15. Point Of No Return

Carissa drove for about twenty minutes, before pulling up at a very large house. When Taylor saw birthday balloons lining the driveway and realized they were at the party, his stomach knotted up and he began to feel nauseated.

Taylor was seething with anger towards his brother.

Kaylee exited the car, but Taylor did not. He was paralyzed with fear. In that moment he believed there was no way he could face other people while wearing a dress, especially not a bunch of boys, the same boys on the football team he had so desperately wanted to play for.

"Taylor sweetie, come on out of the car. We're here," Carissa coaxed. "What's wrong? Are you nervous about meeting the team? Afraid they'll shun you because you're a girl? I don't think you'll have to worry. They've seen you play and know you'll be a great addition to the team, besides, you're too pretty for them to not want to have around. If any of them do try to give you any problems, I'm sure Johnny will come to your rescue. He seems to be sweet on you. Come on, swetheart, let's go inside."

"I-I can'--" Taylor started to protest, but then stopped.

He desperately wanted to stop this charade, to expose the truth to Carissa before it went any further. He wanted believe she would have pity on him, put Craig in his place, and help him out of the situation. But he realized it was useless to fight since no matter what, he was going to have to face Craig's wrath and that could be worse than the current situation. Besides, eventually it'll be all over when Craig does what he said he would and explains to Carissa that his little sister feels like a boy and wants to transition. Then he can go back to living as one and this nightmare will all be over, or will it?

Taylor looked down at himself; his freshly shaven legs exposed by the knee-length dress and his painted toenails boldly on display, framed by the strappy, open-toed sandals and further brought to attention by the large flower decorating the top of each shoe.

Taylor knew, all of this along with the way his hair was styled, screamed beautiful, attractive girl. He also knew he looked just like the kind of girl he found attractive, so that meant the other guys probably would too.

Doing this will destroy any chance of me ever getting to play football on this team, or at least as anything other than a girl. If I get out of this car my life will be completely changed and I'll have to pretend to be a girl for as long as I'm on this team.

"Taylor honey, come on. Give me your hand." Carissa told him while holding out her own hand.

Taylor took a deep breath, then exhaled.

Well, here goes nothing, he told himself before nervously sliding across the seat towards the open door.

Taylor knew that by getting out of the car, he was committing to remain dressed as a girl for a long time, he also knew every boy in there would have their attention on Kaylee and especially him once they got inside. This scared him the most, yet at the same time caused him to realize at least he wouldn't be exposed, because no one in there would ever think he was anything other than the girl they saw him to be.

Maybe, I can use that to my advantage, to help me get through this, Taylor told himself then pondered, but how exactly?

I guess we're about to find out, he told himself with a shudder.

Taking Carissa's hand he stepped out of the car.

Carissa handed each of them a wrapped present and led them up the walkway, towards the front door.

Taylor's face was filled with fear, and panic and he began to feel light headed.

He broke out in a cold sweat and and an eery electric charge ran up his spine as they stepped through the door. He knew he had just crossed the point of no return.

"Oh my," an older woman gasped as they entered the kitchen. "Aren't you girls just the most adorable thing ever?"

"Thank you," Kaylee shyly replied. "We're almost sisters."

"Girls, you can drop your presents on this table with the others and head on out to the backyard. My grandson, the birthday boy, is already out there, somewhere."

They deposited the gifts on the table and exited the house into a large, lavish back yard. An even greater panic overcame Taylor when he saw that most of the guys from the all city football team were already there, laughing and hanging out.

One of the guys noticed the two girls and announced to the rest of his group, "They're here."

He immediately turned and headed towards Kaylee and Taylor.

Taylor wanted nothing more than to disappear, for the ground to open up and swallow him whole at that moment, but that wasn't too be.

Kaylee took hold of his hand and he noticed that hers felt clammy.

Was she nervous about the gaggle of boys currently heading towards them, too?

"Awesome, they came," yelled Johnny, seeing the girls and running over from another group. "I was hoping you two would show up."

"Me too," said Frank to Clarissa as she approached him.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone," Johnny told Taylor while taking his hand.

"Hey, everyone," Johnny announced loudly. "This is Taylor, our new teammate."

"I'm thrilled you came, Carissa, this is a nice occasion for you to get acquainted with the coaching staff," said Frank as he handed Carissa an alcoholic tropical drink.

"I was hoping so, too," Carissa replied, sipping her drink. "Taylor seems really nervous. This can't be easy on her. Are you sure about this? Are they really going to be okay with her?"

"I had a talk with the team this morning. They're excited to have her playing with them instead of having to play against her and they'll make her feel comfortable," said Frank confidently. "Come, I'll introduce you to the other coaches."

Frank took Carissa by the hand and led her over to where the other coaches were and they chatted for a good half hour or so while all the guys on the team eagerly got to know Taylor and Kaylee.

Taylor began to relax a little as he got to know the guys on the team and found them to be very cool. He told them a bit about his life but kept it vague and gender neutral.

At one point, they chose up sides, playing volleyball in the grass with Taylor and Kaylee serving as the lone girl on each team.

Finally, Frank called the kids in for burgers, hot dogs, and sausages. Carissa mingled with the other parents as they ate.

"Why don't you show the girls our football trophies," Frank suggested to Johnny, as they finished eating.

"Come on I'll show you all our second place trophies. We haven't finished in first since before most of us joined the team," said Johnny, grabbing Taylor's hand. "Hopefully with your scoring we can get backover the top this year."

"You two go," said Butch, giving Johnny a little nudge. "I'm going to show Kaylee how to hit the volleyball the right way."

"Good idea," said Johnny, pulling Taylor away. "Don't worry Taylor, my dad expects me to take great care of you."

Taylor found himself being dragged by the hand inside the house and down the basement steps.

Taylor wanted nothing more than to pull his hand back, forcing Johnny to let go. Holding another boy's hand made him very uncomfortable, but he decided it would be better if he just endured it for now, thinking that if he was going to get through this it was best he play the girl role to the best of his ability.

Not that he knew how to play the girl role well, but he know he'd have to figure out out, fast.

Johnny flicked on a switch several neon signs advertising various beer brand began to glow, mounted on the black painted walls, while a strip of LED lights began to illuminate the room with a blue glow from all the way around the edge of the ceiling, and Taylor found himself in an incredible man cave type of room. A huge flat panel TV was mounted to the wall on the far end with six high-end movie theater recliners lined up in front of it. Life-size cutouts of several bikini clad girls front the Dead or Alive video game stood seductively in the corner.

Johnny led him by the hand, past several arcade video game machines they were beginning to roar to life, and a clear pool table lit up from the inside by tubes of light. They were headed towards a large trophy case near the other side of the room.

"See all these," asked Johnny. "All the big ones are my dad's when he was a kid. All those smaller ones are from my team."

"Wow, that kind of sucks," said Taylor with a snicker.

"I know," Johnny replied, a bit annoyed at the little laugh. "But me and the guys are dying to win, so I'm willing to try anything. You know what I mean, Taylor."

"I think I got that one, Johnny," said Taylor, finding himself now holding both of Johnny's hands, staring straight ahead at him.

"Can I have my hands back, please?"

"Oh, sorry," said Johnny, nervously letting go. "I'm not really used to being around girls. Especially girls as pretty as you."

"I'm definitely not used to this stuff," said Taylor, happy to no longer have his hands held by a boy. "But I would like one of those championships, so let's go get it."

"Damn, dad was right about you. He said you were a winner and super determined," Johnny smiled, putting his arm around Taylor and giving him a squeeze across his shoulders. "Who knew we'd be waiting for a girl like you to be able to do--"

"Hey, you two coming back out, or do you need another minute," Carissa unexpectedly interrupted them, startling them from behind.

Taylor quickly spun around to find Carissa and Frank at the top the stairs, a big grin across Frank's face.

"We were just about to come back out." Taylor announced hurrying back across the room, towards them.

Johnny followed Taylor, headed back up the stairs.

As Johnny passed Frank and Carissa, his dad held up his hand and gave him a high five.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I see," Carissa grinned at Frank.

"I guess not," replied Frank with a small laugh as they followed the kids back out. "Who knew?"