"Oh my gawd, that's awesome," Tanya squealed, "I'm so excited for you, Angela. You've waited so long. I think I'm gonna tear up, I'm so happy."
Tanya was beside herself with happiness for Angelo as he told her about the results of his psychological evaluation, over the phone.
"So, you're gonna come to our Halloween costume party now, right?"
"Costume party," Angelo asked curiously.
"Yeah. Me and some other girls from my school are in charge of planning the annual Halloween party at school and I want Angela to come. Besides, we haven't got to hang out nearly enough since school started," she said, using his female name.
"Showing up as Angela wouldn't be a costume for me," he replied, almost giggling at the prospect.
"I know, silly, but you could come as a woman character. Like Wonder Woman or Black Widow or maybe Hermione. Wait, I'm in charge of costumes for the next play at school. I know, . . . You could be Cinderella. The theater department did that play last year and the gown, wig, and glass slipper costume is still there. I saw it just yesterday. That's it. I'll bring it home tomorrow. I bet it would fit."
"I do like that idea. Cinderella? Really? Can you," Angelo excitedly inquired.
"Angela, yes. I can and I will. You'll make a beautiful Cinderella. Oh my, I can't wait."
They agreed Angelo would come to Tanya's house after school on Friday to try it all on for the Halloween Party on Saturday.
The following day Tanya took the outfit home. The dress was a beautiful blue chemise gown. It could be worn as an open back gown, or it could be worn as a closed gown with the reversible closure panels fastened in the back.
The baby blue colored material flowed to within inches of the floor, and it had an open bodice and ruffled sleeves that ended at the elbow. White silk elbow-length gloves covered the rest of the arms.
"I love it," Angelo exclaimed as soon she laid eyes on it. "It's so elegant."
"And you'll look lovely in it. I sure hope it fits."
Tanya also showed Angelo a corset and camisole that he would wear underneath the gown, helping to form a more feminine figure. The corset had metal stays and could be tightened by ties in the back.
Angelo giggled a bit. "I need that corset," he said. Even though he had a slight frame, he had grown a slightly punchy tummy and he knew the corset would make him so much more curvy and cute.
The two of them spent the next half-hour dressing Angelo. First, the corset was put on, with Angelo holding his arms high over his head while Tanya put it on him, and set it in place.
"It's tight already," Angelo informed Tanya.
"You're getting to be a bit of a chubby girl," Tanya giggled. "We'll slim you down now. Hold on."
She began to lace up the back of the corset, making it tighter and tighter. "Now grab on to the bedpost, Angela, while I see if I can
get it even tighter."
Angelo began cursing all the sweets he'd been eating recently, as Tanya tightened down on the corset laces. He was holding on for dear life to the bedpost, as Tanya braced her knee against his butt so she could pull the laces tight.
"I can hardly breathe," he said, sounding winded.
"But now you have a nice girly form," she told him.
This made Angelo smile, knowing that as his tummy was compressed, his
hips would become more obvious and any extra fat or skin in his chest area would become more noticeable above the corset, being pushed up as breast.
Next, came the gown. It was put on by having Angelo step into it, which he did
daintily. "You do that just like a girl," Tanya giggled.
"Well?" He giggled as well.
The dress was buttoned up in the back, and had a scooped bodice that showed the pale softness of his skin; his slender arms encased in the dainty silk elbow-length gloves beneath the elbow-length sleeve of the gown. Belted and sashed, the flow of the gown accentuated his hips, as it widened at the bottom.
Without the one inch heels, the bottom of the gown came down to mere centimeters from the floor.
"Angela, I do believe it's a prefect fit," Tanya squealed in delight.
Angelo didn't say anything, but just stood there beaming from ear to ear while Tanya placed the wig on his head.
After a few minutes of oohing and ahhing over how Angelo looked in the dress, Tanya picked up her phone and took a single photo.
"Make sure you send me that photo, but don't post it online anywhere, please."
"Yeah, sure . . . Hey, you know what you need," Tanya asked as she placed her phone on the bed and began to help Angelo out of the dress. "A professional makeover. I can have my mom call her salon and see if they have time to fit you in tomorrow morning."
"The salon? I can't go there. All the women will see me as a boy in there and will laugh."
Tanya snickered, knowing that while Angelo was protesting, inside, he probably was thrilled at the idea of going to the beauty salon.
"That's no problem, Angela," Tanya said. "I'll make sure you look good enough that no one will see you as a boy. No one."
*****
The next day, at noon, Angelo walked into the beauty salon with Tanya and her mom. Everyone there knew Tanya and after introductions they knew who Angela was too.
Angelo quickly discovered he had little to fear, since the ladies at Christine's Beautiful You Salon - hairdressers and customers alike - shared his excitement when they found out that "Angela" would be dressing as Cinderella for the costume party.
Dressed as he was in beige Capri pants, pink sandals with sequins and a light blue
tee-shirt (his size "A"Â bra filled out with a pair of pantyhose in each cup), the ladies accepted him as "Angela," a pretty 13-year-old girl.
"You have a lovely face, honey. We'll have you looking like the belle of the ball in no time. Have a seat here," one of the beauticians told Angelo as she directed him to a chair in front of a counter that held more containers of makeup than the cosmetics department of Macy's.
"Honey," an elderly woman in the chair next to Angelo began, her silvered hair being curled in an up-style. "It's so nice to see such a sweet girl these days. So many girls don't care about their appearance. They go around dressing so slutty, but you're very pretty and innocent looking."
Angelo blushed, as Tanya added, "And she's a good student, too."
Angelo's face began to be worked on as another girl knelt in front of Angelo and began taking his sandals off his feet.
"They are going to give you a pedicure too," Tanya explained, "Remember, you'll be wearing 'glass slippers', so everyone will be able to see your toes through your shoes when you walk."
As he sat there the women on either side of him began to quiz him about his school.
One even asked, "Do you have any boy friends, yet?"
"No," he mumbled.
Tanya who was sitting nearby added, "Her mother is very strict. She won't let Angela date yet, besides she's only 13."
"You're a heartbreaker, darling," said another woman. "Don't worry. You'll find lots of boys crying over you, soon enough."
Angelo merely nodded. He was slowly beginning to recognize that he had a naturally feminine quality that would bring him the same problems other pretty-faced girls went through with boys. He realized that he had no idea how he would ever handle himself when boys started wanting to take him on a date.
"There you are Angela. What do you think," Christine asked him as she completed his face and turned the chair so he could look at himself in the mirror.
"What a dignified young lady you are," the older woman next to him noted.
"What do you think, Angela," Tanya asked, walking over to him.
Angelo sat there in awe at how glamorous he looked. "I'm blown away," he told her.
"Me too," Tanya agreed, "You look like a movie star."
"You really think so? which one," Angelo inquired.
"Well, I think maybe a cross between Jennifer Lawrence, and Chloe Grace Moretz."
"No way," Angelo gasped. "They're too beautiful."
"Yeah,well so are you, babe," Tanya replied.
*****
Angelo exited the Beauty Salon and headed to the car in a somewhat exaggerated imperious walk, seeking to emulate the style of a high fashion supermodel.
"I loved being in the beauty salon," he told Tanya as her mom pulled out of the parking lot. "I felt so at ease with Christine and her workers and the other girls, like I belonged there."
"And they loved you, too. Christine did a beautiful job with your makeup. You're going to be a hit tonight."
"You really think so, Tanya?"
"Yeah, I really do."
Back at Tanya's house, she and Angelo headed to her room to began to process of getting ready for the party.
Tanya headed to the closet to retrieve her costume and Angelo went straight to the vanity.
"You know," Angelo began, while admiring his new makeup in the mirror, "I think I want to dye my hair. I've decided to introduce Angela at school on Monday and I want a totally new look."
"What color are you thinking?"
"The same color blonde as this wig and maybe violet on the tips."
"I like that. It'll look good on you. Ask your mom before you do it, but if she says yeah, my mom could help you."
"Okay," Angelo replied as he moved to the bed to retrieve his dress.
Angelo picked up a thin pair of silky thigh high stockings."Oh wow. For me," he asked.
"Yeah. I know the dress is floor length and nobody will see your legs, but I just thought they would help you feel special. They are very silky, so every time you take a step or move you will feel them massaging your legs. That will feel very feminine and will remind you how special tonight is."
"Aww, you do love me," Angelo exclaimed. "Now help me with this corset."
Tanya took the corset from Angelo and slipped it over his head. She then began to tighten the laces, repeating the process just as she had the day before.
Once that was done, Tanya handed Angelo a pair of black lycra boyshorts. She was
discreet and let Angelo remove his briefs and put the boyshorts on while she had her back turned. She then picked up the white stockings.
Angelo sat on the edge of the bed. He held out his legs for Tanya, one at a time as she place the stockings on his feet, running her hands up his legs to smooth out the material.
Angelo loved how feminine and pretty his legs and feet looked as the stockings were pulled up to be connected to the garter hooks that dangled from the bottom of the corset. He had made a practice of applying lotion to his feet and legs on a daily basis to keep them soft and lovely and now, that, along with the silky stocking, had his legs looking quite lovely.
"Wow you have the prettiest legs I've ever seen," Tanya said. "I'm jealous."
Angelo blushed, realizing that his darling friend, Tanya, would be unable to match the sheer feminine beauty of his legs; hers were pretty enough, but a bit more chunky and muscular.
"You have nothing to be envious of, Tanya. You're so beautiful in many ways."
"Yeah, well my legs will never look as good as yours," Tanya replied with a smile as she picked up the petticoat that would go under the dress.
"What's that," Angelo inquired.
"It's a petticoat, an underskirt. It goes under your dress to make it flare out. You've seen how Cinderella's dress flairs."
"Yeah, but we didn't put that on yesterday. I was wondering if it was just a different dress and wasn't suppose to flair. Okay, cool. Let's do it."
Once Angelo had stepped into and pulled up the petticoat, he felt all trussed up and completely feminine.
Though he could hardly breathe, Angelo pranced about the room, doing a few pirouettes and leg kicks.
"Angela," exuded Tanya, "you could be a Rockette."
"You know," Tanya observed, "You almost don't even need a wig."
"Oh no, Cinderella had a beautiful, thick, curly pile of blond locks on top of her head, and with that wig, so will I."
"Chill out. I didn't say you weren't wearing it. I was just commenting on how feminine you already look, even without a wig. Now, here. Step into your dress, m'lady."
With the dress on and fastened, Angelo carefully moved to the mirror to assess how he looked.
Admiring himself, a single tear escaped from the corner of one eye and he turned his head so that Tanya hopefully wouldn't see. But it was too late.
Tanya did see the tear and she walked over to Angelo, reaching up to wipe it away with one finger, before wrapping her arms around him in a warm loving embrace.