20-MOTHER'S NEW DAUGHTER

I don't ask. He pays his bills!" One more spritz and she said, "TA TA! I give you smallville's NEW Allison!" She held the picture up to my face to compare. "She's you are her!"

you and "I'm so proud of you," mother gushed. "I didn't think you had the guts to go through with this."

My mind was racing. I couldn't wait to be alone with Allison. This was the closest I'd ever felt to her.

THE AFTERGLOW...

"Boy, that Sidney's a nut!" I said making conversation on the way home.

"I didn't think so," mother said. "I thought he was cute. When did you realize he was a he?"

"I'm still not sure," I scowled. "He might be just some stupid girl joking around."

"I'd don't think so," mother said thoughtfully. "We talked for quite a while. He even showed me a picture of himself at school. He's a regular looking boy!"

I shook my head feeling my long curls brush against my shoulders. I moaned. Sidney made me feel weird. I knew that my new hairstyle wasn't very manly. I looked in the vanity mirror and picked at the curls. "How am I going to make this work for school?"

"I don't know," mother said smiling at me.

At night, I could be alone with the image of Allison in my mirror. Without even asking, mother moved a large, full-length vanity mirror into my room. "So you can see the back of your hair," she said.

MEETING SIDNEY ON HIS GROUND...

About a week later, mother got a call. It was Sidney's mother inviting us over for a chat.

I didn't want to go, but mother made me. "It would be rude! Besides, you might learn some things to do with your hair," she said. "Don't worry. His mother said he wouldn't be wearing a dress."

"That's just great!" I whined.

Seeing Sidney in a T-shirt and jeans was shocking. In a skirt, he was a "stunner," in drab boy clothes, he was like any of the long-haired guys in school. He was about 5' 7"

SANDY THOMAS ADV. -21

"I'm a boy!" I stammered.

"So am I," Sidney replied, "and it hasn't stopped me!"