Cindy smiled as she sat in a patio chair, watching as her dad was grilling burgers.

Sammy and Jason chatted off away from her, while she sat in the shade of a tree on her phone.

Cindy told herself that she should be enjoying the good weather, but she was having too much fun talking to Liam and the others on discord.

At first, she had only used the name CindyTheMergirl in their own private messaging, but she made a leap, and decided to change it in all the servers she was a part of.

She'd been a bit nervous when she'd entered one of her favorite discords under her new identity. They'd immediately recognized that it wasn't a newcomer, but someone with a rank that had been there for a while.

She'd admitted that it was Danny, and that she wanted to be called Cindy now. Despite her fears, many of the people there welcomed her. One of her good friends on the server messaged her privately, asking if she was trans. In response, she'd sent them a picture of her in a skirt.

They'd responded enthusiastically. One person on that server... hadn't. Thankfully, they'd been blocked.

And discord wasn't the only thing changing. Cindy was growing more nervous, as her phone betrayed more and more of her girliness. She had a painting of Ariel as her phone background. Her YouTube history was full of mermaid stuff, and was now growing to include makeup tutorials and all sorts of very-un-boy-like things.

But Cindy was having a very hard time hiding her girliness. She was still wearing her hair in the bob that Sammy had styled for her on her date. And after Cindy had talked about how she'd enjoyed her date, her parents and Jason had seemed a bit surprised.

But she couldn't contain it. She had tried to go back to acting more boyish after her date with Matt, trying to hide it... but she couldn't. She'd stopped wearing the looser shirts in her closet. Now, she was wearing one of her shirts that was specifically made for girls.

Mom had gotten it to accomodate Danny's breasts. But now, Mom and Dad looked at Cindy, seeing that she wasn't doing anything to hide them. With her bras and the feminine shirts, she looked just like a girl her age. And now she was pushing it even further.

Mom came out the back door, carrying the condiments for their burgers, and set them on the table. It was hard for her to miss Cindy.

"Danny?" Mom walked up to her, and sat down in the patio chair next to her.

"Yeah Mom?"

"I... I just noticed that you're wearing that skirt again."

She had worn it a few times since her date. It made her feel so cute! Cindy had worn it only on days she was going to hang out with friends, so that her parents would see it less. Liam seemed to like it...

"Danny?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Cindy said. "I guess... I just kind of like how it feels."

"Well...," Mom said. "I suppose. It's just... you're here at home Danny."

"Yeah."

"And we don't care how you look. You don't... you don't have to try to blend in."

Cindy bit her bottom lip. Mom's tone was saying 'you don't have to try to look like a girl' - that is, she didn't need to wear the skirt.

"I.... I know," Cindy shifted nervously. "But... I kind of like how it feels."

Mom glanced back down at the skirt again. Mom probably knew that Cindy was wearing panties too. However, she didn't know that Cindy hadn't worn boxers in weeks.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Mom asked.

Cindy brought her arms inward, scrunching up uncomfortably. "Should it?"

"Well," Mom said, ".... it's just... boys don't usually dress this way."

Red alert! Red alert! Mom is coming close to finding out! All hands distract her!

"I mean," Mom said, "if you want to wear that, I'm not going to stop you. If it helps you cope with your chest, then that's alright."

Cindy frowned. She should've been relieved. Mom thought she had different reasons for wearing the skirt. But instead she found herself feeling disappointed.

Cindy realized she was looking way too sad, and that Mom was watching her.

"Why do you like wearing it Danny?" she asked.

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap!

Mom was going for the throat. Cindy was silent and stoic as Mom stared her down. It wasn't in an angry way however. Neither was it in a caring way. It was perfectly neutral. That scared her most of all. It meant that this balanced on a razor's edge.

"I dunno," Cindy shrugged non-commitally.

"Danny...," Mom said quietly, do... do your friends know you're a boy?"

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!

Cindy failed to hide any of her reaction as she scrunched up and looked away bashfully.

"I guess that means no," Mom said.

Cindy nodded slowly as a few tears leaked out. The conversation had finally come. The one that would either ruin everything, or take her into a scary different future.

"I'm guessing," Mom said, "that you decided with your chest and with your hair that you feel pressured to keep up appearances?"

Cindy nodded tearfully. Mom scooted her chair closer, and hugged her.

"It's alright," Mom snuggled Cindy against her. "You're going through a lot of difficult things. You want to feel like you belong, but right now, you feel like you stand out."

"Yeah," Cindy moaned softly.

"Your friends...," Mom asked, "they... they don't suspect it?"

Cindy shook her head, her eyes still closed, and her body pressed into the embrace. "They... they think that I'm a girl named Cindy."

"So...," Mom said, "you were doing this act before you met Matt?"

"Yeah...," Cindy said. "They... they didn't suspect anything. They thought I was... I was just a normal girl. I've become really good friends with them. I especially really like this guy Liam..."

Crap! She just couldn't stop saying incriminating things could she?

"But they don't know the truth," Mom said, "and that scares you."

Cindy nodded. Mom was partially right. She just didn't know what the "truth" was.

"I'm sorry you're in such a hard place Danny," Mom said. "But just because that's who you have to be there, you can be who you want at home."

Again, Mom didn't realize the accidental meaning of her words.

"There's no one here that will make fun of you," Mom said.

Well... that wasn't true. Dad. Jason. Herself. She was... she was always doing it to herself.

"You are in rough shape sweetie," Mom snuggled against Cindy. "How are you going to get out of this?"

"I don't know," Cindy cried quietly. "I don't know."

"You don't have to figure it out now," Mom said. "For now, you can just relax. It's the fourth of July, and it's a time we can just have fun."

But I can't relax. Not even at home.

"What was that?" Mom asked.

Cindy flinched. She had said that out loud. She had said that OUT LOUD. It had barely been a slight breath above silence, but it had been audible.

She looked up at Mom. A saddened expression was on her face.

"I've... I've been making you uncomfortable...," she asked, "haven't I?"

Cindy finally left Mom's embrace, and wiped her eyes. "No...," she tried to cover it up. "I... I'm just... really stressed out right now."

Mom reached out to her. Cindy expected her to lay her hand on Cindy's shoulder, or something like that, to reassure her. Instead, Mom reached her hand up to Cindy's ear, and felt her earlobe.

"I wonder," Mom said, "how you would look with a pair of earrings."

Earrings.

For a while now, Cindy had been looking at Sammy, and at her friends with envy. She had looked up many earrings online, particularly mermaid themed ones. Compared to the pain that she had gone through in being able to wear girl clothes and her mermaid tail, the physical pain of getting earrings seemed tiny.

"Is that a smile I see?"

Cindy snapped out of her thoughts, and immediately jolted with fear.

"You also have let your nails grow longer," Mom observed.

Cindy wanted to shrivel up and crawl into some hole somewhere. With her back against the chair however, there was nowhere to run.

Mom glanced back down at the skirt again.

"It looks very pretty on you Cindy," she said.

The euphoria she felt hearing her Mom call her Cindy was amazing. It made her totally oblivious to her deep blushing.

"You make a beautiful girl," Mom capped it off.

Cindy stared back at her Mom with crying eyes, but an unconcealable smile.

"I suspected," Mom said, "and... I felt embarrassed about making that judgement. But... I think that if.... if this is something you want to pursue, I'll be behind you Cindy."

She hugged Mom again. "Thank you."

Cindy enjoyed the embrace for a moment.

"Cindy," Mom said more quietly when they ended their hug.

"Yes?"

"This is something that you need to talk about with the rest of the family."

"Sammy already knows," Cindy said.

Mom thought for a moment. "That makes sense. But Dad and Jason need to know, and I want to have a deeper conversation about this."

Cindy glanced behind her, and saw that Jason and Sammy weren't there.

"Do... do you want me to go find them so we can talk?" Cindy asked.

Mom shook her head. "No. For now, just enjoy your fourth of july, and we can talk about this another time when you're ready."

Cindy smiled, wiping away her remaining tears. "Okay."

Mom stood up. "I'm going to get finished setting up for dinner. You have fun, alright?"

Cindy nodded as Mom walked back inside.

That... had been an emotionally tiring conversation. Cindy was starting to feel that craving she had experienced when she first obtained her mermaid tail. She wanted more. She did want to be a girl. She did want to live that reality.

But it was going to take a leap of faith. Graciously, Mom had given her some time to rest before diving into it.

Cindy found Sammy and Jason sitting on the driveway, drawing fourth of july themed pictures with chalk. Jason was drawing this impressive and large lettering that said "happy fourth of july!" While Jason wasn't an outstanding artist, somehow he drew letters in an impressive, fancy way.

Meanwhile, Sammy had drawn a bunch of summer themed things. At the moment, she was working on a beach. Cindy immediately spotted a wonderful place for a mermaid.

Letting her impulse get the better of her, despite Jason being around, she began drawing what her heart desired.

She wasn't anywhere near as good as Liam was - he was incredible, but  Cindy was still proud of her mermaid when it was done.

As she brushed chalk dust off her hands, Jason leaned over.

"A mermaid?" he asked.

Cindy shrugged. "it fits in with the beach."

"It's just... kinda strange."

"I don't think it's a big deal," Cindy got defensive, "it's just a mermaid."

"Well," Jason said, "it kinda looks a lot like you."

Cindy tensed. It hadn't been really intentional, but just kind of had happened. It wasn't very detailed, but the mermaid had obvious short blonde hair. It also had a seashell bra.

"You wanna be a mermaid Danny?" Jason teased with a laugh.

"It's just a stupid drawing," Cindy said, "I just thought that it would be something interesting to draw."

"Gosh," he held up his hands, "no need to get so defensive mer... man."

Jason had questioned. Questioned whether the person in front of him was really his brother. it made Cindy feel all twisted.

On one hand, Jason was obviously seeing Cindy as being more like a girl than a guy. That made her feel good. But her brother was also teasing her, and looking at her weirdly.

"Hey Jason," Sammy said.

"What?" he asked, glancing at her.

"Can you turn just a little bit that way?" she asked, "like, rest your legs - yes, just like that."

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Cindy scooted over to where Sammy was drawing, and snickered.

"What?" Jason got up.

He walked over to Sammy's beach scene, to find a merman next to the mermaid.

Jason twisted his face. "Pff. Looks nothing like me."

"You make a great merman Jason," Cindy smiled.

He grunted, and turned away in disatisfaction. He then knelt down, grabbed the chalk bucket, and butted Sammy out of the way.

"I can draw merman-me myself thank you," he said, wiping away the face that Sammy had drawn.

Sammy and Cindy laughed, and Sammy began adding a mermaid self of her own.

When it was finished, Cindy took a picture of it, and sent it to her friends, captioned with "just as I thought, my siblings look much better as merpeople."

"Woah, woah," Jason scrambled up off the ground, "what was that?"

"It's called a picture. I sent it to my friends."

"But... but," he said.

"They think you make a very handsome merman," Cindy grinned.

Jason groaned, and shambled back to his work on the big fourth of july letters.

The rest of the day was thankfully, less wrought with anxiety for her. They had a good dinner, especially since Dad had gone to the effort to make homemade french fries.

Later, Dad and Jason set off the small fountain fireworks they'd gotten. It was the same as it was every year, but Cindy still enjoyed it.

She hoped... she hoped that it would still be the same, even if she was Cindy. Would Christmas feel more awkward in her family if she got a dress? Would her family feel uncomfortable on Halloween if she went in a girly costume to a party?

The idea of being able to do those things excited her. But it also terrified her with the possible fallout. Maybe her family would accept the new her. But then her friends... maybe they wouldn't as much.

Maybe things were only going to get tougher from here on out.