My Summer as a Girl

[Alana]

My Summer as a Girl, by Alana

Back when I was fifteen years old I got into trouble for shoplifting
some videos games and CDs and a few other things from the mall. My
mother drove me home from the security office. She was livid.

I was wondering what my punishment would be. School was over, and we
were soon to drive out to the lake cabin for the summer. My friend Tom
was going to join us there. Maybe I wouldn't get to go. Although that
could be cool, getting to spend the whole summer away from my mother and
my sisters at home.

My three sisters, Melissa, Melinda, and Melanie, talked with my Mom in
the next room while I waited in my bedroom. They were talking about me,
and I heard my sisters giggling like crazy. That couldn't be good.

My Mom came into the room, all smiles. My sisters were behind her.

"Johnny," she said, "we have the perfect punishment for you. For
shoplifting, we've decided that you're going to be dressed like a girl
all summer."

My sisters burst into laughter.

"What? That's crazy! What kind of a stupid punishment is that?"

"Your sisters' idea."

"You used to make fun of us all the time when we had to wear dresses!"
said Melanie. "Now it's payback!"

"You'll wear Melanie's dresses, and sometimes my dresses," said my
mother.

"I'm not wearing anybody's dresses! I'm not doing it!"

"Suit yourself," said my Mom, and left the room, followed by my sisters.

Well, that was easy.

The next day I put on a T-shirt and shorts and rode my bike out to the
mall. When I got home, all my clothes were gone from my closet. Nothing
but dresses in there.

"What's going on?" I yelled. "Where's my clothes?"

My mother came in the room.

"Those are your clothes, for the summer," she said.

"What did you do with all my pants?"

"We put them away for awhile. A pretty girl like you should never wear
pants."

My sisters came in and stood behind her.

"You can't do this!" I cried.

"Can't we? We've done it. And you might as well take off those shorts
and that shirt. You won't be needing them."

"I won't do it!"

My mother and my sisters attacked me and stripped me of my clothes.
Melinda grabbed a dress and forced me into it. They all laughed at me.

"You'd never get away with this if Dad was still alive!" I said.

"But he's not," said my Mom, which I thought was really heartless.

I spent the day in that stupid dress, looking all over for where they'd
hidden my clothes, and not finding them.

At the end of the day, I said to Mom, "Mom, if you're really going to do
this, at least let me call up Tom and tell him not to come. I can't let
him see me like this!"

"He'll love you in a dress. You two can go on dates together."

"Why are you being so mean?"

"I think you'll remember this the next time you feel like shoplifting."

But that was nothing compared to what I had to wear the next day. We
were getting ready to head on out to the lake cabin, and they put me in
not only a dress, but lingerie, pantyhose, high heels, make-up, and a
wig. Mom made me wear one of her dresses, a polyester snakeskin print.

I cowered in the back seat all the way to the cabin. Every time we
stopped for gas I stayed in the car and hid my face. At least we didn't
have to stop for any meals.

When we got there, we unloaded the car and carried everything in.
Melissa, Melinda, and Melanie got to wear shorts and tanktops, and I was
the only one in a dress. Usually I would be sharing a room with Tom, but
because I was a girl now, I would have to share with Melanie.

And then Tom's father dropped off Tom. I didn't go out to meet him. I
was dreading what he'd say.

He came in and looked at me in surprise. He stared at me like he
couldn't believe it. He looked at my mother, then back at me.

"What's going on, here? Why is he dressed that way?"

"Meet Joanie," said my mother, and all my sisters laughed.

"What?"

"That's his punishment for shoplifting," said Mom. "He's going to be
Joanie for the entire summer. You'd better start calling him that."

I stood there with my arms folded.

"OK, go ahead and make your stupid jokes. You might as well get started
now. You've got the whole summer to make fun of me."

[BetBots]

(Alana had difficulty uploading her pix -- dang this new fangled 1990s technology. So I uploaded & inserted the pix in her order on the story for her)

"I wasn't going to make fun of you."

"Why not?" asked Melissa, disappointed.

"Just because everyone else is being mean doesn't mean I have to be."

He asked where his bedroom was, and my mother showed him. He took his
suitcase in there and unpacked.

We ate dinner, and afterwards played some board games. I was miserable.

When we went to bed that evening, Melanie undressed right in front of
me, in the bedroom we shared. I asked her to unbutton my dress. She just
stared at me.

"Unbutton it yourself, Joanie," she said, and laughed.

"Come on, don't be mean. Unbutton me."

"Take off your own dress."

"Mom!" I yelled. I went and found her bedroom. "Mom! Melanie won't
unbutton my dress!"

"You have to learn to do these things yourself, now that you're a girl,"
said my mother.

"Do you want me to sleep in this stupid dress? Because I'll do it!"

"Go ahead. It's polyester. You can't wrinkle it."

I knew my other sisters would be just as mean. So, rolling my eyes,
dreading what he would say, I knocked on Tom's door. He opened it and
looked at me.

"Unbutton me."

"What?"

"Come on, don't be a dic-k. Unbutton my dress."

I presented my back to him.

[BetBots]

He unbuttoned me. I thanked him, standing before him holding my dress in
place as it was falling off my body, not wanting him to see any more of
my lingerie than was absolutely necessary.

"Thanks for not making fun of me," I said.

"I think you look really pretty."

"Oh, go to Hell!" I said, and clomped off down the hall in my high
heels.

The next day I had to put on Melanie's stupid little dolly dress.
Putting it on and seeing my sisters laugh insanely actually made me
grateful I got to wear my mother's dress the previous day. I never
thought I'd ever be grateful I got to wear my mother's dresses.

I was too young to shave, so I didn't have to worry about that. Mom and
the girls supervised me as I put on my make-up.

After breakfast they put me up on a pedestal, literally, and wanted me
to pose with a doll while they took pictures of me!

"Why are you doing this?" I asked miserably. "What did I ever do to
you?"

[BetBots]

"Flipped up my skirt," said Melissa.

"Snapped my bra strap," said Melinda.

"Now smile, Joanie," said my mother. "Smile, or we'll never let you down
off this thing."

I smiled, and they took pictures for over an hour.

[BetBots]

My sisters and my mother wore comfortable shorts and tops and sandals. I
was the only one in high heels and a dress.

When they were done they let me get down. As soon as Mom left, my
sisters started flipping my skirt up and snapping my bra strap, all the
things I used to do to them.

Fleeing from them, I went down to the dock where Tom was sitting in a
deck chair, fishing. He turned when he saw me coming. He looked upset
about something.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I wanted to do some fishing. Why, what are you so upset about, all of a
sudden? I'm the one stuck in a dress, here."

"You didn't have to tell me to go to Hell."

"You didn't have to make fun of me."

"I wasn't making fun of you. I said you looked pretty, and you do. I
didn't notice before, there's pictures of dolls all over your dress.
That's a really cute dress you're wearing."

[BetBots]

"Stop saying I look pretty! I do not look pretty! I'm a boy! Boys don't
look pretty!"

"You do. Why can't you just accept a compliment? I'm not making fun. You
look pretty in a dress. By the way, your slip is showing."

I was going to get mad until I looked down and saw that the wind was
blowing my skirt up. I held it down. I smiled and thanked him. At least
he was laughing at me like my sisters.

[BetBots]

I said, "Why don't we take the boat out and go fishing?"

He said it was a great idea. He got the boat ready, and I went and got
my fishing pole. He was just about ready to help me into the boat, when
Melanie showed up.

"Just where do you think you're going in my brand new dress, Joanie?"

"We're going fishing."

"Oh no, you don't. You're a girl now, and girls don't go fishing. It's
not ladylike."

"You go fishing."

"Not in a brand new dress, pantyhose and high heels, I don't. My dress
is going to smell like fish guts when you're done."

"It wasn't my idea to put on this stupid dress. We're going fishing. If
you don't like it, tough."

"Mom!"

Mom showed up to lay down the law. She agreed with Melanie. I looked at
Tom.

"Sorry. I guess you'll just have to go without me."

"I'm not going fishing without you. We'll find something else to do."

I appreciated that. He got out of the boat. We went back to the cabin
and played Yahtzee for a while. Then Mom told me it was time to help
with the housework around the cabin. She'd never made me do that before,
but of course I was a girl, now. She put an apron on me and made me
clean up.

The next day they put me in another of Melanie's dresses, again. As soon
as they got me in it they declared it was the perfect dress for a
picnic, and nothing would do but for me and Tom to go and have a picnic
together. They made me pack the picnic basket. Trouble was, they
couldn't find us a decent sized blanket to lie on, just a little red
covering from a tabletop, barely big enough for the two of us.

They sent us along the trail by ourselves to find a spot for a picnic.
Now I was really scared. We were leaving the property, and I was
frightened to death someone would see me in a dress.

Tom let me walk ahead of him while he carried the picnic basket.

"Let's not go too far," I said. "I don't want anybody to see me dressed
like a girl. If any boys see me like this, they'll beat me up!"