It all started when I was 12. You see I was quite short for my age and very skinny, with long scruffy brown hair. I lived in a cul-de-sac in the near a park in the town of Mount Horeb, WI and in this cul-de-sac lived the only people in the world that I could call friends. Across the street lived Sophie (13) and her brother Timmathy(9), whilst right next-door lived Kaitlyn (14) and her little sister Harpher (8).

Now to my memory, it was a warm summers day, the skies were clear and blue when I decided to head outside. We were a very close bunch of neighbours back then, we would all come into the cul-de-sac and play together, and it was our own little playground.

Happy days. 

The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside was a pink fold-up table sitting on Sophie’s (from this point on will be referred to as Soph) front garden, Soph and Kaitlyn were sitting opposite of each other at the table, which was filled with a ton of cosmetics. Kaitlyn was the oldest of the kids in the cul-de-sac, and had quickly matured into an attractive teenage girl. She had long and wavy dark blonde hair, with brunette highlights. I didn’t know much about makeup but it looked like she only needed to use a little bit, from across the street all I could notice was her lips were all glossy. 

Soph was a year younger than Kaitlyn at 13 years old, I will admit that she was not as attractive as her BFF Kaitlyn, with plain brunette hair and glasses, but her lips were painted a bright red. She was trying to become more feminine and it looked like Kaitlyn was helping her.

I realised, being the youngest of the kids outside today, that going over there would probably be a mistake. I was crazy paranoid back then, especially around girls, as a result of my school years. On many occasions girls would try and give me makeovers in the school hallways, I preferred death to walking around school wearing any sort of makeup. I had to hide in the library as much as possible to convince my brain that I was safe from the mean girls and their mascara.

Kaitlyn and Soph were two of my best friends in the whole world and I love playing in the cul-de-sac with them. But with such a display of femininity and girly-ness going on over there, I had to get away. If only Kaitlyn hadn’t noticed me first.

She waved at me and called for me to come over, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t notice them, as I gave both girls a solid 5 seconds of eye contact. For the sake of our friendship I began to slowly walk towards them, perhaps if they looked away I could jump into a bush and they’d forget about me, but they kept their eyes on me.

The fear running through my body kept my steps as slow as possible, to them it must have seemed like an age. I smiled shyly at them, my hands in my pockets, Kaitlyn stood up and quickly walked to me in 1/5 of the time it took for me to get halfway across the street. 

“Come on, take a seat, we’re just talking” she linked her arm with mine and dragged me along to the pink table. I was forcibly sat down on the seats connected to the fold-up table, Kaitlyn sat back down beside me and gave me a long winded side-hug. When the hug was over, she kept her arm around my shoulders to keep me close, so I could not get away. 

“What are you guys doing with all this stuff?” I asked in a low voice, looking at the all the different jars, tubs, tubes, boxes, bags and cans. I imagined placing all of my toy soldiers on the table, making them use cans of hair spray as cover. 

“This stuff makes us pretty, you wouldn’t know about it” Sophie blurted out, making me feel even more clueless in the situation.

“Soph and I were just talking about what lip gloss we should use” added Kaitlyn
“Any ideas?” 

“I wouldn’t know, obviously” I said with a little smirk on my face, even though I was looking at the table. Sophie nodded in agreement. 

“Don’t you want to know who it’s for?” they both said in unison, I looked up at them both and saw them grin at each other.

“Ok you got me who’s it for?” I asked nervously, they gave each other another look and then smiled at me.

“You” they said excitedly in unison, before I could react Kaitlyn had tightened her arm around my shoulder and grabbed a squeezy tube of lip-gloss, pink and sparkly like she had on her lips. I wriggled and struggled to escape Kaitlyn’s grasp but every move I made seemed to tighten her grip on me. She popped the cap off the tube of lip-gloss using her thumb, and then raised the tube to my face. 

Thing seemed to go into slow motion, I saw Sophie giggling like a maniac in the corner of my eye, my head had turned away from the girls to make it harder for them to get me. Kaitlyn’s arm around my shoulders prevented me from raising my arms, and any hope of overpowering her was lost when she was born three years before me, I could only hope for a miracle now. 

Kaitlyn called for Sophie to turn my head, and in seconds she was behind me with her hands forcefully trying to turn my head to face Kaitlyn. The lip-gloss was getting closer and closer, and now my head was held in place. I was looking Kaitlyn right in the eyes, she had an evil grin spread across her face, and she seemed on the edge of laughter. This was slowly turning into an epic battle of strength, which I was losing. The two girls were much more developed muscle wise, among other things. I was being easily overpowered. 

The lip-gloss was an inch from my lips, I felt Kaitlyn’s grip around my shoulders loosen slightly. She must have been concentrating so much on getting my lips that she forgot about holding me in place. I realised this was my only chance to get away, so I took it. I had to be smart about it. I paused for a moment to make them think I was going to stop struggling; they took the bait and their grips loosened. 

Here I go, this is my chance. 

A blast of energy surged through my body, the adrenaline was pumping, I jerked my head forward and felt Sophie’s hands disappear, but also felt the tube of lip-gloss slide across my cheek. Kaitlyn’s grip was at it’s weakest so far, so I slid down and under the table and leaped out the other side.

I heard the two girls shouting at each other in unison “You let him get away!” but I didn’t care. For the next few minutes I completely forgot that Sophie and Kaitlyn were two of my best friends, I made them chase me through bushes, up and down trees, around houses, over fences and even under cars. Soon I had lost them and quickly bolted for my own garage, they wouldn’t follow me in there. It was a mini junk yard in my garage, bikes, toys, odd bits of wood, the freezer, the boiler and a dangerously placed pair of roller skates would prevent them from getting in there. But I knew my way around. I jumped over the roller skates and hid behind a thick fence made of stacked up bicycles. They stayed away for the next hour or so before I decided it was safe. I snuck out of the garage and hid inside my house for the rest of the day. 

Now that was the vague memory I had, but recently the thought came back to my head and I began to wonder. What could have happened if I never escaped them?
This is a highly fantasised version of what could have happened if Kaitlyn and Sophie kept me in place and painted my lips in a light pink and sparkly lip-gloss. 

- Part 1

I leaped out the other side of the table and ran for my life, I heard the girls shouting at each other behind me in unison “You let him get away!” I ran for the nearest hiding place I could find, Kaitlyn’s house. I knew her mom was probably away at work at this time of day, so the house would be empty. 

I zoomed down the side of the house and into their back garden, the door to their conservatory was hanging open, so I quietly slid into the house and hid behind the sofa. 

It took me a while to realise that I was now stuck in Kaitlyn’s house, I heard her closing the gate to the back garden, and her mom always kept the front door locked during the day. Kaitlyn and her mom were the only ones who had the key! 

I was now trapped, and Kaitlyn was stalking around the house looking for me. She could do anything to me now, since I was technically trespassing. 

When I began to think about what she might do to me, I became frozen with fear. She might pull off all my clothes and push me outside, or lock me in her sister’s room and tell her mom I’m a pervert! 

I didn’t think to move and find a new hiding place, I was stuck in my own mind thinking of my fate. Kaitlyn had already snuck up behind me and had me on my back in seconds. 

The lip-gloss was primed and ready, she had one hand clamped onto my chin to hold me still. 

“It’s not so bad, stop being a baby” she said with an evil smirk on her face. 

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists as she gently slid the lip-gloss over my lips, then used her thumb and forefinger to stretch my lips into a forced smile. 

“There, I told you it’s not so bad”

“I’m a boy!” I shouted at her. “You look more like a girl” she replied coolly.

I had to admit, being only 12 and having long scruffy brown hair, she was right.

Kaitlyn smiled playfully and pulled me up to my feet with one hand, god she was strong. I knew she was just playing games, she didn’t do this because she hated me, I imagined she was just in the mood for some friendly humiliation. 

I remembered this girl was one of my best friends, so I returned her smile with a shy one of my own, even if it was directed at the floor. She lifted my chin up with her thumb and jokily said, “You look pretty”.

I grunted. 

We had about 2 hours before Kaitlyn’s mother got home, so we decided to go up to her room and watch TV. We must have been having so much fun that I forgot about the bubblegum taste on my lips. 

“Kaitlyn, how do I take this off?” I asked when the advertisement break came on. 
“It doesn’t come off” she replied quickly without looking away from the TV. 

Now I didn’t mind watching Girl Meets World in a girl’s room with a girl, but I was not going to wear lip-gloss forever, I had to put my foot down now. 

“I’m serious, how do I take this off!” I wanted to shout but for the sake of all the fun we were having, I only raised my voice slightly. But before Kaitlyn could reply, we heard the front door unlocking, and the voice of Kaitlyn’s mum announcing she was home. 

Kaitlyn didn’t talk, she just went into overdrive as she sprinted about the room gathering supplies. 

“Your mother can’t see me like this! She’ll tell my parents and I’ll never be able to go outside again!” I whispered at her in a nervous and hysterical tone. 

“No she can’t, boy’s aren’t allowed in my room!” she squeaked at me in the same tone. 

I decided what I would do immediately, I ran for Kaitlyn’s closet. My thinking was this was a girl’s closet, so there will be tons and tons of clothes to hide behind.

Kaitlyn was still rushing around grabbing things, whilst simultaneously cleaning up the room and somehow managing to grab the back of my shirt just as I was about to hide in the closet. 

When my momentum was gone, she turned me around by the shoulders and commanded me to put a pink flowery dress on which she held in front of me. I put my foot down again and declared sternly that I would never ever wear a dress, but Kirsty was already pulling the dress on over my head and pulling my arms through the sleeves.

This was not going through my head when I was thinking of things Kaitlyn might do to me. 

By now I understood what Kaitlyn was trying to do, she wanted her mother to think I was just another girl in the room so she wouldn’t get into trouble. I thought the pink dress was enough and she thought so too.

She led me over to the closet that had a mirror on the front of the door. I studied my reflection closely whilst Kaitlyn stood behind me. She was at least a foot taller than me, but I wasn’t looking at her. In my reflection stood a girl in a pink flowery dress.my now curly brown hair (after I finally caved to her wish of curling my long hair)and glossed pink lips, I looked girly enough to pass as a maybe a 12 year old female version of myself. 

I wouldn’t have to worry about Kaitlyn’s mum, Stephanie, recognizing me, or even Kaitlyn’s sister Harpher. Suzanne was at work most of the day, and only got home when most of us had gone back inside, Harpher and I have never even talked once, she always spent her time playing with Sophie’s brother Timmathy. 

Kaitlyn began brushing my shoulder length hair vigorously until it was devoid of knots and smooth, then gathered it together and tied it into a girly ponytail at the back of my head. She made sure to tie my hair closer to the top of my head, so it was clearly noticeable, but much more painful for me. 

I raised my hand to try and loosen it slightly, but Kaitlyn batted my hand away.

“Don’t, it makes you a more convincing girl” she said in a rushed voice

I pouted and looked down at the ground.

“I need you to smile and be a good girl, Courtney” she continued.

I looked at her in the mirror and gave her a confused look, she gave me a quick look in the mirror and smirked for a millisecond, she was still rushing.

We heard footsteps in the kitchen downstairs.

“Kaitlyn?” her mother shouted.

“I’m busy mom!” she shouted back through the door to her room. 

Kaitlyn placed another pink item, a hair clip with a red plastic flower, on either side of my ponytail to keep any loose hairs in place. 

She then reached for her deodorant since I have no body hair except for what's on my head and sprayed my bare chest for a good few seconds. For a moment all I could smell was a flowery fragrance similar to what Kaitlyn always smelt like. She pulled me over to her vanity desk, right next to her bed and the window. She grabbed a glass bottle of another pink liquid spritzed each of my wrists and my neck. Now the flowery smell was gone and all I could smell was a soft fragrance of coconuts.

Without loosening her grip on my hand we sat down at the end of her bed.

I heard the footsteps of her mother coming up the stairs and so did Kaitlyn, she sprinted over to her desk and gathered a bunch of small colored bottles and a small table, the type of table people use when they have breakfast in bed. 

In a matter of seconds, the table was sitting across my legs and covered in all these different bottles of nail polish, Kaitlyn was sitting at the other end of her bed with her legs barely touching my own legs. We were sitting opposite each other with her table of more cosmetics sitting between us. 

Kaitlyn took a few breaths to calm down, then grabbed my left hand and began filing my nails. I had to take a few breaths to relax myself. 

This was the first time I was able to actually study the situation I was in. Back when we were watching TV, all I really focused on was the TV. I didn’t seem to notice the fact I was in a girl’s room with another girl until well, now. 

At this point I think I should say that Kaitlyn is a very girly girl. And her room only helped to reinforce that. I looked at surroundings carefully. The room looked like it hadn’t been redecorated since Kaitlyn was around 6 or 7, the walls were pink, but lined with paintings of bunnies and rainbows at the tops and bottoms of the walls. Her bed was a queen size canopy bed with light pink curtains, the sheets were pink and white, but with white lace around the edges, the pillows too. All her stuffed toys were pilled on the bed behind Kaitlyn, and I’m sure that every single type of animal in the world was in that pile. The carpet was a very fluffy white material, and the furniture, including her vanity table, was all painted a glossy white. The only window in the room was above her vanity table, and looked into the back garden, the curtains were also white and light pink to match her sheets on the bed. All in all, she has a very girly room.

Kaitlyn was busy trying to smooth out my nails when I came back to the present, I looked across the room at the mirror on the closet, I desperately searched for me in the reflection but all I could was two girls doing their nails on Kaitlyn's bed. I honestly felt like I’d fallen into someone else’s life here, but was brought back to reality when Stephanie opened the door. 

If she saw what I could see in the mirror, then we were going to be fine. And I was right. As soon as she entered the room, a wide smile engulfed her face as she spotted me.

“A new friend Kaitlyn darling?” she asked as she gave me another quick smile and began searching for something in her bag. 

“Yeah, Mom this is Courtney, she just moved here” Kaitlyn replied.

Stephanie looked to be in her late thirties, tall and curvy, long brown hair, an everlasting smile and a face that was only just starting to show signs of aging. She was truly beautiful. 

I waved at Stephanie with my free hand and uttered a quiet and shy hello to her.

“Nice to meet you Courtney, I’m glad you met my daughter, she needs another girly girl like herself” she grinned. 

I went red in the face, feeling utterly humiliated by that. 

“Mom, did you get what I asked for?” said Kaitlyn, ignoring her mother’s comment.

Her mother was already walking towards the bed and pulled out a blue package from her handbag. She handed it to Kaitlyn who quickly hid the package behind her.

Stephanie gave me a quick look and asked “Oh Courtney, do you need any? I bought spares.” 

I smiled to distract her whilst I looked at Kaitlyn in the corner of my eye, I’m told I have an infectious smile, so Stephanie would be too distracted to see that her daughter was shaking her head vigorously. 

I took the hint from Kirsty and shyly spoke “Oh no thanks Mrs. Allison, I’m okay for now” 

“Oh please dear call me Mom, all Kaitlyn’s friends do, only the girls though.” She said. 

“You know where to find me if you need these, then” she continued as she pointed at another blue package poking out of her bag, which I guessed were the spares she mentioned. 

I nodded with a little smile. ‘Mom’ leaned over the table to look at what Kirsty was doing with my nails.

“Make sure you paint her nails in the bubblegum pink polish that you have dear, it’ll match her lip gloss and dress dear” she said confidently.

“I know mom, I’ve done this before” Kaitlyn replied, giving her mom an unimpressed look before continuing to file my nails. 

“So am I making dinner for two or three?” She said as she gave both of us looks, clearly she wanted me to stay for dinner, she looked so excited to see a new face. 

One of us had to answer, I would of said no and so would Kaitlyn, but I guess we were just confused as to who was going to say it.

“Three mum, Courtney is staying the night.” Kaitlyn blurted out. Her mother nodded excitedly.

“Dinner is in an hour, make sure your ready by then girls, alright?” She smiled at us both and gave my shoulder another squeeze before she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

“What! I can’t stay here over night and pretend to be a girl! I can’t!” I shouted at Kaitlyn, she just grinned at me.

“You don’t have a chance of walking out of this house dressed as a boy and looking like a boy Kaleb.” She said.

“My mom will see you and she’ll freak out, she’ll be angry with you for being in my bed room and wearing my clothes, she’ll be angry with me letting you in here, and she’ll be angry with both of us for lying to her.” 

“And if you really want to walk out of this house dressed as a girl, go ahead, just know that you’re parents will see you dressed as a girl along with everyone else who might recognise you.” 
“Besides you’re always talking about how your parents don’t care about you, and don’t even notice when you’re gone, I thought you might want to get away from them for a bit” she finished.

Kaitlyn was right, I didn’t have a chance of getting out of the house dressed as a boy. And even if I did manage to sneak out, spending the night with Kaitlyn was much better than spending it in my own house with my parents. I took every chance I got to get away from my mom and dad, they’re always insulting me and making me feel worthless. All I look forward to when I get home is playing with my neighbours. 

“I’m sorry, for shouting at you, you’re right as always.” I said dejectedly as I slid out of the bed and stood up. 

Kaitlyn smiled up at me and nodded. “You’ll just have to pretend to be a girl for now anyway, you can dress as a boy again tomorrow and leave when My mom is at work.”

“Now sit down and let me finish you nails, Courtney” she finished, adding extra emphasis on my new name to try and get me into character quicker. 

“But I don’t want to have pink nails” I moaned at her like a baby. 

“My mom will be disappointed if you don’t come down looking pretty, now sit and please be quiet.” she said with a grin.

I grunted.

“Sit down or I’ll give you a full makeover!” she commanded. 

I sat back down on the bed. Kaitlyn went to work painting my nails in bubblegum pink polish. I began to think about how the evening was going to go, what we would talk about at dinner, where I was going to sleep and all that. 

“Kaitlyn?” 

“Yeah girlfriend?” she snickered at me; I just gave her a serious look. “What?” she asked. 

“What are we going to do tonight? I’m scared I’ll do something wrong and your mum will be onto us…what do we do?” I asked, my nervousness almost exploding in Kaitlyn’s face. 

“Just be polite, think girly thoughts, be girly you know, things will be fine and My mom wont find out.” She replied.

“I’m a boy, I don’t know how to act girly!” I blurted at her, she was obviously becoming more agitated by my nervousness. 

“Courtney, just shush, you’ll be fine, just be polite to my mum, take really small bites of your food, think about pink, think about unicorns, puppies, you know, you’ll be fine, I promise!” she encouraged me with a gentle stroke down my arm, then continued painting my nails in that bright yellow polish. 

“And don’t forget to smooth your skirt before you sit down, do that and Mum will never suspect a thing.” She said with a slight smirk.

“But I’m not wearing a skirt.” I said, confused.

“You will be.” Kaitlyn finished, her grin growing even bigger. 

It took half an hour for Kaitlyn to finish painting all my nails and toenails bubblegum pink, she decided to add little white hearts onto each of my nails and toenails so that her mom would be even more impressed when she saw them. By then it was dark outside and we could smell the food cooking downstairs. 

We began to talk more about what would happen at dinner.

“Courtney, I was thinking, when you’re at the table, ask Mum lots of questions, that way she wont have time to ask you any questions about where you’re from, you know? And if she does ask you a question, I’ll help you out okay?” 

“Okay, but what if she asks me about my parents? What do I say?” I replied.

“Just tell the truth, but don’t say they live next door, My mom will love you even more when you tell her how your parents treat you” she answered confidently. 

“Now you need some shoes, how about some ope toed sandals?” she asked. 

“OK.” I nodded, she grinned back at me and left the room to get them. While she was gone, I gave the room another look over, I checked out all of Kaitlyn’s shoes, some were girly, some were for sports and the others were for school, those were all black, some had flowers, all very girly. And then I saw them, the open toed sandals. At least they where white and not pink.

Kaitlyn soon returned holding a smaller pair of white open toed sandals.

“My mom bought me and Harpher matching shoes.” She smirked at me and gently sat me back down on the bed. With expert care she fit each shoe onto each foot, whilst having this content smile on her lips.

“Are you enjoying this?” I asked her as she put my shoes on me like a mother would do for a toddler. 

“It’s fun, it’s like dressing a baby.” She snickered.

“Hey, I am not a baby!” I shouted at her. 

“Courtney, honey.” She finished putting my shoes on me and then gently stroked my arm. “You’re acting like one right now.” I pouted at her and she just grinned back.

“Now turn around, there’s one thing missing, essential for a girl your age.” I grunted and turned around on the bed. Kaitlyn pulled my shirts off and walked out of the room again. 

I looked around again, this time at all of her toys stuffed animals that were sitting on the bed. There I noticed the blue package that Stephanie had given to Kaitlyn earlier, I reached out for the package and read the labelling. 

‘Tampax Pearl – plastic – 36 Tampons’ 

I was still reading the box when Kaitlyn was returned, she snatched the box away from me and hid it in her cupboard. 

“What are those?” I asked in my 12 year old’s innocent and confused voice.

“Don’t worry about those.” She replied.

“I bet its sweets made just for girls.” I added coolly, I knew my candy. 

“Not even close, they are for girl’s hygiene and if you’re not careful I’ll make you use one, now hold your arms up.” She made me go silent with that. 

I held my arms up and immediately felt a soft material around each arm sliding down to my shoulders, the same material passed over my face and settled around my chest. I felt Kirsty come closer and fiddle with something behind my back, I could smell the coconut perfume she was wearing, and similar to the one I was forced to wear. 

“This training bra makes it look like your boobies are starting to grow, girls your age wear these.” I nodded slowly, at least the training bra was just a plain white and honestly what was the point in fighting her now. I accepted the bra much easier than I accepted the panties for sure.

Kaitlyn slid the pink dress back over my head. She pulled me up off the bed and into a tight embrace, into my ear she whispered, “Whatever happens tonight, I want you to know that we will always be friends, no matter what.” I nodded slowly in reply.

Just a few moments later, we heard Stephanie shout up the stairs “Girls! Dinner is ready!”