How I spent my Summer Vacation: I became a girl!
By
Rebecca Coleman

Note to readers: The “How I spent my Summer Vacation: I became a Girl!” is an ongoing in-universe serial that appears each Saturday Evening in the “Benton Evening Post” the story focuses on the ongoing struggle of Emil “Emily” Anderson as she strides to adopted to her new life in small southern town that straddles the hills and the delta. The Story chronicles her daily life and sometimes that of her aunt Flora.

-8-
Can I pass as a girl?

I took a deep breath as I peered into the bathroom mirror. The image reflected on the surface of the mirror showed a girl with brunette hair that fell just below her shoulders. She had sparkling greenish eyes and a modest rack. All in all, she was not a striking beauty, she would never win homecoming queen or be crowned anything, but she had a down to earth beauty about her. A kind of wholesome charm about her. That reflection was me of course.

But as I peered closer into the mirror, I started to notice some glaring flaws, despite doing my best to shave and I'd shaved twice that morning. I could still see tiny little hairs, I mean you had to get up and close to see them but they were still there. I could see the slightest bulge from my Adam's apple.

I could see a nose that was too big, too flat, and the more I looked the more I felt my courage starting to slip through my hands like grains of sand at the beach. Despite the fact that I had shaved, shaved every part of me, even my public hair, tucked in everything the best I could, trimmed and rounded my nails, I even applied a thin coating of powdered blue nail polish to them.

And of course I was wearing a dress, it looked dorky as hell, it was this short sleeve dress that reached down to my knees. The sleeves kind of puffed a little, it was like going to church dress. Adding to the dress I'd put on some white tights and black leather shoes with a low heel with a strap across them. I'd even added a blue headband.

“This is not going to work!” I groaned as I took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. “They're going to clock me the minute I step into that mall. Everybody is going to snicker, people are going to laugh, the sales women will refuse to wait on me. And in the end I'm going to rush back home,  and crying my eyes out.” I said aloud as I walked into my bedroom, I gathered up my purse, making sure I had my phone on me, my issued set of house keys, some pads and a few tampons even if I'll never need them, I'm sure some girl would ask if I had a spare and it would weird not to have any extra on hand.

And of course a can of pepper spray. And a small make-up kit.

“I'm going to get clocked!” I groaned as I put my purse on my shoulder and walked out the door. I made sure the door was locked. Then I tacked a note to the door. The note read as follows. 'Dear Auntie, gone to the mall, will be back before dinner, dinner is left over roasted chicken from last night. It's on the stove, time already set, just the start button. Or you can order us pizza from Pizza Cottage.'

And with that I started to sprint toward the bus-stop.

-9-
Something to consider

The first I noticed about going out as a girl was the way people treated me. I mean on the bus ride to the mall. This tired looking young man stood up and offered me his seat. The poor guy was almost falling asleep! He looked so tired, like he had dark rings around his eyes and he had this fifty yard blank stare and yet he stood up and just offered me his seat.

And that was only the start of things. When the bus stopped, and I got off, I felt well very much aware of what was going on around me. You see the mall is kind in the newer section of town. There not a lot around it. There's not a lot of outlying buildings or shops. Just a massive square box that is surrounded by a massive parking lot.

And that kind of scared me of the vastness of the open space. I felt like at any moment somebody could appear, sneak up behind me and before I know it they would force my arms behind my back, zip tie them secure, force a rag that had been soaked in chloroform up my nose and just like that my mug shot would end up stabbed to every light pole in town. Heck they might put my face on the front of the milk jugs.

I felt a chill run down my spine as my mind conjured up all those images, images of being stripped naked and hogtied and tossed into somebody's basement. I mean that happens right?

“Come on Emily.” I said, taking a deep breath you're being silly, “Stop being silly and try to have a good time. The day is young, the mall has just opened. There is a cop car nearby and the mall has security guards.” I said to myself as I stepped down from the bus. The door to the bus closed behind me and a few seconds later it roared away.

“Right then!” I said smiling. “Time to be a normal teenage girl and shop till I drop!” I said grinning as I stepped lively through the sliding doors and into the mall.

-10-
The Pecan Grove Mall: The Last of a dying breed

I'm somehow surprised that the Pecan Grove Mall, okay first I gotta say this, in the Southern United States, we say “Peecan” instead of you know, “Puh-kaan” because that's just how we are taught to say it. Anyway now that we got that little bit cleared up, I can tell you about the famous Pecan Grove Mall. The mall was built in the late seventies. Back when Mississippi was finally doing away with those silly Blue Laws. Anyway before the mall was built this whole area was covered in Pecan trees. Anyway the trees had to go so a mall could be built here. But to honor the memory of the trees, the mall was named The Pecan Grove Mall, or just Pecan Grove Mall or just The Mall.

Stepping into the mall is like stepping back into time. The inside decor just screams eighties. With large sections of the floor being brick or some kind of fake looking cobblestone. There is an unholy number of potted plants laying around and there is one big fountain in the middle that always seems to smell like two things, chlorine and ammonia.

Also there were a few Pecan trees scattered about. The tree's are living and produce a small crop of pecans each year that some poor, poor bastard has to harvest. The pecan's are then shelled or something. With the meat being used to make candies that are handed out by the mall santa or so my aunt told me. 
Anyway, this is my first time being inside the mall. And the mall was dead. Like really dead. But then again it was ten o' clock in the morning and most stores were just starting to open and I'm sure most teenagers were still asleep. With it being summer and all, I'm sure most of them were still snuggled up in bed, sleeping like a baby, dreaming teenage summer dreams. I'm sure around noon they would throw the covers off, rise up, breakfast on cold pizza and then around three finally venture out to the mall to meet up with their friends.

But for people like me, who had spent the whole night watching anime, there would be no sleep. Sleep was out of the question for now, what I needed was coffee. Not hot chocolate, since hot chocolate normally lulled me to sleep and not chocolate milk because of the same reasons. But coffee, chicory to the rest of the world, dish water to the north, mud to the west, and flavored with unicorn farts, spiced with hipster blood, and brewed with office worker tears on the eastern seaboard. But hot and soothing at any southern table.

And there was only one place in the town to get a good cup of soothing coffee. And that was Siren Coffee House! And I was in luck, there happened to be a Siren Coffee House in the mall! At the far side of the mall, so I had to walk the whole mall to get there! Meaning I would be passing everybody who was in the mall, which meant that total strangers I never meet would get to see me in drag!

“Oh fun..” I said, sighing as I looked down at the ground. And with that I started to move toward Siren Coffee House! Just like how the mythological creature was said to use its soothing voice to lure sailors to their watery deaths, so did the allurement of coffee lead me on as I started my walk..

-11-
Window Shopping

The Pecan Grove Mall was not like the double floor mega shopping mecca of Ridgeland. It was more like a single concourse that was lined with fashionable clothing boutiques, and other random stores. As I walked, I noticed on one side there was a small, sad looking Gothic Topic, with one lonely sales clerk sitting behind the sales counter. Beside it was an Rue 20, an upscale clothing store for fashionable young women, next to that was a Perfume Haven, a shop that sold all manner of perfumes I suppose.

Next to that was a shop that looked like a bazaar from hell. It was called The Underground and just from looking in it seemed to cater to the more edgy crowd, those who might have found Gothic Topic tame and wholesome. The wares displayed were leather straps, leather suits, a plastic dummy modeled a leather bunny suit. I walked past the store without even looking in. Something about the store gave me the creeps.

Up next you had Comic World. A kind of old school comic book store, I entertained going in there once I'd had my morning coffee, but there was a sign plastered in front of the shop that said. “We don't sell Manga! Only real Comic's. Also only real comic fans are allowed!” it was signed. “Management” So I kept on walking.

Up next we had a Books-A-Billion, a chain of bookstores that branded itself as 'The Mall's Bookstore' and a sign out front informed me they were overstocked on manga and thus they were having a huge sale! So yes I would swing by there after my morning coffee to see what they had in stock.

Up next we had Circus World Toy Store, a small scale toy store that branded itself as 'The biggest, littlest store story in the world!' and a sign out front informed that they were having a massive summer sale, with all items priced to move. I kind of made a mental note to check it out later in the day.
Up next we had Josephine's Secretes. Now, here is where I paused, because I knew that if I wanted to be a girl full time I would need to get fitted for a bra. Now, Aunt Flora had promised to take me shopping for a bra, she wanted to, but, well I'm sure she would want something from the racks of one of the department stores.. I bit down upon my lip as I gazed at the wares from the walkway.

I felt my cheeks start to flush red as I looked away as I noticed one of the sales women looking at me, I blushed a little and closed my eyes and started to move toward the front of the shop. I stopped though mere inches from the threshold. Was I ready to take this leap? Would I get found out? Should I get coffee first? I felt my face starting to turn red as I started to think how it would feel to wear a lacy bra with matching lacy panties.

Or how it would feel to get decked in tight, form fitting lingerie that would accent my curves, and make me appear to have breasts. At that moment I thought steam would come shooting out of my ears as I felt another deep blush starting to creep up on me. Oh I would love it, if Jack could see me something like that... that might lead to some very interesting developments!

“Coffee first! And then shopping..” I paused and then shook my head. “No, let's get this out of the way!” I said as I crossed over the threshold of the store. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Getting clocked and getting kicked out of the mall?