I SPENT HALLOWEEN IN A SHINY DRESS

Well… Halloween dress-up is pretty much a normal thing I guess, but this Halloween, something happened, that I had never expected. I am Jack and I am a 16 years old boy, who attends Leston High School. I am a shy boy and I was never a very confident boy, who is making himself a king of the world. But… I love Halloween and it is probably my favourite event of the year. I just love the atmosphere, all the costumes and trick or treat! When I was young I was always doing trick and treat for the whole evening with my group of friends and we all enjoyed that so much. Sometimes I miss the days when I was young. And on Halloween this year I hoped that I could return to that happy age of mine. I wanted to remember the good old days and I wanted to make my Halloween as good as possible.

I lived with my mum and my sister Kate. My father died years ago because of a huge air crash and I almost don't remember him. I just knew him from my mum´s stories, but I was very young when he died so I had no chance to talk to him properly. It was sad but I had to overcome that and I guess that I did overcome it, but of course that it took a while. It wasn´t easy to grow up in a family where there were just women. I mean… I love my mum and my sister Kate, but I just miss my dad sometimes and even mum or sister can´t replace him. Nobody can´t replace my father. And maybe that was the reason why I behaved more like a girl and not like a boy.

And this year… I was just so much looking forward to Halloween because it was the only event during the whole year, which I really enjoyed and I didn´t mind that there were a lot of people in the street. As I said before, I was a shy boy and I didn´t like events or places where there were a lot of people, but during Halloween, I didn´t mind that. It was just one of the traditions and of course… everybody had a costume so nobody would ever recognize me. And this year I was really looking forward to it because I wanted to pick up a really good costume, something very original and I wanted it to be really special. I was really thinking hard about that and I had a few ideas. But everything depends on the shop where we are going to buy the costumes for me and for my sister. We were going to buy the costumes on Friday before Halloween. I was worried that a lot of costumes would be already bought and that we would pick up our costumes from leftovers, but unfortunately, my mum was at work every day and the only day she could return earlier was Friday.

I came back from school and I was really impatient… I ate my lunch very quickly and I was just waiting for my mum. She was supposed to come every moment. On the contrary, my sister was just chilling in the armchair and she was looking at me and she quite enjoyed how nervous I was.

“Just chill, my little brother!” she giggled when she saw how nervous I was.

“Well… I cannot be chilled, because now everything is at stake! What if all costumes will be sold out and we will end up without a proper costume? Can you even imagine Halloween without a costume? Because I cannot!” I answered and I was really nervous and maybe a little bit angry. I just wanted to have the best costume, but the time was against me.

“Don´t worry! You will always pick up something! And you know, if everything will be sold out, we could improvise and that would be maybe more fun than buying a costume!” said Kate and she was absolutely chilled. I didn´t understand it… Yeah… maybe nobody takes Halloween and the costume as seriously as I do, but it was just my favourite event and I loved the atmosphere, costumes, trick or treat and just everything about it! And I don´t want to lose any of that…

“Speaking of costumes… what do you have in mind for yourself?” asked me my sister Kate and she was obviously curious.

“Ehm… you know. I have several ideas, but I will probably keep that a secret!” I said and I didn´t want to tell her.

“Oh come on! I will know it now or in a few minutes, so it is useless for you to try to keep it a secret!” said Kate and she was kind of right. She is going to know because, in a few minutes, we should go to buy the costumes with our mum. But she still hasn´t come and I was really nervous.

“Well… you are right!” I agreed. “I was thinking about a Star Wars costume. There are a lot of cool characters. And my best shot is probably Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. I would love to buy a mask with a Gollum face. I saw it back then in one shop and I hope that the masks aren´t already sold out. That would be pretty miserable!”

“Hmm… Star Wars. Yeah… that is a good idea and I think that there will be plenty of Star Wars costumes to buy!” agreed my sister Kate with me. “And the Gollum mask… Well, you would be really original and that is priceless these days!”

“Yeah… I just didn´t want to go as some ordinary pirate or something like that. Everybody will be a pirate and this classic stuff is good but also boring sometimes and I don´t want to be boring! And what about you, sis? What costumes do you want to buy?”

“Ehm… you will laugh, but… I have decided that this Halloween I am going as a male rock star. I am going to buy some leather pants and a fake moustache. It is going to be really fun. I saw some good costumes as well in the shops, but even if the shops will be sold out, I am not ending, because we have some rock clothes after our father who loved rock and he had some classic rock clothes. And I have a fake moustache from a school project, which we did last year!” Well, I had to admit that my sister has probably even more original ideas than I do. I cannot imagine her as a rock star, but it could be very interesting. As she said… If the shops will have everything sold out, it doesn´t bother her, because she is able to make her costume at home.

Finally, after an hour of waiting, my mum arrived home. She quickly ate her lunch because she knew how much we were looking forward to buying costumes for Halloween. Immediately after lunch, we went to the shops to buy a Halloween costume. BUT… My nightmare has happened. It happened exactly as I thought. We came to the first shop and the saleswoman told us immediately that she has everything sold out. They didn´t have a single costume for Halloween. But don´t sweat it. It was just the first shop… I thought, but I was so wrong… It was Friday and we went to several shops all around our city and each and every shop was sold out. They just had some cheap and ugly pirate costumes which I refused to get because THIS HALLOWEEN I really wanted to be original and I didn´t want to have the same costume as every second boy in our city. Of course, my plan with the Gollum mask failed. They were sold out as well… We went to all the shops in our city and there was just NOTHING…. nothing…  There was nothing I could wear. There was no original costume… I wanted to cry because I was so much looking forward to Halloween this year and now I don´t even have a costume.

We came back home and I really didn´t know what to do. My mum was sad about it as well because she felt that it was her fault that we didn´t get our costumes at the time… But it wasn´t her mistake. She was working really hard to make money to pay our bills and I just can´t blame her for that. I went immediately to my room and I really wanted to cry. I had nothing to wear and we had no good costume for Halloween at home. I sat on my bed and I was just staring at my room. I could probably borrow something, but it is going to be some ugly and cheap old costume which was really disgusting. But when my thoughts were getting more and more depressive, suddenly…. everything changed.

I heard knocking on my door. I didn´t want to talk to anybody so I didn´t say anything. It was probably my mum I thought… but I was wrong. The door was opened by my sister Kate. She smiled at me and she told me:

“I am sorry that we couldn´t buy a costume for you. Did you figure something out?” she asked me. It was nice of her that she cared about me… But what am I supposed to answer her? Did I figure something out? It was hard to figure something out when you are so limited.

“Nah… I have no idea what I am going to wear…” I confessed to her and there were almost tears in my eyes.  My sister looked at me and she was really sad for me. She had her costume solved even without the shops and she wanted to help me.

“Well… I have one idea for you. I am not sure if you are going to like it, but you will be really original and I would guarantee that you will be the only one who would have that costume in the whole city!” said my sister. She already had my attention because when she said that I will be the only one who is going to have that costume… that was exactly my dream.

“Oh yeah? And what idea?” I asked and even before she could answer me I added: “You know what… I don´t care… I am in! Just tell me what I am going to wear!” I was soooo curious. What could she have in her mind?

“Okay okay, my little brother! If you are really in then come with me to my room!” giggled my sister and she walked to her room. I followed her and I couldn´t wait… We came to her room and she told me to sit on her bed. I obeyed her and I asked her:

“So tell me, what idea do you have?”

“I will dress you as a shiny little princess! I have a lot of my old dresses with glitters because I loved them when I was young and you have a small body and they will fit you perfectly. I am going to give you really good makeup and you will just look like the most pretty princess. And when everybody realizes that you are a boy, they will give you much more candies during trick or treat! And you will definitely be the only boy who is going as a princess! Nobody has the courage to do it!” said my sister. I was shocked… I am not sure if I want to go as a princess, but when I thought about it… it isn´t that bad and my sister is right. There will be no boy dressed as a princess and I will be really original!

“Okay… I am in!” I said, but I didn´t realize the whole process… My sister giggled and she said:

“Great! So let´s start with your makeover!” giggled my sister and she started to look for something in her wardrobe. After a while, she handed me white frilly panties with a Hello Kitty theme… Very girly I thought and I was almost too embarrassed to put them on. But my sister saw my face and she told me:

“You have to be a pretty princess with everything! Put it on!”

She was kind of right and I put the panties on. It was such a strange feeling. When I saw myself in the Hello Kitty panties I felt a bit embarrassed, but on the other hand, it was really comfortable and I kind of liked it. And the next step was a pink lacy bra. I had no idea how to put the bra on and I was glad that Kate helped me with that. She giggled when she saw me in the panties and the bra and she told me:

“Already now you are the cutest boy I have ever seen!”

“Really?” I asked her and I blushed.

“For sure!” said my sister and she handed me white nylon tights. I put them on as well and I had to be super careful because it was so easy to destroy them. And then it came… Kate pulled out a pink and white shiny little princess dress. It was soo girly. I haven't seen a more girly dress in my whole life and I guess that I won´t see a more girly dress in my life. But it was perfect! It was exactly what I needed. It was so original… and funny that nobody will have the same idea. And that was perfect. Kate helped me to put the dress on and after I put them on… I already looked like a little princess with a boy's face. But that was going to change. Kate looked at me and she said:

“You look absolutely gorgeous in the dress… but… your face needs a lot of makeup.” And with those words, she started to apply a lot of makeup to my face. She put a lot of layers of makeup on my face and she made my eyelashes and eyebrows. Then she gave me mascara and eyeliner. She finished my makeup with bright red lipstick. Then she looked at me and she said:

“Now you look like the princess! I would not recognize that you are a boy at all!” she giggled and I felt the same way. When I looked into the mirror I saw a little princess with a lot of makeup in a cute pink and white dress on her body. That was new to me… That was my new Halloween costume. But Kate even made it better when she gave me earrings and a necklace around my neck. She even sprayed a girl´s perfume on me and she said that I also need to smell like a princess… My boyish body was gone… Now I am a princess… A very pretty princess… And Halloween could start….