Afternoon Tea on the Lawn

'Trish told us you where joining,' Kate said fingering my dress, 'and I can see why you want to change out of this old dress.' She wrinkled her nose in disgust and eyed me up and down. 'Where the hell did you get it? Not here that's for certain.'

'It was a gift,' I say awkwardly,' 'from a relative.'

She shrugs. 'I guessed so... no one would buy a dress like that today.' She flicked some stray strands of hair from her head thoughtfully. Do you really know anything about today's fashion? What makes the hottest trends work? How to you co-ordinate colours, when do you wear high or low heels?'

'Y, y, yes,' I say nervously as she picked some dresses, skirts and tops off the rail. 'I think so.'

Kate smiled but I think she was unsure. But I didn't care I was in heaven.

'These are beautiful,' she said, 'and since you have a perfect figure they will look amazing on you. You're so lucky that Trish is giving you these things.'

'I wish,' I say, 'she's taking them out of my first months wages,' I correct her. She smiles understandingly, 'The changing room is over there.' She says pointing to a cubicle in the corner.

Once inside I drew the curtain. On my own I took a huge sigh of relief - so far so good. I stood stock-still and just took in the situation - I was living the perfect dream. I was working as a pretty girl, dressing as a girl, had been accepted as a girl and was surrounded by beautiful feminine clothes with girls that cared about fashion and their appearance. Was this a fantasy come true when only a few weeks ago I was a no hoper? No job, no future, no friends and no dresses. I sighed again and carefully stripped out of Aunties quaint Christmas dress and hung it on a hanger. I knew it was old fashioned but now surrounded by all this trendy designer gear it looked incredibly naff.

Standing in only my lacy bra and skimpy silk panties I wondered what Trish had told Lucy and Kate. Both girls hadn't made any reference to my gender. Did they think I was a real girl or where they just being polite? I wasn't sure either way - I guess time will tell.