To Friends, and being there when you need each other.

This is the second part of a story is about child whose circumstances have changed and how he continues to come to terms with that change and makes new friends. If you are looking for anything more explicit go away, you still won't find it here.

Recap
In part 1 Dennis a mischievous boy is punished by being put into skirts. He makes friends with 2 girls who show him sympathy. His mother decides that he has shown such an improvement in his schoolwork that he should spend more time as Donna. At the same time Dennis decides to spend more time as Donna when he realises that his friends like Donna more than Dennis. He surprises them by turning up to a birthday party in his brand new party dress. The three friends look set to grow even closer as they start the new school term.

Part 2: Lessons learned

Becky, Jo and Donna walked to school to start the summer term in their striped schooldresses. Hardly anyone remembered that Donna had once been a boy called Dennis. He loved who he now was, his friendship with Becky and Jo had been so different. The friends that Dennis had once had seemed fake in comparison, especially with the way they had shunned him while he was being punished. The three new friends worked together in class, spent breaks together and ate together.

The most amazing change was in his work, Dennis was an average student, nothing more, but Donna was an exceptional student who was right at the top of the class alongside her two friends.

They became virtually inseparable to the point that they started to be known as the three musketeers and questions were asked if they weren't seen together. They never excluded anyone from any of the things that they did but there was an extra special bond between the three of them.

Every day after school the three girls played together and at weekends they could usually be found at each others houses. However this weekend they were all going shopping, Donna had already built up quite a wardrobe since choosing to stay a girl but she never passed up the opportunity to get something new.

Whenever anyone commented she said, "I've got plenty of catching up to do.".

When they got to the shops Jo and Becky's excitement was obvious, Donna was a bit less enthusiastic. On the way there they had decided that the first order of business was for each of them to get a new swimsuit as the summer was shaping up to be a hot one. Donna just couldn't see that she would be able to pass as a girl in a swimsuit, even worse she was convinced that someone in the shop would find out and she would be humiliated in public. Jo and Becky tried their best to reassure her.

"Believe us Donna, no one will know, you'll be fine. If it makes you feel better we'll come into your changing room and check you out first."

This made her feel slightly more at ease but she was still very nervous about it. She reluctantly followed them to the racks of girls swimwear. Jo didn't waste any time, she dived straight in and found a couple of things that caught her eye then rushed off to try them on. While she was changing Becky took the chance to pick out her favourites too. Donna tried not to think about it and hoped they would forget about her.

Jo called them over to her changing room, showed them each outfit and listened to their comments. Donna attempted to be helpful but as a former boy did she have enough experience of girl's swimsuits?

"Oh that pattern does look nice," Donna said.

"Nah, it's a bit too busy," dismissed Becky.

Jo made her selections and swapped places with Becky who took her outfits and went through the same routine. In the end she chose a bright green and black one piece swimsuit. They were just about finished when they realised that Donna hadn't picked anything out, she had almost got away with it.

"Not so fast Donna Wilkins, if you think you're leaving here without a swimsuit you can think again."

Donna was edging away.

"But I haven't got that much money and there's something else I've got my eye on" she insisted. Anything to get out of trying on a swimsuit she thought.

"Anything to get out of trying on a swimsuit," Becky said then turned to Jo's mother, "Mrs Peters, do you have the extra money Mrs Wilkins gave you?... You do. Great."

Becky and Jo were not insensitive to Donna's reluctance so they stepped in to help her out. They picked four or five different suits and escorted Donna over to the changing rooms. They left her alone to change and when she thought she was ready Donna called her friends over to check her out.

Their first selections had little skirts attached so there was no way anyone would see something untoward. To ease any fears she may have they made their comments about each outfit then in the privacy of the changing room, they got her to lift the skirt, she looked virtually the same as the other girls underneath. Seeing she had no problem made her feel a bit more confident when it came to the more conventional swimsuits.

After trying everything on she chose two, one with a skirt in a Hawaiian floral pattern and the stripy halter neck which she still had on.

She looked at her friends "What do you think?"

"Turn around," Becky instructed.

Donna wondered what was up but did as she was told.

"Now wiggle your bum."

"What?"

"Just wiggle, for me, please."

She wiggled for her friend. "Does my bum look big in this?" she asked.

Becky and Jo giggled then Becky spoke, "Donna I don't know why you were worried, you think like a girl, you look like a girl, you act like a girl, you even wiggle like a girl."

That made Donna giggle to.

"If that really is true then how did I do with my choices?" she asked.

Becky gave her a thumbs up and said "Spot on." Jo nodded. I must be getting better at this, she thought. They paid up and carried on shopping.

"Window shopping is a lot more fun for girls," she whispered to Becky and Jo as they tried things on in yet another shop. They had spent a loooong time looking round the stores trying on all kinds of clothes, twirling and parading in front of each other having a wonderful time.

When they wanted a break from clothes shopping they went to the music store to get hold of the latest tracks from the Spice Girls and All Saints. Jo and Becky were also big Boyzone fans while Donna bought a Robbie Williams CD even though Dennis had never been a fan of Take That or any other boyband.

They finished off by looking in the window of the jewelery store. Before they knew it they had been drawn inside and were looking at the necklaces. Donna's gaze rested on one design in particular, a simple design, three leaping dolphins. She saw something deeper though, to her each dolphin represented one of the three of them. She called Becky and Jo over, explained her idea. Becky and Jo agreed it was a wonderful idea and all three bought one. The store did engraving so to make them even more special they had them personalised with their initials put on the back.

While the engraver got to work Jo pulled them over to the earrings. She pointed out a few that she liked then drew their attention to the dolphins that matched their necklaces.

"Why don't we get those," she said.

Becky said, "But they're for pierced ears and you're the only one who's got pierced ears".

Jo just smiled and pointed to a sign on the wall - Ears Pierced, special offer. "Can you believe this place, they do everything."

Becky looked mildly interested but Donna just looked at Jo and said, "Count me out."

"Why?" Jo asked.

"My Gran didn't have pierced ears, neither does my mum so I don't see the need to do it".

"Fair enough, forget I mentioned it," said Jo. It was no big deal for her.

They picked up their necklaces and put them on right away then followed Jo's mum to where they had left the car. Heading back to Jo's place they spent the rest of the afternoon there showing off their new clothes and listening to the music they'd bought.

As it started to get dark Donna and Becky decided it was time they went home. They opened the door and Donna recognised the car parked outside.

She said to Becky, "Come on, my mum will drop you off on the way."

* * * * *

It was lunchtime, Donna put her cardigan on the sports field and lay on it watching the clouds scud across the sky as she waited for her friends to catch up with her. In the distance she heard her name being called, she left the tranquil world she was in and looked up. It was Jo and she looked agitated. "Donna, its Becky, something has really upset her," Jo gasped as she tried to get her breath back.

Donna was pretty agitated as they hurried to the classroom where Becky was, they knew she had stayed behind to help a couple of other students work on a project but had no idea what could have gone wrong. They opened the door and saw her sitting on the side with her head in her hands sobbing. She had never been in a state like this before so they knew it was something serious.

"What happened?" they asked.

"Nothing," she said.

"Yeah right, 'nothing' made you cry," Jo said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Becky snapped.

Donna knew how stubborn Becky could be, but was determined to force her to talk.

"Look, we are going to find out what went on somehow so you why don't you just tell us now," she said.

"No."

"Okay then, we'll stay here until you do," said Donna.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you as long as you promise not to tell anyone else."

She told them that the other students had left one by one until only Becky and a boy, Peter Thompson remained. As soon as they were alone he had tried to kiss her, of course she wasn't interested and when she pushed him away he turned on her by calling her a bitch, a slut, and a lesbian. The fact that he wasn't really old enough to properly understand what his words meant didn't stop them from hurting her. Becky was strong enough to hold it together until he left, slamming the door behind him. She even managed to wait until she couldn't hear his footsteps in the hall before letting her emotions free.

Jo had gone looking for Becky when they hadn't met outside the dinner hall like they had planned. The classroom was the first place she checked and that was where she found her friend crying. As soon as she made sure that Becky wasn't physically hurt she hurried off to find Donna.

As Becky told them of her ordeal Donna got madder and madder. When she had finished Donna's anger overcame her and stormed out of the room. Becky and Jo called after her but she'd already gone, they had assumed that Dennis had returned and he was going to find Peter and let his fists do the talking.

The idea of a fight has not even entered her head, instead she was going to combine Dennis' guile & Donna's intellect in a master plan. She went to the headmaster and told him, "Peter Thompson has been teasing me about they way I'm dressed".

The head said, "Well officially your punishment ended after easter so my threat (flashback to part 1 - "However if I find out that any of you boys have teased Donna then you'll be dressed in a similar way.") isn't really valid anymore".

Donna looked defeated.

"But if someone will back up what you say then I will carry out that threat once and once only," he added.

Donna said, "Jo saw what happened she'll confirm what went on."

So the head called Jo to the office. Donna hoped Jo would be able to work out what was going on as there was no way of warning her. Jo came in and the headmaster turned to her.

"I've been hearing certain accusations about Peter Thompson can you tell me what went on."

Jo knew that something was up so she kept her answers as vague as possible. "Well he was really horrible, calling her every name under the sun."

She glanced across to Donna.

The head dismissed them and said, "Thank you both of you, I shall deal with him later".

Donna and Jo raced back to Becky and told her what the two of them had just done, she was amazed and relieved. The thought of Peter wearing a skirt was so strange that they couldn't contain their laughter. For the rest of the day whenever they saw him they couldn't stop themselves from laughing again, although he didn't seem to get the joke.

All the following week Peter came to school in a skirt. Originally his mother had been against the idea but as he was not particularly bright so he told her what had really happened, she went mad when she found out. The behaviour of his older brother was a big enough concern to her so there was no way she wanted her younger son to think that it was alright to go around picking on girls. That was enough to get her to change her mind and agree to the punishment. He made quite a nice girl, even if he did not appreciate it.

Revenge was sweet. At the beginning of that week Becky went up to Peter (or Kelly to use his new girls name) and said, "Just remember, if you cross one of us then you've crossed all three."

Even more enjoyable for them were the reminders they kept giving Kelly to be careful about her appearance, Donna particularly enjoyed doing that. They would also tell her how sweet or cute she looked then have a good giggle. Peter was so humiliated, he was a lot more considerate to girls feelings after that as he did not want to repeat this experience. Even so his mother made sure there was a skirt or dress for him at home, just in case he stepped out of line again. (Perhaps secretly she hoped he would do something.)

* * * * *

The three girls were in Jo's bedroom dancing to the music that was playing on her stereo. Jo, who had been smiling like a cheshire cat the whole time, threw herself on the bed and looked at the other two who were still jigging away.

"I thought you'd notice something different about me but you didn't so I'll tell you anyway," she said.

They gave her a strange look before she continued.

"Mum took me shopping for my first bra today, look."

She pulled up her sweater and then her top to show them her new bra.

"Oh Jo that's wonderful, you must be over the moon," Becky said, "My mum's taking me to get mine next week and then we're eating out!"

They spent a few seconds flattering each other then both turned to Donna and saw that she was feeling sad and left out.

"Hey this song is a bit depressing, I think we need some girlpower," said Jo. She changed the CD and they joined in the singing. Donna pretended to be Mel C, Becky became Geri and Jo did her version of Victoria.

When Donna got home she wandered about looking a bit forlorn. Her mum followed her into the kitchen and said, "I've got you an appointment with the doctor tomorrow".

"I'm fine really." Donna said.

"It's got nothing to do with the mood you're in," her mother replied, "If you want to stay as Donna a bit longer then you'll need a bit of help. I don't my daughter losing her sweet voice or her smooth complexion."

So the following day she went to the doctor accompanied by her mum. She had the standard medical checks, height, weight, pulse, blood pressure. What she wasn't expecting was all the questions about her friends and her feelings towards them and other people in her class.

Finally the doctor called someone in and then said, "You go with the nurse who will take some samples while I speak to your mum."

It took about ten minutes then she rejoined her mum. The doctor addressed them both "Well subject to the result of your blood test we should be able to do something to help you. I'll give you a call as soon as we know for certain. You will also need to see some other people so I'm going to get you a referral with a specialist."

They didn't get the results back in time for their first visit to the specialist but it didn't seem to matter, she was more interested in finding out how this had begun and how Donna felt about things as they were now. She tried to be open with Donna but there was still some uncertainty in the back of the girl's mind about where the questions were leading.

After a couple more sessions another appointment was set up, even though the purpose of an endocrinologist was explained to her she was still a little reluctant to go.

“Why do so many people have to know everything about me?” she asked, “I'd be quite happy to keep it to you and dad, Becky and Jo and I guess our GP.”

Her mother understood that Donna was quite a private person, that had been another difference between her son and her daughter, with good reason too.

“I'm afraid that they need to know so they can do the best for you,” she consoled.

The endocrinologist wasn't that bad after all, she checked the test results then asked a few questions, mostly family history and any known reactions to any medicines. Then she spent a long time explaining how thing might happen and at the end of it mum was handed a prescription which they took straight to the chemist to collect. Donna understood that the pills she started taking would delay the onset of puberty which meant no facial hair development, no breaking of her voice and things like that. She had also had some of the side effects explained to her but being young there was only so much she could take in so she was reliant upon her mother if she did notice anything strange.

A month or so passed and she didn't grow a second head or come out in a strange rash so she was relieved on that count, so were Becky and Jo, not that it would have made the slightest difference to their friendship. Life returned to what passes for normal.

Then one morning Donna woke up with a strange sensation in her chest, she couldn't think of anything that might have caused, no walking into doors and she certainly wasn't a girl who got into fights so she rushed to her mother.

"Mum my chest feels funny, sort of tingly and tender," she said and lifted her t-shirt so her mum could take a closer look.

Instead she looked her in the eye and smiled, "That's perfectly alright for a girl of your age, its just your body developing normally, I went through the same thing myself when I was your age."

"Oh," she said looking thoughtful. "Developing normally for a girl?"

"Yes," her mother replied.

"So I'm going to have my own breasts?"

“Well I hope you're not going to have someone else's.”

“Muuum.”

"Sorry darling, yes you are, those pills you've been taking are anti-androgens, you remember being told that right?”

“Yes mum, they stop me from turning all male,” Donna said making a funny face.

“And she also said that there was a small chance that suppressing the testosterone would allow trace levels of oestrogen to get to work on your body. She said it's not unheard of for a boy to have slight development until his testosterone levels catch up but with your pills stopping the testosterone in it's tracks you don't need to worry about that happening to you. I knew they would stop your voice breaking but this is an added bonus," she said.

Donna turned to face the big mirror, with her shirt still up she examined her chest, it didn't look any bigger, not even if she turned sideways. Then she realised what she was doing and got very embarrassed.

“Sorry mum,” she mumbled.

“Oh sweetheart, it's nothing to be ashamed of, girl's have been checking themselves out since the beginning of time. I even remember doing it myself when I first started to develop,” Mrs Wilkins said.

It was strange for Donna to be thinking of her mother in that way so she put that thought aside.

"So it won't be long before I'll need a bra then," she said.

“Actually now is as good a time as any for you to start wearing one,” her mother replied.

While Mrs Wilkins changed Donna examined her chest again just in case it had grown since she checked it five minutes ago. She grabbed her little purse and skipped down the stairs behind her mother.

Dad was sitting in the lounge.

“Where are you two off to this early,” he asked.

“We're off to do girl things,” mum replied.

Mr Wilkins was able to work out what she meant, he was sad to be missing out on a part of his child's life but he accepted there were certain things that only a mother and daughter can share.

“Ok dear. Have fun princess,” he called as the walked out of the door.

Donna grinned, she loved it when daddy called her princess, she was delighted by the way he had accepted her changes and revelled in being a daddy's girl.

It was the weekend so the fact they were able to go straight away was cancelled out by the time they spent finding a parking space in the multi-storey. But they walked into the lingerie department without too much of a delay, as they did Donna gripped her mother's sleeve with fear.

"Mum we know that woman, she knows you don't have a daughter. She'll tell everyone I know she will."

"Don't be ridiculous, she won't say a thing," she replied, "What I don't understand is a couple of hours ago you were desperate to come and buy your first bra, yet here you are petrified at the thought. You buy skirts and dresses all the time, this won't be a problem."

With that she ushered her over to where the woman waited.

"Hello madam, miss," she said, "How may I help you?"

"My little girl is growing up," said Donna's mother.

"Ohhh her first bra, you must be enjoying this, both of you." She proceeded to show Donna the entire range of training bras, treating her the same way she would treat any growing girl. As their sales assistant became completely engrossed in her work, Donna's apprehension vanished. Mrs Wilkins looked on with a contented smile on her face.

Donna left the store proudly wearing one of their purchases, she thrust her chest out and smiled. Her mother suppressed a smile of her own then took her daughter to one side.

“I know you want everyone to know darling but it looks a bit silly, just act normally, all the people who know and care about you will notice soon enough.”

Donna got her mother to drop her off outside Jo's house. She still had a Cheshire Cat grin on her face as she went into Jo's music filled bedroom so it was hardly surprising that her best friends noticed something was up.

“Someone's extra happy today,” Jo commented.

Donna nodded. “I've just been clothes shopping with mum,”she said.

Becky was the first to get a clue what Donna was on about, and when she hugged her it just confirmed her suspicions.

“Donna's got her first bra,” Becky told Jo.

“About time too,” Jo joked.

Becky nudged her, they had got so used to Donna being Donna that they sometimes forgot she hadn't been born a girl, Jo was suggesting that she was a late bloomer where Becky was trying to protect her friend's feelings, both were in for a shock.

Doing exactly the same thing as her friends had done Donna pulled her top up to show them the bosom that she was so proud of.

“Very pretty bra,” said Jo.

Becky was a little bolder, she gave her friend's chest a gentle poke.

“Oww,” Donna said, not surprisingly.

“You didn't feel that,” Becky stated.

“Yes I did, you know how sensitive they get.”

“For a.... wait, you mean?” Becky's jaw dropped.

“Yep these are all me, no artificial additives,” Donna giggled.

“Oh wow, congratulations, how?” they asked.

So Donna explained to them how it was possible despite not fully understanding it herself, when she had finished they turned the music back on and carried as normal. Donna felt like she was one of them again, although she had never actually stopped, only in her mind.

* * * * *

Before they knew it summer was here. The days were long and the girls intended to use every sun filled hour now that school was out.

The first fortnight flew by, they had a few days out and all three went to stay with Becky's aunt for a long weekend. She lived near the sea so they had plenty of fun walking along the cliffs and playing on the beach. Donna got to wear her swimsuit for the first time in public, not surprisingly she was a bit apprehensive but everyone was doing their own thing so she relaxed and joined Becky and Jo splashing in the sea and gave them both a dunking.

When they got back they spent a few days messing about. It took them completely by surprise when they realised just how much time had passed, one more day and then they were off to summer camp.

They decided to speed things up by helping each other to pack, they even came up with a system, one girl would choose and the other two would pack. It worked quite well for Becky and Jo but broke down when they got to Donna's. They wanted to make sure that she was picking the right things which meant that all three were choosing and no one was packing.

"You've not packed any shorts!" Jo said pointing out the one thing they had forgotten.

"But I don't have any, and I'd look like a boy half dressed in girl's clothes anyway," she protested.

"We'll be doing things where shorts are the best thing to wear. Becky & I have got shorts on, do we look like boys half dressed in girl clothes?"

"Of course not," said Donna. Secretly she knew that this was a battle she had already lost and was just waiting for the chance to give in gracefully.

Becky said, "If one piece of a picture is wrong no one notices it. It's like one of those 'spot the difference' games where you have two pictures and you have to find the bits that have been added or removed."

To demonstrate she walked over to the drawers that Donna kept his Dennis clothes, pulled something out and thrust it into his hands. It was a pair of loose checked blue shorts. Becky then instructed him to put them on and look in mirror. While he was doing that Becky gestured Jo toward the mirror and stood on the other side waiting.

'He' turned toward the mirror as Becky said "Lets play our own game of spot the difference. Donna tell me what's different between the girl on the left, the one in the mirror and the one on the right. She thought for a minute trying but failing to avoid the obvious answer then said, "Apart from the different patterns and colours, nothing. All three pictures are of a girl in shorts."

"Riiight," cried Becky doing her most annoying game show host impersonation. "Congratulations you win tonights star prize, a fortnights holiday, spending money, and best of all you now know that you look like a girl whatever you wear."

They all found that hilarious.

Donna sorted through the shorts, deciding on the ones she could wear as a girl then from her shortlist made her final selections and threw them onto the pile, Jo found a pair of shortalls that had never been worn and said, "You've got to take these, I love 'em, you'll look great in them".

Donna sighed and added them to the pile as well.

"Ok what are we going to do now?" asked Jo when they had finished, Donna yawned.

"I think you need your beauty sleep," said Becky, "we'd better go".

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Mrs Wilkins smiled as she looked in on her child's sleeping form.

“Penny for them,” said Mr Wilkins as he passed.

“It's been a while since I watched our child just sleep,” she said, “do you think we're doing the right thing.”

It had only been a few days ago that Mr Wilkins had stood in exactly the same spot watching Donna with exactly the same concerns as his wife. He decided not to mention that though. “Luv we're doing the best we can for her, is it the right thing? Well only time will tell.”

Night gradually became morning and a few minutes after her alarm went off Mrs Wilkins went to wake her daughter as arranged but Donna was already up and had been for hours, she was too excited to sleep late. She had to be slowed down eating her breakfast and kept badgering her mum and dad to make sure that they left on time.

When they all arrived at the pickup point it was apparent that all three of them had been the same way. The minibus arrived right on schedule, they threw their things underneath and found three seats together. As the minibus pulled away there were three sets of parents waving the girls goodbye. The adventure was beginning as they drove to two weeks of fun, all girls together (Well I had to use it somewhere didn't I).

The journey was long enough to give them plenty of time to imagine what they would get up to at the camp.

It was three tired girls who settled into their dorm room that afternoon. After having a quick check of what was on the program they lay on their beds relaxing and waiting for their room mates to arrive. As each small dorm had 4 bunk beds they had five new friends to make.

They waited about 20 minutes for the next ones to arrive, a group of 3 - Kim, Kelly and Julie, they introduced each other and just chatted as they waited for the final two. They got through a lot of small talk before Debbie and Lisa finally turned up, their coach had been forced to take a detour down some tiny country lanes and through quaint little villages, it was hardly surprising that they were glad to have made it at last.

The next 12 days were filled with all sorts of activities: walking, cycling, riding, canoeing, orienteering even a bit of archery to name some (ok most) of the things they did. Donna was glad she had been persuaded to bring the shorts, they were so much more practical for the things they were doing.

Everyone enjoyed every second of it, there was always something that someone was doing for the first time. Cycling was the group's favourite activity, they took advantage of most of the spare time to ride along the network of cycle tracks that went deep into the forest surrounding the camp.

Even the afternoon that Debbie and Lisa disappeared didn't spoil their time and they all laughed together when they found them in the other dorms selling local souvenirs at twice the normal price (souvenirs they had bought during the coach's detour) and doing hair and nails ready for that night's disco.

When their time at camp was over they were all sad to be going their separate ways, they promised to try and keep in touch and all agreed this was one holiday they would remember for a long time.

The trip back was just as long as the trip there so Donna, Becky and Jo had to be woken up by their mums when the bus pulled in. They went straight to bed to relive their last two weeks in their dreams. The rest of the summer was quiet by comparison, even though they were doing the things they normally did together. They did enjoy cycling, especially as it reminded them of their special rides with their new friends, but nothing else quite matched the excitement they felt during their stay at summer camp.

The rest of August melted away and before long it was back to school for their last full year before moving on, what an important year it would turn out to be.

End of Part 2