you wake up on this side of the good earth is a blessing.” Madeline paused.

“Also it's going to take a long time for you to wash all that chili out of your hair.” Cerridwen added.

I blinked.

“Oh yes, that stuff clings to your hair. Take my advice and once you shampoo your hair, let it sit for a good thirty minutes and then take a water hose and spray it out. You're going to smell like chili for the rest of the week too. Since you raised so much money they decided to add three buckets.” Jamie said, shrugging her shoulders.

I blinked again.

“Yep! Kayla had me hose off outside for a week after I did this stunt. I used a whole bottle of shampoo too and my hair still felt greasy and oily for a month.” Madeline said, sighing.

I blinked and blinked again.

“Hey, just be thankful they're not using real dog food! They used real dog food the time I volunteered and I smelled high heavens.” Madeline said, pouting a little. “Anyway, your costume is missing one thing!” She said looking over at me.

“Oh?” I said looking down. At my chest.

“She's right, you're missing your collar! We can't have our Dotty go on stage without a collar can we!” Cerridwen said as she snapped her fingers together. “After each of us had to have a collar! It is kind of a personal keepsake along with the tag.”

I blushed and looked around.

“Good thing you guys have me.” Jamie said, smiling a little as she reached into her purse and pulled out a small box. “Normally the collar is just a normal dog collar. And the tag is a normal tag. But since Daisy raised so much money. I went ahead and bought her something extra special.” She said as she lifted the top of the box.

“Oh My God..” I said blushing. At that very moment I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Unlike Cerridwen's collar that had been pink, or Madeline's collar that had been red, or Jamie's collar that had also been just red. This collar was stripped. With the first strip being blue, the second one being pink and the middle one being white, the fourth strip was also pink and the fifth and final strip was blue. And the badge was a small silver dish with a Daisy flower in the center with the name 'Daisy' written below the flower.

“Wow!” Madeline said smirking a little. “Talk about spoiling a girl. But I guess since she the 'youngest' sister she does get spoiled. Meaning you Jamie girl get stuck as the middle sister.”

“Sister? I thought Daisy already had two sisters? I thought his oldest sister was a girl name Susan Elizabeth Marie Bell and his second oldest, cause they adopted her or something was a girl name Linda Bell, the same Linda that attacked Jamie a few years ago?” Cerridwen said.

“It's confusing Cerridwen. Pretty much Daisy has not come out to either her biological sister or her adopted sister. No offense but after Linda snapped and attacked Jamie a few years ago I can understand why she walking on eggshells. Her biological mother and father know. And they're cool with it. Heck they wanted to move her back to Vicksburg and see if they could not get her enrolled in St. Katherine's again.” Madeline said, shaking her head. “Really girl, don't you tell your girlfriend anything?”

“WHAT?! DAISY MOVING BACK TO VICKSBURG! WHEN, WHAT ABOUT US?! DAISY BELL WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING FROM ME!”

I blinked and blinked again and started to back up.

“Somebody's in the doghouse.” Madeline said smirking. “But if you let me finish. Daisy going to stay here in Benton with us, her uncle is after all the local Episcopal Priest and is coming to terms with this, in his own way. Her aunt is kind of figuring things out. Kayla want to adopted her, but Heather still unsure of the whole thing. I'd figured that when she in girl mode she'll stay with either us or the Potter's or your folks. And when she is boy mode she'll float around.”

“Mommy is keen on teaching her the craft..” Cerridwen said smiling.
“Wait? Your mom knows?!” I said turning toward Cerridwen.

“Course she knows! She is a hairdresser and hairdressers love to gossip. Pretty much the whole LGBTQ+ community of Benton goes to her. And a lot of others too. I mean mom and dad already thought highly of you cause you stood up for once before. This time around you really scored some brownie points with dad cause you stood up for me again.” Cerridwen quickly added. “Your still in trouble young lady because you did not tell me about that conversation!”

“It slipped my mind.” I paused. “I've not been sleeping well for like since I got out of the hospital. I keep having these weird nightmares and some mornings I wake up with small cuts.” I said, sighing.

“Nightmares about what?” Cerridwen shot off. “Why have you not been telling me you've been having nightmares Daisy Isabella Bell?! I'm a green witch. I can help you with them.”

“A demonic nurse holding a sharp surgical knife in one hand and braided section of my hair in the other.” I said in a flat tone of voice.

“Alright! I hate to cut this chatterbox session short. But we have a show to put on!” Jamie said, taking a deep breath. She then pulled the collar out of the box, walked over to me and placed the collar around my next. She then attached a leash to the ring in the collar. “Cerridwen, Madeline, please make your way to your seats, I'm going to lead our Dotty out on stage now!”

And so with that Cerridwen and Madeline left the room. Leaving Jamie and I alone. Jamie then cleared her throat and in a hushed tone of voice said.

“How would you like it, if I could pull some strings and let you come to school as 'Daisy' for about a week or two. Do you know test the waters? See how it feels to go to school as a girl.” She said as she clipped the lead to the collar. She then let it out. “I can't promise you anything. But if you want too, I can pull some strings.”

“I would like that. But.. I can't afford the uniform!” I said blushing.

“We have dozens of extra uniforms laying around. Plus, Lily still has dozens of her uniforms. Dad can order you one through the store if you don't want to wear Lily's hand me downs. Or two or three.. or even four..” Jamie said smiling. “We'll put it on credit and have you work it off. Trust me your a hard worker you'll have it paid off in no time and with Lily being away and me being busy with cheerleading well dad and mom have fallen behind so like I said, you'll have it worked off in no time.”

“I would like that..” I said blushing.

“It might give the bullies a reason to go after you again.” Jamie warned. “Hell, doing this stunt might give the bullies a reason to go after you. You're pretty much handing them free ammunition, you know this right? And well if come to school as a girl, you're going to be lighting a neon sign up above your head that going to read 'Fuck with me PLEASE'. I mean I'll understand why you're doing it, Cerridwen will understand why you're doing it. Heather will understand why you're doing it. Same with Matthew and I'm sure Casper and Taylor and Winter. But the other students. There going to think it weird.”

“I want to do it.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“You know, girls are bullies too, right? Nobody messes with me because of who my big sister was and is. And because I'm a cheerleader. The other girls might bully you harder than the boys. you can't fight with your fist Daisy. Girls use words, and words hurt.” Jamie said as she started to guide me down the hallway. “You understand that don't you?”

I nodded my head.

“You understand that I can't be with you all the time, neither can Cerridwen. Or any of our friends. We have different classes, different lunch periods. I'll do my best, but you'll be alone for most of the day. Can you handle that? Handle the pressure?” Jamie asked as she shifted her eyes toward me.

“I think I can.” I said pausing.

“That is not good enough. Listen when I came out of the egg. Linda almost had me raped. As a girl, all they gotta do is stuff a rag in your mouth, and cuff you from behind, flip your skirt and tear off your panties and that little virgin ass of yours is fair game. I'm being honest with you. I don't want to scare you. I want you to know what you will be getting into.” Jamie said, sighing.

“I understand.” I paused. “Jamie I want to see how it is to live as a girl full time for a while. How else can I know for sure if I'm really transgender or not. Not that this will magically make my mind up. But it will give me something to reflect on.” I said as I stopped before the stage.

“Very well.” Jamie said as she leaned in and hugged me. “You shall have your chance. I wanted this conversation to be in private. You could say sister to sister. Now, as your reward for playing Dotty and getting totally humiliated in front of the whole town. I will see that you're allowed to go to school dressed like a girl for two weeks, to test things out. We'll talk to the Headmistress first thing Monday Morning.”

And that is how this chapter comes to an end.