Drew had just left her house, making sure to leave her dad the note with the list of stores that she thought would help him shop. She was driving to school with her best friends, Iola and Callie, and when she picked them up, they were dressed to the nines as usual. And it was the day of the party that Drew was dreading. And, as usual, all that her best friends could talk about was their outfits for the party.

When she didn't used to exclusively wear women's clothes less than four short months ago, she would have thought these girls fit the stereotype most guys had of girls that look like them - flighty, shallow, self-involved. But in the ensuing months, when Andy was quietly laid to rest and Drew was born, she had slowly come to realize several things.

In many concrete ways, the world, like it or not, was still a man's world. And women were constantly being objectified. Even so, women still had to work within it. And the way many cope with this was by playing into the prevailing stereotypes.

There were those women that were pretty happy with these stereotypes, or even actually embodied these stereotypes, and some actually thrived with them, becoming rich or powerful or popular, or any number of other things. To these women, terms like "dumb blonde" or "bimbo" or other similarly derogatory ones actually made them feel affirmed. Having become a blonde hottie herself, she could appreciate the power this can give a girl, and was happy that these types of girls had found a niche. Being objectified or discriminated against was par for the course, of course, and who was she to have an opinion. She was not one to judge, but if she encountered one who wanted defending, she'd be there. She herself was still struggling to find a niche for herself, and envied these girls having found a place in the world.

There were those who did not have these problems - to whom such stereotypes did not apply, or where the world did not apply it to them. Many of these women felt bad about this - to not be considered pretty, for example, is hurtful, and many of them (not all, of course, but many) would drop their ire and feigned anger at being objectified if only people would think them beautiful.

Some women, however, refused to have the stereotypes applied to them even if they weren't being applied to them in the first place. And some of the more vocal few were mostly not appreciated for being so vocal. Other labels were applied to them, like "bitch" and so forth. But those who were able to make their opinions stick called this Feminism. Drew sort of knew where they were coming from as well. Fitting in was a hard thing, and Drew understood this more than most. Drew was a staunch supporter of Feminism.

There were those who were in the happy middle - these were the ones that had the least problems and could be almost anything they wanted to be. Those that could don the stereotype or shed it at will. Drew was surprised that few girls aspired to be like them, actually.

There were those that had the stereotype stuck to them, which they actively fought. True, there were certain things they could not do, or they were not given opportunities that others were given, like being taken seriously, being given promotions and things like that. She could identify with that, and had to endure being objectified constantly at the beginning of her time masquerading as a girl. But she learned in time. Feminism.

There were those, however, who had these stereotypes permanently stuck to them and though they didn't like it, far from shrinking from these stereotypes or railing against them, they had the smarts to actually use them to get what they want. She had learned that these were the kinds of girls she was attracted to the most. A girl could be gorgeous but still be smart. A girl could dress well but still be an honor student. She could be sexy but also brilliant. She could be up-to-date with the latest gossip and fashions, but she could also be up-to-date with the latest current events. Lipstick Feminism, it's called.

Her two best friends were well on the way to being this type of girl and she was proud of them for that. Regular, run-of-the-mill Feminism, or Lipstick Feminism: whatever works regardless, she was proud of her friends.

But, she thought, this kind of... power (this was the only word that she thought fit) - it could be used for good, or for evil. Lipstick Feminists are dangerous. "For good or for evil..." she giggled when she thought that line - a line that comic book fan Andy would have recognized in a heartbeat, but not by supposedly non-comics-fans like Drew.

And it really was a kind of power. Callie and Iola would have lots of this power when they're older; Drew would make sure they'd be on the side of good. "With great power comes great responsibility..." Drew giggled as she tried to think of appropriate superhero names for them.

However, Janine was on the other side. And this was the thing. Seems Drew and her girls had an archenemy now.

Later tonight, they were going into the lair of the enemy, as it were. But they - but she - would be doing it for a good reason.

She giggled again. And just like Andy's favorite comic book heroes, they were also going to wear costumes. But instead of tights and masks and capes, theirs would be pushup bras, miniskirts and high heels. Today, when Drew and her girls flew in to do battle (she giggled again), the costumes had to be appropriate.

"Tell me why you're giggling," Callie said.

"Oh nothing," Drew replied as she drove to school. "...Just random thoughts."

"Okay. Hey, what are you gonna be wearing tonight? That?" Callie pointed to Drew's current outfit. At the moment, she was wearing a striped A-line skirt well above the knee, with wide navy and red stripes. She had paired it with a white button-up, sleeveless blouse tucked into her skirt's elasticized waistband.

Pretty understated but very sexy, Callie thought, which was Drew's signature style. A style that looked pretty simple, but it was something others could never seem to replicate, herself included. Still, despite the simplicity, Callie had to say that Drew's outfit was more than okay for later.

"This li'l ole thing?" Drew responded. "'Course not. I got something for later."

"You do?" Iola spoke up.

"Yep. I have it in the trunk."

"The trunk! What're you doing putting a dress in Tiger's trunk!"

"It's a knit dress, kid. It won't get wrinkled or anything. How 'bout you two?"

"Knit dress? Oh, Drew..."

"Stop foolin' with Drew, Iola," Callie said with a laugh. "She does well for herself."

"Yeah, she does." Iola leaned over and bussed Drew on the cheek. "Sorry, honey. I'm sure it's a great dress."

"S'okay. But you didn't answer me."

"Us? Our outfits?"

"We," Callie interrupted, "are both going to be wearing red dresses. I'm gonna be wearing a fabulous strapless cocktail dress..."

"And I'm gonna be wearing a super sexy red bodycon dress with a real-deep cleavage and a cutout midriff. It'll drive everyone wild!"

"Red?"

"It's Janine's idea. Everyone on the squad can wear anything so long as it's in red. So people will know we're all on the team."

"That's a great gimmick."

"Janine's great with things like that."

Drew drove leisurely towards a newly opened restaurant. Callie told them it was a clone of Aunt Arlene's favorite breakfast place in New York City. But this one was a bed-and-breakfast maybe fifteen minutes away from school, open only from six to ten, and served French toast-based meals, something they called "green eggs and ham" (which featured scrambled eggs made with pesto and spinach), and Kitten Coffee.

They had no fear of seeing any of the other kids from school since it was too early, but there were a bunch of white collar people there having breakfast before they started off for work.

Drew, Callie and Iola thought it best to meet before school, and having breakfast here seemed the best thing. Drew didn't mind - she had things straight in her head already, but she wanted to try the new place. Just for the heck of it, she tried the green eggs, ham on the side, and the famous artisan coffee from Brooklyn.

She looked at Callie's and Iola's outfits this morning. As usual, their clothes were within school regs, but just barely. She shouldn't comment since she pretty much did the same thing.

Callie was pretty sexy today, with a flowy vintage-style white dress with open shoulders and crochet detailing on the front and on the back. It had bell sleeves and adjustable straps. The dress was fully lined so there were no worries. She had partnered it with oversized round sunglasses and a pair of wooden platform sandals with a pebbled white and gray upper, with a peep toe, an adjustable buckle closure at the ankle and a stacked heel.

As for Iola, she had on a cute apricot slip-on style babydoll dress that had a flowy skirt and strappy detailing on the back. She also wore leather booties with a stacked wooden heel, peep toes and lace-up detailing on the back. She also had at least a dozen metal bangles on her right wrist as well as dangly earrings.

Despite Iola's brash style, Drew was seriously turned on at the moment, but the gaff she was wearing really helped. She felt proud as a peacock to have two gorgeous girls on her arm until she realized that she was also a gorgeous girl. Used to be, that would be like a switch, and the wave of depression that would follow would just pull her back to reality. But since Saturday, things had changed for her. Fears of being thought of as a guy in drag had disappeared. Thoughts of being a fake paper-person had disappeared. Thoughts of Andy and his dad being wiped away from the Earth had disappeared (mostly).

New thoughts and fears had replaced these, however. At least they were less powerful fears. Things like grades and exams, or her position in the school's pecking order, or this thing with the cheerleaders, or her upcoming drag race with Phil. Not so much different from the types of things other kids Drew's age worry about. There were other things, however that were things that were all hers, like stuff about their "plan," about her dad and his job, or if they were being tracked by the enemy now. And what to do with her growing infatuation with Callie.

Curiously, though, it all somehow felt right. With all of her concerns, it all felt right. As her friends waxed lyrical over the eggs and the pancakes, Drew contemplated things. There were changes happening to her, she knew. But at this moment, she understood now. Crystal clear, she knew. Drew was inside now. In her soul. It had been happening slowly these past days, but she'd accepted it now. She was Drew, now and probably forever. And it wasn't bad.

-----

The party was to be at Ned Nickerson's dad's other house on posh Todt Hill, since their house in St. George was much too small. But it was about a thirty-minute drive away, so the party was scheduled for seven PM. That gave the girls more than enough time to get ready. After class, the three drove to Callie's to get ready. Like Drew, Iola had brought her party dress as well.

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They had almost four hours before the party. Giving themselves an hour to drive there, that left them three hours to get ready. With Drew's experience, she knew that was a little tight, but they'd make it work. They started getting ready right away.

After freshening up, they got into their outfits. Iola put on her super-sexy body con dress. With its deep-v neckline, a bottom that was more than three-fourths up her thigh, and a cutout midriff, she was hot! She matched it with a pair of black platforms and a moto jacket for the nippy evening. For Callie, she wore a daring, structured strapless cocktail dress with front pleat detailing. She paired it with a moto jacket of her own, and platforms as well. Their styles were opposite each other. Callie's style looked classy and upscale while Iola's was more akin to a street walker's, quite close to the Staten Island teen-girl stereotype that many New Yorkers had in mind when they thought of Staten Island girls. Drew knew it was totally unfair of her to think so, so she shook her head free of such prejudiced thoughts and just appreciated her friend's beauty.

Drew then brought out her outfit. It was a casual but chic, off-the-shoulder A-line dress made from a soft, flexible knit material in black and grey stripes. She went into the bathroom and came out wearing it. The slim, second-skin effect coupled with her hourglass figure and C-cup boobies made what should have been casual extremely sexy. Drew's special underwear was doing its job so no unwanted bumps ruined the smooth lines of her outfit. Iola whistled. Callie wondered if the knit material was as soft as it looked but stopped herself from touching it to find out. Her heart beat faster looking at Drew.

Drew then brought out a pair of treaded brown heels. It had faux-leather uppers with a textured finish, broad, chunky, wooden heels and peachy gold front buckles. She also brought out a new pair of thigh-high textured-knit socks, still sealed in their package.

"Ummm, Drew?" Iola said hesitantly. "Are you sure of that?" Clearly, she had doubts about the socks and shoes. "I mean, knit socks and brown shoes? Really?"

Drew sat down on the couch in between her friends. "Just wait a sec," Drew said. She raised a leg and put on one of the socks, and then the other. Callie swallowed nervously. If Drew only knew how much she was turning her on.

Drew then stood up and modeled her outfit. Iola whistled again. "You are something else, Drew. I would not have believed those would match... much less look smokin' hot..."

Drew vamped some more, posing in more and more ridiculous, over-the-top poses, and got Iola belly laughing. Iola belatedly noticed Callie's open-mouthed expression and the fact that she wasn't laughing, and it sort of dried up her laughter.

"Oh!" Drew exclaimed. "I also got a jacket. I'll get it from Tiger's trunk." She turned and stepped out to get it.

In the silence, Iola turned to Callie. She elbowed Callie in the ribs.

"Hey," Iola said.

"Huh?"

"Drew's pretty sexy, huh?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You're pretty stuck on her."

"I..."

"I know about you, Cal. And it's okay with me."

"You mean..."

Iola slid across the couch and hugged her. "Honey, we've been friends since third grade. I know you, as much as anyone can know you. Same as you with me. And I knew about that affair with Donna, Aunt Arlene's boarder. And I knew how you felt about me."

Callie looked at her with a big, shocked expression.

Iola giggled, reached out to push Callie's chin up to gently close her mouth.

"Honey," Iola said gently, and hugged her. "I knew. You knew I didn't swing that way. And I love you for what you did, not putting any moves on me. You're my sister." She kissed her on the forehead. "A very, very, very, very cute little sister..." She giggled. "I love you, and I would do anything for you."

Callie hugged back. "I love you, too, big sister."

"So. What's the story with Drew?" Iola said after a bit. "I'm right, aren't I? You like her?"

"Don't you like her?"

Iola shook Callie. "You know what I mean!"

Callie giggled, and then turned serious. "Yeah, I do. And she knows it, too."

"She does!"

Callie sighed. "Yeah, she does. I told her."

"What did she say?"

"She says that she's not closing the door to it, but she wants to just be friends for now."

Iola nodded. "She loves you, too."

"I know. But not in that way."

Iola shrugged. "Hey, you never know. Right?"

Just then, Drew came in. "Hey!" she said. "Look at me!" She had her jacket on and posed at the doorway.

"Great!" "Cool!"

As Drew bustled in, Iola whispered to Callie, "Let's talk about this later, 'kay?"

Callie nodded.

-----

Callie, Iola and Drew were all set but they had to wait about half an hour for the limo Drew hired. The girls protested about this, that it cost too much, or it was overkill for a simple party, but Drew lied and said she was using a free voucher her dad got somewhere. Besides, she said, she didn't want their outfits ruined if they tried to squeeze into her little Opel.

During the lull, Drew brought up the matter of the upcoming Finals Week, but Callie and Iola brushed it aside.

"We're fine Drew," Callie said.

"Of course, we aren't like some people," Iola said, referring to Drew's exemptions, and they giggled. Drew gave them a razzberry.

When the car arrived and the uniformed chauffeur helped them in, they were well behind schedule. Inside, Drew opened the little bar and was happy they followed her instructions - there were sodas, juice, water and nothing else. She handed each of the girls a drink and they settled in.

Traffic was a little more than usual - it was a Friday night, after all - so they arrived well past eight. The party was already going strong when they got there. Their arrival caused some commotion. Acting the part, the girls ignored the hullabaloo, and exited the limo as if it was just a normal occasion.

A lot of the jocks were outside the house smoking, since Ned's dad didn't want anyone smoking inside. Ned's dad didn't lecture anyone on smoking, but did insist that no one did it inside. The effect was that half of the kids at the party were out on the lawn hanging with the football guys and smoking. And everyone took notice of the girls when they stepped out of the limo.

When the girls walked up to the house, there were a lot of greetings, and they fielded them in the ordinary fashion. As planned, Drew stayed outside and chatted with the jocks while Callie and Iola went inside to meet up with Janine and the other cheerleaders.

Drew was wearing her jacket over her knit dress, a faux-leather jacket, color-blocked in black and white, and with an asymmetrical zipper. And she looked fabulous. Some of the girls around her had catty expressions on their faces. Her style was undeniably notches above all the other girls at the party, but her demeanor, as always, diffused most of whatever jealous tension there was, and most everyone just continued to enjoy the party.

After a while, Drew saw Callie and Iola at the house's doorway signaling to her.

She made her excuses and went over.

"It's showtime," Callie said, and they went in.

-----

After doffing her jacket, hanging it in the closet and waving hi to everyone, a momentary silence descended. But Drew, Iola and Callie ignored this and walked on over to the middle of the room. Conversations resumed a little bit, but it was obvious everyone was listening in, waiting for the confrontation that was about to happen. They didn't know why but they knew it was coming. It was in the air.

But Drew was determined that no such thing would happen.

As they approached Janine, Drew couldn't get rid of the impression that she was in Janine's court, throne room or whatever. The cheerleaders surrounding Janine in their red dresses made them feel like they were in the presence of some sort of cabal.

"Hey, Drew," Janine said. "Didn't know if you were coming or not."

"Hey, Janine. I'm sorry. Friday night traffic, you know."

Janine walked over to hug her. With her heels, Drew was so much taller than Janine, despite Janine's own heels, so she had to lean down just a tiny bit.

"Great party," Drew remarked.

"Isn't it? Ned's been a sweetheart to put the party together."

"Haven't seen him tonight."

"He's probably with Jim and the others playing pool upstairs."

That sounded like her chance. "I didn't know they had a pool table here. I love pool!" Drew recalled the few times she, as Andy, played pool with her old friend George. Though she was no pool shark, she beat George every time, hands down. To her, it was just a three-D application of geometry.

Plus, it was the kind of thing that they needed to get away from Janine and being hooked. Drew made the pre-arranged signal, and Iola nodded subtly.

After the hug, Janine puled back.

"Well," Janine said, "I'm sure the guys would enjoy playing a round with you," she giggled at the double entendre. "But I have to ask you the question."

Drew sighed. "All right."

"So. Drew. Have you thought over your joining us?"

"I have talked it over with Iola and Callie, and I've decided to try out for cheerleader."

After a lot of, well, cheering, the... cheerleaders gathered around Drew and gave her hugs. Again, Drew was glad for her special underwear, as it kept things under control.

-----

In their previous "strategy sessions" at Callie's last night and earlier this morning at breakfast, Iola, Callie and Drew had talked over what could happen tonight. And it was their consensus that Janine was grooming her to be her "successor."

Drew didn't believe it since Janine didn't know her, she wasn't her friend, and she wasn't a cheerleader.

Callie and Iola explained what they thought Janine was thinking: she was graduating, but she didn't want to leave her little "kingdom." So the next best thing was to get a proxy - a puppet she could control from afar. So she picked the most popular girl she could get that she thought she could control, and use her to recruit new blood at the same time. Drew came in ready-to-order.

The other cheerleaders seriously doubted if Janine would be able to wrap Drew around her finger. Callie and Iola thought so, too, but Janine was the most egotistical girl in the world, and she thought she could. Callie and Iola found it just fine if Drew let Janine believe that she was right. It was a quick way around the trust issue.

The thing was, when it becomes obvious that Drew wasn't wrapped around Janine's finger, it might go badly for Sabrina and her, though the other cheerleaders would be relatively safe.

So the plan was, at the appropriate time, Drew would have a "tiff" with Janine (Iola would engineer a way for this to happen at the right time, and make Janine think it was her fault), giving Drew a legitimate reason to "break away" and get out from under Janine's thumb.

But that was for later. For now, all their plan called for was to feed Janine's ego, but at the same time minimize the appearance of Drew being under Janine's thumb to the rest of the school. Drew insisted on that particular detail - she had labored to distance herself from all this "cheerleader nonsense" ever since she started attending classes in the school and she didn't want it wasted.

They put their plan in motion.

-----

As the girls made a lot of fuss over Drew, Iola quietly snuck out and went upstairs.

"Hey, Ned?" Iola said.

"Hi, Iola," Ned responded. "One second." Ned painfully aligned his pool shot, fired but missed. His friends howled and money quickly changed hands.

Ned sighed, and turned to her.

"What's up?"

"You wanted to know when Drew arrived..."

"Drew's here?" And there was a scramble as the guys rushed downstairs.

Janine and her girls were all gushing about how pretty Drew's outfit was, and were all excited that she was going to be part of the team. Drew thanked everyone but said that it might be premature, that she still needed to get past her tryouts.

Janine pshawed that. "You'll do well. I can tell that you will be great."

"Thanks, Janine."

"Hey, Drew," Ned said as he huffed, having hurried down.

"Hey, Ned!" She leaned forward and gave him a hug and a small kiss on the cheek. "Great party."

Ned smiled proudly.

"Janine said you have a pool table?"

"You play pool?"

"Just try me!" Drew turned and gave Janine a final hug. "Seeya later, Janine. I'm gonna play billiards with these guys for a while."

The girls watched as Drew, Ned and his buddies climbed back upstairs.

"Well..." Janine said, at a loss. "What was that?..."

In the silence, someone said, "Maybe Drew likes Ned?"

"Oooh!!" they giggled.

Iola and Callie looked at each other. They giggled with the others, but they giggled because of something else - what happened happened because they made it happen, so the other kids wouldn't see them together (well, a little bit, but that couldn't be helped), and Janine wouldn't be able to get at Drew.

Drew spent most of the party upstairs in Mr. Nickerson's game room avoiding Janine, and played billiards with his son Ned. By midnight, there were a lot of kids in the game room watching Drew beat the pants off the school's quarterback, tight end and running backs. With Drew's outfit, and the saucy way she set up her shots, the guys didn't mind being beaten. Drew was always amazed at the power of shapely legs and breasts on the male libido, but instead of being affected by them, she was the one affecting others as she leaned down to shoot with her cue, or holding the cue against her boobies while she waited for her turn. The guys didn't have a chance.

Drew insisted on no betting on their game, so the more entrepreneurial of her classmates did their wagering downstairs. Being a good host, Ned brought food upstairs and turned on some muted music on his dad's old hi-fi, and none of those who elected to stay upstairs missed out on much.

Eventually, Janine went upstairs, too, but didn't get much traction with the crowd. In one of her more savvy moves, Drew invited Janine to team up with her, and Janine jumped at the chance to vamp it up just like Drew. But her poor skills at the game just didn't make her the sex kitten that she wanted to be. Drew gave her an out by commenting on the time, giving Janine the chance to say she needed to go home because of her curfew. Curfew? No one believed it but they didn't question it either.

Before going home, Janine took Drew aside.

"Drew," Janine began. "I have to go. I promised my daddy I'll be home early tonight. But I'm really psyched that you've decided to join the team..."

"I still have to pass my tryouts, you know."

"I understand you're worried about that, but believe me, it's no big deal. But!" She waved away Drew's protest. "I'll get Iola and Callie to help you out. They'll be working with you and will be your personal coaches. Just tell me when your trials will be and they'll help you get to pass your tryouts, and get you signed up."

"Thanks, Janine. I really appreciate that."

Janine hugged her. "I knew you would."

Drew watched her leave. "Bitch," she sub-vocalized. "Arrogant, smug little b-"

"Hey, Drew!" Ned called. "It's your turn."