The Girl He Could Be - Part 10

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"Here’s what you asked Mom for." Bridget threw the heavy envelope out of her window at the other car. It landed on the ground.

Tim got out of the car and picked it up. "Thanks for bringing it, sis." Hearing that made her angry. "I’m not your sister anymore, and don’t bother us again." Her tires spun as she pulled out of the parking lot.

Patty thought she could imagine how Tim felt, but when he got back in the car and looked at her, she wasn’t so sure. The tears he had been holding back gushed forth. She held him for a long time and let him cry. She wondered if it wasn’t the hormones that made his emotions run deeper. 

She certainly would have felt the same way if it were her family doing what his did to him. If he’d been wearing makeup, he would have been a mess. As it was, it took a while to get the redness to leave his eyes. Tim still had one more thing to do, and it, no doubt, was going to be awkward for him.

The teller looked at him strangely. She knew Tim from seeing him in the bank. They all did.

He was a strange-looking boy, and whispers brought stares each time he came in. She thought he looked even more odd today, and she wasn’t afraid to say so. "What happened to your eyebrows?"

They had talked about what he could say if anyone was bold enough to ask. "A gas grill flared up and burned them off."

That sounded reasonable. She noticed that his hair was different from usual, too. A few wisps were sticking out from under the hat that was pulled tightly over his head, and his hair was curly. It had always been dead straight. She didn’t say anything.

"So, you're closing out your account. Going to take your money and get the car you’ve been saving for?" She was counting out the money and laid it on the counter.

Tim picked it up as he answered, "Yes, finally." He would count it for himself outside in the car.

Tim didn’t even realize that the whole time he’d been speaking with Tina’s voice. The girl just looked at him, dumbfounded, as he walked out of the bank. If she hadn’t been sure he was who he said he was, she would have called security. As it was, she had some neat gossip to tell the other girls about the pretty boy.

It was all there, but what was he going to do with the fifteen thousand dollars? He couldn’t keep it on him, and he didn’t want to hide it in his apartment. Patty was shocked at how much money he had.

"When my real dad died, he left me ten thousand dollars. The rest I saved." "You’ve got to put that back in the bank." Patty was worried about it too. She could just imagine what Pam might do if she knew he had it.

"How?" I’m too young to have my own account."

A thought occurred to her. "Mrs. Brown."

"What do you mean?"

"Jeff’s mom will help you. She’ll open an account for you."

"But she thinks I’m Tina."

"So what?" You can’t leave that much money lying around." Patty was right. He thought about it for a moment. If Mrs. Brown was willing to open the type of account where he could take out his money without her having to cosign, then he could just close the account next week and open another as Tim. At least his money would be safe. "You’re right."

"Let’s get back to my house so you can get back to being yourself, and we’ll tell Nancy what we want to do." Patty realized what she just said and laughed out loud. Tim heard it too. "You know, you're right. It really feels uncomfortable trying to look and act like Tim after all I’ve been through." They both laughed.

When Nancy saw all the money and heard the problem, she agreed immediately. "She really likes you, Tina. I know she’ll help."

"You'd better hold back some of that for shopping. You’re going to need a few more dresses, skirts, and blouses for school."

Carol was more than willing to help out until his parents arrived. 

Knowing how girls were about shopping when they had money to burn, she insisted that he had to have a cosigner on the account. Fourteen thousand, five hundred dollars was a lot of money. Tim didn’t even try to argue. There was no way to win an argument without telling her more than he could at this point.

Mrs. Brown knew that Tina was going to close the account as soon as her parents arrived, so she would have the money back next week. At least it was safe for now. "The other condition is that you and Nancy come to church with us on Sunday, and you spend the day with our family. 

I’m sure your mom and dad would like that." She wanted to spend some time with her and make sure she was all right. She was sure the girls weren’t eating right, and it still bothered her that she was alone in Florida.

Tim knew there was no way to get out of it. He did like her and Mr. Brown. In the back of his mind was maybe Brad would be there. They could finish that game of pool. 

Tim was relieved to give Patty the rest of the money he owed her for the jewelry. Sandy was right on time, and the two headed for Tampa. Nancy and Patty knew Sandy well enough that they didn’t worry. 

Tina would be fine with her. They told Sandy that Tina would need to get some new outfits for school starting tomorrow. Sandy was delighted; she thought they were only going to be able to window shop. Sandy had even suggested that, if she wanted to, Tina could have dinner with her and her folks. That was fine; it gave Nancy and Patty a chance to have a peaceful night on their own with Jeff and Randy.

Tim got home around ten that night. His arms were loaded with packages. They had never gotten to Sandy’s house for dinner. Tim treated Sandy to dinner in the mall, and they continued to shop till the mall closed. He had spent all but about seventy-five dollars of the three hundred and seventy-five he had with him.

With everything that had happened that morning, his mood had not been the best when he left with Sandy. Shopping with her had changed that quickly.

The boys were still there, but they decided to leave when the girls wanted to look at everything Tina had bought. They knew what girls were like when it came to clothes. They would be at it for hours.

Tim laid everything out on Patty’s bed. Sandy had been a big help, digging through sales racks for bargains. She taught Tina how to really shop.

Tim had seven new dresses and a half dozen new skirts and blouses. He had two blazers, one white and one black. There was jewelry to go with everything. Costume jewelry, not gold like Patty had gotten him. He got a new handbag and a few pairs of shoes. He had several pairs of stockings. A new slip and two new bras.

Tim was back on a high. Pam and Sue came in around midnight. They were actually a little jealous of everything he bought. Pam pried, "Tina, I thought you were broke." "I closed out my bank account today." He didn’t volunteer any more than that, on Patty’s and Nancy’s advice.

Pam was impressed with the boy’s wardrobe now. She knew Sandy had helped, but still. He really had good taste in clothes.

Tim had trouble going to sleep. He had so much on his mind. 

His primary thought was of tomorrow and how exciting and scary it was going to be, going to ‘charm school.’ Pam and Sue’s tasks didn’t end with enrolling Tina in school. Their next stop that afternoon was Tim’s apartment. They went through it and cleaned out everything that was left of his. 

There wasn’t that much. It fit neatly into four garbage bags. They dropped them in a dumpster on the way out. 

When they were done, they went back to Pam’s house and called the landlord. The number was with the papers they had found at the apartment. 

"Mr. Stevens, this is Mrs. Hynes, Tim’s mother. I’ve just learned that you’ve contributed to my son’s running away from home." Pam laid it on thick.

He was shocked. "Mrs. Hynes, your son told me your husband threw him out of your house, and he had nowhere to go. I normally wouldn’t rent an apartment to a minor, but under the circumstances, I didn’t want to see the boy living on the street." "My son was angry with his father and made up that story. I would appreciate your cooperation at this time. We found him, and he is home with us again. He tells me you insisted on a first, last, and security lease agreement with him."

It was true. That was the agreement he made with the boy. "We assume you will refund the last month’s rent and the security deposit once you have checked over the apartment."

"Mrs. Hynes, your son signed a lease agreement, and I’m afraid he forfeits those funds." "Your lease was signed by a minor, with your knowledge and consent. I have a copy in my hand. I’m afraid that if you don’t return his money, I will have to go to the police." Pam paused to let him think. She knew she had him, and she wanted the six hundred dollars he had. She had plans for it.

It didn’t take him long to decide. He had strong reservations when he rented the place to the boy. If it hadn’t been for the story he told him, he never would have done it. He would never do it again. 

"There’s no need for that, Mrs. Hynes. If you meet me at the apartment this afternoon, I will refund the money after I have a look around." He didn’t want trouble with the police. 

"I won’t be able to come myself; I’ll send Tim’s older sister, Pam, to pick it up." Pam, with the mouthpiece covered, looked at Sue. They had a good laugh. "I will meet her at four. Please ask her to be prompt." He hung up, angry with himself and annoyed at the woman.

They had an hour before it was time, and there was one more thing they wanted to do.

"May I speak with the manager, please?"

"This is the manager; how may I help you?"

"This is Tim Hynes’ mother. Tim has been visiting with his grandmother for a few days and has decided to move to Atlanta to live with her. He won’t be back to work anymore." He was not surprised, but he hated losing the boy. He was one of the few kids he had found who really worked and could be relied on. 

He was, however, aware of what it was like for Tim at home. There were a few occasions when the boy had opened up to him about his problems at home, about his stepfather. He didn’t blame him for moving away. "Thank you for calling me, Mrs. Hynes. When you speak to him, tell Tim he’ll be missed."

"Tim didn’t mention anything about past wages due." Pam was just making sure. "No, Mrs. Hynes. Tim is paid up to date. He called Monday and had a friend of his pick up his pay." He assumed that Tim didn’t trust his mother to send it to him, so his friend was probably forwarding it to the boy.

Pam thought it was worth a try. "Thank you, Mr. . . . ?"

"Mr. Twiggs, Mrs. Hynes. "You’re welcome." He didn’t like her, and he didn’t even know her. Sue and Pam cracked up when Pam hung up the phone. "That takes care of that." Pam was happy.

"What’s next?" Asked Sue. They were erasing as much of Tina’s connection to Tim’s past as they could.

Pam had decided that they weren’t going to expose him when the two weeks were up. He was adapting so beautifully that they were going to force him to continue living as Tina for as long as they could get away with it. He had already been accepted by a lot of their friends. When he was finally exposed, and he surely would be, they would just say they were taken in by him too.

Pam was at the apartment at four, and she was given the six hundred in cash. The man didn’t look very happy about giving it to her. She took out the fifty she had paid out for the fake license and put the rest away.

"I don’t think we need to tell Patty and Nancy just yet what we’ve done for Tina. Let’s just keep it our little secret."

Sue agreed. "They seem to be getting a little too friendly with him." Even Sue was beginning to feel an affection for the boy. She thought better of saying anything to Pam. "My thought exactly."

Tim had gotten up while everyone was still sleeping. He showered and had his hair done before either Patty or Nancy woke up. He wore the white pointelle cotton sweater and the black skirt that he bought yesterday. In his black heels and stockings, he felt very convincing. He also enjoyed how feminine he felt.

The gold necklace didn’t look as good as the small pearls and the matching pearl earrings. He put everything he thought he’d need in his new handbag. Tim was ready half an hour before it was time to leave.

"You look much older than sixteen in that outfit," Pam commented. "You look like you’re about twenty. It looks really good on you."

Patty felt funny when she dropped Tim off outside the mall. She watched as Tina walked up to the door and the woman inside Mass unlocked it to let the young girl in. Tim looked back and smiled at Patty as the woman closed the door.

Tim’s smile made her laugh. He was like a kid going away to camp for the first time.

Nancy and Patty settled down to figure out how to doctor up Tim’s birth certificate. Changing Tim to Tina wasn’t too difficult. 

"I wish Tina hadn’t picked the name ‘Brooks.’" They didn’t know how they were going to accomplish changing Hynes to that. Pam and Sue finally got up. "What are you two trying to do?"

"We’re trying to alter his birth certificate," Patty explained.

"How did you get your hands on that?" Sue was surprised.

"Tim got it from his mother yesterday."

"He went and saw his mother?" Dressed as Tina?" Pam hoped not. "No, he only talked to her on the phone. 

We met his sister, and she gave it to him. He was wearing jeans and that rugby shirt of his. We shoved his hair into a baseball cap. He almost looked like he used to. It was good enough." Patty had felt awkward sitting next to him in the car when his sister showed up.

"That would have been something to see." Sue was sorry she missed it. "How can we help?" Pam asked. She had already given some thought to getting Tina a birth certificate. But with this certified copy, it would be easier to just alter it. "We don’t know how to change Hynes to Brooks." Nancy and Patty were lost when it came to this stuff.

"Let me take care of it." With my dad’s color copier, I can make some copies and then do some cut and paste." She had an idea of what she was doing, and she could always get Jim’s friend, Jack, to help her out again.

"Ok, Pam, we’ll leave it up to you." They knew she was sneaky and conniving enough to do it.

"We’re going over to Nancy’s. Do you two want to come along?"

Sue begged off. "I’m meeting Randy, and we’re going to the beach." "I want to take care of this first. Then I’m actually supposed to help my dad in the office. I had promised I’d put in a few hours each day, and I haven’t even put in an hour yet this week. He’s a little pissed at me." He really was.

There were almost fifty girls there. The first thing they did was to separate them into three age groups. Twelve to fourteen years old, fifteen and sixteen years old, and finally, seventeen and eighteen years old.

Tim was surprised when they put him with the older girls. There were only fifteen in the group, including him.

"You’re almost 17 anyway, and you look like that’s the age group where you belong. Don’t be nervous, Tina." The instructor told him.

Nervous? Who, him?

They had to show the instructors how they walked, talked, sat, stood, smiled, and even laughed. Then the instructors went to work, trying to train the girls to do those things the way they wanted them to, the way models do to sell products.

Tim had an unusual edge over the others. He hadn’t had the opportunity to become set in his ways, and he had more motivation to learn than any of them. He paid careful attention to everything they were willing to teach him, and it didn’t go unnoticed. 

"You’re something of a tomboy, Tina." One of the instructors noted. Julie paid the girl a little more attention than some of the others.

He was exhausted by the end of the day. Tim had worn heels before, but not for eight hours straight and on his feet almost the whole time.

They had told the girls they would need to bring workout clothes the next day, and Tim didn’t have any. They had finished a few minutes before five, when Patty was going to pick him up, so he rushed out into the mall to the little store nearby that sold exercise clothes. 

The girl helped him pick out an outfit in a hurry. Tim already had picked up on how the girls tried to outdo each other, and he told the salesgirl, "It has to be something really striking." She said she had just what he was looking for and showed him an outfit they hadn’t even had a chance to put out on display yet. "It just came in today." 

The capri-length pants were bright pink, and the leotard was a multicolored floral print. Tim hardly looked at it before he bought it. He liked the colors, and he was quickly on his way to meet Patty.

He was only a few minutes late. Patty and Nancy were outside waiting. "I’m sorry if I kept you waiting. I just had to pick up this." Tim held up the outfit to show them. "I needed it for tomorrow."

"We were only waiting a couple of minutes; it’s ok. Great-looking leotards." They were anxious to hear about everything he did.

The first thing Tim did when he slipped into the back seat was to slip his shoes off and rub his feet. "You wouldn’t believe how my feet hurt."

Nancy looked back over the seat and smiled. "Want to bet?"

They all laughed.

"I know you must be beat, Tina, but my mom made me promise we’d come and have dinner with her. I grabbed a change of clothes for you; it’s in the bag next to you." Nancy wasn’t given an option, and when she tried to use Tina as an excuse, all her mother said was, "Bring your friend along."

Tim just wanted to get out of his heels, and as long as he had a change of clothes, he didn’t care. "There’s no way that your mom would remember me, is there?" "I can’t see how. It’s been years, and you were only at my house that one time." Nancy wasn’t worried.

The rest of the ride was occupied by talking about everything he had done that day at school.

Patty and Nancy were delighted at how excited he was.

"It was like we all started off from scratch. They didn’t seem to know any more than I did. There were a couple of girls who had experience modeling before, and they thought they knew it all and had their noses in the air. But they got taken down a peg when the instructors told them that they didn’t do things that way. It was kind of fun watching all the backstabbing. I stayed out of it and even helped a few of the girls who had trouble getting the hang of it. I can’t wait until tomorrow when we start doing makeup and hair."

Tim just went on and on until they got to Nancy’s.

Nancy’s mom didn’t recognize him. "Hello, Mrs. Watkins."

"Hello, Tina. It’s very nice to meet you. Nancy told me all about what you were doing today.

It sounds very exciting." "Lovely girl," thought Jennette.

"It was."

"You’ll have to tell me all about it later. Dinner’s ready; why don’t you go and change while Nancy helps me dish up?"

"I’ll be quick, Mrs. Watkins."

"Follow me, Tina. I’ll show you where Nancy’s room is." Patty led him down the hall and stayed with him while he changed. "So there were no problems?" Tim was very relaxed. "None at all."

Patty watched as he unbuttoned his skirt and pulled off his sweater. He looked so like he had been doing it all his life. She looked at him standing there in just his underwear and pantyhose, and he looked so natural it was spooky.

Tim slid down his pantyhose and pulled on the pink shorts and white pullover they had brought. As he tucked in the blouse, he rubbed his feet on the carpet. "It feels so good to walk around in bare feet."

"Well, put on those flats, and let’s go eat. They’re probably waiting for us." Tina repeated his account of the day as they ate. He had enjoyed it so much that his enthusiasm was easily apparent to everyone. 

Nancy’s little sister was particularly interested. "I’m going to be a model when I grow up." Kim announced. She was only ten years old. Nancy told her mom to relax when they were finished, "We’ll clean up." While everyone else relaxed in the living room, Nancy, Patty, and Tim made quick work of the kitchen.

They didn’t stay late. They watched TV with the family and talked until about nine. "Tina’s got another busy day tomorrow, and she needs to get some rest." That got them out of the house and back to Patty’s. Pam was there, but Sue was still out with Randy. She showed them the result of her handiwork. She didn’t mention that she had gone to Jack for help after struggling for hours.

On the table were two fully certified birth certificates. One for Tim Hynes, 15, and another for Tina Brooks, 16.

"It looks terrific." Nancy was really impressed.

"Why do I need a birth certificate for Tina?" Tim didn’t understand. "You may not," said Patty, "but you never know. If you get into the beauty contest, you may need more proof of age than just that license."

"There’s no chance of that happening." Tim took it as a joke.

"Just the same, next week we’re going to get Tina a Social Security card too." Nancy told him.

There was no point in arguing with them. They were just kidding.

Tim wasn’t ready quite as early on Saturday morning. He decided to wear one of his dresses.

It was kind of exciting; he had never worn a dress out of the house before. Nancy and Patty helped him to select the right one. "It can’t be too dressy, or they’ll think you’re a snob, but if it’s too casual, they’ll think you’re taking the competition too lightly." 

They went back and forth trying to decide as he went, dress by dress, through the closet. 

They finally settled on the royal blue shirtdress, with his wide black belt and black heels. Tina looked very businesslike. His new gold jewelry went perfectly with it. Patty managed to get him to the mall on time. They spent several hours reviewing what they were taught the previous day.

The individual hair and makeup consultations took hours. The woman who did Tim liked his hair the way it was, only recommending different ways to shape it depending on the look he was trying to achieve or his clothes. Tim paid close attention.

Most of the time was spent on makeup. He was shown how to prepare for different situations, day and night, casual and formal, and on and off camera. They needed the workout clothes for runway evaluation, not exercise. Tim was in the small, cramped, makeshift dressing room, changing. 

He felt more than a little self-conscious. It was one thing to be in this situation around the girls he had come to know; it was another among strangers.

Tim had pulled on the tights and was stepping into the leotard when he realized the mistake he had made. He should have taken a better look at the outfit when he bought it. He shouldn’t have been in such a rush. 

Well, it’s too late now, he thought to himself. The leotard was a ‘t’ back style, and it really accented his rear end. It was with some reservation that he joined the other girls on the runway.

Tina’s outfit did not go unnoticed. The instructors really liked it; it told them things about the girl who wore it, positive things.

The other girls were not as thrilled. Tina had shown them all up, but it was difficult to be angry with Tina. She was already known by most of them as a pleasant, helpful person. In their heels, they were taught to walk, pose, and, in general, move. No part of the female anatomy was taken for granted, and through it all, they had to practice their smiles. 

Tim had wished they would have covered more that day, but he was ready to leave when five o’clock came.