Please make sure you have read “Plain Jane No More” – Parts 1 and 2 before reading this.
Another restless night. Vivid dreams. Glasses dreams. Wonderful dreams! Jane woke up at 6:45 when her mother came into her room to say goodbye. Her parents were going to a conference for 3 days and stopping over. Jane’s Aunt Mary was coming to stay for 3 nights to “baby sit” Jane. This plan was a mixed blessing. Jane could now get dressed in the clothes Linda had lent her, and go to school as Julia – the new Jane, but before she got home she would have to change back into her plain school clothes at Linda’s house before Aunt Mary saw her.
As soon as her parents had left, she put on her glasses and got out of bed. She went into the shower with the glasses still on before she realised it. ‘Oh well, they’ll soon dry,’ she reasoned. Once she was dried, it was time for some serious business – she had the house to herself. On went the new bra, and the matching panties. Then it was the black fishnet tights courtesy of Linda. Next was a pure white blouse and then the short black skirt. She put on her school tie, and left the knot very loose around her neck with the top button open on the blouse. Lastly she topped it all off with a petite black bolero jacket, also from Linda. She put on her good dress shoes which were for special occasions as they had a slight heel and looked good. Her beautiful blonde hair was now dry so she put it up in the high pony tail with a funky multi-coloured band. Then she went into her parents’ bedroom to look at herself in their full-length mirror. “WOW!” she said out loud. “I am gorgeous!” To make herself even more gorgeous, she sparingly applied a little bit of the make-up Linda had given her – blusher, and pale pink lipstick, but left out the eye shadow.
Her journey to school on the bus was uneventful. She was wearing a plain overcoat so she wasn’t too noticeable, but she did recognise a few of the regular travellers, and was amused to see that they didn’t recognise her. In fact, a few of the boys spent the whole journey eyeing her up. At the school gate, she met up with Linda, and they went in together. Unbelievably, no one recognised her, although she did turn quite a few heads. Then when she went into the first class, all hell broke loose. Everybody came up to her to find out if it really was Jane. Every question was fired at her, about the glasses, her hair, her clothes, everything. She was embarrassed at first, but soon went with the flow and enjoyed it all. When the teacher arrived, it was mayhem, and he struggled to restore order. Then he looked over at her and said, “Jane?” “Yes Sir?” she replied. “Is that really you, or do we have a new girl with us this morning?” “Both, Sir!” “Well, I must say, you look very….. very….. umm….. err….. nice!” “Thank you Sir!” “OK class – let’s get down to work.” And that was it. Just like that. She really was starting to feel like Julia now. She was on her way.
At lunchtime, she joined Linda for a school meal in the school café. She virtually had to fight the boys off, and was totally overwhelmed with attention. One of them, a real smarty-pants Australian guy called Bruce (yes, that’s right!) used to be really nasty to her. He came up to her and said, “Hey honey, I’m Bruce. What’s your name? It surely must be Angel!” She thought she would have some fun here. She slid her glasses down her nose and looked at him over them, and she could see the effect that was having on him. “Julia,” she said. “Well, Julia,” Bruce continued, “when they made you, they made a big mistake – they forgot to fit you with wings!” ‘How corny!’ Jane thought. Then Bruce jumped in again with, “Honey, you look just like a naughty librarian. My books are long overdue hun, you’re gonna have to punish me for that. See you later?” “In your dreams!” Jane replied, and went off with her tray, giggling to Linda as they found a table. As they were finishing their meals, Linda said, “Let’s swap glasses – I’d love to try yours.” “OK,” said Jane, and they swapped over. They were aware of everyone watching them. Linda put Jane’s glasses on and said, “Wow! These make everything worse for me – even more blurred, and I’m seeing double too.” Jane tried Linda’s on and immediately felt how strong they were. “Oh boy! Your eyes must be TERRIBLE Linda! How can you see through these? All I can see is colours – all the shapes are a huge blur. And everything’s double. I can get it all to come together if I really force my eyes. You poor thing!” Secretly she was green with envy, and would have just loved to need to wear glasses that strong. She thought Linda was the best friend anyone could ever have, and she would never worry about ever having a boyfriend as long as she had Linda. At that precise moment she felt a warm closeness to her that she had never experienced before. It was nice!
The day passed quickly, and her worst fear never materialised – that was being called to the headmaster’s office and getting a telling off for wearing inappropriate dress to school. Luckily for her, there were already three girls in her class who regularly dressed like hookers, Dolores, Monique, and Pearl. Jane didn’t know what a hooker was, but she thought their names were quite exotic, and there was something naughty about them. Anyway, it was time to go home, and the plan was for Jane to go to Linda’s house and change into her plain school clothes which were there, then go home to Aunt Mary in all innocence! They got to Linda’s house, and then disaster struck.
Linda tried her front door – locked. They went round to the back door – locked too. Then the neighbour spotted them and shouted over, “Your mum and dad had to rush out. Your gran was taken suddenly to hospital and they’ve gone there. You can come into my house until they get back if you like, but they could be late.” “This is a disaster,” Jane said, “I’ve got to be home for teatime. My aunt’s expecting me. And now I can’t get changed.” “We’ll go to your house now,” Linda said. “Come on, this aunt of yours doesn’t frighten me. She’s gonna be told that this is the new Jane – her new niece Julia!”
They got to Jane’s, and Aunt Mary was already there. When they went in, she was totally speechless. She just looked at Jane and said, “Well, I hope your parents know all about this.” Then she pointed to Linda, poked her finger in her chest and said, “This is your fault, my girl. You’re leading her astray.” Linda was ready with an outburst, but Jane silenced her. “Don’t you dare blame Linda,” she said, “this is entirely my own doing, and I’m proud of what I’ve done. I’m fifteen next week and I’m a woman now, in case you haven’t noticed.” She felt terrible being nasty to her aunt. “And the glasses are genuine too before you ask. I need them.”
Linda decided to go and leave them alone. Jane and her aunt had their meal in silence. Then her aunt broke the silence by saying, “Look love, I’m not wanting to fall out with you over this. In fact, the opposite. Can I tell you a secret?” Jane was taken aback, and just said, “Yes.” “When I was your age, I was the same. I was known as ‘plain Mary’. I would have loved to change like you have done but I never had the courage to do it. No boys ever looked at me. I never had a boyfriend, and that’s why I’ve never married. I envy you Jane, and if the truth be known, I applaud you. I’m so proud that you’re my niece and you’re actually doing what I wanted to do all those years ago. Good on you girl!”
Everything was coming together for Jane. She felt just amazing. Little did she know that as time went by, her dream of needing stronger glasses would come true more than she could wish for, and she would become a regular visitor to the optician’s for glasses she could only imagine right now.
To be continued.
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