As Jason woke up from his slumber, he looked around to notice all kinds of presents stacked in his room. Above them, along the far wall, hung a big banner that read "Happy Birthday Julie". He thought that was strange, since he didn't _know_ anyone named Julie. He thought a bit and decided that his parents must be having a surprise party for a friend of theirs and were storing everything in his room until the party. But that didn't make sense... why hang the banner in HIS room? And how did they do it without waking him?

It was a Saturday, and he had slept in late. So they had probably got a lot of stuff done. *Oh No! * He thought. *Mom's going to be mad at me for staying up till 4am again *. He proceeded to get out of bed, and walked over to his dresser. As he approached the dresser, Jason thought once again about his secret. Born a boy, he had always felt he was really a girl, and had spent years concealing it. Now, after so many years of hiding, he could hardly repress the urge to tell-- his parents, his friends, somebody-- anybody. So far, though, only his friends on-line were privy and that helped a bit. He had to do SOMETHING, though, so every night he went to sleep wearing one of his few jumpers and turtlenecks...

"Shit!" Something dismaying had occurred to him. *What if they saw me while I was sleeping? I'd better change quickly. I'm in the deep stuff now. * As he reached his dresser, he opened the drawer where his clean underwear was kept. He stopped dead, and blinked. It was gone, every last stitch, replaced by a vast array of panties. He hesitantly opened the second drawer, home to his T-shirts, and found them replaced by a collection of bras and slips. He stepped back and rubbed his eyes, thinking that this had to be a dream. No, he finally decided, this was reality. But how? And why? HE quickly strode to his closet and flung open the doors to discover it crammed all kinds of dresses. All he could do was cry out in shock. He realized what had to be going on, and it was too much. He dropped to the floor, sobbing as everything hit him at once.

His mother rushed into his room to find him wailing on his bedroom floor in front of the open closet. She saw the dresser's drawers open exposing their contents. She rapidly knelt at his side, cuddling him close to her. "What's the matter honey," she asked, "I thought this day would be the answer to your dreams."

"It is," he said while sniffling. "But it's all so sudden, and I spent all this time... all this time without being able to tell you. I was hating you." His voice broke as he realized the bitterness of his feelings, feelings that were proving them selves tragically wrong. "I thought you would never accept me into your arms. I thought that if you knew, you'd renounce me as your son and I'd cease to exist in your eyes." The tears started flowing again, tears of remorse and pain, releasing the awfulness of his bottled-up feelings. "I know those are all horrible thoughts, but... remember what you said to me when you caught me in Karen's clothes? You told me that I would make an ugly woman! You laughed, laughed at me! I've always resented you for that." He shuddered and hiccuped into her chest. Clutching himself tight to her body, he sobbed, "Since then I never thought anything could be right between us again."

After that he broke out into another flurry of sobs, and buried his head into his mothers lap. She started to speak, thought a moment, then said, "I know that was a hard time, honey, and I know that this is all a little late, but I want to try to do my best. I want to do _whatever_ I can to make the rest of your life happy." She paused again, as if to ponder something. Then, as she continued, tears came to her eyes. She clutched his head, brought him closer to her bosom, and started stroking his hair. "You probably don't realize this, but I've noticed that when you're not on the computer, you get kind of depressed, and that when _I'm_ on you get edgy. I started doing a little probing one day to find out what was going on, and was able to read your e-mail."

*Oh, shit!* He thought, *She's read my E-mail? And she's crying? Why is she crying? * He was just as confused as usual. Lacking any clue, he tuned back into her speech.

His mother was talking fast and quietly. "I read those e-mails between you and your friend Sharon, and I also read some of those Chat logs that you have for that one program, I-C-something; I don't remember. But I realized everything that was going on. Everything. After a lot of thought, and even more planning, your father and I decided to do what we can to help."

With that she broke into sobs. She was totally devastated about everything. Jason was completely stunned that his mother knew all about his oh-so-carefully-protected secret. He shared some of his deepest, darkest thoughts over the computer with his friends there. He even had shared his feelings, the hatred towards his parents unwillingness to be compassionate towards him and his problems. He had felt this whole time that everyone in his family was against him. To Jason, every day was like a war. A continual battle between the person he was inside, and the shell he had to pretend to be in order to keep up appearances. How could he have been so wrong? Or had he been? He had talked to a lot of people and told them the truth about what was going on. They had agreed with him.

He looked up at his mom, with tears in his eyes, and said in a quavering voice "I'm. I'm. I'm so sorry for everything I said in those chats. I must have been wrong. I must have been... upset."

Jasons mother looked at him and said, "No, Julie. It's I that should be apologizing to you. I read all those logs and saw that it was all true. I treated you so horribly, and I wish there were some way I could fix it all." With that she started to cry again.

Jason did is best to give her a smile. But he was not able to hold it for more than a matter of seconds. *She called me Julie! * They hugged each other tightly. It was as if they were finally growing that bond that he always wanted to have with his mother. The one that Karen and she had shared.

His mother was able to compose herself enough to speak again and resumed. "I know it's not possible, but I want you to be able to spend the rest of your life as the person you feel you really are. I've made some arrangements for you to start seeing a therapist, and already forwarded him the stuff from the logs that I feel is important. For now I want you to change into the clothing I'd set out on the edge of your bed."

Jason had broken out into another storm of tears. This time they were tears of joy. Tears of excitement. He could not believe what his mother was doing. This was so out of character for her. *But why look a gift horse in the mouth? * He thought to himself. In all the commotion that had gone on, he had never even realized that there were clothes laid out. Jason looked at his mother and said "But there is so much other stuff, much prettier in my closet. Why did you set out this pink sweat-suit?"

"Well, honey, above everything else, we found this company on the net." She paused. And Jason looked at her, puzzled, wondering what she was leading up to. "The company is called ‘HuggleBugs LTD.’ They have the ability to make you a _real_ girl. We don't know if it will work, but well. We didn't feel that we had an option."

Jason shook his head bemusedly. *HuggleBugs Limited? Who? *

His mother continued. "We want so much to make up for the past. And we want to make you the person you always wanted to be." She than left the room saying she had to check on lunch. As she left, she said "Julie, after you are dressed I would like you to come out into the kitchen. I have a few calls to make, and lunch to take care of. But we still have things to talk about."



Jason, no, it was Julie now, thought to herself as she stared at the clothing neatly laid out on the edge of the bed. This was the answer to her dreams. One of her biggest fears was that she wouldn't be accepted with the way she looked. Then it hit her again. Julies mom was calling her Julie. She wasn't used to it yet, but it came to her like second nature. How could Julie tell her mom that she had already chosen a name? *Well, she is my mom, and I guess naming me _is_ her job. *

With that, Julie quickly grabbed a pair of panties off of her bed and a training bra. She put on the sweatshirt and sweat pants and then sat on the end of her bed, hugging one of her stuffed bunnies that she had managed to save from an Easter past.

Her mother came back just a minute or so later and asked why she hadn't come out yet. Julie was still sitting there clutching her bunny. She was thinking about the rest of her family and her friends. Yes, some of them knew. But not all of them. Would they accept him? How would the treat him? He looked up at his mother and said, "Mom, how does dad feel about all of this? Is he mad at me?"

"No, Honey." His mother replied. "We had a long talk and he agrees that we are doing the correct thing. I know how he pretty much refused to acknowledge your existence after those couple of incidents." With that, she sat down close to Julie, pulled her close once again, looked at her and continued. "But he has changed. We all have changed in the way that we feel about this. It may be a bit too much to handle now. But I'm sure as everything starts to settle you will get very accustomed to it."

She then got up and motioned for Julie to do the same. As Julie headed for the kitchen with her mother, she skirted past the family room and living room as fast as possible. Even if they did know and accept her, Julie was not ready to face her father. He had always been disappointed that she wasn't better in baseball. He was totally disgusted at the fact that she had gotten beaten up time after time in school. How could his 'son' be doing this to him was his general complaint. And that time when Julie had been caught in Karens clothes. We don't even want to talk about that incident. It's painful to even think about.

In the kitchen 3 aprons were hanging on the back of a chair. Her mother put one on and that seemed somewhat unusual in itself. Julies mother worked all day long, and while she did do house chores, (as did everyone in the house) she never used an apron, or anything like that. She wasn't the most feminine of mothers. She ran the house and had to be control of everything. But this was Julies day. The day where she could finally present herself to the world. What could possibly go wrong?

To Be Continued…….

After Julie had put on her apron, she looked out the kitchen window to see a yellow mustang drive up. Oh Shoot! It was her Sister Karen. She was the last person Julie wanted to see at a time like this. She froze for a minute and then made a beeline for the bathroom and locked the door. Once inside the bathroom she just started crying and thinking of everything. How her life was going to be over. She knew her sister. They never got along well, and she always loved to tease and make fun of Julie. Even though she was more than big enough to get Karen back for teasing her, she had always been emotional unstable and just preferred to cry it off instead of using violence. This was yet another trait that Julie’s father despised.

It was just a matter of seconds before there was a knock at the bathroom door. "Julie, what’s the matter?" She was about to reply when she realized it was Karen that was asking.

"Just Go Away PLEASE!" Julie cried out. "I don’t want you to make fun of me. I just can’t take it. I really can’t!"

Suddenly Julie noticed a butter knife coming through the door jam, heard a little noise and next thing the door was open. Julie should have known better, she had taught Karen how to do that for when people accidentally locked the door and closed it behind them.

Julie just sat there crying as Karen entered the room. But instead of being her normal teasing self, she sat down next to Julie on the floor and grabbed her close. This was just like her mother had done this morning.

"It’s O.K. Sis. Shhhhh..." She cooed lightly, "everything will be O.K. I promise you I’m not here to hurt you. I just always hated the fact of having a little brother and would have given anything for a little sister. And now I have one."

"But you always have had one," Julie replied with conviction, "I’ve always been like this; I’ve always been your little sister. You and mom just never choose to accept it." That caused another flurry of tears to flow, but this time they were coming from both sisters.

Karen was the first one to dry up enough to speak again. "I know, Sis. I am really sorry for everything I have done to you in the past, but I just didn’t know how to deal with it. I know that’s no excuse, but still, I hope you can find a place in your heart to forgive me, so that we can be sisters like sisters truly should be."

Julie started to smile, and began to get happy. This is what she wanted most. Re-create new bonds between her mother and her sister, and it seemed as if her sister wanted the same. Julie started to daydream about things. She could picture herself as a beautiful young girl, going shopping for a new dress with her mother and sister, going around, having fun, and just being the girl she knew she was inside.

After drying their tears using the tissues on the counter, they both got up and walked into the kitchen together. Karen went straight for her apron and the 2 sisters and their mother proceeded to start making cookies. They were making 3 double batches of chocolate chip cookies so that they could package up and send them to family for the holidays. It was nearing Christmas and all, and just seemed like a nice thing to do. They generally did it every year, but Karen was usually constantly tormenting Jason. But this year, Jason wasn’t there, Julie was, and everything seemed to have changed.

As the day progressed things went great. It was about 3pm when the doorbell rang. The dog started barking, and Julie held him back while Karen went to open the door. Karen was outside for just a second, then came back in with a package. She handed it to Julie and took Bosco (the family wiener Dog), from her arms. Julie looked at the package and it was addressed to "Julie Christine Plummer." Which Julie realized made her initials JCP, which was funny, because the name she had chosen herself was Christiana Jane, making her initials CJP.

With avid excitement (remembering what her mom mentioned earlier), she opened the package and emptied it’s contents onto the coffee table. There was a large spray bottle, that read "HuggleBugs Nanite Formula XY-XX-Perm". Also contained in the package was a small pamphlet of instructions for using the spray. In big lettering on the front of the pamphlet it read, "WARNING! The formula of spray you have ordered is our permanent formula! This is a NON-REVERSIBLE process and HuggleBugs, Ltd. Accepts no liability if the contents are misused and undesired results are obtained. Please read and follow all directions carefully, and make sure you have someone to help expedite the application process, as this is of the greatest importance." One of the things Julie had noticed about all the items is that they included the cutest little logo of what she assumed were two HuggleBugs, locked into a tight embrace.



Julie looked at Karen, who looked at the logos and they both giggled. After just a second they both ran off to Julie’s room like a couple of giggling schoolgirls. Karen was 24, and working a full time job as a receptionist, while Julie was only 18, just out of High School and getting ready for college. Julie had graduated a year early as a result of completing an accelerated learning program they had been testing at her high school.

As they stood there, looking at the bottle, Karen had the instructions and started reading through them. "Step one," she started, "strip down to only underclothing and make sure you are in a comfortable climate." As Karen read the instructions, Julie prepared by stripping to her panties and bra like the instructions said. She was uncomfortable standing before her sister, the thin panties barely disguising the unused remnants of her former boyhood.

Soon, she thought, that’ll be gone forever. I’ll be me, finally. ME! I’ve deamed for so very long for this day, and I thought it was impossible. But now. Now. It’s time, finally time for me to become myself! When she was finished, Karen started with Step two. It was cold outside, and kind of chilly in the room. Julie was starting to get a bit cold and told Karen.

Karen then looked up and saw Julie and yelled "Mom! Up the thermostat please? It’s freezing in here!" Step two turned out to be the initial application. It said to "spray the nanites evenly over the entire body, while being careful not to spray them on any other living thing." As Karen read that out loud, Julie started to tremble nervously. Karen looked up at her and said, "Don’t worry Sis. Everything is going to be fine. We’ll be real sisters forever."

Julie’s only reply was to look up, and say, "Please, make me your new sister!"

With that, Karen got up and started to spray the nanites on Julie’s body, going around her in a circle and moving down slightly with each rotation like the stripes on a candy cane. They then loosened Julie’s bra, and pulled forward the band on her panties and sprayed under each of those items. Julie’s whole body started to tingle as she could feel something happening.

Her body started to tremble and she noticed her waist reducing and it seemed as if her hips were getting wider. She braced herself for the pain of her skeleton and muscles to reform... she waited.. and nothing. Isn’t it working? she fretted. She looked down as she felt an extra tingling sensation in her chest and saw that she had breasts beginning to form. Just then she was distracted by the weight of her head as she noticed that she now had longer hair, it was now down to the middle of her back. As she looked down, she noticed her legs getting leaner and her hated manhood getting smaller and then disappearing.

The bulge in her panties was now gone, and her view was blocked of that area by the pair of budding breasts that were now expanding. She’d always dreamed about large breasts, but these... they were wonderful, large and full, and still growing.

Julie turned around to look in the mirror and blushed, as what she saw wasn’t at all what she expected. Instead of the visions of trans-gendered individuals that she had seen on television, she saw a beautiful young almost naked, somewhat well-endowed girl standing in front of her, wearing only a pair of panties that were too big and were about to fall off. Just then Karen came up behind her and hugged her. This sent Julie to tears again, as it was the closest she had ever been with her sister.

After a moment, Karen motioned towards the closet and the both went in looking for something for Julie to wear on the first day of being the new her. As they started looking through the clothes in the closet, Julie was able to get a better Idea of what was there for her. It was really strange. Julie knew her parents weren’t poor, but the wardrobe that they had bought her must have cost a fortune. She could understand them wanting her to have a better life and all now, but how could they afford all of this, and why would they be willing to do it?

Julie just pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she went back to picking out clothes. They picked out a nice long denim jumper and a flowered turtleneck. Much like she usually liked to wear in secret, but much nicer. Then proceeded over to the dresser drawer to get a pair of panties and bra that would fit. She grabbed a matching set of pink satin panties and bra, and then started to put them on.

As she was standing there, she noticed the HuggleBugs Spray instruction book and started reading. After step 2 there was a section that read "Congratulations on your transformation. You should now be the girl/woman of your dreams. We would like to warn you that you are now a fully functional member of the female sex. HuggleBugs Ltd. is in no way responsible for any pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases brought on by the use of your new anatomy. Also, as all young women, you will soon start to experience a normal menstrual cycle and should be warned that your first one may come suddenly and fairly intense."

Julie looked at Karen in a puzzled way and asked, "Pregnancy?"

Karen just looked back and giggled, "That’s right. We’re going to need to find you a man!"

Julie looked at her sister again and said, "Nooooo Way! You think I want to go through that pain?" Just then Julie doubled over in pain as abdominal cramping hit her.

The pain was extreme, and Karen came over and jokingly said, "Are you still sure you want to be a girl?" She then picked Julie up and helped her to the bed. A minute or so later the cramping started to subside, and Karen went and grabbed Julie’s pink robe from behind the closet door. Julie took the robe, got up, and they both went into the bathroom almost instinctively. As they passed the kitchen, their mom noticed and asked whats wrong. Karen replied by saying, "Don’t worry, Mom, Julie and I just need to have a little talk." They hustled down the hall.

Once in the bathroom Karen locked the door behind them, and then went below the sink and grabbed a tampon. She gave it to Julie and asked if she knew what to do. Julie looked at her in puzzlement and held the tampon still in it’s wrapper and said, "Did you know what to do with this your first time?"

Karen looked at her and giggled and then replied by saying, "Good point." Just then without any notice, Karen grabbed another tampon, unwrapped it, then unbuttoned her jeans, and demonstrated to Julie how to insert it and use it. This made Julie blush deeply and turn away. Karen looked at her and said plainly, "Hey little sis, I’ve seen you naked, and this probably won’t be the last time you see me naked. We’re sisters now, and you don’t need to be ashamed about things like this."

With that Julie turned back and watched her sister demonstrate, then unwrapped the tampon she held and did as her sister had done. It felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but she figured it was just something that she would have to get used to.

After a short hug, the two of them left the bathroom to head back to Julie’s room to get dressed. Julie went over to the bed where the clothes were laying and took of the robe. She picked up the turtleneck and slipped it over her head, then had to remember to pull her new long hair out from the collar (that was going to take some getting used to) , then had Karen help her into the jumper. She could have done it herself, but she liked the idea of having her sister help her.

As the two of them headed back into the kitchen to show off to Mom, they passed by the living room where their dad was seated. Julie looked at him and he tried to muster a smile. Julie turned around and walked over to him and sat on the ottoman in front of his chair. She looked deeply in his eyes hoping to find the acceptance she had always wanted but something wasn’t right.

"Dad, I know this is hard for you. You feel you have lost your son, but you know you never really had him. I’ve been the one that was disappointing you, because I was your daughter and not your son. Please, Dad. Be happy for me as my dreams have come true."

Her dad just looked at Julie, almost puzzled. "I hope you enjoy the new you. It’s what you wanted, and now you have no choice. I just hope the reality matches your dreams." He paused, hesitated, then quietly went on. "Whatever happens, I hope for your sake that you can deal with it." He picked up his paper and started to read again.

Julie could see he was upset, but hadn’t a clue why. From his words, it wasn’t losing a son that was bothering him. Then what? Something was definitely wrong.

As the day progressed, many things happened. Julie’s mom reminded the duo tonight was Julie’s Birthday party; this was bound to be a wonderful thing. Just imagine, with all of the clothes and things that were already in her closets and her dresser drawer, what could be in all of those boxes?

Julie was baffled. Could it be makeup? Could it be hair stuff? What could it possibly be? Julie knew her mother thought she was too old to play with toys. Even though she had always loved to play with them, even up through her real 18th birthday. That was another thing. Why had her mother chosen today to be her birthday? Her real birthday was only a month ago, and Christmas was just over a month away.

The party in the evening promised to be just as exciting as the morning. She wondered if her whole family would be there. She would just love to show them all the "new her". She just knew that everyone would accept her just as her mother and sister had. What a great thought that was. She was always closer to her girl cousins. The boy cousins were nice, but they just seemed to shy away from her. And her grandmother, She was so close to her grandmother while growing up. If only she were still alive. She knew her grandmother would have embraced Julie as her new granddaughter. At times, Julie had been closer to her grandmother than her own mother.

The time just seemed to drag on. There were five hours before they were supposed to go out to eat at 7:30pm for a family birthday dinner and then back home for the party. Julie could barely wait. They were going out to eat at a VERY nice restaurant called "Antonio’s". It was in "Old Sacramento" which was on the waterfront of the Sacramento River. It was a VERY beautiful restaurant, and Julie had been only once before, and always wanted to go again, but realized she’d never have the money.

 

When the clock turned 4:00pm, Julie’s mom got out her purse, gave Karen $150.00 and told her that both girls had 4:15 appointments to have their hair and nails done at the salon around the corner. Julie was excited, and Karen was surprised.

They both got into Karen’s mustang, and drove around the block to the salon. It was a really nice fancy salon; even Julie could tell that this was going to be expensive. As the two girls walked in, a very elegant looking woman walked up and said "Ahhh, you must be the ‘Arnold’ Girl’s"

Karen responded by saying, "Yes, I’m Karen and this is my sister Julie."

"Come with me dear" She said to Karen, "Some one will be right up to get your sister."

At that, Karen was escorted back to a shampoo chair, where a cape was put around her neck and the lady started to shampoo and condition her hair. Right as the lady started, another younger, but equally as beautiful and elegant, came up and said "You must be Julie, My name is Samantha, Why don’t you follow me"

Julie smiled her flowing smile, as she was more excited than the girl would even know, Julie was sat down at the chair next to her sister, a cape was put around her neck and Samantha began to work her magic. As Samantha worked her fingers through Julie’s hair, it was pure pleasure. Her fingers were massaging her scalp, as the shampoo made her scalp tingle. If something as simple as this could feel so great as a girl, Julie couldn’t help but be ecstatic at the years to come.

Julie was in a state of nirvana, and was totally blocking everything out. At that moment, she came back to the real world as Samantha was gently shaking her and saying "Julie... Julie, Time to move to the styling chair."

Julie apologized and said that she had been daydreaming about tonight. Samantha asked her if there was any special guy involved and Julie thought about that for a second, hesitated, then replied "No, just a dinner with family. Me, my mom, my Sister, her fiancé, and my father."

"Sounds delightful" Samantha replied. As they walked over to the styling chair, Julie noticed that Karen was in a chair across the way, getting he hair styled into a beautiful wavy flowing style. Her hair was tied back slightly in the back, but flowed with the natural wavy texture of her hair.

As Julie sat in her chair, watching them finish Karen’s style and begin on her nails, she realized that Samantha was putting her hair up in rollers, and pulling fairly tight. Samantha noted her expression and said "Sorry about it being tight, but we don’t have much time, and I was given special orders on how to make it look. After you are done here, you are going to be the most beautiful girl in that restaurant tonight, if not in the whole town."

It was a long process, putting Julie’s hair into the rollers, taking about 35 minutes. As they finished, they soaked the rollers in a solution, and put a net over her head, then led her to the dryer. It was already running and hot. The moment she was situated at the dryer, and sitting as comfortably as possible (which wasn’t all that comfortable with the tight curlers and the not-so-soft seat), Samantha mouthed that she would be back to check on Julie in a bit, and walked towards the front of the store.

As she watched Samantha walk away and disappear behind a partition, Julie noticed Karen get up from where she was sitting, and walk up front. Julie assumed it was to pay the girl for her services. Karen certainly looked stunning with her new hairdo. The next thing Julie knew, there was Samantha again, at least it looked like Samantha, but she was dressed differently. That startled Julie, and Samantha noticed. She giggled and kept walking towards the front of the store. She disappeared behind that partition again. Moments later, Samantha appeared again, walking back towards Julie.

Julie began to think that the smell was getting to her and that something was wrong. How could Samantha be able to change that fast? At that moment, Samantha came over, lifted up the dryer hood and said, "Sorry about that, that was my sister Susan. She likes to play tricks. She’ll be coming back in a moment to do your nails."

A minute or so later, Susan came back giggling and said, "Hi, My name is Susan, I’m Sam’s twin Sister. I’m really sorry about that, but sometimes I just can’t resist"

Julie giggled and said that it was OK, and then explained that she had begun to think that the smell was getting to her. At that point Susan said that it shouldn’t be too much longer, but she might as well do Julie’s nails while she was stuck there.

Susan then pulled over a little table, with all kinds of nail colors and accessories, and a chair for her to sit on. She asked Julie to put out her hand and said, "Bite your nails huh? Nasty habit that is." She was completely right. Jason used to get very nervous about many things, and always used to bite his nails. At times he would start to let them grow out a bit, then get over-conscious of them and bite them back really far. Fearing that someone would notice and comment. Susan continued to say, "Don’t worry about it. I have this stuff that I used for a while. Broke me of the habit. Just look."

At that she held up her hand, to show a beautiful set of nails. All beautifully painted in a very nice design. Her hands looked so delicate and beautiful. It was hard to believe that she used to bite her nails. Samantha then told Julie the second shocker, that those were REAL.

As Susan worked on her nails, Julie just sat there daydreaming and thinking about all that was to come. As she was sitting there and thinking, she could feel the rollers on her hair get tighter as the time went by, and figured that that she was getting close to being done.

Susan managed to work a miracle on her nails. While there was no real color (other than the clear topcoat that had the pink opalescent tint,) Julie’s nails looked awesome. She found out later that she had what was called a "French Manicure". It looked so elegant to Julie. All she wanted to do was cry but realized that she couldn’t. There was no way she could explain this to anyone. She could barely believe it all herself.

As Susan cleared away the table, and left Julie’s hand under a little UV light to dry her nails faster, a tear began to form in the corner of Julie’s eye. Susan saw this and was quick to respond with a tissue saying. "They are so beautiful aren’t they?"

Susan rolled after Julie’s nails were dry (only a matter of 10 minutes using that UV light), and Samantha came over, and lifted the bonnet and touched the rollers on Julie’s head saying, "Yup, you’re done"

Samantha lead Julie back over to the styling chair and began undoing all the rollers. After she finished she looked around, and then found a bottle of mousse that she had been looking for. Spreading it on her fingers, she ran it through Julie’s hair and started working it upwards. Samantha noticed Julie watching in the mirror, and decided that this should be a surprise and turned the chair so it was facing the other side of the salon from where she was sitting at the dryers. If she looked off to left very carefully, she was able to get a glance in the mirror of at the station where Karen once was.

As Samantha continued to work her wonders, Julie began to wonder where Karen was. She remembered seeing her walk up front with her hair done all beautiful, but wondered why she never came back to check on her. Julie could feel Samantha working her magic but was too concerned about where Karen had gone to take any more peeks in that mirror.

As she was thinking, she noticed Karen come back into the salon, carrying something. As she came closer, Julie noticed they were flowers, a big bouquet of white and pink roses. Karen came over to Julie and gave her the big bouquet of roses. Julie just looked at them and started to cry and then saw the card; she picked it out of its little plastic stand and read it. Written inside the card were the words: "To you my sister, may all your dreams come true, and may you forgive me for denying all that you were. Your sister, Karen."

Without notice, Julie got up and embraced her sister in a great big hug. Luckily Samantha was able to sense that something was about to happen and step away for a second. After a very emotional few minutes, Julie settled down and sat back in the styling chair. Karen tried to grab the flowers to hold them for her and found that here was NO way that Julie was going to let go of them until they got home. Karen kissed her sister on the cheek and said she’d be waiting up front.

Julie kept a tight hold on the flowers while Samantha finished doing Julie’s hair. Julie was totally clueless and in her own little dream world while Samantha finished up. It wasn’t until Samantha said that she was all done that Julie realized she was still in the salon.

As Samantha took off the cape, Julie turned around to see the mirror, and almost fainted. Her hair was done in a gorgeous up-do. It was more beautiful than she had ever dreamed, and made her feel just like a movie star.

Samantha picked up a hand mirror and held it behind Julie’s head so that she could see the back. It was straight up in the back, stuff, and opened up into a beautiful bunch of curls on top that just made you think of piles of lace and flowers. Julie was ecstatic beyond belief at how her hair looked, and thought to herself that she looked like an angel. She was trying to find a picture in her head to compare it to, and could only think of a beautiful model she once saw in a magazine named Wendy.

Julie had never dreamed that she could possibly look that good, her dreams really were coming true. Julie broke out into tears there on the spot and both Samantha and Karen rushed to comfort her. It was a slightly emotional moment. Julie was just so overjoyed at how her dreams were managing to come true so quickly. There remained a thought in her mind. One thought that she did not want to acknowledge, but kept creeping into her mind. Just why was her mother making all this happen?

As Karen paid for everything, Julie took the time to show her thanks and appreciation to Sam and Susan for all their hard work. She gave them both deep hugs, and decided right then that if she were to let anyone do her hair again, it would be Sam. Karen came over and told Julie that it was time to leave.

They parted tearfully and went on their way back home. It was a short ride, but seemed longer as Julie had lots of things running through her head. One of the biggest was what she was going to wear tonight. She had so many beautiful new outfits. How could she possibly choose?

As they walked in the door, their mother swooned over their new hairdos and told them that they would be perfect. She also noticed Julie’s nails and was just thrilled... She had remembered how Jason had liked to bite his nails, and hoped that Julie wouldn’t.

Julie’s mom suggested that both of the girls both get dressed nice for the dinner, and that Karen needed to help Julie with her makeup. Both girls proceeded into Julie’s room to pick out the perfect dress. It was so hard to decide. There were so many beautiful dresses. Julie just couldn’t figure out where she would wear all of them. She wanted to try them all right then and there, but Karen told her they didn’t have time. As they filed through he dresses, they found 2 dresses of similar design that were both in plastic dry-cleaner’s bags, as if they were being protected. They took out the dresses and noticed that one was slightly smaller than the other. They figured that one must have been for Karen, they were about to go out and ask Mom, but she was standing at the entrance to the door and smiled a wonderful smile.

The dresses were wonderfully smooth. Karen’s was a deep purple, and Julie’s was a shiny teal. They were the most beautiful of dresses, nicer than either had ever seen. With a low cut neck and the back’s cutout reaching almost to their waist, the dresses were simply heaven to the girls.

Julie began to melt away back into her dreamland. Everything was beginning to seem so surreal to her… The whole world started to fade away for a second…. The next thing she knew her Mom, Dad, and her sister Karen were surrounding her… Apparently she had fainted. Mom said that it was probably a side effect of all the physical changes that had happened to Julie over the day.

There had been many thing flowing around in Julie’s head that day… Thoughts of wonder and enjoyment… The feeling of a life long dream full of all her hopes and desires was finally coming true. But in the back of her mind, She couldn’t help but think that something was wrong. Why was every thing happening now?

Julie was wrestling with these thoughts trying to figure things out as Karen helped her get ready… They decided to put on the dresses before doing their makeup, so that they wouldn’t mess up their artwork once it was finished. As Karen did Julie’s makeup, Julie watched intently in the mirror. Not only did she need to know how to do this for herself, but also she would have to help Karen in a minute.

After Karen had finished with Julie, it was now her turn. Julie sat there trying to figure out exactly where to start. Karen had noticed Julie’s hesitation and decided to walk her through it, after realizing that she probably should have thought of that before. The two girls tried and failed to hold in their excitement. The giggling and general bubbly attitudes that both were expressing made it that much harder for Julie to accomplish the task at hand.

After many mistakes and corrections, Julie and Karen were both ready for the evening’s special dinner. Julie couldn’t help but dream about what could come. With everything that had gone on in preparation, tonight would have to be spectacular.

As the tension mounted, Julie couldn’t help but pester her sister about what was going to happen. All Karen would say is that she didn’t know. And that was the truth. Karen was just as in the dark as Julie was, which really surprised her. Up until now Karen had known most of mom’s plans.

As the clock turned 7:00, Chad (Karen’s Fiancé) arrived and everyone began gathering his or her stuff getting ready to go. Just as they were ready to walk out the door, a gentleman came to the door and introduced himself as William Vlasic. Mom came forward and introduced Julie and then informed Julie that William would be her date.

Julie was NOT pleased about this in the least bit. How could her mother not tell her about this ahead of time? At least then she would have been able to ask Karen for advice. Just as Julie thought she was going to burst, Karen came to the rescue and swept her away to the bathroom for a short conference.

Karen tried her best to calm Julie and make things better. But that was no easy task. The moment they hit the bathroom, Julie had began to cry uncontrollably. The of course caused other complications.

Once Julie was calm and Karen had started to fix all the make-up damage, there was a light tapping at the door. It was mom asking if everything was all right… Even though it wasn’t, Julie didn’t want to spoil her mother’s plans and said, "Yes mom, just a bit surprised. We’ll be out in a second". And then it was back to makeup.

As they walked out, William was standing there just a bit bewildered and offered his arm to his beautiful young date. As Julie took his arm and preceded outside, Mom gave Karen a pleased glance, and Karen shot one that showed she wasn’t happy with what happened.

Julie was escorted out to William’s yellow Corvette, while mom and dad got into their blue Taurus and Karen and Chad got into their Green Mustang. The three vehicles made their way to Antonio’s on the waterfront. It was a beautifully charming restaurant, and Julie had been their just once before. As they neared the restaurant, Julie asked a few quick questions of her suitor. It turns out that he was the son of one of her mother’s friends, and that he was a sophomore in a pre-med program at U.C. Davis. It seems that Julie’s mom had done well for her new daughter.

They pulled up to the entrance, where a valet came forward and opened the door for Julie. As William got out of the car and walked around, he handed the keys to the valet and slipped him a $20 in hopes that we would take extra care of the car. They stood under the canopy on the red velvet lined steps waiting for the rest to arrive, which they did a minute or so later as the valet was returning from parking William’s car.

The poles of the canopy were brass but polished so well that they glistened like gold. It created a grand atmosphere that Julie just absorbed. They all boarded the glass elevator for the short climb to the second floor where the restaurant was located and was greeted by an elderly gentleman with what seemed to be an authentic Italian accent. William spoke to the man in Italian, and all Julie could pickup was her last name, which probably meant he was giving the information about the reservation. The man smiled and escorted the group to the table.

As everyone began to seat him or herself, William was the perfect gentleman and helped Julie to her seat. Julie was melting into his charm, which began to frighten her. She had begun to feel her inhibitions fall to the side and that was the last thing she needed at this juncture in time.

When the waiter came William motioned that he was ordering for himself and for Julie, which at this point, didn’t affect her much either way. When the food came she found that William had ordered her a Lobster fettuccini. It was a delicious dish in a white crème sauce with the most succulent pieces of lobster meat mixed in. The food was divine and this put her at her knees when it came to William. She was scared that things were going too fast and yet she was absolutely engrossed in all that was he.

The dinner conversation was pleasant. Every time the conversation drifted towards something Julie was unfamiliar with, Karen or mom would come to the rescue and shift the subject.

After dinner, the elderly gentleman that had seated them earlier recited the desert selections. Everyone was too full from his or her delicious dinners to order desert, so they concluded their conversations and readied to leave. As the elderly gentleman placed the check on the table, William was just a split second faster than dad at picking it up. He pulled out some cash and paid the tab, and had a sizeable amount of cash leftover.

They made their way back down to the first floor of the building and all the cars were brought around. They all got into their respective vehicles and started for home. Julie was in a surreal state at this point, ready to melt at the simplest touch. After they got home, and they stepped out of the cars, William told Julie that he had to get up early in the AM and sadly had to bid her farewell for the evening.

William began to move closer, with Julie caught in his trance he lifted her head and began a luscious kiss that Julie wished would last forever. When the kiss ended, Julie returned to the world, realizing what she’d just done, and fled screaming.

"Mom! You’re going to screw up the plan! You’re pushing her too fast!" Karen screamed, and then followed after her sister.

They ended up in Julie’s room. Julie was face down in the bed with Karen consoling her. It was then that Julie realized what had just been said.

"What plan?" Julie asked.

Julie and Karen finally made it out of the bedroom (about 25 minutes later), and mom looked upset. Mom looked at Karen and Karen replied with a grin apparently to signal that everything was fine.

Mom called Julie closer so she could present her to everyone that showed for the party. As Mom was babbling on about something Julie scanned the small crowed. It was mostly full of friendly faces (family and close family friends), but in the middle of the crowed, she noticed a face that she knew, but couldn’t put a name to the face.

Just then this semi-stranger in the crowd saw the look on Julie’s face and lifted picture. It was a picture that Julie recognized. The picture was of her friend Sharon from the Internet. Then it hit her. That semi-stranger was SHARON!

“Oh My Gawd!” Julie screamed as she ran over and embraced her friend in a deep hug. Julie was astonished not only that her mother had called Sharon and invited her, but that she actually got Sharon to come because she was very paranoid about meeting people from the internet. Before they got into anything else, Sharon was asking all kinds of questions about how she was doing and making sure everything was ok.

See, Sharon’s parents lived in Reno Nevada, but Sharon attended school in San Diego. Sharon was going to school to be a Nurse while Julie was still stuck in High School Hell. Well, it wasn’t exactly hell. I mean she had a few friends. Oh Shit. Her friends. What were her friends at school going to think?

Julie put these thoughts aside and went back to giggling and chatting with her long time on-line friend. Julie felt like she had an instant bond with Sharon. While they had never met in person, Sharon knew Julie’s innermost feelings from the get go.

After the general giggling and newness had warn off, Julie whispered something in Sharon’s ear and Sharon responded by shooting a look towards Mom.

As the party started to flow, and everything started to settle, Mom turned out the lights and Karen entered from the kitchen holding a birthday cake brightly light with candles. Everyone began signing “Happy Birthday” to Julie. Mom came over and put her arm on Julie’s shoulder. Julie jerked away and hesitantly blew out the candles.

After the cake it was time for presents. Julie wasn’t quite as enthused towards the presents, as she had been earlier. Karen began bringing her boxes and bags one by one.

The first was a present from mom. It was a small box. Julie opened it to find a silver jewelry box with what looked to be pearls embedded in a decorative pattern. It was beautifully elegant and when Julie opened the lid it began playing a beautiful song and was lined in the softest white velvet.

Now most girls would have had tear of joy in their eyes as they ran to their parents and gave them great big hugs. But not Julie, not today. All Julie did was set it down and muster a gentle “thank you” to her mother.

The next box was from her father. She opened the box with mixed anticipation; she wanted so much to embrace her fathers present, especially after he had tried in his own way to warn her. But in her mind, everything was lost. The box contained what looked to be a pink canvas laptop case. As she pulled it out she noted two things about it: The first being that it had “To my Daughter” carved into the leather nameplate, above the name “Julie”. The second was the fact that it seemed a bit heavy to be just a case.

She went to open the zipper ignored to find out what was inside, only to find out that there was a small padlock that kept the 2 zipper pulls together. She looked up at her father who tossed her a small key chain. Before inserting the key into the lock, Julie looked closely at the fob on the key chain. It was probably one of the most beautiful things she had ever read and vowed then to cherish it forever. The fob was shaped like a heart and read “My Daughter, My Princess, My Precious Gem. While you will always have my love, when you carry this, you shall have my heart.”

After standing there and letting a tear or two flow down her cheeks, Julie proceeded to unlock the zippered case and opened it to find a translucent laptop.

The laptop sported an AMD Athlon™ 1.2Ghz processor, 256MB RAM, a 20.4GB HDD, DVD Rom, and a 13.4” TFT LCD Screen. There was only one problem with it, it ran MS Windows XP (but that could be fixed by installing Linux. After all, she’s not a techno-idiot like her friend Lisa Hansen).

For a laptop it was an awesome system. Compared to what Julie was used to using it was a gift from the gods. Julie had been using her Parent’s old P133 (which she had managed to upgrade here and there via scraps from her friends) to communicate with her friends on ICQ.

Julie’s first impulses were to open it up and play with it then continue to the rest. But she knew she couldn’t. She had to get through the rest of the party and then figure out what to do from there.

The next box that Karen delivered to her sister was from mom. Inside the box was a cell phone. The cell phone was an Audiovox and had all kinds of cords and instructions. Mom looked at her new daughter and said, “It’s prepaid for the year. You get 3500mins a month Nation Wide, no-roaming..

Dad was beginning to look nervous. He looked up and motioned to Karen. Karen went over and took a box from his hand and she delivered it to Julie. Julie opened the box (never having said anything to mom about the cell phone), and inside was what looked like a phone cord on one end, and a big block shaped like the bottom of the cell phone on the other.

“The guy at the store said it’s a ‘Data-Adapter’” announced Dad. “He said it would let you get online via your laptop and cell phone wherever you were.”

This sent Julie into a frenzy that could not be held back. She really did love her father, even though they had had differences in the past, she knew that he loved her. She only wished that she got the same impression from her mother, but in fact, no matter how nice her mother was being now, no matter how much she wanted this to all be real, Julie knew that there was something terribly wrong.

After all the presents had been opened, the cake had been cut, and eventually the guests had left, Julie was feeling somewhat better than when she had entered the party.

Her family was accepting this, and more than that, many of them were very supportive and offered to help, or be there whenever Julie needed to get away from this, or to talk to someone.

But the one thing that kept drawing her down was her mom.

Julie went to bed sill very uneasy. She dreamed of everything to come, and unfortunately, there was more bad then good; there was no freedom, no doing what she wanted.

After some prodding, and promises of Cinnabon, Julie got dressed, and left for the mall with Karen.

They started with “the GAP” and then “Hot Topic” and after several trips to the car to drop off bags, and visiting at least 85% of the stores in the 2 story mall, they finally made there way to the food court.

It was about 20mins after three, and they were both a bit hungry, so they decided to skip Cinnabon and instead headed for “Sabaro” for some pizza. As they walked up, they couldn’t help but noticed the ultra cute guy behind the counter. He had blond hair, blue eyes, wasn’t fat, but had some meat on his bones, and a face that could melt the polar icecaps.

Julie instantly fell into a dazed dreamland, trying to imagine what it would be like, standing at the alter with him, having his babies… Everything seemed so ideal, so euphoric, and then…

“Sis, don’t spaz on me now” Julie heard, as she was jolted away from her dreamland.

The guy smiled and proceeded to ask her what she wanted on her pizza (for the 5th time according to Karen), and Julie blushed.

After an awkward pause, Julie decided that she wanted Mushrooms Olives, and Extra Cheese, and walked away to find a table.

As Julie sat down, she glanced towards the front of the restaurant, and noticed Karen heading over with a bright smile on her face.

Just as Julie was about to plead with her to not laugh, Karen passed a piece of recipt paper in front Julie’s face and sat quietly.

Julie sat there for a moment, dazed and confused at what she saw and looked at her sister with a puzzled expression.

“He asked me to give it to you, honestly” Karen said with a grin that made Julie giggle with excitement.

On the paper, scribbled in blue ink was, “Brian, (916) 555-4683”.

Their Pizza was done in 10 minutes and instead of calling their number, Brian brought it over personally.

Julie couldn’t help but notice the toppings were A LOT thicker on her side, and that she mushrooms seemed to form a heart.

This must have been some very twisted coincidence, right?

The day was fun, full of surprises and lots of clothes. But nothing could knock the feeling out of Julie’s head that something was wrong.

At the end of the day, Julie laying in her bed… She contemplated what was ahead of her, and what she had given up….

Surprisingly… there was nothing in either direction…

A chill ran over her body as she reached for the knife she kept under her pillow, for her soul knew what was to come next…

Julie awoke with a start, her nightgown covered in sweat, her pillow soaked with tears. There was definitely something bothering her. Something that she couldn’t seem to figure.

“Has this all been a dream?” She thought to herself, but she reached down to find that she was  still missing a certain mound of flesh, and  looked over to the dresser to find that the birthday banner lay there folded neatly.

Mom had definitely been in here. Everything was picked up, and arranged neatly. All the dirty clothes were stuffed in the hamper.

But what had caused her have that dream?

Karen hadn’t told Julie about the plan, and that made her feel very uneasy. I mean, how could they go about planning something like this without her approval, or without even knowing. What else could possibly be planned? What if Julie had decided that she didn’t want to have anything to do with this?

And then it hit her.

There was no chance of Julie not accepting.

That’s why Karen was being so nice, because if anything went wrong, mom was going to force the situation.

That had to be “The Plan”!