The role of a lifetime 13

“You’re not having second thoughts are you”? Victoria asked Natalia over the phone. “all the papers are signed, and all the arrangements have been made”?

“No, it just feels so real all of a sudden”, Natalie replied”, It felt so good, when I convinced him to sign, I mean it wasn’t too difficult, once I explained to him how strange it would be for him to turn up at the solicitor's office to sign the papers looking like a bleach blonde barbie doll, but are you sure they deserve this?

“Too right they deserve this, have you forgotten how they used to treat us, remember the STD? Victoria said sternly, "I for one, can’t wait to see the look on that cheating scumbag's face when he gets the news.”.

“It’ll work right”? Natalia asked, “I mean this can’t be legal, right”?

“Oh, it'll work and its perfectly legal”, Victoria assured her friend, “trust me I’m a lawyer, I know how this stuff works”.

Natalia sniggered, “oh my god, I’m so excited, so we break the news later”?

“Yes, after the audition”, Victoria stated”, the boys have put so much effort into preparing their final performance, it would be a shame to deny them their moment in the spotlight”.

“Oh, you’re so evil”, Natalia replied laughing, “and I love it”.

“Well karma’s a bitch, we’ve put up with them treating us like shit for long enough, it’s time to take our lives back”, Victoria said forcefully, “pick you up in 20 minutes”?

“We’ll be ready, byeee”, she heard Natalia say, before hanging up the call.

Leaving the apartment with a spring in her step, Victoria made her way down to the ground floor where she found Jim waiting, perched against the front wall.

He looked up as she approached and smiled, “Did you find it”? he asked.

“It”, she repeated as she looked over at her feminized boyfriend, finding it hard to believe the blonde beauty in the flower-patterned dress and shiny red open toe stilettos had ever been a man.

“You’re charger”, Jim said looking confused, “that’s what you went back to get, right”?

“Oh yes, the charger, yeah got it”, she replied, “you ready to go”?

Jim looked down at the overnight bag on the floor next to him seeing his long smooth legs and a blonde ponytail out the corner of his eye, “I think so, I just want this to be over, I never thought I’d get this far, to be honest, the whole thing is just unbelievable”.

“Yeah, tell me about it”, Victoria said, carefully navigating the front steps, I figured from the audition tape, you had a good shot of making it through the first round, but for both of you to make it to the final two, it’s the stuff of fantasies”.

“If I win, I don’t actually have to do the movie do I”, Jim asked looking her straight in the eyes and pouting.

“Not if you don’t want to, no, you can always turn down the part”, she replied rummaging through her bag, looking for the car keys.

A huge smile crossed Jim’s painted pink lips, “good”, he said nodding, “It’s been a real roller coaster ride the last few months, definitely an experience I’ll never forget, but after this last audition, I just want to go back to my old life”.

(See image 13.1)

Finding the keys, Victoria looked up, “sure, whatever you want honey, now we should get going or we’re going to be late”.

The drive to the studio was a lot more relaxed this time around as the boys sat peacefully in the back of the car reading over their lines for the audition the following day, completely engrossed in the task at hand, too nervous to squabble.

The rest of the day was uneventful, they checked into their hotel rooms, only leaving once to eat at the hotel restaurant, before turning in for an early night.

The day of the final audition had been a long and tiring one, where the boys had been asked to act out every one of Gabriella’s scenes as Winston Cummins along with his two trusty assistants Noel and Sarah, watched on scrutinising over every minute detail.

When they finally wrapped up around 5 pm, Britt and Jim were both thoroughly exhausted having given the scenes every ounce of energy they had. They were informed that the Casting crew were going to go away and discuss their performances before coming to a final decision, there was nothing left to do now but wait.

Still wearing their outfits from the final scene of the day, too hungry to care if they looked a little flashy for a Wednesday evening, Britt and Jim accompanied by Natalia and Victoria, left the studio to get some food in an Asian restaurant close to the studio.

Entering the restaurant Jim looked over at Britt in his little pink skirt and extravagant heelless boots, as he strode up confidently to a waiter and asked if they had a table for four. It suddenly dawned on him, how strange the scene in front of him was. Having been too preoccupied all day, thinking of nothing but the audition, he'd had barely a moment to think but here he was watching his oldest friend, who had always prided himself on being somewhat of a ladies man, flirting with the young Asian waiter, looking like one of the women, he was used to seeing him try to pick up, on one of their business trips of old.

It was a moment of clarity, as Jim looked down at his own outfit, seeing his red claws hanging next to his frilly blue skirt, a pair of legs encased in dark tights emerging from the hem, and leading down into a pair of six-inch platform pumps, which he was standing in confidently.

He shook his head and a cascade of blonde hair fluttered against his cheeks, feeling frightened for a moment, not because of the way he was dressed, which was pretty normal these days, but because he was now so comfortable wearing the clothes. Somewhere along the line, he had adjusted to the new way of dressing and living as he realised, he had barely given it a second thought all day.

As they were led over to the bar area, where they had agreed to eat, after learning all the tables were surprisingly booked, Jim felt a sense of relief as he realised this would be his last night as Jem, as crazy as the last few months had been, they would soon find out the studio’s decision, and win or lose, one thing was for sure, he was looking forward to putting all the girly stuff behind him and get back to normality.

“Here we are ladies, please sit wherever you like, “said the happy Chinese waiter, as they arrived at the bar area”, I have to ask, are you all actresses? I saw you walking over from the studio across the street”.

Natalia smiled, “yes, as a matter of fact, we are. Jem and Brittney have been auditioning for a part in a huge new movie, I didn’t audition myself this time as I thought I’d give them a chance, but mark my words, they’re going to be famous".

“Well, you are all very beautiful, if you don’t mind me saying, I ‘m sure you’re all going to be superstars”, the waiter replied handing Natalia a few menus, “I’m Chen, by the way, just give me a call when you’re ready to order”, he said looking over at Britt and giving him a wink. 

Britt was taken aback by the unexpected gesture, stumbling a little on his unusual footwear, reaching out and grabbing Jim for balance, who placed his arm around his friend and smiled at the amusing scene.

(See image 13.2)

An hour or so later, with a full belly, Britt and Jim sat elegantly on their barstools, legs crossed mid-thigh, waiting for Natalia and Victoria to return from the bathroom.

“So, we did it, I’m not sure how, but we got through the day”, Jim said turning to Britt.

“Easy peasy”, Britt replied while sipping his coke cola through a straw”.

“Come on you can drop the act now, it’s over”, Jim replied, “no one can hear us”.

Britt looked around before placing his drink down on the bar, “Yeah, I guess you're right, there’s nothing we can do but wait for the decision to be made, man I’m tired, do your legs ache as much as mine”?

Jim smiled, “Ah, so are still you, I thought maybe you were changing teams”.

“No thank you, I mean, it’s not so bad, right? once you get used you it, but I don’t think I could live like this forever”, Britt said fanning his hands out in front of his feminised body and tracing them down his body.

“Yeah, tell me about it, I can’t believe we let things go this far, I mean, shit man, we both have tits”, Jim said grabbing a hold of his heaving bosom with his inch long extended nails”.

“Ha, yeah”, Britt stated, “that was Natalia, wanting to get an edge, I didn't think you would follow suit. She said they were easy to remove, just a quick operation but perhaps you could keep yours, they suit you”.

“Fuck you”, Jim exclaimed jokingly, “they suit you more than me, miss flirt, I saw the way you teased that waiter earlier”.

The smile on Britt’s face fell away as he suddenly felt embarrassed thinking back to that evening in the office with Mr Cummings and all the things, he had allowed that man to do to him, “the girls, have been a while, should we go and check on them”? he asked trying to change the subject.

“You can’t get off that easy", Jim instantly replied", we should call Chen over, if you bat your eyelashes at him, we might get a free round of drinks”, Jim joked, his huge plump lips smiling widely.

“Just drop it ok, please”, Britt said angrily in a deep voice that didn’t match his appearance.

“Ok, jeez, just joking around, calm down precious”, Jim said, as he noticed a few people looking over in their direction.

For the next few minutes, they say in silence, neither man wanting to look at the other until suddenly both their phones beeped at the same time causing the two skirted men to flick their heads around to face each other as a wave of blonde hair flew past their pretty made-up faces.

Almost simultaneously, they snatched their phones from the bartop, fumbling to unlock them with their long nails, before opening their messages and staring down to read in silence.

“Dear cheaters, you might be wondering why we’re texting you from the bathroom, well there’s a simple reason for that, we're not in the bathroom and we’re not coming back! Consider your cheating asses dumped. 

Time and time again, you would go away on your trips, sleeping around with whoever you liked, thinking we were stupid and wouldn’t find out. Well, guess what? We know, and now you’re going to have to live with the consequences of your actions. That paper you signed, so we could conclude the sale of the business on your behalf, was the power of attorney, the money from the sale is gone and is now resting safely in our accounts, call it compensation for the way you treated us. 

But don’t worry, we’re not entirely heartless, with our new power, we have decided to help you start a new life. In my handbag on the bar, you’ll find a new set of documents, passports, and birth certificates, all in your new names, showing your gender to be female, which we've had legally changed. 

No need to thank us, you’re welcome, have a nice life bitches, because you won’t be seeing us ever again, Nat and Vic".

The two men slumped into their chairs, trying to process what had just happened as nearly a minute past before Jim looked over at Britt who was still staring down at his phone, “did you…um… get it too”? he asked in a shaky voice.

Britt looked over and nodded slowly before dropping his phone to the ground and bringing his bright pink nails up to cover his face, “fuck”, he screamed into his hands as the whole restaurant fell silent and looked over.

The waiter from earlier rushed over, “Is everything alright ladies”? he asked nervously.

“Fuck off, Chen, I can’t deal with you right now”, Britt screamed in a masculine voice, as a shocked Chen scuttled away scared and confused.

 “What the hell are we going to do”? Britt asked turning to Jim, “those bitches have stolen our money and left us stuck looking like a couple of cheap whores”?

Jim was about to reply but was distracted as his phone pinged and vibrated in his hands, looking down he saw a new message, but not from Victoria, it was from the studio. 

“Congratulations, Jem, we are very pleased to inform you, you are going to be our Gabriella!!! Come to the studio tomorrow at 10 and we’ll get all the paperwork signed, have a wonderful rest of your evening, and congratulations again, we know you’re going to be amazing”.