Chapter 6

Sitting in the DC mall food court Gabe eyed the bags of clothing and shoes sitting beside Maria on the bench like seat. ‘Today is half over and then just two more days till we are flying home. Two days till I am home and this bull can be done with. She spent all of my three hundred dollar voucher and I’m pretty sure she spent more on top of that. I don’t need all…’ He stopped that train of thought and switched mental gears. ‘She just can’t help herself and this time she got to mess with me and steal my money.’

To Maria it looked like the teen girl across from her was lost in thought, but she was sure her brother was just brooding. “Hija.” When Gabriel didn’t shift his attention to her, Maria touch his hand that was held his plastic fork. “Hola?”

Feeling the touch to his hand Gabe jerked his head up, seeing his sister slowly grow a smirk on her face. “Que?” He asked her what, to see what she wanted, his mood dark enough to have said something more pointed, but sitting there in a dress, wearing tall wedge heels didn’t make him feel the most secure.

“¡No uses ese tono conmigo, jovencita! Come tu ensalada y recuerda sonreír. Las chicas guapas como tú siempre deben hacerlo, le permite al mundo saber que eres amigable y feliz" Raising her voice Maria went on a small rant, saying “Don’t take that tone of voice with me missy! Eat your salad and try to remember to smile. Pretty girls like you should always smile, it lets the world know that you are friendly and happy.”

She didn’t believe that girls should always smile and look pretty, the mentality that her mother pushed growing up, though she did enjoy looking her best. So at least some of what her mother wanted stuck, but too often she had heard from jerks that she would be prettier if she just smiled more. It seemed like the right thing to say to her little girly brother when she caught him scowling as he brooded over their purchases.

Making eye contact with his sibling Gabe gave a tiny shake of his head as he **** a small smile to his face, pointing to it to kind of say “See, I’m doing it, happy now?”

Hearing the one sided exchange in Spanish, Becky looked between the school's theater teacher and her daughter. “Everything okay?” Feeling like there was some tension there.

“Oh yes.” Maria answered, waving her hand with a roll of her wrist. “My little Gabriella gets lost in thought from time to time and I was reminding her to eat her lunch. I just think she can’t wait to wear that pretty dress you bought her. Is there anything we can do to thank you?”

Rebecca had a concerned look on her face, but it morphed into something much happier. “If Gabby likes it, then that is thanks enough. She was in need and…” the teenager touched Gabby on the wrist, giving her arm a light squeeze before pulling her hand back. “I wanted her to feel welcome.” While what she said was true, Becky wasn’t without an ulterior motive. She wanted to make friends with the sky girl, often feeling like an outcast herself. She couldn’t stand how some of the other girls were treating her, but also hoped she wasn’t coming on too strong.

“Aww.” The teacher said, her eyes moving back to her feminized brother. “Gabriella, what do you say to your friend?”

His mind moving to the dress in the bag, a student buying him a dress to wear was worse than his sister doing it with his own money. Made only worse by the controlling vaca perra wanting him to thank her for it. Him using one of his favorite insults for Maria, calling her a cow and adding the ever descriptive word bitch to it. Opening his mouth to toss out a quick thank you, his mouth went dry. The idea of vocalizing his enjoyment of it or the situation making him think he was going to get an ulcer. With him opening his mouth and then closing it Maria spoke up once more to poke him.

“In English sweetie.”

With a deep breath in, feeling the straps on the bra pulling on his skin Gabe felt it much more difficult to keep that stupid smile on his face, but it held. “Thank you for the, ahhh…” His pretty makeup enhanced eyes looked up and to the side as he thought about how the fake character he was playing was supposed to talk, unintentionally making it seem like he was searching for the right words. “Like, pretty dress.”

“When you wear the dress later I have to get a photo of the two of you together.” Maria said not having to hide her glee in the slightest. She wasn’t sure why, but Gabe was a misogynist. Growing up with two women would make her think he would be better than most men, not just as bad or worse. So as bad as this situation could get, Maria got immense amusement from it.

The field trip had a tour of the white house later today, then a much fancier dinner for all the kids, and with the way her brother had been acting she wasn’t sure he knew at all about the upscale dining the group was going to do. At this point she had her doubts that he read through the field trips itinerary when he couldn’t even set up a wake up call to the hotel room.

Then there was the fact that it wasn’t like he was going to have his own room tonight, so she had to get him into the pajamas she had grabbed. Considering he didn’t protest, and he seemed to be constantly ready to do so on the little shopping trip, she was sure he hadn’t noticed her grabbing them. Then tomorrow they were going to be spending all day at the Smithsonian. She needed at least three different color coordinated outfits, plus shoes to go with them. Those stylish white straps she got for dinner would just not match the adorable skirt and camisole she got him for the museum. Seeing him stumble in them while her pretend daughter’s new friend encouraged the fake girl made it all so much better.

This little side quest had been fun, for her at least and it reminded Maria of how she used to go to the mall like this with Gabe when their mother was working a triple shift. He would throw such a tantrum about not having his Mama around, and he hated her cooking. Not like she could help it, she was only sixteen. Even if their mother did make her help her in the kitchen, she would overcook or undercook the chicken, and beans were always burnt.

She’s definitely gotten much better over time, Maria didn’ think she was some chef, but a long way from burning things to the bottom of a pot or pan. One of her creations she was most proud of was her homemade beef burritos, but back then, spoiled little Gabriel couldn’t stand any of her cooking. Even when she thought she had pulled off a properly cooked meal instead of just making boxed mac n cheese her sibling was unhappy and vocal about it.

The mall was a safe, mutual ground for the two of them to go eat together. Of course, what Gabe didn’t know that their mother never gave her money for those dinners. Money had always been tight growing up and with their mother often working multiple jobs it was often left up to Maria to watch her sibling. “Just use what we have in the kitchen, I’m not made of money!” So she’d end up spending her allowance on dinner instead.

Blinking a few times to clear away her thoughts of the past Maria turned her attention to her current charges. Watching the kids in the group comparing new ipods that they just got at the mall today, before her mind dragged her back to memories of the past back to when she had to explain to her friends at school that she couldn’t go and buy the new Britney Album because she had to spend all her money buying Gabe a pizza from the food court the the previous day.

She looked back at Gabe as he fidgeted trying to eat the large bowl of salad in small bites like he had been directed. When she saw the scowl back on his face, apparently not appreciating all the help she had given him, she made eye contact with him. His brown-amber eyes looked so cute and doll like with the makeup she had put on him. Maria tapped the corners of her lips as she smiled brightly. When he mimicked the smile, his scowl vanishing she sighed considering everything that transpired was all the more reason to continue punishing him.

Eventually, everyone finished up and Samuel Banks stood up and gathered everyone before leading the group all back to the bus to head over to their next stop, a tour at the White House.

The walk to the bus felt uncomfortable for Gabe, the shoes he was wearing were around the same height as the block heels he had been wearing, these seemed to distribute his weight across his entire foot. Even if he was still walking with his foot at an angle. Making them better, but still not a good option for footwear.

Everything he wore now was technically his own, complete with his own padded and stuffed bra to keep the illusion he had the same size chest as his milk cow of a sister and considering she was three inches taller it only made the expanded chest of the dress he wore that much more noticeable. The fact that he had his own feminine wardrobe, small as it was, created its own mental weight.

Getting up into the bus and making sure to keep his legs together so that no one saw the panties he wore he looked out the window wishing that stupid maid or the girl at the airport hadn’t screwed him over like this. A smile still on his face, an effort made to keep his sister and pretend mother from scolding him again. ‘Not going to give her the opportunity to talk down to me again if I can help.’ He told himself, only noticing that Becky had once again sat down next to him. ‘Why does she keep following me?’

“Hey, I was kinda thinking…” Becky hesitated. “Since we are going to be friends and all…’ She hesitated once more, exploring the Latina girl’s face for a sign that she had read things wrong. “I was wondering if you could teach me a little Spanish?” When Gabby didn’t respond, but still looked happy it gave her the courage to press on. “Lets start with something small, I mean… how do you say the word mom?”

‘She wants a Spanish lesson and wants to be my friend… hurray for me.’ He thought sarcastically.

The trip deeper into DC for the next tour didn’t take long, in fact waiting in line took longer. Each passing minute Gabe felt like he was going to be exposed, his heart hammering in his chest. Trying to distract himself he turned to his little follower… well she was slightly taller than him if he hadn’t been **** into the heels, so little wasn’t a great descriptor for the dark haired teen girl. Pointing to the metal gate he identified it for her. “This is puerta, a gate.”

Nodding, Becky craned her neck past the group ahead of them and pointed to it then the fence they were next to. “Gate, okay. That is a gate, this is a fence.” She then pointed to the same thing Gabby had just indicated was a gate. “How do you say fence?”

Pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth before then touching it to the back of his teeth the dress wearing man felt the anxiety he was trying to distract himself from in full ****. He had screwed up, in a tiny way but it was him who called people out on their mistakes. This blue eyed teen wasn’t supposed to be able to say “Hey the gate is over there, this is a fence, how stupid can you be?” While those words didn’t come out of her mouth, it was what it felt like. “Cerca, fence is Cerca.”

Distracting himself the best he could while feeling the wind blowing across his exposed hairless legs the group made their way inside and instantly something important occurred to Gabe when he saw the first student be handed their guest pass for the tour. There was a new wall, a solid stone wall at that in their plan.

Taking a few steps, one foot in front of the other, his rear swaying as he did so Gabe tugged on Maria’s skirt to pull her behind the class. “No estoy en el itinerario. No me dejarán entrar.” Worried he spoke in Spanish to say they weren’t going to let him in because he wasn't on the itinerary. The principle, Mr Banks’s ears perked up at the mention of an itinerary, even if he didn’t know Spanish, that word translated pretty well.

“Everything ok over here?” He walked up and placed his hand on Gabriella’s shoulder as he tried to reassure her. A lot of her nervousness seemed to go away as she interacted with the students at the mall. She hadn’t said more than a few words on their first tour and now it seemed she had made a friend. Seeing her smiling at lunch made him feel like she was going to be fine, but now she seemed worried.

The problem was the man’s towering presence and massive hands only worked to remind Gabe how tiny and feminine he felt currently and only magnified in his presence. Not wanting to be touched he went to push his hand away, but the second his fingers touch the larger man’s hand Gabe could feel the warmth of his flesh. He was so much larger than him, covered is muscle it made him pause as he compared the size of his own hand next to his. Leaving his hand just lightly touching Samuel’s hand with a lingering touch. A touch missed by most, but misinterpreted by any he did see the interaction.

Seeing her sibling freeze up once more Maria jumped in to cover for him. “The White House was expecting a Gabriel, not a Gabriella. She doesn’t think they’ll let her in.” Maria explained. With how close Sam was standing to both of them she couldn’t help smile in his direction. ‘He has an easy smile, and seems to really care about the students.’

When Samuel saw the pretty hispanic woman smiling in his direction he couldn't help himself and his small smile bloomed into something grander. Maria DeLeon made him happy and really hoped he could get to know her more, but reminded himself he shouldn’t initiate or try to, there was a power dynamic line here he shouldn't cross. ‘Still… she is awfully pretty and…’ He shook his head, redirecting his thoughts away from the woman he felt captivated by, but having to mentally harden himself or at least try when he thought he saw a blush growing on her cheeks. The two of them looking at one another, it felt like one of those moments. ‘Focus Sam, need to help her daughter.’

A pause happened in the conversation, one that could have been thought of as awkward, or would if Gabe bothered to notice as he was too wrapped up in a million things that might happen. Would they realize there’s no Gabriella Grace DeLeon and leave him outside? Alone in DC with no ID? Would they identify him as an illegal immigrant and send him to ICE? This wasn’t just a museum or a mall, this was the white house. Or maybe they’d expose him as a man to the Principle, he’d lose his job, he’d lose his teaching license, he might even get put on a registry?

Collecting himself, Banks just gave them all what he hoped was a reassuring smile before speaking. “Don’t worry, I got this.” He then gave a wink to the teen girl before wishing he hadn’t done that. ‘Girl already has a crush on you, best not encourage that.’ A little wink changed a conversation, it often made people more at ease as anyone willing to do it tend to come across as confident, something he did his best to project.

The confidence in his smile and that wink while odd somehow infected Gabe and genuinely made him believe he’d be alright. ‘Thank the Lord, maybe he is just going to let me go back to the bus.’ That was when he felt the man’s large hand touch his back as the large man guided both himself and his sister over to one of the desks checking in people.

“Name?” The older woman said as she looked at the trio over the rim of her thick glasses. To Sam she looked like a person with what people called a resting bitch face, but was making an effort to be friendly. Gabe was about to speak, but didn’t get a chance as the schools new principal spoke up first.

“Grabriela DeLeon.” The lady behind the desk looked it over on a piece of paper that listed all the students.

“Hmm, she doesn’t seem to be he-” Before she could finish her rejection Samuel’s finger made a beeline for the name Gabriel DeLeon next to the other teachers. “Oh, I’m sorry, someone in records must have miss-typed that as a teacher, I can have that squared away very quickly.” Gabe was shocked at how easy it was. No social security checks, no passports, no forms of identification. Just a typo and a misplaced position and they believed he was a student.

Soon enough, Gabe’s wedges clicked away on the marble floor as he followed in line with the other students. The tour guide led them to various paintings hanging on the wall and began telling them about the history of the building.

“-now the place has gone through several renovations. One time the White House was even burned to the ground and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Tell me, does anyone know who was President at this time?”

There were murmurs among the students as they all tried to figure it out. Gabe wasn’t sure of the answer, he enjoyed some history but it wasn’t his subject. He had looked up some factoids about the White House to test the students, but with all the stress he was under even those things he looked up ahead of time was not currently present in his mind. He did hear one of thes students say something about the year eighteen fourteen, but he just couldn’t find the answer. Making it all the worse with what happened next.

Out of nowhere though, he felt two hands on his back shove him forward, nearly causing him to fall over and twist his leg. Trying to keep his balance, he realized he had just stepped forward to answer the question. He stepped back, but the tour guide was already looking eagerly at him.

“Eh, no por-” He started to say.

“Oh come on Gabby! Don’t be shy! You’re the smartest in our class!” He recognized the voice as the girl from before who was humiliating him on the bus. She snickered with a friend of hers as Gabe stood terrified, like a deer in the headlights with an oncoming car. The blonde girl with her little braid in her hair was despicable. He was a grown man and she had made him feel so small on the bus. A grown man in borrowed clothes from teen girls, he wanted no one to so much as glance at him, but she drew everyone’s attention. Now this… he was a teacher, hell he had this girl as one of his own students and people were looking to him… her for an answer. No phone to look up the answer, no teacher's edition of a textbook to find out what he needed to know and no time. “Ahh was it the aww, the President? He said his mind going blank as he was put on the spot.

Quickly though, saving him from more embarrassment, a voice called out from the group. “Uh, was it James Madison?” He turned to see Becky from earlier holding her hand up in the group of kids. This pulled the guide’s attention while some of the students snickered and laughed. Him able to hear the student, Sarah, mocking him.

“What President was in the White House when it burned down? Oh, I don’t know was it the President?” Turning his back to the girl and hopefully everyone Gabe could feel his face burning as a large blush came to his face from the shame. ‘I should have known that… I should have… I should have just said…’ His thoughts were interrupted when he felt yet another person touching him. Instead of a hard shove, or a giant hand clamping on him he felt a small slender and land gently on his shoulder before hearing Becky speak in a soft voice.

“Ignore them, it isn’t like they would know who the President of Mexico was, let alone actually knowing the answer to this question. Sarah can be such a bitch, don’t worry Gabby, I got your back.”

The tour group from Nevada continued their tour. Gabe feeling grateful for Becky saving him from an avalanche of embarrassment instead of just the mountain of it that loomed over him, but was humiliated by the knowledge that he had to be saved by a teenage girl who knew more than him. Telling a student to sit down and shut up, writing them up, marking down a test because of back talk. Those were things he did, but he couldn’t do that right now, no one saw Mr. DeLeon, one of the school's math teachers, they saw a quiet teen girl. It wasn’t even like he could try to assert his authority, because all that would do was put him in some serious life changing danger.

Gabe rushed back to the end of the group to avoid further mishaps and kept his head down the rest of the tour. During a water break, he spotted Maria pulling the girl who pushed him. She was too far away to hear what she was saying, but Gabe saw his sister's expression. It was a similar one he saw on their mom before it was time for a spanking.

Sam Banks walked up behind Gabriella with a stern look as he watched on. “I don’t tolerate bullying of any kind. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure Sarah leaves you alone.” There was something about the way he spoke that made Gabe feel both small, but safe. It was like that looming mountain of trouble was still there, but he had a fire and shelter. Like he was being protected from the elements. But this feeling of safety shattered when he realized that he needed to be protected from an eighteen year old girl. The shame was intense. Made only worse by the fact that the protection would vanish and become an overbearing obstacle in his life and safety if his new boss found out who he actually was.

By the end of the tour, all in their seats back on the bus, the students saw Mr Banks stand up in the front and project his voice. “Alright class! You were all on your best behavior, so to reward all of you, I have a surprise. The reason you had been told to bring your best outfits with you on this trip was because I managed to snag us reservations at -The Beaf Haus-, a rather fancy restaurant if I do say so myself, that serves exquisite German cuisine. Be ready to have the best sausage you’ve ever had!”

The rest of class looked at the man a little confused, though Maria looked on with a healthy dose of skepticism. When you imagine fine-dining, they all typically thought of French or Italian food. Wine and Spaghetti, or a nice steak. But the school's principal had such a wide, proud grin on his face like he’d pulled the impossible that no one seemed to have the heart to tell him they weren’t excited. Maria stood up and clapped which made the man grow a healthy blush as he realized his eagerness was a bit over the top and sat down, telling the driver to start going down various roads to get to the hotel so they could all change into their fancy clothes.

At the hotel, everyone was directed to one of the conference rooms, every one except Maria and Gabriella. Being excused to take care of her new clothing. Sam turned to his fellow chaperone. “You go get your daughter settled and can start getting ready for tonight. I’m going to have them all do an outline with what they learned today.”

Happy to get away from the teenagers, Gabe let out a long sigh as he leaned on the wall inside the elevator. “This can’t be over fast enough, my feet are killing me.”

Turning one of her feet to the side, Maria bounced her foot in it’s sneaker. She had worn some cute pumps on the plane, but was able to admit to herself that she should have worn sneakers even then. “Hija, you should have brought comfortable shoes to walk in instead of only thinking about looking cute.”

Opening his mouth, Gabe closed it, much like many times today when he almost said something he shouldn’t. “Yes, Mama, that is what I should have done.” He said in a syrupy sweet voice. Gabe had forgotten about the nice dinner and he couldn’t really see a way out of tonight without her. “Do you think…” He tried to give his sister a pleading look. “I can just stay in the room while you all go out? I can just get some room service and…”

The sweet voice wasn’t fooling Maria, so she cut that off. “Gabriella, we have plenty of pretty outfits for you to wear tonight. I got a few extra things to help you look pretty as can be. You are going to get dressed up like the rest of the students and enjoy yourself.” Soon as she said it she saw the fake happy smile on his face turn back into a scowl. “Smile Hija, pretty girls smile.”

Taking a half a stomping step forward, no longer leaning on the wall Gabe pointed his finger at his sister. “Daughter, daughter, daughter. It is just the two of us here, I’m not some air headed girl that wants to go put on a pretty dress. I’m going to go back into my room, you tell everyone I have a stomach bug or whatever and moving forward you will…”

“Gabriella Grace DeLeon!” Maria raised her voice to yell over him. It wasn’t overly loud, compared to him speaking in the feminine voice she had made him practice. Saying the full feminine name only seemed to ignite that stubborn fire her brother had, but she continued. “You have to share that room if you remember that, don’t you little girl? No, that isn’t what we will be doing and you won't be giving me any directives. You are a teenage girl, and will listen to the adults on this trip. If you get lippy with me again I will…”

She paused remembering how often her mother used corporal punishment on her, and hardly ever on her little baby. Corporal punishment didn’t feel like the right way to go with raising a child, but right now she wished her mother was more even handed with how she delt out the spankings and the use of her wooden spoon. If Gabe had the same discipline then who knows where they would be now, mostly likely not here with him in a dress pretending to be her daughter. Her own rage wasn’t boiling, but this mess and him acting high and mighty was starting the process. “You know what, I think when we go back to the room I’m going to take you over my lap and spank you like an unruly child.”

“What!? Don’t be fucking ridiculous!” The higher octave of his voice moving something much closer to his natural voice.

“I think you need to be punished, and you should never be using that kind of language Gabriella. You need to know your place and if I can’t punish you because you are a teacher.” Maria paused, turning to the elevator door and hit the stop button, causing the elevator to come to a halt. “That just means I will have to let Sam know the truth and we will see what he does with you.” It was a lie, with the part she had played already her head would be on the chopping block to, but threats didn’t always have to be true to be effective.

Mouth twisting, Gabe took a few steps back, pacing in the small room, giving his sister glances. “I hate you, you know that, right?”

Putting one hand on her hip Maria nodded, giving him a scowl. “I didn’t think you would choose that option, but so be it.”

“No! No, no, no… please no.” Gabe said as he reached over to stop his sister from pushing the button again to return the elevator to motion. “I will ahh, I will go to dinner, no problem. It's just. Maira this is hard, real hard.”

“You messed up, like you do and I’m stuck helping you. So if we are going to continue you are going to do as you are told. Clear?” She already saw the defeat on his face and it was thrilling. She recalled them fighting once for days on end and now he crumpled under a threat that if he was actually thinking clearly he would know it would backfire on her if carried out.

“Whatever you need, I just can’t, I mean Maria, Banks will call the cops on me. You can’t… no. Whatever you need, just not that.”

The willingness was going to be short lived, Maria was sure of it, but at the second she had him in a tough spot. So she was going to take advantage of it now and get something else to hold over his head. Pulling out her cell phone from her purse she pointed it at her brother. “If it is anything, then I want you to smile, look happy. My Gabriella is a happy girl. Then she.” Maria let go of the bags in her other hand and pointed to her dress wearing brother. Are going to tell me your full name, going to say that you love me, refer to me as Mommy. You are going to promise to be a good girl for me and… because I’m not done. You are going to ask me to help you look pretty as a picture for tonight.”

‘The fuck!’ He thought, knowing that they couldn’t stay in the elevator long, someone was going to notice, if they hadn’t already that the elevator was stopped. “My name is Gabriella Grace DeLeon and your my Mommy and I love…”

“No, you just don’t sound or look happy Gabriella, do you want to try again?”

Smiling brightly he started again. “I’m Gabriella Grace DeLeon and I love you, my Mommy a bunch, like a super bunch!” Every word felt like he was cutting into a piece of himself and it wasn’t like he wasn’t aware of the camera pointed at him right then and there. ‘She is going to hold this over my head, but I will get her back ten fold for this shit.’ Keeping the toothy happy smile in place he continued. “I promise I will be a good girl for you, but I was hoping that you could help me look pretty tonight. I want to look pretty as a picture, just like you!”

Stopping the recording Maria touched her hand to her chest. “That was so sweet of you hija. Come give me a hug and we can be on our way.”