Author's Note: Um, just wanted to say that Zee will probably appear in "Making Rent", my other story, but I hadn't found somewhere for him to fit, and I really wanted to write about him, so here's this little story. If you've got any comments, advice or constructive criticism, please tell me. I don't know very much about cross-dressing, so if anyone has anything to improve Zee, I'd love to know. I know this first chapter is uber short (only like 800 words!), so bear with me. (I didn't notice until a while after I named Zakie, but say "Zakie and Zee" out loud. It sorta rhymes! That was completely unplanned. Seriously.) ON TO THE STORY!

So I went to Deb, which is this dress shop in the mall. I went by myself, because Zakie got grounded at the last second. He wanted me to go anyway, because they were having a sale. So I went, steeling myself for the weird looks and the awkward staff. Usually I took one of my girl friends, because that made it a little easier, but not today. I entered the store, scanned the area. Damn. All the staff is middle-aged today, for whatever reason. There's even a lady working the cash register who might be fifty-five. My combat boots thump the floor as I make my way to the dresses. A girl with her mom gives me a weird look as I shuffle through dresses. I know about what I want, a plain black dress, with a frilly skirt, short, too. I'll wear my pink corset over it. Soon enough, one of the staff people comes over just as I pluck a dress from the rack.

"Hi, are you finding everything okay?" She asks, looking a little flustered.

"Yup.". I reply, and go back to looking at dresses. She hurries off, I sneak a look at her, and she's talking to the lady at the checkout, and looking at me. I try to ignore them and find another dress, this one not in my size, but I really love it, so I decide to ask. I walk over to the counter, set the dress in front of Granny here, and ask, in my most polite voice. "Do you have this dress in a three?" She blinks twice, looks at me, in my combat boots, tight gray skinny jeans and green Pikachu shirt, and blinks again.

"Um. Let me check." She turns to her computer, her nametag says her name is Ruth. "Yes, we do, I'll fetch it from the back for you."

"Thanks.". Ruth leaves, I just stand awkwardly at the counter. Ruth comes back quickly, holding the dress. She hands it to me. I walk to the back of the store where the dressing rooms are, and look around for a staff person. Why I didn't just ask Ruth when I was up there, I don't know. I spot a girl over by a rack of belts, and go over there.

"Can I get a dressing room?" She looks at me like I'm nuts, then nods. I follow her to dressing room 3, and she unlocks the door and lets me in. I peel off my shirt, my shoes and my jeans, and wiggle into the dress Ruth had to grab. I somehow manage to zip the back, and look in the mirror. I like it. It's poufy on the bottom, like airy and light, too. Sorta like a tutu. But not quite. I snap a picture of myself in the mirror, send it off to Zakie. He's still got his phone, even though he's grounded. Best thing about this dress? My pink leather corset will fit over the top. It cuts off mid thigh. Zakie texts back as I was putting my jeans back on. I look at my phone. "gaah, I love it! being grounded sux. 3 u". Aw. Such a sweetheart, Zakie is. I love him to death. I text back my reply, finish getting dressed and grab my dresses. I buy the one I want, and get going. Even though I'm an hour and a half from my town, and we have a mall, I don't want to run into anyone from school, or any of my parents' friends. They don't know that I'm gay, or that I cross-dress. I'm probably not going to tell them, either, because they're rather conservative. It's been really tough to make them let me keep my hair this long, actually. 'This long' is just past my shoulders. The whole hair thing ended with me having a screaming match with my mother. My dad had already relented, but my mom was stuck on the whole boys have short hair, girls have long hair. But I won, so I got my hair.