“Baylie, sweetie,” Matilda whispered into hys ear softly, tapping hym on hys shoulder. “It’s time to wake up.”
“Huh?” Baylie mumbled as hei stirred awake. Hei blinked a few times and looked around before blushing as hei realized that hei had fallen asleep. Matilda laughed.
“It’s okay, honey… Lots of people fall asleep during their first time. It’s so relaxing, isn’t it?”
Baylie nodded, feeling embarrassed. The last thing that hei remembered before nodding off was alternating between listening to the boily pop music in the background and Matilda and Melina gossiping about pretty much everything as they weaved the blonde extensions into hys newly dyed blonde hair.
“Do you want to see?” Matilda asked gently and Baylie nodded hys head turning towards the mirror in front of hym. Hys jaw dropped.
“Wow!” was all hei could say as hei took in Matilda and Melina’s handiwork. Hei could hardly recognize hymself. Gone was hys short, brown spiky hair and in its place was long, soft locks of golden blonde hair that fell down to hys waist. They had even done hys makeup. Hys lips were now painted in a soft pink and hys eyelids matched. I look like a Barbie doll, Baylie thought to hymself. Baylie was relieved to find that hei didn’t look like a drag queen, as hei had feared. Everything looked so natural that it was almost as if hei was meant to look like this. Baylie gulped.
“It looks great, right?” Matilda chirped next to hym, showing hym the back of hys hair with a handheld mirror. Baylie nodded dumbly. Hei looked over to Brittanie, who smiled and gave hym two thumbs up.
“You look like a proper boi now! No more of that icky gurl hair.”
Matilda nodded in agreement as hei took the pink sheet off Baylie and allowed hym to stand up; as hei did so, hys hair did indeed fall down to just above hys waist. It was an odd sensation for Baylie, having all of that hair flowing behind hym. Hei followed Brittanie and Matilda over to the reception desk, where Brittanie dug out a credit card from hys purse while Matilda rang up the cost of Baylie’s makeover.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Brittanie reassured Baylie when hei saw the bois’ eyes bulge at the price. “Mom’s paying for this,” hei added, explaining that hei was using Nic’s credit card.
“I texted Dad, by the way,” Brittanie informed Baylie after they had finished paying and left the store. “Hei’s on hys way, and Mom’s coming too; apparently, shi has something for you.”
“Where are we going to meet up?” Baylie asked, looking around. From what hei had observed so far in this world, hei figured that Nic wouldn’t be caught dead in this boily place.
“The food court,” Brittanie replied. “They put it between the bois’ wing and the women’s wing for a reason.”
“Right…” Baylie muttered, trailing off. Brittanie started walking towards the food court and Baylie, feeling lost, followed hym closely. This world’s version of Ridgefield Mall had a completely different layout, and without Brittanie, hei would have no idea of where to go. Hei turned hys head, looking from side to side at all the clothing stores that the mall had to offer. There were so many. A few of them were familiar—even though they had slightly different names, like Victorianna’s Secret—but others were completely foreign to hym. Baylie blushed as hei realized that Victorianna’s Secret, a store that sold lingerie and underwear, now catered to clients like hym. Do girls have this many stores for them back home?
Baylie had forgotten hei’d walked half the mall in heels by the time hei reached the food court. Nic and Bianca were waiting for them at a table, and when Baylie came into view, their jaws dropped.
“Oh, you butterfly, how pretty you are!” Bianca exclaimed. “You look like a real Woodwoman boi now and out of that cocoon of yours. I’m so, so glad.”
“Yes, yes indeed. I’m so proud of you, darling.” The affirmation felt good for Baylie, even if it had not been very long that hei’d even been in this world. Bianca pulled hym into a hug.
“It’s definitely an improvement,” Nic added with a chuckle.
Bianca rolled hys eyes. “Oh, Nic,” hei sighed. “Don’t mind hir, darling. Shi thinks shi’s being funny.”
“I thought it was hilarious,” Nic replied as Bianca and Baylie sat down. “But seriously, Baylie. You look amazing.” Baylie blushed.
“Thanks, I guess.” Hei still wasn’t used to everyone complimenting hym on hys appearance but weirdly, it felt good.
“So,” Nic began, changing the subject. “We came for two reasons. First, while you were at the salon, someone from McMillan Tech came by with something for you,” Nic explained.
“And I realized you might need something else,” Bianca added, handing a small pink purse to Baylie. Hei immediately noticed that there was an ID on the outside sleeve.
Baylie Victorianna Woodwoman
There was an ID photo, which—while the hair turned out not quite like how Matilda had done it up—was passable and at least looked respectable. Hei did notice that it said “Not a Drivers License”—a question for another time, certainly. There was also some money in there; hei didn’t look closely but could tell that it looked different from back home.
“The McMillan folks have been working overtime for you two,” Nic added. “They really feel sorry for you and Gwen. You owe them a lot. Plus, now that you have that… We can get you a phone.”
“Yeah! That way you can stay in touch with everyone,” Brittanie chimed in. “That’s a great idea, Mom.”
“Do you have smartphones where you’re from?” Nic asked.
Baylie nodded. Hei was looking out at the food court—where even the various stalls seemed organized by their proximity to one wing or the other.
“Alright, so this should be just like you’re used to. The phone store is over there.” Also off the food court were several stores selling things that both genders needed—among them, an AT&T store. Nic led the family inside. Baylie noted the associates were all women in polo shirts and slacks.
“Hi, I’d like to add a line to my account for my sonne,” Nic began to explain to one of the employees roaming the store, gesturing to Baylie. Hei noticed that the employee was barely even acknowledging the bois’ presence.
“Alright, mam. While hei looks for a phone, we can get the process of adding that to your account started.”
“What phones do you have?” Baylie asked.
“See that shelf over there?” A small demonstration area stood out from the others like a sore thumb—it was pink. “You’ll find our selection of boiphones there.”
Baylie was trying not to roll hys eyes. Phones for bois? In any event, hei walked over to the corner and perused the selection. The brands were for the most part familiar—Apple, Samsung, LG—but it seems they all made special boi models. There was the iPhone Boi 13, Samsung Galaxy Diamond, Google Pixie, and others that didn’t make sense to hym. The demo models didn’t look much different, either, from the “normal” phones, aside from shiny trim and their bright pink and white colors. Baylie wanted to ask what the point was, but hei also did not want to embarrass hys new family. Hei was quickly understanding that asking these types of questions would make hym stick out.
Hei walked back over to Nic and the associate. “I…think I’ll go for the iPhone Boi.”
“Excellent. We’ll get that arranged, and then we’ll show you how to use it.” Again, Baylie tilted hys head but did his best to remain quiet. After a few moments of account setup, a discussion with Nic, and other tasks, the employee walked to the back room and returned with a white box.
“So, this is your new iPhone Boi. The power button is on this side,” shi pointed out as hei turned it on. “It’s gonna ask you to create an account,” shi droned on, trying to sound interested. “You’ll give it an email address and PIN. If you don’t have an email, it will create one with the username you give it.”
Baylie looked at the screen for a minute, trying to think of an appropriate email address. “No passwords?”
“Nah, those are for gurls. For the boi stuff, they make it a little easier.”
Without much of an idea of what other bois did, hei set hys username to BaylieW and a PIN of 2433 — “BIFF” on a phone.
“Alright, now you’re gonna see the main screen. You’ll notice that several popular apps are already on the phone, so in addition to email and texting and the camera, there’s also Boinstagram and BoiTok. The App Store Boi is right there in case you need more.” The employee helping Baylie really sounded like shi’d rather be anywhere else in the world.
“Thanks,” Baylie politely cut hir off. “I think I can figure everything out from here.” The employee tilted hir head a bit in surprise but let Baylie have at it.
“I think you’re all set now, Ms. Woodwoman,” shi called out.
“Thank you,” Nic replied, indicating that it was time to head out and get back home before the football game.
