Rent or forfeit 24

As the ear piercingly loud ringing, belted out across his bedroom, a blurry-eyed Tammy, slammed his hand down atop his alarm clock, knocking it clean off the bright pink bedside cabinet.

As he lay in bed, long hair covering his face, a feeling of dread washed over him as he remembered what he would have to do that day. He brushed a strand of lilac hair, that had been tickling his nose, away from his face, got out of bed and went to the bathroom to empty his bladder.

After washing his hands, he looked up at the strange but familiar sight in the bathroom mirror, the full pouty lips, and long thick fluttery lashes, along with the bright coloured long hair screamed girl, but the morning stubble that now covered his face and neck, looked ugly and out of place.

He lathered up his face with shaving foam and picked up a razor, clutching it awkwardly with his long pink nails. He felt conflicted as the razor glided across his face, on one hand, the morning stubble was his only remaining masculine trait, reminding him of who he really was, but on the other, it was tedious having to shave twice a day, and he was constantly worried, especially in the evenings, that a dark shadow beneath his foundation, might give away his real gender.

He thought back to a few weeks ago when had Sarah mentioning laser hair removal, at the time, it had seemed a ludicrous idea, but now looking at his once again clean-shaven, pretty face in the mirror, it didn’t seem such a terrible idea. Not having to shave would save him a lot of time each day, and he also wouldn’t be constantly worrying, but then again it would permanent, and in a way felt like committing to living the rest of his life as Tammy.

He looked once more at the girl in the mirror, shaking his head as his eyes fell upon his collagen enhanced lips and thin arched brows, and wondered if he could even look like a man again, and even if he could, after all this time of pretending to be a woman, did he even remember how to behave like one.

After a long relaxing shower, drying his hair and applying a light coating of makeup, he found his sisters in the living room. He made himself a bowl of cereal and joined them on the sofa, “good morning”, he said sitting down.

Sarah looked over at him oddly, “someone seems cheery today, I thought you’d be sulking”.

“Well, today’s not about me, today’s for Monica, I want to make it a special day for her”, Tammy said sincerely but feeling very apprehensive.

Monica smiled, “really you mean it? I was really looking forward to today and you saying that makes it even better”.

“Yeah really, I never realised how awful I was to you growing up, but after Sarah told me the truth, I feel absolutely terrible about it, I’m really sorry”, Tammy said looking across at Monica.

“Let’s not talk about the past ok? I don’t want to think about it, but I forgive you, Tammy, you were thirteen years old when you did all those things, and I can see you’ve changed since then. It really means a lot to me that you’re willing to come out with us tonight, we're going to have so much fun”, Monica said clapping her hands together excitedly.

“Yeah, fun”, Tammy answered forcing a smile on to his plump lips.

Mid-afternoon sat in a day spa and halfway through having his hair done, Tammy was having the opposite of fun, but he was trying to stay positive, after all it was only one evening and he really did want to make amends for what his past self, had done.

Given a small break from all the beauty treatments he had lost count of, he carefully leaned down to take a drink from the straw, that had been placed in his can of diet coke, just as well because with his hands under the UV lights, currently hardening his new set of acrylics, he had no way of using them.

For the last couple of hours, he had sat watching himself being transformed in the mirror in front of him, his mind racing, wondering what they had planned for him later that evening. One thing he did know, was that he was going to stand out from the crowd, long hair extensions had once again been attached to his head, and if the lilac hair colour hadn’t been bad enough, his large mass of hair, now sat tightly in a set of rollers on top of his head, had been dyed bright pink.

The pink theme extended to his makeup, as he looked past his newly extended fluttery lashes at the sparkling silver and pink eyeshadow framing his eyes and making them pop, but he knew his pretty looking eyes wouldn’t be the first thing people noticed when they looked at him, as his bright pink lips, instantly drew the eye, looking so inviting and kissable, thanks to another syringe of collagen that had been injected into them a short while ago.

After another hour of preening and primping to make sure he looked absolutely perfect, he was shown into a small room, where his outfit for the evening was waiting for him.

He stopped in his tracks as he saw the long pink flowing dress, hanging from a hook on the far wall, he had expected the princess theme, but there was something strangely familiar about the ultra-feminine dress with its flouncy, just below the knee length skirt decorated with flowers, and its bustier top that closed with a front zip.

The only other things in the room were a pair of thin pink tights, a silky pink thong, and a pair of tall pink high heeled pumps, and what a pair of heels they were. He gulped leaning down picking one of the scary-looking shoes up, looking at it in disgust, he examined the ridiculously tall and probably extremely uncomfortable slip-on pump, comparing it to the almost impossible to walk in shoes he had been given to wear at Maddison’s party, and shocked to find these shoes were far taller.

Tammy looked towards the door and had a sudden urge to run, but it was too late for that, leaving wearing only the short robe, the spa had provided, didn’t seem very appealing. He reminded himself he was doing this for Monica, so he took a seat on the little bench, and started to manoeuver his smooth body into the feminine garments. He had just finished dressing when there was a knock on the door, and after a moments pause, the door opened and in came Sarah and Monica, they looked good, more made-up than Tammy had ever seen them, but the thing that struck him first was, all three of them were wearing identical dresses.

“Wow look at you, with all that hair, you look just like a real-life Barbie”, Sarah quipped.

“Come on Sarah, can we stop with the comments for one night, please, you were the one who said we should have fun tonight”, Tammy replied.

“Yeah, come on Sar, she’s being a good sport, can we all just get along for one night”, Monica said.

Sarah smiled, “sure, ok, no more comments, tonight we are just three twin sisters out on the town”, she said lifting the bottom of her flowing skirt and letting it cascade down around her knees.

“Sarah why are we all dressed the same anyway, well apart from the shoes, of course, those little heels you both are wearing look a lot more comfortable than these monsters”, Tammy said trying to turn his foot to indicate his point and wobbling slightly.

Sarah smiled seeing him wobble, “What you don’t recognise the dress”? She asked.

“Well, there is something familiar about it”, Tammy said. Then it clicked, “no way, it isn’t, is it”? he said shocked.

“It is”, Sarah answered, “the dress Monica never got to wear to prom all those years ago, I got three replicas made up, so tonight she finally gets to wear it out, and we’re going to be there to support her and make sure she has the best night ever.

A few hours later, Tammy found himself stood in an alleyway on the verge of tears. Their venue for the evening had turned out to be a local pub, which Sarah had hired out for the evening trying to recreate a school prom. She had hired a DJ and invited all of Tammy’s old classmates from school, and with the promise of a free bar, most of them had turned up.

Initially, he had tried to grin and bear it, feeling completely humiliated as people giggled and commented on his appearance, he even tried not to let it get to him as some of the men, after getting a little drunk, started making advances and got a bit hands-on, but the thing that put him over the edge was the comment by Sarah, telling him that he made such a perfect prom princess, she was going to keep him like that from now on.

As he leaned against the brick wall, shivering in the freezing cold night air, his feet screaming in pain, he heard a pair of heels clicking towards him. Opening his eyes he found Maddison stood in front of him looking beautiful in a short green dress, “what are you doing out here silly, you’ll freeze to death”, she said looking concerned.

“I can’t do it anymore Maddy, I can’t take it”, he said holding back the tears.

Maddison stepped forward hugging him as he started blubbering on her shoulder, “hey, it’s ok, tell me what happened”? Maddison asked.

“Everything is so screwed up, I don’t even know who I am anymore, I tried to do the right thing, make things right, but Sarah just keeps punishing me”.

“What Sarah again? What has she done now”? Maddison asked gripping him tightly.

“She wants me to stay looking like this, like a fucking fairy princess, I feel so ridiculous Maddy, everyone keeps staring and commenting”.

“That bitch, I can’t believe she’s still is treating you like this; I’m going to go in there and give her a piece of my mind”, Maddison said furiously, stepping back.

“No please”, Tammy quickly answered, “It will just make things worse”.

“Well, you can’t keep letting her treat you like this Tam, you’ve got to stand up to her”.

“I’m scared Maddy, what if she kicks me out, where am I going to go? Can you image me on living on the streets looking like this”? Tammy said, waving his hands out over his pretty pink dress.

Maddison stepped forward and wiped a tear from his Tammy’s cheek, surprised to see that his makeup hadn’t run at all, “listen, how about you come and live with me for a while, mum won’t mind, and we can figure out together what type of woman you want to be”?

Tammy looked into her warm pretty eyes and considered what she was saying, moving in with her would mean getting away from Sarah, but also leaving Monica who he was trying to make things right with. It also meant committing to living as Tammy as he had a feeling once he moved in with Madison, there may be no going back to the boy he once was.

What should Tammy do? Vote in the poll.

1. Move in with Maddison, getting away from Sarah, but giving up his old life as a man.

2. Stay at home, endure Sarah’s cruelty, with the hope of one day returning to his life as Tommy.