Suddenly Royal

Chapter 1:

"ALAN, I'M HEADING to work," I heard as I turned the shower off. "I'll be back about six and then I have to go to my big event. I'll make sure you have something to eat then before I go though, alright?"

"Okay Mom," I responded with a smile.

"Are you going anywhere today?"

"Just to go hang out with Ellie," I told her as I began wiping myself down with a soft towel.

"If you go anywhere with her make sure you two stay together!"

"Yes Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore," I griped as I stepped to the mirror.

"You're fifteen, you are most definitely still a kid!" she reminded me. "I love you; I'll see you later."

"Love you too Mom," I told her.

I used my blow dryer to begin drying my long hair, carefully styling it with a brush while I was at it. 'I can't wait to go to the mall today!' I smiled at myself in the mirror. I brushed my teeth and listened to make sure Mom was gone. Opening the bathroom door, I triple checked her car was gone from the garage before giddily running back to my room.

Inside my closet all of my 'normal' clothes hung at the front. School t-shirts showing my participation in band and track hung at the front, leading back to dress-up clothes and a suit that I hated wearing. Behind the suit there was a black garment bag that my mom had bought for my suit, but since you couldn't see into it, I long ago figured it was a good way to keep some things out of sight. I opened it up and found a few outfits to choose from that Mom didn't know about.

I texted Ellie, What are you wearing today?

I saw the dots of her writing for a moment before she said, Shorts/tank – you don't have to wear a dress every day!

I smiled at that. She always kidded me about my love of dresses and skirts. Thinking I would go ahead and blend in though I wrote back, You're no fun!

She sent me a smiley face back. I'll be over in five to help you?

I sent my own smiley face and got to looking again at the outfits. Sadly, I didn't have much hidden in the closet. I dragged my fingers over the textured feel of a sleeveless, pastel blue dress that had large watercolor flowers spread about. It came to just a couple inches above my knee when I wore it. It was really comfy and I loved the look of the thin yoke that came to my neck and wrapped around in a thin half inch of material. My bare arms would feel great with today's warm weather. I looked at my other dress that had what looked like a sleeveless denim shirt as a top, and connected to a skirt that was a light peach color with little flower designs printed on it. The skirt was made of several light layers that were reinforced beneath by some tulle. Due to the cuts in the fabric, when I twirled in it, I felt so cute and pretty as it flared out!

I sighed as I thought her comment about shorts... it implied a dress wasn't to be for today. There was a set of shortalls in the bag that had sequins sewn to the bib pocket, and to some 'patches' on the legs of the shorts. I had a light purple colored top that was lacey for a top layer with a built-in cami underneath it to make sure I was covered. Given my options it was the best I was going to do!

Almost all of my clothes were hand-me-downs from Ellie since there was no way I could ever ask my mom to go shopping with me for girl clothes! A few years ago, the week before we started middle school, I had come out to Ellie when we were playing games at her house together. Since then, she'd had a massive growth spurt, but her clothes from the beginning of sixth grader fit me pretty well.

I had just pulled on a pair of panties, the top, and shortalls when the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs and let her in.

"You are such a girl!" Ellie told me as she came in. "Not even dressed yet?!?"