The Street Festival: How A Wallflower Became The Hero

Chapter 9

Martina moved away from the disbursing concert crowd, and headed around the other side of the town square. From behind her, she could hear a man announcing the next performers on the stage, would be a bluegrass band at the top of the next hour, then the annual Womanless Pageant, and the famous annual Lakeview pecan pie eating contest following that.

The delicious smell of flame broiled burgers, BBQ ribs, bratwurst, peppers and onions, funnel cakes, and kettle corn cooking nearby filled the air as Martina continued to walk.

A gentle autumn breeze blew across her sheer hose encased legs, causing a pleasant sensation that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a warmth to travel through her body.

Martina smiled as she took a seat on a nearby bench and began to people watch. She paid particular attention to the females, how they carried themselves, their mannerisms, their hair, and their clothes.

She took note of how different she felt presenting as a girl and how she felt more at ease, and less fearful of someone wanting to attack her, very much unlike how she normally felt.

Pretty soon she became lost in her thoughts as she contemplated everything that had happened to her since she left home this morning and how surprisingly well it had gone so far.

The one thing that had affected her the most was the way a bunch of teenage strangers had welcomed her into their group and treated her as someone worthy of friendship. She had seriously never experienced that before as Marty, and it made her feel wonderful.

The fact that these teens had treated her as a girl, completely unaware that she's not, wasn't lost on Martina either.

When Marty had first got the idea to disguise himself as a girl, he had theorized that life could easily be better if only he were a girl. The more Martina thought about it, the more she believed today was proving that theory to be absolutely true.

Part of the reason Marty chickened out and reverted to his same old nerdy self on the first day of school, was because he had decided just trying to look and act different wouldn't be enough. He had hypothesized that it would take a change so different from his current self, something as complete as actually swapping genders in order for him to truly escape who he was and be accepted by his peers.

And now, Martina thought her interaction with those teens at the concert proved that hypothesis correct.

Martina felt intoxicated by the acceptance she had just experienced and her confidence level sored higher than ever.

She stood up, looked around, and then headed toward a food stall, selling shaved ice treats. She crossed the street with a bounce in her step, a big smile on her face, and a confidence unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

Moments later, with a wedding cake flavored shaved ice treat in hand, Martina meandered down the street, checking out the booths and attractions, completely enraptured by the knowledge that no one who saw her knew or even suspected she was anything other than the girl she appeared to be. She especially enjoyed when a passing person would look down at her legs then all the way up to her face, checking out the pretty girl they were walking past.

Martina continued to wander, all the way to the far end of the festival, before turning to cut through the park where all the carnival rides had been set up, before heading back around toward the square.

She stopped several times to observe people having a blast on the ferris wheel, double ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, bumper cars, tagada, pirate ship,a kiddy coaster, and various other twisting, turning, spinning rides. She watched other people playing carnival games, trying to win oversized stuffed animals and other prizes.