The Broken Tradition

Alex was born into a very prominent family. It was a tradition for the men in the Stephens family to attend college at Yale. Alex had been under a lot of pressure from his father to produce a letter of acceptance from Yale. Alex understood that Yale was quite an honor, but at the same time, he had no desire to attend Yale. An arts school in the mid-west caught his attention a few years ago. It was the school he had planned to attend, even if it was without his fathers blessing. When he told his father of the school he wanted to attend the two of them had a long hairy fight.

Alex's determination was not to be forgone. With two years until graduation, Alex had a chance to plan his trip to the school. Knowing his father would go searching for him when he was gone for too long, Alex recruited one of his friends to help him out in his plan. Shannon was quite intrigued by the idea, thus offering any help she could. On nights that Alex knew his parents would be out for a while, he would head to Shannon's house and there they went over the plan. There was a lot of preparation to go through in the next two years.

Alex over the next two years started funneling his allowance into a separate account that his family knew nothing about. During his senior year at high school, Alex applied for a scholarship at the school and listed Shannon's address for the acceptance letter to come to.

The next few weeks were nearly unbearable for Alex. He so desperately wanted to get into only one school in the nation. Finally the day came that Shannon called him to let him know he had a letter at her house. When he got there, Shannon's mom answered the door. Although she had seen him many times, she barely recognized him.

Alex took the letter hoping that all his hard work over the last two years would not have been in vain. He could not stand the idea that he had not been accepted to the school of his choice. Shannon seemed to know what he was thinking at the same time. She egged him on to open the letter, it was the only way to find out for sure. As she watched him read the letter and the smile spread across his face, she too knew that their efforts had not been a waste.

It was only a couple of days later that Alex received a letter from Yale letting him know that he had been accepted there too. Though he did not intend to go to Yale, he put on a show for his father. He was finally able to show his excitement about attending college. His entire family thought that he was happy about getting accepted to Yale, and that was the impression he wanted them to have. His father did pass the comment though that he could at least cut his hair and look more presentable.

Packing up his car, and saying his good bye's to his family, Alex drove straight to Shannon's house. At Shannon's house he grabbed all of his stuff he had left there. He had so much at Shannon's that he had to leave some of his stuff from his house there. She put it away for him so that he could be on his way. Alex had to arrive at school a few days earlier than the rest of the students. He needed to speak to the Dean. He needed to finish setting up his plans.

When Alex got near the school, he picked up a newspaper and went over the classified ads. He had to find a place to live that was close to campus, yet allow him total privacy. He would not be living in a dormitory; or in any of the other housings on campus, such as a fraternity. It took several hours and nearly four pots of coffee at one of the local diners, before he found the perfect place. When he got to the residence, there was a lady that answered the door. She was in his best guestimate, around the age of 30-35. Alex knew he would have to explain his plan to her incase she should pop in for a surprise visit. The explanation took but a few minutes, and Ms. Taylor understood quite well. They sat and shared a pot of coffee chatting, and going over the rules of tenants. Before Ms. Taylor left, Alex paid her cash for the first year. Ms. Taylor said she was willing to do a rent to own arrangement after the first year when he had offered to pay all four years at once.

Ms. Taylor gave Alex his keys for the house. It really was a nice place now that he was looking around and moving his stuff in. He nearly had all of his stuff put away where he could do so, and looked around before deciding he needed to furnish it to his own taste. Ms. Taylor really didn't have much in the house to begin with, mainly just appliances. There were a few pieces of furniture, but nothing that really went with anything else. Alex picked up his phone and called Ms. Taylor to let her know of his intentions. He wanted to find out what to do with the stuff that was in the house.

When he was told to just leave it in the garage, and a furniture company would come pick it up on the following Monday, he jumped in the shower, shaved and got dressed for a trip out to get furnishings.

As luck would have it, the furniture store that Alex chose was the same one that Ms. Taylor let know to pick up furniture on Monday. When he had finished his shopping he decided that Monday would be a good day for delivery. They would be able to drop off the new stuff, and pick up the old stuff at the same time.

Alex went back to his house and settled in for the night. As he hadn't had a chance to have cable hooked up yet, he set up the DVD player and put in one of his favorite movies. It wasn't long before he drifted off to sleep. Alex awoke on Friday morning at 7:40. After a quick shower, Alex got dressed and drove to the school.

The receptionist at the Dean's office was quite strikingly beautiful. He couldn't help but wonder if she was one of the cliché secretaries that "serviced" her boss. That question was almost assuredly answered when he met the Dean. She herself was quite beautiful, and he resolved that they weren't having an affair. Then the thought crossed his mind, I'm about to reveal something that would state a difference on what is normal, so they may be involved.

Once seated, the Dean asked Alex how she could help him. Alex had a great deal to tell her, and started off with an introduction.

"Hi," Alex started, "My name is Alex Stephens, I have been accepted into your school, for which I am grateful. I learned of your school when I was in the eighth grade, and have desired to attend no other school since. Therein lies the problem. My father and all of the men in my family have attended Yale. It has been a tradition that the men in my family attend. My father is very prominent, and will come to look for me. If I register under my given name, then he will surely find me, and find a way to get me out of the school and into Yale. I have been planning for two years to live as a woman while in school, so that my father has no chance of locating me. He will be looking for his son, not a girl in his son's classes. I came to see you because I need to know if I can register under a different name?"

The Dean thought about this for several moments, then looked at Alex. She saw a pleading in his eyes, she could tell that he really wanted to attend school there. When she spoke she was soft spoken, but had news for him that he was not surprised by. "Mr. Stephens, I cannot say yes or no right now, but I can talk to the board here later today, and see if we can all come to a decision today. If you leave your number, after I talk to the board, I can give you a call. That is the best I can do until our board meeting."

Alex thanked her for her time and went back to his new house. He spent a bit of time pampering himself with a bath, and getting dressed, then watched a movie while waiting for the Dean's call. It was nearly 6:30 when Alex's cell phone started ringing.

Alex answered on the first ring expecting it to be the Dean. When he heard the voice on the other end, it brought a smile to his face once again. Shannon was calling to find out how the trip was, and if he had found a place to stay. He explained about Ms. Taylor, and their first meeting, the new house, talking to the Dean, and the furniture that he was waiting to come on Monday. While on the phone, the other line started beeping. Alex told Shannon to hang on, and switched to take the other call. This time it was the Dean and she had wonderful news for Alex. She also asked him to stop by her office on Saturday, there were some things they needed to go over. After saying goodbye Alex switched back to Shannon's line and told her the good news. They talked for a while longer before saying goodbye themselves.

Saturday morning Alex woke at the usual time. For as long as he could remember, he had never slept past 8:15, and that time included weekends. He jumped in the shower to shave completely. When he got out of the shower he debated for a few minutes as to which persona he should meet the Dean in that morning. He was sure that there would be only a handful of people there that day, so figured it best to start his college adventure as Staci.