Before I knew it, the end of April was coming around, and that meant one thing - Prom was coming up soon. My school let anyone sophomore and up into prom, so this would be my first. And, for that matter, my first as a girl! I’d been planning to ask Lily if she wanted to go at lunch on Monday when she confronted me with…a scene, shall we put it.

I’d made my way down to the cafeteria for lunch, and was looking at our table to find Lily and the girls, but they were nowhere to be found. I then wondered where they could be - the weather had gotten nicer - were they outside? And so I took the doors out to the outside patio eating area, on which I saw…chalk? Not just normal chalk, but a rainbow made out of chalk, that seemed to go on for a while. Out of morbid curiosity, I decided to follow it. Whoever designed this path must have wanted to put me through the ringer since as it went on, it did loops, zig zags, and all sorts of fun. Why not play along though?

I finally find the end of the rainbow, and sure enough….there was my pot of gold. Lily was standing there, with a cute, decorated poster-board sign that said “You send me over the rainbow. Can I send you to prom?”. In her other hand is a bouquet of rainbow flowers, while I hear “Girls Like Girls” by Hayley Kiyoko playing in the background.

I gotta give it to her, she sure knows me.

“Y-you wanna go to prom with me?” I choke up.

“More than anything in the world, cutie”.

She drops the sign and flowers, and I jump into her arms, into a hug. Not only could I never imagine myself dating Lily, but to have her so romantically ask me out to prom? I think I’m going to die of cuteness! I then grabbed the flowers, as we made our way back in. When we walked through the doors, hand in hand, there were all of Lily’s friends, along with a few of mine, clapping for us, as my face turns red. I turn to Lily:

“Did…you plan this part?”

“No…but I like it”

“…me too!”.

For the rest of that day, I got a lot of questions about the bouquet in my hand, which I simply replied with “someone special gave them to me”. Eventually I hopped off the bus alongside Emma (after I waved Lily goodbye for the day), and when we arrived home, we found my mom had had the day off on account of Easter Monday. I turn to both of them.

“Mom…Sis…I need to say something.”

“Yeah?” they both said, simultaneously.

“LILY ASKED ME TO THE PROM!”

“Aw, that’s great, honey!” my mom replied, though I didn’t really hear it over my sister screaming.

“OH MY GOOOOD YOU HAVE TO TELL ME ALL ABOU IT!”

— —

As the week went on, the anticipation until this weekend (prom dress shopping) weighed heavy, but thankfully my first week on the softball team helped soothe that notion. I’d always loved a good mental challenge, and considering I already had the raw physical tools, I enjoyed learning all the intricacies of the shortstop position from Coach Grace. Along with that, while I was familiar with baseball, I needed to get used to the subtle differences in softball, such as a bigger and heavier ball, smaller diamond, quicker reactions. It all settled for me relatively quickly - which was good because our first game was this Friday!

With Lily and my parents in the stands, I put on a show. I ended up going 3 for 4, with two doubles and a bunt, plus a steal. My glove would still take some work, but I was able to make all the normal routine plays. More than anything though, I was simply happy being on a team with other girls. As a kid, I’d had the urge to be in sports multiple times, but the idea of being in a boy’s only environment always scared me off. Hazing, constant oneupmanship, all work no play, it was always one reason or another. Eventually, I figured out it was because I was a girl. Even then, I never thought I’d get to play women’s sports as a trans woman considering all the hate that trans ladies in other sports had gotten. That was moot now though; I’m playing and having fun!

After the game, I was lucky enough to go with my “entourage” to my favorite restaurant ever! It’s called Watson’s, and was a drive-in restaurant where the bring the meal out to your car - and their burgers were out of this world! After a long game, I finally felt hungry enough to devour my favorite of their burgers - double, with lettuce, tomato and extra ketchup! Life is good!

— —

And now finally the weekend has rolled around, and I’m getting to do something I never thought I’d do - prom dress shopping with my girlfriend! I follow my girlfriend to the one place she wanted try out.

“Here, try this one on!” she says, as she hands me the first dress she sees, what Lily calls a “LBD” or “little black dress”. I really don’t think I’ll like this too much but I try it on for her anyways. When I open the door, she immediately shakes her head - something tells me I’m going to wear a lot of dresses today, and that it’s a good thing I decided to pin my hair up into a bun.

Next up, after telling her I want more color, she gives me a very similar style of simple dress except this time in red with a bit more length. This wasn’t working for me or her either seeing as the red did not go well with the color of my hair or skin tone.

I must have tried on 30 dresses of all different colors and cuts. It’s not that I didn’t mind this, but even I got a bit exhausted after a while. Thankfully we were at least able to parse down what I wanted in a dress - cute over beautiful, bright colors, somewhat short cut, and something unique that pops. We’d been looking around for what must be a few hours now but still hadn’t found IT.

Eventually we land on a couple of dresses I found at the beginning of it all, but Lily strayed away from. One was short and lime green with hints of sky blue throughout, with a cute glitter pattern making the abstract shape of a flower, while the other was very similar except being sky blue with lime green accents. I tried on the green one and…

I think I’m in love.

I legitimately feel like a little fairy wearing this. Sure, my height helps, but if I squint my eyes, the cut, color and pattern on this definitely have a fairy vibe going on. I hop out of the booth to show Lily and…she’s not there.

“Lily, where'd you go?”

“Down here!” I hear her yell, causing me to run down to her changing room, and peeking my head in, where I saw she found the other dress I considered in her size. We both stare at each other for a long while, not sure what to say. Both of us are red in the face.

“So…uh…that’s pretty cute on you, Luna!”

“You’re super pretty in yours as well, Lils”

And then we saw us together in that mirror. Because of their similar cuts and colors, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they matched, but it’s like we both knew. We turn to each other and scream “We have to get these!” before we end up in a hug. It may have taken awhile, but we finally landed on dresses for both of us, which MATCHED to boot!

— —

Today was the day. Prom was finally here! I started my prep by slipping on my dress along with some sheer pantyhose and silvery heels. My mom then helped curl both my sister and I’s hair, before I finished off the look with a clipped-on fake flower. Then, using a lot of tips from Lily and her friends, I was able to mostly apply all my makeup by myself, and look cute to boot! I finished the look off with a silver clutch containing my wallet and phone. Before hopping in the car, I caught a glimpse of my sister, who looked gorgeous in her own right, wearing a lavender purple dress, and her hair tips dipped purple as well to match it.

First, she stopped and picked up her boyfriend and date, since he was the further one away, before heading towards the high school, and stopping to pick up Lily.

Now granted, me and Lily went shopping for dresses together, so I have a pretty good idea how she’s going to look. I hop out of the still-running car to knock on Lily’s door, and what I’m greeted to takes my breath away. If I had any doubts about my attraction to Lily, they were gone here and now. I could swear she was the prettiest, most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. The cute dress. The hair. The tasteful makeup. She looked downright angelic.

And apparently I looked so to her as well, if her blush was anything to go off of. We both kind of stood there not knowing what to do next - we were so breathtaking by one another.

“Hey, Luna, Lily, get in before I waste any more gas!” Emma shouts out the drivers window, honking her horn to get us out of our trance. As we both hop into the back bucket seat, we finally start talking to each other.

“Hey, so you look pretty cute, Luna…” she stutters.

“You…you look like an angel” I respond

“R-r-really?” her blush somehow gets even redder.

“Oh will you two stop it?” says my sister from the driver’s seat “You’re BOTH super cute, and even cuter together with those matching dresses”

— —

Eventually we stopped at our first destination, which was Maple Lake. We found a spot in which both me and Lily had always hung out under as a kid when we came here to take our photos, under the shade of the newly grown tree leaves and branches. Emma and her boyfriend juggled between three or four different phones, and we had to hold our poses for way too damn long, but…man did it turn out well.

We then made our way to our dinner stop - O’Martins. It was right on the lake with a covered rooftop deck overlooking it, but better was their all-day brunch menu items. None of us were what you’d consider upscale or fancy, and so this felt right at home for us. Emma landed on a fruit salad, while her boyfriend got something that included a lot of bacon, though I can’t remember what. Me and Lily got a stack of pancakes to split between us, and we all shared from a large plate of hash-browns. Along with that, our meal came with a giant pitcher of hand-squeezed orange juice, which drinking while watching the sunset over Maple Lake was…amazing.

Again, I think my sister caught onto Lily and I’s antics. About halfway through the stack of pancakes, we’d resorted to feeding each other alternating bites. It was super sweet, and I recall making the cutest possible sounds when I ate them too! Emma like before couldn’t help but find our cute moments sickeningly sweet, and started giggling to herself “You guys are too cute, you know that?”

We both smile. Neither of us cares.

Eventually by about 7:05pm we finally ended up at the convention center in our town - where the prom would be held. Me and Lily slipped out of the seat, while Emma and her boyfriend found a place to park. I grip onto Lily’s hand.

She says “Are you ready for this?”

I breathe “As much as I think I will. Do you think they’ll say anything about us being together?”

She softly kisses my cheek “And what if they do? How can be ashamed when I brought the best girl to the dance?”

— —

With that, hand in hand, we made our way out into the space for prom, and found Lily’s friends, all with their own dates sitting at a large table. It had turned out that Abby and Chloe were each other’s dates, which I couldn’t help but find adorable. After setting some of our stuff down, Lily grabbed my hand again and yanked me towards the dance floor, kicking off our prom in style, as we begun dancing to an electronic dance number. The next song was more my taste though, as it was a softer, more couples oriented one. Lily grabbed me from the waist, and I grabbed her by the back of her neck, as we stepped our way around the floor. Neither of us could say we were amazing dancers, but we still had a damn good time, if for no other reason that we were in each others arms. The songs kept coming, first a rock hit, then another slow jam, and even some oldies that I recognized! At one point, I saw Lily go up to the DJ and whisper into his ear, and within a few minutes, I heard the famous chords of one of my favorite songs.

“Woah…is that You Get What You Give by the New Radicals?” I ask her.

“Yep! I asked the DJ to play it since I know it’s your favorite song!”

I simply blush as we dance our hearts out to the song, especially me, being how much I love this tune. Eventually, we both got exhausted (especially me in my heels), and we made our way over to the punch and snacks, before bringing them to a standing table next to the dance floor.

You know, I was really beginning to enjoy myself.

And then I had to see her.

Amber, seemingly off her suspension said something to her date, as he walked off to a table somewhere, where she now started walking towards me. I panic and grab Lily’s hand tightly “Lils…Amber’s here.” To her credit, Lily doesn’t get angry, but she does seem to tense up, like she was secretly getting into a fighting stance. Amber finally makes her way up to me.

“So, looks like you made it here, eh Leo?” she shouts.

“I could say the same to you, Amber. And it’s LUNA for the record!” I retort.

“Sure, whatever. So I see you got yourself a girlfriend, huh?”

“Yes, she IS my girlfriend” Lily said, protectively grabbing me and hugging me from behind “You got a problem with that?”

“No, not really, outside of the fact that she’s not really a girl…”

I wriggle my way out of Lily’s arms momentarily “Amber, why do we have to keep having this conversation - you grabbed my tits. You’ve seen me in the bathroom, and now in a dress. I’m a FUCKING GIRL!”

“And why should I believe you?” she says, arms crossed.

“Goddamn it, Amber, why won’t you get it thro-AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!”

Before I can finish my point, Amber has gone to the liberty of grabbing my dress and lifting it up to my upper torso, exposing my pink and white striped panties to EVERYONE who would be looking. And if my scream was any indication, many people were. I start shaking.

“But…what? Where’s your…? You’re supposed to have a…” Amber’s trying to finish a sentence but can’t seemingly. The fact that I didn’t have a penis like she expected me to seems to have hardwired her circuit as it were.

“Hey, what the fuck, Amber?” one guy says, who I recognize from the football team.

“Yeah, what was that for? Molesting that innocent girl and all” said his date.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” another girl shouts.

All this time, you could practically see Amber shrinking under the pressure of everyone around her. The voices kept growing, more and more pressure until

*CRACK*

And she’s on the ground, my girlfriend having punched her clean upside the head, knocking her onto the ground, likely out cold for now. She spits on the ground and mutters “That’s what you get for fucking with my girlfriend, BITCH!”. The crowd erupts in an uproarious cheer, but…

I can’t take it. I was shaking to begin with. This stimuli is too much. I have to get out of here! I start running for the nearest door as fast as I can, as my heartbeat and breathing gets faster and faster I sit down in the hallway. Fuck, I’m hyperventilating. Before long I see Lily running out as well to catch me, and she has a laser-set focus on me. Doesn’t help. I’m shaking even more now. I keep breathing, harder, harder, thinking about the moment, harder harder, scared, what will they say, harder, oh god…

..and before I know it, my girlfriend has me cradled in her arms on her lap, quietly rocking me back and forth, whispering sweet nothings into my ear softly. “Shhh, it’s okay baby, it’s all gonna be okay. I love you and that’s all that matters. You’re the cutest girl here and nobody can take that away from you. I’m so lucky to have a girlfriend like you, and it’s gonna take a lot more than some bitch pulling a stunt to keep me away from you. There, there you go, breathe deeply, honey, it’s all gonna be okay”.

Tears are coming out of my eyes now. As traumatic a memory as that was just now, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so loved and protected in my life. If I physically could, I’d stay right here in Lily’s arms forever. Instead, I turn around and bury my face in her shoulder, giving her the tightest hug of my life, like she could disappear at any moment. “I love you so much, Lily. I love you, I love you, I love Never leave me…okay?”

She simply pats my head “Sure thing”.

We stay in that cuddle/hug position for a while, before I check my clock to see it’s about 9:00pm. Prom would be going on for another two hours at this point.

“Well, do you wanna go back out there, honey?” Lily asks.

“I…I don’t think so. Is that okay?”

“Oh, it’s more than okay. In fact, I have something really special planned out for you.”

“Oh?”

She says nothing more, and leads me by the hand, out the door of the convention center with one hand, while grabbing her phone and ringing someone with the other “Yeah…Emma? Tell your mom that Luna’s going to be out for the night. She had a rough one and I decided to…treat her. You can pick us up tomorrow morning. Thanks!” *beep*

“What was that?”

She doesn’t say anything, but instead gets a stupid grin on her face. We keep going, as she brings me across the street to an upscale hotel and talks to the lady at the front desk “Reservation for Lily Smith? Yep, one queen bed. Alright thanks!”, before we keep going up the elevator.

“Lily, what’s this?”

“Well…know how we saved money on dinner and transportation and dresses?”

“Yeah?”

“Well this is where it went”.

Lily put her card into the slot for the door, and opened up what seemed to be a private suite, fit for a couple. We ended up on the top floor of the hotel, able to see almost the entire city from here. Everything about this was absolutely perfect. Me and her just lied down on the beautifully made bed.

“Lily…I…I don’t know what to say. This is so nice of you to…”

She places a finger to my mouth “Shhh…I want to make your night even better.”

My smile cracks even more “Really?”

She starts unzipping and undoing the back of her dress, revealing her breasts (the dress was strapless). “Yes, really” she says, bringing me closer into an even longer kiss than we’ve ever had before.

And soon, that night in our little private suite would forever be one I would never forget, for so many reasons.