Copyright 1999, by Wanda Cunningham. Lainie, Rebel and Bashful, thanks for the encouragement. There is no actual sex or transformation in this chapter, but I guess it should be rated R for context. So, nobody under 18 should read this or whatever is the appropriate age in their community. This story deals with transgenderism in children and may be uncomfortable for some readers.

  

Kelly Girl

by Wanda Cunningham

  

Chapter 3 - Wrong Side of the Mirror

  

"Why don't we all go out for pizza?" suggested Pete.

"Nah," said Cheryl. "We'd have to get dressed and it would take too long. Let's just call it in for delivery."

"Munchkin," said Richard to Kelly, "what do you want on your pizza?"

"Uh?" Munchkin? "I don't know. Cheese?" Richard's teasing seemed so different than when the boys at school called him names. Still, Munchkin was not a nickname Kelly thought he would like. "Don't call me that," he said.

Richard grinned. "Okay, you're much too pretty to be a Munchkin anyway, how about... Elf?"

Kelly blushed. Everyone here still thought he was a girl. Well, he was still wearing the girl's bathing suit that Wendy had loaned him. His hair was longer than some of the hair of some of the real girls here. He shook his head, feeling the damp strands on his shoulders.

"No? Not Elf?" said Richard.

"Um, huh?" Kelly had lost track of the topic. "I'm cold." The sun had nearly set and the onshore breeze from the nearby Pacific Ocean felt chilly.

"Ditz, okay, um? Hey, Cheryl? The chicklet is getting a chill." Richard casually put an arm around Kelly.

Chicklet. Kelly stifled a nervous giggle. How could this be happening, how could he fool everyone so completely, without even trying? He'd even told them he was a boy. Nobody believed him when he said it. Richard sure wasn't treating him like another boy. Kelly did nothing about the arm around him because he couldn't think of what to do.

Wendy, Cheryl's ten-year-old sister rushed up. "Let's go get some robes!" She tugged on his arm. Any excuse to get away from Richard's half-embrace seemed a good idea at the moment and Kelly let himself be lead away.

Wendy giggled. "Does Richard like you?" she asked.

The idea made Kelly quiver. Though, it was obviously true. "I guess so. How do I make him leave me alone?"

Wendy stared at him. "You want him to leave you alone? He's like the coolest guy! Cheryl would ... oh, yeah but you're just a little kid, like me." She looked back toward the older kids near the pool as she and Kelly went inside the pool house. Wendy giggled. "Don't worry, Cheryl and Debbie will probably make him leave you alone."

That seemed reassuring but when they got back to the pool with the robes, Cheryl was using a cellphone to call for the pizza while Pete and Richard burned off excess energy playing one-on-one volleyball.

Wrapped in the fluffy pink robe Wendy had picked out for him and lying on one of the lounges, Kelly felt comfortably tired and a bit relieved that Richard was not paying him anymore unwelcome attention. The girls chattered around him, accepting his presence as one of them. This was a little like when Barbie and her waitress/dancer friends got together to drink cheap wine coolers and talk about men.

Kelly relaxed and let the conversation swirl past until someone asked him a question.

"So what school are you going to in the fall, Kelly?" asked Alison.

"Balboa Jr. High, we live on the peninsula," he said.

"Oh, public school? I'm going to Calvary Christian."

"Public school is more fun," said Cheryl. "At least, you don't have to wear a uniform."

"Uh-huh," agreed Alison. "Ours are these dorky plaid skirts. Can you wear slacks to your school?"

"Well," said Kelly, a little amused, "I certainly intend to most of the time."

"Yeah, skirts are a drag," agreed Debbie, and Kelly blushed and grinned at the unconscious irony. "Unless it's for dress-up like a party," Debbie added.

Cheryl made a face. "Dad only lets me wear slacks to school on Friday. He says any day he's wearing a tie, I'm going to wear a skirt. Is that fair?"

When the pizza arrived, Pete brought a slice over and then watched in amazement as Kelly picked off the pepperoni and sausage. "Hey, give me those," Pete demanded when he saw the little pile of meat growing on the napkin. "Don't you eat meat?"

"Not much," said Kelly. "Well, I do eat some meat, just not greasy stuff like pepperoni. I guess I never developed a taste for it."

"I think it's much healthier to be a vegetarian," offered Debbie.

"Yeah," said Richard slyly. "Look how big and strong it's made Kelly."

They all laughed, Kelly included. The teasing seemed pretty friendly, not like some of the kids in school last year. Pete picked all the meat off another slice and offered the naked pizza to him. "Uh, no thanks," said Kelly. "I'm full."

"You're disgusting," said Cheryl to Pete. "She's not going to eat a piece you've been digging your fingers into."

"Why not? I ate the meat she picked off the other one," said Pete.

"That's what I mean. That was disgusting, too." She shook her head, looking at Kelly for agreement. "Boys are just pigs." Kelly nodded, grinning at Pete, who scowled and made Tim Allen grunts. Richard joined in with a few chimpanzee screams and the boys pretended to eat lice off each other's backs.

Kelly laughed and joined in when the girls began throwing food at the boys who tried to catch it in their mouths.

When things calmed down a bit from the general hilarity, Richard dropped beside Kelly and asked if he were ready to go. "Andie will be staying the night and we should have you home by eight so she doesn't have a fit."

"Is it eight? Let me go upstairs and get my stuff," said Kelly.

"I'll go get it," said Wendy and off she ran. Kelly decided not to risk the stairs in the dim light without his glasses and settled back.

"I had a good time. I didn't expect to," he smiled at Richard.

"Why not?" asked Richard.

"Oh, rich people, you know." He waved vaguely. "Everybody's been real nice though. Silly sometimes but nice." He looked down at the girl's swimsuit he was still wearing. "Nice and silly," he said.

Richard grinned. "Silly is easy. You think rich people wouldn't be nice? So, what are you, poor?"

"Poor as church mice and not much bigger. Barbie and I had dinner earlier tonight, it probably cost a total of a $2.00 what with the salad."

Richard stared at him, dumbfounded. "Each?"

"No, total. Maybe less."

"What about your folks?"

Kelly shook his head. "Mom threw us out three years ago." Might as well not describe it anymore than that.

"Jesus!" Richard said. "Excuse me. I didn't mean to swear, but this isn't like your story about really being a boy, is it?"

Kelly smiled. "Ask Andie, she's known Barbie for longer than that." He giggled, suddenly feeling mischievous. "Didn't I fool you at all? Lots of people think I'm a boy." The masquerade had almost been forgotten but suddenly, Kelly felt a weird thrill of enjoyment in fooling everyone. Whatever guilt or shame he might have had, had at least temporarily been washed away by pool water, pizza and the general acceptance of the other kids.

"Nah," said Richard. "You don't walk or talk like a boy. Except for hair color and," he motioned with his hands, "you look just like your sister."

"She bleaches her hair," Kelly pointed out.

"No! Really?" Richard grinned.

Kelly giggled again. "Pads her bra, too. Although, when your dad gets through, I guess she won't have to do *that* anymore."

Richard wagged his head. "You two have something else in common. You're both outrageous flirts."

"Me?" said Kelly astonished.

"Yes, you, you little minx," Richard grabbed Kelly's ribs and began tickling.

"Hey, no, quit it," Kelly laughed. "You're going to make me pee on myself!" It was no joke, Kelly seldom had soda and the Seven-up had gone right through him.

Richard let up, looking at Kelly suspiciously, "No fib?"

"No fibbing!" Kelly leapt up and headed toward the poolside bathroom where he discovered that you can't pee in a girl's one-piece without getting practically completely out of it. He peed sitting down, taking a curious satisfaction in continuing the disguise even while alone.

The bathroom was much nicer than the one in his and Barbie's own apartment. "Heck," he muttered, "it's almost as big as our apartment. And this is just the poolside bathroom."

The mirror on the back of the door provided a curious reflection. He did look like a girl, he supposed, though without his glasses he had to squint to see himself at all clearly.

Specifically, he looked like his mother and she was a very pretty girl. Being pretty as a boy was not a particular plus, he reflected. Adults seemed to like him but the other kids could be mean to a pretty boy. A pretty girl on the other hand seemed to inspire people to be nice.

It had been some time since he had really enjoyed being around other kids. "This is dumb," he whispered and wondered just how long this masquerade would continue and what the other kids would do if they really believed him when he said he was a boy.

Outside he heard Wendy calling, "Bye, bye, Alison, bye, Pete. G'bye, Richard."

Goodbye, Pete? Goodbye, Richard? Surely they weren't going to leave him here?

"Hey? Wendy? Bring me my clothes? Richard? Pete?" No one answered.

Pulling the borrowed girl's bathing suit back on, he left the bathroom to discover that everyone was gone, the poolside was deserted. At least, he couldn't see anyone and he peered around nervously. "Hello? Marco?" He felt stupid as if it were his fault for being left behind.

Richard called to him from the side gate, "Come on Kelly, we've got to go. Hurry." He couldn't see Richard, just a blur but he hurried toward the voice, so relieved he didn't know whether he was going to cry or giggle.

"Why didn't you guys wait for me?" he protested around a hiccough, "I wanted to change clothes."

"Guys have been waiting on girls since the beginning of time," said Richard. He swatted Kelly's behind as he went out the gate. "Move it!"

"Ow! That hurt!" It hadn't really, thought Kelly, rubbing his behind, not hurt, but definitely startled. My face is probably red instead of my butt, he thought.

"The girls had to go in; Wendy put your stuff in the car. Now let's go home. It's getting dark, it's after eight and Andie will be home soon." Richard picked up Kelly who had paused at the car door to squint inside. Pete winked back as Richard slid him bodily across the seat.

"Buckle up," said Pete, and dropped the hammer on the Big Benz just as Richard slid into his own seat. Kelly slid into Richard as they turned the first corner, all of them laughing. It was less than a mile back to the Mann residence and Pete managed to get there without killing them.

"Maniac!" yelped Kelly as they slipped inside the garage just as the rising remote-controlled door got out of the way.

"No way!" protested Pete. "I've never had an accident, I'm a very safe driver."

"How long have you been driving?"

"Three weeks, since I got my license," said Pete, proudly. "Scare ya?" he asked as he opened his door. Richard opened the door on the other side and reached for Kelly who had turned in the seat to look for his things.

"What do you need, Skipper?" asked Richard.

"Where's my clothes, where's my glasses?" Kelly asked.

"You doan need no stinkin' glasses," proclaimed Pete grabbing Kelly's arms just as Richard grabbed his feet. The brothers proceeded to have a mock tug-of-war with Kelly as the prize, growling and snarling at one another with Kelly seesawing back and forth on the leather seats.

"Ow! Guys, you're going to pull my arms out of their socket!" Kelly protested, laughing in spite of himself. "I may be little but I'm not a chew toy!" The Mann boys were likable idiots, he decided, but definitely idiots.

Pete won the tug-of-war, pulling Kelly from the Mercedes by his wrists. He lifted his small burden onto his hip. At over six feet, he carried Kelly like a father carrying a child. "Put me down, you goof!" protested Kelly, but Pete resisted blandishments and threats and marched into the house that way. It felt so strange to have his groin resting on the hip of the bigger boy that Kelly felt suddenly subdued. Almost frightened.

It felt even stranger to know that the two boys liked him, really liked him. As a girl.

"Where are we going?" asked Kelly quietly as they started upstairs, Richard following with a large plastic bag, presumably carrying his things. This was the first time Kelly had been inside the house but the richness of the furnishings and the fine architecture were lost on him, he couldn't see anything without his glasses.

"To your room," said Richard.

At the top of the stairs, a large room held a giant-size TV, a pool table, a kitchenette and a couple of couches Kelly saw, squinting with one eye closed. A short hall led between four doors toward another large room but they stopped at the first pair of doors. Pete knocked on the left door, "My room," he explained. He pointed down the hall to the next door on the same side, "Butthead's room."

"Hey!" protested Richard.

Pete opened the second door on the right. "Your room. At least while you're staying here." He let Kelly down to the floor.

Even before he saw the room clearly, Kelly knew one thing, it was a girl's room. It was very, very pink. "Oh, gosh," he sighed. "Richard, have you got my glasses?"

Richard handed over the bag he'd brought up from the car. "Your overnighter is on the bed, too. The maid brought it up." he said.

"Hey, we're going to be watchin' the tube in the big room here. At least, until Andie gets here and takes over for us." Pete explained. "You need anything you can't find, just holler."

"Your bedroom has its own bath, so you don't have to share with uncouth types like Beavis here," added Richard. "If you find anything in the closets you can wear, go ahead."

Kelly had found his glasses in the bag. Slipping them on he got his first good look around. It was definitely a girl's room. It looked as if the girl had just stepped out leaving her toys and clothes neatly in their places. An enormous pink canopy bed sat between the two windows with their pink and blue-green curtains. Pastel unicorns, pegasi and centauresses danced on pink and yellow wallpaper.

A set of mirrored doors on the left wall, partly open, revealed rows of dresses, blouses, skirts and other feminine clothing. Dolls covered the bed with plenty of stuffed animals to keep them company. A four-foot-tall doll house sat just inside the door with a doll cupboard beside it. On the right wall, near the window an open door showed that the promised bathroom existed. A pink vanity table sat beside the bathroom door.

"Whose room was this?" asked Kelly wonderingly.

"Well, it was supposed to be Darla's room." Richard explained. "Dad's last wife's daughter, she was supposed to come live with us just after the house was built about two years ago. Dad bought all this stuff for her but she never moved in, she stayed with *her* dad. Then our Dad and Ruth, her mom, split up last December. So here's all this stuff, you can probably have any of it you like just for asking when Dad gets back."

Kelly, rolled his eyes, laughing. "I can't believe it." If I *were* a girl, he thought, I'd think I'd landed in Candyland. Since I'm not a girl, it's more like the wrong side of the mirror.

"We thought you'd like it," said Pete. "Hey, if things work out with your sis and our dad, this could be your room. You'd be our aunt!" That idea cracked both of them up. Kelly found it humorously insane also.

How can I stay in this room, he thought, I'm getting a sugar buzz just standing here. Hearts and flowers decorated almost everything, with cute little animals and bows and lace in profusion. Barbie, whose tastes tended to the sticky, would love it. Pink was the overwhelmingly dominant color, with lavender, yellow and a soft blue-green for accents. "How old was this little girl?" he asked.

"Oh, eight or nine, I guess," hazarded Richard. "Her stuff ought to fit you, since you're small. Pete and I are going to watch the Angel game if you need anything." He shut the door.

How long am I going to be able to keep up this charade, he wondered? Unless Andie or Barbie gave him away, he felt sure he'd have to pull down his pants to prove anything to the brothers. A yawn caught him by surprise. It had been a busy day, and he'd been up late last night worrying about Barbie. That's when he noticed that the overnighter on the bed was Barbie's pink one, not the magenta one he had packed for himself. He investigated to be sure, the bag held all of Barbie's traveling things, including her birth control medication.

How could anyone mistake magenta for pink with the two bags side by side? He yawned again wondering whether he could take a nap before Andie got there. A nap on that big pink bed with all the fluffy animals, well, Barbie had stuffed animals, too, and sometimes Kelly even slept cuddling one of them. He grinned a bit sheepishly.

The big mirror on the closet door played a trick on him and for a moment, he saw his mother standing there, pixie face, dark blonde hair. But it was his own reflection not that of his mother as she might have looked at his age, dressed in a blue-green swimsuit and a pink robe. "I'm still wearing Wendy's robe?" He sighed thinking about how he could manage to get the robe back to the little girl who thought he was another little girl.

He brushed at his hair with his hands absently, "Damn long hair, I'll get Andie to cut it for me."

His voice sounded odd in the ultra-feminine room. He yawned again, wondering vaguely if he might have been falling into the afternoon charade a bit too much. Then he climbed onto the bed and pulled a fluffy teddy-bear with a pink ribbon close to him and fell asleep so suddenly it was like a door closing.

He had just begun to dream about going to school dressed in one of Barbie's pretty dresses when someone knocked on the door, startling him. "Come in," he called sleepily, wondering if he was really awake. Then he realized that he was awake, that he was dressed in a girl's swimsuit and pink fluffy robe, lying on a girl's bed in a girl's pink room.

Looking across the room at the big mirror, he saw a pretty little girl looking back with sleepy alarm. Whoever came into the room was going to think he was a girl, for sure. He felt embarrassment rising to his face, mixed with a thrill. Of terror?

  

  

  

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