Ok, Here Goes...

All she knew about raising children was from her parents, which was exactly opposite from how she wanted to raise her son. He was a mistake, a plain, D mistake. A mistake, according to her parents, she was going to hell for. A mistake, the guy she thought loved her said was her problem - and dropped her like a rock. A beautiful, blue eyed, dark fuzzy haired, 6 lb 10 oz, perfect mistake. Her mistake. And she was going to love Kelly Jo Wyatt forever.

Her parents had kicked her out, but she was not alone. Her best friend's mother had offered to take her in, but she decided to live with her Aunt Bea. Even though she lived not 10 miles away, she only got to see her on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh, the stories she could tell! The places she'd been! The black sheep of the family, how they had tried to show Bea the error of her ways. They didn't even know how she found out about Dot, but there she was, stepping in for Dot and took her back to her house. "Mistakes happen, Dorothy Jane. Like your name."
Dot laughed, "Yeah, call me DJ. Please."

Bea made DJ stay in school as long as possible, and found a program for pregnant teens. She helped her graduate high school, helped her find a job and daycare. And helped raise her son. Even though all her previous experience was getting the various nieces and nephews hyped on sugar, buying them loud toys and giving them back to the parents.

She ended up calling him KJ, after being ribbed about giving him a girl's name. As he grew from baby to toddler, he seemed perfectly normal, but something nagged at DJ. He loved his cars and his action figures, but he also loved Barbies and Cabbage Patch Kids. And he hated having his hair cut. Aunt Bea said there was nothing wrong, he was a normal boy. And she saw nothing wrong in giving him dolls, she wasn't about to give in to stereotypes.

DJ took the day off on K's first day of Kindergarten. He didn't like the clothes she made him wear, so he was kind of scowling in all the morning's pictures. She let him go ahead and ride the bus, it was such and adventure to him. She told him she would meet him when he came home and go for pizza.

Her stomach was doing flip-flops as the bus pulled up. Kids spilled out running everywhere, but she didn't see K. But there was this familar-looking little girl in pig tails and wearing a frilly pink dress and black maryjanes skipping merrily towards her.
"Oh my God! KJ Wyatt, where did you get those clothes?!"
"Traded. She wanted to go out and play, but her mommy said not to get her dress dirty. She said she hates dresses. I said I would take it, and we traded," KJ said, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, Mommy, look, look! The underwear matches!" he added enthusiastically, raising the dress to show the girls panties he was wearing.
DJ was at a complete loss for words. She wanted the ground to swallow her up. And she was sure she couldn't turn a deeper shade of red. Without saying a word, she picked K up and ran home.
She put him on the couch, and sat on the floor in front of him. She looked him in the eyes. The words came slowly.
"Don't you think I look pretty?" He asked
"You're beautiful, honey, but boys don't wear girls clothes." Please, don't ask why, she added to herself.
"But, why? I like this."
"I don't know why. That's just the way it is."
"Then, did I do something wrong?"
Well, that's the question, now isn't it - she thought to herself. All the options she saw ended up screwing him up. She decided on the path of least resistance, and hoped she was making the right choice.
"Well, K, you'll have to give these clothes back," she said, to immediate pouting, "but we'll go out and buy you some pretty clothes, but they only get worn at home - never at school. The other boys won't understand and will make fun of you."
This made sense to him, and he agreed. DJ just felt like she made a deal with the devil.

And she blamed herself.