Andrew is 17 years old, he is about to finish high school and is looking to go to college far from home since he finds his hometown kind of boring. He is not good at making new friends, so he just keeps hanging with the same 2 girls that have been his friends since pre school, Kim and Gaby.





Andrew’s life changed on what was just supposed to be another boring day, the school was going to have a world fair, so students had to work in teams to make the pavilion of every country. As always Andrew, Kim and Gaby decided to be in the same team, but since it was a team of 4, another girl joined them, Sarah. Andrew had a huge crush on Sarah, so he felt a bit uncomfortable that she was in the team, but also a bit excited to spend some time with her.



They met after school at Gaby’s house to start the work, Gaby had insisted on them selecting Spain as her mom from there, and she had spent several summers visiting family there, so it was going to be easy to set up everything. They were all gathered in Gaby’s room, Andrew was sitting on the desktop, scrolling through Wikipedia trying to memorize any interesting tidbit about the country, meanwhile Gaby was showing Kim and Sarah her family photos of past trips to Spain. “That was my cousin’s wedding” Gaby said while pointing at a picture.



“Oh my god, you look so pretty” Sarah said, taking the picture in her hands to see it closer “Those dresses are amazing”.



“Those are the traditional flamenco dresses” Gaby said, holding another picture for them to see all of her cousins wearing them. “I have mine, and my mom should have also one or two more, maybe we can wear them for the fair”.



Without Andrew noticing, they already had gone to Gaby’s mom's closet, came back with a couple of dresses. “I think that we both can wear my mom’s dresses with heels, my old one is a bit shorter” Gaby said to Kim while holding one of her mother’s dresses in front of her.



“I’ll wear the shorter one” Sarah said while admiring the red flamenco dress.



“So what are you wearing Andrew?” Kim said laughing “A matador suit?”.



Andrew turned back and just nodded at the image of the three girls looking at the dresses and turning the project into a Spanish fashion show.



“I’ll be a foreign student in Spain,” He said jokingly.



“You’re the one who has actually learned all the stuff from Spain” said Sarah “You have to dress up too, because they’ll see us dressed and ask us stuff and we won't know a thing, maybe Gaby, but not me or Kim”



“Well, you could also do research you know?” Andrew said to Sarah.



She rolled her eyes at him, and Kim laughed, she could tell Andrew wanted to make a good impression with Sarah, but was doing a terrible job right now since Sarah now looked annoyed at Andrew, so she jumped in.



“I’m sure Andrew will make cue cards for you and me so that we also have stuff to say to the visitors at the pavilion” Kim said “Right, Andrew? You will help us?”



“Sure, I’ll help you” Andrew said begrudgingly but noticing what Kim was trying to do.





“Ok, but also have to be dressed up” Sarah insisted.





“I’ll be a matador then”





“No, now I think you should be the one who wears this dress” Sarah said holding the red dress she had selected for herself”.



Kim and Gaby laughed frantically. “That would be perfect” Gaby said laughing “With a bit of makeup I’m sure we can turn you into a pretty Spanish girl”.



“Ha ha, so funny” said Andrew.



Sarah could tell she had pissed Andrew now, and she didn’t want to back down “Don’t get mad Andrew, I only said that because I thought you would like the idea, since you let your hair grow long and you only hang with girls, I thought you maybe were a bit feminine”



Andrew was now about to explode. “It’s just a joke Andrew, come on” Kim said, getting closer to him and putting an arm on his shoulder to calm him down, he did, he realized Sarah was getting what she wanted by angering him so the smart thing to do was to not let her get to his nerves. So he took a deep breath and said “It’s ok, it is a compliment for me to be considered feminine, nothing bad in that”.



“Such a feminist” Sarah said laughing “So you’ll wear the dress then?”



“I would, but I think people will get distracted by the fact that it is a guy in a dress the one giving the presentation” He said, he was now more calmed, but still challenging Sarah, they both seemed to be doing a passive aggressive bit.



“Oh don’t worry about that, no one will be able to tell you’re a guy once we are done with your makeup” Sarah insisted.



“Please let’s do it, please Andrew” Gaby either wasn’t catching what was going on, or she just didn’t care, but she was now on Sarah’s side wanting to get Andrew to do the world fair as a girl.



Andrew turned to see Kim, who was now trying to hide a smile, mostly she was laughing at Gaby who was now collecting her makeup kit, “A little bit of makeup won’t hurt” she said trying to convince him. “We’ll see how you look and then you can decide if you want to go to the fair like that”



He rolled his eyes, there was nowhere to run now. “Ok then”.



Gaby was the most excited one, and she began working on Andrew right away with foundation, then she did his eyes, eyeliner with a perfectly winged line, a bit of mascara and Sarah came with a pink lipstick. “This shade will suit your skin tone perfectly” Sarah said trying to make him more uncomfortable.



Gaby went to her closet “I have a wig from my costume last halloween, you’ll look better with it than with your own hair”. She came back with a braided red hair wig and placed it on Andrews head.



Kim couldn’t help but laugh, we looked silly with the wig on. Gaby brought him to the mirror and he also couldn’t help but laugh, they had done a great job but you still could tell he was a guy in makeup.



“Ok so we agree I don’t make a good girl?” Andrew said.



“I actually think you do, maybe heavier makeup could help and also wearing the dress” Sarah said.



“We tried, it didn’t work” Andrew insisted



“Ok ok, but let me take a selfie with you like this” Sarah said taking out her phone.



Andrew accepted just to end it since she seemed pleased now. “Ok’ let’s make a bet” Sarah said as she took the picture “If it gets over a hundred likes you do the world fair in the flamenca dress”



“No way” Andrew said “Every photo you post gets over a hundred likes”



“A thousand!” Gaby screamed



“Ok a thousand then” Sarah said “What do you say Andrew?”





“Ok, i’ll do it” he said, thinking it was impossible the photo got over even 200 likes





Next day was a Saturday, the world fair was on Monday. Andrew was at his house making the cue cards when he got a message on his phone “You have to see this”. It was Kim sending him a Instagram link, the photo had gone over a thousand likes.







“I won’t do it” said Andrew on the phone. On the other side of the line was Kim “I already talked to her, she won’t make you do it, she had her fun already”



“Ok, she’s not that mean then” Andrew said.



Monday came and everyone was setting up their pavilions at the school’s parking lot. Sarah was nowhere to be seen as Andrew, Kim and Gaby set up theirs.



“I can’t believe her, she won’t even help us set up the pavilion” Andrew said.



Gaby’s phone rang, it was Sarah she was sick and wasn’t going to attend school that day.



“I’ll kill her” Andrew said “It was all set up for us to have 3 Spanish hosts at the pavilion, I already gave the judges our presentation sheet”



“Chill, you can do it in her place” Kim said “She may really be sick, you know?”





“Ok then” Andrew said



“So you’ll wear the dress?” Gaby said excited. “No of course not, I’ll do it as me” He said angrily at the suggestion.



“Boo you whore” Gaby said quoting Mean Girls. Kim just laughed at them



As they finished setting up the pavilion and were leaving for the girls to get changed into their dresses, the judges made an announcement through the loudspeakers “As a surprise prize, the pavilion that best represents their country will receive an all paid trip to that country”. Everyone started screaming, all of the students were super excited at the news, all but Andrew.



“Fuck, that would have been a great, to win the trip” Andrew said to his friends.



“We can win, why do you say that?” Kim said



“I already gave the judges our presentation, I told you” Andrew said “We won’t win now it isn’t as written”



“Then do it as Andrea!” Gaby screamed now almost glowing with excitement.



“No, come on, it will be ridiculous” Andrew said



“It might give us a shot at winning, Andrew, it can be worth it” Kim said

“Now you too?” Andrew was surprised, Kim seemed to be the only one on his side about all of that.



“Well, I would love to visit Spain, wouldn’t you?” Kim said



“This really sucks” Andrew said “I’ll do it”



They put him on the dress, fitted him a bra and Gaby did his makeup, now with a matte red lipstick. His hair was tied back as that was the look. The final touch for their looks was a huge flower on top of their heads as the traditional flamencas.



“Something’s missing” Gaby said admiring her work. “I know!” she said as she ran for her bag, she had brought a full bunch of accessories to complete their looks, she pulled out some earrings “This might hurt a bit” she said and in before he could say anything she had stroked a needle through his left ear.



“Ouch! What?! Why?!” Andrew screamed “How are you carrying a needle?”



“I thought it might be needed for something, and it was” Gaby said laughing



“My god, you really are enjoying this” Andrew said “Go on, do the other one, too late to back down”



The look was done and he was someone else now, Gaby had done way better this time and you could really see a girl instead of Andrew. The funny thing was that since his feet didn’t fit in the heels, he looked shorter than his two friends. They went back and began receiving guests at the pavilion, very soon Andrew had even forgotten the whole thing and was fully into his role as a host, he received the judges and introduced himself as Andrea from Andalucía, the judges were delighted at his expertise.



“So we did good, didn’t we?” Andrew said to his friends as the judges were back at her table now making the final decision.





“We? You did!” Kim said “You were great as Andrea”.



“Yes! For a moment I even forgot it was you” Gaby said “You looked more like any of my Spanish cousins than like Andrew”.



He just laughed, “It was the adrenaline I guess or something, it possessed me, but can’t wait to go back to my clothes and take off the makeup”.



The judges stood up and started their announcement “You all did great work, we are really proud of you kids, but the team that will win the trip is: Kim James, Gabriella Hughes-Silva, Sarah Miller and Andrea Carter, this girls are winning a week long trip to Spain with all expenses paid”



They were jumping in an instant, the three friends hugged each other.



“We did it girls” Andrew said joyously, his smile so wide.



“You did it Andrea, thanks!” Gaby said hugging her friend “You’ll meet my family”



Andrew didn’t even paid attention at him being called Andrea now twice, it was all joy until Sarah appeared in front of their pavilion



“Oh my god you guys! Sorry for missing out” Sarah said as she stood in front of them



“What? Weren’t you sick?” Andrew said getting a bit angry



“I was, my parents brought a doctor to see me, and a couple of pills later I’m here” Sarah said.



Andrew didn’t really believe her story but was too excited to start an argument about it, also the school photographer was coming now to take their picture for the school journal. The four of them lined up and posed for the picture, Andrew could help to smile awkwardly thinking about how now he was being photographed twice in a couple of days as a girl, this wasn’t good.